Red Dead Annihilation: Campaign Thread

At the feeling of something he didn’t want to think about too much slipped down his armor, Ran looked quickly at the bird when it actually spoke to him.

He steps back a few steps from the others and then whispers to the bird. “Did she do this to you.?”

He indicates the old woman with a nod of his head.

Ran, the bird looks at you closely.  Then it clicks it’s tongue twice and taps one of its clawed toes to the end of its beak.

"Peaceful it was not," Meili shook her head, "nor was it blessed. That cloak was ... pointed to us by ancient beings in a tumb which we accidentally fall into almost losing our lives. We lost a companion there." She did not interrupt Nanny but answered a question fighting the urge to add more (much more!) to the barrage of questions Nanny had to endure. One particular question was burning in her mind and Meili did her best to keep her mouth shut. But only until Hew rejected the offer of help.

"Hew, you know we all trust your judgement and neither of us will push you but Nanny is right. You are very sick. What if these ptera-folk will get bolder so close to their nest and attack? We can not afford to lose you." She looked back at the old woman, then her helper (not sure who to address), and finally at the woman again. "Nanny, is the remedy a guarded secret? I thought this sickness can not be cured but only endured if one gets lucky?"

The question, torturing Meili, got out a few moments later after Nanny's answer, it was too bothersome to ignore. "Nanny, we believe those wizards that came here are not of a good kind. Where they who left the skull at the gates and these strange figurines around on the trees?"

When the bird taps its beak, Ran nods back.

"On the nose, right" Ran says quietly.

He looks around for any signs of more than one "helper" monkey or other creature that might be watching them. He was getting the feeling that 'Nanny' was anything but a helpless old woman up here. The wizards might have fought these bird-men creatures but all this scorched earth might have just been 'Nanny' laying claim to Mbala. She could be summoning these creatures some how right now.

But he didn't want to say anything she could overhear in case that triggered an attack.

He turned slowly, well back from the others, looking over the ruins.

Perception to see if anything is watching the group while they talk to Nanny: 10  

Mica rejoins the others and shares what he has learned in his investigation “Not much there.  The battle occurred weeks ago and most of the tracks are washed away.  No sign of bodies, either wizards or terror folk.” 

He glances over at Hew “Ever hear of a beast with five claws on one hand and two on the other?  Lots of strange tracks by the well, but I can’t make head or tail of them.”

Nanny scoffs at Meili's question.  "Nanny knows many secrets.  That the charlatans who pass for healers in this land no not the cure, that is no surprise.  It is a simple thing."

"Figurines and skulls?  Nanny seldom wanders far from this hut.  I won't say what does or doesn't mark the woods and trails of this plateau.  Did the Wizards leave them?  It would have been the first competent thing they did.  Not long for this jungle, I think, were they made.  I'd be surprised if any still live."

She turns and enters her hut, and immediately there is the sound of cupboards opening and closing, and liquid being poured.  "Now to that remedy.  I will not be caught owing a favor.  This will take but a moment."

The monkey looks up meekly at the six of you.

Ran, the village is deserted, as far as you can tell.  There are no other monkeys nearby.  

Mica, Hew looks at you with an eyebrow raised.  "Five claws and two?  What are you getting at?  No, the creatures of this jungle, like most things that live, are symmetrical."

Meili watched silently as Nanny entered her hut and returned with the remedy. Oh, there were dozens of questions she wanted to ask - beginning with the "skulls and creepy figurines being a competent thing to do" and ending with the recipe of the remedy, but the general uneasiness of the place, common sense and rudimentary politeness demanded that she stop pestering the old woman.

Instead, she joined the discussion about claw marks (which also allowed her to observe Hew's treatment). "Could that be claws from the hind and front paws? I mean, there are many dinosaurs around here. One of the giants that fought above the chasm yesterday, moved on two legs with awful claws and his front paws were small in comparison and could be less armed. Or maybe it's the weapon that prero-folk is using? How do they fight, Hew?"

She kept glancing at the cup with the healing liquid in Nanny's hands but tried to be discreet about her curiosity.

Ran only partly follows the talk of the claws but does venture a couple of other hypotheses. "Injured animal with three talons broken off. Or it had something or someone curled in part of its paw."

He calls out in a louder voice.

