Clovius and beyond

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Jack Rothwell
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Jack Rothwell »

OOC I don't think everyone reacting in a logical manner to a dangerous fight translates as being 'not interested' in what was going on. But even a character as optimistic as Tamina isn't going to go skipping into that situation./OOC
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Re: Clovius and beyond

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[OOC: Nothing negative was intended; disinterest in the fight (other than using it as cover to get away) is indeed a perfectly sensible reaction for the majority of the party, and moving on should be considered a normal thing to do. I hung this encounter out there largely to give Drannin the chance to give voice to Argus' well-documented hatred of trolls. Lacking Drannin, and with me unwilling to put that many words in Argus' mouth, there's just not much reason to keep it going. So onward, if not quite all the way to Clovius...]

One uneventful overnight later, and a tired half-day's march spent silently recovering from the standing watches that had been set up, the group found themselves cresting a low ridge, beyond which was the first human settlement they'd seen since the escape glider landed.

It wasn't much of a settlement, really. There appeared to be maybe a dozen permanent buildings, and a few more structures that might be hide-covered tents. The distance was too great to tell much about the humans (no trolls) moving among these structures and the scruffy gardens and livestock pens, all of them unoccupied; presumably the herds of whatever-they-were -- reindeer? -- were up grazing in the hills above town. Sister Rose noticed that when the villagers moved from building to building, they never went alone.

"Do you know anything about these people?" she asked Therese, a bit tentatively; she'd been uncharacteristically subdued since the moment on the rock staircase.

"Almost nothing," the tall woman answered. "They're too far from Refuge-Nouveau for us ever to have dealt with them. There are some other city-states in the northern part of the Confederacy in terrain like this, up near the troll lands, and if this Clovius is anything like the others, the city will be surrounded by these little settlements. They'll be about half occupied at this time of year. Most of the men will be out, either herding whatever animals fill those pens, or working in the mines like that one up there." She gestured toward what looked like a tailings pile half way up a hill behind the village. "They'll come back down in the fall and bring in the herds, then as many of them as can will run back behind the walls of Clovius to hunker down for the winter. They'll have to leave a few people behind because of the trolls, but it'll be almost a ghost town."

Rose nodded as Therese continued. "So the odds are pretty good that most of the people down there are women, which would explain why they're moving in pairs. And another thing: they'll be well armed ... and highly suspicious."
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Re: Clovius and beyond

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"Why do the women move in pairs?" asked Tim. He could actually think of some reasons, especially if these barbaric northerners were anything like the Gorielians, but rural Veracia had no such custom. (In the city, unmarried girls of good family might have chaperons. But there was no scandal in a woman walking alone.)
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Re: Clovius and beyond

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"Why do the women move in pairs?"

Has he no eyes to see?
wondered Therese. "Because one of them is carrying a great big freaking gun."
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Re: Clovius and beyond

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Tamina keenly soaked in the details of the settlement they'd stumbled upon with a faint sense of wonder and a strong sense of caution (mostly that was attributed to the guns the women were carrying). The simplicity of the housing, the hides being scraped, the hostility of the landscape and the ratio of females combined to give her the impression she had stumbled into a northern Killikah settlement that just happened to be populated by humans.

"Not sure 'bout the guns but... kinda like the look of this place. Reminds me a' home."

OOC Edit-fixed./OOC
Last edited by Jack Rothwell on September 24th, 2013, 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Clovius and beyond

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"Because one of them is carrying a great big freaking gun."

"...and the other one needs to reload it for her or something?" Tim asked. He had very little knowledge of firearms. A moment ago she'd said their being women was the reason they moved around in pairs, and he didn't see what this had to do with that.
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Re: Clovius and beyond

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Your fellow clergyman is a little slow, isn't he? Therese wished she could thought-say to Sister Rose. However, she couldn't, so she answered him patiently. "There are things outside that scare them," she said. "One woman alone is in danger of getting attacked while she works in the garden or whatever. So another goes with her with a big gun, to give her cover."

"I didn't think firearms were supposed to be of much use against trolls," Rose mused. "Not unless you get a lucky shot at an unprotected area, anyway." She self-consciously touched the pistol she'd confiscated from Brad.

