Aventures on Darmus

[Ravenloft]

Cervantes:

"Of course." Cervantes said as he nodded, his still damp hair swaying with the action. He flashed Vixen a wicked smile. Looking up, Cervantes saw Valdimer swaying on his feet. "Come on ya drunken bastard... To your room with you... To sleep it off... I have a feeling we're gonna need your sword hand steady tomorow..." Cervantes said, sounding like a gruff sailor. "Vomit doesn't really scare the kobolds away..." And with that, Cervantes started weeling Valdimer up the stairs, to his room.

Ravenloft

 

[Moneytalks]

Stagwart & Vixen

Stagwart motioned with a short movement that the other three knights including Frederick should follow him. The four knights followed the retreating figures of Cervantes and Valdimer and found their own rooms to bed for the night.

Vixen lead Gwen up to their room and Vixen pulled off her shirt, boots and pants without any hint of embarrassment before sliping beneath the blanket provided such that it was. She rolled over effectively turning her back on Gwen, and in moments it appeared that she was asleep.

The room was small, a feeble fire crackled in the fireplace providing minimal warmth. The window, such that it was, was very small, not enough room for child to get through let alone a fully grown adult.

"I'd get as much rest as possible M'Lady..." Vixen muttered, "we have a long ride tomorrow and then you'll be seeing Lord Malvort..." Vixen tried to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that Malvort may indeed be hiding evil intentions against the young woman now in her charge. She was used to hearing accusations of treason, so she held that particular statement from Gwen in little regard... still... her mind clicked over as she went over the possibilities. First thing was first... she needed to complete her job and collect her wages... then she'd see... she decided.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Gwen

"Goodnight then," Gwen agreed peacefully. There was nothing to be gained from arguing with Vixen. Muffin, hurry!

 

[KillerMuffin]

Muffin

"Well, Rocky, we'd better go if we're going to catch up with Gwen and the others. Though I'm not real sure what we're going to do when we get there. Gwen never did tell me what do to with this book."

Dragon heaved a sigh, as if to say, "How can any one person be so dumb?"

Muffin saddled him up, then swung aboard. She held her hand out to Rocky, to help him mount, but he vaulted aboard easily without it. Dragon flattened his ears, but didn't say anything.

"Take care of that book, young lady. Ellowyn was the strongest sorcerer," at Dragon's angry neigh, "sorry, wizard, that the Elvish have ever produced," the elf king said. It shocked Muffin that he'd bothered to see them off. The king patted Dragon's shoulder. "Take care of yourself, brother."

Dragon nuzzled the king's hair, the pivoted and raced through Wood. Once he hit humanside proper, he exploded into his hurricane run. It was a good thing he knew where he was going, because Muffin was lost.

 

[Valdimer]

Valdimer

"Off to bed with you." Cervantes said, leaving Valdimer at the door to his room. A slight wobble in his footing, Valdimer still easily enough opened the door to his room. Walking in, Val made his way to the fireplace, and started piling on kindling and small logs. Getting a fire started, Valdimer started unbuckling his armour. He took the sword from around his waist, and slung it around the bed post, near his head. Dropping the rest of his dragon scale armour, he climbed into bed, and fell asleep.

In his dreams......

The ground was stained with blood. The cries of war could be heard all around him. The Armour Clad had made thier final assault on the capital city of Browning. Alongside Valdimer stood the king, King Korg. "KEEP YOUR DISTANCE! WHEN THEY FALL, SOME SORT OF ELECTRICITY COMES OUT!", Val shouted to his regiment of men. Bolts of electricity could be seen all around, and his men were falling. Valdimer's sword swung high, and came crashing down apon one of the Armour Cald soldiers. Before the man could hit the ground, Val turned to the next, bringing his sword up from the ground, splitting the next in half. Dragons with riders flew overhead, attacking the Aromour Clad from the sky. Soldiers, mercenaries, and griffions attacked from the ground, and still the Armour Clad were winning.

Valdimer shot up from his deep sleep, dripping cold sweat. Taking short, and quick breaths, Val thought, ' Jesus, that was twenty years ago.....'

Valdimer got up from his bed, and made his way to the window. Resting his hands on the window sill, Valdimer looked to the moonless sky....

 

[Moneytalks]

Vixen...

A good hour before first light Vixen's eyes snapped open. She didn't move. She lay perfectly still as she adjusted to her surroundings. It had been some time since she had the luxury of a room. She quietly slipped from her bed and dressed.

She checked her boots for her favorite knives and her belt for it's well hidden pocket of coins.

