Twhirtley

All Roads Lead to Death (Ebonfort)

Nothing came over the hill, but Remilia kept up her barking. Trix wasn't sure whether to trust her pup's instincts, or to assume she was just spooked by something innocuous. Erring on the side of caution, Trix looked around for a weapon, anything, even though she'd never so much as held a sword. There was a large... well to her, it looked like a stick. But it was a hard wood, polished, dark, and balanced. She picked up the bo staff. It was awkward in her hand, heavy, but she could use it as a walking stick too she supposed. She rested it on her shoulder, and began moving toward the next fallen person, keeping an eye on the road ahead.

The woman before her was an unranked knight, and was bleeding from a shallow stab in the gap in her arm just above her waist. Trix knelt down, setting the staff beside the woman's head. She touched her hand to the woman's neck, and her eyes widened in surprise. There was a very slight thump there. She was still alive! Trix immediately set her pack down and began digging through it, pulling out her salves, her stitching kit, and bandages. Clearly there wasn't a fire available, so boiling wine to clean the wound wasn't available, she'd have to hope the honey and elderberry in her salve would be enough to stave off infection.

Remus came over sniffing at the woman's face, Remilia still staring and barking in the distance. Trix ripped away the bloody cloth around the wound, finding it a few finger widths long, and about one wide. She pulled out her waterskin of brine, pouring it on the wound, seeing if the woman stirred from the pain. There was a momentary flinch and a slight groan, but she never woke. Trix saw the blood dilute and clear, but it didn't take long to fill once more. That flow would make her salve useless until staunched. She had nothing to cauterize it with though, and she'd never done an internal cauterization though, only heard about it. But she needed the bleeding to stop, to keep it from coming out, to...

She suddenly had an idea, shrinking a bit as she looked around, making sure yet again, that she truly was alone. She then took a deep breath, and stuck her fingers into the wound, one from each hand on either side of the tiny chasm. She focused on the feel of the flesh, as well as the blood, making sure to separate them in her mind. Once she was confident that she'd done so, she began pushing her magic out through her finger tips, and spreading it against the interior flesh, focusing it to only stop blood. Wiggling her fingers in small circles, she continued to spread her magic, trying to keep the layer thin, but whole. Once she felt it was done, she did her unnecessary nod, completing the magic, and the shield activated. As she poured the brine in now, she watched as it diluted and cleaned it out. She smiled as it ran clear and the blood no longer filled it.

She washed her hands off with some brine, then set about to filling the wound with her salve, and quickly began stitching the wound up, making sure to go deep enough to actually close it. Once it was done, she spread a bit of salve over it and wrapped a bandage around the woman's stomach. Now that the hard part was done, she reached into her pack and pulled out a sealed jar, and uncorked it beneath the woman's nose. The smelling salts quickly kicked in and the woman woke with a start. "Easy... easy... You've been injured, I've fixed you up."

The woman tried to sit up, finding herself staring into the stoic eyes of Remus. "Where's ever..." then she saw the littering of bodies everywhere. She stifled back a sob, as Trix continued, "I need to move along, I haven't been able to see if there's any other survivors. You need to take it easy, but you should be able to walk. Do you remember what happened?"

The woman was just silent, so Trix grabbed her staff, and stood, when she heard Remilia's barking reach a louder fervor. Except this time it wasn't at nothing. There was a man in grey robes limping along the road, holding one arm to his side as he hobbled. He shouted in her direction, "Can you help me? I'm injured. I was attacked."

Trix began walking faster toward the man, hushing Remilia when she reached her. But the pup was still quite on edge, not trusting this man. And for good reason, for his 'injured' arm had his wrist bent behind his back, holding a sinister dirk in hand as he continued toward her on his uneven gait. The raven haired knight that Trix had fixed up, sat forward with a grunt, still looking at all her fallen brethren as the scarlet maned man continued toward Trix. In a seemingly sincere voice, he continued, though not shouting as they grew closer, "I can't believe they're all dead... all gone, completely wiped out." Then his eyes saw the other woman, his face breaking into the subtlest of grins, "Except one I see. That's great..."

