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As the day goes on and the conversations carry into the early morning, the sound of raucous movement overtakes the ship. A voice travels through one of the metal tubed speakers in the corner of the rooms and a burly sound comes through the thing. "Ice flows in sight gents. It'll be another hour, but, best get your bearings. Gonna be a cold day, folks."
At this point, the masked man comes out of his room rubbing his arms and shivering as he touches a finger to his forehead and seems to pass the cold over without much issue after that. "Gotta wake up earlier than this... Jeez. Weather's unbearable." he points out as he takes a seat at the table. From his bag, however, he places on a large coat, which he seems rather cozy in.
Dmitri grabs his pack and wraps his cloak tighter around him in preparation for the long walk after his meditation. "When machines and metal fail you, what do you have left?" An ominous saying, but he leaves it as a rhetorical question.
He turns towards the small woman.
Aye, if you believe that death is truly the end. Though I for one don't believe that. Though I know not what to expect.
"It is not the end, a 100% it isn't."
In more than one way too..."I shared not your past, nor have you mine, but do not rush yourself in your passion. Life is short enough as is."
The current morning is cold, and while it isn't as deep into the day as when most people cast their Endure elements, now would be an appropriate time to reset the duration. The drunkard, Thomas, as you learned his name, sits over at the table riding out what appears to be a hangover. At the far end of the table in a coat is the masked man, who's name no one still knows.
At the other end of said table sits the Belmont who seems to be tinkering with the cross-shaped hilt of his whip in relative silence, and occasionally fastens a part of what appears to be hide armor beneath his many furs.
Doppel sits at the same spot as he had the night before. Had he not retired in full view of the rest of the travelers one would question if the Landsknetch had even slept at all, let alone ate or removed his armor. The foggy breath escaping from behind the mask reaffirms that life still burns somewhere within that stoic warrior.
The Belmont sets his whip handle down long enough to mention a few words of wisdom before the ship runs ashore; "The lot of you should prepare yourselves for the cold... That endure elements is good for the ship, but... I'm afraid you'll need more than that to stave off the cold of the mainland." he says.
"And you'd do well to hurry through the village, if you absolutely must enter the castle."
The next morning, Lizzie came out with her winter cloak comfortably around her. Seeing only a few figures at the table, she sat down opposite of Doppel.
"Has rest done you well, sir Doppel? It has been a long day yesterday after all."
"Same as ever. What of you, young one?"
"Well, thank you. I'm always up relatively early, i enjoy the more quiet start of the day, instead of the immediate booming of a busy city i'm from. It helps focus the mind at the start of a day."
Lizzie takes a sheet of parchment and charcoal and starts writing small graceful looking symbols right to left, top to bottom. Bit like calligraphy style in appearance. She carefully devides them into small pieces, now having 40 or so, which she stashes in her pouch. She repeats this with a few more parchments, ending with about 120 written squares.
"If hope you don't mind me asking, have you been a warrior all your life?"
"Yes." he replies bluntly.
I've a hunch sir Doppel isn't quite the type for long in depth questions, lest perhaps battle strategy.
She nods, "By any chance an order or organisation? Many warriors i've seen in fullplate were either knights, paladins or of a professional organisation. And worry not, i shall not bother you with a heap of questions, just these two out of harmless curiosity, sir Doppel."
Astrid comes out of her room wearing the set of armor she had had with her the previous day. The metal is has a brilliant shine to it, and looks as though it had never seen a day of hardship. Emblazoned across the chest piece is a depiction of a large Sun encircled by chains. Across her back she has slung her bag and still only the long wooden shaft of the spear can be seen as the blade is still wrapped in a thick cloth. At the moment her helmet is off, revealing a thick metal and leather collar secured around her neck.
She sits down next to Dopple and begins to eat a small meal. She quietly listens to the conversation, eager to confirm her suspicions.
Dmitri eats his sustenance in silence while listening to the others talk.
Suddenly the eastern doors to the room beneath the decks swing open. The cold wiggles its way into the room for a moment, but apart from nipping at toes it does little else. The almost-bald man that walks in sits down at the table, obviously exhausted from his work outside on the deck. Rubbing his forehead he sighs, getting rid of what appears to be a cold sweat. Mumbling something beneath his breath, he touches his forehead;
With little warning the man seems to actually fall out of his chair as he slumps over, a shivering wreck.
