Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

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Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

Post by ewancummins »

THE SEARCHERS
Nevil, a man from the Tower, comes along to guide the party along the than game trails and abandoned roadways to the mountains.
The long ride became a hike as low rolling ground turned to mounting hills, and the hike became a climb as the hills gave way to the crags and ridges of the mountain range.
Mists clinging to the slopes hide pits and sudden drop offs; more than once a party member or a horse nearly falls.

The trails dwindle until no one can ride in safety and all must go single file.
Sir Boarhort sends his squire back downhill, leading his warhorse.
“Go to the Tower of the Hunt and wait for me. If I don’t come back by the spring, assume I’m de…hmmm…too busy cracking skulls and fornicating with Rhoubhe’s concubines to return. In that case, you should go and find another master to serve!”

Higher up in the fog, the travelers find frozen waterfalls like sheets of crystal depending from the outcroppings of the steep slopes.

After hours of travel, going more upwards than forwards, the party breaks through the fog layer and emerges in a high mountain pass strewn with boulders and dotted with bristlecone pines. Further than a mighty archer’s bowshot ahead, the pass drops off steeply into a wide bowl of green forest and ice-blue lakes. The sun, now sunk a third of the way behind another spur of mountains in the far west, shows all this scene in sharp contrast; ice, rock, evergreens, crystal waters, and lengthening shadows like black stripes growing over the land.

A second, closer look at the pass shows ivory heaps partially buried in the snow and dirt.

Human skulls, long bones, skeletal hands.

Arrows fly out from the trees and boulders, falling among the party.

Nevil, the scout who came from the Tower to help show the heroes a way up, falls screaming with a shaft stuck through his right leg.

Roald leaps into the saddle and rides hard for the closest big tumulus, seeking cover.
His horse bucks as arrows thud all around it, and the knight goes tumbling to earth.
He rolls into a ditch and crawls a few more feet to the poor shelter of a fallen log.

His frightened horse runs wild in the open, neighing and stamping.



The others see all this happening, but how do they react?
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

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Cormac's eyes widen and he lets loose with a curse in Rjurik as he moves to some cover.

He takes a few deep breaths to calm himself, assesses the situation, and resolves himself to a course of action. Reaching into his spirit, he calls to the wilds, and lets out a bestial howl into the frost, calling forth a spirit wolf.
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

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Searchers


THUNK! The arrow stuck into the log inches on front of Roald's face. He squeezes himself closer to the ground, preparing to make a mad dash for more comprehensive cover.

"I swear by Haeyln's noble balls, I'm going to eat that horse when I get my hands on him!" He says through gritted teeth.

He prepares for the next break in arrow fire to run.
"Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it."

George R.R. Martin.
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

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ATLI'S OFFICE

Domenica finds the moneylender in his office.

The black dwarf sits at his low and heavy-built desk, looking in a ledger.
He stows the book in a desk drawer as his guest/client enters.
The dwarf's hands move down and out of Dominica's sight, behind and under the desktop.
Click.\
''Dominica."
Atli nods to Vollmar. "Cousin."
He turns his attention back to Dominica. His mouth opens in a grin, gold dental work glinting in the candle light.
The moneylender lifts his hands into her sight and then lets them fall flat palmed on the desktop with a soft thudding noise.
"How is business?"


Domenica smiles at her friend Atli. "Things are advancing to my liking in the port, Atli. My timetable is will be respected as should be expected."

"I come to see you for a few reasons today. First of all, cousin Vollmar is now the Chief Enforcer of my operations. He was promoted yester eve. I wish to attire him as is
befitting his new position. I trust you in these matters as always. Let me know the costs of my requests this afternoon and you will be repaid beforehand as is my normal
habit."

She pauses, letting him ponder already this request and letting it sink in she wishes more this day.

"My second request is for Lord Filbert. He and I are working together on a private project. He wishes to make it so that his alias "Perry" has a criminal record. He also
wishes a gnomish workmans armor for himself. It appears my taste in armor is becoming more popular. He is paying this bill, not I."

Allowing him a moment to register this request, she smiles inwardly to herself at how far she has come since this past year.

