Completed Play-by-Post: In Search of the Sorcerer

[nikolokolus]

Borric points at the woman and she cranes her neck trying to get a better look at everyone arrayed around her. She continues her ranting "Gabh Transna Ort Fhéin"

Marcán, Cormac and Ker instantly recognize parts of the phrase, which roughly translated means "have sex with yourselves in a painful manner"

 

[Siveon]

OOC

Lore check on the patterns: Lore Check: [1d20] = 1
Follow up(?): Lore Check: [1d20] = 20

"A mouth on that one. I hope she wasn't chained here to be some sort of sacrifice." Marcán approaches the woman slowly and tries to study the patterns. He attempts to communicate to her in Keltic, saying that they are friendly and that he and his companions did not chain her there.

 

[Grimgravy]

Rhenmyr responds in Keltic: "We mean you no harm." Then to the others in common: "This is trouble. The last damsel in distress was nothing but trouble." Rhenmyr stays within earshot, but checks out the rest of the hilltop.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

"Bah, whoever chained her likely did so to stay away from that mouth of hers. Still, I'd would rather know why she's chained up before we get her out, if we get her out."

 

[Siveon]

"You two have no sense of adventure." Marcán jokes, though he does reel back a bit at Rhenmyr's words.

 

[nikolokolus]

OOC

Lore check on the patterns: Lore Check: [1d20] = 1
Follow up(?): Lore Check: [1d20] = 20

"A mouth on that one. I hope she wasn't chained here to be some sort of sacrifice." Marcán approaches the woman slowly and tries to study the patterns. He attempts to communicate to her in Keltic, saying that they are friendly and that he and his companions did not chain her there.

Bardic Lore

You recognize the patterns as Pictish, but don't understand what the symbols might mean. Your best guess is protective wards, or spiritual protection.

As you walk closer she struggles harder against the manacles; blood trickling down her arms.

When you begin talking in Keltic her frantic squirming softens and she furrows her brows as a hint of recognition seems to appear. In her primitive dialect, she manages to form several words that you recognize, "Go. No safe. Too late. Marked."

Rhenmyr responds in Keltic: "We mean you no harm." Then to the others in common: "This is trouble. The last damsel in distress was nothing but trouble." Rhenmyr stays within earshot, but checks out the rest of the hilltop.

She frowns at Rhenmyr's heavily accented Keltic, and replies and you are able to pull out a few words from her strange Keltic dialect, "Sacrifice. Village. Wolf doom." She pauses for a moment and then plaintively says, "Help Oona."

Rhenmyr walks a short distance away investigating the rest of the hilltop. Walking north and out of the ring, you reach the broad peak and are greeted with a vista you didn't quite expect. The hill slopes gently down into a long narrow valley dominated by a vast lake that stretches for as far as the eye can see east and west. The lake appears to be a couple of miles wide and the opposite shore is dominated by a vast glacier that must be at least a half-mile thick. Beyond the glacier you can make out the purple silhouette of a vast mountain range that rises sharply, disappearing into thick clouds.

A trail winds down the hill into the valley where, perhaps, a mile or two away smoke rises from a town or village at the lake's edge.

 

[Siveon]

Marcán tilts his head, to signal his confusion. He says in common (for Borric), "I hate it when I'm right. She's warning us off, saying she's marked to be some sacrifice for a village from wolves?" In Keltic, he speaks slowly. "Is that your name? Do you wish to be set free?"

 

[Grimgravy]

"There's a village on the shores a great lake. We appear to be at the edge of the Ice. How far north are we?"

 

[nikolokolus]

"There's a village on the shores a great lake. We appear to be at the edge of the Ice. How far north are we?"

(Borric knows the answer, at least partly: The ice-wall that forms the northernmost reaches of the Kurgan steppe is at least hundreds, possibly a thousand miles north of Odessos. Your Keltic companions know of the Dolmens from legends and stories and surmise that it would probably take a month or more on foot to traverse the vast woods that lie between the lands of Getae and this hoary terra incognita).

