A Strangers Journey

[Paks]

(We will be starting the adventuring from Hush, Lithar. Now the idea of this thread is for everyone to jot down their journey to the sea port itself, adding a little of your background history along the way. Please add a description of your character in your post. This does not have to be done in one post, you may wish to spread it out over several. When your characters are ready and have been pm'd to me, jump right in here and fire away.

When you arrive in Hush, it will be evening just as the sun is setting on the 10th day of the 6th month (early summer) in the year 736. Searching for a place to stay, you enter a moderately well kept, bustling tavern called "The Salted Dolphin".

This thread is for your journey to the tavern only, no interaction once you reach it, we'll start a new thread for that.)

[Paks]

Lilac

It had been hard, going through my mothers things. I still found it hard to believe that she’d passed from life. Even though it had been many years since we had shared the same roof, I still liked to think we had been close. I was but fourteen when I bade her farewell and left on a journey of my own. She had been proud of me, I knew that, she had only wanted the best for me and thought she was doing right by sending me off with an older aunt to learn what she had not been able to teach me. She was right, of course. Still, there were times when I missed her so much I wondered if it were worth it. But I preserved. I studied hard and proved an able student, herbs and healing came naturally to me, as did learning to read and write. I proved an active teen, swimming and riding, striking out on my own often enough in the forest, just to see if I could find my way back without any help. However, for all my skills, I had been unable to save my mother, I had been too late.

Wiping a stray tear from my dark brown eyes, I left my mothers home for the last time. An old but homely shack deep in the Lithian Woods, I think they are called Trapping, or something similar, I never was one to pay too much attention to those kinds of details. A large vine grew on the outside of my mothers home, with pretty purple flowers, Lilac my mother called them and that’s what she had named me, Lilac. I stopped and plucked one from the vine, placing it carefully in my long black hair that I had pulled back behind my ears and secured with some dyed leather. I took one last look at my childhood home and turned towards the trees and quite quickly disappeared into them.

The sunlight streamed through the leaves to light my pale skin but it didn’t bother me, for some strange reason my skin never did seem to burn though I had seen many with the same complexion that had. I weaved through the trees when I needed to and stooped under many a fallen branch, for I was quite tall for someone in my family, just over 6 feet, unheard of my mother used to say. I liked my height though; it seemed to intimidate a lot of folks.

I continued heading through the forest, my destination the port of Hush. It was in Hush that I hoped to catch a ride on a ship that was heading south. I wanted to visit the land of the dwarves; I had heard there were beautiful forests to be found in Khardfee and to me that meant lots of plants I could use for my potions. People liked my potions, especially mercenaries and soldiers; it kept me in enough coins to go about doing the things I really loved, healing those that really needed it.

And so I continued towards the sea port but before I had even left Trapping itself, I stumbled across a woman, badly hurt and fighting for her life. Her companion, a horse of all things, refused to leave her side. Lucky for the woman, she had chosen to collapse in just the right place for within hours, I had her back to her old self. That’s when I learnt her name; Paks, and the horse, Clyde. I told her mine, Lilac Greendale. In that moment, I found myself a traveling companion for believe it or not, she too was heading to Hush.

[Zee]

Joe:

*Sitting in a dusky inn over by the fire an enigmatic and appealing man shares the yarn that is his past.*
“Joe, that is what you may call me. Many of our fairer sex has called me by names far sweeter, as have I them. They did not always appreciate my advances though. For now let me share with you those details, rather than the tales of the fair maidens whose hearts I have stolen and chambers I have shared.

 “I was born unto a working father, an oxen breeder. My mother, radiant angel that she is, is a scholar of some renown unto herself. T’was a joyous youth, playing with the wily beasts and sleeping at night to my mother telling me tales of sorcerers and warriors who have slain monsters for the need of the common folk. Mayhaps I listened to carefully to my mothers stories and taken too much to that life.” *The man pauses for a moment and slowly leans over to rouse the fire.*

“Some would say that, others would curse the day had I not chosen the life I have. I grew up though with these stories and the beasts of burden. After my fourteenth summer I struck out on my own. Before I left though, my angelic mother gave unto me a gift. A gift she said would call to me woodland creatures, creatures I could speak with and keep me company while I was gone. She leaned over and kissed my forehead. Instantly I knew what she meant. You see I did use this gift to keep my company while I was lonely. A glowing triangle surrounded by another triangle appears on each hand and my forehead as I call to the creature. I wrote home a letter after earning enough to do so, and she wrote back the answer to my question. How can this happen I asked, she responded that it went back ages my mothers father and to his mother. A skilled woman she was with the animals so skilled that the goddess of nature herself bestowed unto her this gift, which every parent of their bloodline can pass down to their children.

