The door cracks open a tad as the woman peeks outside. The group tries its best to look nonthreatening as she examines and evaluates them. A few long moments later, she opens the door and stands in the doorway. An attractive human woman with dark brown hair, she holds a weathered short sword in one hand. The child, a young boy maybe 5 years old, stands behind her legs. Like most of the hardy people in the wild, she wears practical trousers instead of a dress. "I'm glad you're not with the bandits. I've been praying to Erastil for relief from them. Have you come into contact with my husband? We didn't have anything to pay them last month, so they took him to hunt and cook for them. We've been hoping that he will return to us soon." She wipes away a tear. It's obviously been quite difficult for them. "I'm Ilyana Flaxton. This is my son, Nicholas Jr." The young boy gives them a shy wave.
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"Greetings Ilyana, no I am afraid we have not seen your husband." Verik nods gravely to the boy, "Pleased to meet you Nicholas Jr., is that your father's name to, Nicholas that is? A good name. I am Verik."
Turning back to Ilyana he asks, "Can you describe the bandits who took your husband Ilyana? Were they lead by a woman Kressle or a man called Happs? If so we have Kressle in custody, so we should be able to find your husbands through her. But if it is another bunch of near-do-wells then we will do our best to find them and recover your husband for you. We will not rest until he is back with you and these vermin are gone for good."
"Good day to you, Mrs Flaxton. We've not run into your husband as of yet. We've weathered an ambush by bandits over at Oleg's Trading Post - then followed their trail back to the camp they had a few days to the south." Jemini tries to sound supportive, as she can appreciate the hard time that these two must have gone through in the last few weeks. "If you want, we can arrange for you and little Nicholas to stay over with Oleg and Svetlana until we've cleared the bandits from this region."
"We'll leave a note in case your husband returns - but I assume that he's trying to keep you safe by keeping the Stag Lord fed. We haven't as of yet tracked down the bandit lord himself - he's apparently considerably further south than we have ventured up to now. We're trying not to overextend too early and keep the area well scouted as we proceed."
"But, if we can help you, it would be our pleasure. We're not far from Oleg's now - so we could spare some of our rations; though perhaps it is best if you want to come with us to Oleg's: guards are stationed there now, and" - she gestures - "our little party here is roaming the countryside, eliminating the bandit threat bit by bit. My heart, for one, would rest easier if I knew you two in the safety of Oleg's place."
As Jemini and Verik rejoin their usual dance of words, Zander eyes the house warily. Slinging his pack off his shoulder, he rummages around inside until his hand rests on a familiar piece of leather. Pulling the mask out from his backpack, Zander pulls it over his head, grimacing at the discomfort. He'd grown used to wearing his own face these last few weeks, but sees no need to upset the locals.
As the door to the cabin begins to open, Zander keeps to the back of the party and keeps his mouth shut. Though glad to finally find a friendly face in the wilderness, he is quite apprehensive about how these strangers might react to him. As the woman looks over the party, Zander averts his eyes as she looks at him, but quickly returns to studying her features once she looks away.
Ilyana regards them and their offer, clearly torn. "I... I do appreciate it. We are going to run out of our food stores soon, and I'm afraid that Nicholas always did the hunting. But this is our home, and we don't accept handouts. We have some money. We can purchase food at Oleg's, if he has any there." Tears in her dark eyes, she proudly stands tall. "If you will give us a moment, we would be happy to accompany you to Oleg's. It's tatzlwyrm mating season, and they can be pretty aggressive."
Nicholas Jr continues to shyly stare at the group. It is probably the first time in his life that he's gotten a close look at adventurers.
Taisper slides down off his horse. "Hi Nicholas." he says to the boy, smiling warmly. "How are ya? You gotta be pretty brave living out here with just your family. How old are you? I'm gonna guess...eight." Taisper, who of course has no idea exactly how old Nicholas is, has generally found guessing a child's age is a good way to strike up a conversation with them. If you're right, they usually wonder how you knew, and if you're wrong, they love correcting you. Of course, this was all back in the city, so it might not apply at all out on the frontier. Still, doesn't hurt to try.
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Verik smiles, "Excellent, its settled then. How long do you need to prepare Ilyena? You and Nicholas can ride Virtue here, he's a good fellow for a horse. And what on earth is a tatzlwyrm? I'm afraid I've been a city dweller for a while now so forgive me if they are common to all you rugged outdoorsey types."
Turning to his companions he adds, "Should let us move faster, no offense but out of that breastplate I can outpace any of you. Just expect a lot more wheezing and a lot less urbane banter."
