Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ladybird" data-source="post: 2929817" data-attributes="member: 10689">It wasn’t hard for Gyles to find tracks leading away from the burned-out stockade. Even though two weeks had passed since the slavers came through, they had taken several hundred people, and a crowd that size left a fairly obvious trail.  Following Gyles’s lead, the group traveled west, further into the hills – and, after a few hours, into the edges of a forest.Kit and Honore were on watch that night when they heard a faint rustling, far back in the trees. Unfortunately, that was all the warning they got before the shouts rang out. ”In the name of Hanal! Put up your swords, vile slavers!”The group was instantly awake, on their feet, and shouting back.“In the name of Canberry, put up yours!” yelled Kit.“How dare you accuse us of being slavers!  We serve the Light!” Sister Alessandre cried, with surprising volume, as she held out her holy symbol of Glordiadel.For a few moments, there was complete chaos, as Hanalians and Canberrians alike brandished weapons and shouted threats. But with a combination of the Glordiadelians’ protests of virtue, Kit’s quick talking, and Gyles’s emphatic declarations of his own lengthy career fighting slavers, the Canberrians were able to convince the Hanalians that they were not slavers themselves, and had been sent by the Archduke to help fight the slavers.In all the noise, Twang was the only one who heard the Hanalian lieutenant say quietly to the knight-banneret in charge of the group, “If Canberry finds out about our loss, they may seek her, too.”“Look, there’s safety in numbers,” Kit was saying, trying to get the leaders’ attention again. “As long as you’re here, and as long as it’s still night…” Kit was also trying to keep the resentment out of her voice, and almost succeeding. “And as long as there really are slavers about, we might as well stick together. For the night, at least.”Despite the lieutenant’s attempts to get his attention, the knight-banneret’s helmed head was firmly pointed towards Kit, and he gave a stiff, armored nod in response to her suggestion. “I think that sounds reasonable,” he replied, and reached up to take his helmet off, revealing a shy smile and a face that was startlingly young. “May we have your name, m’lady?”It took a moment, as it always did, for Kit to realize that the “m’lady” meant her. “I’m Dame Katherine of Lyneham.”“Sir Bernard Sathrecar,” the young knight-banneret replied, offering Kit another shy smile. “Thank you for your offer of hospitality.” The lieutenant pulled off his helmet too. He was about twenty years older than the knight, and couldn’t quite hide his disapproving frown as he watched Sir Bernard’s increasing infatuation with Kit.There were only eight Hanalians, as it turned out. It had seemed like many more when they were shouting in the darkness, surrounding the camp with their clanking armor and clattering horses. But tucked away in their tents, they seemed remarkably unthreatening. As Kit stood watching the Hanalians go about their business, Twang scampered up beside her. “They lose something!” it declared.“What?” Kit asked, blinking down at the little kobold. “Who lost what? And you can speak Common?” Twang let loose a stream of clicks and twitters, interspersed with a few heavily-accented words in Common. After a moment, Kit held up her hand. “Wait a second. Let’s try this.” She concentrated for a moment, and sent out a Mindlink towards the kobold.There, Kit thought. Now we can understand each other. And we don’t have to worry about eavesdroppers, either.Twang just stared for a second. Kit could feel the kobold’s mind probing back, testing the link, and then it thought back slowly, I didn’t understand all of it. I still don’t speak Common that well. But the two leaders were talking about having lost something. The older one said to the younger, something like ‘If they know what we’ve lost, they will look for it too.’ Or possibly, ‘they will look for her.’ Or ‘him.’A slow smile spread across Kit’s face. They don’t know you understand Common, do they?Twang never really smiled, but its lips pulled back, and its hiss sounded happy. I don’t think so. I haven’t given them any reason to think so.Good, Kit thought back. Go back to the Hanalians. Hang around their campfire and see what they’re talking about. And then come back to tell me what they’ve said. We’ll talk like this, so that there won’t be any chance of misunderstanding each other. All right?Twang gave another one of its smiles, and scampered off towards the Hanalians’ campfire. Kit broke off the Mindlink, then looked up to where Varya was perched in a tree, and sent out another one. Varya?What? In my mind? Oh! Dame Katherine. I’d heard about your talents. Yes. What can I do for you?You haven’t talked in front of the Hanalians, have you? They just think you’re an ordinary owl?Kit could sense the realization coming in Varya’s mind. Yes, that’s right.I’d like you to…well, be an owl. Go perch on the leaders’ tent. If they’re not sharing a tent, go to the older one. He’s the one who’s really in charge, even if the knight-banneret outranks him. And listen, and watch, and see what he does, and what he says.Varya didn’t smile either, but Kit felt the owl’s satisfaction at the assignment. Certainly. I would be happy to. Varya flapped off. Nobody in the Hanalian party paid any attention to an owl perched peacefully on top of the lieutenant’s tent, her wide yellow eyes staring off into the night.</blockquote>

Verification