Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
|
Post by Arioch on Mar 7, 2019 20:25:16 GMT
The countryside was a quiet thing to behold, wildlife making their usual sounds coming from the woods nearby to the sides of the road. It was only disturbed every now and then by a traveliing merchant or a caravan, but even those happenings were strange sights. Most traveled by foot or in single carts or walking side by side with the beast of burden to ease the weight of the journey. Farms were not that uncommon, small settlements... A peaceful journey. Except-
A single figure was in distress in the middle of the road with some scratches on her arms. A middle-aged woman, her wild hair with some branches in between the curlers of that black mass. She was breathing heavily and her eyes darted left and right, breathing through her mouth until she spotted someone: Hard not to. At first she was shocked. She looked like she was about to cry, breathing harder until she decided to step forward and walked straight towards Vim trying to stay strong.
"Please" She said then "Please you've got to help me you" She stopped and looked at the way she was dressed; armor, weapons. "You've got to help me" Tears on the corner of her eyes.
|
|
|
|
Post by enchilada on Mar 8, 2019 9:59:03 GMT
Vim was a wanderer - nowhere she really liked the best. Her family had a base in a town outside Waterdeep, close enough to have a day trip to the markets in the morning or early afternoon and return for a game of cards with the whole group. She didn’t have a family name, either. Supposedly it’d been stripped from them years ago when they started to spiral into debt, but no one was alive to remember. So she lived by the name given to her by the people she saw most - bar patrons with black eyes and bust lips inflicted by her fist, of course, it was of mutual agreement. She enjoyed the fight as much as she enjoyed listening to a beautiful voice singing a beautiful song, or as much as she loved a nice roast leg of beef, dripping down her chin and onto her hand. She could go for something like that right now, actually, but she knew her mother would likely have something along the lines of cabbage stew prepared, salted with tears of resignation. They weren’t happy. They weren’t unhappy. But sometimes growing girls needed protein, and sometimes the comfort of something that tasted different to dishwater was all you needed to feel any better.
That said, she didn’t really mind and- that woman needed help.
Vim met her in the middle, dashing over. She immediately put a comforting hand over her shoulders, leaning down carefully, not wanting to poke her eye out. “Of course, of course I’ll help you- of course. What happened?”
She softened her rough voice, and dropped it to a half-whisper. The termagant had something of a mushy side, reserved for times it was required. Like here. In the middle of a noble’s secluded, calm meeting, she was more than happy to cause a ruckus, speak loudly and harshly, and cause people rather rough headaches. Not now.
|
|
Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
|
Post by Arioch on Mar 8, 2019 19:33:04 GMT
"I don't know!" She exclaimed with pent up frustration, impotence and fear, as she grabbed Vim's hand with both her's. The woman looked like she was a about to collapse inwardly and break out in sobs but was doing a fair job of keeping herself together. Her breathing was unstable almost like a shivering every time she inhaled, like it was breaking apart and needed to be kept together by sheer force of will.
"I was... I was walking with my husband when two people came and took him away at swordpoint, I tried to protest it but they kicked me to the ground and took him anyways. He told me not to fight them but I... I..."
Upon closer inspection Vim would be able to see some bruises that had been covered up by the dirt she probably had found herself dragged through, around her cheeks and underneath her eye. One of her lips was bleeding but the mud stains on them was doing a fine job of hiding it as well.
"They went north just a few moments ago, they had- weapons and wearing mis-matched armor!"
She went on pointing in the direction she remembered. The trees prevented seeing anything past the first few dozen meters or so, but it was clear that they weren't on the road for it was plain to see there was no one there for miles and miles except for the woman and Vim.
|
|
|
|
Post by enchilada on Mar 10, 2019 11:00:02 GMT
“Right, okay, so, bandits or something.” She smiled reassuringly to the frantic woman. “Lucky for you, I am an expert bandit slayer.” She wasn’t. Vim had done nothing of the sort, but she was pretty good at hurting things that needed hurting, and she had a few extra tricks up her sleeves to smooth it all over, so she was confident she could start to be an expert bandit slayer from now on.
“You come with me for a bit, then if we see them you get somewhere they won’t know you’re at. You can show me exactly where you saw ‘em scuttle off t’, alright?” She covered her hand, grasped by the woman’s, with her other hand.
