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<blockquote data-quote="atraiyu47" data-source="post: 6059298" data-attributes="member: 41365"><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Stolen Land: Part <span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-size: 12px">4</span></span></span></strong></p><p></p><p>[h=2]<span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Siv</strong></span>[/h] </p><p></p><p>The others seemed irritable, but Siv couldn’t muster much sympathy for them. They had put off the task of fully exploring the Narlmarches to the west of the kingdom for too long already. In the 7 months since founding Stag’s End the group had grown a little soft. None of the others had slept outside on the ground during that time, and it was clear they were missing their beds.</p><p></p><p></p><p> Dante was openly bemoaning the quality of food she was foraging for the group daily. And though he was suffering silently, it was clear Meric was miserable outside of the comforts of the city.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>The role reversal did amuse her somewhat. She had been given fine quarters in the castle, but hated sleeping where she couldn’t see the stars. She usually stayed in the courtyard with Barry on the nights she spent in Stag’s End. If she could stand months in the city, they could stand a week in the woods.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Something just bit me again.” Dante complained while swatting at his neck.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry. It’s definitely probably not fatal.” Asta quipped.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Right. There are only 37 species of insect on this continent that inject lethal poison upon biting. The odds that it was one of them are really low. Not more than 1 in 10.” Siv teased.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Haha. You guys are hilarious.” Was Dante’s only reply.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Is it normal for there to be a yellow ring developing around the bite?” Meric stated matter of factly while examining Dante’s neck.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“What?!?” Dante whipped his head around saw Meric smiling broadly.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“You guys are jerks. Skyyd is the only one who understands me.” The tiger never missed an opportunity for attention these days and responded to hearing his name by moving next to Dante and ramming his head into the paladin’s hand.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>A feeling of Déjà vu came over Siv. This place felt familiar. She stopped and listened for a time. They were close to the glade where she and her mother lived in her youth. After traveling a half mile west, the group found a statue to Ehlonna. The others had remained quiet as she had led them here, but now Asta spoke up.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Where are we Siv?”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“This is where I was raised by my mother. She was a priestess of Ehlonna. This was our home.” She found it hard to get the words out. Being in this place made many of the emotions she felt as a child bubble back to the surface.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“She was murdered by a tribe of orcs that invaded the area. After that a druid found me and took me in. He taught me everything I know.” No one pressed her for more information.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>She scanned the horizon to the south and notice something was amiss. The Narlmarches were green. Everywhere you looked, nothing but every shade of green. To the south the landscape was scorched black. A wildfire seemed unlikely given how soaked these woods were year round. They moved to investigate.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>The forest was dying. Death was radiating out from a point several miles to the south. Every plant, every tree and every insect was dead. What remained was a foul lifeless swamp. A number of small animal corpses could also be found. It took all of her willpower to not scream.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“There’s a dead horse over there.” Dante pointed in the direction of the animal’s corpse.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Siv immediately saw Dante’s mistake. “That’s not a horse. It’s a unicorn. Its horn has been cut off.”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“That will fetch some scavenger a hefty price.” Meric added. “What could do all this?”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know but, we’re going to find out.” Siv could barely contain her rage as she spoke. It nearly blinded her to the stranger in the tree’s a hundred feet behind them who had trained a bow in the group’s direction.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“We have company. At the treeline. Human female aiming a bow right at us.” Siv avoided looking directly at the woman as she informed the others.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“How long has she been there?” Meric inquired.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Long enough that I don’t think she intends to start a fight.” Siv thought it a reasonable conclusion, but reading a strangers motives was always tricky.