Shadow World
ShadowWorld Home
Rules:
Gameplay
Outside Links
Other:
(edit sidebar)
|
- Smerf: Egani stands in Isadora's tent trying, once again, to present his case on the merits of... helping... Sebastian decide to stay in the camp.
- Egani: "Well, you asked me to come back today and talk about it. Have you decided?"
- Isadora nods. "Don't do anything. If he wants out, he's out." She looks a little angry about it.
- Egani: "OK, I figured that's what you'd decide. But you're the boss, so I figured I'd offer all the options."
- Egani: "What about this danger that he's afraid of leading to us?"
- Isadora: "Who knows?" She tosses off a shrug. "He's enjoying himself going on about it, but he can't be bothered to give any specifics that might help. I think he'll be helping transport Marvars to Sel-Kai--he seems to be done with us here."
- Egani: "I'll rest easier with Marvars out of the picture. What's going to happen to him there?"
- Isadora: "I'll be disappointed if it isn't something very nasty, but I'll put off revenge if it'll buy the colony's freedom." She doesn't seem to like the sound of the words, but shrugs. "The bodyguard will go back to Kaitaine, I suspect."
- Smerf: There's a knock on Isadora's tent post. Dhazari calls out, "Sorry to disturb you, Isadora, but I've got someone who needs to speak with you."
- Isadora: "Goody," calls back Isadora. "Come on, then."
- Smerf: Dhazari holds the tent flap open for...
- Orca 's bangles jingle as she shuffles into the tent, head down, not looking at Isadora. Her right hand cradles her pregnant belly while her left supports her weight on a spear, its point now bloody.
- Isadora shoots Dhazari a quick but intense look of inquiry over Orca's shoulder.
- Smerf: Dhazari looks at Isadora, "This woman has news of the goblins that seem to be headed this way. And she had a little... altercation with some of your soldiers."
- Egani looks at the bloody spear head.
- Isadora: "Ah, so it'll be introduction number two, then. At least she didn't go for the most popular approach of actually bringing a dire army behind her--ah, you didn't, right?" Isadora finally addresses the last to Orca.
- Orca reaches into her robes and hands Isadora a flat river stone. Her head remains down, eyes staring at the floor.
- Orca: "I am Orca. From the north. I bring word to you," she says, quietly and carefully.
- Isadora: "I'm Isadora, from an equally long way away from here, no doubt, and I absolutely adore being brought word of things." She takes the stone with raised eyebrows, cradling it in her hand expectantly.
- Orca looks up at Isadora now, her blue-grey eyes peaking through her head-covering and growing rather wide. She mutters something unintelligible.
- Orca: "Ah...uh..."
- Orca rubs her belly and seems a bit uncomfortable.
- Isadora shoots a look sideways at Egani--this looks like it might be mystical, and it's definitely weird. A little help here?
- Orca finally asks, "Where is the war-maker?"
- Egani shrugs with wide eyes.
- Isadora: "What does that mean? You can't throw a rock around here without hitting someone who makes a little bit of war, but I'm not sure that's what you're talking about."
- Egani: Butting in a bit, "Welcome Orca, may I offer you some water, wine or tea? Please, have a seat, rest your back, and tell us what you know. Isadora is the best person for you to speak to."
- Orca gratefully accepts a chair from Egani.
- Isadora glances at Egani, half ironic and half appreciative. He lies as bald-facedly as Sebastian, that's for sure.
- Orca sets her spear down, propping the bloody tip on her foot, careful not to let it touch the ground.
- Orca: "They are coming. Many, many of them. From the north. Not very far." She looks meaningfully at Isadora.
- Isadora: "Is this a different batch than the goblins we already know about, or are the old ones getting on the move now?" Isadora leans forward, all business now.
- Orca shakes her head.
- Egani helps himself to some of Isadora's dwindling supply of wine and pours drinks for everyone present.
- Orca: "Not just some goblins. Very, very many. More than the stars."
- Egani thinks for a moment. "That sounds bad."
- Isadora: "Why now? Why are so many goblins headed this way?" Isadora looks suddenly thoughtful.
- Orca: "They are hungry and the mountains are cold. They must come down. There is no other way."
- Isadora: "I don't suppose they've heard about how lovely Sel-Kai is this time of year?" She leans back with a sigh. "Even the nearness of the White Wood won't turn them away?"
- Egani: "Perhaps it is the yellow mist that draws them."
- Isadora: "Working on it," Isadora says, frowning.
- Egani: "If we had easier access to other worlds, defeating the mist would be easier."
- Orca: "They do not fear death. It is already behind them."
- Isadora: "That's charming, but I was given to understand that the White Wood offers a wide selection of fates worse than death. I suppose it's too much to ask that goblins would be familiar with the local folklore."
- Egani: They must be being driven by something...I understand that goblins don't normally have the organizational capacity that we've been noting.
- Orca pulls a somewhat soiled and bent paper seal [as in the animal] from within her clothes and begins tapping its tail with her finger to make it "swim."
- Isadora gives the seal a hard look. "I see you've met Sebastian."
