"Aye! Let's cut off that foolish tongue of yours and shed some blood. Shame on you greenhorn!"-Dixie spins the hook in a menacing manner, ready to attack for self-defense.
Charisma (Intimidation): 15(rolled with disadvantage)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
With a threatening whirl of the rope and hook, Dixie throws out the line aiming for the fidgeting mouse, shouting energetically from the top of the vocal cords, "How dare you challenge a ranger?"She's not oblivious of the fact that once the adrenaline rush ends, she'll go completely numb, drained of what little energy is left.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Dixie's blow staggers the scion recruit, opening a bloody gash across his face, from brow to jaw. A howl of pain and fury escapes as he lunges at the raging rabbit ranger, half-blinded by the blood seeping into his eye! First blood has been drawn, but despite his horrific injury, he persists. 8
"Get Her!!" He cries out for his companions to enter the fray, but Dixie's opening move was enough to keep them at a distance. ("C'mon, let's get outta here!" "Yeah, let's go!")
At first, it does not seem like his compatriots will be able to drag him off, but once the initial shock wears off, even he knows he must go. Dixie's shrill screaming has summoned the Townsguard proper, and it would not do for them to be caught out like this, dealing such violence in the streets.
"You will pay for this. And that eight-legged freak, too. We will come for you both. We know what he did!"
And with that, they're off, just as four Townsguard round the corner.
"She took the pup's eye clean out o' his head, near ripped his throat open!" The witness is wrong, of course, but it was difficult to tell, for all the blood.
"Halt!! Drop your weapon!!" Dixie knows she is too spent to flee, could never get away from the guards, in her current state.
After hours of rest, Hurdrak senses movement. He remains still but speaks out. "Should I be touched or concerned that you are watching me sleep Blackbur? Or did you not know that we spiders do not blink?"
After hours of rest, Hurdrak senses movement. He remains still but speaks out. "Should I be touched or concerned that you are watching me sleep Blackbur? Or did you not know that we spiders do not blink?"
“You should be thoughtful of your place in the Mouse Guard.“ Blackbur tries to cover up being startled with being angry. “A tenderpaw should not keep secrets from their patrol leader. You will tell me what you have done that caused... that event out in the cave. Or you will find I cannot protect you from the mob that would lynch you if the Lonelybark townsfolk found out about it.”
Mistral awakens, somewhat refreshed, but with a sinking feeling that something is wrong. Descending from his roosting spot, he goes in search of the other patrol members.
The hook covered with fresh blood had hit the ground with a metallic thud. Dixie had been surprised to find herself in that kind of embarrassing position, a skilled ranger severely injuring one of the pups on the verge of seeing red? She had lifted both of her hands in submission, showing no ill motive and waiting for the unveiling of another unfortunate day.
His initial investigations concluded, Sirithal moves onto a newly discovered ritual.
Firstly he lights a brazier in the corner of his room, normally unlit due to his arcane-induced preference for a cooler climate. While waiting for the brazier to come up to temperature he potters around his desk, grinding some herbs and other chemicals in preparation for the ritual ahead. Then, taking up a bag of sand, he pours it onto the floor of his room in a very specific arcane spiral, centred on the brazier.
Preparations complete, and the brazier now up to a steady heat, he sprinkles his prepared incense and herbs onto the brazier and begins. 'An'al nadrach, uth'vas spethad, doch'yel dienvay...' he starts to intone, channeling the emerging arcane energies through the spiral and into the brazier...
...
Almost an hour later, sweat is pouring from Sirithal's brow, his room is sweltering and humid, and the ritual comes to a crescendo. Suddenly the brazier quenches itself in a great roiling hiss of steam, and the room goes dark, his candles also having been extinguished at the moment of culmination.
'Massster....' comes a soft whisper from the darkness.
Mistral awakens. Before the sinking feeling sets in, he recalls dreaming of the stars, seldom seen in the winter sky, but for when Auril lifts the cloak of twilight. But he saw them in his dreams, vivdly, and they called to him.
When he arises, he notices something different about the speckled owlbear hide he had pulled about himself for warmth, in the chilly barracks. Underneath, all the stars of the night sky are depicted, almost glowing! And they are slowly moving, shifting...
When Dixie awakens, she does not even remember falling asleep, she was so exhausted. It even takes a moment for her to recall the events of the previous evening. Then it hits her, the weight of her actions, how her hook had torn the boy's face open...
That explains the shackles.
