Fate's Wheel

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Ghaz
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Re: Fate's Wheel

Post by Ghaz »

Arlathan was happy that they trust him with a watch but hoped that nothing would happen while it was his turn. He nodded when the bard said she would wake him up and turned to Serila saying "Got it." He started to get ready to sleep and gathered his things together and laid his head on Dres side closing his eyes and getting ready to sleep. When he finally fell asleep he started dreaming of his family again before his sister was gone all together then he turned around to see he was in his house suddenly seeing his sister was missing and his family not caring. He ran and opened the door seeing the bard standing above him saying it was his turn to take watch and quickly turned to Serila after hearing her.

He nodded at what Serila said and looked back at the bard saying "Okay my turn." Arlathan looked around taking in the surroundings with dres next to him. He closed his eyes and listened to the flames wondering if he will ever find his sister but shook his head trying to get rid of the negativity in his head. He kept looking around but the fire kept pulling his attention and just stared into the flames before finally pulling his attention away and looked around intently to make sure nothing was sneaking up on them then realized its been a few hours and his watch was almost over. He knew she had a nightmare she was probably going to be tired so he waited a few more minutes before he walked over to her and gently woke her up saying "Its your turn." he gave her a smile before walking over to where he was sleeping before and slowly started to go back to sleep.
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Keira Kelly
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Re: Fate's Wheel

Post by Keira Kelly »

Seri lay there, curled, wet eyes to the fire, unable to get back to sleep. It had been six months but even still, sleep was often still torturous for her. Most nights, if it wasn't a return to the panic and fear and loss, it was a cruel deception before she did awaken and the loss would be all the fresher for the false hope of the dreams. Her world was ashes and the only thing that kept her going was her anger and thoughts for vengeance now. Despite her rage though, when she promised vengeance, she was determined to succeed at it, no matter how long that might take. She would see it done. If it helped these people now with her in the process, so be it. She would be glad that she could be of some use to them too, glad she could help others. She was no monster despite what others tended to think of her based on her outward appearance.

Her eyes dried over the hours as she lost track of time. As still as she was though, she never fell back into sleep. Her mind was going over and over the events six months ago, almost in a loop. She dearly wished that just once she could have done something differently, made a different choice.. been faster, have noticed that something was really amiss... But none of them had. They had all paid with their lives, HE had paid with his.... and she was the only one left now. The loss of all the others had been brutal but the lost of him.... was unendurable.

She started, out of her thoughts, when Arlathan came over to wake her up for her shift. She sat up slowly, staring up at the kid with her yellow eye for a long moment before nodding. "Go get some sleep, kid." she told him in a half-dead voice. "You'll need it." she added as she stood up, stretching. Though not sleeping, she had been lying in one position for hours and she was feeling it now. Grabbing her axe, she moved away from the fire as she saw the drow kid go and settle down, keeping out of the fire light. She found a rock outcropping nearby overlooking the small camp and climbed it to sit. From where she was, she could see in the dark far better without the dying fire's light killing her night vision.

During the rest of the night, there were a few times she heard something moving, but when she went to check it out, it seemed as it was merely animals. Eventually, the sky began to grow lighter in the east, slowly bringing colour and light back to the world. She moved back to camp now and at this point, their campfire was all but dead so Seri, grabbing some more wood, began to stack it, bringing the fire back to life. She grabbed her pack, bringing out a pot and a pan and some food and began prepping it to cook. She also brought out another smaller pot, filling it with her waterskin to make some tea. She sat there, waiting for the others to wake while the oatmeal and bacon cooked.

She glanced round at the quiet stillness. The day had dawned with a heavy fog all around them. She couldn't see now much more than three or four meters distance and it muted all sound beyond the fire and food cooking. It was as if all the world around the small camp no longer existed. Well, at least that would make it all the more difficult for anyone to track them down by the smoke or light from their fire. Her thoughts moved from that to plans for the future. Her plans for vengeance did not have a time limit but Arlathan's quest to save his sister likely did. If she was even still alive. They needed to find out if she was., somehow.
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Re: Fate's Wheel

Post by rivaan »

Sleep was rather drab affair at times. Salissa's dreams were visited by visions without color and darker thoughts, but overall it wasn't too bad. It wasn't a nightmare, nor was it a bad memory. It was just a weird dream about depressing thoughts. Though she had to admit a world without color was an intriguing idea. Kind of made her think of the shadow lands or however they were called. The domain of the dark fae... She had heard tales of that place, never too much in description, but a world without color where darks and grays dominated was what she always imagined. Still as the break of dawn arrived, her eyes slowly opened and she stirred and sat up with a small yawn, hidding behind her hand.

