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War:
In the Valley of Peace
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War:
In the Valley of Peace
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North Side
As Bormann begins cutting out the meat of the lizard, Damion looks on with horror and disgust, "You aren't actually going to eat that stuff aren't you?"
Xedel looks over the dwarves shoulder and says, "Hmm Mmmmm Mmm... lizard stew! good stuff. Hey! Do you think you could cut me a piece of that undamaged skin about this size?" He picks a spot on the lizard and draws out in chalk an outline of the patch that he wants.
Behind him Sindel shudders, but says nothing.
The merchant pokes his head out the window and cries out, "What is taking so long?! We have to get moving!” He then hides back inside his carriage, closing the curtains.
East Side
Pheras looks up at Pyros and says, "Then what good is your pathetic god? Where is he when I need him!" He turns away from the priest ignoring him.
Pyros oddly calm whispers, "Very few priests have been granted such power that you require and even if I had such, you would not want me to use it. I have heard a stiff penalty is required and the brother brought back to you might not be the brother you remember.” He pauses watching the young man carefully, "When you are ready we will prepare his body for the next step in his journey."
With that said, Pyros walks around toward the rear of the caravan.
South Side
After a short discussion, Cors and Zraxin head into the woods. They each go in opposite directions, intent on scouting out any stragglers from the attacking force, or any other surprises.
Gedai walks over to Gwydeon as he examines the tiny cloak. "What is that? It looks like someone cut up a cloak for a child or a dwarf."
Gwydeon examines it and shakes his head, "No, this is its original size. The previous owner of this cloak was quite small, most likely a young dwarf." He pauses a moment, his keen hearing picking up the merchants bellow, "We'd better get ready to go. It seems the merchant is in a hurry to get away from here. I wonder if anyone has told those two." He nods in the general direction of Stamm and Voreas who seem to be making their own plans.
"Go check on Stash and see if he needs any help." Gwydeon looks curiously at Pyros as he comes strolling around the end of the caravan with a torch that burns a strange shade of yellow, it is almost extinguished, but the flame holds on tightly.
Pyros takes one look at the group and turns and without stopping says, "Scions of the water lord, look to your own for help!"
Pyros walks around to the eastern side of the caravan and spots the sphere of darkness wandering around. A mischievous look on his face appears and as he says, "Let there be light!"
He gestures toward the darkness, which vanishes instantly, revealing a slightly bewildered Wismerhil.
Pyros wanders around and eventually finds the carriage with the wounded in it. He spots Keegan and sniffs, "It seems that incompetent water priest attempted to heal your wounds and failed. Because your body is already tainted with his liquids, there is only so much I can do for you until they are left your system. But I will try." He immediately thrusts the flaming brand into the chest of the dwarf. The flame leaps onto the dwarfs’ wounds and vanishes seemingly sucked into the closing wounds. With the last of the flame gone, Pyros tosses the spent torch to the side and walks away.
Keegan watched in shock as Pyros seemed to feed him to the flame. Luckily the flame quickly died out. And now feeling much better, he lets out a stream of curses at the retreating fire priest, who doesn't seem to care much.
While Asura holds the breastplate down, Crow pounds the inside a few times with his mace. The blows are remarkably accurate and seem to have just the right amount of force. When they are done, Asura looks at it in surprise, as it seems almost new. Crow looks a little sheepish. "I spend sometime with a blacksmith before I got caught up in the war. I can't really make up anything without proper tools, but I can fix some metal armor and weapons occasionally. Nothing big though."
Asura thanks him and looks up to see Aruna nearby. While she holds another piece of armor for Crow to bang out the dents she calls over to the white haired guard, "Aruna, I just wanted to thank you for your help earlier."
Stamm Hammerfist turns to trot away, when he is called back by Voreas. "What did you wish to talk about sir?"
"These creatures are getting on my nerves and I think for once we should go on the offensive. But I still have the caravan to worry about and I am supposed to report to the Tower within a few days. There is obviously someone in this caravan that they are interested in. My guess is that it is either Feldemaan or that mage that hides in his carriage all day. Something spooked them out of their hiding place this time, but we can't count on that good luck again. I want you to take some of the mercenaries that helped us out yesterday. And go ahead into the forest. Find the next ambush site or trap they have prepared for us. When you find it and find where those creatures are hiding, send a scout back to warn me. Don't worry about the ambush. Your targets are those creatures. I want them dead or at least so badly injured they take months before we see them again. Once we get whoever it is they are looking for back to the Tower they should be safe amongst our army and the other magi. That is assuming that they haven't already attacked our army and laid siege to the Tower."