“To discover the world and meet the fair damsels the stories always spoke of. That’s what I did after striking it out to see the world on my own. For two winters I starved, scrounging what I could off those who would spare a copper for a young entertainer. I would sing, or dance, even picking up some manual labor jobs along the way. My sixteenth summer though, I had surrendered to the life I had failed to achieve and was en-route to my homestead. That winter was a cold one, snow up to my waist freezing winds creating frost from my breath. Before I was going to make it home I was certain I would never see my family again. Even when I met my breaking point I staggered on for two days. Pain driving every muscle to move slower and stab harder. I did not make it home.”

*The man looks at his audience and then begins to speak but stops and rouses the fire once more before turning to his pack and pulling out a small silver piece. The item a dagger, though far too small to be used as a weapon even by the smallest of gnomish hands. He lays the item on the table before slowly sliding it out into the middle for everyone to have a better look at.*

“He gave me that, the man that found me and saved me from my most certain appointment with the lady of death. Thievery and deceit, those were his ways. Taking from the plentiful and aiding those who had naught he did, a peasants hero. A man looked up to and loved. Some of my more, devious, talents I learned from him. Served me well though they have, and to the dismay of many fathers. A ruse, a sham that’s what he was though a thief and hero to the poor he was neither and both. Often he would retrieve items taken by monsters, so he said, and return them to their owners who would in turn pay him so much he could not carry it all which would then lead him to leaving some wherever it was that his shoulders were too tired to bear it anymore. Even if that meant giving it to the nearest beggar.

“A few more winters passed and he had taught me all he was willing to, wishing me well he gave me that. *He says motioning to the silver item on the table.* “And I left, I had the means to find my own food and money. Then I found a warrior, my time with her was far too short. Beautiful lass, graceful, slender, strong she was. Figure of the perfect maiden, should you like them armed that is. Taught me how to use the blade and an excellent teacher she was, though the blade was not the only thing she was the first to teach me of. She took me on for a while, cleaning her equipment, caring for her after receiving wounds from a horrendous monster.

“One time she took on a quest, dangerous even for half a dozen armed and large men. She did not falter though, taking the full brunt of it. It did not end well. Cassie, I shal always remember and love thee.”

*He stops again and leans over the table, his head down and eyes closed. His left hand sliding out to the middle of the table and taking the silver item back before some one got the nerve to try and steal from him.* “She defeated the monster, a hydra, you may have heard of them. Large hideous monsters with more heads than fingers you have on your hand. A grievous wound though she suffered.” *He leans back and casts his eyes to the roof of the building before returning his gaze to those around him.* “Injured her sword arm. While it hindered her not in normal life and you would never know it, lest you already knew… she could fight no more, not the type of creatures she was accustomed to and she could not take on lesser jobs to do so would have insulted her pride. Though I asked her to, she would not. She found a home with the treasure she earned, a nice plot of land and settled down. I stayed for a spell before I could stay no longer. She had lived and enjoyed her life, I was not ready to stay, not yet.

“Though it tore at my heart so, and wounded her further than even the hydra ever could have, I left. For the second time I believed I would die, two days from her home I collapsed my heart would beat the blood to my legs and arms no more. A wanderer came by and roused me from my stupor, told him my story I did. The answer he told me, ‘The answer I have’. I did not believe him, no one could have an answer for what I felt, not even a priestess of Celenia herself. He did though, he explained to me he once felt exactly like I did indeed he had aged to the years he was no longer capable of the life he once had. He was returning to his Cassie, the life of joy given up for the woman he loved most.

