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Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 02:48 PM |
Three adventurers went missing near Icy Vale over a week ago.
Friends have heard nothing from them, and are beginning to worry.
A story percolates from an effervescent bard.
A rescue is launched.
((folks, this isn't much notice, I know, and I don't even have a firm time, but sometime around 8 PM MST (10 PM EST, 7 PM PST) we will begin gathering at the Inn at Icy Vale to launch a rescue. All levels are welcome. Everyone is welcome. Mercenaries will be paid. The trip will be very dangerous, assuming no DMs intervene, and possibly a lot more than very dangersous if they do. People may die, and I offer no apologies and no guarantees. The very lives of three lost souls rest in the balance.
RB)) |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 03:05 PM |
Byron happened to be in Gladden that day. Big John, the burley farmer turned defender of Gladden, had welcomed him with a more subdued manner then usual. The Herald knew better then to ask what bothered John, he was a plain and stoic man, as was common among the settlers in Gladden. If he watned Byron to know, he would tell.
John did just that after the evening meal. Their buisness had concluded quickly, with Byron securing two hundres bushels of wheat and barley for Haven. The price was fair, it always was, and Byron had no desire to haggle with the people of Gladden. They deserved a good price, and were easy to negotiate with once a person gained their trust. That night,as the hearth roared warm and bright, John turned to Byron. "Tough business, these days," he said.
Byron considered the big man, but did not say anything. If there was one thing the Gladden farmers hated, was an overtalkative person. John nursed his ale, then continued in his slow drawl, "Trolls have been quite. Not much to do, really. Got all the axes and swords sharpened. The armor's all patched up. I even helped the neighbors bring in the winter wheat." He took another draw from his ale. "Stll, tough busines."
Byron sensed it was time, "What's going on, John?" he asked.
The big man rumbled from deep in his chest. "Missing people," he said. "In Icy Vale. Bard've been here, telling of a rescue attempt tonight."
"Well," said the Herald in a mesured tone, "that's nothing new. People get lost in the mountains all the time, right?"
"Aye," said John, "and they're usually found by the Cold Ones. Or worse." He shook his head and finished his ale. "No sense in going after them. Suicide, if you ask me. It's a dang waste."
"No, not a waste." John looked at him, his head slightly askew.
"Not a waste?" he sounded surprised. "Throwing good lives after the lost, it seems to me."
"I'll go," said Byron, but he was intreupted almost immediatly.
"No you won't." He was a bit foolish, trying to tell Byron what to do as a father tells off a son that just won't listen. "Can't afford to lose you, can we? You got too much to do, with the Aristi, and all that."
"I'll go," Byron said more firmly. "And I will return."
John grunted, then tried to take another drink only to notice his tankard was empty. He grunted again as he stood, "You better return," he said, "You still gotta pay for the crops." With that, John left to fill his tankard. Byron sat alone, a small smile on his face. It may not seem like much, that that was as close to John ever came to expressing concern for an outsider.
He left immediatly, having aquired shelter in a local farmer's hay loft. He would need sleep, the rescue was to occur soon, and he would have to leave early to get to Icy Vale in time.
((I'll be there if I can, RB. Thanks for organizing this!)) |
My name is Byron Lorian....I am the Last Son |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 03:12 PM |
Lucius AND Byron!!?!?!?!
It's like a double-suicide pact...I'm so in!
Besides, everyone knows, the more paladins you have in a party, the greater your chances of survival...*nods sagely*
I (Ced) may be 15 minutes late or so but plan on making it...Thanks RB, great idea! |
The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for...
-- Ernest Hemingway |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 03:18 PM |
Unless, of course, you're one of the paladins in question.. :)
It's my sister's birthday tonight, but I will do my best to be there.
-VK |
"You know, a gong. Large, flat object that you hit when you want things. Sort of like a waiter, but less portable."
-Radra |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 03:23 PM |
I'll be there.
As the opposing force.
-Barnas |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 03:30 PM |
I (Ced) may be 15 minutes late or so but plan on making it...Thanks RB, great idea!
That's okay, don't these things usually have about an hour of chatting before they even begin? *grins* |
My name is Byron Lorian....I am the Last Son |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 03:57 PM |
| ((*Sniffles* Wish I could go, g'luck!)) |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 04:14 PM |
Karli looked out across Icy Vale without much enthusiasm. It was still the same wide, endless scape of white and fluttering snowflakes. It was still inviting, and the people friendly. She could see Gladden from up here on the side of the mountain - the small pastures, sheep and farmhands little more than splots of color against the muddy browns and wheat yellows. From up here, she could see pretty much everything.