North Side
Bormann starts to cut a piece of the meat out for Xedel and looks over at Damion, "Of course I'm going to eat it! You think I'd leave good meat go to waste?"
At this Damion starts to turn a little green himself. "I'll smoke or stew it up first, but lizard makes for some interesting fare.” He points and admonishing finger at the green soldier. “You had best learn to deal with finding food whenever you can. They may be taking in supplies at Torana's Tower, but they will run out eventually. Better to live off the land as much as we can before tapping into the stores."
Slightly shaken he replies, "Couldn't we just hunt some deer or something? Besides I'm sure the merchant here has more than enough supplies for us all." He averts his gaze trying desperately not to look at the creature. "Perhaps I should try to see about patrolling around until we get started." With that he wanders off, but not very far.
Ulqik laughs, "This is good. If he can act like this after a battle he will be okay." He turns and heads toward the first carriage, leaping up on top of the carriage pausing only to note Xedel's open backpack. He briefly glances down at the items it reveals, frowns and shrugs his shoulders. He stands up and surveys the path ahead. "Plenty of room for future ambushes", he mutters to himself. "We should send out scouts again before moving to make sure they aren't waiting for us just around the bend.
As he takes some choice cuts, Bormann wraps the lizard meat in leaves. He carefully cuts the skin around the area that Xedel asks for and hands it to the old man who accepts it with a childish glee and a strange glint in his eye. Not commenting on the old man's behavior he turns and starts to haul his prize to the rear of the caravan. He watches in amusement as Keegan stumbles out of the carriage aiming a steady string of curses at the retreating fire priest.
Sindel watches her older brother mutter to himself as he examines the lizard skin carefully. Finally she mutters, "I don't really want to know." In a slightly louder voice she says, "I'm going to check on Pheras and Tristan, when you're done here get your gear and catch up with us. I don't know how long we are going to be stopped but I suggest we be ready to go when it does." She turns and head to the other side of the caravan. As she passes the driver, who looks pretty glum, she gives him a wink and a smile and he cheers up quickly. As she heads on past, he begins to whistle cheerfully.
East Side
Speaking of Tristan, not liking the change in Pheras one bit, Tristan decides he needs some help and goes to find Sindel. He doesn't get very far before he sees her rounding the corner with smile on her face. Having been with her so long, Tristan can tell from the look on her face that she is looking for something to distract her from something her brother will/has/is doing. "Hi Sindel! Uhmm... Maybe you could go and talk to Pheras. He isn't himself right now. He doesn't want to talk to me, and he being quite snappy with a few of the others. Maybe there is something you can do."
"Sure" She replies in such a way as to say, 'Just great another problem'. She approaches Pheras, not really in the mood to deal with him, but as she takes in the situation her problems suddenly vanish in the distance. "What's he doing here?"
"Dying", Pheras snaps. "Now leave me alone!"
Sindel rolls her eyes and says, "Wake up you idiot! He can't be dead! The ring is missing!"
Pheras mumbles something about coming off in the heat of battle and Sindel fumes. "It's a magic ring you idiot! It doesn't come off unless you chop the hand off. He's not dead, he's switched bodies again!"
At this Pheras looks up at her and slowly comprehension and finally hope dawns upon him, "Then he is still alive. I must find him."
He drops the body roughly and starts to walk away before being yanked back again by Sindel. "You idiot!" she says harshly, "Have you forgotten already. He won't even know who he is for another half year." In a softer tone of voice she says, "Look I know he means a lot to you and I know you feel guilty and all because of what happened in the past. But you have to stop this. We both know that even when he discovers his identity he will stop doing whatever he was doing and take up arms again and again, until he finds the orc he is looking for. We can't protect him and you've done all you can for him. It's time to move on."
Pheras growls, "He's my brother!"
"He was your brother." She corrects him, "your brother truly died ten years ago. His spirit only lives on because you were selfish and couldn't let go. Now he is cursed to jump bodies until he finds peace within himself." She turns away, "And if he is nearly as stubborn as you, he will be around for eternity."
She glances over at Tristan, "Oh fair warning boys, my brother found a new piece to play with."
Both men look at each other and they share the private thought that something else evil is about to be loose upon the world and they are hard pressed not to shudder.
