A Keep On The Borderlands: Arrival

[Kaodi]

The corners of Brother Comoray's mouth turn up, though he does not smile. It was a good speech as these things go, but it was not his first. And more importantly, his devotion to the Lady Magnificient was what made him who he was. All his victories were in honour of Velshionne.

Once the fallen and injured have been gathered around, Comoray signals the soldiers to make sure that any beastman within ten paces are well and dead, and then he channels the blessings of his goddess. The crusader is pleasantly surprised when the power of the healing blessing appears to have increased greatly. It is as good as proof that Velshionne is pleased with their victory.

As those previously wounded stir, Comoray notices that three of the men have not recovered. "The Lady Magnificent has truly blessed us today," he begins. "The glory House Dulat has won here pleases, her. But it has not been without loss. Three of our brothers, Troopers Setto, Alf, and Saxon, have been taken by Velshionne into her arms. This is not a tragedy. The spirits of these men will not want for anything in the home of the Goddess, having earned their place. But we will not forget the sacrifice of their wordly lives."

 

[Axel]

Sh'aah

Sh'aah sat in the shade of the keep as the group's leaders spoke and did their thing. He didn't care much what they had to say. Actions always speak louder that words. Actions show your power, and he had a much better idea of the leaders now than he did yesterday.

As he sat, the ranger tore strips of cloth from his cloak and blanket to bind up the handful of still bleeding wounds and scratches. The number of small cuts and bruises picked up on his arms in a fight always amazed Sh'aah. He simply didn't feel them until later, when it looked like he'd gone walking through a bramble patch.

Sh'aah thought as he sat as well. Thought of many things, though slowly, which is how all thought should. Mostly, he wanted to think about how a fairy could hide as a beastman and come to lead a pack and take over a fort. It set a dangerous example to the other fairies. The ranger was sure that the Wardens would need to know sooner, rather than later. But his thoughts kept returning to this strange priest's god. Sh'aah had heard of priests who could act as living conduits for the gods but had never met one before. Gods had always been a background concept for him, to explain why it rained one day but not the other, not a tangible and forceful power in the world. The idea was, well, interesting... Sh'aah resolved to speak more to the priest in the coming days.

 

[Dr Simon]

The business of tidying up begins.

The beastmen have pretty much gutted all of the buildings, although some items such as the blacksmith's forge and tools are beyond their ability to destroy completely.

Inside the keep itself is a nightmare of filth and stench, with a crude and disgusting altar built from bones (presumably the remains of the other keep inhabitants since there is no sign of anyone else). Brother Comoray thinks that this foul construction is a dedication to the dark god Crom Cruach, the Worm of Night, the Maggot God.

There is plenty of work to be done clearing and cleaning the keep and repairing the walls to the bailey.

About a week later, on the Day of the Pigeon in the Month of Germinal, a strange wagon approaches the keep from across the hills and dales. Brightly coloured and pulled by two giant flightless birds, the wagon pulls up just out of bowshot. The driver, whose slender form is bulked out by the brightly be-ribboned cape that he wears, stands in the traces and raises a hand in greeting.

"Hail the Keep!" he calls. "Word has reached me that civilised folk have returned. Kindly inform the master that Tzintzan Ryal has come to trade."

[sblock=OOC]
Let me know if there are any particular preperations and modifications you would like to make to the keep in this time, also anything that you would like to set in motion between defeating Aarach and the arrival of Tzintzan Ryal.
[/sblock]

 

[Kaodi]

Brother Comoray has his hands full between overseeing the burial of the fallen Dulat soldiers in an suitable area within the fort (and honour given due to their role in liberating it), the burning of the beastmen bodies, the careful destruction and cleansing of the foul altar of Crom Cruach, and finally the cleaning up of one of the buildings to serve as the shrine of Velshionne (assuming there was not a known shrine from before the fall to the beastmen). However, he does not complain; this is the work he came here for. He just hopes he will be able to convince Arcata that a proper shrine ought to be the first order of business after the most needed repairs to the defencive structures.

