DKMortals/SessionFive

Session Start: Wed Jul 16 18:54:12 2008

Session Ident: #exalted1220

<19:34> [ST] Luna casts her fitful light over a scene of simmering tension. In the main square of Tanstaad, a crowd of villagers, most armed with ash spears, stand in silent horror, regarding the two Dogs of the Unbroken Earth that stalk through their midst. The ruined body of Rolf, the Wyld mutant, lies forgotten, pieces of him still smearing the jaws of one of the creatures. The Dogs pad back and

<19:34> [ST] forth, their eyes slitted and hungry.

<19:35> [ST] Selza, the widow, surges against the restraining grip of the beared Gaf. Both look upon the Dogs with intermingled hatred and fear.

<19:37> [ST] With a shimmer and the stench of rotted meat, two apelike forms appear behind and to one side of Avir, one clearly female, both grotesque, with twisted faces and blood-matted fur. It is their appearance, perhaps, that spurs the townspeople to motion. A scream splits the crowd, and most of the villagers scatter, making their way towards the safety of the meeting house. Gaf and Selza remain,

<19:37> [ST] along with a few others. Elk and Leopard step up to Miruna's side, weapons at the ready.

<19:38> [ST] "What the hell?" Leopard asks, clearly talking about the demons. He doesn't take his eyes from the pacing Dogs.

<19:39> [Avir] "I have a professional arrangment," Avir says briefly, grasping his short sword tight in sweaty palms. A 'professional arrangment.' He hoped he could sell. It sounded better than the infernalism charges like to follow.

<19:40> [Avir] Of course, if he died, he wouldn't have to face the inquisition. There was a pearl in every toad, Thunder Wisdom had said. Avir smiles tightly.

<19:41> [ST] "This is your last chance," the gore-smeared Dog, which seems to be the dominant of the pair, says. It is larger, with a long snout and floppy, dangling ears that might be comical if they weren't matted with blood.

<19:41> [ST] "Last chance," agrees the other, smaller, with a short, blunt snout.

<19:41> [Miruna] "What �are� they?" he asks, disturbed, even in the crisis. He squares his shield to the nearest Dog, not lookign away from the enemies in front of him, but his nose wrinkles at the stench behind.

<19:42> [Avir] "You'll have to wait a moment, our envoy is chasing down the ...sweet meat for you," Avir says as he positions himself. "He can't fly."

<19:43> [Avir] "Dogs of the Unbroken Earth," Avir answers. "Spirits that love the wilderness. They will attack settlements unless placated; likely they did thirteen years ago. Our friend Grond seems to have inadvertently placated them with offerings a little too ...potent."

<19:43> [ST] "Meat isn't there," the bigger one says. "Meat is inside. Give."

<19:43> [Avir] "Where?"

<19:44> [ST] It rolls its head, the movement strangely bestial, towards the meeting house

<19:45> [Avir] "Ah." Avir flicks his head to Miruna. He was the Painted Knight. That should be worth some kind of tactical acuem. "Do we play fetch for them, Miruna?"

<19:46> [ST] "They lie," the smaller dog says. "Will not give. Haven't given for months."

<19:46> [ST] "The agreement is broken," the larger adds. "There must be payment in blood."

<19:47> [Miruna] Miruna shufles slightly to the side, placing himself between the Dogs and the body of teh crowd as best he could. "I was asking about your �friends�," he growls. The Dogs were after human flesh or the drugs, they couldn't get them either, so they would have to put them down soo enough. No point in talking to them

<19:48> [ST] Stomp chuckles at Miruna's comment, a soft chuffing that sends the odor of rotting things across the Once Dead.

<19:48> [ST] "What do we do, Miruna?" Elk asks, keeping his eyes on the Dogs. His hand trembles slightly.

<19:49> [Miruna] But the longer they waited before they attacked, the more townsfolk got into the wards. So he waited for them. "We stand ready" he replies, clearly but calm still. The lad needed a calm vice, to hold him now. He'd be fine when the blood kicked up.

<19:50> [Avir] It's a strangely comforting stench. More familiar to Avir now than the smell of perfume. Stomp is reassuringly grotesque beside him. The red bead in his left ear glows. "We'll discuss that- later- I think- " Avir's swordhand trembles a little.

