Rashemen - RP Thread

Remove all ads!

Jex had slipped into the darkness when Sepp began his little speech. Despite his human side, he was still part drow and in the darkness he was near impossible to see, other than they fiery red dots of his eyes. He followed the sound of Sepps voice and came upon the ridge. Climbing a tree, he reached the ridgeline and jumped from the branches, and dropped in front of the young druid. "The halfling speaks the truth, we are going after his brother."

 

Sepp tried not to flinch too much when Jex jumped out of the tree, he had been focusing on the stranger and had not noticed Jex approaching. Thankfully it was not a dangerous creature that had snuck up on him.

To the stranger he said, "That's right, we really are looking for my brother. Unfortunately, I can not be more specific as to what type of creature we are looking for. I have only seen them in the spirit, while spirit traveling with my departed Ma. I know that's not much to go on, which is why we are looking for a trail to follow, or information about a fort. Do you have any information that could help us?"

 

Seeing that the stranger was if not friendly at least not unfriendly Nakia climbed up the ridge. She stopped a bit back from the others and waited.

 

Eiberk's head left the table with a shock and a snort. The dwarf looked around wildly, shaking his head and clearing his eyes. The tavern was abandoned, an entire shop worth of mugs rested on his table, and the interesting party was gone.

Immediatly, his head cleared. He wouldn't allow himself to let these customers get away, this town had little to offer and it had been weeks since his last deal. A minute later, the barkeep had informed him as much as he could about the group.

A couple of children playing outside soon saw a broad, squat figure carrying a mountain of luggage leaving the village in a hurry..

 

“You’re right. That’s not much to go on. How do you even know you are going the right direction?

Why would a band of evil creatures take your brother instead of just killing him? It all seems very strange to me. Are you sure you saw the right vision?”

 

Sepp was about to say that he wasn't sure, that it was all probably just a dream, but when he opened his mouth Ma's spirit came into him and different words came out of his mouth.

"Actually, you are right, we are not going in the right direction. The fortress we seek is several days walk to the west of Iceborn. As to why the creatures took my son alive, that is not yet for you to know. It is safer so. And you, Atten, would do well to join my other son here, as these two others have, if you care anything for this forest and its creatures. Or if you prefer, you can view the coming darkness as just a natural turning of the wheel, but then be prepared to spend the rest of your life hunting for nuts as a squirrel in the Erech Forest! I must go. You must make your choice."

Sepp's eyes rolled back into his head. As he fell backwards onto the ground, the back of his skull smacked a sharp piece of rock protruding from the forest floor.

Blood slowly seeped into the dirt.

 

As Sepp falls to the ground Nakia leaps foward to him, checking his lifesigns. He seems alright tho unconcious. She whips a clean rag and some alcohol out and cleans the wound.

"Not a bad wound. just a scalp cut and they bleed like crazy."

She binds it up, wipes his face with some of the alcohol. He moans slightly, opens his eyes briefly but then lies quietly. She sits back and looks at the other two. She pulls some food and drink from her pack and places it on the ground.

"We might as well take a break and get accquainted. Stranger who looks human but is one with the forest, I be Nakia, halfling adventurer and this be Jex." Indicates Jex with a wave of her hand.

Sitting cross legged on the ground she starts to eat and drink but looks expectantly at the Stranger.

 

Black slides out of the night, up to Sepp, lays his head down on Sepp's chest, and whines once.

 

Atten breathes a silent prayer to the forest to save him from these bizarre people. He points at the halfling on the ground.

“Are you sure he’s OK? He sounds like some sort of gibbering idiot to me, who shouldn’t be let outside on his own, never mind being in the forest at night. How is he intending to take on these evil creatures (if they even exist) if he can’t even stand on his own two feet without injuring himself?

Gah! Let me have a look at him.”

Atten examined the halfling’s head. He nodded approvingly at Nakia’s bandaging, but nonetheless paused to draw on a small amount of the forest’s life force to aid in the healing process.