She always had a rather good internal clock so to speak, always woke up early. Maybe it was part of her nature, she couldn't quite say of the reason. She knew humans who also were like her, so it could just be coincidence. Still as she opened her eyes, her vision was met with a curtain of white. Above her, where she was gazing at, there was nothing. The endless absolute veil of white. Poetic the quiet crackling of a fire reminded her that they were still in the camp. Followed by the thought that this was a mighty thick mist. " Good morning, Serilla." The bard said with her melodic voice as she greeted the other woman and then proceeded to quickly wrap up her things into her bag." We are at luck. The mist will hide us from the townfolk who would try to track us down for the tragedy from last night. Dogs will still find us, but I doubt any of the townfolk would risk tracking down adventurers when the mists are this thick."

"Mayhaps the gods have decided to prevet more needless bloodshed." She mused to herself, noting the breakfast." My gratitude for preparing breakfast." She stated and gave a quick thankful head nod to the other woman as she pulled her rations pack from her bag and from it she took out 2 bundles of dried up fruits." Here this is for desserts." It was a mixture of dried apples, barries and peaches. Then she offered the smaller bundle to Serilla." This one's for the tea. If you'd like a more fruity flavor, you can drop a few of these ones into the still boiling or heated drink." The bard smiled, offering the fruity goodness. She had found out about making tea from dried fruits by chance one winter that she spend a good few weeks with a family who kindly took her in after getting caught by a heavy snowfall in their village. Now they only needed for the young man to wake up and they were set to begin the day!
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Ghaz
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Re: Fate's Wheel

Post by Ghaz »

Arlathan rose up looking around rubbing his eyes after a somewhat decent sleep. He saw his companions eating and slowly walked over and sitting with them saying "Thank you for the food." He smiled at them and started to eat some food. He didn't know how the morning would go and how bad it could have been but seeing how everything hasn't gone bad and they were all still alive everything was going great so far. He wondered if they were at the lowest point already and everything going forward was going to get better from now on. Arlathan knew that he just needed to stay positive no matter what happens. He looked at the others asking "So how was your sleep?" He hoped everything was going well for them.

"So what is the plan for today?" He asked. He hoped that they would get to travel soon and maybe if they stop at another town they won't treat them so bad like this last time. He looked over at Dres seeing he was still asleep saying "Do you think any other town would treat us like we aren't some curse put on them by the gods." He was a little annoyed at how he was being treated by the actions of his people but he had trouble understanding that they treat him so badly without getting to know him. After thinking for a bit he quickly said "Oh I forgot I am a decent hunter for my age so if we need food I can hunt for us if that is alright with you all." He knew he would be able to kill some animal if they needed food.
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Keira Kelly
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Re: Fate's Wheel

Post by Keira Kelly »

"Morning." Seri answered back in a flat voice. She was tired and still in a bit of a depressed mood and it came through in her tone. Still, she returned a cynical laugh to the comment of townsfolk trying to track them down. "They won't be following us." she agreed. "Those people are cowards. They'll risk coming after us in the confines of a tavern they know when they have the numbers but they'd never risk following a threat out into the forest where we have more of an advantage." she answered as she began to dish up some of the just cooked food for Salissa, putting some oatmeal in a spare bowl she had, along with a few pieces of the bacon before handing it over to the other woman. As she did so, she pointed at the other pot still on the fire. "Tea, there... If you have a cup with you, feel free to get some." she added.

Seri moved to take some tea of her own with her own metal travel cup before sitting down atop her bedroll, still near the fire. She would grab some food for herself after the tea.... possibly. She wasn't sure she was all that hungry. She took a long sip as Salissa began to speak again, this time about the gods. Serilla made a disdainful sound in reply to the comment. "And when have the gods EVER cared about stopping needless bloodshed?" she asked bitterly. As Salissa followed up with a thanks for the breakfast, Seri had to force herself back from the edge again, bottling away the emotions, especially the anger. Thankfully, the bard woman seemed to know how to distract rather well and soon Seri was focused on the foods once more, for the moment.

She took the bundles handed to her, examining them. The dried fruit, while it would have made a good dessert, Seri reasoned that they would make an even better for flavouring for tomorrow's oatmeal breakfast, so she packed what she had been given, stating as such to the others. The smaller bundle though, for the tea, did pique her interest a bit and she dropped a bit of that into her own tea, which was still steaming hot and giving it a few minutes to mix. She offered a bit of a smile and a nod of thanks in return. Just as she did this, she noted Arlathan waking so she set aside her tea for a moment and proceeded to dish him up the same setup that she had given Salissa, handing him his bowl as soon as he was sitting up, informing him also about the tea if he had his own cup along with his things.

