"I'm Kelda, and this is Lysithia. Muriel made up a lunch for you, and asked us to bring it to you. She just wanted to make sure you were doing okay. She asked us to let you know that there's a letter in the bag for.you, and wanted to make sure you didn't eat it first?" She tells him, relaying Murial's message even though she didn't fully understand it.
"I think she wanted to keep you up to date on things going on in town." Lysithia adds.
Basil opens the sack and fishes out the letter. He looks it over before tucking it in a pocket. "Guess I can tell her myself since these guys don't want to help me out anyway."
The four dwarves let out a variety of exasperated groans. "Good on ye if ye're taking him away. Damn near chewed our ears off but we are here under Dondrimm's orders. The safety of his town is his problem."
Basil turns as if he is about to say something, but thinks better of it and fishes an apple out of the sack instead. "This was a waste of time."
Kelda shakes her head, "I understand very well that Dondrimm sent you here, but you are very much mistaken if you think this is just their problem. Do you honestly think that these bastards are just going to stop at Cooperton? They will not stop until they have destroyed everything. If there was a way that we could figure out who was actually behind all this devastation, we might actually stand a chance of making it through this alive. We can't do that though if we spend our time fighting amongst each other. Right now I don't even know if my family made it home to Varota safely, but I can't....I can't think about that right now, because if something isn't done soon....we all stand to lose everything. So, stop acting like this is an us versus them scenario, and try to think about what we still have to fight for, and what is really important." There is a note of exasperation in her voice as well as grief for all those that have already been lost.
Sighing she throws up her arms, "If you're okay just staying here in your own little corner while the world burns down around you....then fine."
Turning her back on the other Dwarves, Kelda looks at Basil, "We've been trying to figure out who's really behind these attacks, because goblins by themselves are too stupid to be this organized. Muriel told us you might be able to help us figure it out, and then maybe we can put a stop to all this senseless violence and devastation. We can keep chopping away at the branches of the problem, or we can tear it out by the root and destroy it. What do you say Basil, can you help us?"
"Great! I'd love to finally get something done about this," Basil answers. "Looks like you're all packed, so lets head to the forest and put an end to this."
"Can't argue with that approach." Lysithia comments.
Kelda nods, "I know this is going to sound awful coming from a warpriestess of Torag, but I'm just so frustrated and angry about everything, that I was thinking if we found their camp, I wanted to burn down the whole bloody place and kill every single last one of them for all the suffering they've caused. I mean all of them. Every single last one of them, since they breed like cockroaches. As for whoever is in charge of this....this change in the gobbers behavior, I want to just...just really hurt them before crushing in their skull with my hammer." She states vehemently, with more anger and contempt in her voice than Lysithia had ever heard before.
"That sounds splendid!" Basil exclaims as he begins leading the way away from the goblin camp. "So...how'd you end up here?"
”Johan came to Daedran asking for help. It took a while getting here, dealing with a lot of goblins and mayhem on the way, but here we are.” Lysithia explains.
”Johan, from here, came to Daedran asking for help. It took a while getting here, dealing with a lot of goblins and mayhem on the way, but here we are.” Lysithia explains.
Kelda shakes her head, "No, no love, remember it was Rauf we spoke with in Daedran. The paper he gave us told us to report to Johan. I guess it doesn't really matter though, since they're all either dead or missing." She says, regret and sadness creeping into her voice again.
Taking a moment to pull herself together, she looks back at Basil, "That was several days ago, and we've been trying to get here ever since. Almost dying several times slowed us down though. There were bandits, goblins, a goblin general, slavers, and fire throwing goblins with large goons. Every time we turned around, we were either being attacked, or trying to save someone. Now, here were are, but it seems too little, and far too late."
Kelda gives the young man a serious look, "We can't afford to go into anything blind, or we could find ourselves in a trap. How much do you know about what's in the forest?"
"Next to nothing," Basil admits with a shrug. "But it's where the goblins are coming from, so that's the place to start."
Kelda nods, "Okay, then we'll just need to be careful and not just rush into anything. Muriel said you can get a little carried away sometimes, and she wants us to make sure you don't overdo things, get yourself hurt, or do anything that might cause you not to return with all your working parts in tact. Bottom line, she just doesn't want anything bad happening to you, and we're here to make sure it doesn't. While I can appreciate your enthusiasm about getting a stop put to all this madness, I don't want you just running into a situation without knowing what we're dealing with, so if I say "stop", or "wait", I expect you to listen. I won't have another life on my conscious. Got it?" She says in a no nonsense tone as she tries to impress the seriousness of the situation upon the young man before he does something wreckless to get himself killed.
