| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
At the word savage, Gkigkhan stops in his tracks. His knuckles crack like snapping wood as he slowly balls his hands into a fist. He turns, his lips curled in a cruel, wolfish grin as his eyes glimmer with barely constrained fury.
"Savage? Hyu tink Hy em de savage here? Hyu vant me to show hyu de fury," he asks, cocking his head to the side as he takes a step back towards you.
The bellow of his voice drowns out the sounds of the woods, calls them to cease as he pounds his chest with one fist. His face is a twisted mask of anger.
"Hyu say all Hy do iz talk? Hyu vant dis fight so bad? Den c'mon und let's get dis ober vit! I'll even let hyu go first!"
Gkirkhan stands facing you squarely, his eyes blazing as he waits for your first strike.
Don't try usin' your debbil logicks on me!
As Gkirkhan turns and meets challenge with challenge, Jerukh nods with a tooth'ed grin...
... and charges the warrior bellowing as he does;
:
:
Gkirkhan's head snaps to the side with the blow. He takes a step back, momentarily staggered by the blow, but then he grins as he turns his head back to Jerukh. His eyes blaze and he swings twice at "Mr. Horde." The first blow is solid, but the second strike misses.
"Hyu'll need to do better den dot," Gkirkhan says as he begins moving more like a boxer.
"Anyway, if Sandpoint is a good option I'd imagine they will be with us for a little while longer until we get back. Right now we're heading the opposite direction."
"While we're on the subject though, there's one more thing I'd like to bring up. I know you're unhappy with Reiko because of how she treated Lucas. I was right there, and I have to say I was shocked myself."
"But as things spun out, I don't think what she did can be judged just by that moment. Lucas wasn't going to tell me anything because he was trying to protect Mari. But if he hadn't told Reiko everything, she would almost certainly have been killed. He couldn't know it, but his judgement was wrong."
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, before you think too harshly about Reiko, ask Lucas if his wound was worth getting his sister back. I think he would say 'yes'. I'm not trying to claim the ends justify the means. Only that in this particular case, it happened to turn out to be the only way for Lucas to get what he wanted most. You don't have to approve of what Reiko did, I don't either. But sometimes alls well that ends well."
As the other half orc assumes a fighting stance, Jerukh merely growls as he tastes his own blood from Gkirkhan's punch.
The alchemist lashes out with a corded forearm;
:
:
"Like that one better?"
Gkirkhan lets out a grunt as Jerukh slams his first into his side. The smile is gone, leaving only a simmering anger. The burly half-orc tries to counter attack with two swift jabs, but Jerukh proves faster than Gkirkhan realizes.
Shalelu sits next to you and after an abortive attempt at wrapping an arm around your shoulders just sits in the silence.
"I don't know," she says sadly, "I've never had to wonder about where I came from. I grew up knowing my mother and she would tell me about my father. She never hesitated when I asked about him, always willing to tell me another tale."
She takes in a deep breath and steels herself, knowing that what she is about to say would likely cause a good bit of pain.
"I don't know your father that well, but from what you have told me, he may want to forget his past. He may not talk about your mother because he wants to forget her," she says, tensing as she anticipates the storm to come.
"Ask away. I think it'd be better coming from one of the ones that helped rescue Mari," Sandru says with a smile
"I've said all I'm going to say to her on the matter," he says with more than a hint of exasperation when Reiko's actions concerning Lucas are brought up. "What is it with you and Jerukh? First he accuses me of questioning her honor and now you're asking me to not think too harshly about her! It's done. It's dealt with, and it needs to be left alone!"
He takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that," he mutters before falling silent.
Koya, apparently wise enough to be ready for something like this manages to clamp a hand over Emi's mouth before she could say too much in front of Tatiana.
"Welcome back to the land of the living. Best mind the little ears," Koya says, her eyes flicking to where Tatiana was seated.
"Tatiana, would you mind fetching the tea? I believe that Emiliana would like some," she says to the little girl who scurries off with a "yes Aunt Koya."
"Now what were you asking about? I'm afraid I missed it," Koya says with a snicker as she removes her hand from Emi's mouth.
Reiko checks on the recovering Varisian girl with a smile, "You must be feeling better to think of that question. I would not sully myself with such gossip, so I only say this to assist with your healing... I have heard that aside from their skin and heads, the Nagaji are very much like other men and... hm... everything works." Even to the sick woman, it's clear that Reiko finds the rumors intriguing.