“What’s your husband’s name? What’s your name? I’m Vim.”
She kept a softer expression, and she kept untensed, although a part of her worried that she would have to get far more tensed up soon. Vim was uneasy with the situation, even if just in terms of a group of bandits just up and taking someone, especially one of two.
|
|
Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
|
Post by Arioch on Mar 10, 2019 21:21:17 GMT
"W-what?"
The woman said, hopeful then not even stopping to doubt the words of Vim, she then brought her own hands to her face to weep away the tears that had begun to form with his wrist, letting out a single sob before smiling, like she was waiting for that illusion to fall apart. It was a weak, tense smile, but she wanted to believe.
"I... I will but..."
She hesitated then, knowing full well what had happened last time she tried to get in the way, she had been lucky they didn't use weapons on her.
"I don't know if I can... I- I don't want to get in the way, I can't fight..."
The woman brough one hand over to the side of her other arm
"I'm... Lara... My husband's name is Dolf. He's... a bit taller than me, blonde hair and has a beard..."
Lara started to tell her, still pretty unstable from the whole experience and it looked as if just talking further into the details wasn't easy on her, but she was trying.
|
|
|
|
Post by enchilada on Mar 10, 2019 21:41:47 GMT
“I’m not expecting y’ to fight anything, okay? My priority is keeping you safe, Lara, and finding Dolf. You can help me find where they went, then you can go home, and you can wait there until I bring him home- come on, they’re probably making a run for it.”
Vim made sure to put extra weight on the appropriate words, names, mostly, grounding and reassuring, and when she was done talking, she put an arm around Lara, gently coaxing her to walk with her towards where she had mentioned the bandits going, she assumed they were bandits due to the crappy armor situation. Even Vim kept everything matching.
“Let’s go. Everything will be fine, don’t you even worry.”
If Vim got ambushed, someone needed to let a better fighter know, it was pretty simple.
|
|
|
|
Post by enchilada on Mar 11, 2019 23:22:06 GMT
6sAxN9|V1d20+5
Persuasion1d20+5
|
|
Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
|
Post by Arioch on Mar 12, 2019 0:09:47 GMT
Vim's personality quickly permeated through the wreck that was Lara, and her sobbing attempts stopped as she regained composture and nodded. Vim looked reliable and strong, surely if there would be trouble she would be able to hold her own. And if that was the case, then maybe, maybe she could provide some aid into finding Dolf.
"A-alright, I'll follow you"
She said and nodded.
Survival
|RtOGI_a1d20+11d20+1
|
|
|
|
Post by enchilada on Mar 12, 2019 12:10:23 GMT
bHvGuBQG1d20+2
(Survival)
”Oh wonderful! Let’s head off!” She stepped off, one hand in her pocket, the other on the pommel of her sword. 1d20+2
|
|
Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
|
Post by Arioch on Mar 12, 2019 16:43:22 GMT
[Oof]
Lara and Vim began trying to trace the bandit's location based on the direction she had seen then coming but neither of them could reliably find footprints or any consistent trace of where they had passed through, at first one could clearly make the markings of someone walking and something else being dragged but up to a certain point they stopped leaving up to wondering if they were going the right way or not which considerably slowed the pace of the search. During this time Vim learned that Dolf was a carpenter and Lara was a seamstress and that they had recently married several months ago, up which point they began living near one of the small settlements away from the ruckus of the city. Dolf usually went away to trade with the caravans or into towns, and also to acquire the materials needed for both of their works.
After what seemed like an hour they ran into a shack in the woods, it wasn't big or had any remarkable features outside the fact that it looked pretty abandoned. It wasn't big either, but there was some light coming from inside. They weren't halfway through when they saw a man enter the shack; wearing mis-matched armor and armed with a hatched.
"That's... not the person I saw but it was kind of dressed like him..."
Added Lara in a whisper, somewhat scared now that the situation was right in front of her.
|
|
|
|
Post by enchilada on Mar 12, 2019 20:35:55 GMT
“That’s probably good enough - you go hide behind a tree somewhere, and I’ll check this out, okay?” Vim kept quiet, dropping low and waiting for Lara to head further back. Once she was satisfied she knew where she was, but also that the bandits, as she assumed they were, wouldn’t find the woman, she stalked forwards, hoping to catch a glimpse of inside.
