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Post by Tandar on Mar 2, 2009 8:53:20 GMT -5
Patrick motioned for Tory to go on and sat down at the table with Ian.
"We need to formulate a plan. Let's keep in mind that our primary mission here is to reconnoiter for the army. I'm not saying we should ignore these men around the city," he nodded out the window, "but we need to prioritize. Right now I think getting to the front is at the top of the list. Do you agree?"7.0
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 2, 2009 11:21:20 GMT -5
Ian nodded his head. "Yeah I was going to suggest the same thing." Ian started going over the items in his mind that they needed to look for, trying to proritize them.
"I think we need to find out exactly where the enemy is first and how many of them there are, do all the reconnoitering there we can and then work our way back towards the coast where His Majesty plans to land the fleet a bit north of here."
Ian looked at Palisade, "However, if we get a chance to capture one of these guys, we should take it and see if we can get any information out of him." He absentmindedly traced the wood grain on the little table. "I don't like the idea of them following rangers, like they have a special interest in them. Makes me nervous."
He looked around the room and said, "a map of the area would be nice. I know some of my way around Gallica, but I haven't been all the way to the border with Toscano before, have you?"
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 2, 2009 11:46:34 GMT -5
Tory and Brandwyn went into the Scout's room down the hall. Brandwyn pulled the snood and head piece off and shook her hair out. She hated wearing those hair nets, even if they did look pretty. She started undoing the buttons along her wrists. "Tory, can you start unlacing me back there?" She looked over her shoulder at the younger girl.
Tory nodded and helped Brandwyn get out of the dress and then the corset. "How can you stand these things?" she asked, awed at the layers of clothing Brandwyn had on. She had never been dressed up in a fancy dress like this one before.
"I can't." Brandwyn snapped. "Must have been a damn man that designed those cursed corsets. I can't conceive of any woman coming up with idea."
As Brandwyn slipped back into her comfortable leggings, boots, split skirt and poofy sleeved shirt with blue vest, she looked Tory over. "So how on earth did you end up apprenticed to such a gruff ranger? He doesn't strike me as the type to want an apprentice."
Tory blushed and dropped her head, "Well, he was very relunctant at first, at least that's what I thought. Now I am not so sure that he wasn't just testing me or something." Tory saw the confusion in Brandwyn's eyes as the older girl laced up her vest. "I followed him when he left Meric, through a thunderstorm." Tory explained. "I - well, let's just say I had some reasons for leaving Meric and was determined that he was going to help me get out of there." She laughed, "I think I played right into his hands though, now that I think back on it. I think he may have decided to get me out of there before I decided to follow him." She looked at Brandwyn sheepishly. "It's kinda a long story. I will tell you all about later sometime."
Tory plucked up the courage to ask what had been on her mind since she had met Brandwyn. "Brandwyn?" She hoped the girl wouldn't get upset, "I was wondering... why were you crying before you got off the ship?"
Brandwyn looked at her, the sudden reminder of Tandar made her relive that moment they'd had just before he rode off. "Well," she wasn't sure how much she wanted to reveal. "It was because I had to say goodbye to Tandar - the ranger you saw get off the ship. We - " She broke off, not even sure herself just what was between her and the ranger. "I think we were getting very close during the ship ride over, but we didn't have enough time to really find out."
She stood up and started loading her knives into her clothing, strapping on hidden scabbards all over. "I know we had a definate connection though. Now I am very worried about one of those guys with the pendants following him and Drenith, his apprentice. I hope they are ok."
Tory sat down on Ian's bed and watched Brandwyn in awe placing about 8 knives on her person. She was very surprised at the tiny knife the girl tucked into her bodice between her breasts, hidden by the laces of the poofy white shirt. "So do you love Tandar?" Tory asked hestitantly.
Brandwyn didn't answer at first, she mulled the question over. "I don't know. Maybe. We didn't really have long enough together to find out." She strapped her saber to her waist and decided to leave her bow and arrows in the room. They shouldn't be going out anywhere until morning anyway. "I am not sure what he feels towards me. I just hope we get a chance to find out later, and not too much later either. I can't seem to keep my mind off of him since I met him a couple weeks ago."
Brandwyn opened the door. "This is much better!" She took a deep breath and smiled, leading Tory back to the ranger's room.
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Post by Tandar on Mar 2, 2009 17:35:17 GMT -5
Patrick stood and walked over to the map case his apprentice had purchased. He laid it on the table.
"Look in here. These belong to Tory."The ranger moved to the window and stared out as he talked.