 

[Grimgravy]

"Hmm. If we set her free, do we trigger an evil magic (because we're not lucky enough for them to be natural) wolf attack on her village and throw the whole area into chaos? I'm not saying we shouldn't do just that, mind you."

 

[Llywelyn ap Gruffydd]

"Please no crazy magic! I have a bad feeling about this woman."

Spoiler

Dang, got busy with work and then stopped getting notices on new posts.

 

[Grimgravy]

To the woman in Keltic "What do you know of the wolves? Where is your village?"

 

[nikolokolus]

The dark-haired woman listens intently at Rhenmyr's inquiry, as though she only catches about half the words. She nods vigorously at the word "wolves" and she says emphatically "wolf." At "village" she inclines her head in the direction of the lake and then spits, before letting out another litany of curses. You manage to make out something about biting insects, genitals and fire.

 

[Siveon]

OOC

Does she respond to my question? Namely the wants to be set free part.

 

[nikolokolus]

As you stand around and palaver the sun peeks out from behind the clouds somewhat low in the western sky. At best guess you've got another hour before sundown. The sunbeams slant in and dapple the menhirs, casting long shadows across the ground. The woman frantically shakes her mancles trying to work her wrists free from bondage, "Help!" She implores.

 

[Siveon]

"Oh, sod it." Marcán whips out his blade and cuts at the mancles. "It's not like we're taking her along, right? Just doing a...neighborly favor as it were."

 

[nikolokolus]

The orichalcum falcata bites into the iron chains and breaks them with ease. With the manacles still clamped to her wrists and the bit of chain hanging between them, the woman stares wide-eyed at you all. A long, tense moment passes when a mournful howl suddenly echoes across the moors that breaks your reverie and sends chills down your spines. A second later the woman bolts from the circle charging down the hill towards the village on the lake.

 

[Grimgravy]

"Ah hell. Here we go again..." Rhenmyr runs after the fleeing woman.

 

[Siveon]

"It makes for a much better story, doesn't it?" Marcán shouts between pants as he gains up on Rhenmyr.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

"Ah, well, 'tis a gruesome thing, to be eaten by wolves. I would know." says Borric as he follows his comrades.

 

[Llywelyn ap Gruffydd]

"Looks like we will find out what this is all about shortly!" Cormac follows, bringing up the rear. "The last time I followed a woman anywhere I woke up with a lump on my head, in an alley, missing my coin purse! I have a feeling this will be worse!"

 

[nikolokolus]

Unencumbered by clothes and whipped by fear, the woman flies over and down the rolling hills. Encumbered as you are with arms and armor and kit (plus a degree of caution) she opens up some distance after about a mile of pursuit through heath and bog and creek. But after ten minutes or so of jogging and running, the land begins to flatten out. About a mile in the distance, you can make begin to make out the dark wooden walls of a pallisade surrounding the lakeside village through a thin misty veil of fog that clings to the water's surface.

As you run off the moorland and into a pasture, the woman has put about two or three hundred yards between herself and your troupe but appears to have pulled up short and is not running any more. Looking past her, you see a knot of people standing on a track near a row of wattle and daub huts another two hundred yards beyond her.

The sun now lies just above the horizon, casting its rays through a gap in the clouds. With the dark clouds overhead, ruddy light and long shadows the air with a pensive, apprehnsive mood. As you take in the scene, the air is once again punctuated by a mournful howl that echoes over the hills behind you. This time it sounds clearer. Louder. Closer.

 

[Llywelyn ap Gruffydd]

Spoiler

Cormac is probably 2-300m behind everyone else because he has craptastic stamina.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

"We must get a fire going, and get a few torches lit. Few animals will be eager to close in on us if we brandish fire at them."

 

[Grimgravy]

Rhenmyr continues to the woman before pulling up. "Why did you stop?" he asks in Keltic.