"Vollmar, I would like to speak with Atli in private a moment." If there are workers around Atli, her eyes flicker to them then to Atli. Her tone is more serious.
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

Post by Brock Marsh Runoff »

SEARCHERS

Renn curses and grips the reigns of his horse--he'd worried this would happen if they stayed on the trails, but then the woods were nearly too thick to do anything but that. He spurs his horse toward where he'd seen Roald go down, planning on dismounting and returning fire once he finds cover.
"You said I killed you--haunt me, then!...Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!” -Wuthering Heights
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

Post by ewancummins »

THE SEARCHERS IN THE PASS


Renn and Roald move and shoot. Reece struggles to get the animals under control and under cover.

The enemy is fast, but not so fast that the party cannot catch glimpses of the elves' cloaks, green on the outside and white on the inside, flicker like windblown banners among the rocks and trees, moving always closer and closer.

The arrow fire also gets closer. Cormac is hit.
Then Boarhort.

Music rises from the party's end of the pass; the high, crisp, swift notes of Nysiendre's violin. Her chords stir the blood of all her companions, filling them with confidence.

More arrows fly, and dust, and snow.


The ghostly wolf howls and an elf screams in terror or agony.

And then the elves come from the flanks, silent and grim as they rush with leveled spears.

Roald's shouted warning comes just in time for his friends to drop their bows and snatch hand weapons.

For a terrible minute, the whole pass is filled with screams, the ring of steel on bronze and on stone, shrill screams from the horses, curses in two tongues, and the groans of the dying.

Then the elves fall back, harried by Cormac's ghostly wolf.

Snowflakes fall.

Reece turns to his master and says, "I think we beat them."
The arrow strikes the lad in the temple. He falls face forward in the bloody snow at Roald's feet.

A great volley of arrows come raining down an instant later, hitting all over the outer end of the pass. Sibilant voices echo in the pass, and many soft shuffling noises, like an army of footpads creeping closer.

The cries of many elves rise over the bard's music, the knife ears screaming their victory anthem.
More snow, blown by freezing winds, partly obscures the party’s view of the enemy, but it looks as if tens-- maybe even scores-- of elves have come out of cover to form a long skirmish line.

The party hunkers down as many more arrows slam into trees and rocks.

More snow falls, and with it, more arrows.

A horse screams.
The whole little herd of horses and mules bucks, stamps, and bolts!
But not over the cliff, or towards the next clump of trees.
The stupid, panicked beasts run dead ahead through the falling snow, straight at the elves.


Sir Boarhort, blood dripping from right cheek, looks at Sir Roald. He gestures with his brain-spattered hammer, pointing toward the stampede and the enemy forming up just beyond.
"After the horses or no?"
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

Post by ewancummins »

tarlyn wrote:
ATLI'S OFFICE

Domenica finds the moneylender in his office.

The black dwarf sits at his low and heavy-built desk, looking in a ledger.
He stows the book in a desk drawer as his guest/client enters.
The dwarf's hands move down and out of Dominica's sight, behind and under the desktop.
Click.\
''Dominica."
Atli nods to Vollmar. "Cousin."
He turns his attention back to Dominica. His mouth opens in a grin, gold dental work glinting in the candle light.
The moneylender lifts his hands into her sight and then lets them fall flat palmed on the desktop with a soft thudding noise.
"How is business?"


Domenica smiles at her friend Atli. "Things are advancing to my liking in the port, Atli. My timetable is will be respected as should be expected."

"I come to see you for a few reasons today. First of all, cousin Vollmar is now the Chief Enforcer of my operations. He was promoted yester eve. I wish to attire him as is
befitting his new position. I trust you in these matters as always. Let me know the costs of my requests this afternoon and you will be repaid beforehand as is my normal
habit."

She pauses, letting him ponder already this request and letting it sink in she wishes more this day.

"My second request is for Lord Filbert. He and I are working together on a private project. He wishes to make it so that his alias "Perry" has a criminal record. He also
wishes a gnomish workmans armor for himself. It appears my taste in armor is becoming more popular. He is paying this bill, not I."

Allowing him a moment to register this request, she smiles inwardly to herself at how far she has come since this past year.

"Vollmar, I would like to speak with Atli in private a moment." If there are workers around Atli, her eyes flicker to them then to Atli. Her tone is more serious.

ATLI'S PLACE


Vollmar nods and steps out of the room.

The moneylender glances at his helpers and they leave without a word.