"Get up!! Your interrogation has been postponed. Apparently you are a key witness! Do what is asked of you, and you might just lose a paw, for your insolence!"
"Come now. That is no way to speak to our guest. Remove the shackles. She comes with me."
This new voice comes from a tall doe with piercing black eyes, wearing a luxurious fur cloak. Flanking her are six guards in gold cloaks, with chain visible beneath.
"Easy now, pet. You are not the one we are after. All you have to do is tell the truth, when we put the spider on trial. Just say exactly what happened. That is all. Come with me. We are going to fetch the fel witch now."
Hurdrak stretches a little and turns all eight unblinking eyes at Blackbur. He shakes his head at the mouse. "You speak as a big mouse in a little cave but there is so much more out there. Other lands, other animals, other cultures " he takes a few steps forwards and fixes an intense stare upon him, "other enemies."
"Where I am from, we train long and hard to fight what comes out of the dark. Each family with their own secret ways passed down from generation to generation, my family, the sword," he says and draws his blade in a flash and quickly goes through some complicated movements before resheathing. "Then as a final test we go out, alone I to the world to test our skill. Hone our skills before we return with tales of our deeds, proof of our skills and improvements to add to our secret skills."
He slumps down upon the floor, head cast down in shame. "I had left on my journey but I did not make it far. I was... ambushed, captured, imprisoned. I know not how long, only the pain. Day in and day out pain beyond measure, but I endured until a small chance let me escape." He had been gripping the sword hilt hard at this time and let it go realizing what he was doing.
"After I got out. I was a shell of my former self. Tired, weak, nearly broken and in a strange land. Not a shred of kindness did I find in any place I went. That was until the Captain found me. Offered me a place of warmth, a meal, and a chance to pick back up my craft and put it to use."
He turns his eyes back on upon Blackbur. "You ask what happened in the cave? You already know, told you there. My skills have not fully returned and I bare that shame. I offered the rightful atonement of my people and you all declined. No, it seems the custom here is toss the shame back in one's face forever. Which is to be expected I suppose as I am a spider, I shall always be a spider and no mater what I do, that is all I'll ever be." He holds his arm pointing outside. "Do you think they see the uniform I wear or just the shape of my body. No, don't answer that, the whispers here are deafening."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
As Mistral sets out in search of the patrol members, he ponders with profound wonder the astrological tableau vivant he saw playing out within the owlbear hide now gathered around himself. Almost unbidden, he finds his lips speaking unfamiliar words of magic as his forearm traces a sigil in the air. Immediately, he has a feeling of inner clarity.
Just then, Mistral's keen hearing picks up the low, tense voices of Blackbur in conversation with Hurdrak. As he approaches, he catches Hurdrak's words, "I shall always be a spider and no matterwhat I do, that is all I'll ever be...Do you think they see the uniform I wear or just the shape of my body. No, don't answer that, the whispers here are deafening."
Insight: 8 (disadvantage for 1 level of exhaustion, plus guidance)
"What's afoot?", Mistral asks, his tone deliberately neutral. "Are the rest of the patrol up and about?"
Dixie stares at the foul-mouthed guard with a pair of blood-shot eyes, responding to his comments with a murderous look. The anger from the last night has subsided with a restless sleep, immediately being replaced by irritation. With repeating shakes of her shackled arms, she expresses her displeasure till a feminine voice forbids her to do so.
Two ladies facing each other, one of them dressed elegantly when the other one reeks of sweat, blood and rotten nuts! Dixie might have been impressed if the lady hadn't tried to use her as a pawn. "Who are you? What are you talking about? And why are they wearing banana peels?"- she asks the doe, indicating the guards in golden cloaks.
“Your old ways are exactly the problem. Wherever you came from: that’s not here. Here, there is only the honor of the Guard. Every tenderpaw starts as something else, but each one must decide if they are going to cling to their old life... or not.” Blackbur turns to their company. “Mistral. We should all be resting. The trek we made was hard, and we may need to go out again, soon. And try not to attract attention, there are plenty of people who would use recent events - and us- for their own ends.”
Hurdrak kept his mouth shut this time as he clenched his muscles tight to keep his restraint. He took a a calming breath like he had been taught and while it helps, it did little to improve his opinion of Blackbur. His short words showed a clear lack of or even attempt at understanding trauma. As if one can simply decide prior life experiences don't matter. He shook his head and moves to leave, "I'm going to go get a drink." As he passes Mistral he touches him on the shoulder before moving past and says, "Try to get some rest, just don't dream of anything before your enlistment date. That might mark you as a liability."
