[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/9SpAqdN.png[/img] [b][h3]R I G E V A N D[/h3][/b] [b] Interacting with Nettle [@A Lowly Wretch][/b] [/center] [hr] On the morning of their departure, Osanna waved goodbye to the red sisters in camp, tied a black ribbon around Dame Sabine Dupont’s scabbard, and headed to the city gates. This would not be her first time in Eskand. Osanna’s work had taken her into the Quentic areas of Drudgunze for months at a time, and on occasion, the northernmost reaches of the enemy’s lands. She was grateful to those trips now, for the practice in Eskand’s language, though she was well aware she didn’t speak it like a native. Because she’d only visited Eskand through Drudgunze, this would be Osanna’s first sea voyage. She looked forward to it from descriptions in stories and the mouths of sailors. They called the sea a tempting mistress— unpredictable in her moods, but beautiful. Osanna could just see the red of a sun sinking below a watery horizon, feel the playful lapping of wind through her hair. Even Sabine called it “bracing” and she under exaggerated everything. Osanna didn’t experience any of that. She spent the voyage hanging over the ship’s rail, spilling bile into rolling water. Salt caked her lips and hair, and if someone spied her from the murk, she did not see them. When the Parrench landed in Eskand, Osanna was one of the last to rise. She scraped herself off the bottom off the ship’s deck with pale fingers, several pounds lighter now than when she’d left. Never had she experienced anything so miserable as the sea, and she found herself dreading the return—stuck in a strange land with that misery her only way home. The fishing village of Rigevand was a gray place in twilight. The black mass of Eskand’s capital darkened the sky above rock facades. The village was little more than a collection of longhouses and a few scraggly docks. Even the land was dull, lacking the green they’d left behind. Yet Osanna blessed the dock’s soft, salt-eaten wood as her feet came to rest upon it even if the world still seemed to sway. She’d ended up at the end of their little party next to a slim girl. She had a wealth of green hair tucked into a rich brown cloak, and her boots seemed several sizes too big. Osanna remembered her, vaguely, from between bouts of sickness. She’d stuck with the tethered girl in the bow during the journey, but now that Maud was at the front pretending to be ‘Captain’ Gerard’s daughter, she looked very young and very lost. Osanna smiled at her even as she stumbled, trying to re-find her balance. [color=000000][b]“How’re you holding up? I think I hate the sea.”[/b][/color] The overture didn’t elicit any response but confusion. Osanna looked away, her brow furrowed. From what she’d understood of this mission, everyone selected had distinguished themselves in the battle for something or another, so the girl was powerful or clever or both. It was possible that she was choosing not to respond out of dislike or temperament, but that felt unlikely, so the simplest reason was that she did not speak the language. [color=000000][b]“Hello,”[/b][/color] Osanna tried again in Drudgunzean, hoping that the girl didn’t speak anything further afield. [color=000000][b]“You look like you fared better on the journey than I did.”[/b][/color] She smiled, to show she was laughing at herself. [hr] [center][img]https://images2.imgbox.com/fb/8a/tSpumbUH_o.png[/img][/center] Nettle herself looked up at the woman trying to engage her. Though a number of the crew had on occasion tried briefly in vain to speak with her there was no understanding of what they were saying. When the woman re-stated her words again in a language she could, albeit poorly, speak she still looked confused but at least the light of understanding could be seen in her eyes. [color=green]”Hhhm- mayh be?”[/color] The woman cocked her head to the side, as though listening. [color=000000][b]“I’m Osanna. What’s your name? Have you been to Eskand before?”[/b][/color] The man at the docks waved them towards the village proper. Dark was falling in earnest now, the silhouette of the city in the distance disappearing into the sky. There was little light to see by other than torches at the end of the docks. Though the environment darkened Nettle was no stranger to the dark, the swamps barely letting light through the canopy even on clear days. She was well accustomed to moving around in little lighting, getting by on more than just her eyes. [color=green]”Hh… HNettle ihs name. N-hh, I hhhave noht.”