Maeve glances back at Mal as he goes under, then turns around to try to get him to the surface.
Malnival attemps to swim to the Surface.
Swim:
Parity will attempt to distract them, zipping past the interceptors and kicking sand in the faces of the archers, even disarming them if possible.
Harlan will roll into the legs of archers, letting his heavy armor stub toes and bark shins.
With a little bit of help from Maeve, Malnival regains the surface, gasping for air. Heng continues on, moving into the deeper water and faster current, closing some distance on the boat. Now only yards away, he can see someone under the burning shround thrasing, and a woman's voice calling out in alarm.
On the shore, Parity and Harlan barrel through the men, running amidst the archers tossing sand and tangling up in their footing. The chaos is enough to spoil their shots. One releases, but it flies off into the foggy distance.
Maeve continues to swim as well, hoping to catch up.
Swim:
Snarl and growl at the archers using intimidate to demoralize them
Intimidate:
Maeve continues toward the boat while Malnival struggles to regain his bearings. Heng surges across the last remaining distance, grabbing the edge of the small boat with a triumphant gasp. The flames continue to grow, now spread across the entire shroud. The woman's calls have now turned to screams of pain.
Back on land, Parity's aggressive presence sends a couple of the archers running. One of the men, upon seeing Heng reach the pyre-boat, shouts something in Skald. A moment later, they all turn and run.
Malnival will continue to swim to the boat.
With a kiai, Heng throws his weight onto the rail of the boat, tilting it nearly sideways. It stays upright, but the vigorous motion sprays water over most of the flames. A few moments later, Malnival and Maeve arrive, and with thier help, you're able to extinguish the rest of the fire.
The pyre-boat continues downstream around the tip of the penninsula and out towards the sea. You climb aboard and tear away the burned fragments of the burial shroud, soaked in oil. Beneath are two straw effigies in the shape of men... and Kelda, bound and gagged, with moderate burns. Tears of relief fill her eyes as she recognizes her rescuers.
A look of shock and fear crosses Malnival's face when he hesitates as Heng begins untieing Kelda, the blood drains from the elfs face has he tears into the Ulfen womans bonds. "Are you ok Kelda? Who did this to you!?
"Well, there they go Parity, out to sea. You can't see it, but they're floating away now. We'll probably never see them again. That's too bad really, I would have liked to find out what was going on here."
Harlan sighs then limps his way over to the remaining mourners.
"What's the meaning of this? My friend here has more heart than any of you cowards, and that's not just because he had some of my black bean goat chili earlier. So, somebody start talking before I let him see where you are. You wouldn't like him when he can see you."
Released from her bonds, Kelda sits up and gives a weak smile. "I've been better, but I'll live," she replies to Malnival. She hisses in pain as she feels out some of her burned skin. "Once again, I owe you my life. How did you find me here?"
To Mal's second question, Kelda frowns and looks away. "It... it is complicated." She nods towards land."Ve vill have to svim. There are no oars; this boat was made for a one-vay trip."
Malnival nodds his head and steps back from Kelda and begins to give the boat a quick once over.
Perception:
Maeve nearly collapses in relief before checking over the boat with Mal. "Okay, I know this is a bad time, but is it normal to burn living people on a funeral pyre around here? Because I don't think I've ever heard of that, and it seems rather extreme a way to honor the dead."
Malnival and Maeve don't notice anything special on the boat. It is of pretty rough construction, presumably because it was built to be burned. The two effigies are made of straw and shaped to resemble Ulfen warriors in repose. The boat is otherwise empty.
*
Harlan marches down the rocky beach until the fog reveals the next group along, those before the lord's large pyre-ship. A hefty man, a warrior in his latter years, frowns at Harlan's rant, to which he replies, "Piss off, runt," in thickly accented Taldan.
"Careful, friend ... words like that, even spoken in grief may cause one to lose a few fingers, if not an arm or other important extremity, if you catch my meeting."Parity says with a forced smile, "What my stout companion wants to know is whether or not you knew anything about the fools over there who just shipped a living person off on that funeral boat. We could only assume you were with them, but if we're mistaken in that assumption, pointing us in the right direction would surely lead us away from your ceremony here." He trails his fingers lightly along the end of his hilt.