“A violin he gave me a romantic and handsome instrument. Taught me to play it, to feel the music to use the pain I knew for the somber songs and the sheer joy of my first night with Cassie for those songs of glee and celebration. An entertainer he called himself, Jed the Grand you may know him as. Yes, I thought the name might ring a bell or two. Mentor I knew him as. What the rogue, who’s name I ne’er knew and ne’er shal, and what my dearest Cassie did not, this man taught me. Such excitement he had in passing his ways down to some one that he delayed his return to his favored. Two years he delayed it, teaching me the ways of the high courts. Gaining me my own renown through his sponsoring, introducing me to ladies, a few the daughters of women he knew in his youth. Though he never admitted it, sure I am that he took a night with them, the same night I took to their daughter.

“The jousting lance, he told me, the jousting lance. It is what every man of worth must know how to use to be successful at the tournaments. Archery, that’s for those with ears longer than their…” *He pauses for a moment and looks around the crowd.* “Well Jed may have been a great man, though lewd he was in private with me. A trait I did not inherit from him. So let us carry on with out that, and the fight a sport for brawlers and simpletons. So I learned the lance, everything about it I learned. Though in the joust I must admit I do not always win. I do however, always put on the better show during the contest. Oft I’ll lose when I could have won simply for the sake of the show, which is what impresses. The show, not the win, not the loss but how you do so. Against his wishes I even entered the tournaments fighting contests, using what my dearest Cassie taught me. Ne’er have I lost one of those. In those no man, no monster, no beast from hell itself shal stop me. I honor her in those, a silent dedication to her with every man beaten.

“I made him proud, and after the time he had determined I was well enough known to be capable and allowed to enter the tournaments with out his sponsorship he departed. Made it home to her he did, sent me a message not too long after doing so. Contained some of the best advice I have heard to date, and believe I ever will hear. Shal I share it with you now? I believe I can, he did it for me so now I shal do it for you.

*He leans over once again and stokes the fire, the flames roaring from the fact he threw an extra log onto it than the fire required.* “’Return when all is done.’ That is what he wrote in the message, what does that mean, well I thought on that for a weeks worth of nights until it occurred to me. Many ideas I had tossed around before it hit me, hit me like a charging oxen.”

*Standing up the man bows to his crowd, this happens to be everyone in the inn, the barkeep and serving girls included. The women’s cheeks reddened and the men looking upon a man, a man they wish they could be. Taking several golden pieces he presses them down onto the table with his thumb, looking to the bartender his body posture daring anyone to take the rightful owners gold. Turning from the crowd he gathers his pack, and his instrument. Walking to the exit he says over his shoulder with out looking back.* “I’ll leave you to figure out what it means for yourself.”

*He exits the inn after the few moments it takes for everyone inside to realize that he is gone, and his story is done. He has already disappeared by the time they rush out into the street looking for him. All of their eyes saddened but a spring in their step and new joy in their lives can be seen, to those who know where and take the time to look close enough.*

*Late at night a cool breeze ruffles the curtains on a young woman’s window which was shut when she retired for the night. Rest had over-come her, wild and vigorous dreams ran through her head. A gentle hand brushes her neck rousing her from her slumber.*

“I thought you had left town.” *The young maiden says to him.*

“I know.” *He simply replies to her.*

“How did you even get up here, I’m on the third floor.” *She asks him curiously.*

*He looks at her with a smile as he brushes some of the hair from her face.* “Does it matter?”

*The morning sun rises, the rays creeping through the window and onto the slumbering two who shared the night as lovers.* "You're leaving?" *The young woman asks him as he dresses in the morning light.*

"I must." *He replies to her.*

"Where will you go?" *The woman asks him, her eyes plainly begging him to stay.*

"Where ever it is that my feet decide to carry me. Though, I believe they will carry to me to Hush, as I have not been there for a while."

*She looks upon him, a man an inch or two over the six foot mark, dressed in a fancy black garb with white accents upon his attire. He finishes adjusting his fedora upon his head as she looks down for but a moment to ask him.* "Will you come back and see me, when your time in Hush is done... that is?"

