Sorry for the delay. Things happened. I'll try to get back on schedule.
Campaign
Campaign, Ike!
Follow massah sadly. Slowly calm down.
"That is fine, thank you."
follow to medical tent
just before the guard leaves us, I gently grab the guard's arm and tug him downwards. When he lowers his head I whisper in his ear:
"Your vibes are a very powerful tool, and you've done no harm this time, for I truly mean no ill, but your vibes don't distinguish between a mage and a powerful magical creature."
I then release him and watch to see how he reacts to this information.
You follow the guard to the camp, making your way through the small defensive perimeter around it.
The largest of the dwellings that make up the camp are all placed closely together, like people huddling together for warmth. They are made from a variety of materials: a patchwork of fabric, twigs and branches obtained from the sparse vegetation, wooden and metal debris, rocks... Few of them look like something that wasn't hastily cobbled together from whatever was at hand, few are made from a single material, few have a regular shape. Their irregular shapes and placement cause jagged and oppressively narrow pathways to form between them. There are very few smaller dwellings. Most of them are closer to the outskirts of the camp and maintain a grater distance from each other than the larger ones. The part of Irine concerned with her ability notices that most of the dwellings appear very flammable. A fire here would probably be bad news for everyone of this camp's inhabitants.
The camp is very dark, with only the occasional magical light to provide lighting and heat. And due to the way the camp is built, any light they provide is quickly obscured by a dwelling, leaving only reflections. The camp is quiet and lifeless, at least where the visible world is concerned. Your guide tries to move as quietly as possible despite his armour, trying not to break the silence. The only signs of life are the few dark shapes you can see in the dwellings, some of them turning to look at you as they hear or see you pass, the white of their eyes being the most visible part of their body. The ones close enough to a light source to be seen clearly reveal famished people, with little fat on their body, most of them with at least one injury of some sort (most commonly burn damage, with cuts and bruises coming a close second), moving slowly, looking at you with dull eyes that look right through you or eyes full of fear. Your guide's attempt to move without attractong attention is clearly not working, as you seem to be doing just that. Many of the people you see are young, but very few are children.
Ike however can smell many humans here. A very small amount compared to the population the city probably had, but still significant. And he can hear the too. The occasional snorer or a child crying or someone speaking to someone else in hushed voices.
"...can't do this anymore. I can't sleep. Not here. What if they come again? To think our city could hold such..."
"...more coming from the east. Is what they say true? What are we..."
"...so hungry." "You repeating it doesn't help." "Those bastards are hoarding..."
"...no help coming. We have no more time to gather supplies, we have to..."
"...telling you the Tower planned the detonation. They just wanted the King dead so that..."
"...what she said she saw." "Her fear is deceiving her eyes. I am certain..."
"...no excuse for tolerating them. We should get in there and slaughter them all, make an..."
After a while, when you are closer to the centre of the camp, you reach a sort of clearing, an area mostly empty save for two giant tents, two of the few that don't look like something that was cobbled together recently. Both have a pair of guards close to their entrance. They do not wear any sort of uniform and their weapons do not match, but the way they are just sitting there and the fact that they carry swords means they are probably guards.
You approach the entrance of one of the tents.
"Hey." your guide says while nodding at the guards. "Quiet night?" he asks while continuing to walk.
"Quiet enough." one of the guards responds.
"Good. That's good. Is he inside?"
"Yes. But he-"The guards look at you very curiously as you pass between them, but they do not get up and your guide passes through them too quickly for them to manage to say anything else.
The inside of the tent is filled with people laying on pieces of fabric, most of them sleeping or trying to sleep. Most of them appear to be recovering from burns, since large parts of their bodies are covered in improvised bandages, making the most injured among them look like low budget mummies. There are others that are recovering from blunt injuries to the head or torso. There are some that you cannot discern what kind of injury they are suffering from. And there is a concerning amount of people recovering from deep gashes or puncture wounds on their body, some of which look like bite marks. There is one man standing on a chair in one corner of the room, watching over the injured while a woman moves between them, occasionally looking more closely at one of them. Your entering the room attracts many eyes to you, but most of them stay onto you only for a few moments. You can see all this thanks to one of those magical light sources close to the centre of the room, much smaller than the ones you saw outside.