A Slithering Scheme (Ebonfort)

The first bola whipped out from the trees, wrapping itself around Kladissa, and unsaddling her, slamming her hard into the ground, the breath painfully escaping her lungs. Her lizard immediately stopped, and took a defensive posture over her, hissing at the trees. The air was immediately filled with the gut-wrenching cries that could only be uttered by Screamers. Kladissa was already struggling to grab a knife from its sheath on her harnass, looking up the hill from where the ambush came from. She slid open the transparent eyelids all members of her race had, that were used as a filter. Normally the eyelids blocked her infrared vision, so she could see the normal spectrum more easily. But now, she could see the heat signatures of four Screamers in defensive positions behind trees and rocks up the hill, shining bright against the frigid landscape.

She immediately knew this wasn't a planned attack, but rather just the luck of opportunity. If it were planned, there'd be many more and this would already be over. "There's only four!" Not that it mattered to the Aaenshi, as he and his wolf were already bounding up the steep slope with ease. Bolas were thrown, but his wolf leapt aside of his own accord, the flea riddled pair screeching in glee. The pale woman, however, was missing, though her horse remained with the group, not seeming to notice, or perhaps care, that its rider was gone.

The Aaenshi engaged against two of the Screamers, both wielding shortspears, his battle lust quickly taking over. It seemed as though he would handle them just fine, and was holding back out of sheer enjoyment. The other two Screamers had already begun their descent on the party, one charging with two scimitars in hand, the other covering him with a shortbow. An arrow was shot toward Chartrose, purposefully aimed for a nonfatal shoulder hit. Clearly he was their target, as Kladissa was seemingly indisposed.

Ebonfort

A Chilling Message - Has received it's reward review! Well done Drache! For those following plots, this is the precursor to the Frigmount Quest which will be starting soon.

A Chilling Message (Ebonfort)

Reward Review

Rilana Aurorime'

Skills
Animal Husbandry: 2
Bodybuilding: 2
Familiary: 1
Herbalism: 1
Intimidation: 1
Investigation: 1
Leadership: 1
Negotiation: 2
Observation: 3
Rhetoric: 3
Riding (Horse): 1
Socialization: 3
Wilderness Survival: 1

Knowledge:
Animal Husbandry: Rewarding Accidental Behavior
Contact: Sergeant Nidic
Sergeant Nidic: Is a Were-Cat of some kind
Sergeant Nidic: Is Aggressive
Sergeant Nidic: A Challenge for A Future Spar
Bruin: Assigned for Use by Frigmount Envoy
Bruin: Remembered His Training
Suspicion: Frigmount Elders Made Her Envoy?
Suspicion: Svarak is Much Older Than He Appears
Svarak: Has Visited the Frostfell
Mission: Plan and Lead Expedition to Frigmount
Warning: Don't Take the Mountain Passes. It is Death.
Citadel Location: Hidden Lift to Svarak's Office
Contact: Tomas, Svarak's Squire
Tomas: Tends to Horses Well

Other
Lump of Onyx
Sweetmint Leaves (handful)
Temporary Companion: Tomas, Svarak's Squire
Envoy Sash, made of Silver Spider Silk

Ebonfort

They Have Returned has been created (aka the New Vircastoria Quest) featuring Raffey & Megumi

They Have Returned (Ebonfort)

@Rekaigan - Feel free to determine how the knights hear about Megumi, approach her to recruit her for this journey.

They Have Returned (Ebonfort)

Starting Date and Time: 45th day of Ceruleo, 300 DM, Sunrise

Starting Location: Scream Watch

CS URLs: Raffey & Megumi & Drachiathoryx 'Drache Sgarsiath' & Halbera

Ser Tybalt Witerlee stood at the upper most catapult in the Scream Watch Stronghold, looking out over his little slice of paradise. He was the Warden Knight stationed here, and one of the fiercest combatants in all the Knights. He was born of a knight and a prostitute in this very village, fought against the older squires when he was but a page, fought against knights when he was but a squire. As with all new knights, he was stationed here initially, to defend against and fight the ever constant Screamer threat. But he never left, quickly winning his way up through the ranks. And now, he had no desire for a higher rank, for here, he was king. There were five Lords higher than him in rank, but he did not care about that. They were all safe in their mighty Citadel, whereas he was here, fighting daily, training new troops, always keeping his edge. And he hoped that it would be here that he would die, and here that his body be burned, rather than rotting of age behind a desk.