Before she set off, she realised it was utterly pointless trying to do this stealthily. She was a big lass and her armor could probably wake up the whole forest, if she went slowly it’d probably only get louder knowing her luck, so she opted instead to approach casually, her poor, rough charm and confidence hopefully convincing the man she was either lost or someone like him - whoever he was like. Besides, if he was unrelated, it would be really rude to just sneak up on him and shank him.
So she did the most logical thing in the situation, and knocked on the door.
|
|
Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
|
Post by Arioch on Mar 12, 2019 20:54:05 GMT
Lara nodded, having long since jumped in on the follow Vim wagon, and went ahead to try and find a tree she could see things from. She was scared, but at this point it wasn't that she was afraid for herself, she was afraid for Vim and Dolf and how would things turn out. She was thinking about how many things could go wrong.
When Vim approached the shack even since before she was at the door she would be able to hear the sound from the inside. Something muffled, and a kick that sounded awfully defeaned against something softer.
"Shut up" Said the voice of a woman after the sound. She then added. "Took your sweet ass time getting here"
"Was the faster than I could-"
And then they both stopped as they heard the knock. A pause. A long pause.
"Get lost if you don't want trouble, we're busy in here"
Shouted the woman from the inside.
|
|
|
|
Post by enchilada on Mar 12, 2019 21:40:09 GMT
“Alright, alright no need to be rude. I can wait.”
Vim took a step back from the shack. She rocked back and forth on her feet, or as much as she could on her odd, more hoof-like feet. She took a moment to fix her hair, and kept staring on at the door. She was pretty sure whatever was going on in there was bad. But, again, it could have been some other private matter she knew she didn’t want to see, along with a billion other possibilities. Also Dolf could be in there, and she wanted to find him pretty soon.
Eventually, and by eventually in Vim’s standards, it was probably five seconds, she stopped moving, groaned and got closer again. What could possibly be so important? Just help a gal out, yknow?
“You see, I just got kinda lost on my lonesome.”
|
|
Arioch
Approved
Level 6 — Barbarian
Posts: 333
|
Post by Arioch on Mar 12, 2019 23:33:13 GMT
"What the fuck?" Said one of the voices
"Deal with it" Said the other one
In a manner of seconds after her second sentence the door creaked open towards the inside and a very tired man showed up behind the door. An unkempt beard and a not-very-graceful-face that were a match made in heaven (or hell, most likely) regarded her with tiny black eyes and a hooked nose, pursing his lip.
"The hell d'ya want kid get lost, didn't you hear us?"
He said with a growl, the man was barely taller than Vim and not by much, it came down to milimeters really. Outside from his mixmatched armor which seemed to be mostly leather with a few metal plates here and there kept together by strings of leather, there was no much armor to him. A hatchet was hanging from his hip, and he kept his left hand close to it as he stared at her. From heels to face. Then he squinted, almost in disgust.
"You one of those stinkin devil people?"
There was also contempt for the way she was dressed, seemingly by the way he stared in disapproval. Vim would be able to see just barely before the man got in front that there was another figure on the back and something was wiggling about on the floor, until said figure stepped on it to make it stay still.
|
|
|
|
Post by enchilada on Mar 13, 2019 11:44:49 GMT
Vim stretched up, looking a little over and around the man. “What’s in there?” She smiled innocently, doing her best to just appear as a lost traveller. Her chain mail could have swung the man either way in belief, she thought, but she hoped it made her look like a prepared wanderer, maybe there were wolves or something round here, and you’re better safe than sorry.
“I’d say I’m more of a guardian angel! But right now I’m all lost findin’ my uh, my ward. So if you could help me out I’ll be on my way. Say, you captured a deer or something? If there’s good huntin’ roun’ here maybe I’ll go have a look.”
She watched to see if he perhaps got defensive over the wriggling thing on the floor. She was worried it was Dolf, or it could just be about any person and she’d be in there smashing up the captors, then again, it could just be something acceptable. She didn’t believe it was, but this was only the first stop out of what she presumed would turn to many.
|
|
