Dru's Storyhour

[Drusilia Nailo]

A Meeting with a Peasant

This is an interlude, really. A snippet of roleplay that didn't fit into the earlier post or the one that I'll be making next. Enjoy anyway!

Both men mounted up, and began riding north. Eventually, they rode out of the charred section of land, into open fields of green grass. The treeline could be seen up ahead, and a peasant’s hut at its edge. As they approached closer, they could see that there was a goat, and a few chickens in the yard, although no owner was to be seen.
They rode in cautiously, leaving their horses standing in the yard. Aelric shrugged, and pounded on the door. There was silence... but perhaps it was the heavy silence of someone trying too hard not to be heard.
“Perhaps,” murmured Ivae, “You should knock a bit less like an orc.”
Aelric frowned thoughtfully, but knocked a little lighter. “We are here on the business of the Father. Open your door to us so that we might receive shelter.”
There was the sound of footfalls, and the door opened. A suspicious looking old woman stood there, blinking at the two. “Well,” she said finally, “You don’t look like orcs. Come in.” She stepped aside, making room for both of them.
The room was tiny and spartan, as was typical for the land’s peasantry, but neatly swept and well kept. “I hope that you’ll forgive me for my caution, but I think that you can understand why,” she said, looking from human to elf.
Aelric didn’t respond, so Ivae did. “Very understandable,” he said agreeably.
Aelric frowned, and turned to Ivae. “I think... that we should go out and check the forest,” he said. “There’s something evil out there.”
Ivae shrugged, and followed him outside.
“I detected evil out here...” he trailed off, studying the trees with slightly unfocussed eyes. “Yes,” he said heavily. “It is spread out amongst the trees. The entire landscape is corrupted.”
The elven ranger looked at him blankly for a moment, but both turned around and went back inside.
“I do not believe that it is safe for you to stay here, Grandmother,” said Aelric, using the respectful term of address for a woman so advanced in years.
She laughed raspily, and nodded. “Oh yes, I know that. But where would I go?”
Ivae asked, “Do you have no family?”
“No, no... I’m the only one left...”

***************************

Aelric and Ivae watched the old woman ride off, in the direction of the capital. She was sitting astride one of their spare mounts. The chickens were tied, in their cage, behind her, and the goat was drug along, rather unwillingly, by a rope tied to the saddle.
“Maybe,” said Ivae with a faint smile, “We should have tied her to the saddle as well.”
Aelric stifled a chuckle, and commented, “You should perhaps learn to respect your - er, someone half your age,” he amended, as he realized who he was talking to. “Still,” he said, watching the old woman until the horse carried her out of view, “She’ll be safer moving towards the capital than she will remaining here.” He surveyed the forest in distaste.
“Your theory about the forest being evil is correct,” mentioned Ivae. “Last night, while you slept, I went outside to spend time in the forest. I realized something as I was looking about. There’s no animals.”
Aelric didn’t say anything, but his look clearly said that he hadn’t exactly been theorizing about the evil of the land.
Ivae mounted up, turning his horse’s head back to the North. “We’ll be in Joyal shortly,” he said grimly, “Probably before noontime, if nothing bad happens.”
Aelric nodded grimly, and clucked to his horse. The two began to move northward again, with the remaining pack animals trailing behind them.

 

[Drusilia Nailo]