Sighing heavily she says, "I'm not trying to say that you aren't capable of taking care of yourself or anything...I just...I'm tired of death and decay. I feel like I'm surrounded by it and it's suffocating. I would like for once, not to know what it feels like to have someone die because we weren't prepared, or it couldn't be stopped. I'm just...I'm sick of it. I'm all for putting an end to this, but not carelessly or recklessly. Okay?" She says, trying to take the sting out of some of her words. She couldn't help how she felt, there had just been too much loss and she couldn't stand the thought of anymore.
"I'm not a child," Basil asserts. "Don't confuse me for Muriel. She's still in her innocent years. That town you came from is 'Cooper-ton': the town my grandfather's father built. As a Cooper, it's my duty to put an end to these raids...one way or another. If you wait to get organized, they're gonna get organized too and there's a lot more of them than us. We need to get the drop on them, take them out small groups at a time and draw out their leaders."
Lysithia watches in silence, much expecting Basil's response. Not everyone accepted Kelda's somewhat...forceful way of expressing her concern.
Besides, he'd clearly been dealing with the worst of this longer than they had, and he was still here. That said a lot.
Kelda nods, "I didn't say you were and I get where you're coming from. You have a responsibility toward these people, and are probably pissed off beyond reason that so many have been lost. I hate it too, but therein lies the problem. If we allow our anger to dictate our actions, go rushing in and get ourselves killed....well, then we're not able to help anyone are we?"
She waits a few moments for what she said to sink in before adding, "Once we're able to find their camp, I still like the idea of setting some of the tents or whatever on fire, see how they like it....but that's because I'm angry as hell at those little green bastards and I want nothing more than to terrorize and hurt them even more than they've hurt us....but I'm wondering how plausible that course of action really is. One the one hand, it would create a distraction....but, I'm concerned about the fire getting out of control, and not being able to see enough for it to be really effective, or getting caught up in it and burning ourselves along with the little buggers. What do you think? Could we actually do something like that, without destroying the entire Forrest and ourselves in the process?"
"Uncontrolled fire in a forest is never a good idea. We want to save this valley, not destroy it to spite the goblins. That would be like setting your dog on fire because it had fleas." Lysithia points out.
Kelda gets a pouty look on her face, "Fine...no fire. I was just trying to think of a way to draw the little buggers out, and create a diversion. I know we can't take on the whole camp at once, but I don't know how to draw the stupid heads out. At least there's one less General to worry about. That leaves like what, three...four? Can't really remember how many of the jerks were out there." She says, sounding frustrated and pouty. Upset that her idea of setting the little bastards on fire was shut down so quickly. Kelda kicks a rock as they continue on, trying to think of how they could draw out just a few at a time to reduce their numbers.
"Not to mention that most goblins don't have a problem being set on fire as long as they do some damage," Basil adds. "We just focus on small groups of them as we go through the forests. If we can find the camps, we just lay low. Afterward, we can head to Vorota and maybe convince the dwarves to do something besides look out for them and theirs. Any of you handy with drawing maps?"
"Fine, setting them on fire was a stupid idea. Do you know if there's anything that they do care about? I'm sorry if all I can think about is how badly I want to hurt them, and make them feel the pain they've been causing everyone else. It was more of an emotional response than a logical one I suppose. I know enough to hopefully keep us from getting completely lost, but I'm not very good at drawing." She says, feeling even more frustrated than she did earlier.
"I can navigate well enough, and make a decently serviceable map, I think." Lysithia replies after thinking about it for a moment. "And I can always find North"
She rests a hand on Kelda's shoulder, trying to help alleviate the frustration at what lay ahead.
As Lysithia puts her hand on Kelda's shoulder, she can feel how tightly tensed her muscles are, and can feel her shake slightly from not being able to express her rage or have an outlet to focus it on.
"They eat garbage. I don't think you're going to inflict emotional damage on them," Basil chuckles. He pauses and strokes his chin. "Let's go back to town. We can take the main road out and it might make it easier to map than going in some random point in the forest. Besides...Muriel might worry that you never found me."
Kelda sighs, "Okay, that's probably better than any stupid idea I'd come up with anyways." She says, sounding somewhat defeated at not being able to do anything to really hurt the stupid little buggers. They bred like cockroaches anyways, they probably didn't even care about their children.
Looking down at the ground as they head back to town, she kicks another rock, "If we're gonna have to be drawing maps and such, we'd better pick up some parchment and quills while we're at it." She thinks out loud, her tone still sounding pouty and sullen.
"That's a good idea. We can pick up stuff to make decent maps before heading back out." Lysithia agrees.
Kelda nods half heartedly, "Yeah, let's hope there's someone left alive that still has some. Muriel seems very into books, maybe she has some?"
