drnuncheon's Online Story Hour (now playing: Of Sound Mind)
- Thread starter drnuncheon
- Start date
drnuncheon
Explorer
Caliber said:
Thank you. Yes, I had a strong visual for that.
Just to make sure the credit goes where it was due, though - most of this is not me writing. I'm the stuff in red (er, well, "tomato" anyway) and the NPCs - the rest are the actual poses of the players. So anything cool from Sen-Jyu, Harvester and Ahoke is all them.
To be honest, I have a big advantage - I can work up my "set pieces" like the intro and the Bite of the Wolf thing ahead of time, while they have to be a lot quicker on their feet.
J
Last edited:
drnuncheon
Explorer
Caliber said:
I don't mind at all. It's run on a MUSH - a multi-user environment that is sort of like IRC crossed with Zork: a text-based game. (Similar games called MUDs are like Zork crossed with Everquest or Neverwinter Nights, with coded combat and monsters and no DM required.)
The key capability of MUSHes and their kin is that they come with user-extendable programming capabilities, letting them be used (with a certain amount of work) for just about any game system. The only requirement for the players is a Telnet program (although someplace must host the server - we were lucky enough to have access to one) although you can find specialized client programs as well.
So basically, we're all logged in at the same time, playing in realtime, and rolls are taken care of with a bit of code that I banged together 5 minutes before the first session.
There are even a couple of MUSHes with areas set aside for "virtual tabletop" play like what we're doing - do a Google search for "Storyteller's Circle" or "Online Gaming Resource" and you should be able to find them.
Anyway...there will be one more update (sometime next week) and then we'll have to wait until we play again. I'm off to Missouri for a few...
J
Last edited:
drnuncheon
Explorer
Harvester cries out, "SEN! BEWARE!" and charges forward, while grabbing for something at his throat. He speaks words of power, "Mine prayers fly unto He That Is, that He might grant unto us His divine favor!"
The horse with the blaze on it's head - the one without the dripping fanged maw, that is to say - keeps its gaze locked firmly on the kneeling figure before it.
Ahoke gives an inarticulate battle cry as she starts tearing across the field. Raising her great club, she smashes it down across the neck of the horse that is staring at her kneeling companion. The club crashes into its neck, but the creature still does not break its gaze from Sen-Jyu.
The equine monstrosity lunges, its teeth snapping in the air dangerously close to Ahoke's face - but the dwarven barbarian's reflexes are too fast for it. Hot breath heaves against her face.
Harvester charges in, the black robe flapping in his haste to overrun Sen's position. He bowls his companion over and swings the scythe in a wide circle, from the left, and brings a minor cut across the staring horse's chest.
Like a rope that has been stretched too much, the bonds that held Sen-Jyu motionless snap, his body quivering in sudden freedom.
Sen-Jyu leaps to his feet, rather than continue to stare the horse in the face. Cursing inwardly for his earlier optimism ('oh, I won't need these swords, we're just going to go talk to the old man'), he charges toward the house. His katana is hungry.
The horse squeals, dancing backwards, away from the scythe...and its eyes fall upon the Harvester. He stiffens, and the scythe cocks into position...
Ahoke starts to snarl and foam at the mouth. She swings her club at the fanged horse, but misses.
The creature rears back, letting the club pass harmlessly beneath its upraised forelegs - and then sends its full weight crashing onto Ahoke, the fangs tearing into her shoulder.
Harvester growls out a soft oath, and raises the scythe that was so recently frozen in place. The sudden release, however, causes him to swing wide, the blade missing this 'horse' by a country mile.
The horse spins, looking at the last of the trio...perhaps this one will be more susceptible...
Practically kicking the door in, Sen-Jyu enters the farmhouse; he strides to the resting place of his katana, lifting it to duty. His thumb traces over the characters of Ichido-sama, just before flicking the hilt out an inch, enough for him to draw the blade in a long arc. He looks over his shoulder, a single strand of hair dangling before his face caught in the breeze. Vengeance is in his eyes. He leaves the farmhouse at a run, silent as he approaches the star-emblazoned one from its flank.
Ahoke seems to, for whatever reason, change targets, not from one horse to another, but to Harvester. Her club slices through the air, and sails, fortunately for him, over his head.
Unlike the dwarf, the horse does not change targets. Again, a gobbet of flesh is torn from Ahoke - but the furious dwarf seems not to notice the blood staining her armor, running down her arm.
Harvester draws back in surprise, "Eh? No.. no..." His left hand frees itself of the cumbersome scythe and turns in a gesture, stroking the skull on his chest in passing. "By the divine favor of He Who Has Never Left, I summon his will to clothe me in prtective vestments!"
The determination of a true samurai rises in Sen-Jyu's visage; his is the righteousness to strike down his enemy. That enemy happens to be one that he had been traipsing about with just yesterday, but so be it. The katana sings, and he sings with it, a hum that perseveres against the horseflesh, spilling entrails over the bloodied ground.
Ahoke wrests herself away from the cleric, and charges back in to attack the fanged horse. Once again, she misses, though.
Again, the massive horse dances nimbly aside from the club. Perhaps the wounds are weakening the dwarf's arm. It moves in and bites at the other shoulder, tearing away - then screams as it sees its partner crumple.
Harvester's eyes narrow beneath his hood, and he surges forward, the large scythe trailing his cloak. A foot stomps on the ground as he stops, the curved blade swinging in a great arc across the horse-thing's neck, to release a great fount of blood.
Across the horse from Ahoke, Sen-Jyu advances on the other horse, and his swipe is not quite as righteous as before, and that makes all the difference.
Ahoke cries out in anger, and something else... pleasure? as the horse bites into her shoulder. She drops her club, which has proven to be a useless hunk of wood today, and takes out her ancient, hand crafted axe. She leaps up into the air, slamming its sharp head into the nose of the horse.
With a primeval shriek, the horse-creature whirls, no longer seeking combat - escape is the only thing on its mind now. It spins in a circle, building up speed as it charges Ahoke - and that is what leaves the opening. Sen-Jyu's katana slices its side, the wound spreading a handswidth apart. The Harvester's scythe swings low, catching the legs as if they were stalks of wheat. And as the massive form crashes to the ground, Ahoke's axe slams into its skull, the bone shattering under the force of the blow.
Frowning, Sen-Jyu looks about at his comrades, then back at the dead horse. Then, more intently. He kneels beside the remains of the horse's cranium, using the blade to scrape away some of the mess.
As Sen-Jyu kneels by the corpse, its fanged mouth slowly relaxes, shrinking back into a more normal equine configuration.
Harvester cannot help but notice Sen-Jyu's odd interest in the horse-thing, and moves closer, though he does look at the other 'horse' as he goes.
Ahoke looks around for more foes, with eyes that are completely animalistic. Drool runs out of the corners of her mouth as she visibly fights, hard, against the pull of her rage. Her shoulders and chest heave, and she slowly sags to the ground. "Sh-t," she says, stretching out slowly, stiffly. "That thing bites /hard./ I knew there was something wrong with them..."
Harvester moves closer to Ahoke once she has begun to calm down, and begins to inspect the severity of her wounds. "How bad, eh? Got a little ointment or something, I'm sure... Might sting alot..."
Wrinkling his nose, Sen-Jyu begins to reach into the permanently unwhole cranium of the horse; gingerly, he plucks out a small, blue... something. The object in his hand is a thin, needle-sharp sliver of azure crystal - nearly black in the red sunlight, and glistening with blood.
- End of Session 1 -
The horse with the blaze on it's head - the one without the dripping fanged maw, that is to say - keeps its gaze locked firmly on the kneeling figure before it.
Ahoke gives an inarticulate battle cry as she starts tearing across the field. Raising her great club, she smashes it down across the neck of the horse that is staring at her kneeling companion. The club crashes into its neck, but the creature still does not break its gaze from Sen-Jyu.
The equine monstrosity lunges, its teeth snapping in the air dangerously close to Ahoke's face - but the dwarven barbarian's reflexes are too fast for it. Hot breath heaves against her face.
Harvester charges in, the black robe flapping in his haste to overrun Sen's position. He bowls his companion over and swings the scythe in a wide circle, from the left, and brings a minor cut across the staring horse's chest.
Like a rope that has been stretched too much, the bonds that held Sen-Jyu motionless snap, his body quivering in sudden freedom.
Sen-Jyu leaps to his feet, rather than continue to stare the horse in the face. Cursing inwardly for his earlier optimism ('oh, I won't need these swords, we're just going to go talk to the old man'), he charges toward the house. His katana is hungry.
The horse squeals, dancing backwards, away from the scythe...and its eyes fall upon the Harvester. He stiffens, and the scythe cocks into position...
Ahoke starts to snarl and foam at the mouth. She swings her club at the fanged horse, but misses.
The creature rears back, letting the club pass harmlessly beneath its upraised forelegs - and then sends its full weight crashing onto Ahoke, the fangs tearing into her shoulder.
Harvester growls out a soft oath, and raises the scythe that was so recently frozen in place. The sudden release, however, causes him to swing wide, the blade missing this 'horse' by a country mile.
The horse spins, looking at the last of the trio...perhaps this one will be more susceptible...
Practically kicking the door in, Sen-Jyu enters the farmhouse; he strides to the resting place of his katana, lifting it to duty. His thumb traces over the characters of Ichido-sama, just before flicking the hilt out an inch, enough for him to draw the blade in a long arc. He looks over his shoulder, a single strand of hair dangling before his face caught in the breeze. Vengeance is in his eyes. He leaves the farmhouse at a run, silent as he approaches the star-emblazoned one from its flank.
Ahoke seems to, for whatever reason, change targets, not from one horse to another, but to Harvester. Her club slices through the air, and sails, fortunately for him, over his head.
Unlike the dwarf, the horse does not change targets. Again, a gobbet of flesh is torn from Ahoke - but the furious dwarf seems not to notice the blood staining her armor, running down her arm.
Harvester draws back in surprise, "Eh? No.. no..." His left hand frees itself of the cumbersome scythe and turns in a gesture, stroking the skull on his chest in passing. "By the divine favor of He Who Has Never Left, I summon his will to clothe me in prtective vestments!"
The determination of a true samurai rises in Sen-Jyu's visage; his is the righteousness to strike down his enemy. That enemy happens to be one that he had been traipsing about with just yesterday, but so be it. The katana sings, and he sings with it, a hum that perseveres against the horseflesh, spilling entrails over the bloodied ground.
Ahoke wrests herself away from the cleric, and charges back in to attack the fanged horse. Once again, she misses, though.
Again, the massive horse dances nimbly aside from the club. Perhaps the wounds are weakening the dwarf's arm. It moves in and bites at the other shoulder, tearing away - then screams as it sees its partner crumple.
Harvester's eyes narrow beneath his hood, and he surges forward, the large scythe trailing his cloak. A foot stomps on the ground as he stops, the curved blade swinging in a great arc across the horse-thing's neck, to release a great fount of blood.
Across the horse from Ahoke, Sen-Jyu advances on the other horse, and his swipe is not quite as righteous as before, and that makes all the difference.
Ahoke cries out in anger, and something else... pleasure? as the horse bites into her shoulder. She drops her club, which has proven to be a useless hunk of wood today, and takes out her ancient, hand crafted axe. She leaps up into the air, slamming its sharp head into the nose of the horse.
With a primeval shriek, the horse-creature whirls, no longer seeking combat - escape is the only thing on its mind now. It spins in a circle, building up speed as it charges Ahoke - and that is what leaves the opening. Sen-Jyu's katana slices its side, the wound spreading a handswidth apart. The Harvester's scythe swings low, catching the legs as if they were stalks of wheat. And as the massive form crashes to the ground, Ahoke's axe slams into its skull, the bone shattering under the force of the blow.
