Warriors Of The Coast

[Velmont]

As Griot fly around him, Jango tells hiim. "Don't be scared. It's true, I am not alone, but he won't harm you, nor it will harm me. He is here to help us to understand my mark."

Griot seems to accept the explanation and lands on his shoulder.

"You needn't worry about them, Jango. You do not have to deal with them. Return to town... then find a boat. A boat traveling north. We will go see another that can help you wth your mark. Make your mark grow. In power. In size. I've done all that I can... but I know of others who can teach you further. Go. Find us a boat. Let us go north."

Jango head back to town, trying to haste a bit teh walk so he can reach town by sunset or even before.

"No, I owe them an explanation. I owe them the turth..." as he tells that, he seems to hear his voice answering him. The truth? What do you think they will tells if you tell them you share your body with what was capture in that temple.

"But they are my family. They will understand."

They doesn't have the mark. They can't understand.

"Yes, it's true..."

He starts to see the lighthouse and his light. He continue his walk. "I owe them at least an explanation, even if it is an half truth... at least to Jina." and on that, Jango know what he has to do.

 

[stonegod]

Noting the shifter to be in a place too conspicuous to interrupt, Ari sidles his way up to the man he was formally introduced to two days ago, though he rode with him before that. "Tod, when are we excepted to get going? The Elder working up a big entrance?"

 

[DEFCON 1]

Before Ari receives a return replay from Brother Ellston, the doors to the temple open and out strides Elder Samuel Nevillom, leader of the village of Wyrmwatch in the region of Hope, and devoute Silver Flame evangelist. The man is dressed in full armor, buffed to a beautiful silver sheen and sparkling in the morning sun. He strides to the front of the essembled congregation and speaks.

"Bretheren... the time is at hand. We had thought that scourge of the lycanthropes had ended many, many years ago... but a new plague infests our lands. They hide amongst us, turning good and righteous men and women to demonic souls infused with the evil of darkness and murder. They seek to kill us... destroy us... make each and everyone one of us a slave to their basest desires.

We must NOT allow our brothers and sisters of Q'Barra fall to the darkness! We must NOT allow these fiends to gain purchase in our lands! We must NOT hold back! WE MUST FIGHT!"

"HUZZAAAAHHHH!"

Much of the crowd raises their fists in a somewhat subdued acclimation of Elder Nevillom's speech... but neither Khalia nor Ari miss the fact that it is nowhere near a universal support. Many clerics, priests, paladins, and adepts were half-hearted in their cheering, and several did not seem to make any noise at all. The paladin shifter Cerril Maise was one of them. Apparently this crusade is not as well-supported as Elder Nevillom might've hoped... although if he noticed any lack, he did not show it.

Over the next thirty minutes, more announcements are made, the church warriors and assembled fighters are divied up, and the group begins to move out. Ari Osten leaves first with the large shifter woman Cerril Maise, along with another six men and women. As the scout party, they immediately move to the docks where a ship is waiting for them to take the group north up the river. Cerril Maise speaks to each member of the scout team on the way and when the group climbs aboard, and eventually comes upon Osten. "So you're the monster hunter, huh Osten? So what do you think... you ever run into werewolves in your travels? Think we're going to see a few in the jungle up north?"

*****

Khalia ir'Indari walks up to the dais and meets up with Nevillom, Gerrold, and two others who are a part of the command squad - a male dwarf dressed in full armor, and a female elf dressed in wizard's robes. Khalia turns back and watches as the three Brothers... Ellston, Donovan and Anvil... begin organizing the rest of the men, prepping them by squads and moving them out.

Nevillom motions to Gerrold and then tosses his helm to the priest... who catches it awkwardly. "Stonegaard, ir'Indari, Dael'dareen... here's how it's going to be. I've been hunting the enemies of the Flame before you were even born." Khalia notices Dael'dareen about to open her mouth to contradict that assertion... she is an elf after all... but before she can, he continues. "You do what I say, when I say it, and no questions. The Flame guides us in our crusade. The Voice tells us what we are to do. We will heed the Voice, and all the things it makes plain... is that clear?"

Gerrold and Dael'dareen immediately respond in the positive, and Stonegaard says 'uh huh' shortly after.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Jango eventually reaches the walls of Seawell, however as suspected they are closed are guarded. He moves to where he and Jina usually re-entered the city in the past and climbs up a few handholds in the stone wall and makes his way over. He lands quiety back in the town and begins walking home.

"You should go to the docks, Jango... this is a fool's errand. You run risks you shouldn't take. You were chosen for this mark because you would make intelligent decisions... but now you act foolishly. Your family will not understand. Especially your sister. All you do is hasten their hatred of you. Turn away now... let them think you have gone and left... leave them their memories of who you were. If you see them now... they will see what power you wield and will be afraid. And your last impression of them will be of fear. Is that really what you want?"

The voice says nothing else, but Jango can feel a slight tug in his head nudging him away from his home and more towards the docks. But he still mantains control.

 

[stonegod]

"We must NOT allow our brothers and sisters of Q'Barra fall to the darkness! We must NOT allow these fiends to gain purchase in our lands! We must NOT hold back! WE MUST FIGHT!"

