EN Story telling

[Steverooo]

Gnorvald flicked a furtive glance in the general vicinity of Rix. The silly Human was busy looking at the kneeling Centaur, with occassional glances at the retreating bear. He suppressed a sly smile. At last, at last! Information was forthcoming! All his many years of toil were almost done! His petty illusions, earlier, had hurried these dolts along. This fool knew where Roland's tomb was! He already knew that it was in a cairn, on a hill!

He fidgetted, readjusting his pants. Patience, patience!... It would all be over, soon, and he wouldn't need this silly disguise, anymore!

He could barely keep from hopping. Soon, soon, the horn would be his!

 

[alsih2o]

sedge stared longingly at the centaur...maybe there could be some advantage to his current form after all.

 

[ejja_1]

When the centaur spoke the accursed ones name, Celina and Drakhar both flinched visably. Celina regained his breath and spoke. " Maybe we should introduce ourselves, Civility has a way of making new friends. I am Celina Silvanis singer of songs and teller of tales, this rather gloomy fellow is Drakhar Lutgher. The other two fellows are Verignterix and Finn, but Verignterix prefers to be called Rix. And the smaller gentleman would be Gnorvald, he doesnt seem to say much other than to tell us where we might be going. And what may we call you fair lady?"
The centaur blushed a bit and spoke. "I am know as Brieanna, my close friends call me Bri."
Celina smiled his best smile." The Bri it is! Now tell us of this nasty Morgarth character."

 

[Steverooo]

"I can too speak!," Gnorvald piped up, then seemed to grow more thoughtful. He scratched his chin.

"Brie..." he muttered, "isn't that made from goose livers?"

Brieanna scowled at the diminutive gnome. Gnorvald grinned back up at her. Celina shot the illusionist a sharp glance, and Drakhar harumphed, and scowled at him.

Finn looked around the barn, then, seeing no place to sit, lowered himself up against a wall. The others followed suit. Edging away from the other mounts, Sedge browsed his way into the barn, as though nosing for fodder.

Brieanna, however, seemed in no hurry to begin her tale...

 

[Silver Moon]

The adventuring party, however, was starting to become impatient. Finally, she speaks, saying "I can see from some of your faces that the name of Morgarth is not foreign to you."

Rix had maintained his traditional poker face up until this point, yet becomes the first of his companions to actually speak the monster's name. "Morgarth. You'd have to come from somewhere pretty far away to have not to have heard that name. Some type of man-demon I believe, from tales I heard as a kid. Just meant to scare little kids though, doesn't really exist. It can't, the stories go back for dozens of centuries, and even a man who was half-demon couldn't live that long."

The centaur replies "Oh, Morgarth is indeed very real. And you are partially correct about the phrase 'man-demon'. But he is not a human and demon half-breed as you have heard. He is a demon who cohabitates within a human's body. That is why there are so many stories of it having been destoyed only to return again. When it's human host dies, the demon moves on to another host."

Maybe it was due to his upbringing, the rough life he led, or just not being in the right place at the right time, but this was all news to Finn. He had never heard of this Morgarth prior to this conversation. But all the pieces of information were now falling together, as this man's wisdom was not something to be underestimated. He speaks up, saying "Which is why he wears the robe, cloak and mask. The human form may change, but his appearance remains constant." The cleric the adds "And why your gods and mine have drawn us together on this particular day."

She looks at him more intently than before, eyeing the Holy Symbol of Pelor for the first time. "Yes" she states, "Your insight does you well, follower of the sun deity. I trust that you are the leader of this group?"

 

[Steverooo]

Who, ME?!?

"Who? M-me?!?" Finn gasped, and sputtered, as his eyes bugged out. Rix eyed him, coldly, as he began to sweat, again. The Rogue wondered if it was the alcohol, or fear... or both. Gnorvald guffawed, until he caught sight of Drakhar gripping his axe, then suddenly found renewed interest in assaying the contents of his spell component case, again. The Dwarf relaxed.

"So what is this thing, and what does it want?", he asked, "And more importantly, how do we kill it - or better yet, stop it, once and for all?" He looked at Finn, again, then back at Bri. "And what have you, this Pelorite, and the redbeard with the horn got to do with all of that?"

Sedge looked up, cropping some hay, as something from long ago stirred in his memory... Horn? Now why did that sound so familiar?

Rix still stood, quietly, arms crossed, watching the rest of the group. Obviously, Finn wasn't going to take command. Was the drunk ever going to sober up long enough to be any use? Rix doubted it.

Lord of light, HA! If this was the group Pelor (assuming he actually existed) had assembled to save the Universe, then he wasn't too bright!

 

[Steverooo]

Skiggles

Having accompanied Brieanna for her morning dip, Skiggles was left to his own devices when his mistress changed into a bird and flew away... but Skiggles was a Druidess' dog, and he knew such things happened, from time to time, so he finished his bath, and then wandered through the nearby fields by himself, for a while.