"We should move out early tomorrow morning, while it's still dark. There will be less chance of us being seen. I haven't been to the Toscano border before but I'm sure I can make a route to get us there."
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 3, 2009 6:25:19 GMT -5
Brandwyn opened the door and strode into the room and joined Ian at the table, looking at Patrick as she crossed the room. “So, have you two figured out our plan yet?” She sat and crossed her legs, folding her skirt over her knees so only her foot peeked out the split in the skirt. She had to adjust her saber as she sat so it wouldn’t get caught in the chair. She was much more comfortable now and therefore her mood had improved immensely.
Tory followed Brandwyn to the table, noticing Ian was sorting through her maps. “I thought we could use those. I don’t know how accurate they are though. If the cut-out of La Rivage on the Gallica map is any indication, then they left out quite a few details – at least in the city blow-up anyway.” She saw Ian had Gallica on top with Toscano just below it.
“Well, any map should be a help and none of them ever show all the details. Thanks for letting me borrow them for a moment.” He pulled the top two maps out and held them up. “Why don’t you roll those others up and put them away for now?” Ian watched Tory follow his instruction and hang the map case on the back of a chair which she knelt in and placed her elbows on the table, studying the maps with Ian.
Ian turned to Brandwyn, “We are going to leave for the front before dawn. We should probably turn in soon. I don’t want you down in that common room tonight, you hear me?” He asked her sternly.
Brandwyn sighed, that had been her intention to go down and get something to eat and listen to the jonquleur that she saw down there when they had come in. “Ok. But I am hungry now.” She knew better than to test Ian when he spoke like that, and she didn’t want to risk their cover or anything. “Maybe I should go down and get us some food?” She asked, hopefully.
“Don’t bother, I ordered some on the way in. They should be bringing it up shortly to this room.” Ian said and then looked back to the map. “Looks like it might take about 8 days or so to get to the border, if we push it.” He said to Patrick. “And if we don’t run into any of those blasted knights at every crossroad and bridge. I really hate traveling in Gallica.” Ian looked up and noticed Brandwyn was watching Palisade, but trying to make it look like she wasn’t watching him, a somewhat thoughtful look on her face. ‘Wonder what she is thinking.’ He thought to himself.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door. “That’s probably the food.” Ian said.
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Post by Tandar on Mar 5, 2009 17:05:33 GMT -5
Some time later, the party was mounted and outside the city. It was still dark, but the sky was beginning to lighten up a little. Palisade took point, riding in front to guide the group in the right direction. His eyes scanned the trees on the left, as if searching for something. He wondered what would happen if he couldn't see the landmarks in the darkness.
Finally, the he raised his right hand in a fist, bringing those following him to a stop next to a rotten log on the ground. Patrick turned around in his saddle and put a gloved finger to his lips, signaling silence. Chocolate Chip let out a low whinny.7.0
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 5, 2009 17:46:04 GMT -5
Tory pulled Chip to a halt and whispered to her, to acknowledge the warning as she awkwardly pulled an arrow from her quiver and laid it on the string. She really hadn’t had much instruction with the weapon yet and felt rather useless if it came to a fight. She looked around her, without moving her head much, trying to copy Patrick’s movements as much as she could.
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 5, 2009 17:53:14 GMT -5
Brandwyn had been riding with her strung bow and an arrow in her left hand. She was watching Patrick more carefully than she was watching the terrain around them, especially since it was dark. He was acting suspicious, like he was looking for something specific. After what she had seen when he had first entered the room the day before, all her warning bells in her head were going off. He might be a ranger, but she didn’t trust him any farther than she could throw him.
She looked at Ian and he seemed to be oblivious, scanning the terrain on his own, trusting the ranger to guide them on their way. She did note that he was carrying his strung bow as well, but he didn’t act like he was expecting much trouble this close to the city.
Brandwyn lagged farther behind the party, increasing the distance to over 50 feet so she could see if someone attacked their party from the sides. Asfala gave a snort and danced to the right, just before Patrick called a halt. Brandwyn swiftly knocked her arrow and pointed her bow to the left, scanning the trees to the left, flicking back to Patrick and then scanning the trees again.
If someone popped out of those trees, she was going to shoot first and ask questions later.
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Post by Tandar on Mar 5, 2009 18:55:49 GMT -5
Ten men leaped from the overgrown forest floor on the right, armed to the teeth and startling the horses. Three of them ran toward Brandwyn, determined to neutralize the threat she posed to their comrades. They carried two-handed swords and wore light leather armor.
