Turn 7, The Eejit's SweetheartEmilia does as instructed, nodding at Ziph, who nods right back.
"Right, so, there's still some things inside the house, follow me," he says, leading her into the house, where she immediately spots the two kids once more, dragging a fairly heavy-looking wooden chest between the two of them. The girl seems to be cursing rather foully at the heaviness of the thing, and the boy seems none-too-pleased, either.
"Hey, you be careful with that! Reen's got her things in that!" Ziph warns the two.
"Then why can't she drag her own damn things out?" the girl snarls back.
"'Cause then there'd be no need to keep you two around, obviously," Ziph laughs nastily.
"But hey, I'll throw you a bone. Help 'em out, Emilia.""Who's she?" the boy asks innocently.
"Your new best friend," Ziph replies as Emilia goes and helps the two kids lug the chest over to the cart. They don't seem like overly talkative sorts, and the girl still looks a bit angry, so Emilia chooses not to bother them much.
The rest of the preparations do not take particularly long, as Ziph tells you to take no furniture along, although there are two smaller locked wooden chests of unknown contents that all apparently belong to Reen, according to the man. And when it's all done, all five of the prospective travelers hop on board, the boy taking the role of the driver, oddly enough. The horse sets off at a gentle walk, and the environs of Bantuk's Bend begin to move, Emilia breathing a sigh of relief as the boring hole of a town is left behind. She may not have chosen the safest or fastest route of travel with these four, but one has to take what one can get.
They're not even out of the town before Reen has a question.
"So! Emilia! Why are you on the road?" she asks cheerfully, the rest of the cart's occupants scarcely even saying a word or looking at each other along the way.
* * * * *
Edwin, quest in hand, waits until the sun rises - that is to say, about four or so hours. The town looks to be in no better a state than it was when he found it - the place is rather silent aside from a few voices occasionally crying out from the houses and some birds flying about. But this is not so important at the moment, and he moves out to the swamp, which happens to be easily visible from here in the daylight - it's out past the fields, not too far from the furthest farmhouse he can see.
About half an hour of walking is all he needs before he's right in the thick of it - stagnant waters, strange smells, a slight sense of danger and claustrophobia even though he's in the great outdoors - yes, he is indeed in a swamp. Trouble is, he now needs to find a healer in here, which, since he can't quite see any paths, might be a bit of a problem.
* * * * *
Derek, knowing that his next task ought to be daunting indeed, quickly finishes all three pints he's got, and then has one more for the road. He would've had more, but sadly he has run out of money, and so the liquid bravery he has imbibed so far will have to do. Ehran does the same, and soon the two are out in the streets, stumbling to find the eejit's favorite lady of them all - despite his inebriation, Ehran does manage to guide them there with no trouble at all - it's a way rife with twists and turns, and Derek doesn't know how many were strictly necessary, but soon they are where they need to be - a small hut on the outskirts of town.
First, Ehran guides Derek to the door, but then, muttering
"Wait, this's the second day o' the week, right?", takes a hard left and, upon walking to a specific point on the hut's outer wall, knocks on a particular area of it - the knock sounds a little odd.
"You'll be liking her, she's a real sweetie," Ehran says, laughing a little as a panel on the roof opens, a little rope ladder rolling out of it. Battling their drunkenness, the two men ascend it after a short period of concentrated effort, finding some kind of passage beyond the opening - a staircase, looks like. Following Ehran's lead, Derek descends along it, feeling a bit queasy from the climb and also the way the panel quickly and soundlessly shuts behind them - fortunately, the path ahead is illuminated by distant dim firelight.
"Be following my steps... exactly," he says, and proceeds to do a little drunken dance down the stairs, one that Derek roughly imitates, filled with an immediate, and, he also thinks, not unfounded, sense of foreboding even when he slightly fails to do the exact movement.
"Being drunk's really helping here," Ehran mentions.
They continue downwards, occasionally making mystifying moves as per the eejit's direction, until they are at least two floors underground, unless Derek's perception of distance has given out already - usually takes at least three more pints for that to happen - where a door awaits them. Ehran seems about to open it, but stops as he puts his hand on the doorknob.
"'Kay, so it's one, two, three, four... and... aaaand... five!" he counts along, and suddenly there's a click. Turning around, the man opens a door right behind him, a smaller one that Derek hardly noticed, and pulls him in.
Inside Derek can see a... bathhouse of some kind? An underground bathhouse, with 4 square pools of probably warm water, judging from the temperature of the room, the whole place tiled in mosaic patterns featuring images of strange, alien creatures and eyes. Lots and lots of eyes. They creep Derek out a little, to be frank, despite the fact that he has nothing to hide.
In the middle of the room on the tiled floor a woman garbed in a fuzzy, clean white robe sits cross-legged. She looks like a scaled-up version of a regular person - properly proportioned in every way, yet significantly larger than any woman Derek's seen before in his life - she must be over two meters tall, he thinks, a thought that's confirmed when she slowly gets up - she's about two heads taller than the man.
"I'm home!" Ehran says.
"And I brought us a friend, too! This here's... uh... Derek the Naked Jackal."The woman tilts her head at Derek, taking a few steps toward him. Her hair is blond and very elaborately braided, and her face is a very delicate one despite her size.
"Oh! He isn't having any money in that bag o' his," Ehran points out, and the woman stops in her tracks, considering something.
"We were all being out and spent it all. He wants ta be telling us all 'bout the god of nakedness! I think he's having some good points, all 'n' all."Ehran then turns to Derek.
"This here's my sweetheart. I'm usually calling 'er Sweetie. She's from Gersh. Er, I think, anyway," he says, and Sweetie just laughs pleasantly to herself.
Derek: 5 MP
Wilhelm: 6 MP
Emilia: 5 MP
Edwin: 5 MP
Brennus: 5 MP
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Topic: Birth of a Deity: Turn 17, Multitudinous Failures of Words (Read 26046 times)