The older Ulfen looks at you with obvious disdain, but shakes his head back and forth. "I hawe no idea what you're speaking of. Ve are here to send off Snorri Stone-Eye, if the fog ewar clears. Now, be silent or be off."
"Oh. Well...I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."
Kelda shakes her head at Maeve's query, but remains in gloomy silence. She dives into the water and starts swimming after Heng.
"Snorri Stone-eye, eh? How did he die ... don't suppose you've got some living Ulfen warriors under your tarp as well?" Parity asks suspiciously recalling the witch's words from earlier.
"Snorri Stone-eye, eh? How did he die ... don't suppose you've got some living Ulfen warriors under your tarp as well?" Parity asks suspiciously recalling the witch's words from earlier.
The Ulfen looks at Parity like he's got two heads growing from his neck. He mutters something in Skald before adding in Taldan. "No, disrepectful southerner. Snorri vas respected and lowed by his ring-bearers, but ewen these cannot vard off old age."
Malnival shrugs and dives into the water following the tall blond Ulfen.
Maeve dives in after, keeping to the back and keeping an eye on Kelda since she's still moving faster than the others.
The three of you swim back to shore with Kelda, regaining the shore close to the tip of the penninsula. A few minutes later, you (presumably) rejoin with Harlan and Parity. With the group back together, Kelda says, "Thank you, again... but vhat are you doing here? I'm not ungrateful, but I newer told you vhat I vas doing."
"Kelda! What were you doing? Why is it every time I meet you you're dripping wet?"
|
Heng bares his tusk-like teeth in an awkward smile, "We have hit a bit of an impasse and needed some information regaring a group called the Rimerunners. As for finding you, partly it was luck, but I merely had to ask where a funeral was likely to occur knowing you were planning one. I did not expect that you would be on the pyre though."
Despite her solemn mood, Kelda lets out a laugh at Harlan's question. "I'm a sailor... it happens." She sits down on a fallen tree trunk, letting out a sigh before continuing. You can sense she is embarrassed. "My brothers and I sailed south, ewentually to Brinevall, to find waluables to sell for gold. My family oves a great weregild to Lord Utle Utleheim. Vhen I returned empty-handed, ewen vith my brothers dead, he took it badly and, per his rights, demanded blood wengeance. I came here today to send of my brothers; Utleheim's goons came to send me off with them." She lets out a chuckle. "I cannot imagine vhat they'll do to me now."
"I've heard of the Rimerunners... a guild of merchants, I think. How can I help?"
So, Kelda ... You know anything about Snorri stone eye over here and his boat.
Kelda shows a quick moment of surprise. "The Mad Reaver finally died? It shouldn't be a surprise, but he's been locked away in his hall for some time... years, I think. His people claimed he became a recluse after raiding in his youth, but some whisper he had some wasting disease." She shrugs. "Vhy? Is that his pyre-boat ower there?"
"Wait!" Kelda says, grabbing Heng's arm. "That may be just a figure of speech. The only vay to know is to check the pyre-boat, but it is guarded by dozens of Stone-eye's men. If you try to board it now, they vill kill you."
Maeve thinks in response to that "...our best chance may be to sneak aboard...well, pretty much the same way we did this time. Better prepared, of course. The richer the person, the bigger the boat I would assume, so it takes a longer time to burn. Of course, if we just swim up we'll be full of arrows....some way to breathe underwater, or perhaps an invisible approach?"
I agree that it might be a figure of speech, but we have to check. Since there's fog why don't we swim out and wait? And by we, I mean you all.
"Why would they want a guide for him to go into the afterlife? Has Ulf been there before? Also, if Snorri is a hermit, why would he need a guide at all? If all of his guards are here maybe his estate is unguarded? What if we go there with Kelda while you swimmer types check out the boat?"