Priyya looks at the symbols oddly but thanks the Mayor profoundly for the honor. She hands the badges out to the team and repeats what the Mayor said - no prisoners are needed.
Morgaard sits smoking his pipe, smoke wafting though his bushy eyebrows. Needless to say, where ever the Kirmoons go, he will go. He nods in silent agreement. He's bound by both love and honor here, but that is not the hook for him. Even in the case that the Kirmoon sisters were not present, he would go. He lives for the adventure, plain and simple.
His thoughts turn to Suny:
"Is she really so naive that she would spread that filth without forethought?"
He recalled someone saying that she was a temple girl at some point, so the matter was not out of the question. Morgaard knew that the working girls could quickly incapacitate a whole army in a matter of days with such things if by ignorance or even by enemy design. It's just too bad that the cleric was not forewarned, it could have been fixed without any trouble by a flash of a holy hand. Of course, a person should not be screwing known bang-tails on out on campaign either - you have no idea where their hail from or of whos been hailing them the night before.
"No matter, that issue is done with. On to bigger and better things..."
"Took me a good month to craft this beauty. Put 'er to good use!" says the old boyer.
Excellent. What is the type of this bow? Composite, standard, etc? Just trying to update my invetory here. :)
The five of you ride hard all through the day until at last Alexis says, "If we are exhausted when we arrive, we won't have the strength to fight!"
Realizing that she's right and recognizing how lathered your steeds are with sweat on this hot summer day, you decide to map camp for the night.
After searching for about 15 minutes, Morgaard finds a suitable campsight with level ground and good drainage in a clearing safely removed from sight of the road. As you begin setting up your tents, he looks at the sky and estimates you've made better than 30 miles of progress. Not bad considering that you did you best to keep your eyes out for further ambushes along the way.
After a late dinner of cheese, jerky, hard tack and other rations that require no cooking fire, Alexis excuses herself and heads off to bed leaving the rest of you to figure out a watch rotation.
"I'll wake Alexis up if I take second watch," says Alis, "so I'll wait up with whoever else wants to say up."
Alis' Perception Checks:
Alexis' Perception Checks:
Morgaard Perception Checks:
"Took me a good month to craft this beauty. Put 'er to good use!" says the old boyer.
Priyya offers to sit a watch with Alis. She'd like to chat quietly with her.
FYI - Priyya has darkvision.
Yeah, you get credit for 2 outta 3.
Yeah, you get credit for 2 outta 3.
At the beginning of the second hour of their shared watch, when everyone else is fast asleep (presumably) Priyya looks over to Alis and says, "I have been meaning to talk about the breakfast conversation yesterday. Your sister mentioned that you thrash around in your sleep and she implied you suffer from bad dreams. Sometimes, when we don't air our concerns, they invade our dreams. I would very much like to help you find some measure of peaceful sleep. Would you care to talk about your concerns and your dreams?"
26: Alis & Priyya
23: Alis & Priyya
20: Alis
25: Alis & Morgaard (M wakes up early)
23: Morgaard
16: Alexis & Felmor (A woken up by Alis)
20: Alexis & Felmor
25: Alexis & Priyya (P wakes up in time for dawn)
"I have been meaning to talk about the breakfast conversation yesterday. Your sister mentioned that you thrash around in your sleep and she implied you suffer from bad dreams. Sometimes, when we don't air our concerns, they invade our dreams. I would very much like to help you find some measure of peaceful sleep. Would you care to talk about your concerns and your dreams?"
"She uh... what?" Caught off guard by Priyya's comment, the cleric is witness to a rare sight as she catches Alis blushing with embarrassment. Sensing that the woman's intentions are genuine, Alis stops fiddling with the weird repeating hand crossbow she calls her 'sewing kit' and replies, "Well, you got me... It's true I don't usually have good dreams which, as sis must have told you, is putting it mildly. Usually it's stuff like losing Mom and Dad all over again or sis and I going our own ways and then something happens to her and there's nothing I can do. I myself never seem to get hurt in any of them, but it's always the few people I care about who do. Then there are the ones where it's me and others are around but it's like they either can't see me or just don't acknowledge that I'm there..."
Alis pauses and looks up. "You know right that Alexis and I got disinherited by our 'uncle' after he took over Father's estate when Mom and Dad died, right? Alexis was sent off to an arcane academy to study while I was sent to a 'convent' dedicated to Calistria, of all things. Nice uncle, huh? After a few months, I managed to cause enough problems mixing itching powder with bath salts, replacing perfumes with ant pheromones, and evading 'temple girl' work thru the creative use of charm person that it caused a pretty big ruckus. I think the last straw was when I replaced pages in the cantor's song book with hymns praising Desna!"