Ari raises an eyebrow, but otherwise says nothing. But he did not like the sound of this. This wasn't a hunt. It was a crusade. And those never went well. The lackluster response mollified him somewhat, but a fanatic at the top was not a good sign.

Cerril Maise speaks to each member of the scout team on the way and when the group climbs aboard, and eventually comes upon Osten. "So you're the monster hunter, huh Osten? So what do you think... you ever run into werewolves in your travels? Think we're going to see a few in the jungle up north?"

Ari shakes his head. "Can't say that I have, though there was that wererat hiding in a Thranish contingent once, ironic as that is. But wolves? Seems a bit odd to me. Always thought they preferred more forest and less jungle---plenty stories of them in Aundair, but none that I know of creeping with the lizards. Can't even say I've heard tale of your kind down here. Mosquitos and scalies, but not fur, if you know what I mean. Sound like your not so sure yourself." It wasn't a question, but a statement that could be denied if she wanted.

 

[drothgery]

Nevillom motions to Gerrold and then tosses his helm to the priest... who catches it awkwardly. "Stonegaard, ir'Indari, Dael'dareen... here's how it's going to be. I've been hunting the enemies of the Flame before you were even born." Khalia notices Dael'dareen about to open her mouth to contradict that assertion... she is an elf after all... but before she can, he continues. "You do what I say, when I say it, and no questions. The Flame guides us in our crusade. The Voice tells us what we are to do. We will heed the Voice, and all the things it makes plain... is that clear?"

Gerrold and Dael'dareen immediately respond in the positive, and Stonegaard says 'uh huh' shortly after.

"Of course." Khalia said, then asked a question, interpreting the Elder's "no questions" directive to mean in the heat of battle. Casual conversation, and especially planning sessions, demanded questions. If none would be asked, she should have stayed in Seawell; to be an Archivist was to question, investigate, report -- and to use that knowledge to guide the Flame's hand against what came from Khyber. "You have all seen my research notes, correct? There is something very odd going on, and I strongly suspect the sightings that drew us here are the least of it."

 

[Velmont]

"It's not a question about making them understand. I owe them an explanation, that's all. They are still my family, and whatever they might think of me, I'll still care for them." he tells to himself as he pass behind an house. All the windows are dark. It is still the night but the city will soon animate with the first song of the birds.

But why waste my time to explain something that is just way out of there understanding? tells his own voice somewhere inside him.

"The boat won't leave that soon anyway. It isn't a waste of time. I care for them. I love them." It seems hearing himself telling these things confort him. He sees the Green Lilac farther away. He walks back to the Inn, toward the front door. He stop a step in front fo it. "It will be the last time for a moment..." He felt anxious and sad to leave, but he knew he couldn't stay anymore. After what has happen, staying here could be dangerous for them, or he might go mad himself, or maybe both. He has thought many time how staying here could be more profitable to him, but he never found a convincing answer.

Jango put his hand on the door, take a deep breath and open it...

 

[Brogarn]

Skarg ponders the buildings above him taking the facilities into consideration.

I hope folks don't just cut a hole in the floor to do their business. Be hell for those caught below. he says with a wink.

So, what's next?

 

[DEFCON 1]

"Can't say that I have, though there was that wererat hiding in a Thranish contingent once, ironic as that is. But wolves? Seems a bit odd to me. Always thought they preferred more forest and less jungle---plenty stories of them in Aundair, but none that I know of creeping with the lizards. Can't even say I've heard tale of your kind down here. Mosquitos and scalies, but not fur, if you know what I mean. Sound like your not so sure yourself."

The woman raises a furry eyebrow, her porcine features giving away a bit of her attitude towards what they are doing... which is that this might be a waste of time. The fact that Osten picked up on that is something that Cerril finds intriguing apparently.

"I say werewolves because that is what the folks who supposedly witnessed the creatures said they were. Although honestly... most people can't tell the difference between a lycan, a shifter, a lizardman, an orc, a gnoll, or a druid who has shapeshifted. Ask them what they've seen, and they immediately harken back to the stories of their childhood. 'Werewolf! Werewolf!' they'd exclaim, as though that was the only monster their parents could think of to scare young children."

Cerril settles back against the rail of the boat and leans casually, looking out over the rest of the crew and the scout party. "The irony for me of course being that my parents would shout 'Giant! Giant!' to frighten my sibilings and myself... as though an extremely large human was the most frightening thing we would think of." She turns to face Ari and giggles a bit, as though trying to picture Osten at a height of ten feet shaking a fist at her as a little girl.

 

[DEFCON 1]

"You have all seen my research notes, correct? There is something very odd going on, and I strongly suspect the sightings that drew us here are the least of it."

Elder Nevillom hears Khalia's qestion about her research notes and then does a doubletake. "Excuse me? Notes? Lady ir'Indari... despite your claims of doing research for this expedition, I received nothing from you to help us out at all. I don't know what you were doing all day yesterday, but it certainly was not lending assistance to our crusade."

Khalia's face goes a bit red as apparently Elder Nevillom never received all the information she had put together over the entire day before. Which is insane, as right before she left the Silver Flame temple, she gave all the paperwork to Gerrold and asked him to give it to Nevillom. Something's not right.