“He’ll be OK. But I would recommend that you all return to your homes as soon as he’s ready. If you trust your lives to this madman’s ravings, you’ll be lost in the wilderness before the week is out. Not that it makes any difference to me.”

 

Sepp opened his eyes a little. Black, Big Pa and Drell were near him, his head hurt a little, but not too bad. He leaned up on an elbow.

"Drell, what happened to your clothes? Pa, why are you being Big right now? Where's Ma and Gesed?"

He noticed some food lying near him. He picked up a piece and started to eat it. It didn't taste like lichen cakes or dried goat.

"Gosh Drell, this stuff is good! What is it?"

 

Nakia leaps to her feet, pulls herself up to her full 2 feet 11+ inches and spits out:

"Madman! This young one has just lost his family! He found you dispite skills you have with the forest! You pratling, self-important human!
I be half your size, got no magic abilities but me heart be twice as big. If ye's got a heart. I hope his Ma be right and ye spends the rest of thee's life hunting nuts!"

Prepared to fight she glares at him.

 

Atten rolls his eyes and wonders what on earth he has go himself into this time.

"Calm yourself. Shouting like that is not generally advisable as night falls around here. It tends to attract, ah, unwelcome attention.

As to my original comments - well, listen to the nonsense he is babbling now. He clearly has no idea what he is talking about."

 

"Why are you underestimated the halflings and our worth druid?" Jex asked quietly from the rock he was perched on. "How do you know we can't handle ourselves in this dangerous forest. I've been on the road for longer than you've been alive and I've walked through many dangerous places. This forest is no worse than any of them."

Jex stood slowly and revealed his twin scimitars and muttered "He doesn't have to face the creatures. I'll do the majority of the fighting. It's what I do best. He has to find his brother. And I ask you are you going to ake advice from a spirt and help save your forest or are you going to continue being a fool?"

 

Claming down a little Nakia walks over to Sepp, sits down by him and puts her arm around his shoulder.

"Sorry Sepp, I be not Drell. Afraid this is not a nightmare. Come back to us painful as it maybe."

Still looking hostily at the human: "Ye be a druid right? Well stick to your forest, Greater Good, Big Picture and leave the day-to-day things to us lesser mortals. Little things like helping each other and fighting evil as best we can. Oh, don't forget to check your belongings before I leave here."

 

All the shouting hurt Sepp's ears and head, but it made him focus his eyes. Drell, was not Drell, she was Nakia, and she was right, this was not a nightmare, though he wished it was.

"Nakia, what happened? I was talking to that unknown person and then I got pushed into the ground. Since I was there anyway I started talking to a mole I met there. He took me to his home, which is by that twisted pine over there. He lives in a breastplate that makes a nice hall for him. His ancestors say there used to be a skeleton inside and around it too, but they've all rotted away now. He was preparing some grubs for us to share when my body sucked me back."

He rubs his bandaged head with a hand. "Thanks for that, Nakia." Looking at the person he had mistook for Big Pa he says, "Thanks for your healing, I will try to put back more into your forest than what you took out for me."

Black lets out a low growl and his back hair bristles raise.

Sepp looks at everyone around him, "He says that there's a noisy thing clodding up the creek bed from where we came."

 

Nakia goes over to where she can see the creek bed then returns to Sepp.

"It be that very wide dwarf at the table next to thee. Looks as if he followed us."

With that she sits down by Sepp and picks up some of the food and drink. Looking over at Black she offers him some of the food.

"Thee and the dog can talk to each? This gets more interesting all the time. This dwarf is carrying a lot of stuff. What is he, a peddlar? If so we might be able to use some of his stuff."

She casually returns to food and drink while keeping a wary eye on the druid.

 

After swallowing a bite of food Sepp says, "Well, Black, being a dog, can't make the same sounds that we do to talk, but when he looks at you, you hear him talking to you in your head. What's interesting about that?"

Sepp takes another bite of Nakia's very tasty food.

