Olaff readies his shield and draws his swords before turning to Thanara. "Thanarra, could ye please vake the otherrs? Perhaps those arre just volves, so I don't vant to yell and vorrry all o' them, but perrhaps it is morre..."
She had just about been ready to apologize to him too...
She jumps up and moves towards the tents with the rest of the group before saying loud enough to wake them, "Everyone get up. Something's approaching camp!"
She then conjures up a ball of roiling storm that materializes between them and the nearest creature and sends out bolt of lightning at it!
Two large cats with bushy tells come barrelling out of the darkness at full speed, charging towards the large Ulfen. He lunges out of the way of most of the attacks, but one set of teeth and two sets of claws all manage to scratch and tear at his skin.
Thanara's thundercloud claps loudly as is strikes down at the cats who are not able to avoid the electricity damage.
The other two cats circle and move in from the side, still staying out at least 40 feet away from you.
Ahreni leaps up, much like her patron animal, landing on all fours and growling. It takes a fraction of a second for her to launch into movement and tackle one of the cats assaulting Noisemaker with tooth and claw.
Shalelu wakes and grabs her bow looking out the wagon to see what is going on.
She can feel something deep inside wanting to get out, but she takes some deep breaths and pushes it deep down inside. Seeing the cats attacking Olaff and the ones outside the camp, she quietly climbs out of the wagon, trying not to alert any of the enemies to her presence.
Relisha reaches out with her soul and touches all four of her companions, creating links with them. In preparation, she casts a spell upon herself to hopefully prevent the beasts from attacking her directly.
Ahreni 35/35
Olaff 22/40
Relisha 43/43
Shalelu 47/47
Thanara 22/22
Thanara moves the cloud, keeping it in contact with the cat as beat she can.
F~&+! Olaff exclaims as he is raked by the cats' claws. "Go hunt a deerr, ye dumb animals!"
He then slashes with his sword at the one Areni is attacking.
_________________________________________
Attack
Ahreni tackles the cat opposite of Olaff, tearing into the flesh of the large cat. Olaff's slash finishes off the first cat, leaving one remaining at the camp and two on the periphery.
Shalelu snatches up her blade and quietly sneaks off in without being observed by the attention of the cats.
Thanara's thunderstorm stays overtop of the nearby cat, damaging it with electrical energy.
Relisha establishes life links and casts a defensive spell.
The cat under the storm circles behind Olaff and sinks its teeth into his thigh, ripping away flesh but still holding on tightly with its powerful jaws. Things go badly for him after that.
With Olaff unable to move anywhere and focuses on on the large cat holding him in place, the other two cats come charging in from differently angles and pounce on the large Ulfen. A flurry of powerful jaws, razor sharp teeth slash, tear and rake at the man until he can be seen collapsing to the ground between the three.
Ameiko pops her head out of her wagon to see what the commotion is about and sees there is danger. She starts singing a melodic tone to inspire her allies to quickly end this battle. .
The two Varisian brothers both raise their longbows and take aim at the cat holding Olaff in its jaws and release arrows. Bevelek critically strikes the beast in its head, killing it instantly and letting Olaff's dying body drop to the ground.
Shalelu takes aim at one of the remaining cats and lets her arrows fly.
Panic starts to set in. Thanara sends the orb of storm after the cats around Olaff, hoping to run them off of him so others can get in there to save him!
Confident that her friends can handle the two big cats, Relisha just concentrates on helping to endure Olaff's pain.
Ahreni 35/35
Olaff -5/40
Relisha 38/43
Shalelu 47/47
Thanara 22/22
Unused to fight creatures that do not possess humanoid form, Olaff is too slow to change his guard after he finished the first mountain lion. "Ye bastarrd..." As the cat sinks its teeth in his thigh and holds tight, Olaff starts the motion to punch its head with the hilt of his sword when he is pounced from behind... there are claws everywhere, his shield useless in such close fight. "OH F##&!"
He drops his sword after one of the cats slashes at his arm and when he falls into the ground, he notices his sword a couple inches away from his outstretched hand. As he loses conscience, he tries to reach for his sword. With a weak voice, he asks the others. "My svorrd... m... my svorrd... don't let me die vithout my..."
Ahreni lets out a roar of rage and attacks the nearest lion in a frenzy of teeth and claws.
