A Tale Of Lonely Whispers

[Kaodi]

The tumble down into the darkness is rough and painful, though mercifully short, - and disgustingly smelly. You land beside the orc-blooded woman in a pile of trash and other filth, and while you do not really want to think about what is mixed in there at least it did an admirable job of breaking your fall. "Ugh, that's nasty," comes her voice and you can vaguely make out her shape as it rises from the heap.

Once again it takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to the change in lighting. The garbage shute seems to exit into a small cave, and a ways away you see its mouth opening up to the night sky. You are so close. After pausing to wipe her hands off for a moment your companion reaches down to give you a hand up and says, "Come on, we're not out of, or, well, into the woods ye-" but as she pulls you forward you feel her suddenly tense up. There is an odd squishing sound and she exclaims, "We're not alone down here!" as a wave of filth washes over you. When you turn to see the source a heap of garbage behind you seems to be moving, oozing, your way.

OOC: Initiative: Woman 18, Creature 16, Theo 10 You have taken 5 damage from the fall. Make a Reflex save. The creature is about ten feet away.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Molthune prison
Night

Theodore grunted as he landed in the muck and garbage, his hip throbbing from the impact. He heard the orc woman muttering, and shared her sentiments. But he could see the stars and freedom ahead.

Taking the woman’s hand to get to his feet, Theo turned at the sound when she warned him.

“Run!” he told the woman. “We’re close!”

OOC: If it’s possible (I know he’s last in initiative), Theo will Stride, Stride Stride to the exit. If, as seems likely, someone gets attacked, he will Power Attack, Attack, rolls below.

Spoiler: Rolls and Actions

Reflex save: 1D20+8 = [14]+8 = 22
Action: Power Attack Power attack unarmed: 1D20+10 = [2]+10 = 12
2D4+4 = [1, 1]+4 = 6
Action:
Action: Unarmed attack Unarmed attack: 1D20+2 = [17]+2 = 19
1D4+4 = [4]+4 = 8

Spoiler: Theo Warsavage Info

Theodore Warsavage Character Sheet
AC 16
HP 27/32
F/R/W 8/8/4
Class DC 18
Hero Points: 1

Attack of Opportunity
Raise Shield/Shield Block
Power Attack
Sudden Charge
Brutish Shove
Battle Medicine
Assurance: Athletics
Titan Wrestler

 

[Kaodi]

Both you and your companion have enough presence of mind to duck away from the worst of the trash and detritus flung your way by whatever has made its lair in this heap of castoffs. You make a run for it, with her close behind you, and you burst out of the cave mouth and into the light of a clear and beautiful night sky - not that you have the opportunity to stop and appreciate it. Ahead of you the rough and rocky ground, covered with a few tufts of hardy grass, slopes downwards towards the treeline maybe seventy to eighty feet away.

"I see them!" suddenly comes a shout from behind you, and up upon the battlements a sentry looses an arrow. The woman besides you cries out in pain and stumbles as it plunges through the back of her shoulder and then comes out the front. You can make out the glistening blood. But she does not fall and desperately barks, "Keep moving! Go!" The two of you run headlong into the darkened woods.

You keep running. The guards are likely to have sent men to recover you, though given your head start and the denseness of the woods they may decide to give up before too long. You cannot afford to take that chance though and you keep pushing through the brush until finally your companion lets out a strained gasp and collapses against a rotting stump. An anguished sound escapes as she forces herself to turn over though she cannot rest backwards due to the arrow shaft still protruding both front and back. Sweat streams down her face as she glances upwards and quips, "Well that was exciting."

 

[KahlessNestor]

Molthune prison
Night

“Exciting is one word for it,” Theodore said, falling against the stump beside her, breathing heavily. “You’re hurt. Let me look at it.” He prodded the arrow “I can remove this. It will be painful. We will need to stop the bleeding. We should try and find a stream or something for some clean water. But I can’t do much more until I get a healer’s kit,” he told her. “Do you know where we are? Is there a village nearby? That might be the first place they look, though. Let’s see what we have.”

Theo pulled around the backpack he had grabbed from the guard’s table to see what it contained. Their most immediate need was clean cloth for bandages.

Spoiler: Rolls and Actions

Action: Battle Medicine
Battle Medicine DC 15: 1D20+4 = [19]+4 = 23
Restored HP: 2D8 = [7, 8] = 15
Action: Search backpack
Perception: 1D20+6 = [13]+6 = 19
Action:

Spoiler: Theo Warsavage Info

Theodore Warsavage Character Sheet
AC 16
HP 27/32
F/R/W 8/8/4
Class DC 18
Hero Points: 1

Attack of Opportunity
Raise Shield/Shield Block
Power Attack
Sudden Charge
Brutish Shove
Battle Medicine
Assurance: Athletics
Titan Wrestler

 

[Kaodi]

When you take a moment to look through the satchel you swiped from the guardroom you are relieved to discover that the contents amount to an emergency medical kit or sorts. There are some clean bandages, tools you can use to try and stitch up the wounds, as well as herbs that might help with disinfecting.

