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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 30, 2009 11:15:00 GMT -5
(OOC: (*open to relevant members in Year 655 - Gallican War) (Story picks up from Araluen "Rick/Tam" after they boarded the ship to Gallica 8 days earlier. The day they boarded the ship was six days before the ambush of Ian and Brandwyn and their rescue by Tandar and Drenith. So it is now 2 days after the ambush, and they are just about to pull into port in La Rivage. Rick and Tam are still on the ship. This thread is open to Rick / Tam / Adrian / Patrick / Tory / James / Evan and anyone else travelling with Patrick or hunting Patrick. That ought to be sufficiently confusing!) --- Rick was lounging on a crate in the hold, watching his apprentice, Tam, hurling knives at various targets. The lad was getting fairly good after 8 days of practice. The knife wound in Rick's side had sealed over and seemed to be healing up nicely, but it still had a ways to go. At least it had stopped oozing finally. Rick touched the spot gingerly and winced a bit. It was still pretty sore, but he could walk around now without getting dizzy from the blood that he had lost. He would just have to make sure he didn't get punched in the guts for another week or so. Tam had done a nice job of changing the bandages and mixing up the herbs. Rick hoped that Tam would be able to remember the details of the crash course he'd gotten in herbology. 'Knowledge of herbs and thier uses could save your life someday,' Rick's Grandfather had told him many times. 'One day you will thank me that I taught you this.' He had said once when Rick had complained that he couldn't go fishing with the other boys because his Grandfather was giving him lessons. Thinking back now, Rick was very glad his Grandfather had insisted he learn about herbs. Tam had just nailed the last 6 out of 7 targets dead-on. That seemed to be a good time to end the lesson. "Ok Tam, why don't we go check on the horses for the night and then we can go back to the cabin and look over that map of Gallica together." He stood up and made his way through the piles of crates, barrels, bales and bags of cargo to the aft door that led into the livestock hold. "Are you and your ranger horse coming to any understanding yet, or are you still having some reservations about him?" Rick held the door open for Tam to enter in front of him. "A ranger's horse is one of his greatest assets. That horse can save your life in more ways than you can think of." Rick went over to Domingo and his buckskin gelding nuzzled his shoulder and whickered in welcome. Rick pulled out a lump of sugar from a pouch on his belt and fed it to Domingo. He smiled at Tam, as he rubbed his horse's neck under the mane and Domingo leaned into the scratching, rolling his eyes in contentment. "You know, bribery does wonders." Rick handed Tam a piece of sugar too.
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Post by drenith on Mar 30, 2009 20:31:58 GMT -5
Adrian noted the ranger also on the ship he walked up to the one who was instructing the other and pulled out the poster, "Do you happen to know anything about Patrick Palisade?" he tried to soud as polite as possible being wary since he didn't know what exactly rangers did.
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 31, 2009 14:15:43 GMT -5
Rick sized up the man who had interupted his lesson with Tam. He had seen the guy on the ship, but after initially determining that this man was no immediate threat or concern, had largely ignored him for most of the voyage.
Rick was surprised at the man's question. Then he saw the wanted poster. Maybe this guy was a bounty hunter. Could he possibly be the one Crowley said they were supposed to meet?
"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do." Rick pulled out the sketch he made of Palisade and showed it to the guy. "He looks like this. You wouldn't happen to be a bounty hunter named Adrian Lykios, would you?"
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Post by drenith on Mar 31, 2009 16:52:58 GMT -5
Adrian was shocked when he heard his name, 'how had he know about me' he thought. "And who might you be?" Adrian thought the Ranger was reading his mind like the rumors said, at first he hadn't belived them, but now he might just fall on the floor and beg for mercy.
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 31, 2009 17:13:58 GMT -5
"Ranger Greenriver. You can call me Rick." He extended his hand for a handshake. "Ranger Crowley said he was making arrangements for us to meet a bounty hunter named Adrian Lykios over here in Gallica to help bring in Palisade." Rick glanced at Tam and then back to the other man. "I take it that is you?"
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Post by drenith on Mar 31, 2009 17:40:21 GMT -5
Adrian took his hand and shook it, "Oh so that was the Ranger who was arranging us. I had forgotten. I'm so sorry I thought you'd already be in Gallica, Ranger Greenriver." Relief washed over him, the rumors didn't seem to live up to them they practiced no black arts, just bow and knife skills as he did plus a bit of sword training. He nodded toward Tam, "You're apprentice I take it."
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Post by Brandwyn on Mar 31, 2009 19:30:07 GMT -5
Rick nodded. "yeah, this is Tam." He looked the bounty hunter over. "My intel says we need to start looking for him at the Red Feather Inn and my orders are to bring him back alive if at all possible. If we capture him and get him back, you get the whole reward. Sound good to you?"
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Post by drenith on Mar 31, 2009 19:35:57 GMT -5
Adrian like the idea, he had help and got all the cash "I'm fine but I would like to know more about him, like why is he wanted." Adrian always like to have their motive and crimes so he could deal with them his own personal way.
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Post by Brandwyn on Apr 1, 2009 15:16:03 GMT -5
Rick's face darkened, he still couldn't believe Palisade had gone bad. "He has gone rouge, but we don't know why. He resigned from the Ranger Corps, but apparently used a couple of apprentices as a disguise to help him get out of Araluen."