Ahreni, Shalelu, Thanara all focus their attacks on one of the two remaining creatures and are able to quickly bring it down, leaving only a single large cat to deal with.
Helvinius grabs a hold of Ameiko and pushes her into the covered wagon out of sight where her music fades away. The two Varisian brothers fire another volley of arrows as Sandru comes running from the lead wagon with a blade in hand.
The single lion focuses its attacks on Ahreni, tearing into her with its teeth and both claws. It tries to grab a hold of her skin and keep her pinned with its teeth, but Ahreni is too elusive and breaks free of its grapple attempt.
Shae turns her attention to the remaining cat as she calls out to Ahreni "Get back!"
Wanting to hurry the healing along, Relisha moves in close and speaks a prayer of healing over him.
Ahreni 35/35
Olaff 8/40
Relisha 33/43
Shalelu 47/47
Thanara 22/22
Ahreni bites at the lion again, attempting to take a large chunk of the large cat with her before she listens to Shalelu and ducks backwards.
Thanara continues moving the small storm ball around, her hand outstretched towards it. She wills it into the final cat as quickly as she can!
Afterwards, her hand drops from the mental exertion and the cloud dissipates from existence.
With the crack of the storm, the last cat collapses on the ground, falling on top of Olaff's prone body. Bevelek leads the two brothers that come running over to check on the fallen Ulfen' while Sandru finally reaches the fight and takes control of the situation.
Seeing that Olaff is okay, Sandru has the brothers drag the large cats a bit off to be skinned for fresh meat. He asks Shalelu and Ahreni to quickly scout the perimeter to ensure there are no more lurking and looks over at Thanara and then down to Olaff. "He might need some extra attention this night."
Relisha seems torn, her gaze moving between Ameiko's wagon where the Holy Vindicator pulled the woman and Olaff, who while conscious and aware is a far cry from well. She closes her eyes in frustration before approaching the large man while dropping the link with him.
Ahreni 35/35
Olaff 8/40
Relisha 33/43
Shalelu 47/47
Thanara 22/22
Olaff 18/40
Olaff 26/40
Olaff 38/40
Relisha 41/43
With her healing work mostly completed, the tiefling wastes no time scampering off to Ameiko's wagon to ensure her well-being.
The Holy Vindicator is standing outside of Ameiko's tent and places a hand to stop Relisha from entering. "Did you fulfill all of you duties before heading over here, Ms. Tamm?"
Relisha looks down at the man's hand on her and can't help but feel an icy spike of anger. "Do not touch me without my leave, Holy Vindicator," she says in a cold voice as she reaches up to remove his hand from her .
"I am aware of my duties and they have been seen to, now step aside." She then moves past him into the wagon.
Waiting for a few seconds adding a pause, he clarifies his original point"Have you now? And Ahreni and her wounds? I saw her walk off out of range of your abilities to scout and she still was bleeding heavily from her back. Have you not thought to check on her before your loins burn so hot for Ms. Kajitsu?"
Looking down at her hand on his chest and the tone of her voice he says "Calm yourself, young lady. Your frustrations shall not be directed to me when I am simply here to guide your path."
"You do not have my abilities, Holy Vindicator. Do not assume to tell me how they work. I've been living with them since I first had my moon blood - I know intimately how the blessing affects those around me. The blood you saw was what has soaked into her clothes. She has nothing but minor scratches left and my gift does nothing for those."
She looks up at the man between her and the wagon.
"And speaking of my moon blood. This is the last time the subject of my loins will be addressed in a conversation between us. I will consider any further discussion of the subject a personal violation." She narrows her eyes at the figure before her. "I don't think your vows condone the violation of anyone, much less a fellow servant of the Healing Flame. Now step aside."
Nodding satisfied that she's addressed Ahreni's wounds sufficiently, he moves aside without any acknowledgement to her on her defiance to her statement.
Once she ducks inside, she find Ameiko anxiously awaiting her arrival. She looks worried and asks "Everything okay? The Holy Vindicator told me it wasn't safe for me to be out there and made me come back in here out of sight. He was right, it was foolish of me to try and participate in that fight. I need to be thinking of what's at stake here and not acting on a whim. He told me you had things under control and wouldn't let any further harm come to them. It's sound advice, don't you agree?"