She started a small fire to warm the room for the Lady Gwen and then left the room to pay the Inn Keeper for his rooms and the food from the night before. She also finalised payment for a horse for Cervantes.

Finally she sat back nursing a tankard of ale as she gave instructions to the stable-hands and the barmaids for supplies they required for the last part of their journey.

The sky lightened slowly as the first rays of light from the morning sun hit the shuttered windows of the Inn. Vixen sent one of the barmaids to waken Lady Gwen and any of the others that showed no sign of rising. She tossed the girl a silver coin for her trouble.

 

[Valdimer]

Valdimer

Valdimer stood at the window sill. He had been there all night. Turning from the window sill, the early morning sun agianst his back, Valdimer grabed his armour and started to buckle it on to himself. Taking his sword, he straped it around his waist. Making his way down the stairs, he saw Vixen, drinking a mug of ale. "Do you mind if I sit?" Val said. Vixen gave a slight nod, and Valdimer pulled his chair out. "You have the same feelings I do, I can tell. You dont trust some of your own men, and are unsure as to how Malvort will handle Gwen once we arrive in the city. All I can really say M'lady, is be prepared." Val said, motioning for a barmaid. The barmaid came over, and Valdimer asked for a clean mug of ale. The ale came, and Valdimer paid the barmaid. Turning back to Vixen, Val continued. "My sword you can count on, M'lady, that much you can trust." he said, taking a small swig of his ale, keeping eye contact with Vixen.

 

[Ravenloft]

Cervantes:

Cervantes grumbled when he heard the constant nocking at his door. He cracked an eye open and looked at the closed door with annoyance. "...What?" He groaned. "Sir... The lady Vixen has asked that all her riding companions be roused..." Came the reply from beyond the door. Setting up, Cervantes rubbed at his face, glancing at the door again. "Very well, I will be on my way in a moment." He sighed. "Very well m'lord." The man said from the other side of the door, then he was off to rouse the rest of the men. Cervantes ran his fingers through his hair, catching several snags. When he was satisfied with smoothing his hair out he stood and scratched at his chest as he grabbed his waded up clothing and began to dress.

In a moment he was done as he opened the door of his room and stepped out into the hall. He walked past the one who had woke him just as he knocked at the door of another of Vixen's troops. Cervantes took the stairs down to the tavern two at a time, emerging into the smoke scented room, he looked over to see Val and Vixen setting at a table together. He came up to them. "Mornin." He said as he took one of the remaining seats and looked between the two of them.

 

[Rockingham]

Rocky had his nose in the book for most of the day. He didn't understand most of the words, but it was very interesting. The front told a great story of wizards and knights and princesses, but most of it had incantations. It was all weird, but somehow it made sense. Rocky came across a few spells of summoning familiar's he remembered that's what Muffin was talking about.
"Muffin," he asked her, feeling a little reluctant, "I was wondering, could you help me summon a familiar? I always wanted to learn more about magic, but I never got the chance."

 

[Moneytalks]

Vixen...

Vixen digested Valdimer's words. Already she knew he was a man who could be counted on. His words of warning she took seriously. Cervantes entered and sat at the table with them before she answered.

She nodded her head in acknowledgement of Cervantes' "Mornin."

She turned to Valdimer... looking over her ale at him. She wondered if he had always been so honourable. She herself seemed to have found herself dragged into the world of honour. She had been quite happy as a theif and part-time paid assassin... until certain events... of which now Cervantes was inedibly part of... forced her to take stock of her new found feelings of guilt and caring.

Now she sighed, realising she could not escape the obvious. Malvort wasn't a good man... she had known it instinctively when she had applied for the job... she'd dismissed that seeing as she was only being asked to bring a person back to him for questioning. The Lady Gwen though wasn't a stupid woman, nor was she dangerous, let alone evil. The words from last nights conversation floated back to her.

"You're right to warn me Valdimer... and I thank you for your offer... I fear I shall have to take you up on it before long..." she smiled putting down her ale. She stood up and stretched with feline abandon before looking down at Valdimer curiously.

"Did you sleep well M'Lord Valdimer?" She asked.

Just then though a stablehand entered the Inn and hurried over to Vixen.

"M'Lady... I was told you wished to look over the horses before your departure.. they are ready now." He said.

"Fine.." Vixen started to follow the boy out, but turned to address the two men at the table first. "Gentlemen... could you make sure that everyone is ready to leave within the next ten minutes? I intend to arrive at Lord Malvort's castle before dark." She looked at them both, wondering vaguely how they came to know each other, the shrugged and followed the boy outside to the stables.