- Orca: The seal bobs its head at Isadora.
- Isadora: "Did he, perhaps, share his personal vision of doom for the colony with you?" Isadora asks a little hopefully.
- Orca reaches down for her spear and, after spitting on her fingers, takes blood from the tip and smears it all over the paper seal.
- Orca: "He did," she says.
- Isadora: "And...?"
- Orca: "He will set the White Wood ablaze."
- Egani looks startled.
- Isadora looks like she's chewing on the idea. Looking at Egani, she says, "Would that actually be a problem?"
- Egani: "Um, for whom? I suggested before our expedition to the zone of insanity that took Archelaus from us and Okhfels said it was impossible. But nothing's impossible."
- Isadora shrugs. "I'm not saying there wouldn't be trouble, but that thing's been perched there for a while, building a legend. There's power in breaking symbols, right?"
- Egani: "Sure. I'm game."
- Isadora: "Not right now, but... it's an idea. Sebastian, you crazy bastard."
- Egani: "But it's worth considering harvesting some wood first. Logs like that are rare and useful."
- Egani: "Ms. Orca, how close are those goblins?"
- Orca: "More than three days. Less than eight."
- Orca: "Many is hard to move fast."
- Egani: "Maybe they'll bypass the colony when they see our defences." Egani smiles.
- Egani: "Now may not be a good time, but I'd like to return to the issue of the magical portal and the disposal of the queen's head when you have a moment. Have you given that topic any more thought? I think it's possible that it might be tied to a cluster of rituals having to do with the sunken city's past and Green Lake. Perhaps even clearing the mist from the White Woods."
- Orca finishes covering her seal with blood.
- Isadora: "Tied how? We're going ahead with... something... in the city, and I don't want to disrupt that."
- Egani: "I'm not exactly getting it all, but my research with Archelaus suggests that this is all linked -- the celestial confluence, the Emerian queen, the gate, the white wood, adn even your island spirits joining the Rhiani pantheon. The story is still fuzzy, but there's some link."
- Isadora: "Not to quibble, but Archelaus sort of went insane and tried to steal my body. I question his reliability as a source."
- Egani: "Well, he didn't really go insane. Remember, I'm a doctor. And he was just trying to borrow your body to gain safety from Okhfels who was irrationally spiteful."
- Egani: "In any case, his scholarship is sound."
- Isadora: "I'm sure," says Isadora, clearly losing interest in the idea with the mention of Archelaus.
- Orca stands and shuffles over to Isadora.
- Orca drops the seal in her lap.
- Orca: "You'll need that, before it's over."
- Isadora: Six months ago, Isadora would have laughed and thrown the thing in the trash as soon as Orca left. Now, she looks up at the other woman for a moment, then nods. "Thank you."
- Orca 's eyes blink once, and then she turns to leave the tent.
- Smerf: Haikain is standing on the shore of the lake, gazing into its depths as Okhfels approaches.
- Okhfels: Okhfels stands beside him. "So... what do you think? Will it work?"
- Haikain takes a moment to pull himself out of his contemplation. "I'm sorry, will what work"
- Okhfels: "Making a town here. Something that'll last."
- Haikain pauses. He seems to be in an unusually thoughtful mood. "There's lasting and there's lasting."
- Haikain: "This lake and these woods, these will last. What is any mortal settlement, to that?"
- Okhfels: "Those woods haven't always been there."
- Okhfels: "But I see what you mean."
- Okhfels: Okhfels takes a deep breath. He picks up a piece of wood, blows on it so that it bursts into flame, and then puts it out again in the water. "Someplace that my children can grow up."
- Haikain chuckles, amused by the display. "Why do you ask me these questions? I know not even whether I'll be leaving here tonight, or next week, or in a years time."
- Okhfels: "I'm not asking what you know." He stands up, facing Haikain. "You've been under the lake. You have seen things. I want to know what you THINK."
- Haikain: "It's not like that, Okhfels."
- Haikain: "Being under the lake....it's like a dream. You know how, when you try to describe a dream, it's always not true to your memory?"
- Okhfels: Okhfels idly scratches his left ear with his right hand. "I guess. I don't have dreams very much."
- Haikain: "Apparently, everyone seems to think that I've somehow changed because of what happened. But a dream doesn't change you, it just makes you yearn for more dreaming...."
- Haikain: He stares back over the water.
- Okhfels: "Hm. Everyone else has changed, why not you? No, don't answer."
- Okhfels: Okhfels looks out over the water alongside him again. "Will you help us?"
- Smerf: As Okhfels looks out over the water, he sees a figure farther down the shore slide into the water and begin swimming.
- Haikain: "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be obtuse...but I haven't spoken to many people since I've been back. Help you with what?"
- Okhfels: "Build." Okhfels looks over at the ruins not twenty yards away. "My people are losing their home, in the mountains. I want to build a safe place they can come to. Our people lived here, long ago."
- Smerf: The figure swimming across the lake stops suddenly, and a cry rings out. The figure begins thrashing in the water, clearly struggling to stay afloat.