*No reply comes to the woman for longer than she would expect for an answer to take for such a question. Casting her eyes to where she had last seen him, she sees only the walls over her room. Quickly though her eyes are drawn to the window as she thought she saw something, a black blur moving there. Were she to get up she might have been able to spot him, heading down the street. But she couldn't so enthralled she was by the rose sitting in her window, seemingly glowing and oddly creating a low sound of chimes.*

*Joe walks down the street for a bit longer before the smile from his face fades and he waves a hand seemingly to himself, but the womans rose would find itself no longer as enthralling as it was, though still a fine specimen of flora. He thinks to himself,* 'Hush... ahh yes I believe there's a man there, a man who owns an inn... the Piquant Porpoise i believe? Ahh 'tis no matter I will remember it when I see it.'

[gerin]

It was a nice day, a sweet breeze, birds chirping, all in all, quite a nice day.

The young man sitting in the tree was looking at a doll in his hand, a wooden puppet, of excellent craftmanship, he smiled, seemingly thinking of an earlier experience.
Gently he puts the doll into his backpack, like he had decided not to do something, whatever it was that is. Looking down at the road that was about 100 yards down a little hill, a road that split in two directions, the left path would take him to the town of Hush, that he knew, the other, somewere else.

The young man didnt seem able to make up his mind, but as his stomach grumbled, he made his decision, it be foolish to walk to an unkown destination without food, water he would always have, but he had no food about his person.
He jumps from the tree to the ground below, ofcourse, if anyone was looking, they would probably feel it wasnt a normal jump, more fluid like movement if anything.
The young man looks around, takes a deep breath, and starts walking down the road to hush.

Ruul wasnt exactly a normal traveller in a sense, nor exactly one who was hunting treasures, ofcourse, he wasnt the type to say no to that.
No, Ruul was more of a hunter, a story hunter, fables, tales, legends, myths.
Whatever story he heard and wrote down, he would hunt to its roots, to find out if there was truth in the story, if it was history in disguise......

He smiled wondering what stories he would find the roots of next.

[Paks]

Paks

Looking across the campfire at her new traveling companion, the ranger thought about the events that had led her to the healer. It was that stupid gnomes fault of course. It always was. After leaving her other companions to fight the Halfling war without her, she’d followed the river, riding Clyde occasionally but mostly walking along side him. She’d found night time the most difficult, even though she’d lived in forests most her life, she knew there was only so much she could do to try and hide them both.

On the second night of her travels, she’d been asleep for perhaps an hour at the most when the call of a night owl had woken her. Her keen hearing had picked up the sounds of approaching people and she’d managed to gather her weapons just in time. Armed men, outlawed soldiers by the looks of them had found her camp by accident. A lone woman in the forest, they had thought to take advantage of her but the ranger had other ideas. She fought with all she had, she was tired from her travels plus the wounds she had sustained during the battle of the Halflings camp were still fresh enough to hinder her. Paks managed to kill one but it only spurred the remaining two men into a more vicious fight. They must have been making some noise for out of nowhere came a group of Halfling survivors, armed with small daggers. Bravely they had joined in the fight, which Paks silently thanked them for. She didn’t see the outcome though; a sharp blow to the head knocked her unconscious and when she’d come to, Lilac had been there to heal her.

The journey to Hush was enjoyable, the ranger discovered that Lilac had also grown up in Leserd Forest, that her Aunt had been a friend of Paks’ Uncle, Tom. This meant in all likeliness, the two girls had probably crossed paths before. By the time the trio had reached the port of Hush, a fast friendship had been formed and the ranger asked the healer to join them, them being Xxian and herself, plus Clyde of course, as they headed south to the gnomes island property. Paks was pleased to hear Lilac agree and as she walked the streets of Hush, she felt the happiest she had in a long time. Reaching the tavern that she thought Xxian would frequent, the Ranger and the Healer stepped inside….