 

[Axel]

Sh'aah

The week after the battle Sh'aah kept largely alone. He found work for himself outside the keep's walls foraging and hunting for food, the now-garisson's supplies couldn't and wouldn't last all that long. Food and water should have been the first priority of everyone, but it seemed to Sh'aah that some took such things for granted. Maybe they had grown up in towns and had others to bring food to them for gold he mused.

While scouting out the surrounding area on the day after the battle, Sh'aah sent a message to the Marshalls outlining events. It was short and to the point, like messages should be:

"Humans win, few dead. Beastmen all dead. Strange fairy in beastman shape ruled. Staying here for now."

Waiting for something to happen, there were definitely worse places to be than out in the fresh air of the hills, he thought.

 

[Shayuri]

Arcata sets about the business of ruling. The first rule of ruling of course; delegation.

Bastian moves from being the 'last' Lion to the commander of the Lions. Their first task is to make the Keep habitable and safe, in that order. At first Arcata wants to put Ararach's head out where the banner on the road is, but she changes her mind when advised that such a move might incite the beastmen rather than intimidating them.

Sha'ah she offers the position of Master Ranger to, and asks him to choose two men from the ranks that he believes have some promise in that area to work with him and learn from him. Since the beastmen that held the keep apparently were not discriminating about what they ate, there are no existing stores. The rations from the journey are nearly out, so she emphasizes to Sha'ah that if he needs more men, he'll have them. A stone wall with no food behind it is no better than open plains in a siege.

She asks Greggory to rejoin the restored Keep as Watch Commander, he and his small crew would be tasked with keeping the peace within the keep walls, and aiding in defense. Since they are familiar with the area around the keep, she asks for their help with procuring food and materials as well, though that wouldn't be their usual job description. In this delicate time though, all hands were needed.

Arcata does promise Brother Cormoray a shrine of some kind, once the immediate essentials of food and security are seen to. As the only priest in the walls, he needs no official appointment from her, but when the shrine is built it will be the only spiritual structure anywhere near...making his god the only game in town, as it were.

From there it's mostly logistics and planning...balancing the needs of the moment against the likely needs of the future. Resolving the disputes that Greggory and his men bring before her, though with only a relatively small force in the keep, those disputes are not particularly troubling for the moment.

The arrival of the merchant gets her attention, not the least of which for the speed at which news has traveled. Arcata goes to the keep wall to see him for herself.

"Let him in," she tells the man at the post, then turns to Bastian. "Keep the men ready for trouble, but lets not be too obvious about it. It's all but certain he's more than what he seems, but that doesn't necessarily make him an enemy."

Arcata waves Sha'ah over and asks, "You know something of the fey in these parts, yes? Can you tell if this is one?"

(OOC - Priorities would be, I would think:
1) Food and sanitation. We need a place where we can eat, and not get the plague.
2) Restore the wall. Our own tactics show that that hole makes the keep very hard to defend.
3) Restore palisade and secure the area around the keep. Ideally more people will be coming, and they won't all fit in the Keep itself. We'll need to be able to protect them, and having housing for them.

What do you guys think? Oh, and Arcata casts Detect magic just before this guy comes into the gate, so she can see if he's carrying auras with him.)

 

[jkason]

Bastian Sangue, human cavalier

[sblock=ooc]Blargh. Level up is taking forever for me. I don't do martial characters very often, so I'm once again stumped on feats. I'll probably just go with Mounted Combat, since it's a prereq for a fair amount of stuff that a cavalier probably should be doing.
But, shouldn't hold up the RP portion here, so in order to keep from being the bottleneck...[/sblock]

The week after the battle is something of a jumble for Bastian. In the space of one bloody battle, he'd gone from being a semi-fugitive and the last of his order, to seeing the prospect of actually and finally reclaiming his birthright and that of House Dulat. It was a dizzying proposition.

But none of that was possible if he couldn't make order out of the chaos they'd wrought to secure the keep. Arcata had taught him one important lesson with her speech, that the group was stronger if they all felt included. This couldn't be a simple regiment. It had to be a family to bring the kind of fire they'd need to keep themselves alive.

The first of the New Order of the Lion stripped himself of his well-made armor, then. Left behind his greatsword for a borrowed hunting knife and axe, and set about leading by example. He set his back to each and every task he ordered the troops to engage in: digging first graves, then trenches; lifting rock and mortar to shore up the back wall; cleaning the game Sha'ah and his new apprentices brought; and, of course, taking watches and patrols, where armor, sword, and mount all returned to their proper places. They were building their new home, and Bastian was bound and determined they would all build it--and defend it--together.

