Staring at the fire and smiling, "That was fun." Turning and walking towards Morana. Not stopping but simply vanishing as he make contact with her. [i]I were right. I am never bored with you around.[/ooc]
Tiadora's Barge
Tiadora leads the group from the Knot from the promontory to the ship. From afar the ship looked better than it does close up. It is a bit ramshackle and the crew look worse for the wear.
"This is Halstyn’s Folly and this is Halstyn". The ship Captain mumbles and bows to your group, his men do not even meet your gazes.
She turns to Aurex, "No. We shall take the barge down the river from Lake Tarik. Follow us at high altitude, land in the wilderness of the Borderlands at night. Should you find any lone travelers feel free to eat them but do not encounter any soldiers, we do not wish to give up our position at this time to the enemy.
As there is but one cabin, it will be mine, your group shall sleep upon the deck. If you do not like the cold you shall learn to love it.
Our destination shall be secret for now. Whatever disguises you donned for yourselves in Aldencross you should retain now".
Lord Havelyn frowns, "Shall I retain mine own identity or is that a liability.... ah Tiadora is it?"
She smiles, "Yes, be a refugee from the sudden fall of the Tower. Have the rest of you any questions for me?"
Alice looks around. The ship would have to do. She wasnt looking forward to sleeping on deck again.
"How long do you estimate our journey will be?"
Grumble slowly crammed himself back into Sir Balin's skin with a sigh as he clanked his way onboard the boat.
Aurex nods to Tiadora. Although he hadn't quite figured out how the pecking order was going to work out between the two of them, he liked the creature thus far. Cruel and malicious, but within reasonable measure. His kind of stock. "There will be much blood and fire in the future. I will make sure for this journey my only kills are ones requires to eat." He says in agreement to her plan for subtlety.
Tiadora's Barge
"Perhaps ten but possibly as many as fourteen days depending on the weather".
She nods to Aurex and smiles, "Worry not the future is near my friend".
Aboard Halstyn’s Folly
The first day's journey on the barge is uneventful with the exception of the occasional sighting of Aurex as he flies along the "savage northern" side of the border.
The river that bisects the continent is sluggish at this time of year and the barge itself meanders along slowly. Tiadora stays in her quarters all day.
Lord Havelyn has kept to himself all day though he does spend a great deal of time looking in the direction of Soren he does not attempt to engage with her verbally.
As evening approaches the Captain and his small crew anchors within sight of a small village. The barge is well provisioned and the crew serves some tasty dishes for dinner. As the night grows darker Tiadora exits her cabin dressed like a Mitran Knight, "I'll be back by morning". she smiles wickedly and vanishes, the pop of her teleportation audible.
The winds are harsh coming from the north.
Nate spends the first leg of the journey standing on the edge of the ship, staring out over the water silently. He occasionally mumbles and shakes his head, but is otherwise more of a decoration than a person.
Being pretty sick of sleeping on the deck of a ship, Alice will check with Morana, if she's interested in sharing some blankets to stay warm.
Alice will use Endure elements to stay comfortable.
Sir Jack didn't seem to care about the cold weather at all. He mostly stayed toward the center of the ship, not doing much but letting his wounds heal and continuing his reading lessons with Alice.
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Like Grumblejack, Soren's infernal heritage leaves her seemingly immune to the biting wind that sweeps across the deck. Despite her more unassuming appearance, the blood of fiends still kept her warm despite the chill. Still, however, the tiefling woman spent most of her time on deck wrapped up in her long cloak, seemingly lost in thought as the group sails onward; at the very least, she's certainly uncharacteristically quiet. The few times she catches Havelyn eyeing her she herself seems almost shaken, and as such quickly moves to sleep on the opposite side of the deck. The only sound she makes—other than the prayers she mutters under her breath, at least—are the sounds of her cleaning her pistol and the incessant scrawling of pen against paper in some journal she must've pilfered from the tower before the group departed.