[Zee]

Joe:

*He had continued his trek for several days down the road from his previous town. Nothing of consequence had occured during that period of time. A rain had drenched him on the the day before he arrived at the town of hush though. A runny nose and a cough had developed from the wet clothes and the cold nights air. Still though the man was jovial, he had never been denied the right to share a bed chamber because he had a cold. His fingers still worked well enough too, so a tune on his violin may be possible should be find a suitable stage, just as he thinks that the sign for the salty dolphin appears on the building around the corner. He smiles as he tilts his head to the side and spots the inn. He trudges in past a group of two women and a very deviant looking gnome bumping into the injured of the women as he tries to make his way up to the bar. He pauses and tips his hat to the woman.*

"Appologies ma'am." *He bows to her slightly as he takes his leave and plops down at the bar looking for find a serving winch rather than the owner of the establishment.*

[Jereth Ingsbe]

The rattling of metal and wood shattered the deep black that had soothed him, and with the retreat of the darkness came the renewed pain in his head, though a mere ghost of the blinding agony he'd momentarily felt before his mind had dropped into night. Finding himself at the bottom of a roughly jostling wagon, a wagon lined with bars and secured with chains, he curses vehemently as he sits up. The dwarf was not alone in his rolling prison either, two other crumpled forms filled the small space. At the buckboard were a pair of jovial mercenaries, gleefully passing a jug between themselves and jesting loudly on their latest successful hunt.

In little more than his beard, the dwarf slides over to the two prisoners, finding them to be at least two of the half dozen companions he'd left Coops with. They too had been relieved of all their belongings, the mercs must have known to deprive their catch of all chances of trickery. The taller of the two humans, Grimm, was already dead, the dwarf knew their was a price on the man's head, dead of alive. Briv, the other human, seemed close to the same state, though he was a youngling as far as humans go, "Please... get them to h.. help," the young man gasped.

Glancing around the cage the dwarf spied his escape route, though he required at least a lockpick that the guards had already seen about. A sudden thought comes to him, "Lad," he whispers to the ailing man, "Ye remember that time in the bullywug cave?" The man nods, not quite sure what he meant, "Dems was tough times, ye got thru it, aye?" To which the man nods again, this time though relaxing at the comforting words. "Hey tell me again, ye fingers that we wired back on, left or right hand?" The youth chuckles weakly, unaware of the serious look on the dwarf's stony face, "My right," he rasps, glad such a good friend was with him in dire times. "Ack, good then," the dwarf says as he puts a broad calloused hand over the man's mouth and nose, his bulk and the young man's condition making it all too easy to smother his companion.

A quick glance over his shoulder at the still laughing guards assures the dwarf that his consciousness had still been unnoticed. Nodding to himself as he feels no pulse at the boy's neck, the dwarf brings the dead right hand up to his mouth and with determined bites peels the flesh back from the fingers, until blood-slick metal wire can be seen. With sturdier teeth than any human, the dwarf snips a part of the wire away and free, though he wonders if he'll be eatin walnuts anytime soon. Shaking his head he eyes the wire and the poorly made hinge he'd seen, the dwarf is about to go to work when...

"Hey dwarfie, you away then?"

Sure that the dead boy was going to give him away if not the bloody wire he clutched in his hands, it takes a moment before the dwarf turns to reply, but the merc had already looked back to the road, but still seemed to be waiting on an answer. "Ugh, how're we to get any rest with ye jackasses brayin up there?" To which the guard only laughs and goes back to his drinking and driving. Sighing the dwarf again works on the hinge, knowing it was only a matter of working it so far...

"Ye lads mighten know whats me charge?" The merc laughs, "Like I care, alls I know is that we're gettin paid to bring in Grimm and any of his band that might be breathin."

"Well ye shoulda been checkin the boards better, cuz ye see I've run with worse than Grimm." The guard sounded more amused than suprised when he replied, "Oh yeah like who?"

"Chief Blacktusk, o' the Hate Tongues, he taught me a lot o' things, like this!"

The naked dwarf had made his way to the top of the cage, having squeezed out thru a gap in the poorly made stucture, and now loops of sliced tacking floated to land around the head of each merc. Before the startled men can react, the dwarf drops between the wagon and the horses, pulling the pin attaching the horses to their burden, yet as the beasts run on, they continue to pull the two men by their necks, heedless of the strangled cries.

Bruised, battered, and in need of clothes, the dwarf grins as he watches the latest in a long line of people that have stood in his way, permanently learn from their mistake. Searching the wagon he finds what remained of his clothing and gear, though any of the loot that he'd had must have gone down the road, dragged behind two run-away horses.