Bastian was in the middle of helping thatch the roof for the eventual temple when word came of the visitor at the gate. He hurried down the ladder, asking Karant to fetch his armor and blade while he met with Arcata by the wall. He was doing his best to wipe dirt and sweat from his brow and exposed arms as he arrived at his lady's side.

At her order, the young man nodded.

"I was thinking it was just about time for some training exercises, anyway," he offers with a smirk. "Gives us an excuse to pull a few more men back into arms and armor without lining them all up behind you."

He moves back down to the front gate, where Karant waits to help him into the plate as Nerfer runs to call for the 'training exercises.' When Arcata joins them, Bastian signals Vanto to open the gate.

[sblock=ooc]Now, hopefully I read back far enough and didn't just accidentally bring someone back from the dead in my random troop assignments. [/sblock]

 

[Axel]

Sh'aah

Sh'aah crossed to Arcata as she beckoned, and listened to her question. He shrugged. "Too far to know. All fairies are tricky. None honest." With nothing more to add and no further questions he walked back to the ramparts and watched the creature with folded arms.

[sblock=ooc]
I'm thinking there should be some arrow consumption or similar to allow for hunting and food gathering processes. Still, I'm at a loss as to how to guesstimate how many arrows feeding a group of 30-odd for a week will require. Or am I completely wrong, and we found a sizable cache of arrows buried in the dungeons?
[/sblock]

 

[Dr Simon]

Tzintzan Ryal's outlandish wagon rolls through the gate, the two large bird trotting with a disjointed yet graceful stride. He pulls up in the square near the well.

"I see you've been doing some redecorating," he says, looking around. "I approve." With a flourish of his garish cape he leaps down from the wagon and bows deeply.

"I am Tzintzan Ryal, itinerant trader for the outlands," he says. "I have a range of minor goods for sale, mere trinkets really but many things useful to life beyond the bounds of civilisation. Pots and pans, knives, fishing lures, bird nets, tools, materials, preserved food, medicines, and what I don't carry I can find one way or another. Also, I am willing to trade information, a boon to newcomers to this region."

He smiles broadly, a showman's smile.

[sblock=Sh'aah]
As Tzintzan Ryal pulls back his hood you notice that his ears are subtly pointed. Not a full elf, but bearing elf blood. Also, worked into the designs on the outside of his wagon, is the emblem of the Wardens of the Midnight Sun.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Arcata]
Tzintzan Ryal, and his wagon, display and aura of moderate abjuration, but there are no specific magical loci.
[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC]
Regarding supplies etc., there probably ought to be some system for determining supplies of food and other materials, although I don't want to get too bogged down in numbers for it. Arrows are probably okay for now - my thought is that amongst the soldiers there are a smattering of Craft skills that are not listed on the character sheets. However, will look into this.
[/sblock]

 

[Shayuri]

Arcata smiled. Misgivings aside, it was nice to have something familiar there. A reminder that they weren't the only people left alive in the world, with monsters closing in all around. Civilization ticked on beyond the walls of the Keep, out of sight but never out of mind.

Of course, as far as Arcata knew, the only money the Keep had to spend was what was in her purse. What was left of her stipend from the College, now diminished by she and Bastian's time spent incognito. The caravan to the keep had been by Imperial decree, and paid for with royal coin...but all that money had been spent in outfitting the expedition.

Even so, it wouldn't do to let Tzintan know that. And for pots and pans...even the sum she had might suffice for such mundane, but necessary, accoutrements.

"Trade is welcome, and news doubly so," she replied. "We'll take a look at what you have. As for the information...why don't you come inside? The keep's still a bit rough, but I'd be a poor host not to offer you fire, food and rest."

(OOC - Arcata has 65gp...which is not bad if we're just buying normal household goods, at the approximate prices in the SRD. However, I don't know what the caravan brought with it, as far as supplies. As far as I know we weren't expecting to have to resupply a household, but we must have had -some- kind of cooking/eating/etc implements with us.)