Clovius and beyond

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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Graybeard
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Graybeard »

Sister Rose released the hug when she saw Desiree moving to the bench. Therese turned to her. "Th-thanks..." And the hug was passed on to Desiree, as Rose smiled softly and moved up to sit beside Ebenezer.

[OOC: So on to Clovius? Or does anyone want to say/do more with this scene?]
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Alberich »

[OOC: I'm happy to roll.]
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Drusia
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Drusia »

Sister Rose released the hug when she saw Desiree moving to the bench. Therese turned to her. "Th-thanks..." And the hug was passed on to Desiree, as Rose smiled softly and moved up to sit beside Ebenezer.

I hug her firmly enough to let her know I care, but gently enough that she won't feel trapped. Not that my little arms are likely to do that, but just in case, I take care to hug her just so. I'd like to ask what happened, but I have a feeling that the answer might be complex.

-- Desiree

OOC: Sure, we can move on whenever - unless Therese has more to say. Desiree is a bit nervous about poking whatever this was in front of others.
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Graybeard
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Graybeard »

The sun was low in the northwestern sky by the time the wagon rolled through the gate in the wall surrounding Clovius. There was nobody on guard there, which surprised Sister Rose until she thought about it: at this time of year, there would be no threat from the trolls (or, presumably, anyone else), and based on what she'd heard in the village, the able-bodied men were going to be busy doing the things that had to be done in the fields and mines and forests.

It had been a strangely quiet trip into the city. Most of the group had been put into a contemplative mood (although Tamina, of course, would never be too contemplative), and Rose herself had split her time between quiet conversations with their driver about the journey ahead and just dozing with her head on Argus' shoulder, or vice versa. Therese, for her part, had been almost completely silent after the hug with Desiree ended, as she inspected the image of Amalric and his family. She still hasn't come completely to terms with Melusine's death, Rose guessed correctly. She tries her best, but it's just hard to move on. She smiled quietly at Desiree. I think she needs someone to be in love with. Even a few months earlier, this thought would have pained her, half because even the Reformed Church wasn't entirely comfortable with same-sex couples, and half because ... well, she'd have been re-living her own pain. It didn't now.

"If there are any caravans in town heading south, they won't leave until morning," Ebenezer said, interrupting her reveries. "You'll find surprisingly comfortable inns in the center of the city, and they should have information on the comings and goings of traders." He winked at Therese; somehow the journey with this group seemed to have made him look and probably feel younger. "You can probably even find a husband there, which will make Dvorah and Jeri feel like they accomplished something ... oh, don't worry, just joking," as Therese blushed slightly.

Well, that's a nice, comfortable way for him to leave the group, Rose thought. She'd decided, contrary to her initial reaction, that she liked the old half elf. Now if we could just find a wife for Tim ... even a temporary one. I've never met anyone in my life who, without even knowing it, has such a need to get laid. By now she didn't see anything irreverent about this thought.

With this frame of mind, she was quite startled to see that, before the wagon entered the city, Ebenezer carefully put his hat back on and adjusted it so that his ears didn't show, with a gesture to Desiree that she should do the same. "I thought this town had no problem with -- half elves," Rose commented quietly, having first checked to see that nobody was within listening range.

"They don't," Ebenezer answered. "Life is hard enough here that the townspeople have better things to do than worry about the shape of one's ears, or the crippling of one's legs." He patted his own unsound limb. "I must say, though, that some of the traders in the caravans aren't so ... well, I just wonder about them." He adjusted his hat again.
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Jack Rothwell »

Seeing their pointy-eared driver's covering gesture had given Tamina a sense of unease despite her interests in the new surroundings. The kobold mirrored him, tugging the hood of her coat a little tighter over her own oversized listening organs and murmuring a quiet question.