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Let’s find out.” Meric moved a few feet in the woman’s direction and called out. “I am Meric Thorn, Baron of Stormvale. We have no quarrel with you. I would appreciate it if you did not train your weapon on my allies and myself.”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>The woman considered his words for a moment before lowering her bow and stepping out into the open. She did not un-nock the arrow. Siv guessed her to be a ranger. “I take it you’re not responsible for all of this then. Hard to see how a baron could profit from destroying his own lands in this manner.”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“We only just arrived. What do you know of what’s happening here?” Meric replied.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Whatever this is, it’s radiating out in a circle. It spreads a few feet every day.” The ranger knelt down to the ground at the edge of where everything had turned black. She pulled some grass from the ground and held it up for the group to see. It was brown and dry though it was the middle of summer and still the rainy season. “It’s already dying. By month’s end it will have spread to the glade just to the north of here.”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Siv’s anger rose again. “If it’s radiating out in a circle then there is a center. Did you try to find the source?” Immediately after she said it she realized it was a bit harsh.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“I’m not in a habit of rushing alone into regions where every living thing has been killed by unknown means.” Siv could hardly argue with the woman’s point.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry. This is just a lot to take in.”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“You’re a druid aren’t you?” Siv only nodded in reply. “Well if you didn’t get angry about this sort of thing you’d be a pretty lousy one. My name is Sariah. I sometimes travel through this region and am pretty familiar with the Narlmarches. </p><p></p><p>If you’re going to investigate this, I’d like to help.”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Thank you.” Siv looked up to the rest of the group. “We need to hurry. I will not see any more of my home destroyed.”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Lead the way Siv.” With those words from Meric they headed south at an accelerated pace. After several hours the group reached the point they approximated to be the center of the destruction. Sariah scouted a bit ahead of the others. Despite the circumstances, Siv was glad to have someone else around who appreciated the wild places. Sariah swiftly ran back to the group. Siv could only assume she had spotted something.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“There are four men on the other side of that hill, possibly bandits. They’re the only living thing for miles besides us. Something is terribly wrong here.” Sariah sounded genuinely unnerved. Meric began to speak.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“Let’s not give our position away to them yet. Let’s go to the top of the hill and take a look. Quietly everyone.” <em>Easy for him to say. He’s probably going to make himself invisible again like during the wyvern incident.</em></p><p></p><p> </p><p>Siv crawled to a point on the hill where she could glance over the edge with only the slightest portion of her head being visible. Just as Sariah had explained, four men sat in the middle of nowhere equipped similarly to the bandits whom had been in service to the Stag Lord.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“What are they doing here? It doesn’t make sense. There’s no food or shelter, and certainly nothing to steal.” Asta whispered.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>At this, Meric stood and shouted to the men. “Hail!” The four men were startled and immediately reached for their weapons. They began to charge towards the hill. Meric turned back to the group. “Well, they’re not very friendly are they?”</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“I don’t have time for this.” Siv stood and began to cast Stone Call. Small rocks began to rain on the men like hail. All four were knocked to the ground by the bombardment. When it ended, there was no movement from any of them.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“There’s no way those guys were the cause of all this.” Sariah said, stating the obvious.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>“There’s something evil nearby.” Dante began looking around trying to identify the location of the presence he was sensing. His expression changed to one of surprise when he turned to face behind the party.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Siv pivoted to see what appeared to be a beautiful elf with bright red hair and pale, almost grey skin. A feeling that this woman was a trusted friend passed over, and nearly overwhelmed her will. She recognized the effect of the charm spell and shook it off. Meric, Asta and Sariah all stared at the woman with loving expressions. Asta began to walk forward towards her, but Skyyd gently grabbed a strap on the back of her armor with his mouth and held her from moving. </p><p></p><p>Dante was shaking his head trying to clear it.