Your guide moves towards an old man (his hair and rather long beard are grey and his face is wrinkled) wearing dirty dark red robes, kneeling over an injured man lying on a piece of cloth on the ground. There's a slightly pudgy woman standing close to him, observing while remaining completely still and quiet. The old man is kneeling over the injured man with his eyes closed and his hands over a bandage-covered part of the injured man's body, making gestures with them and moving them around in a spiralling motion, while at the same time moving his mouth very slightly as if he is muttering something that you can't quite make out. There's a very faint orangered light coming from his palms.
Your guide stops some distance away from him and waits, saying nothing. About a minute later, the old man finishes doing whatever he was doing, opening his eyes again.
"He should be good for tonight. Mark him and check his bandages." he says to the woman softly as she helps him stand up. She nods and kneels over the injured man to examine him.
"Master Kassiver?" the guard accompanying you asks as he walks forward, trying to get the old man's attention by raising his hand slightly, suddenly a lot more timid than before.
"Hm? Rovan? Who are those people? And what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on watch tonight?As he speaks, the old man's voice starts taking a more commanding and inquisitive tone, like a parent questioning a misbehaving child.
"Yes sir. Sorry sir. But I'm certain Syndil will have no problem while I'm gone. He knows-"
"That's not for you to decide. We need as many of you out there as possible.""Sorry sir."
"And stop apologizing and get to the point. What are you doing here?""Sorry si-"
The old man shakes his head slightly.
"These two need food and shelter. Can we help them?"
Kassiver spends several seconds looking at you.
"Hm. Yes..." he replies, stroking his beard a bit.
"Yes, I have a couple of empty spots here. After this night, I think there is a tent in the west they could use."He approaches the guard and asks him more quietly, although not quietly enough that you can't hear.
"Who are they? She is not from here, is she?""Yes. She travelled. Came here tonight. Says she's lost her supplies. Says her name is Irine."
"Irine?" the old man says with a hint of both recognition and confusion in his face.
"You know her, right? I knew she-"
"Thank you Rovan. I'll take care of them. Get back to your post now." Kassiver cuts him off, once again speaking with his commanding voice.
The guard turns around and starts walking towards you.
"See? Everything will be fine. I have to go now. Maybe I'll see you after my shift ends. If you're still awake." he says as he approaches you with a smile on his face.
You gently grab the guard's arm and tug him downwards. He looks a bit perplexed by this but lowers his head nonetheless. When he does so, you whisper in his ear:
"Your vibes are a very powerful tool, and you've done no harm this time, for I truly mean no ill, but your vibes don't distinguish between a mage and a powerful magical creature."As is to be expected, his face hints at large amounts of confusion being his current feeling.
"W-wait, I... I don't understand. Are you... What are you saying? Are you saying that you are-"
"Rovan! I said get back to your post!" the old man interrupts the guard, clearly angry now.
"But sir! She-"
"I said get out! Out! Now! I will take care of this!" the old man replies, yelling as loudly as he dares without risking waking up those sleeping. The magical flame illuminating the room wobbles for a second as if hit by a small gust of wind.
The guard takes a step back.
"Yes sir. Sorry sir."
He turns around and starts walking away.
"And stop apologizing!"The young guard looks behind him to take one final look at you before exiting the tent.
"So... should we go somewhere a bit more quiet? Get you some food?" the old man says slowly. He does not approach you, standing where he was with his legs slightly wide and his body a bit low, as if halfway into a ready stance.
OOCSome words were eaten. I think I fixed them all.
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1141711 times)