"Um.. mam." Berrin says hesitantly. "Talkin'bout aggressive. The eh.. thylacine ain't been propperly trained see. He's nice enough but eh.. we sorta just picked him up two days back and he seems to like us just enough so he's following us around. Just a fair warning, maybee we should keep Nicholas Jr. away from 'im is all I'm saying."
As soon as Berrin mentions Reggie, Nicholas Jr spots the thylacine and runs towards it, squealing with joy. Reggie barely has time to react as the boy launches into a giant hug. "Doggy!" From under the boy, Reggie's tail wags with excited vigor.
Ilyana laughs at the boys antics, the first sign of happiness on her face that the group has seen since their arrival. "He's been taming them since he could walk. They just love him." She lovingly watches her son as he rolls in the dirt with Reggie. "Just give me a few minutes. Do you want anything while you're here?"
Taisper watches as the boy hustles past him and to the dog. He stands and smiles, glad to see that the natural pairing of kids and dogs seems to hold true everywhere.
Jemini subtly releases a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you decided to join us for now. That takes a burden of me right there. Can I help with anything? There's really no rush - I at least fully understand that you cannot just vacate your home at the drop of a hat." She looks and smiles at little Nicki frolicking with the thylacine - almost makes her forget her dislike for the mutt.
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Verik smiles, "I don't think we need anything Ilyana, thank you for the offer though." Once Nicholas Jr. has calmed a little he hands him Virtue's reins. "Now I'm going to put you in charge of Virtue here Nicholas, can you ride - not a problem if you can't you are bound to have a better seat than me. He's nice enough for a horse, aren't you fleabag?"
Now that Nicholas is occupied, Taisper takes a deep breath and looks around intently, still trying to spot whatever it was that had Reggie all worked up this morning, see if something is following them. For all he knows it could have just been a rabbit or other game animal, but for some reason he finds that unlikely.
As he does so, he calls out to Ilyana with a smile in his voice. "Mrs. Flaxton it's real great you guys have a family out here. Family's important. It's commitment. The foundation of life. How long have you guys been out here? 'You move here from somewhere, or have you always been living off the land?"
Ilyana smiles at Taisper, happy to answer him. "Nicholas and I moved down here from up north when we got married 5 years ago. We could see that the nobles were just going to tax us to death, or draft him. Turns out, they have a lot in common with the bandits." She tears up a little, careful not to let her son see. "Out here, we are free, but it's been hard. It shouldn't have to be a choice between having freedom and safety."
Jemini turns back to Ilyana, after having watched Verik's father-antics, "We're hoping to rid these lands of the bandit threat. And any other threats for that matter. Then start a nation based on the principles of freedom and fairness - I hope you'll not decide to leave us then," she smirks at Ilyana, "and I promise: I'll do everything in my power to return your husband to you; or at least bring you certainty of his whereabouts and health."
Taisper winces inwardly as Ilyana mentions two big-time sore points for their group -- nobility and taxes -- and plays it safe. "Well, like Jemini said, the six of us, we're here to try to help provide some safety for the free people of this area, like yourself and your husband and boy. We've been mapping and exploring, and yeah; we've started getting a handle on the bandit problem, hoping to have a little talk with this Stag Lord before too long. But for now, we're doing our best, just like you, and we'd love to help out however much we can."
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Verik smiles, "We are planning a festival soon to," he says, adding a triple defiantly, "Taxfest. But it will be all about having a good time, so no need to worry about money for a goodly while. Now Nicholas Junior why don't you show your mother how to mount Virtue there and we can be on our way! Don't be alarmed if I wheeze a lot, turn funny colors, and complain a great deal, those are ancient Abadarian running techniques."
Still mounted ontop Bessie Berrin watches in amazement as Nicholas tackles Reggie the the thylacine's apparent joy, watching them play puts a smile on Berrin's face, the inocence of both boy and beast readily apparent in the games. "You say the boy's been training dogs? Do you rekon he could help me with Reggie? I think we've taken as much a shine in him as him in us, so I'd really like to learn how to handle him propperly." he asks Ilyana.
Holding her hands on Verik's shoulder briefly Jemini mutters, "Don't worry, Irori will see your efforts and ensure that you won't get too hot under the collar. If you start having trouble keeping up, just holler and I'll ask Tandlara to show you some ancient elven hip waggling techniques. They might just keep you going."
Tandlara lets Verik and Jemini head the introductions and stays on her horse some distance from the others, she canters all around the house, having a good luck at it before returning and dismounting. She smiles as she sees the little boy go to play with the recently tamed thylacine.