However, he did have a problem that was not being resolved as quickly as he liked. For the last few seasons, there had been attacks on the roads around the other villages. This in and of itself was not strange, Screamers snuck into the empire and attacked fairly frequently. However, the reports from several attacks seemed to indicate another threat. One that wanted them to think it was the Screamers. And that was odd. An unknown enemy, posing as a known enemy. It wouldn't change anything. The battle against the Screamers would never be resolved. They were far too mobile, too adapted to their land, and far too populated. If the entire Ebon Knights marched out there, it would be a slaughter. But the same would be said if the Screamers attacked the empire en masse. A permanent stalemate.

Ser Tybalt suspected they were gathering information, under the guise of attacks. Learning about the empire, spying upon her. He'd set his best scouts and trackers to the task of learning more about these people, after their most recent attack at the beginning of the season. Several of his scouts were killed in their tracking efforts, indicating the level of skill from this mysterious enemies. However, two had been successful in just getting the most basic of information. One, a man who was able to sneak so close to Screamer camps that he often pickpocketed their dinner plates, had learned that these mystery attackers had come from the west, eluding Screamer trackers as well. The other tracker had learned a name, of a place, likely where they were from.

New Vircastoria.

If it was built from the ruins of Vircastoria, their old enemy, then them being from the west made sense. There wasn't enough information, and it was far too distant to send knights to discern more information. And there was so much Screamer territory between them. If anyone went, it would have to be civilians, a small group, with enough skills and wit about them to possibly not get caught, which was the longest of shots.

"Liera."

"Yes ser?"

"Speak to the spymasters, find me five civilians that can travel undetected across Screamer territory, to see if this New Vircastoria exists, and if so, what information they can learn from it. And make sure the reward is good enough to interest the best."

The blonde woman nodded curtly, "Yes ser," and left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With a thump and snort, Raffey suddenly found himself awake. His eyes blinked several times, before the blinding pain behind his eyeballs set in. The light from the fireplace was quite painful, as he looked around the tavern. Just how much did he drink last night? He felt at his coin purse, it was significantly lighter, so it must've been a good bit. There were many others slumbering as he was, mostly knights, as was expected, predominantly men. Women never seemed to have trouble finding someone to keep them warm at night.

He saw a young lass, a teenager, cleaning up, picking up glasses and dishes from the tables, sweeping about muck and refuse. Once he was awake, "Is about time, can you git gone, I have work to do."

"Is only mornin hun, nah need to get all snippy. Min' if I grab a drink ta get rid of da poundins?"

She rolled her eyes, as only a woman could do, huffing, "Git it yourself, leave the coin on the bar."

He flashed a toothy grin, getting up from his bench, stumbling a bit, finding his balance. He really had drank a lot, as he knocked over his bench. Raffey quickly set it straight, under the glare of the girl. He put a few coppers on the bar, poured himself a flagon, then put two more coppers with them, and left. This was one of his normal morning routines, he either woke up in one of Scream Watch's many pubs, or in the bed of some woman whose name he'd forget. Stepping out the door, he hissed at the sudden cold and bright light of the sun. Grumbling a bit, "I neva ge' used to dis col'." He tightened his cloak around him, and downed the rest of his drink, tossing the flagon into the grass.

"Raffey, Raffey Silafin?"

Raffey turned, and saw a quite lovely squire, a blonde woman. His smile instantly brightened, "Tha's me darlin. An' 'ow ken I 'elp a flower like ya?"

The young woman blushed profusely, before gaining her composure. "I'm told you traveled through Screamer territory to come here, yes?"

Raffey nodded, maintaining his smile, but not sure where this was heading, "Aye... 'ad a few close call, buh any of y'all Silent 'unters coul' do i'."

"We have a job for you, if you want it. We need to send a small group across Screamer territory, to investigate a possible new city known as New Vircastoria. We'll reward you handsomely if you return with good information. Land, gold, could even make you a knight."

It wasn't a hard decision for Raffey, had all his favorite things, danger, traveling, promise of reward. But he had no need for land or becoming a Knight, and gold, well, anyone could get that. And if they were just giving it all away, well, he wanted a cherry on top. "Okah, I do i'. Bu' I wan' dinna an' drinks witchya when I ge' back, or nah deal."

She flushed deep crimson, "Um... uh, fine. The group meets at the gates at the twelfth stretch. Be ready." And with that, she turned on heel, and left him as quickly as she could, leaving him grinning like a fool. They must really want this information if she were to agree. Fine by him.

At the twelfth stretch, he sat atop his Auric Beetle, all of his belongings packed away, as usual for one who traveled as much as he did. He sat there smiling, knowing this journey would probably take many days and nights, assuming they didn't die right out the gate. Hopefully there'd be a few women to join them, it was winter, and nights got really cold.