 

[Ravenloft]

Cervantes:

Cervantes was giving Valdimer his 'I had really really good sex and you just got drunk and passed out' look before focusing his eyes upon Vixen, he was so obviously undressing her with them. He licked his lips, giving her his 'god, I wanna have mad, passionate sex with you until one of us passes out' type of looks.

 

[Psycho_64]

After spending all night outside wandering the streets Aristus came upon a decision. This decision took all night and after it was made he headed back to the Bar/Inn.

It was just beginning to reach morning and the sun had just broken the horizon. He was heading down the street when a feeling of apprehension washed over him like a sudden downpour of rain. Something seemed wrong and all those who were inside probably did not see or feel anything wrong. More than likely Cervantes was just stopping or just beginning (again) to have sex. The phrase "I fell like I'm being watched" would apply greatly here.

Aristus did not know who or what it was nor did he have time because he just saw a stable hand walk into the bar which meant they would all leave soon. He grasped his book and proceeded to the Inn with a little quicker pace. This does not bode well, and hopefully whatever is watching all of them will stay in the town.

Walking calmly through the door he looked directly at Val, " So Vlad when are we leaving?"

 

[Moneytalks]

Stagwart & fellow knights.

Stagwart, Frederick and the other two knights came down with the sound of clanking armour. They looked as bright eyed as they were gleaming. All had been trained to care for their armour when given a place to rest. Also, it would be easy to imagine that they felt the need to look the part as they were now returning home.

Frederick nodded and smiled at Valdimer, Aristus and Cervantes. Stagwart and him men clearly snubbed them all.

Lady Gwen also joined them just as Vixen returned from the stables. She scowled at Cervantes who kept giving her... 'that' look. Doing her best to ignore him she addressed them all.

"The horses are ready... let's go..."

She took Lady Gwen's hand and lead her outside. She helped Gwen onto her own mare and then mounted behind her. She didn't wait for the others, she had made sure they each had a horse of their own now that Gwen rode with her.

She urged the mare into a canter towards Lord Malvort's castle. Expecting that the others would follow.

The knights clambered heavily onto their equally armoured steeds and hurriedly urged them to follow Vixen.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Muffin

"Uncle 'Leaf could. I'm not allowed to do any more Familiar summoning until I understand what it is. Uncle 'Leaf doesn't want anymore like Dragonbait running around. He says it's bad form."

Dragon added a little jump buck into his run that rattled their brains. He either echoed Uncle 'Leaf's opinion or objected to being 'bad form.' Or both.

"Maybe after we catch up to Gwen!" That gave Muffin pause. "Do you think we should sneak up on them? Or just kind of ride in and say hi!"

 

[Ravenloft]

Cervantes:

Riding up next to Stagwart, giving a sort of 'whats up' nod, looking over the man's undented armor. "NEW peice from the blacksmith huh? NEVER been used??" A cocky smirk slid across Cervantes's lips as he sped his horse up to ride along Vixen, giving her a 'looking forward to ravishing you again tonight' wink.

Off handedly, Cervantes craned his head over his shoulder, shouting back to Valdimer. "Val! Why don't you show StagWART a REAL man's armor!!"

Ravenloft

 

[Guest]

Valdimer

"We are leaving now Aristus." Val said, making his way out of the bar. Straddling his horse, along with all the others, Valdimer turned to follow Vixen. Taking a glance around as he left, Valdimer had a chill run down his spine. Shivering, he rode just a bit faster. Riding up to where Cervantes was, and responding to his statement, Valdimer proudly showed off his trail worn armour.

"See here Stagwort, this armour has saved my life!' giving it a solid pound," I can trust it. Yours? Hmmm, not too sure about that. It looks like it has never seen the dust and spark of battle."

Valdimer's armour had obviously seen battle. Slightly sun worn, the green of the armour had started to fade. Sword niches could be seen throughout, with a slight dent here and there. No scales missing, showing that he did take care of it. Valdimer let his horse fall back to the end of the line, next to Aristus watching carefully Stagwort and Gwen.....

 

[Valdimer]

That was me, damn, I hate computers sometimes....

 

[Rockingham]

Rocky waited for the bumpiness to end, he finally took both hands from Muffin's waist.
"Well, to tell you the truth, that's sort of why I was reading the book. It actually isn't that depressing for a book of the dead."
He ducked as the passed over a low tree branch. His hair feeling the leaves.
"You said that Gwen needed the book, if that's true we need to give it to her," he paused, "But the three that have kidnapped her will know about this book. So, I think there's only one thing we can do."
He didn't think this was very smart at all, but is was all he had.
"I think we should kidnap Gwen back from them and give her the book. If she knows how to use it, she will know what to do from there."