No matter he shrugs, he knew the area and he'd be a kobald's mother before he couldn't hoof it the ten miles to Hush, if his name wasn't Arak Brimstorm.

[Xxian]

'Twas a pleasant afternoon in the city of Hush, perfect for an afternoons stroll around the various vendors stalls down by the docks, where almost anything could be bought, for a price.

The young gnome makes his way from table to table, pausing briefly to view that for sale, his eyes bright and full of imagination like any other of his age, then off again to the next.

His movement was slick and silent, his silk slippers he had to thank for that, along of course with his own atuned dexterity.

Women vendors always greeted him with a smile and often we very charitable, offering a sweet or slice of fruit, while thier husbands smiled along, with one eye fixed on any stock within a young arms reach.

Of course the vendors had nothinig to worry about, anything Chip wanted from them he was happy to pay for. The other people also on they buying side of the tables were his ever full coin purse!

In chip's experience it rarely proved profitable to steal from merchants, they were used to his kind and often knew the moves before any potential thief got close, they were always so tense, ready to ring a bell to call a guard or bring unwanted attention.  The 'punters' on the other hand never saw past his innocent boy smile.

Having grown up in the 'lesser fortunate' parts of Coops, like everyone else Chip had learned the methods required to acquire whatever was needed.  He had also the brains to quickly work out that greed was the downfall of many-o-man and as such lived a comfortable life with only the possessions he needed to do so. Traveling light also had its advantages, if you needed to quickly disappear without a trace.

A commotion starting around a stall some 20 yards away saw Chip slip up a side alley without raising suspicion.  Some unlucky shopper had just discovered his coin purse missing and was blaming everyone within arms reach for stealing it. Taking staggered line through a couple of alleys, he set his direction back towards the docks and within about a minute of leaving, he was back, far enough away from the commotion to be considered a suspect.

Reaching the end of the stalls, he turns up one of the main streets planning on making his way to the markets on the opposite side of town when out the corner of his eye he spots a familiar face sitting in a booth of a tavern, through an open window.

"Uncle Xxian? Is that you?"

[Xxian]

Xxian looks up with a mixed expression of surprise, shock, and bewilderment on his face. The hard looking character he was talking to made it an opportune moment to depart the table, leaving Xxian alone with his nephew.

"It is! It is Xxain, yeees! Where you been, what you doing here, who here with you then?" he blurts out in one breath.

"I decided to do some traveling, no future for me in Coops, what, 'less I wanna be somebody elses fingers that is" he says with a shrug.

"Thought I'd get out and see a bit, you know, theres lots of tales in our family of wild adventures on the sea, fighting monsters in deep caverns, rubbing shoulders with the toffs and relieving them of their hard earned" he says with a wink "so what are you doing here, last time I saw you was, heck, long time ago now, you was helping yer pop fortify the city from memory, we were only in Jaquay for a few days, you proll'y wouldn't even remember, so tell me Unc, what are you doing here then?

Xxian had shuffled himself right over to the window, in fact, he was near half hanging out, swigging away at a tankard keenly listening to his nephews tale.

"Well, been all over has Xxian, been to war too Xxian has, did win, so it ok" he says with a wink "Now going to Xxians tavern we are, to start best beer making brewery in the world, yeees, that right, the best uh huh!" he says enthusiastically then takes another long sup from his tankard, his long pointy tongue wiping off his foamy mustache.

"Just did buy another ship Xxian did, with crew too (he leans in and whispers) it used to be a PIRATE ship it did, yees! you wanna come see?"

"Too right Uncle Xxi, where is your tavern? Do you have to sail to get there? Can i come?" the little one says jumping around like a puppy.

Xxian finishes his tankard and leaps out the window, with his arm around Chip's shoulder they head down to the docks to take a look at his latest acquisition.

"Ahh she's a beauty" Chip exclaims, his eyes as big as saucers and his mouth gaping at the size of it, his eyes twitching as he watches several crew members about their chores on deck.