<19:51> [ST] It is the smaller dog that lunges first, shattering the night with another howl. The larger follows in its stead, slavering.

<19:59> [Avir] Avir lunges forward at the same moment the dog does, his short sword and its butcher's edge raise to catch the little dog in the teeth. He rams it into the dog's mouth as it howls at him, the moment of the creature bowling him over into the mud as the thrust frantically through its justs into the roof of its mouth. The breath of the painting, whining monster is almost pleasant, like a forest and fresh-turned earth.

<20:01> [ST] Avir's blade scrapes through the soily flesh of the creature with seemingly no effect. It falls back on its haunches, snarling, and springs high into the air. It strikes the side of the building, rebounding and springing, descending towards the summoner, but the Blood Apes spring, meeting it in midair.

<20:03> [ST] The air above Avir explodes into a tangle of whirling limbs. For a moment, both demons and the spirit seem to freeze, motionless, then they strike out in a flickering corona of limbs, too fast for the eye to follow.

<20:13> [ST] Gore explodes from the cloud; the remains of the female Blood Ape go flying, smashing into the side of the meeting hall and obscuring the crude message written there with an even more crude splash of gore.

<20:14> [Avir] "Gods..."

<20:14> [ST] Stomp strikes the ground, rolling through the mud, his own black blood bubbling forth from several ghastly wounds. The small Dog follows, landing almost directly in front of Avir. A small scar has been gouged in its flank.

<20:17> [ST] The larger of the beasts advances towards the Once Dead. Its jowls drip a shimmering green poison. Leopard, Elk, and Miruna stick together in formation so that they might better defend against the thing. It kicks forward, massive paws the size of melons gouging huge tracks in the mud, snagging in Rolf's shredded garments and dragging its corpse after him in a ragged tail.

<20:18> [ST] The thing springs between the three men, and it seems to freeze before exploding into a blur of motion almost too fast for the eye to follow.

<20:21> [ST] Leopard reels back, bleeding from several seeping wounds in his chest - the Dog's fangs tear through his chain-and-lamellar like they aren't even there.

<20:22> [Miruna] The Dog claws high at his face, and he is just fast enough to catch the paw with his shield. It sneaks a second under it before he can recover, slicing into his thigh.

<20:25> [ST] Leopard looks down at himself, the blood coursing down his chest mingled with the greenish poison he knows to be utterly fatal. He begins to tremble, his grip on his sword loosening as he takes one step backward, then another. He doesn't retreat, but his nerve has badly broken.

<20:27> [ST] Elk's knive flashes. He darts in at the Dog's flank, his blade rising and falling as he attacks.

<20:29> [ST] The Dog almost contemptuously bats away his strike.

<20:31> [ST] The villagers scatter, screaming. Some make their way into the meeting house. Others run blindly into the countryside, anything to get away. Selza creeps closer, eyeing the smaller Dog confronting Avir, eyes narrowed in concentration.

<20:35> [Miruna] His attention on the crowd behind him, the bloody abominations he was being asked to fight alongside, and the need to not charge headlong into the demons infront, Miruna was caught offguard by the battle's unfolding. The sprays of blood woke him, and the Dog's landing in the middle of them. With a wild yell, he brings his warmace down overhand, trying to catch the demon in its shoulder, hoping to make its wicked claws useless.

<20:36> [Miruna] useless.

<20:39> [ST] Miruna's attack is heartbreakingly close to striking home, but the wretched spirit turns at the last moment, catching the head of the mace in its fanged maw. It bites down for a moment, and Miruna wrenches the weapon back, heavily scored by dents.

<20:42> [Avir] Avir slides in the mud on his ass away from the Dog, until he says his hand down on something soft and warm and brings his hand away wet with Rolf's blood. Mercy, he thinks, though the gods of the Haslanti did not believe in mercy. His sword is still clutched in his hand, as covered in filth as he is.

<20:43> [Miruna] One of the flanges catches a fang, and pulls it free of the beasts jaw in a gout of blood and a howl of pain.

<20:47> [ST] The larger Dog hunkers down in front of the three Once Dead, shimmering slightly, as if gathering some inner reserve.