The Village of Joyal

Ivae set his jaw when he first noticed the carrion birds swooping over the village up ahead. He glanced at his companion, gesturing.
Aelric scowled, and muttered, “Vultures,” in the same tone of voice that he usually reserved for evil creatures.
The two rode on, dreading the sights that they would be met with. Both wondered, silently, whether the orcs had slain the entire village, or if they’d taken some prisoners that would need to be saved.
They were pleasantly surprised at what they found. There were piked heads on the outer gates of the village...but they were orc, not human. One rather tenacious vulture balanced, clinging, to a head It clutched the ragged clumps of hair with its claws, as it feasted on the flesh. Despite these grisly yet positive signs, the village appeared to be deserted. There was no chimney smoke, no one in the streets. However, as Aelric and Ivae rode their horses down the main street, they could see faces in the windows, anxiously peering out at them.
It wasn’t long before a tall, middle-aged woman left a yard, and stood before them in the street. She was dressed most peculiarly, with her body barely covered, except for a loincloth made of soft fur, and a heavy bear skin cloak that was left to hang loosely down her back. In her hair was an ornamental headpiece, which consisted of the antlers from a very large buck. It was clear to both men, most especially Ivae, that this woman was a druid. That would make her one of the few remaining worshippers of the Mother left in the land.
She nodded to them, her eyes wary. “Welcome to Joyal,” she said. “I wish that we could give you better welcome, but you both appear to be men of the world. You know what we are up against. Still. You can leave your mounts in the yard, where they’ll be tended to. If you’re going to be riding through the area, you should at least know what is going on.”
Ivae climbed smoothly off of his horse, nodding to the woman. Aelric took a bit longer, easing his aching bones to a standing position on the ground. “Mother,” he said, taking a risk that she was old enough to have that rather laudable title. “We have come on orders from the King.” He relaxed visibly when she silently accepted the title that he had given her.
She only nodded, and led the two through the yard, and into the house. “As you probably already understand, druids are not at their happiest while living in a village. But they need us right now, to defend them against the orcs.” She narrowed her eyes, looking at Aelric. “Has the king sent you to help protect the village against their attacks?”
Both Aelric and Ivae shook their heads. Aelric offered a reply, carefuly, “No, not as such, although rest assured that he will receive a full report when we are finished.”
The antlered druid nodded again. “Alright. I’ll tell you what is going on then, so that you can either do something about it or report back.
Once upon a time, as you well know, this was a peaceful area. The Maiden’s Tears lake seemed to keep the area around it purified, and many believed that the lake was where the innocence of the goddess pooled, upon her death.”
Ivae, very familiar with the story, nodded. “Yes, that is well known throughout the forest,” he said politely, waiting for more.
The woman sighed. “The guardian of the lake has been, for as long as three generations can remember, the mermaid named Miala. She has special ties with the land... we believe getting many of her powers from it as we druids do.”
Aelric’s brows slid upwards in surprise, but he held his silence.
“In short, she has been corrupted. By a demon named Arust.”
Aelric’s head shot up, and he glared at the woman. “Arust?” He turned, meeting Ivae’s worried gaze. “That’s not the first time we’ve heard that name.”
Ivae nodded. “The orcs seemed to think that they were under his protection.”
“Such as it was,” muttered Aelric.
With a faint smile, Ivae continued nodding. “Such as it was.”
The druid sighed. “Yes. Arust has been raising an army.” She scowled. “He corrupted Miala by convincing her, slowly, that she had the capability of turning into much more than a guardian of a lake. He convinced her that she could become a goddess.”

 

[Horacio]

A demon... A corrupted mermaid... A druidess... Two old heroes...
This story is getting wonderful, Dru!

 

[Drusilia Nailo]

The Blood of a God

Hee hee. I'm glad you like it. Here's a bit of an update, to tide folks over until I get some time to write up the rest.

There was silence in the room, broken by the sound of Aelric’s strained voice. “And just how did he think she’d go about this?”

“There is a lot of magical energy in that lake. Combine that with a specific blood sacrifice, and there could very well be an ascension.”

“A... specific blood sacrifice?” Ivae looked as if he almost didn’t want to know the answer to his question, but knew that it was his duty to find out.

The druid nodded, frowning. “The blood sacrifice of the mortal heir of a king, and the blood of a god. I understand how they got the latter, but not the former.”

Aelric blinked. “They have the blood of a god?”

“Every year, on the anniversary of the Mother’s death, the Father comes to the site of her demise. He weeps there, and then leaves. It has happened like clockwork, and is something that the druidic order has kept a secret... until now.

Three years ago, his tears mingled with the soil of the land, and from that mixture, a child was created, a daughter. We were raising that daughter. But now, Arust has her. The king has no heir, but they must know where they can get one from somewhere.”

“I believe,” said Ivae carefully, that they have managed to get the heir to a king.”

Aelric glared at him, but relaxed a little bit when he saw that their leige lord was not betrayed. “I did not know that the Father had a child,” he said, still obviously grappling with this new piece of information. He sighed. “It looks, Ivae, that our task is a lot bigger than it first appeared. Mother, it appears that our interests lie intertwined in this matter. We will give you assistance in destroying this evil.”

 

[Jon Potter]

Very Interesting...

I'm quite intrigued and can't wait to see the paladin try to swim after the mermaid in full plate.

He he.

 

[Horacio]

The story is wonderful, and the Character's original. If you add the son of a king and the daughter of a god, you have an amazing plot

Congratulations, Dru

 

[Drusilia Nailo]

To Pass the Evening

Well, after a brief respite (if a period of time where one is working nonstop is considered a respite ) I am prepared to start writing and posting again. Here is a snippet of the story...

Later that night, some of the young druids crept up to the house. After a murmured conversation with the Mother, ending with her shaking her head, and leaving, the group, four young men, approached paladin and ranger. “We’ve found an encampment of orcs,” said the leader, eagerly.

Ivae looked up, succeeding fairly well at disguising his sudden keen interest. “Yeah?”