- Okhfels: Okhfels groans in frustration.
- Okhfels: Okhfels casts about for something that will float.
- Smerf: One of the smaller rowboats is pulled up on the beach where Haikain and Okhfels stand.
- Okhfels: Okhfels grabs Haikain, practically throwing him in the boat, and starts rowing towards the struggling swimmer.
- Haikain: (sorry, was on the phone....i actually wanted to dive in and swim)
- Haikain dives into the water, setting out towards the swimmer with strong, natural strokes
- Okhfels: More by luck than craft, Okhfels propels the little boat out towards the swimmer.
- Haikain cuts through the water, paralleling the boat
- Smerf: Haikain's practiced swimming puts him slightly ahead of Okhfels as they reach the thrashing swimmer. As he grabs hold to help, he suddenly realizes that he's just gotten a handful of squirming female.
- Okhfels: Okhfels hauls her onto the boat, nearly tipping it over in the process.
- Haikain switches from trying to push her into the boat to keeping the boat from capsizing. "I'll row back, Ohkfels."
- Smerf: As the dripping body settles into the boat, Okhfels recognizes Elle. She's completely soaked, and her clothes cling closely to her body.
- Haikain: He manages to get in, and immediately turns red as he tries not to give the soaking woman too direct of a look while trying to see if she's all right.
- Okhfels: Okhfels has no such scruples, but then he knows Elle. "Ash and smoke, Elle! What was that for?"
- Haikain is immensely releived that Okhfels can handle getting the story out of her, and sets to rowing.
- Smerf: Elle winces, "I'm trying to get back into shape, but my leg cramped up in the middle of my swim."
- Haikain has quit (Disintegrated: Leaving)
- Okhfels: Okhfels crosses his arms over his chest. "You pushed yourself too hard."
- Smerf: Elle glares up at him, "Would you have pushed yourself any less?"
- Okhfels: Okhfels shakes his head, frustrated. "Why did it have to be a swim, in a lake infested with giant snakes, a half a mile from ..."
- Okhfels: Okhfels finally gets it.
- Okhfels: "You little wench."
- Smerf: Elle looks up curiously, "What is it?"
- Okhfels: "You WANTED me to pull you out of the lake."
- Smerf: Elle blinks, "Well, I appreciate that someone saved me from drowning..."
- Okhfels: "Ash and smoke." Okhfels takes Elle gently by the upper arms, his large hands wrapped around her supple, water-slick flesh. "Elle, you are a fine warrior, loyal, smart, pretty... if I had met you before I met Isadora, things might have been different."
- Smerf: Elle shoves Okhfels back roughly, "Are you suggesting that I did this on purpose? For you? Damn you, you arrogant man." As she twists from Okhfels' grasp she lands awkwardly on her foot and with a little cry collapses into the bottom of the boat, rocking it dangerously.
- Okhfels: Okhfels is pretty hard to shove, but he lets Elle push him away. "I know how you feel about me, Elle. Or at least... how you felt."
- Smerf: "And you suggest that such feelings would overwhelm my self respect and the respect I have for my tradition? Perhaps I was wrong about you after all..."
- Okhfels: "No, I..." Okhfels shakes his head. "Women," he mutters to himself. "I'm sorry."
- Smerf: The boat has reached the shore and Elle turns to Okhfels with a sneer, "I don't need your apologies. All I wanted was your respect, but I see that you are unable to give such to a woman."
- Okhfels: "Now that's not fair! You were all over me last time we met. What was I supposed to think?"
- Okhfels: Okhfels follows her out of the boat.
- Smerf: Elle clumsily steps onto the shore, "A woman who finds you attractive can not be respected? Just because I desire you I would stoop to childish ploys to gain your attention? Is that what you think of me?"
- Okhfels: Okhfels says, a bit quieter, "Love makes people do dumb things, sometimes." Anyone with the empathy of a tree stump could tell he's talking about himself.
- Okhfels: He stops walking, letting Elle push on ahead of him.
- Smerf: Elle hobbles slowly back towards camp, "So you think me a fool, do you?"
- Okhfels: Okhfels walks at Elle's side, so he can catch her if she stumbles. "No more than me."
- Smerf: Elle stops abruptly and turns to face Okhfels, "And what, precisely, is that supposed to mean?"
- Okhfels: Okhfels takes a deep breath. "We would have been a good match."
- Smerf: Elle shakes her head angrily, "Words, just words. I have heard such things before."
- Okhfels: "Elle, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you love me, I'm sorry I love you, it doesn't do either of us any good, but words are all I have."
- Smerf: Elle's eyes soften, "And why can't you have more?"
- Smerf: She leans in slowly toward Okhfels.
- Okhfels: "I... I can't. It would crush her."
- Okhfels: "There are so few people she can really trust."
- Smerf: Elle's eyes harden again, "So, you don't respect her either do you? You think that without you she couldn't go on? You are an arrogant fool." She turns as huffily as she can on a twisted ankle and resumes her trek toward camp.
- Okhfels: Okhfels trudges behind her, silently.
|