"Aye that she be!"  Xxian replies in his best pirate accent, then laughing he turns the boy around and starts walking back towards the tavern.

"back to tavern Xxian must go, waiting for someone, yes, someone who helping Xxian, she be here soon, Xxian not want to make her angry by not being where he meant to be, Paks wack Xxian with big stick she will!" his animations and speech making Chip burst into laughter.

"Haha ok then, but I'm coming with you now, ok?"

Xxian nods "You come, but got to work too you know, this one not easy this adventure, and Xxi... Uncle Xxian just used last of his money he did on ship, cant afford to look after two now. And, where your mother, she know where you are? Best ask her first Xxain think"

"Its ok" chip replied "i can look after 'me own" he says with a wink as they enter the tavern. "Ma knows where I am, well, in a round about way" he continues, wriggling his eyebrows over a cheeky grin.

[gerin]

" Foooooooooooooooood " Ruul said to himself when he was staring at the bread and sausage he had just been given.

The farmer just stared " Boy, you shouldnt starve yourself when your traveling, you have the look of someone that has found a big table of food..... "

Ruul was snarfing down quickly, choking, eating again.

The farmer just laughed at the sigth.

An hour or so ago Ruul had found Ben Waterson, a local farmer on the road, his carriage had broken a wheel, and hed helped fix it, gaining a ride towards town at the same time, and better yet, food.

" mpf....Thank...Scrf...You ! "

Choking again he grabs his waterskin and drinks it dry to get the food down, before leaning back with a happy face.

" Ahhhhh i feel alive again ! "

(( to be continued, need to reach the bus ! O.o ))

[Mudguard]

It was dark and quiet. The man’s face  was contorted into a mask of agony and despair.
“…and so I take my leave.”
He pulled a dagger from his side and drew it back high above his head before plunging it in his chest.
The blood sprayed out of him and he slumped to the ground.

There were gasps and heavy thuds on the ground.
They’re fainting! They’re fainting! I am a genius!

After a full minute had passed the man rose slowly and at the same time the room was lit up. He looked down at the people before him. Several women were being fanned into consciousness again and even their gallant attendants had pale tear stained faces. They looked at him as if he was a ghost.
The man’s face burst into a broad grin and he bowed.
There was a short silence and then the room erupted into applause.
Wonderful! A genius!

He moved to the side of the stage. A bent little man was waiting for him with a small bag of gold.
“Profits here have doubled. They’re drinking like fish! Here take this. It’s your cut.”

Agneus walked with his money into the audience.
“Friends drink with me tonight and be merry. I give you grief and now I give you joy!”
He gives the coins back to the innkeeper. “That should cover it eh?.”

[Mudguard]

Light seeped into the darkness of the room. Agneus rolled over in the bed and opened his eyes. He immediately shut them again. “No. No. Never again. No.” His clutched his head , clotted with drink, as another sharp stab of pain coarsed through it.
After a moment he became aware of the sound of water splashing in the next room. He stood up and tried to keep his balance as the room spun round. He peeked through a crack in the door and saw the back of an ample woman washing herself. She turned round to pick up a sponge and Agneus saw her face. He gasped and retreated.

“Lady Casterrs. Great galloping galoots! How did she get in? Her husband will kill me if he finds out.”

Without wasting a moment, he flung on his pants , gathered his meagre belongings and moved to the window.
The sun was not yet up in the grey dawn. Heavy fog obscured everything. He opened the window as quietly as possible and slid down the drain pipe from his second floor room at the tavern. He then took to his heels in the direction of the docks.

[Jereth Ingsbe]

It was dark when the dwarf finally found his way into the hushed streets of .... well, Hush. Wanting to avoid any undue notice Arak stayed near the darkened alleyways, though as he moved into the town he found a mist rising from the direction of the docks, aiding his movements, but at the same time rousing his caution, a blind deep gnome could get lost in this soup.

Following his instincts to avoid the more 'mainstream' of the populace, the black bearded, pale faced, ball of muscle manages to find the water front, mostly from the sound of water slapping at the docks. Luckily the darkened city makes finding those places still wakeful was made easy.

"Salted Dolphin? Think I'll be orderin' a bowl o' tha stew..."