He fills me with... confusion? Anger? No, something more akin to uncertainty. It fills me with questions; who is Havelyn to me and I to him? Perhaps a faithless fool might write off his wife's appearance as coincidence, but not I. Her infernal heritage and her worship of the God-Fiend is the connection—of this, I am sure—but what is this connection? Am I his dead wife brought back to seduce Havelyn to the Faith? Am I but a simulacra forged in her likeness, forged as a tool to be used decades later? If so, why would it seem Havelyn's wife took her last breath as I took my first? These are questions I have asked of Asmodeus, but these prayers have fallen upon deaf ears for the time being. When next we see the Cardinal, these are questions I must ask him. Perhaps he will hear the whispers of our Lord where I have not; only time will tell.
This is all the more troublesome as while I have vouched for the man, I cannot truthfully say I trust Havelyn's loyalty implicitly. Whether I am somehow his dead wife or not, such a thing will only carry his heart so far. After all, the last person who's loyalty I vouched for was killed by my and Morana's hand, her neck broken on the floor of the Cardinal's manse. Perhaps I have been too trusting, or perhaps she was just an ally of convenience. I cannot begrudge Havelyn his reluctance to kill the townsfolk—if nothing else, what good is Talingarde if we leave it a lifeless wasteland—but will his resolve falter when he must slaughter the men-at-arms that will no doubt be sent against us? Knights are on thing, but the poor sods that will break against us will be little more than farmers and conscripts, I expect. Perhaps by then I will know more of my connection to him, something more I can use to influence him. I feel some phantom affection for the man, somewhere deep within my guts, and I find it awkward and difficult to shake; I am unsure whether this is some vestigial love I feel from a former life as his betrothed, or something born wholly from my own psyche, but it is... worrisome.
I fear that if Havelyn's loyalty falters, it may not be so easy to put him down as it was Shalewigg.'
Alice gladly continues Grumble's reading lessons, having gotten her hands on a few more children books, often revisiting a few of Grumble's favorites. Especially snow white, when the wicked queen thinks she is eating snow whites liver and lungs, and the part where the wicked queen has to dance at snow white's wedding in red hot iron shoes until she dies.
Affecting Sir Jack's careful, weighted baritone changed the manor of Grumble's literary critique, but the underlying tone was unmistakably the same.
"Queen dies? Good start."
"New queen doesn't just kill the baby herself? Whatever happens to her, she deserves it."
"Pig hearts do look a lot like human hearts. Smart woodsman."
"Who poisons a comb?"
"So she doesn't know how to make a poison that will just kill the girl? She needs to go back to witch school."
"She messed up the poison again? Useless."
"Wait. Who's this prince? He shows up and kisses corpses, and marries them when they wake up?"
"So this queen lady had a whole kingdom doing what she says, and a magic mirror that she can ask things, and she decides to throw it all away because some girl living in a hut with a bunch of dwarves is prettier than she is?"
"What is wrong with humans?"
Aboard Halstyn’s Folly
As the sun rises the audible sound of a pop rouses most of you and the Captain and crew. Tiadora has returned, a large grin on her face. "Halstyn, what are you waiting for? Get this "ship" moving, now!" She heads below deck to he rcabin shutting the door behind her.
Alice mumbles, annoyed that her sleep has been interrupted.
Whatever Tiadora had been up to didn't concern Jack in the slightest. All his attention was on the painful process of learning to read, and also with trying to figure out why everyone in human stories was a f*!$ing idiot.
Grumbling at the idea of sleeping on a deck again but there is nothing that can be done about that. "I hate boats."
Nodding at Alice's suggestions. Not a word. Wasn't gonna but I wanna watch.
Sitting up and looking in the direction of the noise, "No that sounds familiar." Flinching at certain noises but reaching over and shaking Alice's shoulder. Leaning in a mumbling, "Tiadora is back and that village is screaming in pain. Thought you should know."