Frowning, Sen-Jyu looks about at his comrades, then back at the dead horse. Then, more intently. He kneels beside the remains of the horse's cranium, using the blade to scrape away some of the mess.
As Sen-Jyu kneels by the corpse, its fanged mouth slowly relaxes, shrinking back into a more normal equine configuration.
Harvester cannot help but notice Sen-Jyu's odd interest in the horse-thing, and moves closer, though he does look at the other 'horse' as he goes.
Ahoke looks around for more foes, with eyes that are completely animalistic. Drool runs out of the corners of her mouth as she visibly fights, hard, against the pull of her rage. Her shoulders and chest heave, and she slowly sags to the ground. "Sh-t," she says, stretching out slowly, stiffly. "That thing bites /hard./ I knew there was something wrong with them..."
Harvester moves closer to Ahoke once she has begun to calm down, and begins to inspect the severity of her wounds. "How bad, eh? Got a little ointment or something, I'm sure... Might sting alot..."
Wrinkling his nose, Sen-Jyu begins to reach into the permanently unwhole cranium of the horse; gingerly, he plucks out a small, blue... something. The object in his hand is a thin, needle-sharp sliver of azure crystal - nearly black in the red sunlight, and glistening with blood.
- End of Session 1 -
drnuncheon
Explorer
Session Two, Part One
LAST TIME, ON DRNUNCHEON'S ONLINE STORY HOUR...
(scenes fade in & out on the screen: the undead lizard-creatures in the mountains...Othic's horses, and Sen-Jyu capering with them...Othic's bloody body in the barn...Sen-Jyu falling to his knees as the horse's mouth splits and stretches into a horrible fanged maw...the horses getting treated to a righteous ass-whupping...)
Ahoke grunts, sitting up. "Thanks," she says, wiping her brow with a still-bloodied hand, leaving a messy red streak behind. "Sorry about trying to kill you and all." She glares at the corpse of the horse. "It took over." The look she gives Sen-Jyu is one of horrified curiousity. "What is /that/?"
The Harvester frowns as his curative powers heal the weakened dwarf, though not as well as he had hoped. A look to Sen-Jyu to compare the extent of their injuries. "How are you, Sen?"
The Harvester gestures to the other horse. "I wonder if that one has a shard buried in it's skull too?"
Ahoke's lip curls. "Probably." She labors to her feet, moving stiffly. "Anyone ever heard of anything like this before?"
Still inspecting the sliver of azure crystal, Sen-Jyu doesn't seem to hear the two speaking. The blood smears across thumb and forefinger as he rolls it between the two, disgust exhibited on his visage.
The Harvester looks back at Ahoke and laughs. "Oh, don't worry about that. let's just say you owe me one, hmm?" A sly grin as he speaks to himself. "Or I owe you..." He moves to stand behind Sen-Jyu now, whistling a merry enough little tune as he looks over the man's shoulder. "Any ideas? May I?" a hand reaches out, palm up.
Ahoke grunts, nodding, and then stumps over towards the well. "I'll be over here," she says, cleaning up. The ever-fastidious dwarf begins hauling up a bucket.
A reluctant nod later, Sen-Jyu places the crystal into Harvester's palm daintily, his reed-thin fingers wiped in the dust to at least cover the brackish blood from the horse's brainpan. Finally he looks to Ahoke, curiously. "You are... wounded," he comments, sadly humming to himself.
Ahoke is in the process of rubbing well water into those wounds that are left, and washing old blood off of herself. "Uh huh," she agrees, nodding. She doesn't seem overly upset about it, though her brows furrow. "I hope that nothing happens before I heal. No more evil horses."
The Harvester smiles to himself, his whistling interrupted only briefly with a thank you, and he lifts the shard to the sun, that he might look through it. After a moment he lowers it to his lips, and slides the tip of his tongue across the gem sliver. A grunt. "Fresh. Not undead. What sort of critter was this...." He looks at the other fallen horse, then walks to it, wiping the sliver as he moves.
Sword sheathed, Sen-Jyu stands and begins to walk away from the pair, back toward the farmhouse. He returns half a minute later with what appears to be a bamboo tube, and approaches Ahoke with it.
Ahoke has her head lowered into the bucket of water, and is scrubbing her scalp and hair vigorously. When she hears Sen-Jyu approaching, she looks up, and then flings her wet hair back over her shoulders, spraying water everywhere. She eyes him curiously.
The Harvester's whistle ceases abruptly, "Well, well well... Looks like this one has a hole in it's head to, folks." He calls out. "Anyone want to split a skull open?" He looks around and realizes the others, bloodied as they are, are bathing.
"Where," asks Sen-Jyu, dropping to one knee while he produces a translucent, organic-appearing slime from the tube of bamboo. "Show me."
Ahoke is smart enough to know what translucent slime can be. She winces, peeling off her cloak, and the bone armor underneath. Finally, she pulls her tunic down just enough to reveal her wounded shoulder and neck.
The Harvester watches Sen-Jyu, obviously unknowing as to what he's about.
The organic matter is applied about the gravest of Ahoke's wounds, and he is liberal with the application, until the wounds weep with the surplus. Sen-Jyu is delicate with his touch, as if he did not wish to awaken the wolverine's fury even in kindness.
The Harvester rises, curious, and moves towards his companions. He studies the healing. 'What is it?"
Ahoke shows no signs of going into a furious rage. In fact, although she briefly tenses as if expecting pain, she relaxes when none comes. "Ahhh... that feels good." She looks at at Sen-Jyu for a moment, and then nods. "Thanks," she says. "That makes me almost whole again, when combined with what Harvester did earlier." She eyes the bamboo stick for a moment. "I haven't ever seen anything like that before."
Grinning a little, Sen-Jyu returns to both feet as Harvester nears. "A gift... from my mother," he explains, his voice whispering like wind through grass. He becomes still for a moment, like a prayer in form, then turns to face the Harvester. "You have found something?"
Now that she is clean and mostly healed, Ahoke turns her attention back to the horses, with a look of extreme distaste.
The Harvester looks on the bamboo stick a moment longer, then to Sen-Jyu. "Interesting woman, your mother." He then nods, jerking a thumb back to the second horse. "That one's got a little scab, same place where the crystal was in the first." He pokes the thumb into his forehead with his thumb for emphasis. "Y'all want to crack him open and get it?"
Sen-Jyu blinks, opening his mouth as if to ask a question, but is distracted by the revelation. "... no," he says after a moment of thought. "One can suppose that the cause is likely the same."
The sound of indrawn breath gives all of you pause - a quick glance towards the house reveals a younger man standing next to the barn entrance, frozen in place, staring at you and the slaughtered pair of horses. The color drains from his face as he realizes you have noticed him, and he takes a shaky step backwards.
Ahoke glances over at the guy, and grimaces. "Oh, this can't look good to him," she mutters.
Seeing the man, Sen-Jyu cheerfully waves toward him. "Hello," he greets, loudly enough that the man is sure to hear, and a smile shows Sen-Jyu's warm and slightly blood-spattered face.
"W-who are you? What are you doing with Othic's horses?" The younger man takes another step backwards, bringing him in-line with the barn door. Reflexively, he looks to his right - and chokes back a cry. "Othic!" he says, in a strangled voice, and he turns to regard you in horror.
The Harvester calls out softly, soothingly, "We caused no harm... Othic gave us shelter in the night... and these are no mere 'horses'..." He approaches slowly, in a roundabout way.
Ahoke shakes her head. "We didn't do Othic in, boy," she says as kindly as her gruff dwarven nature will allow her. She stands to her feet, with a sigh.
Sen-Jyu decides against approaching the younger man, but keeps presence of mind enough to lay Ichido-sama at his own feet, a token gesture of peace.
The look of terror shifts ever-so-subtly to one of confusion. "Wh-what do you mean? They are horses, they are! I help Othic take care of them..." Another step back, but more slowly this time.
The Harvester holds up the crystal, that it might sparkle in the rising sunlight. "This was found within the skull of one of them... It changed the creature. Made it unwholesome... We found Othic dead within the barn, then these creatures attacked us. Examine him. You shall see their hoofprints." He continues speaking in the same deep, soothing tones one might for a frightened child or animal, as he maintains the slow approach.
Ahoke nods, looking back towards the horses unhappily, as if expecting to see them rise again. "We should probably put the poor beasts to the pyre," she says. "It would purify them, and release their spirits."
The man's eyes dart towards Othic's corpse again. "I...why would they do that?" And then he does a double-take, as he sees the enormous bite-marks on Othic's body. "Horses can't do that," he breathes softly...
Quite content to leave the human handling to the Harvester, Sen-Jyu finds a clean patch of ground and sits down, keeping one eye on the lad and another on the horses that still live.
Ahoke hehs. "Neither can dwarves. Or humans," she amends. "But strange reptilian creatures wearing the bodies of horses on the other hand.."
The Harvester remarks mildly. "As I said... there were not mere horses..." A gesture. "examine my companions' wounds. They, too, bear the marks of the beasts..." A thumb jerked to the house. "Examine the dwelling. See that we stayed the night in peace." A measured pace forward, still calmly speaking. "Othic spoke of his children. His wife's passing. His love for raising horses..."
The young man slowly crumples to his knees, and tears begin to run down his face. "Othic..." He can't take his eyes off of the ruined corpse laying on the floor of the barn.
The Harvester shakes his head at Ahoke, without turning his gaze from the man, "These were not undead creatures, 'Ke."
"Come," the priest holds out his hand. "Let us lay Othic to the rest that he deserves. A long, fulfilling life had he, so shed no tears. He shall be reborn into the next world." He continues to approach.
Ahoke mms, only looking slightly cheered by that. "If you say so," she says, and then starts to move closer to the barn, and towards the young man. She stops well away from him though, to lessen her chances of spooking him.
Sen-Jyu leans back on his elbows, face tilted upward to catch the morning sun like an open flower.
The young man's hand clutches at Harvester's cloak as the man approaches. "I am Tal. You are...a speaker to the gods?" Now that you're closer, you can get a better look at him. He would be a good-looking young man, but his visage is somewhat spoiled by the dark, puffy circles beneath his eyes - as if he had not been sleeping well lately - if at all.
The Harvester nods once. "I am The Harvester. I speak for He That Comes. You are troubled, son... by more than good Othic's demise."
Tal nods, struggling for the words. "Not just me. The whole town."
The Harvester nods sagely. "Ah... the missing children... and your overdue 'Heroes'..."
"...and the dreams..." Tal says softly.
Ahoke frowns sharply. "What dreams?"
The Harvester's looks curious, then nods as Ahoke asks the question he was thinking.
Tal turns a pleading look at the dwarven warrior. "Nightmares. I...I can't remember them, but I can't sleep. Nobody can."
Ahoke mmms. "I had a dream last night, but I remembered it... I dreamed that something tore my throat open and drank my blood." She looks back to Othic's corpse, and sighs. "I... think that it had something to do with that, but I don't know how."
The Harvester says, "I suspect it is related to your missing children."
Tal looks up at Ahoke and the Harvester. "Can you help us? Will you?"
The Harvester considers the possibilities of furthering his goals before answering, and looks to his friends. "I don't see why not. Y'all?"
Ahoke grunts. "Show him the shard, see if he knows what it is... might be a clue. And yeah, why not? These people seem to be in a bind. Maybe we can get them out of it."