[/color] [color=000000][b]“What do you think? I’ve never been this far into Eskand, but I suppose one shouldn't judge a kingdom by its fishing villages.”[/b][/color] [color=green]“Ehhh…”[/color] Nettle looked around at the twilight lit silhouettes of the humble village and what buildings lie further off. [color=green]”Hhhit iss hh, villhadge? K-khhinghome? Hhhh… Hhit hhass p-perhsohnss… Ahnd b- bhoatss.”[/color] She was quite unsure of what to make of this place. It wasn’t much different from the fake caverns of the drudgunzeans or the parrancians for that matter. Not as tall as their ‘Castles’ as they call them but quite similar to the smaller places she’s seen along her brief travels. [color=000000][b]“I guess by that logic it's pretty much the same. Ah well, we’ll get to see a lot more of it, if everything goes to plan. Of course, we’ll be burning it down, but, hey, got to enjoy it while you can.”[/b][/color] Osanna smiled at her like she was telling a joke, though she kept her voice lowered as they slipped through the village. A couple of their designated captains stopped to talk to villagers from the largest longhouse. [color=green]”Hhhburn?”[/color] Nettle questioned, canting her head to the side. She didn’t quite know fully what she meant by that given the tone and the context. Was she being literal, was it a figure of speech? Who would want to set more fires? Aren’t those dangerous? She was starting to get worried. Well, more worried than she already was around man-beasts. Osanna blinked, and she glanced around before speaking in a whisper. [color=000000][b]“Do you not know why we’re here?”[/b][/color] Nettle simply shook her head to indicate that she did not. [color=000000][b]“You know that the Eskandr attacked Parrence. We did not completely win, so now they’re in the Parrench countryside. Some of our people are working to make them leave, but we’re here to save our friends taken as prisoners and to attack Eskand back. If we do enough damage, maybe they’ll come running back home, eh?”[/b][/color] [color=green]”Hhhwe… Hsavhe friehndss ahnd fforhce Essskahndrhh t- to rheturnh?”[/color] She asked to confirm if what she understood was correct. It made some sense, they needed to save the friends the other man-beasts took and then force them to return home. She wasn’t really clear on why fire was needed in any step of this process but rescuing their friends made sense. [color=000000][b]“Precisely! I don’t think the others realized you don’t speak Parrench. But I’ll translate when we finally gather to decide what to do.”[/b][/color] Nettle simply nodded. While uncertainty was abound she couldn’t argue with the idea of rescuing the man-beasts these other ones captured. What else they had planned she did not know but at this point a lack of knowing what was happening around her seemed to be a perpetual state of things. One can miss the simplicities of life in the swamp once they realize it’s gone. [hr] [center][b][h3]O S A N N A[/h3][/b][/center] It was sometime later that they reached Birger’s grotto, a cave tucked into the mountains near Rigevand. Osanna’s eyes felt tight and itchy, the torches swimming through her vision like fireflies trailing streams of light. She wanted nothing more to find some quiet, dark place and sleep for hours to make up for the long night and the miserable journey that had led up to it. Instead, she followed the line of Parrench into the cave and gathered around the fire with the others of the inner circle, peering down at the map of the area. It matched others that she had studied before, though was crude and lacking in detail. Osanna yawned. What strange turns her life had taken lately—from a near-solitary existence as one of Echeran’s assassins, to fighting in battles and working as a team. It was different, but not entirely unwelcome. Constantly traveling alone got dull. This next part, though, felt familiar. [color=000000][b]”We’ve got a lot to do,”[/b][/color] she said, first in Parrench and then in Drudgunzean. [color=000000][b]“But I think the worst thing we can do is go in blind. I volunteer to scout the most important targets unseen so that we can better put together a plan. In the meantime, we need to lay an escape route—traps, misdirections, anything to stop the Eskandr from following when it's time to get out of here. For those of you from this are, it might be useful to meet with any contacts that remain loyal, though only if you trust them with the fate of Parrence, and even then, don’t tell them why you’re here.[/b][/color]