The road to Gervasiel

As we play, occasionally we'll close a thread and open a new one to keep the size of threads (and relative complexity) down to a dull roar. Here's where we store the closed posts from the history of Errant Road.
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Drannin
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Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Drannin »

Argus stared into the trees where Rose had called a moment ago. Indeed, they wouldn't hurt whoever was there... until the first sign of a threat. At which point, Argus had every intention of invoking the spell he had at the forefront of his mind and skewering whoever was there.

A bit extreme, perhaps, but Argus was starting to feel that paranoia was a valid survival strategy.
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Drusia
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Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Drusia »

Graybeard wrote:[OOC: Where did everybody go?]
Sorry, busy weekend. Reading backlog now.
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Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: No prob, we have lives ... So as evidence to the contrary:]

The occupants of the wagon (other than the slumbering Brad) came to an alert posture as Sister Rose called again, "Come out, please. We just want to talk, we won't hurt you."

This time the movement wasn't out of the corner of her eye. She happened to be looking, with her heightened senses, in just the right direction as it happened. There was a blur of motion ... and then someone was standing at the side of the lane looking at them.

"A girl?" Rose breathed. She'd been expecting either the spooky, speedy Zeb, or for reasons that she couldn't assemble into a rational thought, one of the old couple at the B&B. But that wasn't what was standing there now. The girl looked to be perhaps eighteen -- younger than Lillith looked (and quite a bit younger than Lillith's real age, of course), but certainly not a child any more. Her brown hair was matted, and her clothing was made of rags -- rags that looked like a random collection of cloth rather than a shirt and pants. The "clothes" were so sparse, and so tattered and torn where they did exist, as to leave little to the imagination. It wasn't hard to see that she wasn't carrying anything remotely approximating a weapon. And the look on her face ... deer in the headlights. Compounded with pure terror.

Rose saw all of this, with her hyper-focused senses, in what couldn't have been more than a second of observation before the girl sprinted back into the trees, at a speed no normal human could match.
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Drusia
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Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Drusia »

"The only group I've ever heard of with a name anything like 'Siggy-Rum' was something you yourself said, back at Mazantzel," Rose said. "I think you called them the 'Ensigerum.' What does that name mean to you?"

An organization called the Ensigerum? Using elven weapons? And time magic?

Oh no. Don't tell me. Don't fucking tell me. Are the Viradior really so damned incompetent that they can't clean up their own people? I always knew they chose their members for looks over brains, but they're supposed to be given some sort of special forces training.

Then again, they weren't ever able to stop me assassinating anyone I pleased, so I already knew they sucked as guard. The Viradior, that is, in their fancy armour and all. After all, the Ensigerum had something approaching a reputation once. They were almost as good at murdering people as, well... me.

So what the fuck are they doing here? And what the fuck have I gotten myself into?

"Please come out and let's talk," Rose called into the trees. "We won't hurt you."
"A girl?" Rose breathed. Rose saw all of this, with her hyper-focused senses, in what couldn't have been more than a second of observation before the girl sprinted back into the trees, at a speed no normal human could match.


The girl left blurs. Time magic then, not teleportation like I use. That tears it.

"Huh," I say softy, "That's the first time I've seen that since the war ended." I turn to Rose. "I'd say we should leave now, and fast, but somehow I doubt it will matter. Still, I'd have to say leaving is a good idea." I turn back towards the woods and draw my own Durus Flamma, in case that little girl has friends.

-- Drusia
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Sareth
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Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Sareth »

"Don't!" Lillith shouted, grabbing Drusia's arm. "She's just a little girl! She's no threat to you el..." She bit off what she was saying, and in a calmer voice spoke. "She's just a girl. I didn't see much at all, but she looks like she couldn't even be a threat to a sick stalk of corn. Put it away. Please."
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Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Graybeard »

"I think Lillith's right," Sister Rose said, trying to project a sense of calm, not as successfully as she'd have liked. She'd dismissed the sensory enhancement, but between the effort of the spellcasting and the metabolic effects of the spell itself, her motor was still revved. She took a deep breath, another, tried again.

"I didn't have the magical Empathy up, but that girl just didn't feel threatening to me. She felt scared, alone in the world. It wasn't like that spy for Haniko Goto, or whatever Zeb is." In fact... "Excuse me for a moment."

She reached back in the wagon, opened her traveling suitcase, extracted two items, folded them neatly. I can always get more, and the shapeshifting means that I don't need an extensive wardrobe anyway. She climbed down from the wagon, put the jeans on the ground where the girl had stood, put the other item on top of them ...

... A pair of panties.

"She needs them," Rose said in response to the shocked stare Argus was giving her. "I could see that very clearly. And that tells me everything I need to know about just how menacing she is." She climbed back into the wagon.
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Drusia
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Re: The road to Gervasiel

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"Don't!" Lillith shouted, grabbing Drusia's arm. "She's just a little girl! She's no threat to you el..." She bit off what she was saying, and in a calmer voice spoke. "She's just a girl. I didn't see much at all, but she looks like she couldn't even be a threat to a sick stalk of corn. Put it away. Please."

"I'm not going after her!" I tell Lillith, trying to pry her off as politely as possible. "I'm afraid she's going to come back with a bunch of armed, angry friends. This is me running away." I consider explaining that their Durus Flamma blades will cut through any non-Durus blades like straw, but I don't think I want to alarm them any more than necessary. Yet.

"Even during the war," I add, watching the treeline, "I wasn't insane enough to chase a member of the Ensigerum on her home turf."

-- Drusia
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Drannin
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Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Drannin »

What the...

Alright, scared little girl using incredibly dangerous magic. Rose leaving out panties of all things for her. Drusia seeming to know what this Ensigerum was. Lillith wanting to help her. A bit much to take in, but Argus was doing his best. He cleared his throat.

"Okay, questions. Rose, why are you leaving her underwear? Drusia, what is this Ensigerum you're talking about? Anyone else think that little girl was a refugee of this town? And how do we know that there aren't more survivors, ready and willing to cause us harm, if only out of desperation?" It was this last that caused Argus to keep scanning their surroundings watchfully.
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Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Graybeard »

SIster Rose looked at Argus with incredulity on her features. "Why am I leaving her underwear? Silly man, because she didn't have any. That's a pretty good reason, I should think. And yes, I'm guessing that she's a refugee from what used to be this town -- what it used to be before the Siggy-Rum, or Ensigerum, or whatever they're called, came through and destroyed the place."
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Sareth
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Re: The road to Gervasiel

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Lillith actually laughed at this, though she did release Drusia's arm. "The Ensigerum are just a bunch of monks. My folk have..." Her eyes slid over to Drusia a moment, then away. "My folk have met a few of them. They practice some physical combat, and a few of us have learned it. It's no good in real combat, but it's good for subduing rowdy people. They're quiet people, not the sorts to destroy entire villages. They dress like monks!" She darted a look at Drusia. "It's certainly nothing to be scared of."
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