IC II Toes In The Water

[achinca]

Miriam stares in front of her seeing nothing, as if her internal systems had crashed without a threat to activate them.

[Zman]

The Sergeant walks forward, looking the group and bodies up and down. "Indeed. I suppose you'll want your just reward upon return to Hulburg."

He proceeds to pull out a piece of paper writing in a short, curt script. He then seals it with a signet ring, which appears to seal the letter with wax, though none was used.

Handing the letter reluctantly to Shiny, "Give this to Lt. Arnot upon your return and you will be given your due in service to Hulburg in her time of need. if you wish to engage in further activities on behalf of Hulburg, speak to the Captain."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia nods and says. "Hunting in packs...Stay guarded, defend in packs." Looking back at Miriam (she gave up trying to snap the cleric out of it after several minutes) she asks in addition, "...Ogre prisoners?"

[Zman]

The Sergent looks at Ntalia quizzically, like one would a wirery dog, "The Ogres don't take prisoners, the store food." in a matter of fact tone.

[achinca]

Still in her shock mode, Miriam does not connect what the Lieutenant is saying. She is lost in her tortured thoughts.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia whips her head around when she hears what the sergeant says; thankfully, it doesn't seem to have registered with Miriam.

"For...How long? Before...dinner time?" she says, growing faintly green at the thought.

[Zman]

Almost annoyed at Natalia, "How many times a day you eat. Each Ogre camp has dozens of the brutes."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia wonders if the sergeant can feel the tension; she can only imagine how Miriam will react when it finally sinks in. With trepidation, she asks. "And..." She tilts her hand back and forth. "Turnover? Time to rescue?"

[Zman]

Sergeant

Answering Natalia gravely, "I hope to never find out."

Meanwhile the soles separate and check over the bodies, checking for anything missed but finding nothing. Most look at the group with a begrudged respect that wasn't present hours earlier.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Still nothing from Miriam. Cautiously, Natalia asks, "How many...Many of yours?"

[achinca]

Miriam looks at the group like she is just in the middle of a dream or drugged out "Going? Where? Now?" as if her brain was totally fogged up and she can't clear it up.

She looks around at the group and the soldiers as she was a stranger in a strange land.

[Cavelcade]

Kurt walks to Miriam slowly, speaking quietly. "We need to go on. We need to go and save that town."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Looking to Kurt, Natalia places a finger to her lips and accompanies the gesture with a quizzical, questioning look. She makes sure to see that Miriam can't see her poor attempt at charades first.

[achinca]

Miriam looks at Kurt and starts to focus a little. "Yes, you are right Sir Dwarf."

She starts moving toward her horse where Valen tied them before the 2nd wave of ogres attack.

[Zman]

Sergeant
"Then don't let us slow you down. We shall be there in two days time.". A look of purpose crowing his face, "Tell the people of Linwood that the Shieldsworn march to their aid, tell them to stay stong and be ready. Fortune favors those who help themselves.". He nods as he motions for his men to begin their march again.

"Stay safe, soldiers of Hulburg.". Moving over towards Miriam Valen lays his hand on her back for a moment, before moving to untie the rest of the horses.

[CoffeeIncluded]

"Watch for ogres," Natalia says.

[CoffeeIncluded]

At some point on the road to Linwood, Natalia rides up to Valen and asks, "Miriam's walking coma?"

[Zman]

The group takes their leave of the good sergeant and his men, each climbing into their horses nd making haste for Linwood. As the day passes and night approaches the group must decide if they will cintinues I to the night, or proceed in the morning.

Valen responds to Natalia as they ride, "Some people break, others change. Who will she be?"

Spoiler

Show

The group can push the horses for four hours into the night, or can rest and finish the trip in the morning.

[Admiral]

"Why wait? Let's get where we're going!" says Shiny enthusiastically, as he bounces behind Kurt on the horse.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia shakes her head. That wasn't just the only reason. "Already broken, smashed by something. Who...was the hammer?"

[Zman]

"Little One, that is far too complicated of a question for me to answer and not for me to tell." Valen evades mettling in Miriam's affairs.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia doesn't feel much better either, and she doesn't like intervening in Miriam's affairs, but she's at a loss. "Heard something, saw something?"

[achinca]

Miriam closes the march, her horse following the others more than her guiding it. She is still in a daze as she wrestles with the demons in her head.

She relives her times with Calric looking for signs she missed as a naive farm girl compared with what she learned from Mary. She remembers as she saw him as a Knight in a shining armor when he took her away from the St. Cuthbert church and put her under his wings as his apprentice. She remembers how much she loves the white hair, the refined eloquence, the nobility like mannerism, how he became the sunshine of her life. She also notices now how she wanted to keep herself innocent for her wedding night and how he insisted he wanted her before that. He remembers how satisfied he was after her first time, as if he had notched another trophy for his cabinet. She thinks of Mary and things become clearer. She also understands better why he kept wondering about her lack of pregnancy. Yes Mary has helped her understands a lot, even if it meant realizing that her life was a scam and a lie.

Her thoughts move to St. Cuthbert as she is not sure why He let it happen in His name but she known one thing: during the fight, she felt His power, His touch. He is aware of what Calric has done or at least of Miriam's pain. She just need to find out more why He let it happen, why didn't He stop him.

She relives the last time she saw Calric and starts to wonder if he is really dead. That thought brings a chill down her spine. She needs to find out. Could he have faked his death in order to get another trophy? Was she that bad of a bed companion that he had to dump her? What about the Mace that Never Forgets? Mary gave it to him. What did he do with it?

As the group progresses, she is totally cut from her environment as she is trying, without any success, to answer these questions.

[Cavelcade]

Kurt chuckles a bit. "Give the horses time to warm up again, Shiny. They have to get over the fight, too."

[Zman]

Twilight comes and goes and the adventurers push on. Roughly four hours after dusk the group completes their unnervingly quiet trip back to Linwood, seeing the almost sleepy looking town off in the distance. Only the lights from the Inn were visible as the group crested the gentle hill to the East of Linwood...

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia looks around nervously, seeing if she can spot any signs of activity. Nobody could have been following them for four hours; her hearing and eyesight are keen enough to have picked up anything in that time.

[Athedia]

"It looks like the village is still safe." Mithril broke the silence. She had been thinking about the last few days, and the great responsibility she and her friends had taken on their shoulders. This village was their village to protect now, and the idea terrified her.

[Cavelcade]

Kurt examines it more critically, checking for signs that the suggestions made are being implemented. He's relaxing, a little, though. The run-in with the Ogres had made him paranoid; if one ambush could be set up, so could another, and they would not have been able to handle it.

"Well, it's still standing at least."

[Zman]

"Safe. Almost too quiet." Valen mentions, but his fears are quickly put to rest as the near the first manned guard post, the only one on the East end of town.

As the group enters the now sleepy town, they can see that work has indeed been done. Some small fortifications around the lumbermill and granary have been started. It will take much more work to finish them. A couple of small segments of palisade have been started to the north of the granary and lumbermill. Also, digging has commenced to limit the direction an attack could come from, at let attacks coming from the North.

[CoffeeIncluded]

"Good work," Natalia says, approving at how quickly they started. She waves to the guards at the top of the watchtower. Like Mithril, she's nervous of the responsibility they've been given.