Sen-Jyu watches the three, though he strains to hear their conversation. He quite enjoys the sun, however, and basks in the red light it bestows.
The Harvester lifts the shard between two fingers once more, and allows it to shine in the light. "Know what this might be? Or know anyone who might?"
The stench from the slaughtered...horses...wafts across the meadow, setting the other equines to whickering - and making Sen-Jyu's basking all the more difficult.
Tal climbs to his feet, looking at the sliver of blue. "No...it looks like glass...or a crystal..."
The Harvester nods once. "Yep. That it does." A glance to Ahoke. "Mind splitting the other skull for me, Kay? Grab that crystal too, before we burn 'em?"
Sen-Jyu wrinkles his nose at the smell as it drifts to him. "Perhaps we should burn them," he mutters, getting up and collecting his sword before moving toward the trio. "Sir," he murmurs to Tal, "might you know Othic's spiritual beliefs? How we might best honor him in his after-life?"
Ahoke frowns. "I'm clean," she says grumpily, but stumps over to the horse corpse anyway. "Can someone draw me another bucket while I do this? And someone else should go find some tinder, so that we can at least burn the horses."
Tal licks his lips. "His wife is buried behind the barn," he whispers.
Sen-Jyu bows at the waist to Tal's statement, and begins to look about the barn's insides, presumably for a shovel.
Ahoke lets the axe crash down on the horse's skull with the practicality of a born huntress. She looks down at it for a long moment, and then extracts a shard identical to the first.
The Harvester nods once. "simple burial then? No deific appeasements for his soul?" He calls after Sen-Jyu, "There is a spade in my pack, Sen..." To Tal, "Go. Gather appropriate wrappings, Tal. I shall draw water and begin preparations."
Tal nods, and hurries off.
Sen-Jyu's head peeks out the barn doors, and he nods thanks to the Harvester, entering the house and eagerly pawing through the priest's stuff.
LAST TIME, ON DRNUNCHEON'S ONLINE STORY HOUR...
(scenes fade in & out on the screen: the undead lizard-creatures in the mountains...Othic's horses, and Sen-Jyu capering with them...Othic's bloody body in the barn...Sen-Jyu falling to his knees as the horse's mouth splits and stretches into a horrible fanged maw...the horses getting treated to a righteous ass-whupping...)
Ahoke grunts, sitting up. "Thanks," she says, wiping her brow with a still-bloodied hand, leaving a messy red streak behind. "Sorry about trying to kill you and all." She glares at the corpse of the horse. "It took over." The look she gives Sen-Jyu is one of horrified curiousity. "What is /that/?"
The Harvester frowns as his curative powers heal the weakened dwarf, though not as well as he had hoped. A look to Sen-Jyu to compare the extent of their injuries. "How are you, Sen?"
The Harvester gestures to the other horse. "I wonder if that one has a shard buried in it's skull too?"
Ahoke's lip curls. "Probably." She labors to her feet, moving stiffly. "Anyone ever heard of anything like this before?"
Still inspecting the sliver of azure crystal, Sen-Jyu doesn't seem to hear the two speaking. The blood smears across thumb and forefinger as he rolls it between the two, disgust exhibited on his visage.
The Harvester looks back at Ahoke and laughs. "Oh, don't worry about that. let's just say you owe me one, hmm?" A sly grin as he speaks to himself. "Or I owe you..." He moves to stand behind Sen-Jyu now, whistling a merry enough little tune as he looks over the man's shoulder. "Any ideas? May I?" a hand reaches out, palm up.
Ahoke grunts, nodding, and then stumps over towards the well. "I'll be over here," she says, cleaning up. The ever-fastidious dwarf begins hauling up a bucket.
A reluctant nod later, Sen-Jyu places the crystal into Harvester's palm daintily, his reed-thin fingers wiped in the dust to at least cover the brackish blood from the horse's brainpan. Finally he looks to Ahoke, curiously. "You are... wounded," he comments, sadly humming to himself.
Ahoke is in the process of rubbing well water into those wounds that are left, and washing old blood off of herself. "Uh huh," she agrees, nodding. She doesn't seem overly upset about it, though her brows furrow. "I hope that nothing happens before I heal. No more evil horses."
The Harvester smiles to himself, his whistling interrupted only briefly with a thank you, and he lifts the shard to the sun, that he might look through it. After a moment he lowers it to his lips, and slides the tip of his tongue across the gem sliver. A grunt. "Fresh. Not undead. What sort of critter was this...." He looks at the other fallen horse, then walks to it, wiping the sliver as he moves.
Sword sheathed, Sen-Jyu stands and begins to walk away from the pair, back toward the farmhouse. He returns half a minute later with what appears to be a bamboo tube, and approaches Ahoke with it.
Ahoke has her head lowered into the bucket of water, and is scrubbing her scalp and hair vigorously. When she hears Sen-Jyu approaching, she looks up, and then flings her wet hair back over her shoulders, spraying water everywhere. She eyes him curiously.
The Harvester's whistle ceases abruptly, "Well, well well... Looks like this one has a hole in it's head to, folks." He calls out. "Anyone want to split a skull open?" He looks around and realizes the others, bloodied as they are, are bathing.
"Where," asks Sen-Jyu, dropping to one knee while he produces a translucent, organic-appearing slime from the tube of bamboo. "Show me."
Ahoke is smart enough to know what translucent slime can be. She winces, peeling off her cloak, and the bone armor underneath. Finally, she pulls her tunic down just enough to reveal her wounded shoulder and neck.
The Harvester watches Sen-Jyu, obviously unknowing as to what he's about.
The organic matter is applied about the gravest of Ahoke's wounds, and he is liberal with the application, until the wounds weep with the surplus. Sen-Jyu is delicate with his touch, as if he did not wish to awaken the wolverine's fury even in kindness.
The Harvester rises, curious, and moves towards his companions. He studies the healing. 'What is it?"
Ahoke shows no signs of going into a furious rage. In fact, although she briefly tenses as if expecting pain, she relaxes when none comes. "Ahhh... that feels good." She looks at at Sen-Jyu for a moment, and then nods. "Thanks," she says. "That makes me almost whole again, when combined with what Harvester did earlier." She eyes the bamboo stick for a moment. "I haven't ever seen anything like that before."
Grinning a little, Sen-Jyu returns to both feet as Harvester nears. "A gift... from my mother," he explains, his voice whispering like wind through grass. He becomes still for a moment, like a prayer in form, then turns to face the Harvester. "You have found something?"
Now that she is clean and mostly healed, Ahoke turns her attention back to the horses, with a look of extreme distaste.
The Harvester looks on the bamboo stick a moment longer, then to Sen-Jyu. "Interesting woman, your mother." He then nods, jerking a thumb back to the second horse. "That one's got a little scab, same place where the crystal was in the first." He pokes the thumb into his forehead with his thumb for emphasis. "Y'all want to crack him open and get it?"
Sen-Jyu blinks, opening his mouth as if to ask a question, but is distracted by the revelation. "... no," he says after a moment of thought. "One can suppose that the cause is likely the same."
The sound of indrawn breath gives all of you pause - a quick glance towards the house reveals a younger man standing next to the barn entrance, frozen in place, staring at you and the slaughtered pair of horses. The color drains from his face as he realizes you have noticed him, and he takes a shaky step backwards.
Ahoke glances over at the guy, and grimaces. "Oh, this can't look good to him," she mutters.
Seeing the man, Sen-Jyu cheerfully waves toward him. "Hello," he greets, loudly enough that the man is sure to hear, and a smile shows Sen-Jyu's warm and slightly blood-spattered face.
"W-who are you? What are you doing with Othic's horses?" The younger man takes another step backwards, bringing him in-line with the barn door. Reflexively, he looks to his right - and chokes back a cry. "Othic!" he says, in a strangled voice, and he turns to regard you in horror.
The Harvester calls out softly, soothingly, "We caused no harm... Othic gave us shelter in the night... and these are no mere 'horses'..." He approaches slowly, in a roundabout way.
Ahoke shakes her head. "We didn't do Othic in, boy," she says as kindly as her gruff dwarven nature will allow her. She stands to her feet, with a sigh.
Sen-Jyu decides against approaching the younger man, but keeps presence of mind enough to lay Ichido-sama at his own feet, a token gesture of peace.
The look of terror shifts ever-so-subtly to one of confusion. "Wh-what do you mean? They are horses, they are! I help Othic take care of them..." Another step back, but more slowly this time.
The Harvester holds up the crystal, that it might sparkle in the rising sunlight. "This was found within the skull of one of them... It changed the creature. Made it unwholesome... We found Othic dead within the barn, then these creatures attacked us. Examine him. You shall see their hoofprints." He continues speaking in the same deep, soothing tones one might for a frightened child or animal, as he maintains the slow approach.
Ahoke nods, looking back towards the horses unhappily, as if expecting to see them rise again. "We should probably put the poor beasts to the pyre," she says. "It would purify them, and release their spirits."
The man's eyes dart towards Othic's corpse again. "I...why would they do that?" And then he does a double-take, as he sees the enormous bite-marks on Othic's body. "Horses can't do that," he breathes softly...
Quite content to leave the human handling to the Harvester, Sen-Jyu finds a clean patch of ground and sits down, keeping one eye on the lad and another on the horses that still live.
Ahoke hehs. "Neither can dwarves. Or humans," she amends. "But strange reptilian creatures wearing the bodies of horses on the other hand.."
The Harvester remarks mildly. "As I said... there were not mere horses..." A gesture. "examine my companions' wounds. They, too, bear the marks of the beasts..." A thumb jerked to the house. "Examine the dwelling. See that we stayed the night in peace." A measured pace forward, still calmly speaking. "Othic spoke of his children. His wife's passing. His love for raising horses..."
The young man slowly crumples to his knees, and tears begin to run down his face. "Othic..." He can't take his eyes off of the ruined corpse laying on the floor of the barn.
The Harvester shakes his head at Ahoke, without turning his gaze from the man, "These were not undead creatures, 'Ke."
"Come," the priest holds out his hand. "Let us lay Othic to the rest that he deserves. A long, fulfilling life had he, so shed no tears. He shall be reborn into the next world." He continues to approach.
Ahoke mms, only looking slightly cheered by that. "If you say so," she says, and then starts to move closer to the barn, and towards the young man. She stops well away from him though, to lessen her chances of spooking him.
Sen-Jyu leans back on his elbows, face tilted upward to catch the morning sun like an open flower.
The young man's hand clutches at Harvester's cloak as the man approaches. "I am Tal. You are...a speaker to the gods?" Now that you're closer, you can get a better look at him. He would be a good-looking young man, but his visage is somewhat spoiled by the dark, puffy circles beneath his eyes - as if he had not been sleeping well lately - if at all.
The Harvester nods once. "I am The Harvester. I speak for He That Comes. You are troubled, son... by more than good Othic's demise."
Tal nods, struggling for the words. "Not just me. The whole town."
The Harvester nods sagely. "Ah... the missing children... and your overdue 'Heroes'..."
"...and the dreams..." Tal says softly.
Ahoke frowns sharply. "What dreams?"
The Harvester's looks curious, then nods as Ahoke asks the question he was thinking.
Tal turns a pleading look at the dwarven warrior. "Nightmares. I...I can't remember them, but I can't sleep. Nobody can."
Ahoke mmms. "I had a dream last night, but I remembered it... I dreamed that something tore my throat open and drank my blood." She looks back to Othic's corpse, and sighs. "I... think that it had something to do with that, but I don't know how."
The Harvester says, "I suspect it is related to your missing children."