"So which direction are these flying rats you need dealt with?" Ran asks

The sooner they were out of Nanny's earshot the better.

Mica frowns at Hew’s response and shakes his head at Meili’s and Ran’s suggestions “No, it is clearly the front left and right.  The tracks are a mess, but I can make out that much.  The claws are all different sizes as well, some long and thin, some short and thick. I don’t know, something is strange here.”  He shakes his head again in doubt, his chultan-styled braids swinging. 

He looks up as Ran asks about the terror-folk “Are we going to help this woman? Why?  Maybe it is best we are on our way.”  He looks on doubtfully as Nanny prepares the medicine, trying to determine if there is any deceit or ill intent in her words or actions.  He is not sure Hew should take it.  Insight: 4.

.

Nanny emerges from her hut.  She holds a cup fashioned from what looks like an enormous acorn.  

"Here, Guide," she says offering it to Hew.  "It smells vile and tastes worse, though I'm sure a dwarf can handle strong drink."  She makes a fist. "You will feel better instantly... a new man.  But rest assured, that is but the start.  You will develop fever... dreams will come... tonight you will suffer greatly... but in the morning the sickness will be gone."  She releases her fist and wiggles her fingers away, like ashes in the wind.

Hew reluctantly takes the cup and gives it a sniff.  "(Gag) What is in this?"

"Oh, a rendering of the plasma from giant millipede... a few less appetizing ingredients.  And spoonfull of rotgut rum to help the remedy go down." 

The old woman looks in Ran's direction and smiles.  "The terror-folk nest in the cliffs on the south side.  The plateau is not so large... I'm sure you can find them."  She sneers a bit.  "But why do you seek them out?  On old Nanny's account?  Much as I would like to see them gone from my home, I shan't be owing you another favor."

"Is there something you need from Nanny?  Perhaps we can come to an arrangement?"

Meanwhile Hew braces himself, coughs, and downs the cup.  He grits his teeth but otherwise doesn't flinch.  "(Cough)... Not as bad as it smells," he eventually mutters.

Crosspost with Mica.

Mica:

Mica places his hand on Hew’s arm, preventing him from drinking the medicine, at least until the conversation is over.   “What kind of arrangement?” he asks the woman, eyes narrowing in suspicion “What could you offer us?”

Danica would raise up her hand just after Mica places his on Hew's arm, passing off the motion as scratching at a bug bite on her jaw. While Nanny is peering at Ran, she would take the time to try and duck down and sniff the cup, looking at the contents before murmuring a prayer to Selune. Then dipping just a fingertip in and popping that finger into her mouth. Running the foul liquid over her tongue in an attempt to gauge what it was and if it might be safe enough for their guide. 

Guidance: 3
Medicine: 7

Hew prepares to down concoction but pauses when Mica places a hand on his arm.

Nanny looks at Mica and smiles.  "What can Nanny offer the Seekers?  You claim to seek the death curse, yet you have journeyed so far entirely in pursuit of these Wizards and the chain-man's kin."  She turns slowly toward Inete, her neck creaking.  "I know where the answers your God yearns for can be found.  Why those Wizards are here... all of them.  I know where the answers lie... and I know the safe paths through the Basin to find them."

"Or... Nanny does not know of this secret city.  But she does know of the Sewn Sisters... those wretched night hags; what it is they have built and what it is that they serve.  I know their tricks... and I know they watch you already.  Teach you I can... how to blind their eyes so you may pass unseen."

"Destroy the terror folk, or drive them off and burn their nests so they do not return.  Do this for Nanny, and Nanny shall let you ask three questions.  If I know the answer, you shall know it as well.  If I do not know, it will not count against your three."  She smiles broadly again.  "Are these acceptable terms?"

Danica:

Meili frowned, both to the forceful preventing Hew from taking the medicine and to the notion about Seekers getting off the track. With this troubled expression, she listened to Nanny's offer and then looked at each one around. "We accepted help of the god, promising to do our part. And yet we dally doing other things. At least now we can get something in return that will help us to keep the promise. Pterofolk killed the villagers, they attack the travellers, they help to Death Plague as much as any murderer. If not for the secrets, then for our peaceful travel we can try to chase them away." Meili did not say "kill them" but looked determined enough to think she would accept this option too. 

Nanny might not see it with her own eyes, but to Meili it looked like others were less eager to trust an old woman. She nodded to her thoughts and added.