So we really are the villain's now aren't we? Remember the burning keep?
"Huh? Wha? Village screaming? What is she up to now? That doesnt seem necessary for our plans."
Soren looks up from her scribbling as they pass by the village, taking note of Tiadora's arrival. She frowns, almost imperceptibly, and looks off across the water. "Is that what you've been up to? Terrorizing the populace as we head downriver? Do you really feel that's the best use of our time?" Soren's voice is flat, her hands still holding her journal half open. She remains staring off across the water, but the look on her face is farther away still. "They may be heathens and fools, Tiadora, but killing them does little good. The goal is to usurp control of Talingarde, not raze it to the ground." Soren pauses for a second, looking back down at her book as she finishes her thought. "At least, not more than is necessary."
Aboard Halstyn’s Folly
Tiadora stops and turns towards Soren a smile creeping up her face, "Are you questioning me as to my activities you silly little half breed?
As a member of the Ninth Knot I cannot slay you but I can make you dance and scream and wish you had not opened your mouth to reprimand me...
Your friends, they would not lift a finger to stop me as I could do the same to them.
Do you doubt me little girl?"
---
Grumblejack casually set down his book and stood up to his full towering height. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to.
”It looks as though you’re mistaken on that front, Tiadora. At the very least, one of them appears quite willing to defend me.” Despite herself, Soren steals a glance over toward Havelyn; she quickly averts her eyes back toward Tiadora, the far-away look in her eyes gone. ”Do so, if you wish. You were not the one that delievered an army to fight Talingarde, were you? You instead spent your time terrorizing townsfolk, apparently.” Soren flinches slightly—clearly, she has some trepidation about this course of action—but holds her gaze regardless.
Nate slumps against the wall, seeming entirely lost within his own head. Perhaps it is seasickness? Either way, he doesn't seem to care much about the apparent tension between Tiadora and the others, one way or the other.
Not keen to get involved in this power struggle untill it comes to blow, alice scoots a bit closer to Morana for comfort.
Havelyn had spent the first day's journey on the Halstyn's Folly in quiet contemplation. Inwardly, he was coping with his actions and new course. Outwardly, he spent much of the day idly staring at the water, the banks, the sky. During that time he also scrubbed his armor, removing most of the dirt and grime--though the bloodstains from the slaughter proved the hardest to clean away. He also labored over the massive shield he'd brought with him from the keep, oiling the leather straps and wiping the spiked surface with rags. Wrought from iron as it was, the shield wouldn't come to a polished gleam, but it was clear the man sought to maintain it. To his sword and dagger, no time was given.
But beyond his lingering gaze cast Soren's way, and curious glances at the other members of the Knot, Havelyn didn't interact much with the other passengers--until Tiadora returns from her trip and threatens Soren. As Grumblejack pushes to his feet, menacing with his mere size and demeanor, the once-Lord of Balentyne stands as well, with somewhat surprising speed for his age. He steps forward, raising the shield with him as he goes, and comes to stand at the tiefling's shoulder. With a heavy, final chunk, he plants the shield on the deck, half before himself, half before Soren.
"I was told of an order, an Oath. An Asmodean cardinal with a chosen few who would herald war for Talingarde. War with reason. I threw aside my duty, broken and honorless as it was, with such belief. Thus far to mine eyes, Lady Marsailles and her companions have upheld my trust, whereas I am led to believe you engage in naught but wanton slaughter and now a threat against your own." Havelyn's voice is as sturdy and unmoving as his shield.
"If she speak true, you are a blackguard and a murderer, and I would not allow such a one to speak as you have to those I call compatriots. Least of all to speak ill of one's blood, when actions tell all the more of one's nature." Havelyn's brow furrows and his free hand absently clenches and releases. "No member of your Knot am I, not now. Strike me if you strike you must, but all actions taken must be with reason, answered for when asked. Else we are no better than the blind fools we strive against."