She walks up and joins the group, wide green eyes wide and observant, she keeps them on the treeline for the most part. Coming to a stop beside Zander, she joins him in his watchfulness.
'I have a bad feeling, whatever the thylacine smelled earlier is still out there, and this wasn't it,' she mutters to the masked man.
"Hah!" Jemini turns to Ilyana, "Don't let his portly demeanor and gentlemanly behavior fool you - he's a devious hunter of skirts." She explains while underlying the word devious by squinching her eyes and waggling her fingers.
Ilyana points to the east as she sits Nicholas Jr on Virtue and deftly leaps up top without assistance. "It's a good 15 or 20 miles that way. Shall we be off?"
Standing back from the main party and watching the party interact with the woman and her child, Zander feels a nagging sense of longing - wishing he could jump in and introduce himself and tell the boy about how they rescued Reggie and pick on Verik with the others, but despite his wants, he stands rooted in place, his mouth closed, and his eyes moving from face to face, but avoiding contact and darting to the ground whenever either of the Flaxtons looks in his direction.
When Tandlara approaches, he turns away from the family and faces her, "You're right. We should hurry to Oleg's. We can always come back and explore this area later, our first priority should be keeping these people safe."
Zander is trying really hard to keep a stoic demeanor, but you can see that he is having a tough time with having these strangers around and is quite worried about how they will react to him.
'Your right of course. We should keep our eyes well pealed.' Tandlara smiles slightly at Zander, then touches his arm warmly. Can't be pleasant having that mask back on. Wonder if he'll ever tell anyone other than Berrin who he is? He didn't tell me, so its none of my business.
'Shall we go?' Tandlara heads to her horse and mounts it smoothly, ready to follow the party from the rear with her eyes pealed.
As the group pushes forward Jemini keeps close to Ilyana, probing for more information and generally being chatty. "Well, now, let me give everybody a name for you. I'm Jemini, of Lebeda, and the source of the wheezing behind us would be Verik, Abadar's most devout. Then you've met Taisper as well - he's Abadar's other most devout; the two are actually family, cousins, but in almost all ways they differ from each other. Now don't be shy, the tall guy in the mask over there is Zander - he's got his heart in the right place, but is really shy around people; he's got severe burns that spoil his face. Truth be told - it isn't so bad if you've seen it once or twice, but the first time around it can be quite a shock," Jemini continues by pointing to Tandlara, "She's our token elf, not stranger than other elves you might have met, but really knowledgeable and very handy in the kitchen. She, together with Berrin" - Jemini points - "are our primary culinary experts. When we take a break later I'm sure you'll get to sample some of their work; quite a treat. Berrin himself is quite a rare find - in spite of his hulking stature and ability to fall into the most obvious of traps - is actually very insightful and smart. It might take a little while - but his opinion is usually well measured and valuable when he does offer it."
"Careful what you wish for, Verik. Your soon-to-be-lover Tandlara has long ears, long memory, and very possibly the ability to grant you your wish..."
'Don't worry Verik.' Tandlara calls out from near the back of the party.
'I am very merciful. To a point.'
Berrin tilts his head with a "Mam." as he's introduced but otherwise just watches as everyone makes ready to head out and then keeps his eyes on the trail as they do. He does keep an eye on the pudgy cleric though as he, to Berrin's amazement, jogs easely next to the horses.
Verik jogs alongside the horses for about an hour, his legs burning with exhaustion. Their steady pace through the hills is extremely tiring, even with the usage of magic to sustain him. Huffing and puffing, with Verik's face a rather unusual shade of crimson, Ilyana looks to the others. "Perhaps we should take a break? Nicholas and I could use a stretch." She slows Virtue down to a trot, waiting for the others.
"Verik, cousin, are you sure this is a good idea? You don't look so hot." Taisper looks with concern at the flushed and sweating cleric. "Look, I've maybe got a better idea. I'm not that great on a horse, Ilyana and Nicholas can ride mine, and I'll just catch up with you guys. As long as I have all my gear, and we're not that far away, I oughta be alright. I mean, unless we can double up on the horses, but I don't know how comfortable that'd be for us, much less for the horses." Taisper is shouldering his pack, and appears intent on striking out on his own, to catch up with the group later.
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"Non... sense... fine... hardly... tired... at all..." Verik wheezes taking hold of his holy symbol and sending a wave of healing light gushing forth.
"We'll just rest for a minute, and then continue." He says, before holding his knees and doubling over for a few minutes.
"Right, everybody ready? Let's get this over with!" He says after five minutes breaking into a jog again.