Tal looks up at Ahoke and the Harvester. "Can you help us? Will you?"
The Harvester considers the possibilities of furthering his goals before answering, and looks to his friends. "I don't see why not. Y'all?"
Ahoke grunts. "Show him the shard, see if he knows what it is... might be a clue. And yeah, why not? These people seem to be in a bind. Maybe we can get them out of it."
Sen-Jyu watches the three, though he strains to hear their conversation. He quite enjoys the sun, however, and basks in the red light it bestows.
The Harvester lifts the shard between two fingers once more, and allows it to shine in the light. "Know what this might be? Or know anyone who might?"
The stench from the slaughtered...horses...wafts across the meadow, setting the other equines to whickering - and making Sen-Jyu's basking all the more difficult.
Tal climbs to his feet, looking at the sliver of blue. "No...it looks like glass...or a crystal..."
The Harvester nods once. "Yep. That it does." A glance to Ahoke. "Mind splitting the other skull for me, Kay? Grab that crystal too, before we burn 'em?"
Sen-Jyu wrinkles his nose at the smell as it drifts to him. "Perhaps we should burn them," he mutters, getting up and collecting his sword before moving toward the trio. "Sir," he murmurs to Tal, "might you know Othic's spiritual beliefs? How we might best honor him in his after-life?"
Ahoke frowns. "I'm clean," she says grumpily, but stumps over to the horse corpse anyway. "Can someone draw me another bucket while I do this? And someone else should go find some tinder, so that we can at least burn the horses."
Tal licks his lips. "His wife is buried behind the barn," he whispers.
Sen-Jyu bows at the waist to Tal's statement, and begins to look about the barn's insides, presumably for a shovel.
Ahoke lets the axe crash down on the horse's skull with the practicality of a born huntress. She looks down at it for a long moment, and then extracts a shard identical to the first.
The Harvester nods once. "simple burial then? No deific appeasements for his soul?" He calls after Sen-Jyu, "There is a spade in my pack, Sen..." To Tal, "Go. Gather appropriate wrappings, Tal. I shall draw water and begin preparations."
Tal nods, and hurries off.
Sen-Jyu's head peeks out the barn doors, and he nods thanks to the Harvester, entering the house and eagerly pawing through the priest's stuff.
drnuncheon
Explorer
Session Two, Part Two
Tal bid you farewell at the edge of Othic's farm, staying behind to put things to rights. The town is only a few miles down the road - miles that still wear at your aching feet, but ones that are quickly behind you. Now, you stand on the edge of the little village of Bellhold, huddled in the shadow of the mountain known as the Steeple. The watch tower - taller than ten men standing on each other's shoulders, and housing the enormous bell known as the Wyrmcall - looms in the center of town, and you have directions from there to the settlement's only decent inn, a place called the Bell & Clapper.
The Harvester pauses to look on high, at the enormous bell, then nods to his friends. "Shall we secure rooms, meals and a hot bath, then seek out the elders?"
Ahoke moves easily down the road, walking with the two tallfolk. "So... Wyrmcall. Nice name. And yes, I agree with Harvester. It might be best to wait for a fresh day to do anything truly dangerous."
Sen-Jyu grins back at Harvester and Ahoke, taking the lead from his two companions. "Why bother talking about it, then? First one there earns the first drink -- I hope they have good rice wine."
The Harvester takes hold of his heavy scythe with both hands, and breaks into a run, without waiting for so much as a 'Go!' from Sen-Jyu.
Ahoke says, "Is rice wine good, then?" Ahoke perks up at the mention of alcohol of any kind. "Is it as good as ale?" She continues heading towards the village, but doesn't break into a run.
Sen-Jyu provides competition for Harvester in the sprint, only hoping that they don't overshoot the mark of their instructions.
Ahoke lets the boys race, and instead moves along at a sedate pace. "Guess I'll just have to find out for myself," she grunts. She takes the time to look around at any people as she walks.
As you approach the center of town - your directions lead from the watch tower, as it is the most prominent landmark of all - you hear a voice. A filthy man stands at the base of the bell tower, preaching to the crowd. His hair is unwashed and tangled, his clothing tattered and stained, with dirt and other, less identifiable pigments. His eyes latch onto the Harvester as the man leads the pack into the plaza, and he raises his voice and points. "And here we have new friends! Welcome, friends, welcome...he will gladly take you as well. I was just explaining to these fine people here..."
The fine people he speaks of are largely ignoring him, although a small knot of townsfolk stand, and watch. One or two joke amongst themselves, and the others...the others look on with no small amount of fear.
The Harvester's robes kick up as he runs, feet slapping ass as he goes. He hikes them up with one hand as Sen-Jyu begins to outpace him. Then he stops, realizing the spectacle he is making. He moves, now, to the filthy doom-sayer. "Hello, friend." His holy symbol is featured prominently upon his chest. "Who's going to take me, hmm?"
Competition's not much fun when it's against oneself, and Sen-Jyu slows as he realizes the Harvester has thrown the race. He doesn't look at the preacher as at the 'flock', glancing intently among their faces with a childlike curiosity.
The man smiles, and leans down from where he stands on the tower's foundation. His voice drops low, almost to a whisper. "I was just explaining that we are all going to get swallowed." He shows a toothy grin, and straightens up, his voice getting louder. "Swallowed! Deep into the abyss! We will be kept for and cared for by the one who hates us." He nods to Harvester, as if that answered the man's question. "I can see him now...feel him..."
Ahoke catches up, now that her friends have stopped. "What's this? I thought that we were going to get drinks and baths..." she trails off, looking at the priest. "Who's this?" She stops, eyeing him suspiciously. It almost looks as if she sniffs the air.
The people watching him bear the same signs as Tal...dark circles under the eyes, and expressions of weariness and fear. Even those souls who pass by the plaza shuffle listlessly as if they are sleepwalking.
The Harvester spins his scythe over lazily, and plants the butt onto the ground. He leans heavily against it, one hand atop the corsspieve holding the blade. Beneath his robes a foot crosses the other at the ankle. "Hmmm! Do tell!" He sounds both faintly amused, and curious. "Which dear fellow's taking such a dislike to us this day?"
Ahoke looks longingly towards the inn, but sighs, doing much the same thing with her great club as Harvester does with his scythe, without the spinning part. She leans her weight on it, surveying the ragged, wild-eyed human. "Why would the one who hates you take care of you? That seems kind of silly."
The man looks despairingly at Harvester, and stretches out his arms in a plea. "He will bury us," he says. "He will bury us all in the deepest pit." Tears begin to roll down his face. "He talks to me every day, and he tells me he misses me. But I don't miss his whispers." Silently, he mouths the words again: I don't.
Sen-Jyu wanders through the crowd, looking at the faces of the people. He's not all that discreet about his appraisals of their expressions, either -- mostly, he seems just sad for them.
"Uh-HUH. You don't say..." The priest considers, then tries a new tack, staring straight at the man's eyes. "When's the ol' boy coming? How long's he been chattin with you?"
Ahoke is starting to look a little disturbed, as she watches the townspeople. "...not natural," she mutters to herself. Still, she turns her attention to the local madman, curious as to his reply.
"Soon...soon...I won't go back to the mine, I won't..." The man's voice is a breathless whisper now. "The mine is where he'll find me, so I won't go. I'm in his belly and I can feel the flesh rotting around me." His eyes beg the Harvester to understand. "I can feel him at night against my skin!" he insists.
The Harvester's head tilts. "Back to the mine? This wouldn't be Copperdeath returned, would it?"
As Harvester mentions the name, a church bell begins to peal out the hour of the morning, and the man crumples to the stone, curling into a ball and covering his ears. "Not the bells..." he sobs. "Not the bells."
But there was no disguising the look of utter fear that crossed his face...an instant before the bells rang.
Ahoke directs a sidelong look at the person standing next to her. "Is this normal," she murmurs to him.
The man looks down at the muscular dwarf, surprised. "Cobble? He's been gettign worse lately," he says, rubbing at his forehead. He mumbles something about dreams, and now that the crazed man seems to have stopped his ranting, he shuffles off.
The Harvester glances to Ahoke. "Mmmm... Not really. But yes, too, these days. Lots of doomsayers about."
"Doomsayers aren't much fun," says Sen-Jyu as he nears the pair, frowning a little at the discoveries he's made of the crowd. "I wonder why people listen to despair."
The Harvester throws his hood back, his shock of red hair overshadowing his surprise at the madman's reaction. "Interesting... If he's come back," he speaks softly, to his companions, "he... no, he couldn't be undead.. could he?"
Ahoke mmphs. "I don't know. Let's discuss it over drinks, shall we? I'm thirsty." The dwarf then walks past the clump of people, and through the front door of the inn.
The Harvester says, "We'll talk later, Cobble. Stick around, will you?" He turns to follow his friends, remarking quietly, "Ten to one, these dreams started around the time the kids disappeared."
"The bells..."
"... she's thirsty," affirms Sen-Jyu to Harvester, as they walk toward the Bell and Clapper.
The Harvester looks at Sen-Jyu in surprise. "She's thirsty? Again?"
"I think she's leaking from her wounds, still," says Sen-Jyu speculatively. "She's made up mostly of ale."
Ahoke pointedly ignores the tallfolk, and then steps through the front door of the inn, when she gets there.
The Harvester says, "Oh my. I do hope they've got enough ale..." He steps in after the pair."
Sen-Jyu nods in agreement. "Maybe we should just rent a barrel of ale for her to sleep in, rather than a whole room."
Tal bid you farewell at the edge of Othic's farm, staying behind to put things to rights. The town is only a few miles down the road - miles that still wear at your aching feet, but ones that are quickly behind you. Now, you stand on the edge of the little village of Bellhold, huddled in the shadow of the mountain known as the Steeple. The watch tower - taller than ten men standing on each other's shoulders, and housing the enormous bell known as the Wyrmcall - looms in the center of town, and you have directions from there to the settlement's only decent inn, a place called the Bell & Clapper.
The Harvester pauses to look on high, at the enormous bell, then nods to his friends. "Shall we secure rooms, meals and a hot bath, then seek out the elders?"
Ahoke moves easily down the road, walking with the two tallfolk. "So... Wyrmcall. Nice name. And yes, I agree with Harvester. It might be best to wait for a fresh day to do anything truly dangerous."
Sen-Jyu grins back at Harvester and Ahoke, taking the lead from his two companions. "Why bother talking about it, then? First one there earns the first drink -- I hope they have good rice wine."
The Harvester takes hold of his heavy scythe with both hands, and breaks into a run, without waiting for so much as a 'Go!' from Sen-Jyu.
Ahoke says, "Is rice wine good, then?" Ahoke perks up at the mention of alcohol of any kind. "Is it as good as ale?" She continues heading towards the village, but doesn't break into a run.
Sen-Jyu provides competition for Harvester in the sprint, only hoping that they don't overshoot the mark of their instructions.
Ahoke lets the boys race, and instead moves along at a sedate pace. "Guess I'll just have to find out for myself," she grunts. She takes the time to look around at any people as she walks.
As you approach the center of town - your directions lead from the watch tower, as it is the most prominent landmark of all - you hear a voice. A filthy man stands at the base of the bell tower, preaching to the crowd. His hair is unwashed and tangled, his clothing tattered and stained, with dirt and other, less identifiable pigments. His eyes latch onto the Harvester as the man leads the pack into the plaza, and he raises his voice and points. "And here we have new friends! Welcome, friends, welcome...he will gladly take you as well. I was just explaining to these fine people here..."