Sindel looks around and notices that the soldiers around her quickly turn their heads pretending to look in another direction. Then after a moment turn back and watch her from the corner of their eyes. She smiles, flattered.
South Side
Hearing Asura address him, Aruna grumbles, blushes embarrassed that such a beautiful woman would even consider addressing him. He starts to walk away and stop, realizing that he should say something without being rude. He strides confidently back, opens his mouth to speak and can’t think of a single word to say. He finally just grunts, and rushes away grumbling something about finding lost arrows. Leaving behind one amused young lady.
Asura puts her armor back on and grabs her sword. She stands up, holding the blade in front of her, with the hilt, just below eye level. She starts to turn around and shakes her head getting a little dizzy. She tries again this time a little slower moving in a circle.
Asura concentrates on her blade and suddenly her vision sharpens. As she turns around the view blurs and she gets the sensation of falling. After a moment she tries again. Clearing her head she concentrates on the blade again and this time the forest in the distance comes into sharp focus as it did only moments before. The difference is this time she is moving much more slowly so the vision isn't as confusing. She spots Cors and Zraxin moving through the woods scouting the area. The only other thing she spots is something that looks like part man/part...something. Puzzled Asura stops and looks again. It has the head and torso of a human, except for the skull that seems implanted in its chest. It has what looks like the body of a horse except instead of normal barding made of metal it seems to be made of bones, with some kind of long shiny weapon on its back.
Stash watches Pyros antics with some amusement, Gedai watches with some fear.
Having adjusted to the darkness, the suddenly bright light nearly overwhelms Wismerhil senses as he walks a few yards away and falls to his knees, both hands covering his eyes. Though his eyes maybe overwhelmed his hearing is fine as he hears Pyros flippant comment to the injured dwarf. He hears the dwarf’s surprised shout and the stream of curses that follows as the fire priest jabs the flaming stick into the dwarfs’ wounds. Wismerhil hears the steps of the unconcerned priest as he walks away. But soon, mercifully soon, his sight does begin to recover and as it does, he looks at Pyros and whispers quietly between his teeth, "Please do that game of yours just once again, please."
Pyros looks back at him momentarily, even though there is no way he could have heard him he smiles as if he is considering just that. After a moment the priest wanders off looking for other injured soldiers. Oddly enough there don't seem to be any, just men taking a break.
Wismerhil turns away from the priest and upon spotting, the Captain he walks over to him. "Would there be anything you would have forgotten to tell us, or is that just normal to meet lizards that big in this region?"
The Captain ignores the brash warrior as he continues. "I'll keep all the magi under wraps, except for that old man, since they seem to be the focus. Remember the mercenaries." He glances over at Wismerhil, "And him. Take him with you." The Captain turns back to his Sergeant, "Since he seems to have a lack of things to do he will be better off with you. With the bulk of us missing, it's possible they might ignore us and go away but just in case."
Stamm Hammerfist says, "We shall commence the operation at dawn. For now let's see how much distance we can put between us and this battlefield." He turns on his horse and heads back to the front of the caravan, "Bury the dead quickly! Pyros perform the last rites and then we'll move out as soon as you're done."
A few others look around to see exactly who was chosen for this mission. It seems the Captain wasn't too subtle about who he chose. With one fell stroke he separates most of the mercenaries from his regular army and divests himself of an caravan guard who annoyed him one too many times. But shrewdly enough he kept the most of the scouts.
"Aruna, Voreas, Tristan, Pheras, Xedel, Sindel, Gwydeon, Stash, Crow, Gedai, Asura, Pol, the dwarves, and you" he points at Wismerhil, "Sergeant Voreas will be your commanding officer. Once you have dealt with the monsters return to Torana's Tower."
Gedai speaks up, "Wait a minute. We just stopped to help you on our way to the tower. I for one didn't sign up for army duty!"
The Captain looks tiredly at the young elf before shaking his head and turning away muttering, "Mercenaries". He spits the word out like a curse, "can't depend on any of them."
Voreas also doesn't look very happy, despite getting command of a unit back he lost almost all of his men to the Captain and is left with a bunch of irregulars who only stopped by to help out those under attack. He thinks for a moment then says, "We will be leaving just before dawn. Get some rest and shall get started then.”