She nodded at his thanks as well as she returned to her bedroll and tea, taking up the warm cup in her hands once more. She found her mind not wanting to think as she stared into the fire for the moment. Arlathan's voice barely broke through her mental fog but it was enough that she realized he had said something. It took her a moment to process what he had said. She didn't want to answer him, didn't want to tell them that she really had barely slept at all... The only sleep she had gotten had been plagued by nightmarish memories and... well.. yeah. She merely shrugged in reply finally.

She had to try to force her mind into gear as the kid started asking more questions. "Well, we need to start heading in the direction that Krodak's forces are in." she answered. "He is a handful of days on foot away from where we are now.. though his forces move slowly usually." she explained. "We can catch up to them eventually but it still will take a number of days unless we can find mounts to travel... Thing is, I've heard word of the direction he is travelling in.. maybe." she said. "Last word I got said he was moving towards a city with his forces. My source told me that he is looking to sack this city, Mykalaion. His forces are on the far side of it. We are.. maybe a day or two from that city."

A small smile grew on her lips for the first time that morning. "Mykalaion isn't a human city. It's mostly populated by other races. I wouldn't be surprised if you ran across a few fellow Drow there, kid." she answered. "Probably mostly trader types though, seeing as the population there is generally more friendly than not... unlike most Drow, no offence..." she added. "Point is, you'd fit right in.. Most of us will fit right in." she said with a shrug. "The only issue is that Krodak is likely looking to lay siege to it and if he gets there before us, well.. we probably will just end up witnessing a city of innocents wiped out. While it is a city, it isn't the biggest city you can think of by any means..." She looked over at Salissa. "So, bard.. you want to try to help stop a massacre this time rather than merely playing witness to it?" she asked. "If we can help to lower Krodak's numbers a bit, it might make it easier to infiltrate his camp in the confusion..."

She turned back to Arlathan with a raised eyebrow. "You're a hunter, kid? Well then. Fresh meat is always welcome at my fire." she said with a nod. She looked back between the two others. "So, after we finish breakfast, I think we ought to get ready to head out as quickly as possible. We might get lucky and be able to find horses along the way but no promises on that. I plan to head straight to Mykalion as far as I can, unless either of you have a better idea?"
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Re: Fate's Wheel

Post by rivaan »

"I wouldn't understimate them. I've seen metaphorical pogroms and witchhunts started in similar situations..." Salissa quietly replied. Weird was the human's way of thinking, even people like the peasants earlier. Uneducated and cowardly as they could be, the more they amass they more they pick 'bravery' over common fear and hatreds. Once said bravery was past the tipping point, brain and logical thoughts rarely mattered any more. Not all were like this, but the ones that led to the event last night were and chances were that most of the village would be like that.

The bard made no comments to the jab at the mention of the gods. It was not an unusual thing in this world. She however believed firmly that gods were involved with the world though in their own ways. Her own patron deity was a goddess that had underwent changes and while nowdays was no longer an actively involved with the material world goddess, once upon a time she was a vengeful force that stalked the world. The bard just closed her eyes and let out a small smile, drinking some tea instead of talking.

"Sleep was fine. Rather uneventful if I'd have to state a complaint." Salissa smiled to Arlathan. She didn't like her sleep completely bare and dreamless all the time. She preferred dreaming, weird things would be in the land of dreams and sometimes she felt she could almost catch glimpses into the domain of her goddess she'd enter one day. There was also the fact seh did like having good dreams, nightmares were also alright depending on the situation. Curious inspirations dwelled within the framework of the dreamwold after all and she liked ot harness it whenever she could and if she could." Maybe, there's always places to find refuge and kindness. Bigger cities and trade hubs indeed tend to be more accepting in general though you can also count on greater criminal activity there. There are smaller towns and villages where people are kind, but in general each one of us 3 are part of races that the majority of the populace consider dangerous on principle, so finding accepting safe haven without method to hide our traits is hard." In that one way, her situation is slightly better since she could hide what she was a lot better than these two. A tiefling was impossible to hide without decent illusions and a drow's skin was a pain to hide or mask. She on other side just had to keep quiet and make sure her teeth not show much when speaking. Granted she was very pale, but with just a touch of rouge and makeup she could make a passable appearance for somebody with very fair complexion.

She listened to Seri's explanation and nodded. SHe knew that city, had passed it on occasion. It was one of those tradehubs where you could be yourself without being too pressured for yoru race." It will be a great rush... for the time." She mused, making calculations." Even if we manage to get to the city fast and grab mounts there, we won't have too much time to do anythign to that Raider Warlord. I'm ALL for helping, Serilla. To prevent a tragedy is always a good and noble goal and to acomplish it is a just reward on of itself. My journey and dream is to make sure terrible fates that people didn't manage to prevent not be forgotten is all." She added with a smile.