He watched as a knight approached. He didn't wear the normal knight armor or sash, but Raffey could tell by the way he moved what he was. He saw that he stepped quietly, heel rolling to toe, naturally. This man was well practiced in being stealthy, so much so that it was his normal mode. A tracker or hunter most likely. The short human man looked up at him from astride his horse, "So apparently I'm the leader of this group," Raffey almost scoffed at that. Shocker, a knight as the leader. Raffey decided to just keep to himself for now, waiting on the rest of the group to arrive.

A Chilling Message (Ebonfort)

Svarak's smile lessened to a thin line as he watched Rilana struggle with the inner turmoil of this decision. At least she seemed to understand the responsibility of this position. Just as he'd been with his current ranking, he was quite reluctant to take the mantle. After all, he'd just wanted to test himself against someone he thought to be stronger than him. He never thought it would lead to this nightmare of an office. Perhaps that was a slight exaggeration, but he truly despised paperwork. And finding worthy people to fight was rare. None of the other Lords ever tried to challenge him, and the Wardens always went after them, knowing him to be the strongest. Boredom was horrible, especially for one his age. Sometimes he considered giving up this gift of longevity, but he'd not yet completed his mission that came with it. Soon it would.

After hearing her finally accept, "Good, and I have utmost confidence in you, and the others that will be joining you. My squire here, Tomas, will accompany you. He will assist you in gathering any supplies you deem necessary for the trip, both for yourself and the expedition. There is no limit to the budget, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you to only take what is necessary. Leave the riches to the merchants once this expedition returns successfully. The expedition is to leave on the 45th from Stone Crest. Tomas will ensure all the arrangements for the supplies to be ready and waiting there for you and the others. He also has the list of the Knights that will be accompanying the expedition, all of whom have been handpicked for certain skills. There will be some civilians joining as well, but we won't know for sure who until the departure date comes closer. If you feel the need to change anyone on the list, or remove, or add I suppose, just tell Tomas. He will answer any of your questions from here on out."

Now speaking to the squire directly, "And he will not crowd or pester the Envoy." The squire nodded, gathering up his satchel of what sounded like paperwork. And with that, he sighed and returned back to his chair, his personal prison from the excitement of the world out there. Maybe he would join them, it would be fitting, and Frigmount was quite beautiful. And, well, her brother was dead by now. His face dropped sadly at the memory, "I look forward to seeing how you do with this, Envoy Rilana."

The human squire led the way out of his patron's office, and moved off to the right, the stairs to the left, "Don't tell anyone about this, I mean it." He pushed in on some of the stones, and the wall swung open silently and effortlessly, revealing a metal cage hanging from a very thick rope. He stepped inside, "Much better than walking down the stairs." Once inside, he'd pull a lever, and the elevator would begin descending, kept lit by glow crystals, as it plunged into the depths of the Citadel. Once at the bottom, it opened up through yet another hidden wall, at what appeared to be a pointless dead end corridor.

"Alright, we have four tendays to get this worked out. We can start at your pace, on your time. I'll be around, taking care of other arrangements. Anytime you need me, simply show this to any Knight, and ask for me. When you leave the capital for Stone Crest, let one of the Knights at the gatehouse know, and I'll be along shortly." He handed her a sash, similar to what the officers wore, often on the upper arm of the weapon hand, but this one was a shimmering silver. It appeared to be some sort of blend of metal and cloth to the eye, but was incredibly soft and delicate feeling. Further inspection would find it to be as strong as metal however. They arrived at the internal stables once more, and Tomas walked right over to Bruin, petting him, as if the two knew one another. "I spend a lot of time down here, he didn't have much to do until he was reassigned. Do you have any questions for now, or need me to get started on anything immediately?"

When their exchange finished, he left her to her own devices. A page had approached with a bag of horse feed, and began feeding Bruin and other nearby horses. When he got close to Rilana though, his mannerisms changed, becoming a bit stiff. He turned to her, and in a strained voice, as if he were attempting to not speak, "Don't take the mountain passes. It is death." Once he'd finished speaking, it seemed as if he'd returned to normal, and went back to feeding the horses. It didn't even seem that he knew he'd spoken, or that anything at all had happened.

Ebonfort

All Roads Lead to Death has been created, featuring Trix & Ember!

All Roads Lead to Death (Ebonfort)

@Carantathraiel