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.
Locked
User avatar
Drannin
Prince of Space
Posts: 1350
Joined: August 15th, 2008, 2:46 pm

Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Drannin »

(OOC: Errrr.... correction made. No interspecies romance happening here, just someone not paying attention to what he's writing. Move along, nothing to see here.... STOP SNICKERING, DAMMIT!!!! *facepalms*)
User avatar
Drusia
Veteran of the Errant War
Posts: 1293
Joined: September 7th, 2009, 9:53 pm

Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Drusia »

Drannin wrote:(OOC: Errrr.... correction made. No interspecies romance happening here, just someone not paying attention to what he's writing. Move along, nothing to see here.... STOP SNICKERING, DAMMIT!!!! *facepalms*)
OOC: What?! Aww, too bad. Drusia was wondering if Harker had an "adult" mode....

Also, I was aware about the Durus Flamma not affecting (most) humans or half-elves the way they do elves, but as noted, A) she doesn't know that. Also, B), if she does, she didn't want to encourage Brad to play with deadly elven weapons. ^^ When I need to know something about elven stuff, I generally open up the Heretic Knowledge Vault in another tab. **grin** Little tip of the hat to the good people who maintain that wonderful webpage.
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC:
Drusia wrote:When I need to know something about elven stuff, I generally open up the Heretic Knowledge Vault in another tab. **grin** Little tip of the hat to the good people who maintain that wonderful webpage.
Thank you, and if you (the collective you, not just Drusia) would like to join the (very small...) crowd that works on it, let me know; I'm a "bureaucrat" on the HKV and can add you. You'd be very much appreciated -- there are a ton of Errant Road articles to be written. So moving on from this silly little digression...]

Sister Rose was still blushing as she set the wagon in motion.

By dint of nearly as immense effort, Brad had managed to get the Lancea restored to its inactive state. He turned to Lillith, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, s -- sw -- swe -- I'm gonna have to take a nap. That took a lot out of me. But wake me if you need me." He didn't wait for a reply, but simply pitched backward in the wagon, asleep and snoring before he hit the floor.
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
Porcelain Fish
Mage/Priest War Veteran
Posts: 449
Joined: July 26th, 2009, 10:44 am

Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Porcelain Fish »

For some reason Maduin found it mildly amusing that Brad couldn't quite get the weapon entirely "up" as Druisa had, moving gracefully aside in time to avoid his toppling body. A flash of motion out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, but when he looked, no one was there.
User avatar
Sareth
RPG All-Star
Posts: 2604
Joined: August 23rd, 2007, 8:54 pm

Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Sareth »

"You silly, foolish man," Lillith spoke quietly to the sleeping Brad. She smiled, brushing his bangs away from his face. "You'd do that for me?" Her smile grew a little.

She shrugged that off and turned to Sister Rose. "That village..." Her smile turned to a frown. "Someone destroyed it. Utterly. Someone erased it and its people." She sighed. "What were they called again? Ensa... Ensy... Ensy Gerries? Someone with elven weapons destroyed these Ensygerries. Why?"
Image
Image
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Graybeard »

Sister Rose started to answer the question Lillith asked, but decided to answer the unasked one first. "You know, he really would -- defend you with his life, I mean. I've known Brad since we were children. Silly? For sure. Foolish? Sometimes, although not foolish in valuing you. But whatever else we say about him, he is a good man. And his word is his bond. Treasure him; men like that don't come along every day."

She paused for a moment as something flickered at the edge of her vision. What was it about this place? She was certainly going to be glad to have it behind her. As the sensation passed, she continued, "To answer your question, I think you may have got it backwards. The Siggy-Rum, whatever they are --" I have a pretty good idea, but let's not go there -- "were the ones who put the village here to the sword and the torch, if I understand those two farmers correctly. It wasn't the elves. Who was living here before, to be butchered like that? I don't know."

But I have an uneasy feeling that we might find out, she thought, as that sensation of being watched passed over her again.
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
User avatar
Drannin
Prince of Space
Posts: 1350
Joined: August 15th, 2008, 2:46 pm

Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Drannin »

Argus watched the interplay between Brad and Lillith with a touch of amusement.... and fatherly protectiveness, which he quickly quashed. The last thing Lillith needed was for him to meddle.

Instead, Argus looked around at the devastated township, thinking. "Whatever reason this... Sigilrum... had to destroy this village, this is proof enough that they are very, very dangerous." He grimaced. "And apparently have a nasty temper." He looked at the ground, which appeared to be charred, and winced.

Then he thought back to where they were staying for the evening, thought about the farmhand who quite possibly was dabbling in magic that even Tsuiraku kept away from, and that place's proximity to where they were standing... Couldn't be. That's paranoia. Isn't it?
User avatar
Sareth
RPG All-Star
Posts: 2604
Joined: August 23rd, 2007, 8:54 pm

Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Sareth »

"Yes. But something here doesn't make sense." Lillith nodded, thinking a moment. "This road is out of the way and goes past a place most people would avoid because of the unsettled spirits..." She said this with the certainty of her faith, either unaware or uncaring that not all there might agree with her conviction. "People avoid places of large, sudden death. They fear its taint. But there's been an inn here for years. An inn that wouldn't get very many customers at all, but which could afford very exotic food. It makes no sense. They should barely be able to survive. Unless..."