Sucking in a breath at Tiadora's threat. I guess she is the worse side of evil. Do you want me to come out? Not as of yet. I do not think this will come to blows Glancing at Alice but not bothering to stand up, "I did not realize you were so reckless and had so little control of yourself."
Waving a hand towards Soren, "She most definitely does not face you alone and you would be wise to leave her be. I am certain no one on this ship will lift a finger if we decided to make you dance and scream."
Smiling at the temperamental woman now, "So how about everyone plays nice together and there are no more threats between us. There are things larger than us and that matter more than your pride."
Aboard Halstyn’s Folly
Tiadora throws her head back and laughs, "Excellent Girl, Excellent!
I am proud of you and your companions, to succeed you must remain together, united against any threats. Aligned with or against you.
These are not random acts of cruelty though I do relish in them as the Cardinal so rarely allows me to play in such a manner. These atrocities I perform in the guise of a Knight of the Alerion, one of Talingarde’s sacred defenders.
For one night I murder and torture helpless, innocent villagers claiming all the while to be searching for gremlin-like followers of Asmodeus. I
kills loved ones, pillars of the communites and those who are obviously incapable of being guilty". She grins wickedly.
"I perpetrate these massacres and leave many witnesses. Thus does the Cardinal hope to shake support against the current regime and the Church of Mitra in the Borderlands and I shall do so every night until we reach our intended destination. Now do you understand?"
Grumble rumbled something incoherent and went back to his book.
"War is an ubly beast" Alice mutters, not entirely sure about her own feelings on the matter.
"Alerion." Havelyn echoes the word as if it's distasteful, and relaxes his stance--slightly. "The people's faith in Talingarde's institutions would do well to be shaken. If chaos and bloodshed is how you see best fit to sow such discord, and you do so with the blessing of your Cardinal..."
The old knight trails off, his eyes flickering to Soren for a moment, then out to the edge of the river. Out to the villages beyond, smoldering and weeping for loved ones lost. All for a false crusade, masking what he can only hope is a true one.
"So be it. Revolutions so rarely come on wings of peace."
Listening to Havelyn talk made Grumble realize his own imitation of knighthood wasn't very good. He scowled in frustration and handed Alice the book of children's stories.
"Any of these got knights in 'em?"
Alice stirs in her blanket fort. "A few, but most of them are pretty dumb, as I figured you'd like that kind of story."
Grumble shrugged. "Gotta know the stories if I'm gonna play the part."
Biting the inside of her cheek. You aligned yourself with villains remember. I know. Glancing over at the children's book exchange and swallowing around nothing that is oddly painful.
Tucking a her hands into the layers of fabric until on finger trails over rough stitching. "Is is story time again?" Anytime the thin books come out and the lesson begin Morana vanishes.
Alice shifts a bit under the blanket. "Well, its the middle of the night, so not ideal for reading lessons. But we can spend the whole of tomorrow going over stories with knights, if you want Grumble. Remember, you see in the dark just fine, but I dont."
Satisfied that the confrontation is over, at least for now, Havelyn grows suddenly quiet, almost bashful, once more. He clears his throat and, with a heft of the heavy shield, he moves back to his chosen vigil, where he returns to oiling and maintaining his arms and armor. It isn't long, though, before he overhears the conversation regarding knights and tales of their exploits, and after a long pause, the lord looks up.
"You wish to know of knights and knighthood, 'Sir Jack'? Stories have much to say, but I might speak aught of it as well. If you would have such learning." Havelyn pauses again and runs a hand across the surface of his shield. "I served well for many years in that regard. Long years, devoted and steadfast in my blindness. Some good came of it, I should hope. Perhaps yet more, in passing on its true arts."
"Seems ta me that Mitrans're more interested in what they think knights are supposed to be like than what they're actually like," Grumblejack replied after a moment's thought. "You want to talk, I'll listen."