He makes his way out of the room to get that drink of water. As he does so he passes Dixie's bunk. Her bed is still made up from the previous morning and there's no sign that's she has been back this evening. With a sigh he returns back to the room and says, "Dixie doesn't seem to have returned. Anyone know where she'd be at. I'll go get her, could use the walk."
Whisker's leans forward at the exchange between Blackbur and Hurdrak, waiting until the spider is at the door before quietly stating "We all come to the Guard from different backgrounds. Making use of those differences is the strength of the Guard. Would you have me forgo my staff for a sword, give up using my feet and hands as weapons? It is our differences that set us apart from those whelps in the City Guard. Those differences are needed in these strange times."
The mouse will then quietly arise and walk silently over to the spider, saying "I will go with you to look for Dixie."
When Hurdrak mentions Dixie's absence, Mistral's sense that something is wrong returns sharply. "Best bring our gear", he says tersely. The snug treebark carapace wraps his own torso, and his thumb habitually checks the yew wand in its sheathe. His cloak - its purpose as much to parry a blade as the chill - rests upon his shoulders.
"Who am I? Why, I am Vidame Olivie, humble servant of His Eminence." The emphasis reveals Vidame to be a title or rank of some sort, but Dixie has never heard of it.
The young doe is tall for a mouse, and quite beautiful, though exotic in appearance. Her fur is white as snow, variegated with fawn splotches, like freckles. She smiles, revealing perfect, sharp white incisors, dark eyes somehow flashing, even in the dim lighting of the dank stone cell. "Well. Perhaps not humble. Come. We must go. Play your part, and all may still go well for you and your mouse compatriots."
The Townsguard sentry defers to Olivie, quickly complying with her orders to remove Dixie's shackles, without question.
"Here. Put this on." Olivie pulls out the white-feathered capelet and offers it to the rabbit. Somehow, it is still meticulously clean. "I had half a mind to keep it for myself, but no. It suits you.. And it marks you." The Vidame scrutinizes her closely, as she makes her last remark. "Let us leave."
Initiative: 12
"Aye! Let's cut off that foolish tongue of yours and shed some blood. Shame on you greenhorn!"- Dixie spins the hook in a menacing manner, ready to attack for self-defense.
Charisma (Intimidation): 15(rolled with disadvantage)
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
The recruit is taken aback by Dixie's changed attitude, and Dixie gets the drop on him!
Initiative 23
With a threatening whirl of the rope and hook, Dixie throws out the line aiming for the fidgeting mouse, shouting energetically from the top of the vocal cords, "How dare you challenge a ranger?" She's not oblivious of the fact that once the adrenaline rush ends, she'll go completely numb, drained of what little energy is left.
Attack Roll: 16 Damage: 7
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
Dixie's blow staggers the scion recruit, opening a bloody gash across his face, from brow to jaw. A howl of pain and fury escapes as he lunges at the raging rabbit ranger, half-blinded by the blood seeping into his eye! First blood has been drawn, but despite his horrific injury, he persists. 8
"Get Her!!" He cries out for his companions to enter the fray, but Dixie's opening move was enough to keep them at a distance. ("C'mon, let's get outta here!" "Yeah, let's go!")
At first, it does not seem like his compatriots will be able to drag him off, but once the initial shock wears off, even he knows he must go. Dixie's shrill screaming has summoned the Townsguard proper, and it would not do for them to be caught out like this, dealing such violence in the streets.
"You will pay for this. And that eight-legged freak, too. We will come for you both. We know what he did!"
And with that, they're off, just as four Townsguard round the corner.
"She took the pup's eye clean out o' his head, near ripped his throat open!" The witness is wrong, of course, but it was difficult to tell, for all the blood.
"Halt!! Drop your weapon!!" Dixie knows she is too spent to flee, could never get away from the guards, in her current state.
After hours of rest, Hurdrak senses movement. He remains still but speaks out. "Should I be touched or concerned that you are watching me sleep Blackbur? Or did you not know that we spiders do not blink?"
“You should be thoughtful of your place in the Mouse Guard.“ Blackbur tries to cover up being startled with being angry. “A tenderpaw should not keep secrets from their patrol leader. You will tell me what you have done that caused... that event out in the cave. Or you will find I cannot protect you from the mob that would lynch you if the Lonelybark townsfolk found out about it.”