Everything except Allan.
She'd said something, or done something or NOT done something and now he was displeased. Displeased, he'd said. With her! With Karli Goodfellow, embodiment of human female perfection and fun-girl non par! When the shock had worn off, the anger had set in, lightening flash quick and whip-snap sharp. Allan was a boulder of marble, and his jaw had set tightly and he'd walked off, armor clattering and pride intact. He wouldn't go sledding with her, no; it took time away from doing good and vanquishing evil and smiting whatever needed to be smote in the name of righteous goodness and blah blah blah. And while he was gone, it would do her good to reflect on the ways of a proper lady, who didn't speak such foul words as she did nor poison her body, and he would hope with every bit of his fondness for her that she would understand and better herself.
Wil gave Karli a quiet, sidelong look as the joint between his lips slowly smoldered. He'd not said anything for a while, letting Karli deal with the issue in the light of day in ways that hadn't been possible in the night. Karli guessed he'd said and done all he had to say and do, concerning Allan. Wil was teaching her such wonderful, mind-blowing things and she couldn't wait to teach them to Allan, in turn! But more and more, it seemed like maybe, just maybe, Allan wasn't going to want to be taught such things.
"He seems the kind of guy who'd just want to get it over with," Wil had said, his lips pausing in their distraction. "Guy on top, in the dark, five minutes at the most." Karli clenched at the sheets and whimpered. When she was able to speak beyond a breathless gasping, she asked what he meant. "Same reason as the sledding: takes time away from vanquishing evil," Wil had explained before doing something new and surprising with his fingers and, for a while, Karli didn't know how to think, let alone what. He never took her; he knew where the line was. But that didn't stop them from playing with the boundaries a bit.
Karli had checked Allan's room in the morning. He'd insisted that they'd sleep in separate rooms, for he hadn't been able to tolerate her cowardly presence once they arrived at the tavern. They'd had their first fight! Karli was anxious to make up with him.
Allan had left. He'd made his bed, of course. Karli silently went back to breakfast where Wil was already entertaining.
"Ran into Ricky last night," she began as she sat. "Remember that little outing Rosen took us on last week?"
"Yeah," Wil mumbled around a mouthful of food. He looked at her inquiringly as he chewed.
"Rosen's still missing," Karli sighed, brow creasing unattractively with worry. "Or Tommi or Talion. I mean, I've seen Opie, but the other three are still gone."
"What, you think they didn't make it?"
Karli shrugged. "If it was anyone else but them, I'd say 'Yeah, totally, dead as swing-back sandals.' But them? Spit on me, but I'd think those three could take on most anything." She paused, and pushed the onions around on her plate with her fork, her appetite gone. In the swirls of the vegetable juice, she saw Allan's flowing hair. In the grain goodness of the bread, she smelled his skin.
How dare he be angry with her?!
"I mean, seriously, what am I? A paladin?! No! I mean, that entire trip, they just told us to shut up and stay back and basically made it pretty clear how useless we were."
Wil wipes his mouth with a napkin and leaned back in his chair. "You want to introduce me to the segway on that one, beautiful? I think I missed the lane change."
Karli sighed. "Just... thinking. Just that Allan, I mean, okay. We ran into Rick- Cedrych coming into the Vale, right?" Wil nodded as he lit a smoke. "Anyway, I asked about Rosen, and if he - Ricky - had seen her, 'cause I'd said what I'd said and it probably wasn't what she was needing at that moment so I wanted to apologize, you know?" Again, Wil nodded. "He said he hadn't, and I toldhim about the trip to the village to slaughter the blue people and being trapped in the hut and the big army with giant wolves and evil magic trees. All that. He didn't believe me, I don't think. But he believed I was worried, and he seemed worried, too. I mean, *Cedrych* was worried! I mean, he said he wasn't, but you coul totally tell by looking at him. I mean, he loves her! So he's worried, you know? That makes me totally freaked out."
Wil shrugged sympathetically and passed her the smoke.
Karli lingered her gaze on the smoldering twist. Paused. He didn't approve...