She laughs.
"Thankfully, Queen Tellandia had a better sense of humor than Head Hetaera Dyrianna. She took us into the royal household raising us each to the rank of princess seemingly to shake-up the old guard. Alexis said it was so that she could divert attention away from some of her other progressive political maneuverings. While I don't doubt that we did help her in that regard, having talked with the Queen when she was out hunting with her hawk, I got the sense that she saw a certain hope in us — like she felt we would make a good example to other elven youths..."
"She told me she thought I had a real gift for divination and for a time, I even had a private tutor. Well, back before Alexis talked me into joining the Pathfinders, that is. Did you know that technically sis and I are technically ambassadors? Pretty funny, huh? Say, Alexis will be heading off to Arcadia after we get back, but it will still be another few weeks until I leave for the Mwangi Expanse. Maybe I could show you around Greengold in the meantime when we get back. We had our own wing in the estate that Telandia built there, you know..."
Priyya smiles warmly and moves closer to the Princess, taking her hand. She says earnestly, ignoring the obvious lure of the 'comfortable' subjects Alis would rather discuss, "It is hard to lose the ones we love - either through accident or by the paths we are compelled to take..." Her eyes slide to Alexis' tent, briefly. "Even a betrayal of trust, such as your uncle's deplorable actions, are losses in their own way. It is right and proper to grieve these losses until we can accept them, so long as we don't let grief or the fear of future grief dominate our lives." She looks at Alis intently, her eyes glowing, "I suspect you have wept for your parents... but have you wept for yourself? For the 'little girl' whose parents were taken from her so unfairly? She deserves your grief as well."
"Well, I do resent the way things turned out, sure..." There's a fairly long spell of rare silence from the young bard. "...but I guess I've always worried more about loses in the here-and-now than thinking on what I've already lost. I've tried thinking about what might have been, but it's all so overwhelming that— well... it's been easier to keep trying to move forward."
"Elves and half-elves — our bodies mature about as fast as a human's you know." Priyya feels her hand shudder a bit as she speaks. "But elves aren't considered to be adults until they are about 100. But do you know the crazy shit I had to witness in the 'temple' of that lustful whore-queen? I know Suny was a temple girl and seemingly enjoyed it, or at least practices what she preaches, but I still barely had a clue about why I was growing breasts and had started having a period. I still thought boys just pulled your hair or were for beating-up when they looked at you funny. I actually got whipped a few times because of the stunts I pulled to get out of having to 'serve' any of men who came to 'worship'. Alexis doesn't know all of it, but if you're wondering why she cares so little for Suny... well, I guess she sees what the Calistrians tried to make me into."
She sighs as if anticipating the unasked question, "And no, they did not go so far as to let me get raped. They're not quite that indecent. Let's just say that while I've never known a man personally, I could probably write an instructional book that would make a Vudrani blush." She laughs at the thought, "That would be a riot, huh? The Virgin Princess' Guide to Elven Intimacy. A best-seller for sure, right?"
As the ladies are talking quietly, they hear loud snoring coming from the fast asleep sailor. His snores make you think he may have had a dwarven ancestor several generations ago.
Priyya continues to hold her hand, "I think you should take some time, when convenient, to think about the past and what you have lost... What the 'little girl' you were lost when her parents died and when the rest of her mental innocence was stolen in that 'temple'. Weep for her. It may, in the here and now, make your sleep easier." Priyya begins to silently weep, tears rolling unchecked down her cheeks, but her voice remains strong, "Until, you have the time to grieve for that little girl, I will grieve for her, in your stead, and for you as well." Priyya continues to silently cry, seemingly without shame or concern, for the remainder of her shift while still keeping vigilant.
A sad smile crosses Alis' face and she puts her arm around the kindly cleric as her own eyes fill to the brim before pouring over.
After some time, she sees the noble human to bed and stays up for another hour in silent contemplation when in the moonlight at the limits of her vision see sees a pair of yellow eyes.
A wolf?
Without hesitation, Alis raises her 'sewing kit' to fire...
...the tiny bolt grazes its hindquarter and with a yelp, it turns tail and flees into the night.
Frowning slightly, she heads over to Morgaard's tent and rouses him by nudging his foot with her own. "Uncle Morg, it's an hour early, but I thought I should wake you. I just ran off a wolf that approached the camp. Figured you might want a chance to try out that nice new bow of yours..."
