Cole pulls the elf to one side, and hisses in his ears, You might be smarter than you look, but you realize if we tell her to leave, she will either attack us, or she will simply follow us. Either way, we don't get answers. Now, we are gonaa play nice, until she makes a mistake, got it?"
"She gutted Mash." Keselous quips."isn't that mistake enough? I don't know that we will have a better chance then right now." He gestures to the sleeping form on the ground, pointing with his morning star. "if that is how you want it though cleric than so be it. but I won't argue about this again, if she so much as steps out of line, I will find a way to kill her."
Cole looks at the elf, with a smirk on his face, "So is that your solution to everything you don't understand, kill it? It's amazing you are still alive." He leans in closer, "Has it ever occurred to you why she did not kill us, or allow the bugbear to kill us begin with? According to your doctrine, if she had followed it, we would all be dead now, wouldn't we!" He then turns away, muttering to himself.
Keselous laughs at Cole's back as he turns away." Funny thing Cole.how close to dead was Mash when she dropped him at our feet?"
Cole turns back to look at Kes, giving him a steady look, I don't know, you tell me.
" a hell of a lot closer than he had to be if she was going to be camping with us and she was willing to talk it out." He glares. Keselous is one of those that it takes time to build anger in(provided you don't gut one of his friends) but once it is there it is with a conviction. He crosses his arms and then lowers his voice. as I said, you want to keep a close eye on her. fine, but I won't tolerate much more out of her.or yes, I will handle things the way we do in the alleys back home.
Cole says curtly, "Fine, you do that." Then he walks over to check up on his brother. Thinking to himself, That could have been much worse, I guess. I wonder what this woman is doing for the Raja. If she wanted the artifact she could have taken it at any time.
Cole notices the Qa'drahn has woken up, and sees she has shown about the level of trust he feel towards her right now. He walks over and asks, with a note of sarcasm, "Sleep well?"
Mash comes back with food. He will then cure the meat so we can have 3 daily meals. He'll give it to Cole, Kes, and himself.
Des notes Coles actions and antics towards the Qa'drahn woman,
*Better she sleeps with her hand upon the blade, than the blade upon our sleeping throats.* He thinks to himself.
Crouching by the fire, Des does invite the woman to partake at least of the small amount of tea he is brewing. He smiles and nods at Mashs' offerings towards the parties supplies, though politely declines of any that is offered his way more than happy to make do with the trail rations.
Cole accepts the food from Mash with a nod of thanks, but after he does not offer food to the other party members, he brings Mash over privately, and says openly, "We should be more generous with our bounty, right Mash?" while in private he says, "Do not give the Qa'drahn woman evidence of our differences, that she can use to drive a wedge between us.
"Quite a good catch." Raff says when Mash returns. "I would never have thought you had the skill. Guess I would have been wrong." He walks over and sits next to their Qa'drahn woman. "It's not often I've been on the losing side of a fight and even less often that it was so one sided. I respect that. Would you mind giving me some pointers?"
"We should be more generous with our bounty, right Mash?"
"Er.. I would eat deer whole most times."
"Er.. I would eat deer whole most times."
Cole stares at Mash the starts to laugh, before he realizes the half orc was serious. "Uhh, yeah, however your armor is fitting you a little tight, I think."
"You are a good fighter, compared to many I have fought," the Qa'drahn replies to Raff. "I think, though, that we have very different fighting styles. Perhaps you could attempt to rob your opponent of the effective use of their weapons next time you encounter combat?"
"I'd still like to learn from you. Part of why I'm as good as I am is that I've studied others' fighting styles and combined them into my own eclectic way of fighting. I can change how I fight to throw off my opponent. I like to think of myself as a student of combat art."
Cole glances at his brother and thinks, Amazing, she does have a name. Aloud, he replied to Jirah, "My name is Cole, and your prospective student is my brother, Raff."
Mash refuses to acknowledge her, as he finds himself rubbing the healing wound on his side.
Desvartes smiles at the lady, moves over and shifts so that he may bow at least a little.
"You may know me as 'Desvartes', M'lady." He offers to take her hand that he may brush his lips across her skin in a formal greeting.
"This is charming, I'm sure, but we need to get moving, so if Jirah does not object, we will leave now, we have a long journey still ahead of us."
Desvartes nods at Coles' comments and proceeds to finish his morning meal and tea. He does, however, ask Cole.
"Surely there is always time for civility? Does not the Orc warrior scream his challenge before he hurls himself into the fray?" Des looks to Mash, seeming honestly looking for Mashs' council as well to the question.
"Surely there is always time for civility? Does not the Orc warrior scream his challenge before he hurls himself into the fray?" Des looks to Mash, seeming honestly looking for Mashs' council as well to the question.
Cole stares at the half elf, wondering whether this was a joke or not. Finally, he decides to take the comment at face value. "Yeah, Des didn't you hear, our lady friend introduced herself. Seems pretty civilized to me." He then picks up his pack, and motions for Raff to grab the rest of their gear.
"Surely there is always time for civility? Does not the Orc warrior scream his challenge before he hurls himself into the fray?" Des looks to Mash, seeming honestly looking for Mashs' council as well to the question.
"We scream for many reasons. 'I need more ale,' 'Take of that dress, wench,' and 'Prepare to meet your maker.' are all reasons to yell."
Keselous lets a slight grin come to his lips at the civility of the half orc. Jirah how ever receives no more then a pair of raised eyebrows in acknowledgement. as they set off on the road Kes will follow along behind making sure to keep an eye on the woman.
"no? just mash then? you just happend to be waiting by the pit trap, instead of, oh I don't know warning us, not stabbing the barbarian that you are allowing to lead us? Thanks miss, but I'll trust you as soon as you give me a reason to."
The elf pulls out one of his daggers and scoops up a piece of wood and starts whittling it as he walks.
Cole watched the banter between Jirah, and his fellow travelers. He keeps his smile to himself however, I like that, good to show her where she stands with the group, if she feels threatened and alone, she will look for friends to ally with her.
As the group travels, Raff tries to keep Jirah occupied with conversation. He'll ask her about her home, it's people and customs, religion, and, of course, fighting. Occasionally, he'll try to catch his brother's eye to make sure all is well.
Cole listens intently to what Jirah is saying to Raff, but as the conversation progresses, his counteneace grows more troubled, although he tries to hide this from the others. The more I hear of this, the less I like it, I wish I could just hand this item off to her and be done with it, but that certainly guarantees our deaths, especially since she works outside the official church heirarchy. Damn! What is her true purpose here? What did the Raja tell her to do, and also how much leash was she given for this assignment? Who are the spies for the Raja? I know we are the same church, but that means little apparently.
After they stop for a break, Cole will motion Raff over to him, away from the others, and ask,
Raff
Mash stands watch over her with murderous intent. Those who have wounded the half-orc in the past die by his brutish blade.
Cole
Cole ** spoiler omitted **
Raff
Realizing a lost cause, Raff doesn't respond to his brother.
Raff raises with Jirah. "Yeah, we have a long way to go and a short time to get there."
Mash backs up, turns to Cole for direction, and then proceeds to front of the group.
Cole turns from his conversation with his brother, and gives the half orc a nod, acknowledging his wishes.
Des wanders along, seeming quite happy with the world and all that is in it. He does try and engage the fine Lady in polite conversation on manners ranging from fashion to style. Of course, if the fine ladies tastes in fashion and style mainly deal with things metal and swinging, so be it.
Perception
As desvartes happily carries on a conversation with the fine Lady from Qa'drah
Perception
Mash calls for a halt, and points out the marks on the trees.