"Your dour mood is not instilling me with confidence," Basil says as he picks up the pace a little. "We can't save everyone, but we can improve the numbers. That's just the way it is. As long as we're doing something, it's better than just sitting on our hands."
Basil stops for a moment. "Look, I don't know what you two have been through and I'm sorry that you feel that you've let Johan and Rauf down, but you can't feel responsible for everything that goes on in the valley."
Kelda stops for a moment as she listens to Basil. She wasn't trying to bring everyone down, but it was hard with how frustrated she was at the situation.
Taking a moment to calm her thoughts she lets out a sigh, "Somewhere buried deep deep in the rational and sane part of my brain, I know it's crazy to think that I can stop every single bad thing from happening just...everywhere, or save everyone that needs help. Unfortunately though, it's been a real struggle to convince my heart of what my brain knows because....because it hurts so much to see the way they are systematically dismantling our home. I feel angry and frustrated at the situation, and as easy as it is to slip into those feelings of hopelessness, I know that I can't allow myself to do that....and I'm trying very hard not to, because the moment I do that....they win."
Looking from Basil to Lysi she kind of shrugs, "I'm sorry I'm not better at saying things, but sometimes it's hard to put something as abstract as feelings into words, or explain why it's so hard for me to reconcile what I'm feeling with what I should know, because logic and emotion just don't mix."
Feeling herself becoming long-winded again she tries to organize her thoughts, "I don't want to give them time to gather their numbers or plan more attacks anymore than you do, and I like the idea of mapping out the area....but thinning out the herd isn't going to be enough. This is not typical goblin behavior. They're not organized like this...like ever, so I'm thinking someone else is behind this. If we can find out who as we're spying on these little creeps, then we might stand a real chance at putting a real stop to all of this. I know it won't happen overnight, but if in the process we take out a couple hundred if the little nasties, then all the better." She says, taking out her warhammer and casually holding it over her shoulder.
Lysithia nods, not having much to add at the moment.
Basil nods with a grunt as you walk back into town. "Why don't you two take a rest for a bit? I'll try and get Muriel to understand what's going on and gather some supplies."
Kelda looks at Lysithia before looking back at him and nodding, "Okay, she seemed kinda upset or maybe just sick of stuff when we left, so good luck. We stumbled across her sister's familiar in our travels and that seems to have brought up some....feelings. I guess just let us know when you're ready." Not sure of how much he knew about that situation, but she thought it would be a good idea to at least make him aware of it.
Turning back to Lysithia she takes her hand, "What do you think honey? Back up to the room for a few minutes to regroup and rest a little before heading back out? Make sure we have everything we need?"
"Sounds like a good idea, clear our heads a bit from this morning before setting out again."? Lysithia replies, lacing her fingers between Kelda's
Kelda sighs a little as she nods, "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. It's takin' everythin' in me not to march out onto those fields and slaughter every last goblin I see....but that elder said it would be a bad idea, and since he's more familiar with this area than us, I'm more inclined to listen....for now." She says, giving her love's fingers a light loving squeeze as their fingers intertwine.
Basil nods as he goes inside the inn and heads to the kitchen straightaway.
Kelda walks into the Inn with Lysi, and heads up to the room they used the previous night. Going in, she kisses Lysithia's fingers before letting go of her hand so she can pick her love up, and carry her over to the bed.
Sitting down on the bed with Lysi in her lap she muses out loud, "I wonder if they have a bath here, I can't remember if Muriel said they had one or not...but it would be nice to get one before hitting the road. No telling how long we'll be out there in the wild....but I don't want to bother them while they're talking. Do you remember if she said they had one?" She asks her love, while leaning in and nibbling on her neck lightly.
"Not as far as I remember." Lysithia says with a sigh as she settles into Kelda's lap, enjoying the attention.
Kelda runs her fingers through Lysithia's hair, while moving her lips down to her shoulders, stopping where her armor starts.
Getting a sort of pouty look on her face, she lightly trails a finger down her beloved one's neck to the top of her chest.
Using a somewhat pouty and sultry tone she asks, "Wouldn't it be easier to rest and relax for a little while if we got out of this ol' armor? Then maybe we could go looking for a bath?" She says, before kissing her way back up her neck and nibbling on her earlobe.
"Mmmmm...I think that's a very good idea." Lysithia purrs, letting out another soft sigh, before quickly popping up onto her feet, and quite enthusiastically beginning to remove her armor, her eyes on her love the whole time.
Kelda smiles as she watches Lysi remove her armor, before removing her own.
Setting the armor aside, Kelda goes to Lysi and puts her arms around her love, "Ready to go look for the baths?"
"Very much so!" Lysithia says, slipping her arms around Kelda. "I really hope they have one."