"It looks like a too convenient shortcut," she explained to Nanny apologetically, "but can be seen as help from fate, something we can truly use now. Grandfather Zitembe did not believe that Inete will return from the jungles." She looked at the acolyte. "Inete, if you get the answers you are seeking right here, would you return to bring them to the Temple of Savras? Who knows, we could have been guided here for just that?" " And Ran," now she looked at the warrior, "would not you want to know for sure where your sister is?" Finally, Meili looked at Danica. "The hags are after us, we know it. If there is a chance to escape them... Maybe we should take it?"

After tasting the concoction, Danica grimaces, spitting onto the dirt before taking the potion from him with a shake of her head. "I think you 'accidentally' slipped some Enchantment into your 'Kindness' Nanny. I understand not wanting to be attacked by strangers, but enchanting people that did you a 'kindness' doesn't seem very kind to me. We won't be starting no fights with you 'less you start one with us first." The elf keeps her voice calm, trying to make sure that her words didn't come off as a threat. "Might he get a regular one? That only cures Shivering Sickness. You can offer that for starters." Still feeling the hairs on her body stand up as she referred to them and their group so intimately. 

Chuffing a dry humorless laugh to herself as the old woman offered them ways to avoid the hags that they had been warned against, Danica gets quiet as Meili speaks, staring at the cloaked monk with serious green eyes. "Did we dally when we helped that prisoner? Did we dally when a hole swallowed up our group and separated us? Did we dally when we just lost one of our own?" Her voice low but serious. "No. We've been pressing on. Not at breakneck pace mind you," She gestures first to herself and then to Hew for obvious reasons before going on, "But there's no reason to go sprinting to our own deaths, now is there?" 

Lips pursing at Meili's points of the possibilities that Nanny might be able to provide them, Danica pauses a moment before asking the old woman, "How're we to know you aren't one o' these Sisters? Or at the very least a hag of a different coven. Perhaps one with a fondness for cursing women into birds? Our overarching goal is to end the Death Curse, yes, but we're certainly Seeking Ran's sister n Inete's answers along the way."

At Meili's final question directed to Danica, the sailor felt her resolve weaken a little and she grimaces, a hand rubbing at her forehead before pushing up some stray locks up into her hairline. "Everything has a price. I just worry that it'll be more than gettin' rid of some dinosaur people." She stares at Nanny. 

Ran smiles as Meili and Danica speak. Direct route it is. He's about to open his mouth to ask more directly about the bird and what happened there but there are already a lot of questions being asked and he'll wait to see how this plays out first before putting the bird in the middle of it all.

Meili's cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she bowed her head listening to Danica in silence. Still looking down she waited for the Captain to finish before saying quietly. "I spoke too hasty. Every time we were stepping off the path we were gaining something, though the last price was too high." She held the side of the magic cloak - a very material proof to the words - as if searching for courage in it and added firmly. "We will not harm you, Nanny. But we were wronged before. It is harder to trust strangers now." 

The old woman is nonplussed by Danica’s revelation about the potion.  “Yes, Captain.  A bit of security for old Nanny.  And would you blame me, Hew Hackinstone?”  She looks directly at the dwarf now.  “All that fury inside you, with nowhere to let it out.  The worm that pits itself against the Red Robin wins nothing but loss and impotent wrath.  I’d not have that turned on me.  I may pity broken things, but I have not lived so long by taking chances.”

Hew bristles and throws the acorn cup down on the ground.  “Watch your tongue (cough).  You tread thin ice.”

She frowns in exaggerated dismay when the drink is spilled.

After Danica’s pointed questioning, she straightens up a bit, not so hunched and frail as before.  “I have offered to cure one of you of grave illness - with but a quibbling precaution attached.  More, I’ve offered to share knowledge - knowledge you will only gain on your own through suffering and death.  Yet you level veiled accusations against me.  Were I a more prideful woman, I would take offense.”

“If you have questions about who I am, about this bird of yours, you can ask… and I will answer 3 questions if you defeat the reptile men for me.  I’ll even throw in another drink for your guide, sans enchantment.  We can discuss anything else you may need once that deal is complete, and you can stay here as long as you need, as my guests.”

”Otherwise, I will permit you to overnight here, if only because the little one has manners.  Then you must begone.”