"I fight only of my own accord."
Suddenly one of the ship hands comes in from the cold before abruptly collapsing. After a few minutes of nobody saying anything, Doppel rises from his seat and paces towards that end of the ship. Ignoring the unfortunate man he closes the door to the deck, shutting the cold away once more. He begins to walk back but, in an uncharacteristic moment of compassion, stoops down and pulls the sailor onto one of his broad shoulders. "Useless parlor tricks in the end" he mutters, though at a barely audible volume. The Landsknetch then disappears into one of the rooms, reemerging seconds later without the man to retake his seat as if nothing had happened.
While Doppel was taking the man to the room;
At the moment her helmet is off, revealing a thick metal and leather collar secured around her neck.
"Astrid wasn't it? Why do you wear an object of "commitment"?"
Lizzie gestured at her own neck to refer the collar."You don't appear as a prisoner or slave, why then?"
Astrid reaches up and touches a circlet of leather on her head. "Are you referring to my Phylactery? It allows me to better understand the Will of the Goddess, so in a way you are correct. It is a symbol of my commitment." She has a glassy eyed look of pride on her face as she beams at you.
A reserved smile comes upon Lizzie's face.
"An odd word to use for a holy symbol, since the word Phylactery is usually associated with the undead mages known as liches. Which goddess is she, if i may ask?"
Astrid furrows her brow, "A Phylactery is a symbol of deep devotion. For some, it is a devotion to their God, a holy and sacred thing. To others it is a devotion to their power, a vile and selfish thing." She sighs sadly before continuing, "My personal devotion into Sound the Virtuous."
She glances up as Doppel returns from the man. "How is he?"
Ah, a sore spot despite true words. Well, one learns things in the unlikeliest of places.
"Hn, pardon me."
"Unconscious, presumably."
Lizzie stood up and headed for the same room.
"Maybe an ailment unknown too, he looked pretty bad."
In the room, she briefly examines for any signs of illness/fever/condition, and will apply aid with materials available, if any.
Without most of the proper materials at hand, Lizzie casts a healing hex on the man.
She informs the captain of his condition if she sees him.
How delightful >.>, we could freeze to death instead of by a claw or sword.
"A most unfortunate occurrence. I pray the same does not happen to any of us."
Aye, would be unfortunate, I knew it would cold here but this is bloody ridiculous. Might as well not even worry about the protection magics. The wind eats right through it it seems.
Damon looks around at the others gathered here.
Well, I'll go ahead and suggest this, at least for know..
Though I really don't think I need any help.
Perhaps we should travel together for a time. I'd rather us all get to the damned castle in one piece. Hate to see lives lost for no reason. Since It doesn't seem like any of you are planning on taking the next journey back south.
Lizzie pulls her winterclothing tighter.
"Then we'd best get moving, before we are colder than Dracula himself."
Honestly, why don't these sailors use heatstones? They provide heat even with temperatures below -20 degrees.
Belmont perks up at the offer, but for an unknown reason. "You'll have to count me out on that venture. Much as I'd love to not be alone during this, there are still particular things I'll need to do." he points out. "But let me warn you. The walk from the fjords to Castle Dracula is only a mere 7 miles, but, those will be the longest miles you've ever walked." he points out.
Astrid turns to the Belmont, "What of this village that you spoke of a moment ago? What is left there with the rise of the Castle?"
Belmont leans in on the table and places his hands up, resting his chin on the combined fists. "Whenever the castle nears its culmination, or rather, activation, the commoners and people of the village often leave, but... there are always a few stragglers. And, none of them survive the cold... By now they're probably just a handful of above average undead. The castle is keen on animating the corpse of anything that falls outside of it's borders. As for inside, I can't be sure." he explains. There's a good chance that those around us will likely be trying to kill us as soon as they succumb to the cold."
"I see, well good thing at least some of us are prepared. Armed and combat ready, plus....."
Lizzie's hand slides over her pouch. From it, she takes an oval amber colored stone.
"I've more of those, should need be while we are there."
Average undead huh....good fodder, but to reveal my talents immediately would be to invoke a private inquisition.