On heading to bed, Priyya is happy to have shared time and tears with Alis. She tells Alis with a trace of humor, "My door, or tent-flap, are always open to you, Alis. If you need a willing ear or even just someone near you. Sometimes it is nice to just have people around." She crawls into her little pup-tent, thinking I hope this will help her some. Unlike last night, she falls happily asleep.
"...Say, Alexis will be heading off to Arcadia after we get back, but it will still be another few weeks until I leave for the Mwangi Expanse. Maybe I could show you around Greengold in the meantime when we get back. We had our own wing in the estate that Telandia built there, you know..."
"I'm not too familiar with Avistan, but Greengold is North of Cassomir, yes?" When she receives a nod in response, a strange look crosses Priyya's face and she looks off distantly, vaguely North-West. her reply seems to come from a distance as well, "Yes... traveling North will be fine. It would be nice to have companionship for awhile - til Greengold at least."
At the distance your tent is from Morgaard's you can hear that Alis is whispering, but you can't really make it out. You do however hear Morgaard's yawn and the tromp of his feet when he gets up.
Morgaard awakes to Alis' bump. He hears her words though the fading veil of sleep:
"Thank you, lass. Your'e right, it would be a good chance, eh? Now, give me a moment to get my joints to quit arguing with me."
Morgaard stretches, slides his axe into his belt, and retrieves his new longbow. He comes from the tent and scans the darkness around him. Satisfied that he does not see much in the way of anything going on, he seats himself on a rock just inside the woodline looking over the small camp. He opts not to smoke his pipe this evening, as the smell could alert any unwanted guests in the area.
MAP: Campsite #00
Morgaard is starting in W17.
Alis is in N7 looking back towards him.
After the earlier warning, a fire was built to see by.
You notice that one of them is limping slightly.
NOTE: X13 and Y17 are both tree trunks so you currently have have your back to a tree.
From back by the fire, you hear Alis hiss, [b]"Morg! That wolf is back again, it's sneaking in north near sis' tent!
Roll for initiative.
Cursing, Alexis fires her sewing kit at the wolf by her sister's tent...
...and swears even more loudly as the bolt flies about 10 feet and dives into the dirt. Sis is really going to have to refine her design some more, this thing is a piece of junk!
Priyya sits up and scoots to the edge of the tent. The urgent whispering has attracted her attention. She pops her head out and whispers to Alis, "Is something wrong?" Alis notes it is the first time she's seen Priyya without her headdress. She sees a flowing wave of long black hair, like a raven's wing. Hell, she didn't even know the dusky cleric had hair.
"HZZTTTZ...zzzzz...zzzz"
"Zzzzz..."
"Is something wrong?"
Suddenly you hear a low growling to the north of your tent and something rustling in the undergrowth to the east.
Priyya frowns for a moment, emerges from the tent with her scimitar in hand, and then pulls out her crossbow as well and winches it. She stands up and looks into the darkness beyond her tent. Her silky hair hangs down below her rear. She looks at Alis and puts the 'business end' of the crossbow in the air, "Just in case." She says indicating the crossbow, "I won't deny Morgaard his sport. But it seems like your wolf has friends."
Priyya scans the dark (using darkvision) looking for any wolves not under Morgaard's bow.
Felmor and Alexis are both awakened by the sound of Alis shouting.
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
Felmor and Alexis are both awakened by the sound of Alis shouting.
"Apparently your one wolf had a litter. I don't think we should leave it to Morgaard to hunt them all."
Priyya looks for a target of opportunity. Any wolf close to any of the occupied tents will be her first choice.
"'n this is why I hate the outdoors."
"Good morning, Felmor. I'll take wolves over a Kraken on any day. If anyone needs more light, I can make things very bright."
MAP: Camp #01b
, Alis, Felmor, Priyya, Wolves, Morgaard, Alexis
EDIT: Priyya, your action for the surprise round was being able to get up and on your feet. Felmor, you and Alexis will be able to get up as a full-round action next round entering into the first square outside your tents.
"Wha? Wolves?!"
Shortly after Alis' shouting awakens them, the horses catch wind of the wolves and scream out in terror, pulling at the ropes tethering them to the tree stump on the SW corner of camp.
"Good morning, Felmor. I'll take wolves over a Kraken on any day. If anyone needs more light, I can make things very bright."
"Aye, jes me luck, at leas' th' kraken swallow ye whole, ship 'n all."
Felmor knew little of wolves, but the horses screaming in terror reminds him of something..."'Ey, ain't wolves s'posed ta eat horses, 'n not humans?"