With a grunt and a groan she tries to lift herself into a seated position. When Koya gives her a little swat she takes hold of her old family friend's hand and uses it to help pull herself up. "Tea vould be a good place to start, thank you. I feel like I hafen't had anything inside me in forefer." As groggy as she remains, its nearly impossible to tell if this last statement was meant as innuendo or not.
When her eyes finally open fully she smiles at Reiko. Then looking at Koya with great big puppy-dog eyes she implores, "do you think Iko vould make me some Taldane Toast vith sveet cream, if you asked her fery nicely?"
Jerukh meets Gkirkhan's growing anger with growling defiance, launching another haymaker at the warrior;
:
:
"Where are you words of wisdom now Gkirkhan the Wise!?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Neber said Hy vas vise," Gkirkhan replies with a hint of humor. The half-orc goes for broke and starts swinging hard in an effort to make his few hits count.
Vigny winces slightly at Sandru's sudden growliness.
"I'm sorry. I certainly can't tell you what Jerukh is thinking. I didn't know he'd talked to you about it. I was just trying to keep the peace. Never mind."
Vigny gets up and swings out to clamber down off the wagon. "I should get going. I'm stopping by to see Lucas and Mari this afternoon too, see how they're doing. I'll mention what you said to them."
She jumps free of the wagon and starts walking back to grab the wagon carrying the siblings.
"Vhich half vas snake?" Emi continues as she rolls onto her side and tries to flutter her eyes open, "I vonder vhat kind of tongues they hafe..."
Reiko quips:
I met a snake-man from Nagajor,whose 'tool' - I swear - brushed the floor!
With a considerable smile
He showed the part most reptile...
With such a skilled 'snake', who needs more?
"Supper's going to be ready soon," Koya says, "and I'd think a hearty stew would do you more good than some toast, no matter how good."
Koya looks at Emiliana, and a moment later, sighs in defeat at her puppy-dog eyes.
"but I'll ask her. Just sit tight here, and watch what you say around Tatiana. It's hard enough to keep her from asking questions a young girl ought not when she's around Sandru's men. I'd rather not have her asking about what the two of you come up with when you're bored," she says with a mock glower before exiting the wagon, leaving the two of you alone for a few minutes.
At least until the number of tien women double.
"EMI!" Ameiko's cry of joy is almost too loud as she almost tackles the recently wakened Emiliana.
"I'm so happy you're feeling better! Things have... Well things have gotten a little tense since you've been sick," she says. "I think we need to come up with some dirty limericks to break it and get everyone to laugh again. Do you think you're up for this dangerous quest? You too Reiko! I need all the help I can get!"
After climbing into the wagon, you find both Lucas and Mari learning how to play a card game from Koya.
"Oh, hello Vigny," Koya greets you as you close the door.
"Hello from me and Mari as well," Lucas adds while Mari seems to be having trouble finding her tongue.
"Would you like to play? I'm sure that a follower of the Lucky Drunk would have no small amount of luck in cards," Koya states, her smile beatific, and not hiding the gleam in her eyes at all.
"Soli, I hate to tell you this, but there's a bit of difference between the Snowcasters and the elves of the Mierani Forest," Shalelu says with a hint of a chuckle that dies almost before it is born.
"I'm sorry, Soli. I can't imagine what it must be like to be that uncertain about yourself. It is strange that he refuses to talk about his home at all. Do you even know where you're from?"
"I am nefer too sick for such a kvest!" Emi groans from beneath her friend.
"Oh no, we're not writing them down! What if Koya found them," Ameiko says before her eyes go wide in mock terror, "she'd kill us if Tatiana ever started repeating them."
Her grin widens and she moves so that she's not crushing Emiliana.
"So, we just have to make sure that we don't say them where little ears can hear!" Turning to Reiko, she gives the other tien woman an even wider grin. "So, you were saying something about a snake man?"
With some help from both women Emi stands up and adjusts her typically flimsy clothing to provide some small shred of modesty, and heads out of the wagon.
Emi blinks and squints as she steps out of the wagon and into daylight for the first time in a while. She grabs the handle on the back of the wagon and climbs down with uncharacteristic cautiousness. Once her feet are firmly planted on the ground, she locks elbows with her escorts and heads off for Ameiko's, or the mess wagon, or wherever her companions lead her...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Reiko answers loftily, "I was just sharing the ancient wisdom of notable Xa Hoi sages about the Nagaji. When said in Tien, it is very elegant. If it sounds like a filthy limerick in translation, I believe the blame falls on the crude Varisian tongue. Let's see how an innocent haiku about fish translates:"
One-eyed trouser trout,
do you swim in the grotto
that, to me, brings joy?