Relieved at finding her lover safe, Relisha lets out a breath that she didn't realize that she was holding. "I don't know if that's what I would recommend. I would say that you're the safest where we can see you and protect you," Relisha responds.
She looks down at the wooden floor of the wagon and then back up to Ameiko's eyes. "But that's a decision that you have to make, Ameiko. It's good to have advisers, but you should never let other people make decisions for you. Particularly people that ..." She shakes her head, hesitant to continue.
"Listen to what other people tell you, but be aware that they may have priorities that don't match up with yours. You will be Empress. You need to trust your own mind."
Ameiko reaches out a hand to take Relisha's, a grin slowly spreading across her face. Squeezing her hand she leans in to kiss Relisha and says "You're so cute when you get all worked up. I could just eat you-"
*knock knock knock*
A loud rapping sound comes from outside the tent as the cover is pulled back and Sandru climbs in without waiting for permission to enter.
"Hey ladies." he says, reaching for a towel to wipe the blood from his hands before tossing it aside.
"Everything alright? What are we talking about?" he asks, looking between the two.
Ameiko still has her face puckered for a kiss when Sandru enters, holding the expression to make sure he sees it, waiting until he looks at her with an annoyed look on her face.
"We were discussing the nature of rulership," Relisha says, looking down at the floor and blushing furiously.
Ignoring Ameiko, he says"Oh, sounds fantastic. Don't mind me at all, please continue. Pretend like I'm not even here."
Sandru crawls between the two women to reach into an open crate where he rummages around for some dried meat, wiggling himself into the tight space and bumping both of them as he looks around.
Relisha has no idea if Sandru is doing this intentionally or not.
"Umm ... Sandru?" Relisha questions quietly. "We were ... um ... actually ... going back to bed. Morning devotions come early and ..." She shrugs.
Sandru says "Hmmm? Oh. OH." he says, looking at Relisha. "I see. Well then. I best get out the way then?" he finishes snatching a handful of meat and waving it around. "Fights always make me hungry, you know?"
Backing out, Ameiko smacks Sandru on the head and he yelps "Ouch! Unnecessary! This is my caravan you know!" She thwaps him again and yelps again "Alright, alright. I'm moving, I'm moving." he says climbing out of the wagon.
Turning back to Relisha Ameiko says "Now, where were we. I think-"
Sandru announces he flips the curtain open and says "Can I get one more-" before Ameiko growls loudly and lunges for the man before he whips the curtain shut and disappears, laughing.
The question in her mind already answered, Relisha just puts her face into her hands and hopes not to burn a hole through them with the heat she feels from her cheeks.
"Gods, why would he do that? The Holy Vindicator is already ..." she begins, but then shakes her head. Unsure if she's already said too much.
Without another word, she kicks her boots off and crawls under the blankets and then pulls them over her head, hoping the world will go away.
No one has ever accused Ameiko of being shy.
Ever.
Lifting her hastily donned shirt, she slips out of it and her trousers before sliding under the blanket with Relisha. "Don't you mind him one bit. There's never much privacy in a caravan, Relisha. If we're going to be traveling north together, it's only going to get worse as it gets colder. Speaking of.... I'm a bit chilly, care to come over here and warm me up?"
The tiefling giggles nervously and puts her hands over her face as Ameiko joins her under the blanket. "Sorry. I'm just not used to everyone knowing that I'm ... you know."
With that said, she still moves over to press her warmer-than-normal body against her companion's.
"You're being silly. You're not cold at all. You're ... ah ... ah! ... warm!" she says as the woman does something else with her hands. Another giggle follows.
Sounds of pleasure soon follow.
Thanara follows along as the boys get Olaff to his bedroll. She sits down beside him quietly for some time. She looks over to him and says quietly ”You okay?”
A moment later, Sandru makes his proclamation loudly from the neighboring wagon, eliciting an eye roll from Thanara as his laughter passes by the wagon Olaff and she were in.
Ahreni nods to her brother and vanished into the darkness, still morphed more than partially into lupine form. She works around the perimeter, trusting in her sensitive nose to track down ant lurking predators. Thankfully the area appears to be clear and she nods to Shalelu as they pass esch other.
"Clear." She grunts before heading back to check on he thoroughly spooked horses. Then Sandru scared away every living thing in thirty miles and leaves Ahreni rolling her eyes...