"Most aren't," Therese concurred. "That's the other part of it. Handguns don't have the muzzle velocity and caliber, don't have the punch, to do anything serious to a troll. So they take a second woman hauling a honking big piece of cannonry, something that might actually have a chance of a kill. She's the armed guard while the other one does the work, whatever it is. Look there." In the distance, two women were heading for a livestock pen, one of the few that did seem to have an occupant, an antlered beast -- reindeer, probably. One of the women was struggling under the weight of a firearm about as large as she was.

"Wow," Rose muttered softly. "If that's the social mood in town, they're going to be, um, challenging to approach. Yet at the same time, it might be to our advantage if we did, to convince them that we're not dangerous, maybe try to arrange transportation to Clovius and then home." She emphasized those last few words slightly. "But how are we going to do it? Ideas?"
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Re: Clovius and beyond

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"One woman alone is in danger of getting attacked while she works in the garden or whatever. So another goes with her with a big gun, to give her cover."

And she thinks men wouldn't do that? thought Tim.

"Wow," muttered Rose softly.

Went native in Getsemiel? thought Tim.

"If that's the social mood in town, they're going to be, um, challenging to approach. Yet at the same time, it might be to our advantage if we did, to convince them that we're not dangerous, maybe try to arrange transportation to Clovius and then home. But how are we going to do it? Ideas?"

"I doubt that town's going to have a wagon to spare for us, or a coach route either," said Tim. "We're probably walking. If the issue is they're afraid of dangerous strangers, then we shouldn't come up in a group with lots of weapons and obvious wizardry." He gave a pointed look at Argus' familiar. "Best is to have one of us walk up, open hands, no weapons, and ask them the way to Clovius. I'd be glad to do that part. Then we skirt around the village and walk there, giving no one any reason to shoot at us. And if they say there's a coach or something, okay, make arrangements."
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Re: Clovius and beyond

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Sister Rose nodded, glad to see this sign of leadership from Tim, particularly given the likelihood that this was a male-dominated culture (weren't they all?). "Okay," she said, "go ahead, nice and peaceable, ask them if --"

"No," Therese interrupted, some heat in her voice. She put a firm hand on Tim's sleeve.

Rose gave her a puzzled look. "Why not?"

"Because that's the way wolves hunt," the northerner said. "A pack finds its prey, then one wolf goes forward, trying to get the prey to bolt, shows its teeth if it has to. The prey gets spooked to the point where it does bolt, and the wolves are after it. A klick or two later..." She drew a finger across her throat.

Rose's puzzlement deepened. "I don't get it. What does that have to do with this settlement?"

Therese released her grip on Tim's arm. "Living up here, with the trolls at their doorstep," she said, "the Five Great Mothers alone know what these people believe in, but I will guarantee you they believe in two things. One is the presence of real live wolves in the forests. The other is ... werewolves. Shapechangers that come out of the forest in human form, and wait until it's dark, and then suddenly they're not humans any more."

Rose blinked. "That's ridiculous. There are no such things as werewolves. My own limited shape-changing ability is about as much as we know of, without big-time magic being expended to make it happen. The werewolf legends are just that, legends. I've seen the -- research reports." I don't think I'm going to tell her about Egbert... but whatever he was, he was no more a werewolf than I am.

Therese got a strange smile. "You know that," she said. "I know that, more or less. But thing is --" she indicated the village with a sweep of her hand -- "they don't know that. And one thing I have learned in my travels is to pay attention to the foolishness of unlettered men and women, because some of it isn't so foolish."
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Re: Clovius and beyond

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Tim shook off Therese's rude, grabbing hand when she seized him. If it had been an emergency -- like an attacking dragon -- and she'd been dragging him to safety, he would've understood that, but here there was time to talk like civilized folk. "That's pretty rude," said Tim. "This isn't an emergency, so talk like civilized folks and keep your hands to yourself."

He knew Rose wouldn't stand up for him -- hell, she'd sided with a bullying elf against him -- so he had to stand up for himself.

"So, anyway, what's the problem?" he asked. "I go up, I talk to them, I find out the way to Clovius, I come back to you, and we leave long before it's nightfall. So even if we were werewolves, we'd be no threat to them.

"I mean, unless you know the way to Clovius City already, or you've spotted the road or something. In which case we can avoid that village that thinks we're werewolves completely and just go there."

He didn't get why Therese was acting so strangely. If she'd known that they had to stay away from the village completely, she should've just said so right from the beginning. If she wanted to play at know-it-all, great, let her share her superior knowledge, and not be so all-fired mysterious about it all, then start grabbing him when he didn't read her mind.
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