Reiko considers, and decides, "Yes, Varisian is at fault. It seems your tongue excels at filthy acts." Reiko's smile is beatific.
At Gkirkhan's wry comment, Jerukh too flashes a hard smile;
"Perhaps not wise... but tough as stone!"
The transformed alchemist matches the warriors heavy swings with another strike of his own:
:
:
Emi listens to Reiko's 'explanation' as she climbs down out of the wagon. "Vell, first of all," she answers, "ve are speaking Taldane, not Farisian. And Taldane is a course language for sure. Secondly... 私の舌は優秀だが、それは不潔にならない!"
"Vow... that does sound pretty good..." she remarks in a mix of genuine surprise and playful mockery. Then, suddenly distracted, she blurts out, "is that Soliana ofer there? Sould ve infite her to join us for Taldane toast? She can be our guinea pig... not for the Taldane toast, vhich I'm sure vill be fine, but for our poems... she is required by Shelyn to lofe poems... "
Reiko laughs and looks past the energetic invalid to catch Ameiko's eye. "あなたは彼女にこれを言うように指示しましたか？ 今、もし彼女について話したいのであれば、私たちはティエンでそれをしなければなりません。"
"ごめんなさい！彼女はあなたに運命の子犬の目を与えているときに彼女に言ってみたことがありますか?" Ameiko answers when asked if she taught Emiliana how to speak Minkaian.
Looking up, she sees Soliana fresh from her talk with Shalelu. She runs up and hides from Reiko behind the Shelynite.
"Soli! Protect me! I think I made Reiko mad," she says in mock terror, her eyes bright with laughter.
Shalelu looks up and, seeing the hungry look in your eyes, gives a weak chuckle.
"Your father really didn't tell you anything, did he? Snowcasters are elves from the north. They normally keep to themselves, and distrust outsiders, but they can see better in the dark than any other elf, except the drow, and the snows of their home doesn't blind them like it would me. They say that ice magic also runs through their veins. As far as I can tell, your father certainly fits the description, but I've never been able to ask him. He could teach me a thing or two about disappearing into the wilderness."
Gkirkhan's grin goes wider at the comment and as finally dodges one of Jerukh's punishing fists. He begins to bob and weave as he tries to line up to return some of the damage dealt to him.
The burly bruiser manages to finally land another blow and there's a resounding crack as Jerukh takes a brutal right hook.
"Hy should be jealous. Hyu haff de schmotts und hyu hit like an ogre," Gkirkhan laughs.
Vigny grins when she sees the card players. "Sure!"
She's spent the day so far preoccupied with Vhisky boys, and she's had quite enough of that. It's all awkward or infuriating, enough to make her second guess asking Raul to stay behind.
His brother does that the better name.... Whatever it was. But at least he was nice to be around and plenty of fun.
Cards will be a perfect distraction from all that.
"I'll wager drinks or dares, but not money. I never really have any of it. How does this work?"
"No! No dares!" Koya glares at you before launching into a long and rapid recounting of all the times her adoptive children and their friends had gotten into trouble over them. A surprising number of times involved Ameiko.
After her rant, she settles back and begins teaching you the basics.
As you learn to play, Mari looks up from her hand that she'd been focusing on when she wasn't glancing at you when she thought you weren't looking.
"Um, Vigny, right? Do you know when Sandru is going to ask us to leave," she asks timidly, managing to not quite hide behind her cards, but only because she was peeking over them.
"Alright alright, no dares. Right now" Vigny smirks.
"Ah, that's something I did want to talk with you and Lucas about" Vigny replies to Mari.
"I was talking to him just a little while ago. I mentioned your problem of finding a place to settle down. He suggested Sandpoint. I've been there and it's pretty nice. Could work for you."
"It will be a while before we're heading back that way though. Have to get to Brinewall and then come all the way back. You can stay with the caravan just that long if you wish. But, Sandru was also wandering if you'd like to continue traveling with the caravan permanently. That would probably mean jobs with it. Either way, it's up to you. No need to decide right away. Plenty of time to think on it."
The warrior's heavy slug causes the brute healer to stagger, and he shakes his head - as much to shake off the blow as the surprising feeling on the brawl:
That despite the pain he was actually enjoying himself...
Rubbing his jaw, Jerukh flashes his awkward smile, and with a nod wades back in to the fray;
"Not smart with people... with friends. To them I might as well be an ogre!"
