The Summit Road Campaign Thread

Taran would slide the two pale sticks into his pack, planning on studying their alchemical properties later.

Then, as he is talking with Mister Juhaan about the damage fire does to bodies, he;d bundle the armor and weapons into more easily carried packages, setting each set of armor and weapons aside.

He wouldn't touch the amulet, after removing it from the corpse of the leader

Juhaan

He deflates a bit upon hearing the science explanation for crisp vs charred but then he lights up again "You must be fun at parties! I should take you to one. That way everyone will be distracted  captivated by your interesting... theories while I sneak in" Juhaan says smiling again while moving off.

HE approaches Vishal while eyeing River "That one seems a little bit cuckoo right now, eh" he says proudly of his bird pun nodding his head "Yeah, II guess in a couple of days we're all be certified ornithologists. Do you think there's like a Guild for that?" he says with earnest curiosity

Taran freezes like a deer in headlights for a second, before keeping his hands busy with the pilfered equipment, not meeting Mister Juhaan's eyes, (or realizing the other man had moved on. )

"I-I, I've... p-parties aren't, well, that is... I-I shouldn't... th-there is always s-so much t-to do, y-you kn-know." his voice grows a bit panicked, "B-b-but if-if you n-needed me t-to p-provide a distraction, I-I could do that, f-for you M-Mister J-Juhaan... um... th-that is.. d-depending on the d-distraction... I, um, well..." Taran trails off, not sure how to continue.

Caelius walks directly up to River, blocking her from attacking the corpses.

River reluctantly lowers her sword, sighing and falling to sit on her butt.

"*coo* Useless bird."

Caelius shakes his head at that, both as a disagreement and from weariness. He returns to the bodies and finishes the death rites, taking twice as long and are somewhat more complicated than they were before.

Vishal sighs before saying, "You shouldn't throw stones if you live in a glass house." Before walking up to River and saying, "Take a little walk with me." 

"Why? *coo* Mission completed *coo* We need to go back *coo* Useless bird."

"Just trust me. Come on." Vishal says to her giving her a small smile. 

She simply stares at him for a moment before standing and following with her head down.

Vishal leads her away from the other, a little more in the trees, after stopping for a little bit he look at her and sitting down says, "That was quite the fight." 

"coo You fought well coo Damn bird was as useless as Harry's left hand coo" She continues to speak in the same male voice that she used to berate herself moments ago.

"You fought well too River. Nobody else could have thrown that net but you. Why do you keep saying you didn't do well and calling yourself useless?" Vishal says, offering the young bird a soft smile and staying positive for her. 

"You pay the damn bird to kill him and she can't even manage something so ******* simple!" The man's voice continues. "Why do we even keep her around? We'd get more use out of an urchin who can actually speak instead of using those ******* parlour tricks to spy on us!"

"River. Who is that talking?" Vishal asks, concern clear in his voice, wondering if this is what River has heard her entire life. 

"Flint Mali, the one who'll rip your ass into pieces if you don't get yourself to it right this time!" She flinches at the voice even though it's coming from her.

"Rip my ass into pieces. Sounds like a good night to me." Vishal replies jokingly before he shakes his head and says, "I'm sorry, just that statment." He then raises his hand and starts to slowly give Rive the heads pets he knows she likes. "Whatever that man said to you River." Vishal says as he pets her head, "It isn't true. You're not useless. You're amazing and wonderful. I don't know what our team would do without you. You try your very best and that's all anyone can ask for. You didn't mess up. You are not useless." 

"The damned bird missed... again." She says, this time in the voice of a scared young woman, even as she nuzzles into the pats.

Vishal continues to pat her as he says, "It doesn't matter how many times you miss. As long as you keep trying. That's all that matters." 

"coo Keep trying coo"