As Relisha's lifeforce seeps into him and Olaff regains his consciousness, his first act is to stretch his hands to his sword and grab it tightly, slowly bringing it towards his chest, half expecting to be slashed again by the cats. After a couple seconds, he notices the girl's frame over him and concludes the fight have already ended.
Still bloodied and wounded, Olaff raises himself to a sitting position. "Shit, that vas frreakin' close... bein' surrounded like that... crrap. I owe ye me life, Rrelisha. Don't let me forrget about it." He then looks around. "Everryone is alrright?"
Olaff shifted positions in his bedroll, fighting the pain of his previous near death experience. His wounds were gone, but the pain would remain yet for a couple days. "Ye, I'm fine... my whole body is in pain, but Rrelisha vas able to heal almost everrythin' so I'm fine... but shit, that vas rrealy close... I had no svorrd in hand. If it vas not forr herr, I vould be now frreezin' in Hell."
Thanara doesn't make eye contact with Olaff as he speaks. She just keeps her gaze turned toward the floor of the wagon.
"Look...we just about lost you there...so I don't want..." she stammers as she struggles to find the words to say. "I don't want something to happen before we can clear the air. I'm sorry for how I snapped at you in that graveyard and after all that was done. But I can't help but lash out when my feelings are being mocked and my friends threatened by someone I..." she stops, not completing the sentence.
"Therre vill be alvays some strrugle betveen us, Thanarra, forr ve arre completely differrent perrsons coming frrom different culturres. Unless ve make an efforrt to underrstand vhy ve do vhat ve do, the rrift between us vill only grrow." Olaff says with care not to generate another argument between them.
"Ye say I mocked yer feelings, and I did. But have ye thought vhy I did that?" He waited a couple seconds before continuing. "In the norrth, ve learn things in a different vay... ve arre tossed in the middle o' a lake in orrderr to learn how to svim... as kids, vhen ve can hold a svorrd ve trrain vith fully sharrpened veapons, not dulled ones, forr if ve do not fearr to be harrmed, ve von't learn how to fight prroperrly... ve arre left in the voods to find ourr vays home. Vhat don't kill us make us strrong is a vay to puttin' it."
"Ye may think o' it as being a cruel vay, but it vorrks very vell. The norrth is a rruthless place and ve don't rraise ourr own to be sheep, forr a sheep vill be eaten by the volf. A birrd vill only fly once it jumps off the nest and a f@!#ing mountain lion will only live if it learn how to hunt forr himself."
"Back in the grraveyarrd, ye needed help forr surre, but vhat vould have been better forr ye: me hugging ye and tellin' ye everrythin' vas going to be fine, orr me lettin' ye to strrugle vith it? The vay I vas rraised to think, the firrst alterrnative vould only make ye veakerr and morre dependent o' me and the otherrs."
"Look at Rrelisha... can ye see how much she strrugled since ve left forr the goblin villa and how much she has grown? She no longerrs fearrs everrythin', she no longerrs apologizes forr anythin'..."
Thanara sat quietly as Olaff gave his lecture. But the more he talked, the more irritated she became.
"Just because that is how you were raised, Olaff, doesn't mean it's the only way, or even the best way! You think I have lived my life being coddled? My father beat me and degraded me on a regular basis because he hated me for killing my mother. My closest friends were Ameiko and Shalelu, and Ameiko was always busy with the inn or adventuring, and Shalelu also has historically treated me like a piece of spoiled trash!"
She stands and glowers at him as he lays on the bedroll. "I spent my entire life having to learn to live in a world where no one cared for me beyond my looks. I thought I had finally found that with you and the rest of this caravan. Seems I was mistaken. I'm sorry I'm not as strong as the 'Mighty Relisha," for your tastes!"
She turned and stepped to the flap and paused and said over her shoulder, "You were right about one thing, though, Olaff. Apparently there will always be struggle between us," as her eyes welled up with tears and she stepped out and closed the flap behind her.
She needed to talk to someone. She headed for Ameiko's wagon. It had been a long time since the two of them had had a chance to sit and talk, and damn did Thanara need to talk right now. As she got closer, though, she could hear the tell-tale sounds of her and Relisha in the throes of passion. She clenched her teeth and balled her hands into fists as she turned and walked off.
The Mighty Relisha has stolen her from me!