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Siv was now sure this was an Unseelie Nymph. Their presence drains the beauty from everything around them. Killing her would allow the forest to begin to heal. Unseelie nymphs rely on the protection of their charmed victims. Once she attacked, Siv knew the others whom had been charmed would come to the creature’s aid. Barry growled at the nymph and charged. Siv unleashed an attack of her own. The nymph had no time to call her charmed allies to defend her. </p><p></p><p>The fight was over in seconds.</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Those whom had been charmed were immediately freed of the effect. Siv stared at the devastation left in the creature’s wake.</p><p></p><p> <em></em></p><p><em>She must have been here for more than a year. If we had scouted this area sooner, we could have prevented all of this.</em></p><p></p><p> </p><p>Siv was upset with herself for not pushing the group to explore the rest of the Narlmarches sooner. She would never let something like this happen again. The wild areas were under her protection. Those who threatened them would regret it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="atraiyu47, post: 6059298, member: 41365"] [B][SIZE=3]Stolen Land: Part [SIZE=3][SIZE=3]4[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/B] [h=2][SIZE=5][B]Siv[/B][/SIZE][/h] The others seemed irritable, but Siv couldn’t muster much sympathy for them. They had put off the task of fully exploring the Narlmarches to the west of the kingdom for too long already. In the 7 months since founding Stag’s End the group had grown a little soft. None of the others had slept outside on the ground during that time, and it was clear they were missing their beds. Dante was openly bemoaning the quality of food she was foraging for the group daily. And though he was suffering silently, it was clear Meric was miserable outside of the comforts of the city. The role reversal did amuse her somewhat. She had been given fine quarters in the castle, but hated sleeping where she couldn’t see the stars. She usually stayed in the courtyard with Barry on the nights she spent in Stag’s End. If she could stand months in the city, they could stand a week in the woods. “Something just bit me again.” Dante complained while swatting at his neck. “Don’t worry. It’s definitely probably not fatal.” Asta quipped. “Right. There are only 37 species of insect on this continent that inject lethal poison upon biting. The odds that it was one of them are really low. Not more than 1 in 10.” Siv teased. “Haha. You guys are hilarious.” Was Dante’s only reply. “Is it normal for there to be a yellow ring developing around the bite?” Meric stated matter of factly while examining Dante’s neck. “What?!?” Dante whipped his head around saw Meric smiling broadly. “You guys are jerks. Skyyd is the only one who understands me.” The tiger never missed an opportunity for attention these days and responded to hearing his name by moving next to Dante and ramming his head into the paladin’s hand. A feeling of Déjà vu came over Siv. This place felt familiar. She stopped and listened for a time. They were close to the glade where she and her mother lived in her youth. After traveling a half mile west, the group found a statue to Ehlonna. The others had remained quiet as she had led them here, but now Asta spoke up. “Where are we Siv?” “This is where I was raised by my mother. She was a priestess of Ehlonna. This was our home.” She found it hard to get the words out. Being in this place made many of the emotions she felt as a child bubble back to the surface. “She was murdered by a tribe of orcs that invaded the area. After that a druid found me and took me in. He taught me everything I know.” No one pressed her for more information. She scanned the horizon to the south and notice something was amiss. The Narlmarches were green. Everywhere you looked, nothing but every shade of green. To the south the landscape was scorched black. A wildfire seemed unlikely given how soaked these woods were year round. They moved to investigate. The forest was dying. Death was radiating out from a point several miles to the south. Every plant, every tree and every insect was dead. What remained was a foul lifeless swamp. A number of small animal corpses could also be found. It took all of her willpower to not scream. “There’s a dead horse over there.” Dante pointed in the direction of the animal’s corpse. Siv immediately saw Dante’s mistake. “That’s not a horse. It’s a unicorn. Its horn has been cut off.” “That will fetch some scavenger a hefty price.” Meric added. “What could do all this?” “I don’t know but, we’re going to find out.” Siv could barely contain her rage as she spoke. It nearly blinded her to the stranger in the tree’s a hundred feet behind them who had trained a bow in the group’s direction. “We have company. At the treeline. Human female aiming a bow right at us.” Siv avoided looking directly at the woman as she informed the others. “How long has she been there?” Meric inquired. “Long enough that I don’t think she intends to start a fight.” Siv thought it a reasonable conclusion, but reading a strangers motives was always tricky. “Let’s find out.” Meric moved a few feet in the woman’s direction and