You quickly grab the things you need and the woman leans forward as you snap off the feathered end of the arrow shaft. She groans in pain, though the sound is mixed with an attempt at laughter, when you pull the rest of the arrow out through the front of her shoulder, but there is a small sigh of relief when it is out. "I am glad you seem to have a hand for this," she says as you dab in a bit of poultice before wrapping bandages. "I think would have been even less pleasant had I had to patch me up myself."

She indulges in a few more moments of catching her breath as she briefly scans the forest around you. "This is the edge of the Duskshroud Forest, and if you ran east straight through, assuming you were not eaten in the meantime, you would come out pretty close to the border with Druma," she then says. "I imagine they will send word to the border patrols to keep an eye open for us that way. But if we were to be careful and, say, head south back towards the open farmlands we might be able to escape their notice."

"I was looking into something outside a quiet place called Azure Creek a number of villages over when I got picked up by the authorities. Imprisonment has been a bit of a, well, setback but I am optimistic that luck will be with me, this time, and no one else will have been poking around while I have been otherwise engaged. So to answer your question I guess there are plenty of villages around. The more pressing question might be whether we can procure a change of clothes before we have to steal some. Prison uniforms do tend to stick out a bit, might be we will have to hunker down during the day and stick to cross country travel by night."

She gives a small chuckle, momentarily interrupted by a pang from her shoulder, before adding, "I doubt anyone would buy the ol' 'robbed by bandits' routine from the pair us anyway."

 

[KahlessNestor]

Molthune/Duskshroud Forest
Night

Once Theodore had the orcish woman bandaged, he turned to his own injuries from the fall in the pit, wrapping his ankle.

“Had a bit of training in Vigil,” Theo said, naming the fallen capital of Lastwall, “so I can do a decent patch job. We will need to keep an eye on that. No telling what was in that filth we landed in.”

Theo repacked the healer’s kit as the woman told him where they were. He considered what he knew of Molthune. Darkshroud Forest. That tracked. He had been taken shortly after landing in Eranmas on a refugee ship from Lastwall. She was right that they would expect them to head for the border with Druma.

“South to the plains,” he mused. “Around the forest instead of through? You have people in this Azure Creek place that could help?” he asked the orcish woman. “By the way, I don’t think I got your name. I am Theo Warsavage,” he introduced himself, “and you have my thanks.” He offered his hand.

“Night travel will be best, until we can clean up and change,” Theo agreed.

OOC: I used Battle Medicine on the orc woman, so she is immune to that for 1 day. But I can still use Treat Wounds on her if she needs more healing. That is repeatable every hour. I will put a roll below.

Spoiler: Rolls and Actions

Action: Battle Medicine
Medicine: 1D20+4 = [7]+4 = 11
Unsuccessful. Immune for 1 day.
Action: Treat Wounds
Medicine: 1D20+4 = [14]+4 = 18
Restored HP: 2D8 = [1, 4] = 5
Action: Treat Wounds on orcish woman
Medicine: 1D20+4 = [9]+4 = 13
Failure, so immune for 1 hour

Spoiler: Theo Warsavage Info

Theodore Warsavage Character Sheet
AC 16
HP 32/32
F/R/W 8/8/4
Class DC 18
Hero Points: 1

Attack of Opportunity
Raise Shield/Shield Block
Power Attack
Sudden Charge
Brutish Shove
Battle Medicine
Assurance: Athletics
Titan Wrestler

 

[Kaodi]

She takes your hand. She has a strong grip - not surprising of course, but her hand still fits nearly into yours, not a great big 'mitt' like you have seen on many orcs. "Shaveda," she replies. "Shaveda Gholdast in full, though I do not think about the latter much in the day to day." She lets go of your hand. "And the feeling is mutual - I might have swung making it out on my own, but I would not have fancied being out here alone without any weapons or gear."

The woman, Shaveda, climbs to her feet with a visible wince. "I would not say that I have people in Azure Creek, though there is a guy in one of the villages between here and there who lets me sleep in his barn when I am passing through. People around here tend to be a bit stingy though and keep to themselves - the regime here does not quite have the nobility of spirit that Lastwall ha- , well, had I guess... What a thing..."

There is an uncomfortable pause. "We are probably going to have to work a bit, unless we can get lucky and accost someone in the process of accosting us. But I think we can get back on our feet out there as long as our previous hosts lose interest in catching two escapees. Just keep our heads low, stock up on some supplies, and then if my little research project does not work out we can skip town and head back towards the border."

Once you have packed up the kit she flips the club liberated from the guardsman in her hand and says, "Time to get moving again I suppose. I will keep an eye open for something to eat and somewhere to hunker down for the day once we get closer to morning. You should probably just keep your eyes on me. We do not want to get separated in here."