 

[KillerMuffin]

"That's a good idea Rocky," Muffin said. "We'll kidnap her and she'll know what to do with this dumb book. When we catch up to them, I'll cast a spell that'll make Gwen and us invisible to them, and we'll grab her horse and run. No, they could still stop us. Stagwart knows about magic. I'll cast a spell that'll stop them from moving for an hour, that'll give us time to get away and it won't hurt anyone."

Dragon heaved a sigh and ran faster. They were going to need all the help they could get. It wouldn't take long for them to catch up.

 

[Moneytalks]

Vixen...

Vixen felt the hairs on the back of her neck react to something her human side couldn't quite decipher. She glanced over her shoulder and ignored Valdimer and Cervantes mocking Stagwart. Stagwart's jaw was clenched and his eyes flashed menacingly.

She looked passed all this to Aristus who rode in the rear.

"Aristus!" She called out... beckoning him closer.

She slowed a little herself instructing Stagwart to take the lead.

"Aristus..." she spoke as they levelled with each other. "I... I sense something odd... do you have any idea what it could be?"

 

[Moneytalks]

Squirrel

Just at this moment... a little Squirrel fell out of the tree and scrambled for a purchase on something. It found Rocky's head. It clung for dear life as it was suddenly whisked forward by the speed of the horse Rocky rode. It chittered away excitedly digging it's claws into Rocky's face as it clung for it's life. It's long bushy tail wrapped itself around Rocky's neck. Anyone who thinks squirrel tails are just for decoration... haven't had one tight around their own neck.

 

[Psycho_64]

"Well M'Lady Vixen to be truthful when we were in town just before we left I did sense an odd presence bearing down on us but thought (and hoped he thought) that it would leave once we left town. I never did feel truly comfortable in that town."

He paused to look and see if the others were listening, they were not. He continued " But it seems that someone or something has followed us out of town and is pursueing us even as we speak. I don't know what yet but be rest assured that we have plenty of manpower to confront any evil."

His words he hoped sounded assuring to her, he wasn't so convinced though. This was not a normal feeling of slight fear this was something that could very well kill half of them. He hoped to whatever God he worshiped at that time that they would at least make it to the castle or dungeon or whatever before it reached them.

 

[Rockingham]

"Ok, it sounds like a plan, I've never been too inteligent about making plans. If you think it'll work though, I'll do anything that can help."
Then, just then, he was attacked. Ouch, his head hurt really bad. He cried in pain as he grabbed what had just nearly killed him.
"Awww," it was a scared squirrel. Rocky held it comforting, pretty soon it was relaxed again. Rocky smiled, he lovd animals, all kinds of animals. He decided to keep this one, cause it was so cute.
He opened up his pocket.
Oh no, he forgot about the other squirrel. The first one was sleeping comfortably in his pocket. Rocky frowned, he supposed they could both sleep together. He woke the first one up.
"Meet your new roomate," he put the squirrel in, they played for a minute before both nodding off to sleep. Rocky felt so happy, just like a daddy.
He closed the pocket. Nothing could stop him now, he was on top of the world.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Dragon grunted and slowed down to a canter. He moved beside the road so that his hoofbeats were muffled by the soft dirt.

"Sssshhh, we're getting close," Muffin hissed at Rocky. "Now what was that spell? Oh yeah.

"Up ahead there is a big group of meanies
Who have armor like beanie weenies
They're moving fast
Like future to past
Except for Gwen stop them for an hour, pleasies."

Muffin winced. That was bad poetry.

Up ahead, the group that had been moving along at a decent pace came to a sudden standstill. Uncle 'Leaf would be proud.

Gwen, who recognized the aura of magic just as well as Aristus did, muttered to herself importantly and moved her fingers purposely. Aristus looked at her suspiciously, then the spell struck. She wasn't sure where Muffin was, but Malvort was forward and not Malvort was backwards, so she kicked her horse into a gallop and ran in the opposite direction. She almost ran down Muffin, but Dragon twisted and paced her horse.

"Did you get the book!" Gwen yelled. Rocky held it out to her. "DON'T DROP IT!!!!" She snatched the book from Rocky, before it became lost. "We have to get to the Standing Stones near Darmus! We don't have much time, they'll be after us!"

 

[Ravenloft]

Cervantes:

A cocky smile slipped onto Cervantes's lips as he listened to Valdimer taunt Stagwart, watching the man grow irritated with it.

"If you think THATS something, Stagster... I don't even NEED armor! Hahahah!" Cervantes said in a loud voice.