Once it's just the two of them Atli smiles and beckons Domenica closer.
''Privacy."
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

Post by ewancummins »

FILBERT


Filbert has used most of the day buying drinks for strangers, eavesdropping on conversations, and otherwise attempting to dredge up leads on whom might be plotting to spoil the ducal wedding, how and why.
Not much luck, so it seems...


Now he has gone to the Three Penny, in his guise as 'Perry' to meet the gang of thieves.

The Crone guides him into the back room, where he finds the man in the tattered cloak warming his hands over a brazier.

Another man, not the leader with the foreign style breeches, sleeps in a dark corner wrapped in a thick roll of blankets.
Only his head sticks out one end-eyes shut and snoring.

The cloaked man opens the brazier, pokes the coals with a big splinter of wood, and then motions Perry to join him at the rickety table.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

Post by Varrus the Ethical »

Searchers

Roald stands up from Reese's body, uncertain of if the boy was still alive.

"We go after the horses." He fixes Sir Boarhort with a hard stare. "And we end any knife-ear who gets in our way."

He readies his sword, and charges after the horses, leaving his squire bleeding on the ground behind him.
Last edited by Varrus the Ethical on Wed Sep 09, 2015 11:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it."

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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

Post by ewancummins »

Varrus the Ethical wrote:Searchers

Roald stands up from Reese's body, uncertain of if the boy was still alive.

"We go after the horses." He fixes Sir Boarhort with a hard stare. "And we end any knife-ear who gets in our way."

He ready his sword, and charges after the horses, and leaving his squire bleeding on the ground behind him.
Sir Boarhort moves his shield onto his left arm, cinches the straps with his teeth, and starts after Roald with his war hammer cocked over his shoulder.
He's walking at a fast pace, not running, but he's picking up speed as he goes..
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

Post by VAN »

Filbert

Filbert is a bit surprised that the boss isn't present but fingured that he might have other business to attend. He gets a chair and sits down near the cloaked man. He decides that he has to sound a little more tough than he used to. Tilting his head slightly to the barzier as he points it he says:

"You have a cosy atmosphere here pal. Any news for me or I should come back later?"
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

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"@%#$ing wonderful," Cormac mutters, shouldering his bow and looking down at the squire.

If he's breathing, he'll feed him a goodberry and get him on his feet. If not, he'll follow after the others, keeping an eye out for elf targets to shoot.
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

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ATLI'S PLACE


Vollmar nods and steps out of the room.

The moneylender glances at his helpers and they leave without a word.


Once it's just the two of them Atli smiles and beckons Domenica closer.
''Privacy."

"Red" moves closer, sitting.

"Thank you. I am wondering if perhaps you might have heard any rumors about someone wanting to assassinate the Duke or ruin his wedding?"
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

Post by ewancummins »

ATLI



"If I knew that information, I would have already tried to sell it to you, Red."
He pushes his chair back and stands.
"But I can think of a couple people who might want to kill the Duke or spoil his wedding. Carillon Alam, for one. He is exiled to the mountains, cursed to fight goblins, the last anyone heard of him. Maybe dead now."
The dwarf paces, floorboards creaking under his weight.
"Or Carillon's son. Maybe he's changed his mind about his only living sister marrying his family's old enemy? Dwarves aren't the only people who holds grudges. But I don't know enough to yet about the factions here to offer more advice. Maybe foreign nobles?"
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright 3: The Worm's Supper , Chapter 2

Post by steveflam »

ewancummins wrote:ATLI



"If I knew that information, I would have already tried to sell it to you, Red."
He pushes his chair back and stands.
"But I can think of a couple people who might want to kill the Duke or spoil his wedding. Carillon Alam, for one. He is exiled to the mountains, cursed to fight goblins, the last anyone heard of him. Maybe dead now."
The dwarf paces, floorboards creaking under his weight.
"Or Carillon's son. Maybe he's changed his mind about his only living sister marrying his family's old enemy? Dwarves aren't the only people who holds grudges. But I don't know enough to yet about the factions here to offer more advice. Maybe foreign nobles?"

"Hmm, yes, that seems about right, Atli," comes the reply as she watches him pace. Standing herself, she does much of the same. Pacing helped her think.

Looking at him, she recounts her encounter at the Inn. Perhaps another insight into that afternoon might clear up what she thought.
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