Kiyoka

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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Kiyoka: Grope

Post by Graybeard »

"Friend Lucas," Grope started -- this was going to be difficult -- "I have not seen my mate in three years. Do you remember the pirate ship?" Light dawned in the Small One's eyes, and he shuddered as the memory came back, such of it as could -- he'd taken a pretty good knock on the head during that episode... "We landed in the north --" he hoped the man could remember what this was a euphemism for -- "after we killed the pirates. We hunted and did our ceremony. All was good. But later, we had to go on different roads for a time, to do the business of our tribe, and I have not seen her again." There, he'd said it, no matter how much it hurt.

Lucas felt sympathy. Trolls mate for life, and mean it; the concept of voluntary separation or divorce simply doesn't exist in the troll language, or the trolls' mindset. He'd traveled enough among the trolls to know how strong the pair-bond was for them, which was why elderly, lifelong-single female trolls played such an ambivalent role in their culture; many, many males died young... He started to say, "Grope, what happ--" when he was interrupted by two loud blasts on an air horn from the direction of the harbor entrance.

They turned and saw moving lights across the water: the ferry. The ship had been loitering in deep water for a while. Apparently someone had passed the message about a disturbance near the warehouses (would a battlemage be coming to investigate?, Grope wondered, and he wasn't the only one not thrilled with the idea), and the ship's captain had decided, sensibly enough, not to make landfall and expose his ship and passengers (and himself) to possible harm. However, it looked like the ungainly ship was now heading in to dock. It had been three full minutes since the last noises from the Thundering Metal Things, after all...

The Small Ones and the troll started for the wharf, but they didn't get very far before Grope stopped short. He caught a distinct questioning look in the man's eyes, and even the odd blue woman seemed puzzled. Well, might as well get it over with, he thought.

"I am sorry, friend Lucas, but I cannot go with you."
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DarkIntruder
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Re: Kiyoka

Post by DarkIntruder »

Roger took the knife and wiped it off before sheathing it. "Thanks," he replied. "Northern Confederacy Militia, standard issue."

He gave a quick glance around, but there was nothing moving. "I don't have any questions for this bleeder, I was just wondering if you wanted to know why they we're after you. But I take it you already know."

Jamie nodded. Just at that moment, a pair of blasts from a boat horn split the silence of the night.

"I guess we'd better get out of here, see if we can meet up with the others at the docks and get out of this shithole of a city. But what do we do about him?"

Roger gave the prostrate thug a small kick, which elicited a small groan.

"We can't leave him here, and since he's your 'buddy' I'll let you do the honours."

Roger turned his back and took a few short steps away.
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Kiyoka: Grope

Post by Graybeard »

"But if you need me, I will come," Grope continued. That got him a long, dubious look from Lucas.

He didn't have much time; the boat was pulling up to the dock, and they wouldn't stay there long. He startled his friend with a fast hand movement, then another. The first was to the bloody spot on the side of his own head, to obtain a bit of his own substance; the second was to tear off a small piece of Lucas' shirt where he had bled on it. And he left his own blood in its place.

"I will know," Grope said. "Now go." And he sank back into the shadows.

[OOC: We're probably about to have a fork here, as most of the party heads off to wherever the ferry is going -- hey, you guys created the ferry concept, I didn't -- while Grope stays in the Kiyoka vicinity. Any recommendations on how to name threads from here on to keep things straight? As I recall from Viking-Sensei's original definition of this game, there was some expectation that there would eventually be multiple In-Character threads, precisely to deal with situations like this, but we never worked out the details. Any thoughts? And also btw, if anyone wants to join who's either new or recently inactive but returning, that's one of the reasons for keeping Grope in town -- he'll need "help" developing his part of the story. So join the fun!]
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Re: Kiyoka

Post by Weirdonian »

Toivo had gotten separated from the group and decided to take cover until the fighting was done. Not bringing a firearm along with him turned out to be a huge mistake. But then, the IAC had made this whole mission out to be pretty routine an supposedly uneventful. He hadn't even started his trip and already their estimates turned out to be grossly inacurate. Still, he took the mission, he assumed the risk and he was determined to succeed and return to tell them their damned estimates and research were bupkis.