Watching Gkirkhan bob and weave, the alchemist searches for a pattern, then timing the warrior's movement he launches a heavy punch of his own;
:
:
I have trekked across the Crown of the World...
And seen the Teeth, beneath the Cynosure's glow.
But I have never seen a sight so strange...
As a Tavernkeep hiding behind a Rose.
Then she curtsies like a student and sticks her tongue out at Ameiko.
Jerukh cracks Gkirkhan in the jaw with a vicious uppercut. He stumbles back from the blow and shakes his head to clear the stars from his vision.
"Vere hyu schmott vit de potions vhen hyu started," he asks before sliding back into the fray.
Gkirkhan plants his fist solidly in Jerukh's face, bloodying his nose.
===
Sometime later, Jerukh comes to. He's leaned against a tree, Gkirkhan seating beside him.
"Vell, hyu feelink better," Gkirkhan asks. Jerukh aches all over and the places Gkirkhan landed blows especially hurt.
"The more the merry. I'm happy to have the help," Shalelu says as she rises to follow you.
"And feel free to talk with me any time, Soli. We're friends, aren't we," she adds before the two of you exit the wagon.
[spoiler=Shenanigans! (Emi, Reiko, and Soli)]
Shalelu is not far behind Soli, laughing as she sees Reiko sticking her tongue out at Ameiko.
"I'll have you know that I am no mere tavernkeep! I'm also a musician," Ameiko retorts with a flourish, just before sticking her tongue out at Reiko.
"And to think, she's one of Sandpoint's nobles," Shalelu chuckles while shaking her head at the antics happening in front of her.
Lucas and Mari look at you, then each other in disbelief.
"B-but we're..." Lucas gestures to his obviously inhuman features, leaving the tieflings heard, but unsaid.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Emi looks at Reiko a bit skeptically. "Allow me," she offers as they approach Ameiko and her guardian...
"stinky miss Iko,
cowering like a poop head,
I vill claim my toast!"
"That is a haiku," she 'whispers' loudly to Reiko. When they draw near to Soli and her ward she sternly announces to the paladin, "hand her ofer to me or I vill be forced to tickle you into submission."
Vigny looks up from the cards she's trying to figure out. She then looks back down at her cards and continues to rearrange them in her hand as she talks to Lucas.
"Cayden Cailean is alone among the gods in having a surname. It is said he keeps it because he was orphaned at a young age and wishes to honor the memory of his parents. Nobody knows the truth with certainty, but it is not an exalted name. It is a humble one. He began his life as a sellsword, and now he is a god. Thais, his herald, was a prostitute as a mortal."
"What I take from his name and his life is this: origin doesn't matter, destination does. I think Sandru believes something along those lines as well. Put aside your shame, it isn't yours anyway. It is something others think you should carry. Take Sandru's offer free of all that and live your own life."
"If you want to know more about Sandpoint, ask Koya or Soliana about it. They have lived there for many years. I spent a little more than a month there. I thought it was nice, but I don't know it well. If you would rather travel, think about how well you like Sandru. He would be your boss I guess. He is a very good man, but I suppose he does have his quirks."
After a couple of hands, Vigny is losing badly at cards. As payment she goes to fetch a cask of ale, and doles it out liberally amongst the players.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Reiko evaluates the poem with mock professionalism. "Your format is flawless, of course. And you have a single strong image emphasized by a profound emotional statement. Yes, a fine haiku. However, you might consider if your message would be even stronger if it conveyed the depth of your yearning for the toast. Perhaps, something like this?"
Bless'd Toast, drowned in creme...
What cruel songbird keeps us
from our reunion?
She adds in a false stage-whisper to Emi. "Now the 'songbird' can refer to both Ameiko AND Soli as a representative of Shelyn. For what just goddess would stand between a sick woman and her one humble desire in this world? In the study of poetry we call that 'layers of meaning' and 'guilting the sh!t out of people'."
When they draw near to Soli and her ward she sternly announces to the paladin, "hand her ofer to me or I vill be forced to tickle you into submission."
Reiko rests her hand on her non-existent katana. "I suggest you give Emi what she wants... or there will be a bloodbath of tickles."
Jerukh smiles both at the warrior's words and the execution of his stratagem in timing the experienced half orc's movements and strikes.
He mulls a cocky retort, then feels a tug of fear as he catches Gkirkhan's eye and realises the scrapper was timing him.
The brute healer grimaces as Gkirkhan's ham fist comes flying toward his face...
... then all is black.
Sparks flash across his vision as Jerukh's eyes flicker open. He groans and shifts his limbs, the hard support of a tree at his back.