As the sun rose higher, he began to grow warm, so headed back to the pond for a drink, and to see if his mistress had returned, yet. She hadn't, but there were some other smells, there. He'd seen the horse and Elf they belonged to, a few times, and pictures of them flashed through his mind. The Elf was cross, but spoke to him, sometimes, and was never mean to him. The horse was alway nice, and never tried to kick him, even when he ran close alongside him.

Skiggles followed their scents, for a while, until he was distracted by other scents... There were more horses by his barn! He swerved back, smelling them, then barked, and ran for the barn.

Brieanna's scent was strong, and new, there! She had come back! He streaked past the waiting horses, heading for the barn door...

There, he encountered the strange scent. Sedge grazed just inside the doorway, while a bunch of strange folks stood or sat along the wall, facing his mistress. The horse's scent was strange, even for a horse ridden by a man... and the others...

Skiggles skidded to a halt, wondering in dog thought who these were, and what was going on. Then Brieanna whistled for him.

"Here, boy!" she called, patting her leg. All thoughts of strangers forgotten, Skiggles raced to her, jumping for joy as she patted him, and scratched behind his ears.

After a moment of greeting, he circled to her right, and lay down beside her fetlock, observing the newcomers. They smelled funny, especially the human with the big round board on his arm... He stank of rotted plants, sweat, and old vomit. He must be sick. Skiggles lay on his belly, and covered his nose with his paws.

 

[Silver Moon]

Brieanna's thoughts were racing "Why did the dwarf have to ask all those questions? If I tell him I have no idea how to kill Morgarth how will he react? And how can I tell these strangers the intimate details of my past without breaking down again and loosing their respect? And they apparently have no leader? How can we ever hope to destroy Morgarth without someone taking charge? And I sure as hell don't want that job!"

Finally she speaks "Good Drakhar, I cannot answer all of your questions at this time. As Finn has already stated, we followers of the gods do not always get a complete and detailed vision, it is often just an impression of what is to come. What I feel now is that our paths have joined, and that all will be told to us in time. Give me a few minutes to pack, and we will be on our way."

She wanders over towards the cooking stove in the far corner of the barn. Near the stove are a pair of large wicker baskets, each basket lined with oiled leather. The baskets are fastened together with leather cords, about a foot-and-a-half long. Presently the baskets are filled with firewood, which she dumps ungratiously onto the barn floor.

She carries the baskets first to a pantry cabinet, filling one halfway with food and beverages. At another cabinet she carefully places several potted plants into the remainder of that basket. She next pulls out a trunk from beneath a table, transferring its contents into the second basket. The items appear to be standard adventuring provisions: rope, blanket, a small mirror, a hand tool with hammer head on one end and knife on the other, and several lumps of coal. Next she removes from a wooden box a wool coat, a sleaved shirt, and two sleeveless jerkins identical to that which she is wearing.

She next places a leather bag around her waist, opeining it in the front and filling it with cloth rags. They watch as she takes six small rat-like creatures from some cloth bedding they are inside and places them into the pouch. Her last movement is to place the injured eagle sitting on a perch onto the top of the basket with the clothing. Both baskets are then lifted up and secured along her horse-like back. She says to the dog "Come Skiggles".

 

[ejja_1]

Celina glanced at his companions, shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his lute. Drakhar glared at him crossly, but Celina continued as if he hadn't noticed. Celina began to play his lute, a merry traveling tune as he called it. It had no lyrics, and celina played it at times when the party was especially cross or tired. The melody had a way of lightening your mood, and replenishing you energy.
Drakhar hated to admit it, but the elf wasn't half bad sometimes with that silly lute of his. "Well at least he isnt singing" thought Drakhar.
Finn's head began to clear and he no longer felt so sick, in fact he felt pretty darn good. " Thank you Pelor for all of your blessings "he intoned under his breath.
Rix made no sign that he was even hearing the music, much less enjoying it's effects.
Gnorvald spit on Celina's shoe and smiled up at him,
Celina ignored him and continued playing.

 

[Steverooo]

"Well; if it bleeds, I kin kill it," grumbled the Dwarf, as he hefted his axe up and rested it over his right shoulder, "assuming I can get close enough to hit it... and it quits disappearing in the sunlight!" Struck by an idea, he squinted at the bard.

"Hey! You know that Daylight thingie? I heared tell what that Orfeus character could play the sun up, so they say..."

Bards tell a great many lies, thought Rix, though he kept his mouth shut.

"So where are we off to, anyway?" asked Gnorvald, scowling at the unanswering bard. "Everybody's all ready to run, but where are we running to?"

Gnorvald and Drakhar looked at Celina. Skiggles, Rix, Finn, and Sedge looked at Brieanna.

"Out there; thattaway!" pronounced Finn, when she didn't answer. Several folks blinked, looking at him questioningly. He shrugged.

"The road's been good enough for the last several days, I see no reason to change course, now. So we keep following it." He grinned. "Nothing so mysterious about that."

Rix exhaled in a nearly inaudible sigh of relief. Good! This Morgarth thing was already more mystery than he could stand. Any more "divine revelations", and he was going to dump this party like a hot brick, and beat feet while the getting was good! Let the Mages and Priests muddle with such magical messes!