With the shots and sounds of violence now done, he crept out of the alley quietly and peeked towards the warehouse. It was dark, but he could hear his compatriots voices, so he assumed they had won the battle. With a sigh of relief he trudged towards them and the warehouse, taking note of the various corpses that now were strewn about in various, bloody states. He gulped back a twinge of revulsion upon seeing the bodies and blood but shook it off as best he could.

"Geez, look at all this!" Toivo declared, his sight falling upon the arrow that had been torn out and thrown to the ground. He knelt down and examined it. He didn't recognise it, but it looked so out of place here, amongst these mercs. And since it had apparently struck down one of these not-too-nice gentelmen, it had apparently been fired by an ally. He turned to the warehouse and peeked in the door, half-expecting to be met by gunfire. Meeting only sickly silence, he entered as his curiosity got the better of him. He looked over the carnage within with a disapproving grimace and then noticed another merc felled by an arrow. "Very curious." He said to himself. A moment of quiet thought on this passed before the boat horns sounded. He looked about and noticed a pistol near the merc with an arrow in him. Toivo snapped it up but it nearly slipped out of his hands it was so bloody. He quickly wiped it off as best he could using a ratty, old rug on the floor and then he threw it into a side pouch on his backpack before exiting the warehouse through through the same way he came in. He could hear his coleagues a good distance away already, headed towards the docks.

"I know, don't start." Toivo turned and exclaimed before quickly walking off to join the others. It didn't matter that the gun only had a few bullets in it and he had no amunition to fill it, that he had a pistol at all now to fill with bullets was the important part.
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Re: Kiyoka

Post by Viking-Sensei »

Lucas swallowed hard. The revelation about Grope's missing significant other, for lack of a better term, sucked... and while Lucas would love to take Grope along on this already-proving-incredibly-dangerous wander-about, however he wasn't sure how the rest of the party would take a real honest-to-Exaltis troll accompanying them. Still, now knowing about Grope's plight gave him an advantage, because if she was still out there, somewhere, there was a good chance Lucas would run into her.

I will look, Grope. Lucas thought, looking at the giant man-shaped form disappearing into the damp night. You have my word. And, I'm going to see if I can't get you some help.

Ayiee, holding Lucas by his non-wounded arm, helped him down the road towards the docks.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The storm that had been rolling through Kiyoko earlier had wandered it's way further up the island, and was now dumping buckets on the small countryside house on the outskirts between Kiyoko and Tsuirakushita. At first, he suspected that the rythmic banging was just the shutters beating against the walls in the wind, however the pounding was getting steadily louder and there was now shouting, so it was becoming more and more obvious that he couldn't ignore what was going on outside anymore. Padding softly across the floor so as to not awaken the sleeping winged cat, he peered out the mail slot and let out a long, exasperated sigh. Unlatching the six or seven giant bolts holding the old wooden door closed, he peered out into the stormy night at the very damp figure standing on the stoop.

"Rokku! I've been out here for ten minutes!"

Rokku glared. "What do you want, Kureji?"
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Sareth
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Re: Kiyoka

Post by Sareth »

"We can't leave him here, and since he's your 'buddy' I'll let you do the honours."

"Alright," I responded. "Why not?"

As the fellow with the knife walked away, I quickly bent down beside the wounded man.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well, what?"

"Are you going to tell me?"

I gave him a long look. "Tell you what?"

"Your big secret?"

"What big secret?" I didn't have time for this.

"All broody assassin types have big secrets of some sort. You kind of wear yours on your sleeve, though. And since I'm about to die anyway, right? I mean, in the stories, they always share the big secret just before they kill the guy, right? It's like some sort of rule or something."

I smiled and leaned down by his ear. I licked my lips, paused a moment, then gave a shrill whistle.

"OW GAWDAMMIT!" he yelped.

"I've never been any good at doing things by the rules," I replied, then put him out of our collective miseries with one last shot, before turning to hurry down to the docks.
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Re: Kiyoka

Post by DarkIntruder »

'Why can't things ever be simple?' Roger thought to himself, as he followed Jamie past darkened warehouses and loading docks. 'I admit it, I've done some bad things in my time. Granted those people had it coming, but that's really no excuse. Is it? I don't know. I just know that I've been paying for it since I left Salvus.'