Taisper eyes his cousin dubiously. When it appears that everyone else is going to continue to go along with this he shrugs and gets back on his horse, watching Verik's retreating form from the back of the group.
What is he trying to prove? He thinks to himself. Then, remembering the conversations of the last few days, he looks at Jemini's back. Is it to impress her? Would she care? Taisper sighs heavily. Why am I thinking things like that? A month ago that wouldn't have entered my head!
The inquisitor shakes his head at his own terrible lack of discipline. He would have to be Punished later. "...I'm gonna go crazy out here..."
"Hey Tandlara, do you think the two of us can ride together? We don't have much gear and we're both pretty much the lightest in the party. Verik's been outdoing himself - but he'll probably enjoy sitting on a bumpy pair of bones right now."
"Hey Taisper! I'm not quite clear on all the Abadarian regulations and orderlies. Would you describe a staturely man on horseback, or an out-of-breath exhausted runner, as more civilized?"
"Yeah. Don't be stupid Verik. Accept the offer, we might need you ready for action and you'll do no good exhausted if we get ourselves into a pinch."
Taisper laughs, almost in spite of himself, and replies to Jemini: "Well, that's a good question, really, and the Keeper's holy texts are a little fuzzy on that order. I'd reckon someone on horseback is going to look a lot more impressive and noble than someone sweaty and flushed and whooping for breath, but on the other hand someone whooping for breath ain't gonna do a whole lot of talking so there's less chance he'll embarrass himself. Tough call, tough call."
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Verik ignores the mockery lifting his chin and powering forward, "One... horse... could... not... carry... two... egos... that... large." He gasps.
Ha, if they knew how often I had to run like this with Father Knesh, they would not be laughing... Well they probably would, but stuff them, being laughed at never hurt anything but pride. I really am getting soft, travel is part of my calling, to seek out new nations and civilizations, to boldly go where no cleric of Abadar has gone before. And at the end of the day nothing is more dependable than my own two feet!
Jemini sighs at Ilyana in mock exasperation and a wink, "That's our Verik. A sheath of paper with the will and determination to make it all the way to a legitimate proclamation."
Verik huffs along for another few minutes, quietly repeating something to himself about showing Jemini something. As he jogs along, he takes pace a few feet removed from the horses. Suddenly, the ground itself gives way beneath his feet. Landing spread-eagled, the sight would be quite funny if not for the three hissing creatures his fall disturbed.
"Tatzlwyrms!" shouts Ilyana, the worry evident in her voice.
Verik appears to have stumbled into a small tatzlwyrm nest in what appears to be a series of fallen trees that are mostly sunk into the ground. The nearest tatzlwyrm screeches at the cleric of Abadar, its long and wingless body the closest thing he's ever seen to a dragon. Looking angry but startled, the trio of dragonoid beasts screech furiously at Verik, appearing ready to pounce upon him.
The creatures are something to behold, like massive lizards or primeval dragons. Their green scales blend in with the foliage, with large spines on their backs. Sporting two small limbs and no wings, they still have what appears to be extremely sharp teeth. Each of the three is likely more than 10 feet long if stretched from head to tail, while each massive body looks like it weighs over 500 pounds.
Zander's horse rears up at the sight of the tatzlwyrms and it takes him a moment to calm it before he is able to dismount. Once his feet touch the ground, the archer's bow is already raised and his arrow is already drawn. As he steps forward, he narrows his eyes at the nearest creature and fires off a shot, sinking an arrow into the scaly creature's midsection. As the arrow hits its mark, Zander yells out, "Hey you big dumb snake, come over here and fight me!" Hoping to draw the beast away from Verik lest he be surrounded.
Jemini dismounts, holding on to the reins as she does so. She leads Wildflower towards virtue - grabbing the reins near the horse's snout and cooing to it to keep it calm. Speaking clearly, but without shouting to alarm the horses, she asks: "Should I call the spirits to envelope the nest? It can buy us time - but our archers won't get clear shots for a while."
"VERIK! ohhh noooo..." Looking over the situation Taisper shakes his head. He realizes there's no way he'll get to his cousin in time, but he knows he's not a skilled enough archer to take the enemy down at distance through melee.
The inquisitor dismounts, then speaks clearly over the hissing serpents and thudding of horses' hooves as he starts moving over to where Verik has fallen. He readies his shield as he goes. Now he sees them, he remembers some tidbits Loremaster Toben taught his class about creatures like these. He hopes the knowledge translates across species... "Guys, we have to be quick. The ones nearest Verik are two males, and they're likely gonna try to impress that other one, the female, by shredding him. I mean, like extra bad. Worse than usual. Tiny cleric cutlets."