POVERO Chapter Ten

Online roleplaying at the Café
User avatar
ewancummins
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 28523
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:35 pm

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by ewancummins »

Adam wrote:Alfonse spreads his hand wide. "If you think you're going to get away with this, you're wrong," he says, "Your men aren't here because the Savelles stormed the place behind us. We were going to try to get the young man first. If you leave Richard and go, maybe you can get away clean. If you stay, you're a dead man."
A brief pause, and then Aldron says,
''Ha, good bluff, DeBussin! For a moment there, I was tempted to believe you might be telling the truth."
He shifts his grip on the man held before him and jabs with his sword at the stone wall to his right (the party's left), attempting to halt the boat's slow drift toward the party.

Folbre's prisoner jerks violently the moment the sword moves away from his body.
The bound and gagged man twists free of Aldron Folbre's grip and flops over the prow of the boat, splashing into the stream.

Before Tom or anyone else can shoot, Aldron Folbre drops low, swinging his sword up over his head. He pops up in a crouch seconds later, aiming a crossbow at Alfonse.
The bolt whizzes through Alfonse's robes.

The mage feels
VIEW CONTENT:
something wet along his left side, warmer than the water. Then he feels the pain. He's hit, for sure.
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)
User avatar
Adam
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 3742
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:24 pm
Location: Omaha, NE

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by Adam »

"Bastardo," Alfonse grimaces and tosses another bullet up the tunnel towards Folbre.
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
User avatar
ewancummins
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 28523
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:35 pm

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by ewancummins »

The single guardsman left from the recent melee ducks in the dangerous no-man's land between the gondola and the party, where missiles whizz through the close air of the tunnel.
He looks at the party, then back at the gondola, a few yards away.
''Bloody hell!" The swordsman gulps air and then goes supine underwater near the thrashing, submerged prisoner.

Damien wriggles past Alfonse and Sixt.
Half-crouching, half-swimming, he reaches the bound prisoner and drags him back behind the party, with his head held clear of the water.

Titus hurries in the direction of the fighting, in great, splashing strides, and positions himself in front of Alfonse, shield raised to protect himself and the mage.


The Builder lets loose with his sling. The bullet strikes the oil lamp hanging over the prow of the gondola and sends it for a loop on its short chain and rod mounting.

Aldron remains low, mostly hidden by the hull and prow of the boat, and by the crates and chests piled in the bow.
''You had your chance. DeBussin. Now I'll have you all killed!"
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)
User avatar
Adam
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 3742
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:24 pm
Location: Omaha, NE

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by Adam »

"WON'T THAT BE NEW AND DIFFERENT!" Alfonse shouts towards the retreating figure. Seeing that Richard has been retrieved, he falls back with the group, sending one more bullet towards Aldron for good measure.
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
User avatar
ewancummins
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 28523
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:35 pm

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by ewancummins »

Adam wrote:"WON'T THAT BE NEW AND DIFFERENT!" Alfonse shouts towards the retreating figure. Seeing that Richard has been retrieved, he falls back with the group, sending one more bullet towards Aldron for good measure.


The embattled merchant-lord makes an undignified escape off the stern of the gondola and splashes away down the darkened tunnel in the direction of his house's cellars, chased by the party's missiles.

Titus slogs forward and seizes the prow of the gondola.

"Let's take this. I'm tired of wading and we've got injured party members to carry. Alfonse, if you let me borrow that staff, I can push. Or maybe Sixt?"


The remaining Folbre guardsman pops up for air between the cleric at the gondola and the rest of the party. Finding himself surrounded, he throws up his hands.
Water drips from his his beard and from his armored jack, and pours from under the rim of his bronze helmet.

"I give up, don't kill me!"
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)
User avatar
Adam
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 3742
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:24 pm
Location: Omaha, NE

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by Adam »

Alfonse hands his quarterstaff over as requested and climbs into the Gondola to help lift Richard inside.

He looks at the guard. "Just get out of here, idiot, and forget that you saw us."
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
User avatar
ewancummins
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 28523
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:35 pm

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by ewancummins »

Adam wrote:Alfonse hands his quarterstaff over as requested and climbs into the Gondola to help lift Richard inside.

He looks at the guard. "Just get out of here, idiot, and forget that you saw us."

''Thank you, signore!"

The man runs away in the direction of Folbre House (or the cellars thereof).


Richard Savelle, now unbound, clambers into the boat. The handsome young merchant heir sits down in the stern, dripping wet but seemingly unhurt.
"You've my gratitude, friends, whoever you are. Take me back to Povero proper and I'll see that you are rewarded. "
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)
User avatar
Adam
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 3742
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:24 pm
Location: Omaha, NE

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by Adam »

"That's the plan, signore," Alfonse says. He eagerly urges the gondola along.
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
User avatar
ewancummins
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 28523
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:35 pm

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by ewancummins »

Adam wrote:"That's the plan, signore," Alfonse says. He eagerly urges the gondola along.
It's a snug fit, but the party can all sit or squat in the gondola, even with the several boxes and coffers packed in it. Fild lies on a crate, unconscious.

Sixt propels the craft forward with powerful, measured beats of the staff against the tunnel's submerged floor.
The gondola glides down the underground canal, just brushing the stone ledges on either side at times, unimpeded and with slowly growing speed.