He snorts in derision and spits into the street, already wishing the place had good strong brew, never one to want any more company than a good keg and a quiet barkeeper.

[Mudguard]

Casting nervous glances about him, Agneus moved through the dank fog occasionally stumbling on a slippery cobblestone. Suddenly a figure loomed up out of the fog. Agneus collided with it and fell backwards onto the ground.

“I’ve been looking for you.” a voice said and hauled Agneus up with a vice-like grip.
“You’re coming with me.”

Agneus struggled feebly but a combination of shock and nausea did for him and he fainted.
“Needs to eat more pasta…” said the voice as it moved away dragging Agneus in its wake.


When Agneus came to, he found himself in a small room  looking at a sturdy grey-haired peasant with a Roman nose and bushy eyebrows.

“Uncle Paulo.” Agneus said groggily. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ll keep it short. I’ve already wasted two days in this place looking for you. I must get back to my nets soon. Those fish aren’t going to haul themselves in.”
“I’ve something you have to do for the Family. At the moment our name is being disgraced. My 6th daughter, your cousin, Emilia has gone missing."

Pouting moonfaced girl a good 10 years younger than himself.

“What is disgraceful is that the son of our fellow villagers, the Vicenzi’s, has also gone missing. Old man Vicenzi is spreading the word that our little girl has led their boy astray."

That’d be right. Brazen little hussy and only 15 too!

Paulo was growing animated. “I swear I’ll gut that old bastard like a fish if he even so much as raises a silly eyebrow at me again in church!" He whipped out a 10 inch gutting knife and stabbed it into the wooden table.

Ageneus recoiled slightly and said “What do you want me to do?”

Paulo continued “Well find her, of course! And bring her back home!”
“Damn kid’s got bird shit for brains.” he muttered to himself before continuing.
“Basically, we’ve got fishing to do and the Vicenzi clan to deal with. We know you don’t have a job so we thought it best if you did it.”

Agneus opened his mouth to speak and then shut it.

“I met my old friend Francesco at the docks here in Fairingtown last night. He thought it couldn’t be, but he was sure he saw a girl that looked just like Emilia boarding a ship to Hush not 2 days ago. That would be a good place to start. Here’s some money for the fare. Now get going.”

That little tart! How dare she bring this responsibility on me!

Agneus nodded to his uncle and had his hand half-crushed in a farewell handshake.

Well I do need to go away for a few days...

And so it was that Agneus, having collected some dirt from the ground to ensure he would find his way back to Fairingtown and walked up the gangplank backwards to ensure a safe journey, found himself sailing for the port city of Hush.

[Mudguard]

It wasn’t a long journey and Agneus managed to behave himself, mostly. There was an extremely awkward incident at a card game when his neighbour, a drunken fat merchant, reached into his pocket to bet more money and found that his coin bag was completely empty. Luckily the lout was half stupid and accused every man in the room of cheating and theft and so was promptly escorted out of the room.
Agneus drank well with his new found companions that night much to his regret the following day. At lunchtime the ship docked at Hush.

Before leaving the boat Agneus packed away his elaborate pom pommed shoes and satin cloak into a sack and instead garbed himself in a filthy tattered old brown robe.
“No! No! Never again!” he said to himself, clutching his head with one hand, as he backed down the gangplank carrying his sack.

He hobbled up from the docks and choosing a place with a large amount of traffic prostrated himself on the ground moaning and clutching at people’s shoes.
After some time he stood up. “Well that’s much better.” The extended groveling had somehow got him through the worst of his hangover. He picked up the money that had been dropped in front of him. Altogether it added up to three gold coins. Not bad. Not bad at all. He could safely say he had the temperature, as it were, of Hush. And it was completely normal. Three vicious kicks aimed at the head(all swiftly avoided), one fanatically kind attempt to take him to an infirmary, some indifferent passerbys and a number of compassionate people who had dropped coins at his head.

He brushed himself off and started to walk. It was late afternoon.
“What I need now is a hot bath.” he thought.

"What’s this? 'The salted Dolphin'? How ridiculous! Oh well. It’ll do.”
Agneus raises his left hand and clicks its fingers besides each ear before entering the tavern.