Paladin - warforged - orange
Mistral awakens, somewhat refreshed, but with a sinking feeling that something is wrong. Descending from his roosting spot, he goes in search of the other patrol members.
The hook covered with fresh blood had hit the ground with a metallic thud. Dixie had been surprised to find herself in that kind of embarrassing position, a skilled ranger severely injuring one of the pups on the verge of seeing red? She had lifted both of her hands in submission, showing no ill motive and waiting for the unveiling of another unfortunate day.
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
His initial investigations concluded, Sirithal moves onto a newly discovered ritual.
Firstly he lights a brazier in the corner of his room, normally unlit due to his arcane-induced preference for a cooler climate. While waiting for the brazier to come up to temperature he potters around his desk, grinding some herbs and other chemicals in preparation for the ritual ahead. Then, taking up a bag of sand, he pours it onto the floor of his room in a very specific arcane spiral, centred on the brazier.
Preparations complete, and the brazier now up to a steady heat, he sprinkles his prepared incense and herbs onto the brazier and begins. 'An'al nadrach, uth'vas spethad, doch'yel dienvay...' he starts to intone, channeling the emerging arcane energies through the spiral and into the brazier...
...
Almost an hour later, sweat is pouring from Sirithal's brow, his room is sweltering and humid, and the ritual comes to a crescendo. Suddenly the brazier quenches itself in a great roiling hiss of steam, and the room goes dark, his candles also having been extinguished at the moment of culmination.
'Massster....' comes a soft whisper from the darkness.
Mistral awakens. Before the sinking feeling sets in, he recalls dreaming of the stars, seldom seen in the winter sky, but for when Auril lifts the cloak of twilight. But he saw them in his dreams, vivdly, and they called to him.
When he arises, he notices something different about the speckled owlbear hide he had pulled about himself for warmth, in the chilly barracks. Underneath, all the stars of the night sky are depicted, almost glowing! And they are slowly moving, shifting...
When Dixie awakens, she does not even remember falling asleep, she was so exhausted. It even takes a moment for her to recall the events of the previous evening. Then it hits her, the weight of her actions, how her hook had torn the boy's face open...
That explains the shackles.
"Get up!! Your interrogation has been postponed. Apparently you are a key witness! Do what is asked of you, and you might just lose a paw, for your insolence!"
"Come now. That is no way to speak to our guest. Remove the shackles. She comes with me."
This new voice comes from a tall doe with piercing black eyes, wearing a luxurious fur cloak. Flanking her are six guards in gold cloaks, with chain visible beneath.
"Easy now, pet. You are not the one we are after. All you have to do is tell the truth, when we put the spider on trial. Just say exactly what happened. That is all. Come with me. We are going to fetch the fel witch now."
Hurdrak stretches a little and turns all eight unblinking eyes at Blackbur. He shakes his head at the mouse. "You speak as a big mouse in a little cave but there is so much more out there. Other lands, other animals, other cultures " he takes a few steps forwards and fixes an intense stare upon him, "other enemies."
"Where I am from, we train long and hard to fight what comes out of the dark. Each family with their own secret ways passed down from generation to generation, my family, the sword," he says and draws his blade in a flash and quickly goes through some complicated movements before resheathing. "Then as a final test we go out, alone I to the world to test our skill. Hone our skills before we return with tales of our deeds, proof of our skills and improvements to add to our secret skills."
He slumps down upon the floor, head cast down in shame. "I had left on my journey but I did not make it far. I was... ambushed, captured, imprisoned. I know not how long, only the pain. Day in and day out pain beyond measure, but I endured until a small chance let me escape." He had been gripping the sword hilt hard at this time and let it go realizing what he was doing.
"After I got out. I was a shell of my former self. Tired, weak, nearly broken and in a strange land. Not a shred of kindness did I find in any place I went. That was until the Captain found me. Offered me a place of warmth, a meal, and a chance to pick back up my craft and put it to use."
He turns his eyes back on upon Blackbur. "You ask what happened in the cave? You already know, told you there. My skills have not fully returned and I bare that shame. I offered the rightful atonement of my people and you all declined. No, it seems the custom here is toss the shame back in one's face forever. Which is to be expected I suppose as I am a spider, I shall always be a spider and no mater what I do, that is all I'll ever be." He holds his arm pointing outside. "Do you think they see the uniform I wear or just the shape of my body. No, don't answer that, the whispers here are deafening."