Savelle lolls in the boat. rubbing his head.
"Don't worry for my sake", he whispers. "That tainted wine is coming back to haunt me."

The party passes under two grated covers, widely separated, but the sounds of hooves, boots, and shouting from above suggest a patrol, or a fight...
The side passages, also flooded, that the party goes by are much too small for the boat, even if it could be steered into one of them.

''For the fields'' the Builder says to no one in particular.




After a few minutes, the party hears an echoing tumult in the passage behind the gondola, men shouting, splashing, the rattle of harness. Torches or lanterns glow back that way, the way Aldron had fled.
Gertie murmurs a curse.
The man from 'The Builders Guild' casts nervous glances over the gondola's wake.

But Sixt and Titus take turns pushing, and soon the lights and noises fall away.

Another few minutes of passage in the dim tunnel, lit only by the guttering whale-oil lantern at the prow, and then a soft light appears ahead. A little further, and a stone arch comes into view, with houses rising above and beyond it. The gondola's bottom scrapes against stone.

Richard Savelle says, "Oh! This must be the water supply into Fishtown. Be careful, friends. I recall hearing Aldron--my captor-- saying something about a rendezvous. But I'm not sure if it was here, out in the bay, or what. I only just recalled now. I was drugged, so things were hazy."


Titus bends over the gnome holding something small. Whatever it is, it stinks. He moves it under Fild's nose.
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)
User avatar
alhoon
Invisible Menace
Invisible Menace
Posts: 8804
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:46 pm
Location: Chania or Athens // Greece

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by alhoon »

Fild's eyes finally open and he looks around in a daze. "Titus! Unless I'm dead and I'm in a stinky hell with you, thank you! Did we got Aldron?" He looks around and sees the young lad. "And who is that guy?"
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
User avatar
ewancummins
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 28523
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:35 pm

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by ewancummins »

AT THE CANAL MOUTH
CONTINUED

(Fild POV, all may read)
alhoon wrote:Fild's eyes finally open and he looks around in a daze. "Titus! Unless I'm dead and I'm in a stinky hell with you, thank you! Did we got Aldron?" He looks around and sees the young lad. "And who is that guy?"
The cleric says,
''That's signore Richard Savelle. We won, Fild, at least that fight... But keep quiet, will you? We may not be in the clear just yet."

Fild can see Damien and a couple of the other getting out of the boat and scouting around an archway a short distance ahead.
The water must be much shallower there, judging from their height relative to the boat.
Might be that the floor slopes up gently. It looks like a sort of stone trough extends out past the arch, filled partly with water.

Beyond the archway, the gnome sees darkened walls, doorways, an alley mouth. Town. And above the roofs, a slice of the night sky full of stars.
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)
User avatar
alhoon
Invisible Menace
Invisible Menace
Posts: 8804
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:46 pm
Location: Chania or Athens // Greece

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by alhoon »

Fild nods and whispers
"Is that Aldron's Gondola? I can use my blood to write a few choice words for him." Limping, he goes to Richard Savelle.
"Greetings Lord Savelle. I am Fild. We have had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of your fair lady, Elissa Hoblin. She's a very brave young woman that risked a lot to be with you. If I may suggest my Lord, if your families don't accept each other, simply elope. You both can get a good sum of money from your houses before you hit the road.
By the time your Houses find you, you'll have a sanctioned and blessed marriage with a woman that's worth all the money of your House, all the money of Hoblin House and all the money of Aldron's House. It would be too late for them to do anything else than fuss and frown. It is easier to ask forgiveness, than permission Lord Savelle!
Trust someone me Lord Savelle. Money you can find. Forgiveness from your family you can earn. Love that would risk all for you? Not that easily. "
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
User avatar
ewancummins
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 28523
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:35 pm

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by ewancummins »

alhoon wrote:Fild nods and whispers
"Is that Aldron's Gondola? I can use my blood to write a few choice words for him." Limping, he goes to Richard Savelle.
"Greetings Lord Savelle. I am Fild. We have had the pleasure to make the acquaintance of your fair lady, Elissa Hoblin. She's a very brave young woman that risked a lot to be with you. If I may suggest my Lord, if your families don't accept each other, simply elope. You both can get a good sum of money from your houses before you hit the road.
By the time your Houses find you, you'll have a sanctioned and blessed marriage with a woman that's worth all the money of your House, all the money of Hoblin House and all the money of Aldron's House. It would be too late for them to do anything else than fuss and frown. It is easier to ask forgiveness, than permission Lord Savelle!
Trust someone me Lord Savelle. Money you can find. Forgiveness from your family you can earn. Love that would risk all for you? Not that easily. "

''Elope? Yes, I meant to do so. Aldron was going to help me plan it. But he fooled me. Drugged my wine. The meeting was secret, so my family wouldn't have known where I was. And I thought him my friend! That snake!"

Richard leans forward in the boat.

"Elissa---is she alright? Tell me. please."
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)
User avatar
ewancummins
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 28523
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:35 pm

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by ewancummins »

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)
User avatar
Adam
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 3742
Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2006 8:24 pm
Location: Omaha, NE

Re: POVERO Chapter Ten

Post by Adam »

"He's fine," Alfonse grumbles, "Now could we have a bit of stealth, please?"
"Of course," Benn mutters, "It would be a damned shame if we ever knew what the hell was actually going on."
Post Reply