She considered going to talking to Shalelu...things had gotten better between them the last time they talked, right? But...her track record of being supportive was poor, and she would most likely side with the numb-skull Ulfen anyway.
Ahreni...Ahreni probably wouldn't understand.
The rest of the men...they'd just want to try and take the opportunity to get her out of her dress.
Thanara almost seemed to be pacing in the center of the camp as she started towards one wagon then stopped and turned and headed for another, growing more and more frustrated as she did. The more frustrated and angry she got, the stronger the wind seemed to get and the clouds overhead started to darken and gather in a slow moving circle.
"You smell sad." Ahreni says, marterialising out of the dark and walking towards the sorceress without a care, even as her hair begins to sway in the static surrounding Thanara. "Talk? I can listen."
”What’s there to talk about!?!?” Thanara fumes as she paces about the middle of camp. ”It’s become painfully clear how unnecessary I am to this caravan beyond fixing sub-standard food for everyone! I can’t fight! I can’t control my magic! Everything I touch goes to total shit, or worse!” she fumes.
There is a distant rumble of thunder in the sky as the clouds continue to darken.
As Thanara interrupts him again and starts to put words in his mouth again, Olaff tries to interrupt her and finish his thinking, for his whole intention was to explain why he did what he did, but also that he was sorry since it was clear that the way he was thought things would not work for her... but instead she lashed again and left.
He tries to get up but a wave of pain washes over his body. "Ignore the pain!" a voice spoke in his head. "Grab your sword and let my rage fill you! Stop the pain! Kill her! She brings storm, but you already have that inside of you! Kill her! KILL H..." the voice silences suddenly as Olaff feels a new pain on the palm of his hands and blood drips from the flesh wounds created by his own nails.
He breathes slowly, for he remembered a former friend of his, now long dead, said such thing would help him to fight the whispers. For long minutes he only breathed, in and out, in and out...
Once Olaff was sure to be once more in control of his own thoughts, he thought about the whole situation and decided he was too old for all this shit. He should be rowing his boat to a safe harbor, not into a storm. Then, talking to no one in particular, he whispered before closing his eyes. "I'm tired o' this. Therre vill be no morre strrugle. I'm done... I'm f*#+in' done vith you, girrl."
The following morning the group resumes their trip towards Kalsgard with decent weather and no unexpected assaults from wild animals. So continues the trip for the next 150 miles, about halfway to Kalsgard. Around this time several members of the caravanpoint out something odd -- one of the ubiquitous ravens shadowing the caravan in the hope of finding scraps to eat is a much larger specimen than normal, perhaps the size of a small dog. Once he has pointed it out, it is easy to spot, although it was difficult to see at first, since it hangs back a bit and never drops lower than perhaps 1000 feet above the ground.
Two days later the group arrives at their first stop at civilization in nearly two weeks, Losthome. Losthome is an Ulfen logging town in the far east of the Grungir Forest in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Located on the banks of the Thundering River, though not actually within the Linnorm Kingdom of the Thanelands, Losthome is protected by Kalsgard.
Sandru announces "We'll stop here for the night to resupply and get a sleep outside the caravan if you wish. Be ready to move on at first light."
The rest of the trip, Thanara has taken to wearing a hooded cloak whenever she is outside of her wagon. She keeps the hood pulled heavily over her face. She does not speak much to anyone, including Savah and Ameiko. The moment they arrive at the town, she leaves the caravan on her own.
She makes her way to find the nicest inn she can find and rents the best available room they have. She arranged for a private bath and spends a good deal of time soaking in the hot water before returning to her room.
Savah is waiting for Thanara outside of the door to her room. Sitting on the floor, she waits for the sorceress to return to her room. When she sees her approaching, she takes her feet and says "I know you've been looking forward to a break in town. You haven't invited me to your bed, so I will get my own room for the night if you wish."
Extending her hand, Savah holds out a braided leather cord with a circular metallic medallion made of some polished metal danging from the end of it. Etched into the medallion is a stormcloud with a bolt blasting from its center.
"I know you lost a piece of yourself when your father snatched away your mother's jewelry before you left. I am not trying to replace it, but I figured since you are reborn then perhaps I could make something for the new you."
She hands over the medallion and kisses Thanara on the cheek. "I'll be thinking of you you. I miss you."