<20:49> [ST] The smaller stares down Stomp, both of the creatures snorting at each other. No breath emerges from their mouths to mist the night. Suddenly, Stomp is moving. He leaps off a nearby grocer's cart, shattering it, scaling the facade of the nearest house as if brachiating. The Dog follows him up, running completely vertically, and they meet in a clash of teeth and claws.

<20:51> [ST] The tussle seems to cause no discernable damage. As Avir vanishes from sight, marked by the small dog but not its larger companion, Selza darts forward. With a howl of rage, she hurls the spear in hand at the smaller of the beasts, currently squatting on the eaves of a house.

<20:53> [ST] The spear lands in the creature's flank, quivering slightly. It seems not to notice.

<20:58> [ST] Leopard blinks, seeming to regain his senses, eyes narrowing in anger. He gives a short nod to Elk, and they both spring in, blades flashing down at the Dog that hunkers between them.

<20:59> [ST] Leopard's slash goes wide, but Elk's actually connects, the knife smashing down directly between the Dog's eyes... and skittering uselessly across its flesh.

<20:59> [ST] "No!" Elk cries in dismay.

<21:00> [Avir] Herosim didn't count for much, Avir thinks, below his armor of mud and filth. He was learning.

<21:04> [Miruna] Ask Elk steps close for his knifework, Miruna skirts around him, and then presses forward into the beast's side, pushing it with his shield, trying to knock it off balance. As he presses in he whips his mace across the back of its legs, trying to catch a knee with the sharp blades of his mace.

<21:06> [ST] Something in the Dog's knee cracks as the mace slams into it, shifting it sideways. A clump of earthworms, wrigging wildly, ooze out of a rent that suddenly opens in its flesh.

<21:08> [ST] Gaf seems to have found courage now too - he follows behind Selza as the woman moves foward towards the larger animal, reaching down on the way to retreive a discarded spear.

<21:10> [ST] The Dog on the rooftop, Selza's weapon still jutting from its side oddly, circles on the rooftop with Stomp. Each of the creatures eyes its otherworldly opponent warily. Stomp hoots loudly and springs, claws flashing.

<21:11> [ST] The creatures part once more, snarling at each other.

<21:12> [Avir] Avir grits his teeth and stands, so quietly. Moves so carefully. The Dog didn't see him as he crept up behind. The Dog didn't know he was there; the Dog smelled him, but it smelled the warm flesh of its prey mingled with the homey smell of wet earth. Avir raises his blade, and a bit of mud slides off the steel, so that a bit of blade shone in the moonlight as he brings it down in an arc, biting deep into joint of the

<21:12> [Avir] larger Dog's rear haunch.

<21:15> [Avir] He groans in dismay as the blade slides uselessly down the Dog's flank.

<21:21> [ST] The Dog snorts in anger, its strength having returned. It looks at the Once Dead, so conveniently scattered around it, and lashes out in a series of savage strikes.

<21:24> [ST] Leopard sprawls back, head tearing loose from his body as the Dog shreds him. A savage paw strike opens a gouge on Miruna's torso. Elk and Avir evade the blows, barely.

<21:26> [ST] Elk, howling in fury at Leopard's death, darts in, his knife aiming for the Dog's eye.

<21:27> [ST] Again, the creature moves out of the way. The mortals seem too slow, their weapons too blunt to hurt these things of spirit-form

<21:29> [Miruna] Miruna staggers back with blood streaming down his chest. The Dog's claws had parted the main plate of his armor like it was a some whores cheap lace, leaving his bloody chest where his chipped and scratched art had been. He roars his defiance at the Dog, jumping back into the fray, hammering wildly, repeatedly at it.

<21:35> [ST] Miruna's first strike caves a ragged crater in the creature's side, exposing ribs of hardened jade. His second lands directly on the creature's head, exploding it and sending it flying skyward in a hundred clumps of dirt. The Dog's final, mournful howl is brief and violently abrupt, cutting off with a shriek.

<21:35> [ST] As the larger dog slumps forward, vanishing, falling to pieces, the smaller gives a howl of alarm, vanishing from sight with a flash.

<21:36> [Avir] Avir sinks to his knees. "Gods."

<21:37> [ST] Stomp gives a roar of approval, flipping forward, bounding with excitement through the mud towards the remains of the female Blood Ape, which he begins to eat loudly and messily.

