27a: In the Eye of the Hurricane
"Never heard of 'em." Rudyard responds as Lisa asks about the three names, Leo, Mendel, and Hamish.
"As for the Border Wars, many as not call 'em the Frontier Wars. You may know 'em that way, though I'm not sure many cared on the other side of the Blackwood. They was between Megalos and Al-Wazif about ten years ago. Lot of people around here still have sore feelings over them, Bannock falling was sort of a black eye for the empire..."
The rustling sound of footsteps outside brings Rudyard to a quiet. The boot steps grow louder, and Lisa is happy to have a brief respite from the darkness as she sees a slow building warm glow approaching from the sound of the footsteps. Not wanting to waste a single ounce of light, Lisa immediately starts taking in the details around her, starting from the direction of the approaching light.
Slowly, the room begins to come into focus, or rather a cave... for the walls, ceiling, and floor seem to be a simple unanimous piece of rough-cut stone. There is only one entrance or exit that Lisa can see, just in the direction of the approaching light. However, the way is blockaded with iron bars fit into the stone, with a jail door and thick-looking lock smithed into the barrier.
Around the corner, a single torch finally reveals itself, the glowing flame illuminating the most of the room along with it's holder, a rough-looking middle aged man wearing seasoned and war-torn leathers, a short-handled axe hanging from his belt.
"I thought I mentioned..." The man starts, his speech slow and his eyes poisonous as he takes in the room with a long, sweeping gaze.
Lisa too, takes in her surroundings, she takes in a total of twelve forms. She recognizes Rudyard right next to her, who sits up propped against the wall, as well as Erwin, who lies face up, bandaged heavily across the chest, his expression a grimace though his eyes are closed in a fitful sleep. This must be almost the whole of the caravan she surmises, though all are adults... none fit the size of the little boy Runt who had stowed away.
"...There wasn't to be any talking." The man finishes with his eyes on Rudyard, who returns the gaze defiantly. "If I need to come back again, I'll be bringing my crossbow... Then we'll see if you get my point."
The man turns, and Lisa uses the last fleeting moments of light to scour the ground around her, searching for any sort of a weapon. In the last moment, she catches the shadow of a fist-sized rock and reaches for it as the light dies away completely. It's not much for a weapon, for there is no blade or lever to speak of, though it weighs almost a pound, and is much harder than her fist. In a pinch, Lisa is sure that she could throw the stone with some effect, or else hold it in her hand while trying to bash a guard's head in... though she doesn't imagine it will be of much use against a crossbow, especially with an iron jail in her way. For now, she must bide her time.
The next hour or more slips by in the impenetrable darkness. Lisa hides her stone, pressing it behind her hip so that it will not be easily seen by the guards, but so that she'll have access to it if she needs it at a moment's notice. She isn't overly concerned about being found out, but the threat of being shot with a crossbow keeps her intent on keeping her risk to a minimum. Left to the interminable midnight, Lisa bides her time.
Apparently that is enough for the guards, who do not reappear, at least until their next visitor arrives.
Lisa's first sense is of scuffling feet and high-pitched muffled groaning. Another man's voice rings out, strained with effort. "Do that again and you'll regret it!"
Thunk!
The dull, meaty thwack is accompanied by a soft, feminine groan, and a few more scuffled steps before the torchlight comes back.
"Get back!" The man from earlier, the one threatening violence, shouts as the warm torchlight approaches...
OOC: For your awareness, I'm a stickler about healing spells and failures, so you are at -3 to cast minor healing on yourself until tomorrow. Your scrounging roll managed to acquire you a small stone, about a pound, which will increase punch damage by 1, or can be thrown using the throwing skill, or at DX-4.
You have recovered your fatigue from spell casting, though hunger is beginning to gnaw at your belly, and you will quickly start losing fatigue that way.
Stopped here just to see if you wanted to take any opportunities. If not we'll keep fast forwarding.
Edit: I also forgot to mention that you got a warm welcome from the cast of characters in their OOC thread. I have you separated out (alas, I've had enough people unintentionally spilling things between threads that affects the outcome of the game that I'm trying to hedge against it) but I promise I'll put you in there as soon as there isn't anything left you know that would be hugely beneficial to them and vice versa.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:37, Fri 04 Mar 2022.