|
Post by Diocles on Jan 6, 2021 7:19:22 GMT
The common room of the Net Inn is just what you'd expect for a wharfside tavern in a small town. All the sailors and fishermen turn to watch you cross the room, for you are very out of place. Young, beautiful, female, red-haired. You see the Grorekathi captain sitting at a table with some local Zenji playing cards and drinking.
"Look at this flame-haired vision!" he cries out at you.
|
|
|
Post by Storyteller on Jan 6, 2021 7:39:31 GMT
I smile, blushing. I approach him quickly, for the crowd is a bit ebullient for my comfort.
I curtsy to the Captain. "Greetings, Captain," I say. "I am come seeking your Sentinel."
I make sure that I am not too near any of the others. Not that I trust the Captain particularly, but I can handle one male at a time well enough.
|
|
|
Post by Diocles on Jan 6, 2021 7:48:11 GMT
A cloud passes over the captain's merrymaking for a moment, but he rallies with an even brighter smile. "Then you're just in time for a drink, little girl, because that's why I'm here: raising a mug for his glory and to his memory, for, alas, our sentinel fell to one of those damned black-eyed ice wurms with its damned red-hot back!"
|
|
|
Post by Storyteller on Jan 6, 2021 8:15:33 GMT
My heart skips a beat. Surely, it was not my dear friend Mikkel? I, too, however, rally.
"Then may I join you? I would like to drink to his memory, too." I move to sit beside him, if he looks amenable.
|
|
|
Post by Diocles on Jan 6, 2021 8:19:42 GMT
When you indicate that you want to sit next to him, the captain pushes the nearest fisherman out of his chair and gives it to you. The Zenji scrambles to his feet, angry, but the captain lays his hand on the pommel of his scimitar, and the fisherman backs down, stomping off to the bar to order another drink.
"We're drinking the local firewater," the captain says, handing you a mug of black beer, "some kind of honey beer." He raises his mug in a silent toast to you and, obviously, your sudden beauty.
|
|
|
Post by Storyteller on Jan 6, 2021 8:23:56 GMT
"Thank you," I say. I am Elunian, and my constitution is quite surprisingly good when it comes to alcohol. I gesture for one of my own without concern about it oversetting me. "I am sorry to have brought sadness to your memory. Would you speak to me of your Sentinel? I am dear friends with a Sentinel of the Skafa clan, and I had hoped..."
My voice trails off. I had been hoping to gain news of him, but perhaps I shall now hear only of his death. It depends on whether he was with this caravan or not.
|
|
|
Post by Diocles on Jan 6, 2021 8:25:26 GMT
The captain looks at you. "So you knew Ironeye, eh?" Your fears are confirmed. "He was a good Sentinel, the best, really! Never had a mind for his own safety when it came to protecting the caravan."
|
|
|
Post by Storyteller on Jan 6, 2021 8:26:59 GMT
Tears come to my eyes. "Oh, yes. I knew Mikkel. He spoke often of the caravan, and his Captain, though he did not mention you by name."
Iritari has fallen beneath the waves, and now dear Mikkel Ironeye has died?
|
|
|
Post by Diocles on Jan 6, 2021 8:28:39 GMT
"Indeed he was a good man." The captain drains his mug and calls for another. You quickly learn that drinking the memory of a fallen Sentinel is an inviolate tradition that must be performed by the Captain of the caravan. And so you are obliged to match the Grorekathi mug for mug, for you have openly claimed Mikkel Ironeye as your friend. "So how did you know him, little one?"
|
|
|
Post by Storyteller on Jan 6, 2021 8:30:08 GMT
"I met him once when he was on his way to the north to do some sort of studying," I say. It is true, so far as it goes, but I am leaving quite enough "breadcrumbs" without having the name "Mairwyn of Ravenwood" bandied about. "We spent a few weeks together."
|
|
|
Post by Diocles on Jan 6, 2021 8:31:44 GMT
"Ironeye protected the caravan for many seasons, and we weren't too far from Zenji lands when a damned ice wurm burrowed up underneath us. The Sentinel told us to go on, and I saw with my own eyes as he and the monster fell into the cave it'd made!"
So the captain did not actually see Mikkel die.
|
|
|
Post by Storyteller on Jan 6, 2021 8:33:38 GMT
Galadrin and Alaxton preserve Mikkel! I think. "W-where was that precisely?" I ask. Could it be that Mikkel is not dead? "I should like to visit his final resting place," I say. "And sing Elunian mourning songs..."
|
|
|
Post by Diocles on Jan 6, 2021 8:38:58 GMT
The captain eyes you sidelong. "You're braver than you look! Why you'd fall to pieces if you saw one of those monsters. Best to steer clear. I can show you on the map later just where the thing attacked."
|
|
|
Post by Storyteller on Jan 6, 2021 8:40:26 GMT
"Thank you," I say. "And I am here with my cousin, Aethyl, and our Skenje gladiator companion," I say. "They can help look after me."
|
|
|
Post by Diocles on Jan 6, 2021 8:42:11 GMT
"So you're not totally unprotected." The captain winks at you. "Well I've been all over and know when to make a move and when not to. A girl of your beauty doesn't just walk into a bar without being able to protect herself, and one of your beauty must be powerful indeed, for great power would be needed to guard such beauty."
|
|