The fine people he speaks of are largely ignoring him, although a small knot of townsfolk stand, and watch. One or two joke amongst themselves, and the others...the others look on with no small amount of fear.
The Harvester's robes kick up as he runs, feet slapping ass as he goes. He hikes them up with one hand as Sen-Jyu begins to outpace him. Then he stops, realizing the spectacle he is making. He moves, now, to the filthy doom-sayer. "Hello, friend." His holy symbol is featured prominently upon his chest. "Who's going to take me, hmm?"
Competition's not much fun when it's against oneself, and Sen-Jyu slows as he realizes the Harvester has thrown the race. He doesn't look at the preacher as at the 'flock', glancing intently among their faces with a childlike curiosity.
The man smiles, and leans down from where he stands on the tower's foundation. His voice drops low, almost to a whisper. "I was just explaining that we are all going to get swallowed." He shows a toothy grin, and straightens up, his voice getting louder. "Swallowed! Deep into the abyss! We will be kept for and cared for by the one who hates us." He nods to Harvester, as if that answered the man's question. "I can see him now...feel him..."
Ahoke catches up, now that her friends have stopped. "What's this? I thought that we were going to get drinks and baths..." she trails off, looking at the priest. "Who's this?" She stops, eyeing him suspiciously. It almost looks as if she sniffs the air.
The people watching him bear the same signs as Tal...dark circles under the eyes, and expressions of weariness and fear. Even those souls who pass by the plaza shuffle listlessly as if they are sleepwalking.
The Harvester spins his scythe over lazily, and plants the butt onto the ground. He leans heavily against it, one hand atop the corsspieve holding the blade. Beneath his robes a foot crosses the other at the ankle. "Hmmm! Do tell!" He sounds both faintly amused, and curious. "Which dear fellow's taking such a dislike to us this day?"
Ahoke looks longingly towards the inn, but sighs, doing much the same thing with her great club as Harvester does with his scythe, without the spinning part. She leans her weight on it, surveying the ragged, wild-eyed human. "Why would the one who hates you take care of you? That seems kind of silly."
The man looks despairingly at Harvester, and stretches out his arms in a plea. "He will bury us," he says. "He will bury us all in the deepest pit." Tears begin to roll down his face. "He talks to me every day, and he tells me he misses me. But I don't miss his whispers." Silently, he mouths the words again: I don't.
Sen-Jyu wanders through the crowd, looking at the faces of the people. He's not all that discreet about his appraisals of their expressions, either -- mostly, he seems just sad for them.
"Uh-HUH. You don't say..." The priest considers, then tries a new tack, staring straight at the man's eyes. "When's the ol' boy coming? How long's he been chattin with you?"
Ahoke is starting to look a little disturbed, as she watches the townspeople. "...not natural," she mutters to herself. Still, she turns her attention to the local madman, curious as to his reply.
"Soon...soon...I won't go back to the mine, I won't..." The man's voice is a breathless whisper now. "The mine is where he'll find me, so I won't go. I'm in his belly and I can feel the flesh rotting around me." His eyes beg the Harvester to understand. "I can feel him at night against my skin!" he insists.
The Harvester's head tilts. "Back to the mine? This wouldn't be Copperdeath returned, would it?"
As Harvester mentions the name, a church bell begins to peal out the hour of the morning, and the man crumples to the stone, curling into a ball and covering his ears. "Not the bells..." he sobs. "Not the bells."
But there was no disguising the look of utter fear that crossed his face...an instant before the bells rang.
Ahoke directs a sidelong look at the person standing next to her. "Is this normal," she murmurs to him.
The man looks down at the muscular dwarf, surprised. "Cobble? He's been gettign worse lately," he says, rubbing at his forehead. He mumbles something about dreams, and now that the crazed man seems to have stopped his ranting, he shuffles off.
The Harvester glances to Ahoke. "Mmmm... Not really. But yes, too, these days. Lots of doomsayers about."
"Doomsayers aren't much fun," says Sen-Jyu as he nears the pair, frowning a little at the discoveries he's made of the crowd. "I wonder why people listen to despair."
The Harvester throws his hood back, his shock of red hair overshadowing his surprise at the madman's reaction. "Interesting... If he's come back," he speaks softly, to his companions, "he... no, he couldn't be undead.. could he?"
Ahoke mmphs. "I don't know. Let's discuss it over drinks, shall we? I'm thirsty." The dwarf then walks past the clump of people, and through the front door of the inn.
The Harvester says, "We'll talk later, Cobble. Stick around, will you?" He turns to follow his friends, remarking quietly, "Ten to one, these dreams started around the time the kids disappeared."
"The bells..."
"... she's thirsty," affirms Sen-Jyu to Harvester, as they walk toward the Bell and Clapper.
The Harvester looks at Sen-Jyu in surprise. "She's thirsty? Again?"
"I think she's leaking from her wounds, still," says Sen-Jyu speculatively. "She's made up mostly of ale."
Ahoke pointedly ignores the tallfolk, and then steps through the front door of the inn, when she gets there.
The Harvester says, "Oh my. I do hope they've got enough ale..." He steps in after the pair."
Sen-Jyu nods in agreement. "Maybe we should just rent a barrel of ale for her to sleep in, rather than a whole room."
drnuncheon
Explorer
Session Two, Part Three
The Bell and Clapper is one of the larger buildings in town, rivalling even the foundries you passed on the way in: three stories of ancient inn that has served travelers for decades. The common room is decorated with memoria of Copperdeath - a portrait of the heros that slew him, weapons hung out of reach on the walls...and behind the bar, a talon the length of a large man's arm.
A muscular half-elf stands behind the bar, listlessly polishing it - but he manages a grin as you enter. "Greetings! It's not the season for travelers, but welcome, welcome."
The Harvester realizes something. "I just realized.... Ahoke got here first... we owe her a drink... a small one, right?"
Ahoke grins over her shoulder at the two. "Small one will work," she says. "And besides, I don't drink all that much. My people didn't even /have/ ale." She turns greedy eyes upon the half elf. "Give me a tankard," she says. "My friends are paying for it."
"... small brewery?" Sen-Jyu hazards quietly to the Harvester, then manages a wan smile for the dwarf. Looking up at the bartend, he manages a light chuckle. "... please, no water in it. We have to -travel- with her."
"It's nice to have friends." The tankard is expertly filled, topped with a rich foam, and set down in front of the dwarf. "Welcome to the Bell and Clapper. My name's Tokket."
Ahoke mmms, climbing up onto a barstool. "Real good to have friends. And it's good to meet you. I'm Ahoke, from The North." She puts significant emphasis on those final words, as if that should mean something.
"Really? Across the mountains?" The bartender looks surprised. "You're lucky the weather held as long as it did."
Sen-Jyu is the second to step up to the counter and inquires, "Rice wine? Please?" The emphasis is on the imploration, as if an alternative would be tragic.
The Harvester nods his head, "Hello, Tokket. I'm The Harvester. I'll take a tankard of your finest, and three hot meals for all of us."
Ahoke nods in agreement with Tokket. "Yeah, we are. You've been there?" She takes a long, even lusty sip of her ale, sighing in satisfaction. She peers over at Harvester. "Hot meals. Yes, how could I have forgotten?"
Tokket looks to the other two - a glance at the scythe propped against his bar as the Harvester introduces himself, and a curious look at Sen-Jyu. "Reiss wine? Not familiar with it. Is it a red, or a white?"
The Harvester jerks a thumb at Sen-Jyu and says, with a grin and wink, "On his tab."
Sen-Jyu rubs his forehead as he murmurs, "... water, as cold as you can make it without my having to chip off pieces to drink."
Tokket clears his throat. "Now, I'm not sure if you've been in town long enough to have heard this," he says apologetically, "but folks have been getting bad headaches, and there are some who say as it's the water. I'm not sure, mind you, and I hope not, but I figure better safe then sorry." He waits a moment, to see if Sen-Jyu will change his mind, then shrugs. "But it's your head."
Ahoke drinks some more of her ale. "Something in the water? You think that might be what's causing the nightmares too?" She eyes Tokket carefully, over the rim of her tankard.
"Well..." Tokket sets the Harvester's drink before him, and leans down on the bar to talk to the dwarf. "/Personally/, I think someone in town has upset the gods, and this is our punishment. Omens, y'see."
Sen-Jyu shrugs, "Is the ale made with water drawn from local sources?"
Ahoke sets the tankard of ale down on the bartop, frowning. "I don't have much to do with gods," she says slowly, "Least, until I met him." She nods towards Harvester. "What could someone do to make one of these gods punish an entire town?"
The Harvester takes a long, slow sip of his ale. "I dunno... tastes fine to me.... The gods, eh?" He looks at Tokket thoughtfully. "Seems to me that most of the gods are sleepin on the job..."
The Harvester grins at Ahoke at that.
Tokket thinks about it. "Y'know...most of it is made from the well...but not the wine," he says firmly. "Grapes don't grow well here, we have to import it."
"One would think that if one had roused a god's ire, that god would want to date and sign his or her handiwork, not act in indirect ways. After all," Sen-Jyu says, tilting his head toward the Harvester, "they're not so shy about proving their powers through their servants." He licks his lips. "I'll have some of your wine, then."
The Harvester chuckles at Sen-Jyu, "Most of 'em, yes... But most ain't concerning themselves with us much, these days." He shrugs, then gestures to Tokket to come closer.
Ahoke shrugs, and drinks more ale. "I had a nightmare last night, and I hadn't even drank any water from the town. Dreams don't get much worse, I imagine."
Tokket nods, and pulls forth a bottle from under the bar. "This here's a good vintage," he says, applying the corkscrew vigorously. "Ol' Branthon used to love it, 'fore he passed on, gods rest his soul." The cork pops free, and deep red pours into the glass. "Had a bottle of it with him the night he died." He leans over to listen to the Harvester as he pours.
The Harvester sets his tankard down. "Know an old fellow, name of Othic? Raises horses outside of town?" He speaks quietly enough, so as not to broadcast to the entire tavern.
Sen-Jyu's expression goes flat as the Harvester begins to speak.
Tokket nods, sliding the wine over to Sen-Jyu. "Othic? I do indeed."
Accepting the wine, Sen-Jyu waits to partake, watching the exchange between Harv and Tok.
The Harvester nods once. "He's dead." The statement is given matter-of-factly, as though death is just an everyday occurence - which it is - and not to be feared - which it isn't, to Harvester, anyway.
Tokket rubs at his forehead. "That's...that's awful. He wasn't that old..."
The Harvester says, "No? He appearedto've lived a long life..."
The thin swordsman takes up the wine, and rather than sip it slowly, he takes it whole, as one long, shallow breath. The glass is set back upright on the bar's face, but a sobriety hangs about the usually-cheerful Sen-Jyu.
Ahoke takes a drink, nodding. "Had to be at least 200 years old, guessing."
Tokket's eyes look back and forth. "I...well, he remembered the dragon, but still...he was so healthy..."
The Harvester says, "Welll..." A drawn out sound. "He didn't exactly die of illness... but at the tooth and hoof of a pair of animals...""
"His /horses/?" Tokket is incredulous. "But...how? Why?"
Sen-Jyu seems a bit troubled by the whole conversation, and traces his finger over the lip of his glass with some agitation.
Ahoke sighs, leaving the weirdness to Harvester since he seems to handle that sort of thing with ease, and glances at Sen-Jyu. "What's wrong?"