called out. “I am Meric Thorn, Baron of Stormvale. We have no quarrel with you. I would appreciate it if you did not train your weapon on my allies and myself.” The woman considered his words for a moment before lowering her bow and stepping out into the open. She did not un-nock the arrow. Siv guessed her to be a ranger. “I take it you’re not responsible for all of this then. Hard to see how a baron could profit from destroying his own lands in this manner.” “We only just arrived. What do you know of what’s happening here?” Meric replied. “Whatever this is, it’s radiating out in a circle. It spreads a few feet every day.” The ranger knelt down to the ground at the edge of where everything had turned black. She pulled some grass from the ground and held it up for the group to see. It was brown and dry though it was the middle of summer and still the rainy season. “It’s already dying. By month’s end it will have spread to the glade just to the north of here.” Siv’s anger rose again. “If it’s radiating out in a circle then there is a center. Did you try to find the source?” Immediately after she said it she realized it was a bit harsh. “I’m not in a habit of rushing alone into regions where every living thing has been killed by unknown means.” Siv could hardly argue with the woman’s point. “I’m sorry. This is just a lot to take in.” “You’re a druid aren’t you?” Siv only nodded in reply. “Well if you didn’t get angry about this sort of thing you’d be a pretty lousy one. My name is Sariah. I sometimes travel through this region and am pretty familiar with the Narlmarches. If you’re going to investigate this, I’d like to help.” “Thank you.” Siv looked up to the rest of the group. “We need to hurry. I will not see any more of my home destroyed.” “Lead the way Siv.” With those words from Meric they headed south at an accelerated pace. After several hours the group reached the point they approximated to be the center of the destruction. Sariah scouted a bit ahead of the others. Despite the circumstances, Siv was glad to have someone else around who appreciated the wild places. Sariah swiftly ran back to the group. Siv could only assume she had spotted something. “There are four men on the other side of that hill, possibly bandits. They’re the only living thing for miles besides us. Something is terribly wrong here.” Sariah sounded genuinely unnerved. Meric began to speak. “Let’s not give our position away to them yet. Let’s go to the top of the hill and take a look. Quietly everyone.” [I]Easy for him to say. He’s probably going to make himself invisible again like during the wyvern incident.[/I] Siv crawled to a point on the hill where she could glance over the edge with only the slightest portion of her head being visible. Just as Sariah had explained, four men sat in the middle of nowhere equipped similarly to the bandits whom had been in service to the Stag Lord. “What are they doing here? It doesn’t make sense. There’s no food or shelter, and certainly nothing to steal.” Asta whispered. At this, Meric stood and shouted to the men. “Hail!” The four men were startled and immediately reached for their weapons. They began to charge towards the hill. Meric turned back to the group. “Well, they’re not very friendly are they?” “I don’t have time for this.” Siv stood and began to cast Stone Call. Small rocks began to rain on the men like hail. All four were knocked to the ground by the bombardment. When it ended, there was no movement from any of them. “There’s no way those guys were the cause of all this.” Sariah said, stating the obvious. “There’s something evil nearby.” Dante began looking around trying to identify the location of the presence he was sensing. His expression changed to one of surprise when he turned to face behind the party. Siv pivoted to see what appeared to be a beautiful elf with bright red hair and pale, almost grey skin. A feeling that this woman was a trusted friend passed over, and nearly overwhelmed her will. She recognized the effect of the charm spell and shook it off. Meric, Asta and Sariah all stared at the woman with loving expressions. Asta began to walk forward towards her, but Skyyd gently grabbed a strap on the back of her armor with his mouth and held her from moving. Dante was shaking his head trying to clear it. Siv was now sure this was an Unseelie Nymph. Their presence drains the beauty from everything around them. Killing her would allow the forest to begin to heal. Unseelie nymphs rely on the protection of their charmed victims. Once she attacked, Siv knew the others whom had been charmed would come to the creature’s aid. Barry growled at the nymph and charged. Siv unleashed an attack of her own. The nymph had no time to call her charmed allies to defend her. The fight was over in seconds. Those whom had been charmed were immediately freed of the effect. Siv stared at the devastation left in the creature’s wake. [I] She must have been here for more than a year. If we had scouted this area sooner, we could have prevented all of this.[/I] Siv was upset with herself for not pushing the group to explore the rest of the Narlmarches sooner. She would never let something like this happen again. The wild areas were under her protection. Those who threatened them would regret it. [/QUOTE]
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