He also knew that if they could just get to a boat, get out to sea, then maybe he'd have a chance to sort everything out. FInd out exactly who these people are.

The pair entered the docks area, dodging around shipping containers packed three high, and assorted ropes and hooks. The place seemed oddly quiet. Where were all the dockworkers? Were they scared off by the gunfire?

"Jeez, I have no idea what to do now." Roger said. I don't know what boats are where, and even if I did, what are we going to do, steal one? I can't drive a boat. That ferry is getting closer though."

A flash of light to the side between two containers caught his eye. He paused, and it flashed again. Blue light.

"Is that what I think it is?" Roger asked. "Is that that guide of ours' golem?"
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Re: Kiyoka

Post by Graybeard »

Now what in Growf's Name had he done that for?, Grope wondered as he watched the man and the sort-of-woman head for the docking ferry. Blood-Binding didn't always work even when performed by a Priestess, which he very definitely was not, and lacking at least Zhbrigeeul's magic to drive it, how was it ever going to help his friend? The Robe had moved him to do it, but why, he didn't know. He absently fingered the long scar on the side of his neck ...

... And a memory came rushing back.

What a way to die, he thought as the Errant came closer.

It had all started innocently enough. The Small One that he and his mate had rescued from the young punks of the rival tribe had shown admirable vigor and tenacity, and they'd adopted him much as one might a particularly spunky stray cat -- except that cats didn't learn to speak their master's language. The relationship became more balanced with time, and when the man suggested an outing to the nearby ruins, it sounded like great sport, even though he had no idea what the man found worthwhile there. He, his brother, and his brother's-second-son's-first-son (trolls give very specific labels to relatives) amused themselves hunting for the small animals that inhabited the ruins, while the man poked around inside, doing who-knows-what. Everything was going swimmingly, and a fine time was being had by all ... until they encountered the Errant.

He'd had no idea why the part-man, part-elf Small Ones were called by that name; he'd asked a Priestess about it decades earlier, when he was young, and she hadn't known either, although she thought it might have been something incorporated into the trolls' language from the elves. He also hadn't understood why they were so feared. Weren't Errants in much the same boat as his own people, always on the run from the elves and the humans? Weren't they natural allies rather than frightful beings? But the first time he encountered one, he started to figure it out: Errants were dangerous. They looked normal enough, but at any time they might go berserk without warning, and they used magic -- which by itself was reason enough to avoid them.

This one had been camped somewhere in the ruins, after being run out of the Errants' town by her own people, which was a warning sign already: the Errants tolerated the oddities of their own kind and only cast out the ones that were a problem. The trolls knew she was there, by the distinctive odor, but didn't think much of it; one Errant, even a magical one, is hardly a match for three trolls. At least one normal Errant. But this one was particularly adept at destructive magic, and they underestimated her, at least until she started jabbering in some unknown language -- and cast her first spell.

Now his brother and brother's-second-son's-first-son were dead in the most appalling way, incinerated by a fireball so that their Wisdom could not live on in the Tribe. They never saw it coming; one moment there was the weird jabbering from within the ruins, and the next, PHOOM. He too had been taken by surprise, and was reaching for his sword when the next spell hit: an Earth Smash that left him badly wounded on the neck and legs and half-buried under boulders that had materialized out of thin air. And now she was coming to finish him off.

But then, the impossible happened. The Small One Lucas had been out of sight at the beginning of the encounter, and Grope thought the Errant must have killed him before starting on the trolls. He now saw, however, that he'd underestimated the man -- again. Atop a high, unstable wall, there was movement -- and he saw what Lucas was doing. He was creeping toward a tottery temple column, hoping to knock it over on top of the Errant. The question was: would he be in time?

Yes! The Errant hesitated as she came to kill him (he would conclude later that she had to recharge her magical mana before casting the fatal fireball), and in that moment, the tide turned. He watched in amazement as the Small One cast a spell of his own -- a Force Bolt, nothing very powerful, certainly no more than a female troll could manage, but enough to topple the column. The Errant turned her eyes to the sky and started to run, but not in time to keep from being crushed -- ironically enough, by what was in effect an Earth Smash of her own.