"I imagine the cold will be the least of our worries."
It seems that the Landsknetch has given his unspoken consent to the idea of cooperation.
Stupid people, why would they stay? It always baffles me.
Damon glances towards doppel,
for once, I agree with mr. dour here, cold is only the first trial
As everyone voices their excitedness, the room drops into a staggering quiet for just a moment. This place, this boat, this room seems to fall under a slight chill, despite the door being closed. While it does seem reasonable that the temperature could have went down outside, it still seems rather unreasonable, considering the rate that it fell all of a sudden. All at once, however, you can feel the ship lurch forward.
The tables and chairs flip with the abrupt stop of the ship, and no one can immediately tell as to why. The sound of a groan comes from the man who'd been healed's cabin as he swings the door open and walks out rubbing his head. Belmont manages to catch himself, but the Drunkard falls flat on the ground. Surprisingly, the masked man stays standing as well.
The doors on the far side disjar and stay forcibly open, allowing the cold to billow in. While the chill does fill the room, it is not yet enough to harm anyone as of yet, but it is rapidly dropping. A powerful wind whistles in the distance, followed by the rapid cries of men above.
Lizzie was caught off guard.
"Hey......how unfortunate.", as she stood back up.
Due to the Landsknetchs immense girth not only does he fall when the ship suddenly stops, he slides halfway across the room and smashes through two chairs on his way down.
"It appears we've arrived..." he says solemnly as he gets back to his feet, never having loosened his grip on his weapon "And to no small welcome by the sounds of it."
Doppel readies the Zweihander and heads out the door to the deck above without further delay.
Dmitri is thrown from his chair and tumbles the length of the room hitting the wall. Slowly picking himself up he makes sure nothing is broken. "A few bruises..." Though the thing most bruised was his pride at being unable to keep his feet.
He hears the cries of those above and wonders what the commotion could be. With the temperature rapidly dropping he looks to his own comfort first and asks the masked merchant, "Do you still have spare charges of endure elements?"
"Yes, but I'll expect payment for these later. Right now I'm concerned with just staying alive, y'know?" he says as he zaps Doppel with one as he passes. Slowly he goes around the room casting and tapping people. "I don't think these will do well, but the combined effects of that warming stone and my spells should keep us reasonably safe, yeah? Let's hope." he says as he walks up to the door.
Lillie strikes the stone against a piece of metal in the wooden wall and the stone starts to give off a welcome warmth to all within a 20ft radius of Lizzie.
Doppel shoots a wicked glare at the one who would be so bold as to taint him with his sorcery. There is no time to dwell on it however, the call of battle was ringing so strongly in his ears at this point. He braces himself against the biting cold, focused entirely on what he may find once he reached the deck above.
"Of course you will be paid, with the wealth of the castle, IF we survive." Dmitri watches the Landsknetch charge up on deck. "Is there any reason to believe we do not have to walk the rest of the way?" He himself interprets the cries of the sailors as those of the chaos from the crash and has no hurry to go out into the cold unless he has to. He picks up his backpack and hoists it around his shoulders.
[spoiler=Doppel]Unfortunately you're unable to resist the spell that the masked man casts on you, as there is no way in reality that it couldn't possibly benefit you. You also feel as though he would've still charged you, despite the failure... Regardless! As you closen yourself to the Stairs to proceed above, the audible sound of a rather one-sided combat fills your experienced ears.
The Belmont walks, after having stood his ground and proceeds to follow the rest of the group, whip in hand. The Drunkard follows as well, after stamping his fist into the floor and standing, though he sees slow to move in all of that armor. The masked man seems as if he'll be avoiding the rooms beyond that door, and will likely stay in here and attempt to keep warm.
"Anyone who can't handle the cold on their own should stay in here." The belmont says as he walks up with Doppel.
Seeing the Belmont jump up like that, Lizzie was a tad bit curious, especially with the sounds of battle upstairs. She casually followed Doppel. She looks over her shoulder, as if inviting the others to come, before turning back up.
"Hmm, let's see what the commotion is about."
Astrid stumbles down and her head slams into a chair as she falls. She gets back up and feels a bump forming on her head as she places her helmet on, not keen on letting that happen again. With her armor finally fully donned she moves out to the deck with Doppel.