Hells with it. She took the smoke. Allan was off in the snows and farmlands, making friends and offering help? Making himself a real Aristi Knight, no doubt. A real knight, that's what Allan was, no titles needed, no thank you sir, just doing my duty and making the world a better place. And Karli, apparently, wasn't.
That was the problem. He didn't see that she made the world a better place just by living in it! Somehow, she had to be more pro-active.
So here she was, sitting in a tower shield at the top of the sledding hill, and Allan was out there in the world below, fighting the good fight (presumably) or, more likely, freezing his arse off as he stood around in his armor, chatting up the locals and promising the end of all the world's troubles. He was good like that. She loved him for that. And she'd failed him, because she hadn't thrown her life away by sticking with her friends in the middle of a fight.
Okay. Well. Yeah. That was fair, sort of. From a really sactimonious point of view, anyway.
"You ready, gorgeous?"
"Yeah," she replied without much enthusiasm, holding tighter to the arm straps at her knees. Wil pushed them off, and the world became a white blur as the raced the wind to the bottom of the hill.
On the way, Karli made a decision. If *she* wasn't going to be of any use on any kind of search-and-rescue mission, that didn't mean other people wouldn't be. When the two bards reached the bottom of the hill, sliding into town over the dirt road (passing a very befuddled cow), the actress slash songwriter slash poet slash junkie slash hero-never told Wil what they were going to do for the rest of the afternoon.
Within an hour of lunch time, every farmer in Gladden and every hunter in Icy Vale knew the story about the three fallen heroes. They were risking their lives to make the world a better place; didn't they deserve a little of that kind of sacrifice in return?
((7pm PST is totally impossible for me, RB, but I'll make it on later, no doubt. Hopefully, things go well or wait for me. Good luck, either way!)) |
"I've got a sword and it's a good one, but all the bleedin' thing can do is keep someone alive, listen. A song can keep someone immortal!" - Cohen the Barbarian |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 05:05 PM |
((I'm still not sure of the time - sorry. One guarantee I will make is that -nobody- is going to be made to feel that they aren't part of things, and if a lot of people show up, we'll split into a few manageable groups. For anyone coming, there are a couple items that will be critical to the rescue:
1. Those wands that are sold at the Buckshire Fair that do nothing other than shoot off fireworks; and
2. Shovels.)) |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 05:22 PM |
| ((Oodly enough, I have a shovel.)) |
"I've got a sword and it's a good one, but all the bleedin' thing can do is keep someone alive, listen. A song can keep someone immortal!" - Cohen the Barbarian |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 05:33 PM |
Allan returned to Icy Vale later that morning. His heart weighed heavy... that his betrothed was no warrior, he had known from the start. That she would not have made a heroic stand and given her own life alongside her friends and companions... it was terribly disappointing, but hardly surprising. But that she would so flippantly disregard their well-being, preferring instead to spend her time making ill-advised use of shields, ingesting Gods-only-knew what sort of burning narcotics, and making sure her beauty was seen by all...
It maddened him... and all the more so that try as he might, his anger and resolve was failing against a desire to see her bright smile once more. But as he approached the Inne, he heard her voice, telling in near-pleading tones of her fallen friends lost, spreading word and gathering willing souls to discover, and perhaps save them from, their fate.
A smile crossed his lips. Not a jovial one, by any means, but a contented, warm expression, with even relief in it's midst, and he backed away to seek supplies for the evening's trek.
((I'll try to be there by 7pm PST, though 8 is more likely)) |
"Always looking for the line" |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 07:20 PM |
((I'm still not sure of the time - sorry. One guarantee I will make is that -nobody- is going to be made to feel that they aren't part of things, and if a lot of people show up, we'll split into a few manageable groups. For anyone coming, there are a couple items that will be critical to the rescue:
1. Those wands that are sold at the Buckshire Fair that do nothing other than shoot off fireworks; and
2. Shovels.))
((Don't worry about the wands...will get some myself.)) |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 09:44 PM |
| ((ooo.... Sounds like fun...)) |
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Re: Rescue
Posted: 07 Jul 2006 10:06 PM |
| (( Ack. I'm very sorry, but it looks like real life has trumped me once again. I'm not going to be available tonight. Thank you so much for the [attempted] rescue, friends! If all goes well, just dump my corpse outside of the secret good guy base. )) |
True solace is finding none, which is to say, it is everywhere.
-Gretel Ehrlich |
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