Bormann also speaks up "The elf speaks well, Hammerfist! We Dwarves came to the aid of a caravan under attack. We'll not take orders from you. If you want our assistance, you'll have to request it. And let me disabuse you of the notion of us being mercenaries. We volunteered our aid with no expectation of payment and we have rendered that aid reliably and vigorously. We have put our other duties aside to help you see this caravan safely to the tower. I would think that would earn us a little more respect."
Keegan says, “At least that priest isn’t coming with us. I would have had to kill him.”
While the Captain obviously heard the words, he refused to comment as he starts to walk away.
Bormann turns to Voreas, "If you want us to go with you and aid you as best we can, you would do well to remember what I told Hammerfist. Do you understand me?"
When the Captain has gone, Sergeant Voreas, obviously not happy with his superiors’ orders says, “I know most of you did not expect this and since many of you aren’t army I can’t order you do help me. But I will follow orders to hunt these creatures down. I will gratefully accept any help in the matter.
Aruna says nothing, but then again he seems a little distracted as his eyes constantly wander back to discreetly watch Asura as she wanders around camp.
Asura walks over to her compatriots and lean companionably against Crow, "It's amazing. I join up with this group to lend a helping hand, and end up getting ordered around by someone who assumes I'm a mercenary and thinks the concept is vulgar. Ah well, at least it's something to do. And I have to keep Crow here out of trouble." She gently elbows Crow in the ribs.
Aruna frowns at the contact and scowls at Crow behind his back.
Crow responds by scratching his head and turning a bright shade of red. His train of thought long gone he says, “Ummm, okay. Er, boss?” Crow, Gedai and Stash all turn to Gwydeon who seems to be considering his options.
Flint Bloodrock shakes his head, “So this is why the humans and elves are getting killed up here. They ship off all their best fighters to chase magical beasts while they keep all the best magi. Complete morons! When we get back we are going to have one hell of a report.”
Sindel says, “Wait a minute, we still have our patrol...”
“We are going!” Comes and unusually emphatic response from Xedel.
Pheras and Sindel look at the old man. Sindel turns and opens her mouth as if to say something and is cut off by her brother, “No arguments. We are going, period. And when we find them I will show them just how good I am.” He sniffs and says in a half whimper, “passing me over because they say I have no style.” I’ll show them style!” he goes on angrily, “And when I’m done they’ll regret the day they ever crossed my path. Now let’s get some rest I’ve got two specimens to capture.”
Pheras only comment is “I don’t want to know what he could do with parts of those creatures. Though I’m sure their skin would made good armor.”
As Captain Hammerfist strides through, the caravan guards and soldiers alike automatically stand a little straighter. In his wake the word of the announcement follows and not many are happy about it.
Damion looks to Ulqik and says, “Why is he really splitting up the group?”
Lying on his back staring up at the stars, Ulqik shrugs and says, “We shall soon find out. Just because you don’t like mercenaries under your command doesn’t mean you weaken your forces by sending them away. That’s tactically unsound. But then again he is the ranking officer and we did sign up for this so we’ll have to trust his judgement.”
If Feldemaan, sitting across from Damion, had any thing to say about it no one knows, because he keeps silent as he has his face buried deep in his book.
The next morning finds Tristan one of the first people up and ready to go.
A haunting melody snakes it way through the campsite.
“With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal,
with silence dread, our force we reveal,
No sound at all, we never speak a word,
A flies foot forward be distinctly heard...”
Pyros sings in a loud whisper as he exaggerates his movements to seem as if he is sneaking around.
The Captain rolls his eyes and says, “For the last time, you aren’t going!
Voreas goes around again asking each of the volunteers to join him. Instead of heading northward along the trail, they immediately head west into the forest. They promptly leave Xedel behind as he stops to pick up various odds and ends -sticks, leaves, spider webs, etc.
Pol Crane keeps him company while bringing up the rear and making sure nothing sneaks up on the old man.
Before they can head north, a strange odor comes through on a north-easterly wind. It is a putrid scent like the smell of rotting flesh.
Several moments later there is a loud crash and everyone looks due south to see a man half-hidden behind a tree. He is wearing some kind of necklace with the skull of a rather large creature hanging from his burly chest. Even at this distance its easy to see that either he is fairly tall or standing on something. He struggles with a snake and within moments crushes its head with his bare hands.
He looks around and spots the group. Realizing that he has been seen he freezes motionless staring back at the group. What he doesn’t see is the large snake slowly uncurling from a tree branch behind him.
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