The Harvester's belly rumbles warning, and he drinks some more ale. "A pair of his horses ran away some time ago... we came across Othic yesterday, trying to catch them. We helped, he offered shelter." Another sip to silence his hunger. "We awoke this morning and found him dead in the barn." A shake of his head. "These tweren't his horses. They may've been once, but no longer. They could transfix you with their stare - make you do things, or nothing. But we slew them and discovered this in one of their skulls." He pulls out a scroll tube and draws out a piece of cloth, which, unwrapped, reveals a single crystalline blue sliver.
Tokket's jaw hangs open. "But...I don't understand."
The Harvester sets the now empty tankard down. "Nor do I. You know anyone who might?"
Sen-Jyu nods as Harvester begins to tell the tale, and listens carefully as if he hadn't been there for the playing out of these events. As if in explanation, he adds to the Harvester's words, "There's good reason to feel that something malicious is at work."
Ahoke exhales sharply, looking back at the half elf with some pity. "I don't understand it either," she informs him, drinking deeply of her ale.
Sen-Jyu appends, keeping his voice at a whisper, "We feel that there may be a connection with the omens you mentioned."
The Harvester looks at Tokket, expectantly awaiting reply as he lazily turns his tankard in a circle.
As you speak, your conversation is interrupted by the tolling of a great bell - so loud and pure of tone that you can feel it reverberating in your chest, even inside the inn. It seems to go on for quite some time, and as the sound dies away, you hear voices calling outside, rising and fading as the messengers move through the streets: "Town meeting in the Plaza at the twilight-bell! Town meeting in the plaza at the twilight-bell!"
Ahoke stops drinking, staring at the cloth. "That's not good," she says.
The Harvester looks away from Tokket, to Ahoke. "Something wrong, Kay?"
Ahoke nods towards the cloth with the shard lying on it. "Did you bump that, as the bell was tolling?"
The Harvester frowns and looks at the shard, "No.... Can't say as I did..."
Ahoke says, "It vibrated when the bell rang. I know it did.""
"You mentioned a 'Branthon'," says Sen-Jyu to Tokken. "Was he one of the heroes that destroyed Copperdeath?" He frowns, tilting his head at what Ahoke noted.
The Harvester looks from the shard, to Ahoke, then back again. "Did it? How interesting... that might be a good thing..."
Tokket chuckles at Ahoke. "That's not surprising - the Wyrmcall is so loud...well, Branthon," he says with a nod to Sen-Jyu, "-godsresthissoul - he stumbled up the tower drunk one night with a bottle of that red. Well, they rang the bell the next morning, and it was so loud it shattered the bottle and killed the poor guy."
Ahoke mmphs, not looking entirely sure about that, but finally nods, finishing off her drink. "Why's the bell so loud?"
"Hmm. How long ago did this man die, may the spirits be kind to him in his passing, if I may ask?" Sen-Jyu seems quite attentive to Tokket's anecdotes.
"Pride of the city, the Wyrmcall is," Brandon says. "Used to be sounded when Copperdeath was coming, to warn the town and everyone around it. It was years ago," he tells the slender man. "Forty, fifty - I don't recall."
"Pride of the city, the Wyrmcall is," Tokket says. "Used to be sounded when Copperdeath was coming, to warn the town and everyone around it. It was years ago," he tells the slender man. "Four, five - I don't recall. But no, he didn't fight Copperdeath. M'mam did," he says, gesturing with pride towards the talon.
Ahoke blinks, looking towards Tokket with renewed interest. "Your mother fought a dragon?"
Tokket grins. "Fought him and slew him - with her friends, of course, not alone, although it was only her and Toren that survived, and Toren ran out on her."
Ahoke grins. "Sounds like a tough woman." Her tone suggests that she approves.
Sen-Jyu taps the rim of his empty glass insinuatively. He leans over toward Ahoke, asking, "Did you say that you saw the crystal... vibrate?"
Tokket grins. "Oh she was, she was. I've actually got Thrommel's diary - he was a dwarf, a priest who fought by her side." As a reflex, he refills Sen-Jyu's glass, and then a look of horror crosses his face. "Oh! Your food! I got so wrapped up in talking that I forgot!"
The Harvester nods pleasantly, "Our food, yes. And more questions when you return, maybe? I wonder if we might see Thrommel's diary sometime?"
Ahoke grins at Tokket. "Ah well, no harm done. I'm not hungry enough yet that I want to have boiled half elf for lunch." She glances at Sen, then. "Yeah, the crystal vibrated. Which I thought kind of strange."
Sen-Jyu lowers his voice in speaking with Ahoke. "When I spoke with the horse in the field, he seemed... normal. Horse-like. Not as a hideous creature of pure maleficence. Some change occurred that night. Imagine having that crystal lodged in your brain, then having it vibrate at the twilight bell. Perhaps that is the change that occurred."
The Harvester speaks just as quietly, "Well... I was in the barn for n hour or so, at the break between days... I witnessed nothing untoward at that time..."
Ahoke thinks for a moment, looking at Sen-Jyu. "I don't know... those horses had taken off for days at a time. We didn't keep herd beasts, but that doesn't seem too normal to me. Are you /sure/ that they were being normal? What did it say to you?"
The Harvester gets a curious look on his face. "You _spoke_ with them?"
Sen-Jyu shrugs, "Perhaps your god protected you then as before. There is some sort of connection, however." To Ahoke, he nodded. "He had mentioned that he had not yet been chased enough by Othic. That's why they were being difficult -- they had wanted to play."
"Ah... perhaps, perhaps..." The priest takes his tankard in hand, while Tokket is away procuring their meals, and leans over the bar to fill his cup from the tap.
Ahoke looks extremely dubious. "Do horses disappear from home and wander around for days at a time? I thought that hooved animals were more... placid..."
"I cannot explain that, yet," admits Sen-Jyu. "But if you are right, about the crystal resonating with the Wyrmcall, then there's certain to be some connection."
The Harvester shrugs as he sits back and sips. "Horses are more spirited than cows and the like - though the timing of their disappearance and their return and attack on Othic are suspect, to my mind."
Ahoke nods. "I hope that there aren't /people/ in this town with those shards in their brains," she says in an undertone.
The Harvester looks up suddenly. "Cobble."
Tokket returns, carefully balancing three earthenware plates, on each of which rests a bulbous, unidentifiable mass covered in a thick brown sauce or gravy of some kind. Tucked under one arm is a loaf of fresh bread, and he grins as he sets the bounty down on the bar. "There we are, first of the lunches."
Ahoke looks vaguely ill at Harvester's words, but then shakes it off. "Food!" She beams at Tokket, as if he's the most stunning man alive, and then digs into her food, identifiable or not. She pushes her empty tankard to him, imploringly.
Tokket refills the tankard. Ahoke, at the least, is able to identify the outer casing of the mass as the stomach of some creature, but it's been stuffed with bits of meat, chopped vegetables and grain, and then boiled. Tokket beams as she tucks in.
Sen-Jyu looks at the food, then to Tokken. "What is it...?" he asks, doing the best he can to disguise the uncertainty in his voice as curiosity tempered well with appreciation.
The Harvester draws the odors in through his nose, and smiles appreciatively. "Excellent..." He takes a knife in hand and slices the casing open. He licks his lips and begins to eat. A piece of bread is torn away and he sops up gravy before adding that to what he chews.
Ahoke swallows her first bite, grinning. "It's delicious, is what it is. What kind of stomach is it? Sheep? And the stuffing... perfect." She washes it down with a swallow of ale, and then cuts into the meat again.
Tokket says, "Yes, sheep, indeed. It's my wife's specialty, that is."
The Harvester gestures with his utensil, to the talon. "What sort of dragon was this Copperdeath?"
"...Probably a big one," mutters Ahoke, frowning.
Tokket nods. "A big one, indeed," he says, needlessly indicating the talon. "Blue like a mountain lake, they say."
The Harvester looks at the blue shard and nods, thoughtfully. "I suspected... another connection, perhaps?"
Ahoke scowls. "How did your mother and her friends kill this dragon, anyway?"
Sen-Jyu digs in with less relish, handling the utensils given him in a woefully inadequate manner.
Tokket gestures towards an axe that hangs on the wall, its haft shattered - or, now that you look closer, perhaps it was bitten in half. "That was Dorek's axe. He was a brave man, and my mother said she'd never have slain it without him. They were the only ones left - well, them and Toren." He spits on the floor. "Copperdeath was about to bite her when Dorek charged, and hit the dragon so hard some of its scales cracked. Copperdeath bit him in half, but while he was doing that, mother struck him where the scales were gone, and that did him in." He smiles a bit. "Thrommel would have been proud, I think - he thought she was only good for a song."
The Harvester speaks around a mouthful, "Use your fingers if y'want, Sen. Nobody cares."
Ahoke considers. "What did they do with the body?"
The Harvester nods as he swallows, and drinks, content to allow Ahoke the questions for now.
Tokket looks a bit surprised. "Still up there, I should imagine. It was too big to move, so they left it."
Sen-Jyu disregards the Harvester's recommendations, prodding and attacking the lump of comestible as if it were an enemy, needing to be cut up and eaten for the greater good of all.
The Harvester says, "Thrommel was the dwarf priest, right? You said he had a diary? Could we see it sometime?"
Tokket nods. "Of course!"
Ahoke hmms. "I wonder... a dragon has to be inhabited by a powerful spirit, I should think. What if he wasn't dead, but only sleeping? Maybe he's awakening." She takes another bite of food, chewing thoughtfully. "Tell your wife that she's a real good cook."
The Harvester smiles, setting his utensils on the empty plate with a clatter. "Yes, do tell her so!" He looks thoughtful. "And this Toren ran, like a coward? What became of him?"
"Hid during the fight, ran off afterward. Mother never chased him - she'd had enough of the adventuring life - so I don't rightly know after that."
Sen-Jyu has certainly mastered the art of hack and slash, and the innards of the mound spill out in gravy-rich streams of its lifeblood. Victorious, Sen-Jyu stabs one of the severed chunks with the pointy bit of his knife and deposits it into his mouth, chewing carefully.
The Harvester nods once, and finishes off his second tankard. "Well, he'll die soon enough, if he hasn't already. Maybe he'll do better next time 'round."
Ahoke hmmphs. "Maybe he'll be a badger next time around. At least badgers have fighting spirit," she says. "Still... I think that all of this crap is the dragon waking up." She shrugs. "I hope I'm wrong, though."
Tokket shakes his head. "No...mother was certain the thing died...she always said she saw the light go out of its eyes, and anything less would not have freed the town."
Ahoke hmms. "Well, that's good, anyway," she says, finishing off her meal.
The Harvester glances to the door. "What's up with the Cobble fellow, anyway? How long's he been like this?"
"Mmm," murmurs Sen-Jyu past a mouthful of food. "Mmm mmmm MMM mmmm mmmm mm mmmmm m mmm-mmm."
"Cobble's always been a bit strange, but since the dreams and the headaches..."
The Harvester nods, "Yes, do tell us about those - the dreams and headaches."
Sen-Jyu swallows his food, pointing the tined end of his fork at Ahoke. "I thought -you- would have liked to fight a dragon," he says.
Ahoke snorts. "I like a good fight. I'm not ready to be reborn just yet, though," she says.
The Harvester grins. "Being reborn ain't so bad... trust me." He looks as though he knows, personally, but doesn't seem to be elaborating.
Ahoke shrugs. "I'll take your word for it," she says. "But Wolverine and I have a few more adventures that we want to go through /this/ round."
Now that it's approaching noon, a few people have begun to trickle in, bringing with them the smell of hot metal - they must work at the foundry. An older woman - Tokket's wife, perhaps, showing her age more than her elf-blooded husband - emerges from the kitchen and begins to take orders. Following them in is a woman done in perfect miniature, half size from her head down to her hairy bare feet.