As Mistral sets out in search of the patrol members, he ponders with profound wonder the astrological tableau vivant he saw playing out within the owlbear hide now gathered around himself. Almost unbidden, he finds his lips speaking unfamiliar words of magic as his forearm traces a sigil in the air. Immediately, he has a feeling of inner clarity.
Just then, Mistral's keen hearing picks up the low, tense voices of Blackbur in conversation with Hurdrak. As he approaches, he catches Hurdrak's words, "I shall always be a spider and no matterwhat I do, that is all I'll ever be...Do you think they see the uniform I wear or just the shape of my body. No, don't answer that, the whispers here are deafening."
Insight: 8 (disadvantage for 1 level of exhaustion, plus guidance)
"What's afoot?", Mistral asks, his tone deliberately neutral. "Are the rest of the patrol up and about?"
Dixie stares at the foul-mouthed guard with a pair of blood-shot eyes, responding to his comments with a murderous look. The anger from the last night has subsided with a restless sleep, immediately being replaced by irritation. With repeating shakes of her shackled arms, she expresses her displeasure till a feminine voice forbids her to do so.
Two ladies facing each other, one of them dressed elegantly when the other one reeks of sweat, blood and rotten nuts! Dixie might have been impressed if the lady hadn't tried to use her as a pawn. "Who are you? What are you talking about? And why are they wearing banana peels?"- she asks the doe, indicating the guards in golden cloaks.
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
“Your old ways are exactly the problem. Wherever you came from: that’s not here. Here, there is only the honor of the Guard. Every tenderpaw starts as something else, but each one must decide if they are going to cling to their old life... or not.” Blackbur turns to their company. “Mistral. We should all be resting. The trek we made was hard, and we may need to go out again, soon. And try not to attract attention, there are plenty of people who would use recent events - and us- for their own ends.”
Paladin - warforged - orange
Hurdrak kept his mouth shut this time as he clenched his muscles tight to keep his restraint. He took a a calming breath like he had been taught and while it helps, it did little to improve his opinion of Blackbur. His short words showed a clear lack of or even attempt at understanding trauma. As if one can simply decide prior life experiences don't matter. He shook his head and moves to leave, "I'm going to go get a drink." As he passes Mistral he touches him on the shoulder before moving past and says, "Try to get some rest, just don't dream of anything before your enlistment date. That might mark you as a liability."
He makes his way out of the room to get that drink of water. As he does so he passes Dixie's bunk. Her bed is still made up from the previous morning and there's no sign that's she has been back this evening. With a sigh he returns back to the room and says, "Dixie doesn't seem to have returned. Anyone know where she'd be at. I'll go get her, could use the walk."
“No one goes off alone, right now. We stay together.” Blackbur brushes past Hurdrak to start the search for Dixie.
Paladin - warforged - orange
Whisker's leans forward at the exchange between Blackbur and Hurdrak, waiting until the spider is at the door before quietly stating "We all come to the Guard from different backgrounds. Making use of those differences is the strength of the Guard. Would you have me forgo my staff for a sword, give up using my feet and hands as weapons? It is our differences that set us apart from those whelps in the City Guard. Those differences are needed in these strange times."
The mouse will then quietly arise and walk silently over to the spider, saying "I will go with you to look for Dixie."
When Hurdrak mentions Dixie's absence, Mistral's sense that something is wrong returns sharply. "Best bring our gear", he says tersely. The snug treebark carapace wraps his own torso, and his thumb habitually checks the yew wand in its sheathe. His cloak - its purpose as much to parry a blade as the chill - rests upon his shoulders.
"Who am I? Why, I am Vidame Olivie, humble servant of His Eminence." The emphasis reveals Vidame to be a title or rank of some sort, but Dixie has never heard of it.
The young doe is tall for a mouse, and quite beautiful, though exotic in appearance. Her fur is white as snow, variegated with fawn splotches, like freckles. She smiles, revealing perfect, sharp white incisors, dark eyes somehow flashing, even in the dim lighting of the dank stone cell. "Well. Perhaps not humble. Come. We must go. Play your part, and all may still go well for you and your mouse compatriots."
The Townsguard sentry defers to Olivie, quickly complying with her orders to remove Dixie's shackles, without question.
"Here. Put this on." Olivie pulls out the white-feathered capelet and offers it to the rabbit. Somehow, it is still meticulously clean. "I had half a mind to keep it for myself, but no. It suits you.. And it marks you." The Vidame scrutinizes her closely, as she makes her last remark. "Let us leave."
(Follow-up post on next page)