Muttonhawk

Modular Pathfinder

Detta tried her best to make conversation on the road. Given her attire, talking wasn't going to make them much louder even if they wanted to slink by quietly.

"My pa says a castle traded over and again never gets fixed. This rushed human work made for quick wars's not likely different." She raised a ambivalent palm. "If one company took it without help getting there first, could be full o' holes still? The tricky part's holdin' the bastard."

The cave they found was impossible to miss. Detta turned her head, raised an eyebrow, and stopped. After a quiet look, she lowered the visor of her helmet and strode carefully towards the cave mouth, leaning to get a better look around the scenery. Squinting into the dark didn't yield much that she could make out, even with her dwarven eyes. The pounded path didn't have footprints big enough to be from that troll with the bounty, either.

>Survival 9: Ain't no trolls around here, boss!

Detta put a fist on her hip with a metallic click and half-turned her head back. "What you make o' this?" She asked her friends.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@SantosGabriel77@kkbird123

Hey there new guys! If you'd like to apply, we are still accepting characters. However, just so you know what you're getting into, please do ask us any questions you like about the RP. In particular, I recommend reading the short summaries in the hiders at the top or bottom of the last couple of pages of posts at least.

While we're at it, what ideas did you guys have for characters? It doesn't have to be set in stone, rough stuff will do. Just so we can help you slide into the current cast.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros shrugged. "Perhaps there are feral werewolves that have been preying on travellers in the area. Or some cult of Hircine doing the same."

"Or he might want a cure for someone," Janius suggested. "He didn't smell like a lycan himself, but he may be trying to help someone that is. And with Vile promising lycanthropy cures, well...it's a rarity enough to be persuasive."

"Has there been any close investigation of Yerig from around his home?" Fendros asked. "I understand Saras provided this much information. Going to find out more may be redundant if he has already tried. Currently, our only leads are the Reach and the Greybeards."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros wiped his eyelid with his fingers. He was not completely convinced. "If nothing else, locating them and watching them before they do us will be helpful for any strategy we try. we might make a diversion and have Ahna slide the papers into Do'Rhajul's belongings. It would depend on where they are and how they secure their baggage. Accomplishing that much could at least demonstrate that we can kill them in their sleep if we wanted to. It would make it clear that we want peace rather than to spring a trap."

"I would think it a good idea to go to the Throat of the World," Janius said. He finally rejoined the conversation, though tried to keep quiet enough not to make Kaleeth's headache worse. "I, at least, want to find out where Yerig came from. Why he's fighting us."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine briskly retrieved a potion from a nearby shelf. It was one of several she had made earlier to treat everyone's injuries in some capacity or another. She removed its stopper as she walked back beside Kaleeth and held it out. "Drink this. It will relieve the pain for a while."

"Thank you, Sabine," Janius said. While he pulled back a little to give Kaleeth space to take her medicine, he held one arm open and caught Julan's eye. "Son, come here."

Whether or not Julan accepted the embrace, Janius spoke to him all the same. "We're sorry to give you a scare like this. Are you okay?"

Fendros sighed. "To be honest, any surprises and advantages we may have held beforehand were spent in that fight. We know much more about them now, but they also learned more about us. Perhaps I'm still shaken from the ambush, but I cannot come up with any way to defeat them or ambush them short of taking huge risks." He lifted his brow. "At the same time, we only have leads on Yerig. We might try to persuade him, or even try to make Do'Rhajul read our evidence, but we know little in how to persuade the others. Especially that madwoman with her staff." Fendros' eyes wandered. "Anyone have any ideas?"

"I was lucky against Do'Rhajul. I crippled him." Sabine lowered herself down on a seat again and pushed her straight arms onto her knees nervously. "I could have killed him. I do not think I could defeat him again."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius picked up on Kaleeth's movements before everyone was done talking. He shifted to sit on the side of her bed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. He understood. Everyone else had time to come to terms with their near-death situation. Kaleeth had not.

While the others continued, Janius murmured to Kaleeth while Julan still clung onto her. "We're still here, Kaleeth. We love you. Tell me what is going through your mind."