"There's not much to say, except that nobody's getting much sleep," Tokket admits. "But the old witch Utrish claims they'll be gone inside of a week. If you believe her. Hello Heather!" he calls to the tiny woman. "No word from Corum yet?" She shakes her head sadly.
Ahoke looks curiously over her shoulder at the new arrivals. Being the friendly sort, she moves her great club out of the way, in case someone would want to sit beside her.
Sen-Jyu seems to be full, after only a few bites, though it's as likely his frustration with the tools he's been given to do the work. A glance at his compatriots in inquiry, one hand palm up indicating the remnants of his meal.
Ahoke grins at Sen-Jyu, and reaches out to grab the plate. She does, out of belated politeness, glance questioningly at Harvester.
The Harvester shakes his head, patting his belly and giving a small belch. He swivels on his stool to see the pint-sized female. A pleasant smile is given, then he notes her sad reply. "Corum?" he asks Tokket softly. "Is that one of the missing children? or likely one of the 'Heroes' gone in search of them?"
Tokket nods. "She's Corum Mosstoes' sister. Corum's one of the Heroes of the Bell. Stout lad."
Ahoke takes the plate, and begins eating the food with slightly less gusto than before.
The Harvester says, "Yeah... Othic told us about that last night... How long've the kids been gone? Did they all disappear at the same time, or singly?"
Sen-Jyu lifts his beltpouch to table-height, fingers sifting through the coins. "Mind if we settle our debt?" he asks after Tokket as a polite interruption.
Ahoke looks up from her meal. "Is it also possible to get rooms, and baths? We've been on the road for weeks."
"One at a time, over the last week," Tokket tells you - and nods to Sen-Jyu. "That'll be a silver each if y'please, and one for the drinks. As for rooms, we've got plenty - six silvers a day, and that pays for your food as well."
Ahoke gets out some of her money, to pay for her share of the costs, and then finishes off her second meal.
The Harvester ahs. "Of course..." he pulls out his own pouch and withdraws two silver pieces and places them on the bar. "Excellent.." He looks to his companions, then motions them closer. "A moment please, Tokket..."
Sen-Jyu draws a gilded coin from his purse, placing it within Tokket's easy reach. "I think I'll be taking one of your rooms, if I might impose upon your hospitality."
The Harvester speaks in hushed tones with his friends. "Do we wish separate rooms? Perhaps it would be wisest, given the goings-on, to share a single large room?"
Ahoke thinks about that for a moment, and then nods. "But you can't watch when I'm taking a bath," she says, with a grin.
The Bell and Clapper is one of the larger buildings in town, rivalling even the foundries you passed on the way in: three stories of ancient inn that has served travelers for decades. The common room is decorated with memoria of Copperdeath - a portrait of the heros that slew him, weapons hung out of reach on the walls...and behind the bar, a talon the length of a large man's arm.
A muscular half-elf stands behind the bar, listlessly polishing it - but he manages a grin as you enter. "Greetings! It's not the season for travelers, but welcome, welcome."
The Harvester realizes something. "I just realized.... Ahoke got here first... we owe her a drink... a small one, right?"
Ahoke grins over her shoulder at the two. "Small one will work," she says. "And besides, I don't drink all that much. My people didn't even /have/ ale." She turns greedy eyes upon the half elf. "Give me a tankard," she says. "My friends are paying for it."
"... small brewery?" Sen-Jyu hazards quietly to the Harvester, then manages a wan smile for the dwarf. Looking up at the bartend, he manages a light chuckle. "... please, no water in it. We have to -travel- with her."
"It's nice to have friends." The tankard is expertly filled, topped with a rich foam, and set down in front of the dwarf. "Welcome to the Bell and Clapper. My name's Tokket."
Ahoke mmms, climbing up onto a barstool. "Real good to have friends. And it's good to meet you. I'm Ahoke, from The North." She puts significant emphasis on those final words, as if that should mean something.
"Really? Across the mountains?" The bartender looks surprised. "You're lucky the weather held as long as it did."
Sen-Jyu is the second to step up to the counter and inquires, "Rice wine? Please?" The emphasis is on the imploration, as if an alternative would be tragic.
The Harvester nods his head, "Hello, Tokket. I'm The Harvester. I'll take a tankard of your finest, and three hot meals for all of us."
Ahoke nods in agreement with Tokket. "Yeah, we are. You've been there?" She takes a long, even lusty sip of her ale, sighing in satisfaction. She peers over at Harvester. "Hot meals. Yes, how could I have forgotten?"
Tokket looks to the other two - a glance at the scythe propped against his bar as the Harvester introduces himself, and a curious look at Sen-Jyu. "Reiss wine? Not familiar with it. Is it a red, or a white?"
The Harvester jerks a thumb at Sen-Jyu and says, with a grin and wink, "On his tab."
Sen-Jyu rubs his forehead as he murmurs, "... water, as cold as you can make it without my having to chip off pieces to drink."
Tokket clears his throat. "Now, I'm not sure if you've been in town long enough to have heard this," he says apologetically, "but folks have been getting bad headaches, and there are some who say as it's the water. I'm not sure, mind you, and I hope not, but I figure better safe then sorry." He waits a moment, to see if Sen-Jyu will change his mind, then shrugs. "But it's your head."
Ahoke drinks some more of her ale. "Something in the water? You think that might be what's causing the nightmares too?" She eyes Tokket carefully, over the rim of her tankard.
"Well..." Tokket sets the Harvester's drink before him, and leans down on the bar to talk to the dwarf. "/Personally/, I think someone in town has upset the gods, and this is our punishment. Omens, y'see."
Sen-Jyu shrugs, "Is the ale made with water drawn from local sources?"
Ahoke sets the tankard of ale down on the bartop, frowning. "I don't have much to do with gods," she says slowly, "Least, until I met him." She nods towards Harvester. "What could someone do to make one of these gods punish an entire town?"
The Harvester takes a long, slow sip of his ale. "I dunno... tastes fine to me.... The gods, eh?" He looks at Tokket thoughtfully. "Seems to me that most of the gods are sleepin on the job..."
The Harvester grins at Ahoke at that.
Tokket thinks about it. "Y'know...most of it is made from the well...but not the wine," he says firmly. "Grapes don't grow well here, we have to import it."
"One would think that if one had roused a god's ire, that god would want to date and sign his or her handiwork, not act in indirect ways. After all," Sen-Jyu says, tilting his head toward the Harvester, "they're not so shy about proving their powers through their servants." He licks his lips. "I'll have some of your wine, then."
The Harvester chuckles at Sen-Jyu, "Most of 'em, yes... But most ain't concerning themselves with us much, these days." He shrugs, then gestures to Tokket to come closer.
Ahoke shrugs, and drinks more ale. "I had a nightmare last night, and I hadn't even drank any water from the town. Dreams don't get much worse, I imagine."
Tokket nods, and pulls forth a bottle from under the bar. "This here's a good vintage," he says, applying the corkscrew vigorously. "Ol' Branthon used to love it, 'fore he passed on, gods rest his soul." The cork pops free, and deep red pours into the glass. "Had a bottle of it with him the night he died." He leans over to listen to the Harvester as he pours.
The Harvester sets his tankard down. "Know an old fellow, name of Othic? Raises horses outside of town?" He speaks quietly enough, so as not to broadcast to the entire tavern.
Sen-Jyu's expression goes flat as the Harvester begins to speak.
Tokket nods, sliding the wine over to Sen-Jyu. "Othic? I do indeed."
Accepting the wine, Sen-Jyu waits to partake, watching the exchange between Harv and Tok.
The Harvester nods once. "He's dead." The statement is given matter-of-factly, as though death is just an everyday occurence - which it is - and not to be feared - which it isn't, to Harvester, anyway.
Tokket rubs at his forehead. "That's...that's awful. He wasn't that old..."
The Harvester says, "No? He appearedto've lived a long life..."
The thin swordsman takes up the wine, and rather than sip it slowly, he takes it whole, as one long, shallow breath. The glass is set back upright on the bar's face, but a sobriety hangs about the usually-cheerful Sen-Jyu.
Ahoke takes a drink, nodding. "Had to be at least 200 years old, guessing."
Tokket's eyes look back and forth. "I...well, he remembered the dragon, but still...he was so healthy..."
The Harvester says, "Welll..." A drawn out sound. "He didn't exactly die of illness... but at the tooth and hoof of a pair of animals...""
"His /horses/?" Tokket is incredulous. "But...how? Why?"
Sen-Jyu seems a bit troubled by the whole conversation, and traces his finger over the lip of his glass with some agitation.
Ahoke sighs, leaving the weirdness to Harvester since he seems to handle that sort of thing with ease, and glances at Sen-Jyu. "What's wrong?"
The Harvester's belly rumbles warning, and he drinks some more ale. "A pair of his horses ran away some time ago... we came across Othic yesterday, trying to catch them. We helped, he offered shelter." Another sip to silence his hunger. "We awoke this morning and found him dead in the barn." A shake of his head. "These tweren't his horses. They may've been once, but no longer. They could transfix you with their stare - make you do things, or nothing. But we slew them and discovered this in one of their skulls." He pulls out a scroll tube and draws out a piece of cloth, which, unwrapped, reveals a single crystalline blue sliver.
Tokket's jaw hangs open. "But...I don't understand."
The Harvester sets the now empty tankard down. "Nor do I. You know anyone who might?"
Sen-Jyu nods as Harvester begins to tell the tale, and listens carefully as if he hadn't been there for the playing out of these events. As if in explanation, he adds to the Harvester's words, "There's good reason to feel that something malicious is at work."
Ahoke exhales sharply, looking back at the half elf with some pity. "I don't understand it either," she informs him, drinking deeply of her ale.
Sen-Jyu appends, keeping his voice at a whisper, "We feel that there may be a connection with the omens you mentioned."
The Harvester looks at Tokket, expectantly awaiting reply as he lazily turns his tankard in a circle.
As you speak, your conversation is interrupted by the tolling of a great bell - so loud and pure of tone that you can feel it reverberating in your chest, even inside the inn. It seems to go on for quite some time, and as the sound dies away, you hear voices calling outside, rising and fading as the messengers move through the streets: "Town meeting in the Plaza at the twilight-bell! Town meeting in the plaza at the twilight-bell!"
Ahoke stops drinking, staring at the cloth. "That's not good," she says.
The Harvester looks away from Tokket, to Ahoke. "Something wrong, Kay?"
Ahoke nods towards the cloth with the shard lying on it. "Did you bump that, as the bell was tolling?"
The Harvester frowns and looks at the shard, "No.... Can't say as I did..."
Ahoke says, "It vibrated when the bell rang. I know it did.""
"You mentioned a 'Branthon'," says Sen-Jyu to Tokken. "Was he one of the heroes that destroyed Copperdeath?" He frowns, tilting his head at what Ahoke noted.
The Harvester looks from the shard, to Ahoke, then back again. "Did it? How interesting... that might be a good thing..."
Tokket chuckles at Ahoke. "That's not surprising - the Wyrmcall is so loud...well, Branthon," he says with a nod to Sen-Jyu, "-godsresthissoul - he stumbled up the tower drunk one night with a bottle of that red. Well, they rang the bell the next morning, and it was so loud it shattered the bottle and killed the poor guy."
Ahoke mmphs, not looking entirely sure about that, but finally nods, finishing off her drink. "Why's the bell so loud?"
"Hmm. How long ago did this man die, may the spirits be kind to him in his passing, if I may ask?" Sen-Jyu seems quite attentive to Tokket's anecdotes.