The two of you keep going through the night at a suitably hurried pace. Along the way there are a few stops to gather some safe-ish looking berries, but it would have been hardly adequate for one person let alone two. As the stars begin to dim from view and light breaks out between the trees Shaveda pushes into a small thicket that would give you cover from any searching eyes but not a lot of protection from the elements. "The accommodations leave a bit to be desired but it will be hard to beat the price," she kids. At this point, and with her wounds, she could clearly use some shuteye.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Molthune/Duskshroud Forest
Summer/Day 1/Morning

“Shaveda,” Theo said, repeating her name. “Well met, and you have my thanks.” He helped her climb to her feet, and he managed not to wince when she mentioned Lastwall. It was a hell of a thing indeed that had happened to his adopted home, but not something he wanted to think about, not what happened to his family. Azure Creek sounded like a place a man could possibly start over, he supposed. He found it difficult to care.

“I am no stranger to work,” Theo assured Shaveda as they set out through the wilderness.

He followed Shaveda, who seemed to know her way a bit more. The moon was helpful. The berries they found were enough to stave off hunger pains, but hardly filling. At the first stream, they stopped to wash the filth from the prison from their bodies and clothes. Theo wished they had a canteen.

As day break broke through the trees, they hunkered down out of sight from the day. “Let’s change your bandages,” he said, checking her wound to make sure it wasn’t infected and changing out the bandages. He kept the old ones in case they found a way to boil water and they could be cleaned.

“We should find some water. It will get hot in here,” Theo noted.

Theo figured he should be able to find some water, and maybe a sturdy length of fallen branch for a club.

Spoiler: Rolls and Actions

Action: Survival: 1D20+0 = [16]+0 = 16
Action: Perception: 1D20+6 = [18]+6 = 24
Action:

Spoiler: Theo Warsavage Info

Theodore Warsavage Character Sheet
AC 16
HP 32/32
F/R/W 8/8/4
Class DC 18
Hero Points: 1

Attack of Opportunity
Raise Shield/Shield Block
Power Attack
Sudden Charge
Brutish Shove
Battle Medicine
Assurance: Athletics
Titan Wrestler

Spoiler: Cast

Shaveda Gholdast - orcish woman

 

[Kaodi]

While Shaveda sets about arranging some of the local foliage into a poor facsimile of a bed you push your way back out of the thicket and set about looking for some water. After a couple of false starts where you turned back lest you wander too far off from 'camp' you come across a small stream with clear, running water that is most refreshing when you kneel down for a drink. Unfortunately you do not have anything to carry it in back to the shelter but the stream is near enough for when you need it. And while it is quite shallow it should be sufficient for the two of you to clean yourselves and your clothes off.

As you make your way back to the shelter you spot a fallen branch that, with minimal modification, should make for a serviceable if inelegant bludgeon. You snap off one of the smaller branches jutting from its side and suddenly there is a flapping of wings as the sound disturbs a number of local birds. But after a moment of pause nothing else happens and you quickly break off the other protrusions before retreating the rest of the way to cover.

After fighting back through the thick branches once again you find a rabbit that seems to have wandered in to investigate, but it bolts as soon as it spots you. Shaveda has already curled up on her unpierced side and fallen asleep. Normally you might be concerned about setting a watch, but it was quite good luck for the two of your to find this place as you did, and it would have to be quite bad luck for anything else to as well. And so you scrape together a spot to rest your head and settle in for some sleep.

When you finally come to you get the sense that a fair chunk of time has passed. You are a bit stiff from the rough lodgings but otherwise feel rested enough. It is a bit hard to tell from inside here but it could be mid to late afternoon by now by your estimate. Looking over you see that your companion seems to be stirring, and judging by the layer of dried filth and dirt covering her you do not think she could have risen while you were asleep and gone out and about. She must have slept all morning as well.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Molthune/Duskshroud Forest
Summer/Day 1/Afternoon

Theodore roused from his rest and stretched out the kinks in his neck and back, his muscles sore from the fall and the sleeping on the ground. He let Shavedra awaken on her own, listening to the sounds around them for any indication anyone might be nearby. When she was up, he led her to the stream to clean up and changed her bandage again.

“We need food and supplies,” Theo told Shavedra. “We should see if there is a farmhouse nearby, or at the very least some berries or game we can catch. Going to be difficult without weapons or tools, though.” He could already feel the hunger pains. It wasn’t like prison food was that filling, especially for a large man like himself. “We should establish a call or something.”

Spoiler: Rolls and Actions

Action: Survival: 1D20 = [9] = 9
Action: Perception: 1D20+6 = [20]+6 = 26
Action: Stealth: 1D20+6 = [10]+6 = 16

Spoiler: Theo Warsavage Info

Theodore Warsavage Character Sheet
AC 16
HP 32/32
F/R/W 8/8/4
Class DC 18
Hero Points: 1

Attack of Opportunity
Raise Shield/Shield Block
Power Attack
Sudden Charge
Brutish Shove
Battle Medicine
Assurance: Athletics
Titan Wrestler

Spoiler: Cast

Shaveda Gholdast - orcish woman