"It's not on its way back here, is it?" Tam looks nervous and starts to watch the edge of the wood carefully.
Silent shrugs at Tam.
:: I did my best to lose it. ::
He can't help but smile at Jivaji, though.
:: I think it was just a matter of proper motivation. ::
Well, what's most important is that you both made it back safe.
Joe grabs his weapon, "Well, if it is headin' this way, I'm gonna be ready for the dang thang." Joe keeps his eyes and ears peeled for the dinosaur.
Jivaji cools down from his escape by taking a drag from his waterskin. Then he checks on Amy to see if the sun is bothering her.
Amy is sitting quietly looking rather pathetic. Fortunately the canopy is breaking apart the suns beams and making them easy to see and avoid. For the most part Amy seems unphased and a bit unresponsive.
None of you found any animals for her to feed on. You can still hear the dinos occasionally roaring.
Now how do you wish to proceed?
Silent regards the strange girl... well... silently for a few minutes before his yellow eyes flash over to the others.
:: So what's the play here? I don't trust her to be with us, so I guess we head back to town? Present her to the leader guy? Do we tell the rest of the village? ::
:: I don't know. I know that it's probably not best to keep her with us without letting her feed on anything, but I'm not sure it's going to be easy to get her back to the village, even with the bindings we've got on her.::
"Yeah, let's just take her on back. They need to know what the heck's out here. If we leave her out here to wander, she's just gonna try to eat somebody else. 'Course, if the sun's gonna hurt her, we might have to wait 'til night." Joe shrugs. "Heck, I ain't really sure on what to do. It's not every day you come across this kinda problem."
Jivaji ponders for a while, then signs back to the group.
:: I don't get the feeling that Amy's existence will be well-received. The caravan leader clearly knew something more of what's going on. If the vampires have anything to do with the safety of the town, we will only be making enemies by taking her back. What do you think friends? ::
Joe scratches the back of his head, begins to answer, then stops, and then shrugs. Truly at a loss on what to do.
"Maybe if we could get her to the other vampires? I mean, they'd welcome her, right?"
Silent looks skeptical.
:: Maybe, if they don't finish the job of eating us that she started. I don't get the impression they want their presence known around here. Do we think the caravan leader is simply in on the knowledge of the vampires? Or is he himself one? ::
:: Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Unfortunately, I'm not feeling any better, which is going to make any fighting problematic for me, be it with vampires, townsfolk, or dinos. But I agree at the very least with Jivaji. Her presence is going to frighten everyone back in camp. On the other hand, the vampires may be persuadeable, likely with her sister's help. That's an interesting point you brought up, Silent. If he's just a human, than that's her safety right out the window, and ours likely as well. He'll brand us Necromancers or some such bull, and let the common folk have at us. If he's a vampire, he'll likely kill her - and us - just to keep the fact that the caravan is protected by vampires a secret without raising suspicion. From my observations, it would appear that going to see the vampires would be our best bet, as crazy as that sounds. That, or sit around waiting until Amy loses control again and tries to eat me. ::
Eltumal stops, giving his hands a rest, before smirking and giving a few more signs.
It would figure that the one woman I can't keep away from me is a vampire.::
I am entertained. So what is the decision?
"Well, I say we just take her on back to that Ofal fella. Maybe he'll know what to do with her. Otherwise, let her go, I guess. We can't keep her tied up forever. That just ain't right."
Come on guys I need a destination.
Hmm.... I guess we can take her back. That okay with you, Amy?
Tam nods at the idea, since he doesn't have any better ones.
"Yes, Amy, what do you think? Where would you prefer to go?"
Amy looks down. "I don't know. My own sister tried to kill me. She is with the vampires. I am a monster now so I do not know how the village will treat me. I will do whatever you decide."
Well, that's the problem, Amy. We're not sure what to do. There are too many variables. Perhaps... If worse comes to worst, I'll claim you as a dependent, and I will find a way to provide for you if the village tries to harm you in any way. If that happens, you'll become my responsibility. Are you okay with that?
Amy nods. "Yes I am fine with that. Thank you. Again I am sorry for what I did. But to be fair I did try to tell you to keep away from me."
"Sounds good to me, Eltumal ol' buddy. We gonna take her to Ofal first?"