<21:38> [ST] Selza approaches Miruna, pale but unafraid. Gaf follows closely behind her. "It's dead, then?"

<21:39> [Miruna] Miruna staggers another step towards the heap left of the demon, staring down at it with wild eyes. He yells again, slamming his mace into the corpse of earth. The only word anyone can understand is "motherless", and he will never remember what he had said later.

<21:40> [ST] The moment of bravery gone, Selza sways, nearly collapsing. Gaf catches her. An eerie silence reigns in the square.

<21:40> [Avir] "Let us say, inconvenienced," Avir says slowly, as he regains his composure, rising to his feet, paying no more attention to the noisy smacking sounds of Stomp gorging on his follow than he did to the moon.

<21:40> [Avir] "More remains to be done if we are to prevent it it from reforming."

<21:41> [ST] From the window of the meeting house, pale faces look down in horror at the gorging blood ape. No one emerges.

<21:41> [Miruna] Miruna pants, spittle in his beard and blood covering his torso. "Kill it then."

<21:42> [ST] Elk sinks to his knees, shaking. "Leopard's dead," he manages. He seems as frightened of Miruna's rage as he does the dead spirit.

<21:44> [Avir] Avir gazes impassively down at the Twice Dead. He hadn't known him as well as he'd known Two-Bits. "We'll bury him." He looks up at the rows of faces peering fearfully from the windows. "There is no more danger tonight," he says loudly.

<21:46> [Miruna] The fight over, Miruna sags with his wounds. He unstraps his shield, grasping its top and using it as a prop, determined to stay standing. The longer mace would have been more convinient, but he never thought of it. Instinctively, he wanted to be armed.

<21:46> [Avir] "I'll be back with my kit. Sit down, for Owl's sake, Miruna." A flicker of humor. "Stomp will look after you."

<21:47> [Avir] The blood ape bites into a femur with a particularly meaty smack.

<21:47> [Miruna] "He was a good soldier." he says morosely, remembering that Leopard had always thrown in for the watch, doing his duty cheerfully.

<21:48> [ST] Greta emerges from the tavern, the only one to dare the streets so far. She falls upon the tattered, indecent corpse of Rolf, sobbing quietly.

<21:48> [Miruna] He ignores the other man, but doesn't attempt to move at least. "Elk! Get the rest o them in the shelter," he waves vaguely and weakly at the Selza and the other remaining villagers outside, not caring that he did so with a few feet of mangled iron mace.

<21:49> [Avir] "He was," Avir agrees quietly, putting his hand on Miruna shoulder and pushing down gently. He looks at Greta. It was the same as it always was. The same weeping, the same bodies ground up to dirt. Only the names changed.

<21:50> [ST] Elk rises, glad of something to do. Judging Greta to be the easiest, he tries to grab her arm, but she shrugs him off, violently. "You don't care!" She cries, turning towards the people watching from the Meeting House. "None of you ever cared! This is what you wanted!" There is no response. Finally, she allows Elk to pull her away.

<21:53> [Avir] "I'll be back with the kit," Avir repeats as Miruna doesn't seem to even notice him. He turns and walks off to Cadda's wagon. He would be less welcome now, he suspected.

<21:54> [Miruna] Under the pressure of Avir's hand, Miruna sags down to half kneel half sit on the packed earth roadway. He drops the shield, giving Avir better access to the deep gash in his shield-side thigh

<21:55> [ST] On the way, Avir passes the villager sent running to get the heroin. He is empty handed, and pales when he sees Avir approaching. "She said she didn't have no more," he gasps as the other walks past him. "Especially not for free!"

<21:57> [ST] The wagon itself is buttoned tight, Samson's arm still lying before it. "Whoever you are, stay back!" Cadda's voice calls out as she hears footsteps on the ramp. "I've got a firewand in here!"

<21:57> [Avir] Avir cracks a smile at the villager. "Naturally not."

<21:58> [Avir] "They're gone, Cadda, for a season or more, I would suppose. I need my things. And cinnamon, if you have any."

<21:59> [ST] The door creaks open. Cadda gazes out, her eyes deeply suspicious, but they relax a little when she spots Avir. She vanishes within, and a few moments later tosses his pack and - astoundingly - a small spice jar out onto the ramp.