Her eyes narrowed. She turned to Argus. "Arg... fa... father..." She shook herself. "You said that the speed with which that one man from the inn ran was proof that he worked for rogue time mages from Tsuiraku... But the other two acted like he'd been there a long time, not a new arrival. And they seemed to know... Drusia's music like it was their own. Elven music... not Tsuirakuan."

Lillith thought a moment longer, then nodded. "And this..." She gestured down to the weapon Brad had claimed. "This isn't a Tsuirakuan weapon. This is..." She glanced at Drusia. "This is elven. But... But Drusia said elves don't really use them. Not for fighting. But someone used it here."

Lillith turned to Sister Rose. "None of it makes sense. Unles..." She gnawed her lip. "Rose? Have you heard of any... Any human cults that worship elves and which might use very dangerous magics to kill? Someone with a name like 'Siggy-Rum?' A cult paranoid enough to plant an inn with some of its people to watch a town it had murdered?"
Image
Image
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Graybeard »

"I'll answer you in a minute," Sister Rose muttered through clenched teeth as she urged the two horses into a faster gait. It might be a little uncomfortable for the passengers, but it was time to get out of here ... and she could profit from a little time to think as well. Five minutes later, with the devastated area clearly behind them, she allowed the horses to pause and rest, and turned back to Lillith.

"I'm honestly not sure what to think about that place we just left behind," she confessed. "Nor am I sure what to make of this feeling we've been having of being watched. At first I thought it was just a matter of us being spied on by this Haniko Goto." Argus winced at the name, but she pressed on. "But now I'm wondering if there's more to it than that."

That being-watched feeling was back again, but how could it be? They'd left the blasted intersection behind, at a fast enough gait, sustained for long enough, that no human could have caught them yet. Unless... "To answer your question directly, no, I don't know of any elf-worshiping human cults, although Miguel would know more about such things than I do. Almost all Veracians find the elves half awesome, half scary -- no offense, Drusia -- but not in a worshipful way, more like the way you'd view a thunderstorm or a volcano. Marvel at it from a distance, relish the legends about it, admire its beauty, but don't mess with the thing, or it might strike you down with a thunderbolt or a blast of lava. The same with elves." I'm not going to get into the interactions the elves have with the Church...

She paused again to catch her breath, and also to remember where all she'd heard of the Ensigerum. She'd seen the name in something at the Heretic Knowledge Vault, but she could never admit that to anyone outside the military or the Church. She was also bound to secrecy about what she'd heard when she was covering a certain diplomatic function in Emerylon where they'd been mentioned, apparently as a screwup. If all of her exposure to the term had been deeply classified (and never more than just the name, even at that), how could she invoke it here? She'd have to --

Wait a minute. Lillith mentioned the Ensigerum. So maybe I can learn a little something myself here. "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?" She turned to make sure she could see not only Lillith's reaction to the name, but Drusia's ... and as she did, she caught another glimmer of impossibly rapid movement out in the trees beside the lane.
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
User avatar
Graybeard
The Heretical Admin
Posts: 7180
Joined: August 20th, 2007, 8:26 am
Location: Nuevo Mexico y Colorado, Estados Unidos

Re: The road to Gervasiel

Post by Graybeard »

[OOC: Where did everybody go?]

If Lillith answered, Sister Rose didn't hear it, as she was distracted by that incredibly rapid movement in the trees again. Whatever it was, it was persistent ... and disturbing. Maybe not an immediate threat to life and limb -- it had had plenty of opportunities to attack if so inclined, and it hadn't -- but anything that could move that fast might be dangerous if provoked. Time to get this resolved. She stopped the wagon.

"I don't like this," Rose said to anyone in the wagon who was listening. "Get some defensive magic ready. I want to try something." She summoned her energy and cast a spell she'd learned back in her special-ops days and not used since then.

Time slowed down for Sister Rose. Well, it didn't really slow down; not only did the Church have a proscription against time magic, she couldn't have cast any anyway. Rather, her senses went to a hyper-vigilant state. The rustle of leaves in the trees wasn't a steady susurrus any more; she could hear individual leaves whispering in the wind, see them flex from the pressure of the air. As a bird (not a parrot, she noted) passed overhead, she could not only hear the faint whssh of air through its wings, she could see the feathers cutting a path through the air ... and there was the loud, mechanical ka-THOOMB. ka-THOOMB of her own heartbeat, faster now than before she'd cast the spell. She couldn't hold this state for very long, but with some luck and Luminosita's help, she wouldn't need to.

"Please come out and let's talk," she called into the trees. "We won't hurt you." I don't know why I added that ... but it seemed like the thing to do.
Image

Because old is wise, does good, and above all, kicks ass.
Locked