Nodding, Salissa agreed with the tiefling's plan." No, that's the best plan avaible. Finding hourses would be very hard though outside of cities or villages and we cannot really make use of the village we were in." She added." Though if we are lucky, we can catch on a carriage that's heading ot the town. It's IS a trade city so traders would be traveling these paths. We just need to convince or pay for a ride there, but for at least a while we should travel off the road, maybe switch to it in the late afternoon, just to ensure annoying village zealots don't find us by chance if they are checking the ways in and out of their village."
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Ghaz
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Re: Fate's Wheel

Post by Ghaz »

Arlathan smiled saying "I am glad it was uneventful after what happened yesterday." He didn't mind getting into a fight but he felt it was pointless in doing something that could cost him his own life when he knew he needed to live to save his sister. He wondered if the town that kicked them out thought the same about pointless bloodshed as long as we weren't in the town it was okay for them. He listened to Salissa's words about the bigger cities saying "I have a clock to hide me its just getting close to someone or interactions with others is when they notice what I am." He wondered of there was a town out there that could treat him like they treated everybody else.

When Serilla talked about the city the army was heading to he wondered if they would make it saying "If we get there in time I'm willing to help try to defend it." If they were to arrive there he knew he wouldn't run away unless he was forced to but he has never really takes any life before other than animals he hunted to make sure he had something to eat but he didn't think it would be much of a difference.

He nodded at what she said about him being able to hunt then nodded at the plan about finding horses saying "I like that idea hopefully we could find a carriage the the village people don't come after us or chase us." He hoped there was a person that could give them a ride or maybe even find some horses to take them to the town but either way he really wanted to get there before the army did so we could do something about it even if it was a little he could do.
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Keira Kelly
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Re: Fate's Wheel

Post by Keira Kelly »

Serila grunted at Salissa's answer to come and help, eyeing the dhampir with a new appraising look. "Maybe I had you pegged wrong." she acknowledged. She sighed heavily. "And yeah, it's going to be bloody close to get to Mykalaion, if we find mounts. And yeah, finding horses out here would be tough but I was told there is another town between us and Mykalaion... We should be able to reach it close to nightfall if we don't delay." she answered. "Whether they have horses or not though..." she said with a shrug. "It IS a lumber town though so I would assume they would have horses." She gestured with a finger back the way they had come from, then towards where she knew the other town lay. She grunted again at Salissa's thought of catching a ride with a trader or merchant along the way. She was about to argue that nobody would stop for the likes of them, but she realized then that likely a number of the traders would be other races like them, or at least be more tolerant of other races.

Her eyebrow did raise at the dhampir's suggestion that they stay off the main road for a while out of fear of the villagers from Craydon Falls. She even gave a short bark of a laugh at that. "Sticking to the forests is going to cost us valuable time." she countered. "And those cowards wanted to drive us off... They had blood on their mind while they could see the threat before them. Once the threat was driven out, they are going to hunker down." she said, not convinced at Salissa's earlier argument about those townspeople. "Like animals they protect their own little territory: their town. Witchhunts do happen, yes, but generally for what they would consider a threat that doesn't back off from their territory. We are." she said. "We are leaving and short of one of them wanting undying vengeance for an accident, I really don't think any of them are going to brave three 'monsters' that they already have on the run." she added.

She hooked a thumb towards Arlathan. "Get him to have his wolf scout far ahead along the road." she suggested before looking over at the drow. "Your wolfie can do that, can't he, kid?" she asked. She looked back at Salissa. She took a heavy breath. "Besides, if they end up having a little army lying in wait.. despite the fact that I led us in a different direction from where we need to head, well... I have slain little armies before.. by myself." she added, a statement made without pride or bravado, but with a hint of regret and even sadness peeking through her emotional armour. She had no fear in facing overwhelming numbers like that, and truth be told, the only real reason she had run last night was because she hadn't known how these two with her now would have fared in an all out battle. "A bunch of villagers really doesn't scare me. If they choose to follow us yet, well.. they would deserve what they would get..."

Finished with her own meal now, Seri began to pack up her things. Once she had done so, she looked to the others. "I guess we should be taking a vote then, if we are doing this as equals." she began. "Head to the road, gain time but have a, small in my opinion, chance of getting into a fight, or stick to the forest for a while, lose time, but keep concealment IF anyone is still hunting us?" she asked. She had her own opinion, as she had stated, but at the same time, she didn't want these two to risk their lives, even if it was a very small chance, if they didn't desire to. She would go with whatever the majority chose.
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