What a pity, he thought, that it was too late. He was bleeding profusely from the neck wound, and too badly injured and pinned by the boulders to do anything about it. Well, at least he would live on in the memories and Robes (and even bodies) of his people, unlike his brother. Small consolation ...

But then the impossible happened again. The Small One bellowed, at the top of his lungs and possibly even magically amplified, "SPRINGHEEL!" It was the closest a Small One's vocal apparatus could come to his mate's name, and it was close enough, because even as Grope's consciousness started to fade, he could hear Zhbrigeeul, blessed Zhbrigeeul, beloved Zhbrigeeul, running to him with her healing magic. And just at the edge of blackness, he felt her healing touch...


And that was why he attempted the Blood-Binding, he realized, as he quietly walked toward the forest to spend the night.
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Re: Kiyoka: Grope

Post by Graybeard »

He awoke the next morning feeling refreshed despite a rather short night's sleep. He performed the morning rituals and ablutions as the sky was just starting to brighten, and caught another wild pig for breakfast. This one wasn't as cooperative as the one before it, and he had to spend a good half hour stalking the beast before bringing it down with an arrow perhaps half an hour before the sun would rise. Well, he thought, it's not such a bad thing to sleep in on occasion, and this pig surely had a great deal more Wisdom of the forest to offer, given how wily it had been. He wiped its blood on the Robe with a bit of added respect before making his meal, and as he ate, he thought about his first-son's-first-son.

Grope had, and knew he had, two personality quirks that set him aside from most of his people. (Must come from hanging around the Small Ones so much, he rationalized.) First, most trolls are firmly rooted in the here-and-now, and it would never occur to them to think about a grandchild who had assumed the leadership of the clan while the true leader (himself) was recovering from near-fatal wounds -- particularly if that clan, and the tribe it was part of, was a thousand miles away, and hadn't been heard from in years. Even apart from his introspective oddities, though, these weren't normal circumstances. He hoped Skroy'yah was taking good care of the clan, but he wasn't too worried; the youngling had shown himself a skilled leader while Grope was incapacitated, indeed was the reason why he felt he could, and should, undertake his present journey-quest.

His other personality trait, which made him completely incomprehensible to his tribe (but also made him an able leader), was a most un-troll-like capacity for orderly planning, and with breakfast complete, he set about putting it to good use. He saw a few things that needed doing, en route to his goal of linking up with Zhbrigeeul and continuing his explorations:
# Continue collecting information that would help him figure out where his mate was;
# Make sure the curiously militant Veracian mission posed no threat to him and his people on this island (they certainly posed one back in the homelands);
# Do whatever had to be done to deal with the thuggish mercenary group, if there were any of them left.

He'd normally set his priorities in exactly that order, but there was something very compelling about the sense the Robe was giving him that the mercenaries had to get dealt with first. He knew from the encounters the previous night that the mercenaries had a safe house or farm house somewhere southwest of town, and from the edge of the forest he could see the main road that ran in that direction. It looked lightly traveled, and he thought he could follow its course while sticking to the fringes of the woods to avoid detection, at least until full daylight arrived. Well, let's get on with it, he said to himself, and set off.
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Re: Kiyoka

Post by Viking-Sensei »

OOC:

With the mob annex defeated and our party limping towards the safety of the ferry, and with Grope retreating into the wilderness to pursue his leads, I think this is an excellent place to have a "Chapter Break" style pause. Nothing too fancy, just the sort of thing the wiki has between chapters that allows us a chance to recount what all has gone on up until now, allowing missing players (Tiamat) a chance to catch up, perhaps an option to fast-forward through some of the otherwise boring and unnecessary bits of the quest, and a good launching point if anybody else wants to join in without having to read 10 pages worth of posts. I'm not advocating in any manner that the story stop here, just that we pause every so often for a little bit of a "Previously On..."

In fact, I'm creating a new post, called "Previously On...", where we can do a quick recap of the ongoing action every so often.
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