The other men at arms ambushed Ian and Tory. One of them reached up to unhorse the young apprentice. In the midst of the chaos, Patrick was dragged away, his steed left at the scene.7.0
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 6, 2009 6:48:25 GMT -5
Tory kicked the guy who was trying to grab her in the face and spurred Chip sideways away from him. She dropped her arrow in the process, but didn’t figure it mattered since they were at too close a range to shoot. She slung her bow back over her shoulder to get it out of the way and pulled her Saxe knife with the other hand, dropping the reins because she didn’t need them to control Chip.
(OCC: Die roll here. If Tory rolls a 1-7 she manages to escape. If she rolls a 8-10 she stays and fights. If she rolls a 11 – 17 she is captured.)
Die roll: [dice=17] (it was 16)
Chip reared up as another guy made a grab for Tory and knocked the knife out of her hand. He pulled her off the horse and attempted to drag her away.
Tory struggled and stomped her foot down his instep and bit his fingers he had clamped over her mouth. She elbowed him in the gut and he loosened his grasp for a moment and she was almost free. She managed a low whistle to Chip before she was suddenly knocked in the side of her head by a vicious blow from her assailant. Everything went red and she saw stars dancing around her vision for a moment and then she faded out to black…
6.0[rand=9256171423974773167627328895555172634412649298188802121746251279]
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 6, 2009 16:43:23 GMT -5
Asfala swirled in the direction of their attackers as they broke from the trees and froze for a moment as she had been trained so that Brandwyn could get off at least one good shot. Brandwyn aimed carefully and let fly and reached back to get another arrow. As her weight shifted, Asfala backed up swiftly away from their attackers, putting more distance between them.
Brandwyn knocked another arrow and aimed at the second guy and again Asfala froze as she let the arrow loose. She reached back for another arrow from the quiver over her shoulder.
First shot die roll: [dice=17]
Second shot die roll: [dice=17]
6.0[rand=916812969905402442348743970467869294079179483083057543078842815065]
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 6, 2009 16:54:14 GMT -5
Brandwyn's first shot (16) hit the lead Grizzly in the throat. He dropped to the ground clutching at the arrow, trying to breath.
Her second shot (4) was not nearly so impressive, but she still managed to hit the second guy in the upper right thigh.
'At least it slowed him down for a moment' Brandwyn thought as she backed Asfala up some more, hoping there weren't any more men behind her.
She prepared to shoot at the third guy...
Third shot at third guy running towards her: [dice=17] (it was 6)
6.0[rand=31812168376628036906246005147614963715526848134542755002691106353]
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 6, 2009 17:41:38 GMT -5
As the men broke out of the trees to the right, Bandelero turned to face them. They were already too close to shoot, so Ian used his bow to block and fend off his attackers. He drew his saber and gave the signal to Bandit to attack.
He slashed at his first assailant as Bandelero reared up slightly and struck out with a fore hoof at a second man.
Ian saw three more men rushing him and out of the corner of his eye he saw the two rangers dragged from their horses. He didn’t have time to look for Brandwyn as the first man tried to block his blow.
Ian’s die roll for slashing at first man: [dice=17]
Bandelero’s die roll for striking out at second man: [dice=17]
6.0[rand=126550328090164387934834944702698087321551932642410596543971901]
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 6, 2009 17:48:08 GMT -5
Ian's first attacker parried his slash to some extent and the sword cut deep into the man's left hip instead of through his torso.
Ian's horse, Bandit, struck the other man square in the chest, caving it in. The grey horse neighed in defiance as the man sunk to the ground in front of the stallion.
Ian prepared to slash at the first man again, hoping the other three men wouldn't jump him before he could finish this guy off.
(Ian's second slash at the first man: [dice=17] ) (I think it had rolled a 12 - anyone remember?)
6.0[rand=6498027392883301140023103121479863290417146157455537976710839726485]
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Post by Tandar on Mar 9, 2009 17:28:46 GMT -5
The attacker with the injured hip was joined by one of the men standing by and together they relentlessly continued their assault on Ian. The wounded man swung at the royal scout with his two-handed sword. Unfortunately, the scout's superior saber blocked the move and cleaved a chunk out of the blade of the two-handed sword, rendering it useless.
The other man-at-arms charged Ian and unleashed an overhand blow. The tip of the weapon slashed him across his chest, leaving a shallow, bloody gash.
The other two men held back and stood by, waiting to see what happened to their comrades.
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