Black licks his lips and finishes what he had been eating. Then he looks intently at Nakia. She hears a thought inside her head, "Thanks for the food, pretty girl. You know, I haven't always been a dog." His eye that doesn't have the scar through it winks at her.

 

Nakia drops her food, stares at Black, starts to say something but just stutters. Finally pulls herself together.

"Ayee, I never had a dog talk to me before. But you weren't always a dog? Magic. Are ye cursed or something? What...who was thee? Ya ain't a disguised illythidy are ya?"

It's obvious that Nakia is shaken by a telepatic dog.

 

Black lays down, puts his head on his front feet, and stares at a pebble in the dirt. Anyone nearby who opens their minds begins to hear a voice in their heads.

"Well, I think it's time that you all knew a thing or two, especially you, Sepp. It never did sit right with me to keep all you kids in the dark your whole lives about things that could end them in a second, but I made a promise to your Ma and Pa. But they're both dead now, and I'm still here, and you'll have a lot better chance of staying alive a little while longer and saving Gesed if you know this."

"My name is Charley Blackfoot, and I am your Pa's brother. His name was Hesel Blackfoot, and we were bought by the Shadow Thieves Guild in Baldur's Gate, a big city south of here quite a ways. We started out as the usual pickpockets and burglars, but after we grew up we started getting hired out for bigger and bigger jobs. If I do say so myself, we were the best."

"About thirty years ago, a mysterious man hired us to break into a temple hidden in a mountain valley and steal something he called 'The Earth's Heart', what was supposed to be a huge jewel with magical powers. Of course, it was guarded by your usual run of the mill sect of devil worshippers. I forget what they called themselves. All that ever really mattered to me was what to steal and who to kill."

"After we got into the temple, we were too late to get the loot from its hiding spot, because the kooks were already using it to try to invoke their Lord. They were about to sacrifice this pretty little thing, who turned out to be your Ma. Her real name was Anatha Heathertop."

"Now don't get me wrong, your Ma was really pretty, but I've never lost it over a pretty face, but Hesel, your Pa, he went head over heals. He lost his focus on the mission, and decided that he was going to save your Ma."

"When I got a good look at this 'Earth's Heart' jewel, I decided to take it for myself and retire early from the Shadow Thieves. It actually did have the shape of a heart. Not the silly kind that girls carve on trees, but the real kind that you give someone as proof that the job has been carried out. But it was made up of all the precious things the earth ever spits out: gold, silver, platinum, diamonds, rubies, crystals. My eyes about popped out. My plan was to take it to this gnomish gem cutter I knew in Targos and then retire to the south seas with the wealth."

"The commotion Hesel caused in saving your Ma gave me the chance I needed. I had the the jewel, and was running down a corridor on my way out, when I came around a corner and caught an axe in my face! Well, I've been wounded a lot, but nothing hurt as bad as that. At least it didn't last long."

"The next thing I remembered, I woke up in this body in our cave in the valley. I don't know how long I was dead for. I wouldn't be surprised if your Ma brought me back a couple of times before finding me a body that didn't have opposable thumbs! I would have preferred anything, a monkey, a raccoon, hell, even a rat can pick things up with its hands. Have you ever tried to pick things up, much less a pocket, with paws, or a tongue?"

"But I can't complain, I could still be dead. I'm pretty sure your Ma used the power of the Earth's Heart to hide the valley from everyone else, and I think they hid it somewhere in the valley, but they never told me where. They didn't trust me, I guess."

"What I'm thinking happened a few days back is somebody tried to call on the power of Earth's Heart, and it sent out waves that burnt your Pa, Ma, and poor little Drell, and almost got us too. But what do I know, I'm just a dog."

[ July 02, 2005, 00:09: Message edited by: Scot ]

 

"The Earth's Heart?!"

Atten held his head and sat down. It appeared the he was more shaken by the news of the Earth's Heart than he was about the talking 'dog'.

"Darwyn was right after all........ Where is the Earth's Heart now? You must tell me!"