The leader nodded. “Yeah. It’s a warrior camp. They’re not expected a strike tonight... they’re getting drunk and telling stories. Do you want to...”

He trailed off as Aelric labored to his feet. “No time like the present,” he murmured.

Ivae sprung to his feet, much easier than his companion did, and nodded. He started strapping on weapons. “I was going to get stiff sitting here anyway,” he muttered, with a quick grin.

The group of them moved out into the forest. The druids and Ivae moved with the silence and skill of those trained to the forest. Aelric was another story altogether. His heavy armor clanked as his horse walked. With a shrug of his shoulders, he didn’t even try to be stealthy; it would be pointless.

It wasn’t long before they could hear harsh male laughter, and smell the smoke from a cookfire. The words spoken were in the guttural language of the orc race, and those that could understand the words knew that they were discussing their conquests, in great detail.

Ivae tensed himself, studying his enemies through the protective cover of the trees and bushes. He silently got his bow ready, and prepared to creep forward even further. They weren’t even going to see him coming, he thought to himself.

Just then, the silence was broken by the sound of a horn being blown, and Aelric bellowing “May the Father protect me as I smite the evil in this camp!” His horse charged forward, breaking through the brush, and burst into the clearing. Shocked orcs scrambled for weapons, but not before the paladin was able to bring his mighty broadsword up, and then down, cleaving into one of the orcs.

Ivae sighed, as chaos broke loose. He could see that there were human captives, women all of them, bound around the ankles and hands. He took aim with his bow, and let an arrow fly. He was rewarded with the sound of an arrow thunking into orc flesh, and the orc’s bellow of pain and rage.

From somewhere off in the trees, on the other side of the clearing, the sound of druidic chanting rang out. And it was shortly after that when four orcs, which had been hidden along the perimeter of the camp, were outlined in glowing bright red light. Perfect targets. There was the sound of further chanting, in a different voice, and then the undignified squawking of an orc as the very grasses and bushes reached out with green tendrils, grasping and pulling him down so that he couldn’t move.

Aelric wheeled his horse around, and it lashed out with its hind legs, its massive hooves impacting in the midsection of one of the orcs. The orc went flying, and hit the ground. At the same time, Aelric brought his sword up for a mighty blow against another orc, only to miss.

To either side of him, war axes began whistling through the air. One embedded itself in his leg, the other into the leg of his horse.

Ivae let loose with another arrow, which sailed wide this time. He cursed under his breath, and drew his swords, preparing to charge into the clearing to keep the paladin from being overwhelmed by their numbers.

There was the sound of tussling out in the trees, in the direction that the druids and glowing orcs were, but no one seemed to be injured or killed.

Ivae ran across the clearing, intercepting one of the orcs that was moving in to cut down the wounded Aelric. His swords flashed, once, then twice, each time coming up bloodied. The surprised orc warrior sagged to the ground, the light going out of his eyes.

There was the sound of the stamping of hooves, as the horse trampled one of the orcs, pulverizing its body under hard hooves. Aelric struck at one of the orcs again, and this time, was rewarded with a solid hit. The orc staggered, losing its momentum, and fell.

Several more blows were exchanged, no one emerging from the battle unscathed. All in all, the battle was much more brief than it seemed to its participants. The tussling in the bushes went on for much longer, it seemed, but finally, everyone, even the druids, emerged victorious.

Aelric, bloody and sweaty, slid from his horse, landing on unsteady feet. Ivae reached out, steadying the old man, and said, “You’re the most injured, you should heal yourself first.”

Aelric shook his head stubbornly. “First, the captives,” he rasped. He healed one of them that was particularly battered, and then turned to his horse. When its wounds closed up, he then tended to Ivae’s wounds. Finally, he permitted one of the druids to heal most of his wounds. Just as that was finished, the fire started to crackle.

All heads swiveled to look at it, startled by its noises. Out of the flames was rising a very small demon. “You will never defeat my master, Arust,” the creature hissed at them, and leapt, its sharp claws extended

 

[Jon Potter]

Good to have you back.

This story is very interesting and I can't wait to see what happens next.

What level are Ivae and Aelric?

 

[Zarthon]

What level are Ivae and Aelric?

I was going to ask the same question.

 

[drnuncheon]

Re: Good to have you back.

This story is very interesting and I can't wait to see what happens next.

What level are Ivae and Aelric?

We started out as 6th level characters - Aelric was a Ftr1/Pal5, and Ivae a Rng3/Rog3. There was one leveling-up, with Ivae getting a Ranger level and Aelric Paladin (of course).

Anyway, Dru is way behind (but I can't talk, I've been slacking on the dnFSH collection) so I'll get on her about that tonight.

J