<21:59> [ST] "No offense, handsome," she says. "But I'm not inclined to open up again tonight. Look me up later." The door slams shut with finality.

<21:59> [ST] "You can pay me for that cinnamon tomorrow."

<21:59> [Avir] "You're very kind," he says, bowing to the door, coated in filth.

<22:00> [Avir] He returns to others soon enough, the bottom of his bag squirming as though there's something living inside. He takes out a needle and thread and squints at Miruna's gaping side. "I need wine!" he calls in the general direction of the villlagers.

<22:02> [Miruna] "So will we all" Miruna gives a pale grin.

<22:03> [ST] None of the people in the Meeting Hall stir. "There's some right here," Selza says, and a moment later, she presses Rolf's wine jug, still whole when his body is broken, into Avir's hands.

<22:04> [Avir] Avir gives Miruna the sour look universal to doctors with mouthy patients, and slops some of the purple stuff over Miruna's side. On second thought, he hands the rest to Miruna and lets him swill it down before beginning the next step. The stitches would hold until the bottle-bug got at him, at least. Holding the flesh together with one hand, Avir begins to sew big, ugly stitches to close the wound.

<22:04> [Avir] "Thank you, Selza," he says.

<22:05> [Miruna] Miruna sips at it tiredly, not really wanting to drink yet, but glad to have something to wash away the iron taste of blood and dust from his mouth.

<22:06> [ST] "Thank you," she says. "All of you, for killing that thing. Once we get the other, it'll be over. Won't it? My child, my husband- will be avenged." Gaf, standing by her side, takes her hand, and her eyes flicker uncertainly. "Shinza too," he adds.

<22:08> [Avir] His hands are steady enough, at least, as he sews. He looks up into her fierce eyes. She deserved better than a kind lie. "No. We can only barricade it in its den. It won't be able to escape, but it won't be dead, either. Not truly."

<22:08> [Avir] "No mortal can slay a god."

<22:09> [ST] As if the name of his daughter has summoned him, Elder Swan approaches cautiously as Avir finishes sealing up Miruna's wounds. He trembles, and the left side of his face is swollen and purple.

<22:09> [Avir] He finishes the other wound, and it's well Miruna is half-drunk on Rolf's wine now. These stitches are noticeably clumsier than the first, and Miruna will have a handsome new scar.

<22:10> [Avir] "You're hurt, Elder Swan." Avir's dark eyes are shrouded.

<22:11> [ST] "I fell in the rush," he says. "Bowled over by those trying to escape the creature. Yu have killed it? Selza, you are unharmed?"

<22:11> [ST] "I'm fine, uncle," she says.

<22:11> [Miruna] He breathes shallowly as the needle goes in and out, in and out. It doesn't hurt so much, but he can't take deep breaths. Might be he'd cracked a rib. He sets the wine jug down on the st=reet, then notices Rolf on his hands, where the man had stained his jug. He wipes it against the street, preferring being filthy to that.

<22:14> [Avir] "They're gone for the immediate future. I can seal them up for good, soon."

<22:15> [Avir] He watches the man's reactions closely.

<22:15> [ST] A strange spasm passes over the man's face, but the relief that floods it is genuine. "Thank the triads, then. I know not whence they came, but they have disturbed the peace of our Emerald like nothing else."

<22:16> [Miruna] He looks up at those standing around him, suddenly aware that he had become the defacto gathering point. "It said the meat was inside."

<22:16> [ST] "It said... what?" Swan stops. "It spoke to you? I suppose it viewed us as little more than meat."

<22:17> [Avir] "So it did." He rubs Miruna's blood off his hands onto his trousers, lips curled with slight disgust. He hated blood on his hands. "All the same, I think it's best we checked it out. You never know."

<22:19> [ST] "Of course. But you must be tired," Swan says. "It has been a long day, and a fiercer night for all of us. Can it not wait?"

<22:19> [Miruna] Greta's care for Rolf had extended to very strong wine. With the bloodloss, he was a bit drunk, he knew. "'s not what they meant by meat."

<22:20> [Avir] "I'm afraid not." He glances at Miruna. "But perhaps you had better..rest."

<22:21> [ST] "I'll help you search," Gaf says, a sudden resolve filling his voice. Swan's eyes dart to him.