"Pride of the city, the Wyrmcall is," Brandon says. "Used to be sounded when Copperdeath was coming, to warn the town and everyone around it. It was years ago," he tells the slender man. "Forty, fifty - I don't recall."
"Pride of the city, the Wyrmcall is," Tokket says. "Used to be sounded when Copperdeath was coming, to warn the town and everyone around it. It was years ago," he tells the slender man. "Four, five - I don't recall. But no, he didn't fight Copperdeath. M'mam did," he says, gesturing with pride towards the talon.
Ahoke blinks, looking towards Tokket with renewed interest. "Your mother fought a dragon?"
Tokket grins. "Fought him and slew him - with her friends, of course, not alone, although it was only her and Toren that survived, and Toren ran out on her."
Ahoke grins. "Sounds like a tough woman." Her tone suggests that she approves.
Sen-Jyu taps the rim of his empty glass insinuatively. He leans over toward Ahoke, asking, "Did you say that you saw the crystal... vibrate?"
Tokket grins. "Oh she was, she was. I've actually got Thrommel's diary - he was a dwarf, a priest who fought by her side." As a reflex, he refills Sen-Jyu's glass, and then a look of horror crosses his face. "Oh! Your food! I got so wrapped up in talking that I forgot!"
The Harvester nods pleasantly, "Our food, yes. And more questions when you return, maybe? I wonder if we might see Thrommel's diary sometime?"
Ahoke grins at Tokket. "Ah well, no harm done. I'm not hungry enough yet that I want to have boiled half elf for lunch." She glances at Sen, then. "Yeah, the crystal vibrated. Which I thought kind of strange."
Sen-Jyu lowers his voice in speaking with Ahoke. "When I spoke with the horse in the field, he seemed... normal. Horse-like. Not as a hideous creature of pure maleficence. Some change occurred that night. Imagine having that crystal lodged in your brain, then having it vibrate at the twilight bell. Perhaps that is the change that occurred."
The Harvester speaks just as quietly, "Well... I was in the barn for n hour or so, at the break between days... I witnessed nothing untoward at that time..."
Ahoke thinks for a moment, looking at Sen-Jyu. "I don't know... those horses had taken off for days at a time. We didn't keep herd beasts, but that doesn't seem too normal to me. Are you /sure/ that they were being normal? What did it say to you?"
The Harvester gets a curious look on his face. "You _spoke_ with them?"
Sen-Jyu shrugs, "Perhaps your god protected you then as before. There is some sort of connection, however." To Ahoke, he nodded. "He had mentioned that he had not yet been chased enough by Othic. That's why they were being difficult -- they had wanted to play."
"Ah... perhaps, perhaps..." The priest takes his tankard in hand, while Tokket is away procuring their meals, and leans over the bar to fill his cup from the tap.
Ahoke looks extremely dubious. "Do horses disappear from home and wander around for days at a time? I thought that hooved animals were more... placid..."
"I cannot explain that, yet," admits Sen-Jyu. "But if you are right, about the crystal resonating with the Wyrmcall, then there's certain to be some connection."
The Harvester shrugs as he sits back and sips. "Horses are more spirited than cows and the like - though the timing of their disappearance and their return and attack on Othic are suspect, to my mind."
Ahoke nods. "I hope that there aren't /people/ in this town with those shards in their brains," she says in an undertone.
The Harvester looks up suddenly. "Cobble."
Tokket returns, carefully balancing three earthenware plates, on each of which rests a bulbous, unidentifiable mass covered in a thick brown sauce or gravy of some kind. Tucked under one arm is a loaf of fresh bread, and he grins as he sets the bounty down on the bar. "There we are, first of the lunches."
Ahoke looks vaguely ill at Harvester's words, but then shakes it off. "Food!" She beams at Tokket, as if he's the most stunning man alive, and then digs into her food, identifiable or not. She pushes her empty tankard to him, imploringly.
Tokket refills the tankard. Ahoke, at the least, is able to identify the outer casing of the mass as the stomach of some creature, but it's been stuffed with bits of meat, chopped vegetables and grain, and then boiled. Tokket beams as she tucks in.
Sen-Jyu looks at the food, then to Tokken. "What is it...?" he asks, doing the best he can to disguise the uncertainty in his voice as curiosity tempered well with appreciation.
The Harvester draws the odors in through his nose, and smiles appreciatively. "Excellent..." He takes a knife in hand and slices the casing open. He licks his lips and begins to eat. A piece of bread is torn away and he sops up gravy before adding that to what he chews.
Ahoke swallows her first bite, grinning. "It's delicious, is what it is. What kind of stomach is it? Sheep? And the stuffing... perfect." She washes it down with a swallow of ale, and then cuts into the meat again.
Tokket says, "Yes, sheep, indeed. It's my wife's specialty, that is."
The Harvester gestures with his utensil, to the talon. "What sort of dragon was this Copperdeath?"
"...Probably a big one," mutters Ahoke, frowning.
Tokket nods. "A big one, indeed," he says, needlessly indicating the talon. "Blue like a mountain lake, they say."
The Harvester looks at the blue shard and nods, thoughtfully. "I suspected... another connection, perhaps?"
Ahoke scowls. "How did your mother and her friends kill this dragon, anyway?"
Sen-Jyu digs in with less relish, handling the utensils given him in a woefully inadequate manner.
Tokket gestures towards an axe that hangs on the wall, its haft shattered - or, now that you look closer, perhaps it was bitten in half. "That was Dorek's axe. He was a brave man, and my mother said she'd never have slain it without him. They were the only ones left - well, them and Toren." He spits on the floor. "Copperdeath was about to bite her when Dorek charged, and hit the dragon so hard some of its scales cracked. Copperdeath bit him in half, but while he was doing that, mother struck him where the scales were gone, and that did him in." He smiles a bit. "Thrommel would have been proud, I think - he thought she was only good for a song."
The Harvester speaks around a mouthful, "Use your fingers if y'want, Sen. Nobody cares."
Ahoke considers. "What did they do with the body?"
The Harvester nods as he swallows, and drinks, content to allow Ahoke the questions for now.
Tokket looks a bit surprised. "Still up there, I should imagine. It was too big to move, so they left it."
Sen-Jyu disregards the Harvester's recommendations, prodding and attacking the lump of comestible as if it were an enemy, needing to be cut up and eaten for the greater good of all.
The Harvester says, "Thrommel was the dwarf priest, right? You said he had a diary? Could we see it sometime?"
Tokket nods. "Of course!"
Ahoke hmms. "I wonder... a dragon has to be inhabited by a powerful spirit, I should think. What if he wasn't dead, but only sleeping? Maybe he's awakening." She takes another bite of food, chewing thoughtfully. "Tell your wife that she's a real good cook."
The Harvester smiles, setting his utensils on the empty plate with a clatter. "Yes, do tell her so!" He looks thoughtful. "And this Toren ran, like a coward? What became of him?"
"Hid during the fight, ran off afterward. Mother never chased him - she'd had enough of the adventuring life - so I don't rightly know after that."
Sen-Jyu has certainly mastered the art of hack and slash, and the innards of the mound spill out in gravy-rich streams of its lifeblood. Victorious, Sen-Jyu stabs one of the severed chunks with the pointy bit of his knife and deposits it into his mouth, chewing carefully.
The Harvester nods once, and finishes off his second tankard. "Well, he'll die soon enough, if he hasn't already. Maybe he'll do better next time 'round."
Ahoke hmmphs. "Maybe he'll be a badger next time around. At least badgers have fighting spirit," she says. "Still... I think that all of this crap is the dragon waking up." She shrugs. "I hope I'm wrong, though."
Tokket shakes his head. "No...mother was certain the thing died...she always said she saw the light go out of its eyes, and anything less would not have freed the town."
Ahoke hmms. "Well, that's good, anyway," she says, finishing off her meal.
The Harvester glances to the door. "What's up with the Cobble fellow, anyway? How long's he been like this?"
"Mmm," murmurs Sen-Jyu past a mouthful of food. "Mmm mmmm MMM mmmm mmmm mm mmmmm m mmm-mmm."
"Cobble's always been a bit strange, but since the dreams and the headaches..."
The Harvester nods, "Yes, do tell us about those - the dreams and headaches."
Sen-Jyu swallows his food, pointing the tined end of his fork at Ahoke. "I thought -you- would have liked to fight a dragon," he says.
Ahoke snorts. "I like a good fight. I'm not ready to be reborn just yet, though," she says.
The Harvester grins. "Being reborn ain't so bad... trust me." He looks as though he knows, personally, but doesn't seem to be elaborating.
Ahoke shrugs. "I'll take your word for it," she says. "But Wolverine and I have a few more adventures that we want to go through /this/ round."
Now that it's approaching noon, a few people have begun to trickle in, bringing with them the smell of hot metal - they must work at the foundry. An older woman - Tokket's wife, perhaps, showing her age more than her elf-blooded husband - emerges from the kitchen and begins to take orders. Following them in is a woman done in perfect miniature, half size from her head down to her hairy bare feet.
"There's not much to say, except that nobody's getting much sleep," Tokket admits. "But the old witch Utrish claims they'll be gone inside of a week. If you believe her. Hello Heather!" he calls to the tiny woman. "No word from Corum yet?" She shakes her head sadly.
Ahoke looks curiously over her shoulder at the new arrivals. Being the friendly sort, she moves her great club out of the way, in case someone would want to sit beside her.
Sen-Jyu seems to be full, after only a few bites, though it's as likely his frustration with the tools he's been given to do the work. A glance at his compatriots in inquiry, one hand palm up indicating the remnants of his meal.
Ahoke grins at Sen-Jyu, and reaches out to grab the plate. She does, out of belated politeness, glance questioningly at Harvester.
The Harvester shakes his head, patting his belly and giving a small belch. He swivels on his stool to see the pint-sized female. A pleasant smile is given, then he notes her sad reply. "Corum?" he asks Tokket softly. "Is that one of the missing children? or likely one of the 'Heroes' gone in search of them?"
Tokket nods. "She's Corum Mosstoes' sister. Corum's one of the Heroes of the Bell. Stout lad."
Ahoke takes the plate, and begins eating the food with slightly less gusto than before.
The Harvester says, "Yeah... Othic told us about that last night... How long've the kids been gone? Did they all disappear at the same time, or singly?"
Sen-Jyu lifts his beltpouch to table-height, fingers sifting through the coins. "Mind if we settle our debt?" he asks after Tokket as a polite interruption.
Ahoke looks up from her meal. "Is it also possible to get rooms, and baths? We've been on the road for weeks."
"One at a time, over the last week," Tokket tells you - and nods to Sen-Jyu. "That'll be a silver each if y'please, and one for the drinks. As for rooms, we've got plenty - six silvers a day, and that pays for your food as well."
Ahoke gets out some of her money, to pay for her share of the costs, and then finishes off her second meal.
The Harvester ahs. "Of course..." he pulls out his own pouch and withdraws two silver pieces and places them on the bar. "Excellent.." He looks to his companions, then motions them closer. "A moment please, Tokket..."
Sen-Jyu draws a gilded coin from his purse, placing it within Tokket's easy reach. "I think I'll be taking one of your rooms, if I might impose upon your hospitality."
The Harvester speaks in hushed tones with his friends. "Do we wish separate rooms? Perhaps it would be wisest, given the goings-on, to share a single large room?"
Ahoke thinks about that for a moment, and then nods. "But you can't watch when I'm taking a bath," she says, with a grin.
Similar Threads