You boys make for the village. Nothing impedes you for the moment. Once at the village where do you wish to go. The sunlight still only barely peeks through in some spots.
You all approach the elder. He is currently greeting a young elvin boy. "Greetings boy. What brings you to our village?"
He speaks with a soft smile, offering his hand to the man before him. "I am a refugee, Sir. I have wandered for...I cannot tell you how long. My name is Lelorenil Al'Sorath, and I hail from Darpuul. This is my mother, Morgan." He motions to the tall woman next to him. "Please pardon her, she cannot speak and her mind is not always with us. We have...Mormont to thank for our arrival here and her state..." The venom in his voice is apparent when he says the name Mormont, and if the elder shakes his hand, Lelorenil's nails dig in as he speaks.
He glances over to the approaching group, and as he spies the other elf, he stands up and gasps. "You! I've seen you from Darpuul! I thought I was the only one to leave alive!" he rushes over to Eltumal and grabs his hands as he visibly weeps in joy as he looks around to the rest of the group. "Are you all from Darpuul as well? This is wonderful, I swore I was alone." he continues without leaving room for an answer.
Eltumal is surprised by the young elf.
Uhh....do i know you? You seem familiar, but I can't place you, really. But yes, we're all from Darpuul. We had more, but unfortunately, the jungle is unforgiving.
"Yeah, Eltumal's right. There was a whole bunch o' us in the beginning. Dangit we lost a lot o' good folk. Anyhow, names Joe. Joe MacGillicuddy. You can call me Mac. Or Joe. Whichever." He smiles as he shakes the elf's hand with a firm grip. Then a curious look forms, "Did you two make it all the way out here all by your lonesome?"
"Greetings, Mister MacGillicuddy, I am Lelorenil. Please do call me Lelo! It is very very good to see you all!" he says as he shakes the much larger man's hand excitedly, almost frantically. A small frown flashes briefly on his face, "Yes, we did. Though I'm not sure how we made it here. The fog makes direction...Impossible to perceive."
He will go around shaking the hands of the rest of the party, bowing repeatedly as he introduces himself.
Well, it's certainly a pleasure to see someone else from the city. That fog definitely makes things difficult, yes. You can call me Eltumal.
"Um, I'm Tam. Tam Hardwick. Carpenter by trade. Pleased to meet you." Tam looks rather shy and nearly childlike.
The elder smiles pleasantly. "Well good to see you are all acquainted. You all can stay at the same place." He pauses looking back at the quiet Amy who refuses to make eye contact. "By the gods. Amy! Your alive!" He moves over to her and puts his hands on her shoulders. "What has happened? Where is your sister and Raylof?" Amy says nothing and does her best not to look at Ofal. "Whats the matter girl?" He looks at you guys. "What's wrong with Amy? Is she hurt? Did you find the other two?" he awaits an answer.
Eltumal steels himself, and decides to be blunt about it."No, we haven't found the other two. And, unfortunately, Amy has become a Vampire, as has her sister. We are not sure of her father, although it is, theoretically, possible as well."
Ofal's expression turns sour. He lowers his head and narrows his eyes. "They are vampires?" He says, his voice dripping with seething fury. Before you can answer he turns away muttering
Those heartless bastards. This wasn't part of the deal."
He turns back and tries his best to compose himself. "Yes I am aware of the vampires out there. What more can you tell me about them?"
It doesn't appear that it was the intent of the group to turn them. a young vampire apparently turned her sister, who proceeded to turn her in an emergency. The deal was not being thought of at the time, sir. In fact, in both instances, the turning seems to have actually been attempts to save the lives of those turned, first her sister after a dinosaur attack, and then Amy in a second dinosaur attack, although she was not taken care of afterwards.
Joe looks at Olaf quizzically. Shrugging, he nods in affirmation at Eltumal's story. "And that's the honest to goodness truth, Mr. Olaf."
The boy halts further conversation with Olaf for the moment and whispers in his native tongue, approaching this 'Amy' with caution and awe as he reaches his hands out to her face, stroking lightly with fingertips if allowed.
"Vampire...I've never met one of the Blood, you're beautiful..."
He turns around, a strangely pleased smile creeping onto his face and asks the group in an accusing tone: "Is she freed? Has she been fed? "