<22:22> [Avir] Stomp would ensure his safety. "Thank you. I much appreciate that. Elk...perhaps you'd better stay with Miruna."

<22:22> [ST] Stomp continues to chew noisily. No one dares approach him, or challenge his summoner. At least for now.

<22:23> [ST] Unbidden, Selza stands up alongside Gaf, and he seems to accept this.

<22:23> [ST] Elk nods "I can stay here if you need, Miruna. I'll... I'll take care of Leopard's body."

<22:25> [Avir] "Thank you," Avir says gravely. He sheathes his sword. "Shall we?" he says to the bereaved, gesturing inside the meeting hall. He can feel the prickle of unfriendly eyes on the back of his neck.

<22:28> [ST] Selza and Gaf nod. A smile forms on Swan's face, and he nods loosely.

<22:28> [Miruna] He grabs his shield, and pushes himself to his feet, ignoring Avir and the others asking him to stay behind. "Lets." Oddly, he isn't any harder to understand slurring drunk than slurring sober.

<22:31> [Avir] "...Alright then." Avir walks into the meeting hall. Behind him, Stomp throws a large picked-clean ape's skull against the wall of another house, hooting as it shatters. He brings up the rear, filling the door with his massive, red matted shoulder.

<22:31> [ST] Stomp suddenly hesitates at the threshold, giving a bestial grunt.

<22:32> [ST] "Can't get in, 'vir," he says. His foul blood stains the threshold and the porch. "Blocked. Ward."

<22:34> [Avir] He frowns. "Really. Well. Please wait outside for me." He smiles at the villagers. "Don't hurt, kill, or maim anyone while I'm inside."

<22:34> [ST] "The hall was well warded by Grond," Swan says, sighing. The villagers draw back from the ape as it hoots in alarm. Selza and Gaf alike look relieved that the demon will not be following.

<22:35> [ST] The meeting hall is still packed to the gills; the Once Dead pass down the hall, aimless for the moment.

<22:35> [ST] "I don't know what you expect to find," Swan says.

<22:37> [Avir] "Won't know until we look," Avir shrugs. His eyes sweep the hall, lingering over the floors. He knew what he hid in his basement. Basements were terrible things.

<22:39> [ST] By now the group has made their way into the hall where Swan first met with them, thickly carpeted unlike the rest of the building.

<22:39> [Avir] Avir picks up a corner of the carpet and pulls it back.

<22:40> [Miruna] Noone dares complain to Miruna about the mud and guts he is tracking over the precious carpets they had imported. He doesn't notice, or care.

<22:41> [ST] Swan starts in alarm, but his hand falls back to his side. As Avir methodically rolls back the carpet, he uncovers a trapdoor set almost perfectly flush with the floor. A flat iron plate marks its lock. It looks rather crudely made - Leopard could probably have it open in a few moments.

<22:42> [Avir] "Mmm. Interesting. What's underneath here, Swan?"

<22:43> [ST] "Simply storage for various supplies. We keep the village cache here. It's nothing alarming." He shrugs.

<22:44> [Avir] Avir has dropped the honorific without noticing. "May we borrow the key?" He might be able to jig it open, but simpler to ask.

<22:45> [ST] "C-certainly. You won't find anything amiss." He fishes the key from his sleeve with a hand that barely trembles, and unlocks the door, opening it to utter blackness.

<22:45> [Miruna] "Open it," he tells him, tapping his macehead against the trapdoor in emphasis. He misjudges a bit and embeds the point of one of the flanges in teh wood. Half an inch only, nothing worth worrying about.

<22:45> [ST] Gaf passes forward a lantern, battered but functional. A narrow set of stairs leads down into darkness.

<22:47> [Avir] Avir takes the key from the old man almost in passing. "Thank you," he murmurs. He eases a little away from Miruna. The macehead had landed no more than three inches from his left foot, of which he was rather fond.

<22:48> [ST] "We will wait here," Selza says, and Gaf nods. Swan has begun to sweat slightly despite the rising cold of the night.

<22:48> [Miruna] Miruna stands by the trap door, waiting for news of what the other had found. He felt a bit wobbly for stairs at the moment. When Swan moved towards them, he glared him back.