Rick thought back to what Crowley had told him. "He is accused of killing a nobleman and his wife just before he boarded the ship about 20 days ago. The bodies were missing the 50 silver pieces that the couple had withdrawn from a bank early that day. So he has operating money for a while at least."
Rick shook his head, "I have had 8 days to think about this and I just don't see why he did it. It doesn't make any sense. The guy keeps to himself, doesn't have a lot of friends in the Corps as far as I could tell, but he didn't seem the type to be hung up on material possessions, so doing it for money doesn't make sense. I can't help but wonder if there was some reason he decided to defect."
Then Rick shrugged, "I guess it doesn't matter a whole lot. If we can bring him back alive, maybe we'll find out why." Rick looked at his sketch again, "It is going to be tough, though if he doesn't want to come back. He is a ranger with all the skills of a ranger and possibly some extra skills too, since he has worked as an undercover agent in the past. Plus he has a huge head start on us. We'll be lucky to pick up his trail, especially if he is trying to cover his tracks."
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Post by Firehead on Apr 3, 2009 19:30:37 GMT -5
Tam finished throwing the last knife at the target 35' away, and nodded to Rick."I don' get why we have ta' ride-- 'em, their huge!" he complained, even as he stepped up to the makeshift stall in which his horse stood.
He had discovered that the horse was "small for a horse" and that its color was known as "bay". Whatever. the thing was still huge. in his opinion. He now patted it gingerly, eying the man who was coming their way.
He made a face at the lump of sugar. 'What a waste of perfectly good sugar.' he thought. Still, he took the lump and fed it to the horse. 'There was another thing. Horses slobbered.' This one was like a dog. He shuddered at that thought. He didn't care for dogs at all.
The man had come up and introduced himself, and Rick had evidently returned the favor. Tam remained quiet, still unsure about immediately trusting a stranger and proclaimed bounty hunter.
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Post by Brandwyn on Apr 4, 2009 9:26:46 GMT -5
Rick turned back to Tam, "We can talk about the horses later. You are going to have plenty of time to get used to him." He happened to look up into the overhead and noticed his lynx, Kira, poking her striped head out over the top of a barrel. She was lurking behind the bounty hunter and Rick could see her tensing as if to jump.
"Kira, hold!" Rick said sternly and gestured to his half wild cat, not sure if she would listen. She definitely had a mind of her own. "Uhh, Adrian, you might want to move over here. I think my cat finds you rather interesting." He pointed up to the barrel.
Kira meowed lowly and twitched her tail, then rolled onto her side and began licking a paw as if she had meant for them to notice her and pretended that they were beneath her concern.
Rick was still amazed she had come streaking down to the docks and jumped on the ship right behind him when he had boarded. He figured she would have stayed in the woods near the cabin until he got back. She had caused quite a lot of excitement with the crew throughout the voyage. When she had settled down one afternoon on Rick's lap up on the deck, the sailors had started whispering about ranger magic and the crew had largely avoided Rick from that point on.
Now Rick gently pulled on Adrian's arm to move him away from the rather large cat. Kira seemed to be ignoring them again now, though.
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Post by Firehead on Apr 9, 2009 11:52:24 GMT -5
Tam moved away from the horses' stalls with no regrets. A few moments later, Rick suddenly pulled the bounty hunter away from where he'd been standing, and Tam looked around with interest and perhaps just a bit of suspicion, to see Kira, Rick's half-wild cat, lying on her side in the overhead pretending to ignore them.
Tam might not like dogs or horses, but he enjoyed the company of cats. So since they'd boarded, and whenever he had a free moment, he tried to make friends with Kira. It wasn't easy.
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Post by drenith on Apr 9, 2009 21:21:16 GMT -5
"it's okay" he assured Rick “I'm actually quiet comfortable around large cats, other than mountain lions. Nasy brutes they are.” He reached over to scratch Kira behind the ears while he pulled out a small strip of jerky. “Can I feed her?” He felt like a six year old at a petting zoo but he didn’t know what else to say to a Ranger.
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Post by Brandwyn on Apr 13, 2009 12:49:48 GMT -5
Kira grabbed Adrian's hand with both paws, but did not engage her claws when the bounty hunter scratched behind her ears.
"She must be in a good mood. I suspect the rat population on the ship has been depleated considerably." Rick smiled. He was surprised Kira had not jumped up and ran off. She didn't normally let anyone touch her.
"Sure you can feed her. Just watch your fingers. She is still pretty wild and very unpredictable."
Kira took the jerky and chewed it down, growling at them until it was gone, then she jumped down onto a lower barrell next to Tam and rubbed her face on his hip, demanding to be petted.
"Well, Tam, I think she finally has accpeted you." Rick watched his apprentice pet the cat. "Soon the sailors will be calling you a scorcer too!" Rick laughed.
He turned back to Adrian, "Maybe we should come up with some sort of plan to find Palisade, capture him and bring him back. I know Crowley would like to question him personally, so I would really like to get him back to Araluen alive."
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Post by Firehead on Apr 16, 2009 10:20:03 GMT -5
Tam was inwardly pleased that Kira had finally accepted him, though outwardly, he only smiled. He began scratching the big cat behind the ears as he listened to the conversation.
"If this Pal'saide is as good as you, I wouldn't mind bein' 'live when we come back either." he stated.
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