At Gkirkhan's words, the painfully nods, his face and neck numb with pain;
"I... am. Strangely so."
The alchemist forces a smile through spilt lips, as he lies still;
"My... thanks. If it were not for the pain in my knuckles I would shake your hand Gkirkhan... Truly in putting me to sleep, you have woken me up."
"Not regular toast, Taldane toast!"* Emi corrects. When Soli tries to make a break for it she reaches out and commences tickling.**
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The brother and sister are stunned by the idea that anyone would willingly accept them. The emotions are too much and the two of them hug each other as Lucas manages to get a blubbery thank you out.
"Well, I think that's it for the cards," Koya says as she comforts the siblings. She smiles and mouths thank you to you.
"Vell, ve vill haff to vait for dot. Hy haff not been hit so hard in a long time. It iz goot dot hyu are feelink better," Gkirkhan says, "Hy tink Iona iz gonna kill us vhen she finds out."
The half-orc sits there in companionable silence for a moment, letting the sounds of the wood wash over him.
"Jerukh, hyu tink hyu can tell me vhat hyur childhood vas like?"
Ameiko gives a squeal of laughter as Soliana turns around and picks her up. The would be chef-napper is caught by a rested and restored Emi who winds up sending the two of them to the ground in a fit of giggles. Shalelu watches with a grin on her face as the four young women play.
"I yield! I yield! I'll make you Taldane toast and muffins," Ameiko laughs as she's tickled into submission.
Vigny lays her cards down and settles in with her drink. She doesn't say anything, letting the others have some time. She considers leaving, but there's no place she needs to be and the beer is here.
Jerukh winces as much from the pain in his jaw as the thought of opening up an old wound;
"My childhood... Ach - and we were getting along so well!"
The alchemist forces a hard smile, then nods;
"Birthed in Riddleport... My mother was Ulfen. So beautiful, with hair the colour of gold she had. She would sing to me of the Linnorm Kings and the heroes of the North... but it was all tales. Those same heroic folk got her caught up in one of their bloody honour feuds... Duty to her kin and their stupid culture took her precious life and my mother.."
Jerukh halts, clearly hurt at the memory, then continues in a hushed, pained tone;
"Yet I lived... So I survived on the street. Ran in a gang. Did work for the fat Boss Croat... Rough work with only a prison or burial for a future. Koya saved me from that. Showed me what it was like to care, to have a mama again..."
The alchemist lets the words drift as he says them, wiping a tear before looking to Gkirkhan;
"My eye... still stings from your punch..."
Gkirkhan wraps his arm around Jerukh’s shoulders in a brotherly sort of way as the other half-orc tears up.
”Sorry,” he apologizes, ”next time Hy vill try not to sving so hard.” He sits for a moment longer before adding, ”de ulfen iz not all bad, hyu know. Vigny’s a nize goirl, pretty, kind, und fonny. Hy met dis vun guy in Riddleport vho vas bigger den me. He helped out kinder dot vas on de streets. Und hyu haff met Caesar und Tristan.”
Gkirkhan gives a sigh as he looks off at the lengthening shadows.
”Hy guess Hy iz tryink to say dot dere iz goot people und right bastards in any group,” he says after a thoughtful pause before turning his head to look at Jerukh.
”Haff hyu told Vigny dis,” He asks quietly.
===
After getting back on the horses and beginning the trek back to the camp, Gkirkhan shares a little of his background.
”Hy vas born en de back ov sum vagon. My mudder vas left by my fahdder vhen de bastard found out dot she vas carryink me. She vas on her vay back to her mudder, de scariest vomen Hy haff eber met. My grandmudder owns a tavern on de plateau und she gets all kinds ov mercenaries, brutes, scum, criminals, und adventurers. My mudder iz half-orc, hyu see. Et vas my grandmudder dot vas human. She vent into de Hold to find a real man. She found de biggest, baddest orc tribe she could und challenged de chief. De chief lost und vas vhimpering by de end ov et. She dragged hem back in chains, und, vell. He’s de backup bouncer at de tavern,” he says with a nervous laugh. ”Enyvay, my mudder, grandmudder, und grandfahdder all tought me tings, how to fight, how to luv, how to drink und brew, und how to care.”
Gkirkhan gives Jerukh a smile and lowers his voice.
”Und since I care about hyu, brudder, ve’ll try to get de bruises und de blood taken care ov before ve run into Iona or Koya. Do hyu tink Soli could fix et und not say enyting?”