Soren stared blankly at Tiadora for more than a few moments, her brow furrowed as if she had trouble wrapping her head around the idea. "Business then, not pleasure." The statement is matter-of-fact, monotone. "That's different, then. I assumed you just wanted to watch them burn. Not that I don't, but given our last course of action it hardly seemed the time. What you've been doing, though, is an entirely different story. I apologize for assuming you simply lacked self-control." She looks at the others, pointedly only giving Havelyn a glance, before her brow furrows again. "I... thank you, I suppose."
Without another word Soren ducks her head again, her eyes disappearing beneath the hood of her cloak.
The old knight nods at Grumble Jack and sighs. "Indeed. Substance is not nearly so valued as its appearance, and in today's realm, function follows form. I know both of the ideals of knighthood, the high concepts of chivalry, of courtly life, and of its realities. I would not share one without its twin. Light without darkness cannot exist in this world, nor its inverse. To experience pleasure necessitates the potential for suffering."
Havelyn's gaze drifts out over the water once more, before coming back to rest on his shield. "We should begin in the morning, with the stories. They have much to say, true and false and betwixt. All is of value."
Aboard Halstyn’s Folly
This pattern goes on for twelve more nights. Tiadora disappears overnight, a village weeps, she returns her work completed. Never does the barge hit land, all the group needs is right on board. The nights are cold and difficult on board but magic and heavy blankets enable those not immune from it, to survive the cold.
Aurex of course stays out of sight on the land, by night he circles the barge to ensure nothing untoward happens to his human. He eats well enough along the journey hunting wild animals. He encounters no patrols north of the river so it is a bit boring...
On the twelfth night Tiadora exits her cabin and instead of disappearing on the wings of teleportation magic she gathers you all, “The master is here and commands you attend him,” Tiadora says grimly pointing to her cabin. “He’s in the cabin.”
Over the 12 days Nate gets more and more haggard, almost like he has some sort of wasting sickness. Aurex speaks little, staying near Nate when he can and being otherwise grumpy and quiet.
As Tiadora tells them of Thorn he simply nods dumbly and makes his way over.
Aurex looks at Tiadora with the usual Will I be able to participate in the talk? look.
As Aurex lands on the ship Tiadora glares at the young Dragpn, "I do not remember summoning you... if you believe you can fit into the cabin along with Grumble, then by all means stuff in.
If the Cardinal finds you an irritant, I am sure you will make a fine suit of dragonhide armor".
Grumble stopped and slowly turned toward Tiadora on his way into the cabin. "First Soren, then Aurex. That's two. You threaten anyone in my Knot a third time, I'll eat you. Then I'll have Raaven here eat whatever's left until there's nothin' left of you but a little rock. Then I'll eat the rock."
Whatever else anyone might say about Grumble, he seemed to take the oath sworn in the Cardinal's study very seriously.
Alice spends the days trying to augment the stories of Lord Havelyn with actual reading lessons. Grumble was making progress, and she'd be damned if she would let it go to waste.
During the nights she would crawl into the blanket nest, close to Moranna.
With the summons to the cabin, Alice gets nervous. She knows she's met the cardinal before. But after spending so long with her memories altered, she's unsure what did, and did not happen when she met him.
With Grumble and Tiadora facing off again, Alice waits to get into the cabin, in case Grumble needs backup.
Aboard Halstyn’s Folly
Tiadora giggles like a little girl, "You're so scary Grumble.
I'm positively quivering with fear!"
She takes a step towards you with a not so amused look in her eyes, "You Mortals need to be taught a lesson..."
From the Cabin the voice of the Cardinal issues forth, "Tiadora, does my voice sufficiently quell whatever altercation I hear stirring!"
Immediately her face becomes calm, "Yes my Master".
The Cardinal calls out again, "Come my Ninth Knot, attend to me, that includes you Aurex".
Tiadora stalks to the stern, leaving you all to address the Cardinal.