"What do these trader peoples think 'bout kobolds? Saw ones in other human places trading Killikah like..." Her mouth twisted in a grimace as she trailed off. She found she had no desire to put a horrific label on what she'd seen in The Blooming Rose an age ago in Port Lorrel. Tamina had discovered on that day that she hated slavers almost as much as she hated the Ralkin.
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Alberich »

"...like they wanted to die quick if they try that with you," said Tim grimly, touching his sword. He'd been reminiscing a little about Eli -- the one companion on these adventures who'd valued him at his worth -- and one of their best moments together, the day they'd stood shoulder to shoulder and cut the slavers down. With Tamina herself being nearby, though Tim did not know it. But then he piped down to let the driver (or Therese) answer the actual question.
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Graybeard »

"Kill-li-kah?" Ebenezer mused. "Never heard of kill-li-kah. But there are stranger things than you in these parts. I don't think you'll have any problems with the traders." He laughed humorlessly and stroked his ears. "As long as you don't have these." Then he touched his bad leg. "Or those."
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Drusia
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Drusia »

Therese, for her part, had been almost completely silent after the hug with Desiree ended, as she inspected the image of Amalric and his family.

Therese never did explain to me what happened. She doesn't need to now. It's hard to miss the way she looks at that painting. The young woman in the painting must be Melusine. Rose found this in that old temple of Luminosa. While I was talking about how I didn't see eye to eye with Luminosans, one of them was giving Therese a momento to remember her departed love by.

It also brings up another interesting thought. Therese's former lover was Luminosan - at least she was born such. My Kenny chose to marry a Luminosan. ... I think Kenny would have liked Melusine. If nothing else they'd have had a lot to talk about.

Odd musings aside, I'm not sure what to do with all this. What do I say? While the Kenny comparison seems approprate in my mind, I lost him years before he died. It isn't the same thing at all.

Since I can't find words, I offer her what little I can. My hand. And, hopefully, she will get the implication that my shoulder is also avaliable should she need it once again.

-- Desiree
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Graybeard »

"I'll be taking my leave of you here," Ebenezer said as the wagon pulled up in front of an inn with a sign proclaiming it the "Mountain Home." "This place is comfortable and quiet, and I know the owner. He's a good man." He smiled wryly. "Good half elf, actually."

Sister Rose was impressed, and her face showed it. Clearly the earlier talk about the town accepting half elves wasn't just idle reassurance. Furthermore, half elves were secure enough here to make a living in a profession that involved dealing with outsiders. That made sense when she thought about it. Clovius was pretty far north in the Northern Confederacy, up in territory where elves didn't go. (Had there been some elven protector who looked after the place, maybe kept travel platforms out of the area the way Drusia and others of her persuasion did near Santuariel? It seemed possible, and she thought she might ask her many-times-great-grandmother-in-law about it if the time was right.) She looked back to the rear of the wagon, where Therese and Desiree were sitting quietly, holding hands. I hope Desiree heard that.

"There's just one thing," the old man said to Rose as the group started to disembark. "I'd suggest you stay away from your old, defunct church in this town. It has ... well, fallen on hard times."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Harder than the abandoned one in that village?"

"Yes." Ebenezer looked uncomfortable, and Rose decided not to press him beyond the one-word answer. He hobbled into the inn to make introductions.
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Re: Clovius and beyond

Post by Alberich »

"Defiled no doubt," said Tim, after Ebenezer had left. "Made into a gambling hall or a drug den or something." What was with this vagueness? Did the driver think they couldn't bear to hear about the dreary little sins of this dreary little country?

Well, they could ask around and report it when they got home. But even that would probably be pointless. Nothing would come of it. The Church was unlikely to intervene militarily or pay tribute to spare an abandoned church, which at the end of the day was just a building that was no longer consecrated. The Clovians were unlikely to spare it for anything less. And there was no way on earth their little group should or would try to do anything about it.

No, the hand-touchy girls would go running off after their sodomitical pleasures, Rose would dash off with Argus for a quick round of "violate-my-vows," and if they were lucky they'd get out of here and back home without any public scenes.
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