"That Nord's equipment looked like it was taken from a tomb, too," Fendros added. He wanted to let Kaleeth emote as she needed to, but the conversation was still important. "It could be that he left the Greybeards earlier than we anticipated. If he cared about our children, if he cared about Kaleeth as a wife and possibly a mother, seems to me he might have a family as well. If something is happening...or happened to them, that is my best guess at his motives."

Sabine stood up and quietly walked up to the opposite side of Kaleeth's bed. "Can I get you something for your headache, Kaleeth?" she asked, holding her fingers nervously.

Modular Pathfinder

Such a tragic land.

The unfairness of a heartless city was one thing. The cruelty of a long war was quite another. Detta could see it in the weary eyes of the older rangers as much as the actions of this rogue company they were to hunt. As loath as she was to take part in a conflict of nations, Detta had to refer to cold sense to justify it -- to demand that the Nirmathi deal with the problem would escalate the violence. Not to mention, insubordinate soldiers often did harm to the local populace. With a small smile to hide her reservations, she tiredly looked from her helmet between her hands over the to symbol.

"Don't mean anything to me, either," she concluded. Her voice was as rough as always. Probably shouted enough times in her life that she could communicate with crickets when at a normal volume.

Hanani's comment was met with a stray look from Detta's exposed eye. This wasn't the first time that the man held unrealistic expectations of others. Detta tried to be good-natured about it, even in vain. She hummed a chuckle. "Hiring a sketch artist is what this downpayment must be for, Hanani."

Kyra's question was more directly relevant. Detta's eye flicked to Forest Marshal Gavirk to hear the answer.

Coaxing anything from Kyra about herself was a delicate process. Detta could not help but feel sorry for what trials she had shared. It was as if she had a portion of her life taken away from her. Still, she was swift, intuitive, and steady on her own path. If she was marked by a god, she must have something in her future. Detta had not pried further.

The others in the group were capable enough. Albeit odd cases.

Claudia was quick with her tongue without a mask and quicker with her blade with it on. Detta had yet to work out her motives past simple compulsive transience. She had been apparently everywhere, getting into trouble and learning about the world. What had her running so constantly out of frozen Irrisen remained a mystery to Detta. Perhaps the aversion to constantly uprooting oneself was just Detta's inner dwarf talking. Regardless, Claudia was better to have on one's side than not. It was not as if Detta could find evil in her heart.

And then there was Valerio. Detta would be lying if she claimed no envy of his intellect. He thought of solutions that wouldn't have occurred to anyone in the group for years. Where her envy tapered was where his mind was so full that he could not empty it and take a step back. Constant calculation and thought sounded like a curse similar to constant hunger and cold.

To each their own. Detta exercised patience for the half-elves and their disharmonies. If they really needed help, they could ask for it. Even the plumekith woman and her lanky feline.

Detta carefully wrapped a gauntleted hand around one of the vials of elixir and spoke as she tucked it away. "Excuse me, Forest Marshal. I don't want assume too much 'bout these soldiers. Is they something special 'bout Fangwood keep that they would wanna take it, or are they just lookin' for a place to board up the windows and cause trouble? I wish we wouldn'ave to kill them all if there's something more going on."

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Don't ask me. I've been trying to power through the complete adventures of Don Quixote for who-knows-how-long by now. Not exactly Divinus-esque.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius nodded rapidly. "That's right. The Nord, Yerig, he shouted this word I didn't understand and this frost magic was thrown over you." Janius turned his eyes to Meesei. "He barked a few different shouts. One made him like a ghost to escape a grapple. Another...was just a huge force that sent me flying. It made me think that it could only be the Thu'um you mentioned before."

Pausing, Janius' eyes lowered turned back to Kaleeth. "I do not know why he froze you. I thought he was trying to kill you at first, to spite me in warning him, but...he did it right before the one with the war hammer was about to strike your head."

After a moment, Fendros cautiously added. "The hammer. Did it strike true or glance away because of the ice?"

Janius blinked a couple of times. The thought didn't sit right in his head. "It glanced," he said.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Right," Fendros said. "We might start by recalling individually the fight, and think about how to deal with each person in Do'Rhajul's team-"

Fendros was interrupted by Julan. Janius placed a hand on his back. "Woah there, son. Be gentle, now. Your mother's still hurt." Janius stood up and leaned over the bed. "Kaleeth," he said softly. "Can you hear me? How are you feeling?"

Kaleeth's condition caught everyone's attention.