<22:49> [Avir] Avir lights the lantern. He considers insisting on sending Gaf or Selza down first. It was the sensible tactical move, and anything down there would be less likely to attack them. But he was tired of sacrifiical goats.

<22:50> [Avir] He descends slowly, taking comfort from the key in his pocket and Elk with Stomp upstairs. The lantern light flickers along the walls.

<22:50> [ST] The stairs lead down to a dark, slightly dank, but uninspiring store room. Casks line the walls, and a collection of flour sacks are stuffed in one corner. There are stacked ingots, emergency supplies of dried wood, nails, a weapon rack that looks to be recently emptied, and small but sturdy safe.

<22:52> [ST] Swan waits at the head of the stairs, watched by Selza and Gaf.

<22:54> [Avir] Avir glances up at them occasionally as he roams the storeroom. The devil of it was, he wasn't finding anything.

<22:54> [ST] "I hope you're satisfied!" he calls down loudly. And indeed, as he roams the darkness, Avir sees nothing amiss... but then, as he rises from the mound of sacks, he hears it. The faintest cry, coming from the far end of the room, past solid stone.

<22:56> [Avir] "Oh yes," Avir agrees, very pleasantly. Let this be said for him: he knew his own kind. "Miruna, will you join me a few moments?"

<22:59> [ST] Miruna moves down the stairs cautiously, shouldering the Elder out of the way. Selza and Gaf remain on watch. He stumps down the stairs, alternatively leaning on his mace and shield, joining Avir.

<23:00> [Avir] "I heard a voice from behind the wall," Avir says quietly as the barbarian joins him. "Can you get through the wall?

<23:16> [Miruna] He shrugs and raises his mace. It was mangled enough not to care about damaging it, and besides it needed doing. There wasn't much space, so Avir had to squeeze back to give him room to swing. He pounds into the wall with slow even strokes.

<23:17> [ST] Miruna barely needs to go to work. Stone begins to chip away from the wall almost immediately, and on the third or fourth stroke, something clicks, and the wall swings inward... to reveal... a strange scene

<23:19> [ST] Where the other room is cold, and dank, this one is actually rather comfortable. The floor is thickly carpeted, and furniture and cushions are strewn about. Tapestries hang from the walls. On a table near the door can be seen the carefully wrapped packets of heroin so recently purchased from Cadda, a light dusting of the brown powder around them. But this find is not the most notable thing.

<23:20> [ST] Shackles have been set into the wall, and two figures are chained across from each other. One is a woman, emaciated and hollow eyed, her blond hair hanging listless around her shoulders. She looks remarkably clean for someone in her position, but her arms bear a number of track marks, and both her wrists are chafed and scarred from the manacles fastened around them.

<23:21> [Avir] "They weren't feeding them heroin, then," Avir says in a dead voice.

<23:22> [Avir] Not directly.

<23:22> [ST] The other figure is far more lively. A powrfully muscled bald man with the dark skin of a Southlander struggles against the other wall. One of the manacles has come free, and he pounds it against the other, looking up when the others enter.

<23:22> [ST] "Gods... you crazy bastards. Let me out! LET ME OUT!" he howls.

<23:22> [Miruna] Miruna turns from the scene, marching to the stairs yelling "�Swan!�"

<23:24> [ST] A desperate scuffle comes from above; Gaf cries out in alarm, and then a knife bounces down the stairs, followed by the form of Swan. He lands with a painful crash. Gaf looks down, holding a wounded arm. "Should we come down, too?"

<23:24> [Avir] He wondered what extra services the Dogs had been giving them in exchange for the ..sweet meat. "I'm here to free you, Broc. Cool yourself."

<23:26> [ST] "Get over here and do it then," the southlander says. "Crazy old bastards locking me down here, gagging me. Not to mention what's been done to �her�," he cocks his head towards the woman.

<23:26> [ST] "I'll cool down as soon as you promise I won't be turned into that."

<23:26> [Miruna] He looks down at the man at his feet, startled that he'd been thrown down so fast. He tries not to step on him, and manages to only land on two fingers. "'s good. We've got im." Actually, it would have been better to keep Swan above. No matter.

<23:26> [Avir] "Who is she?" Avir tries his key on the manacles.

<23:27> [ST] Swan groans as Miruna treads on his fingers, but his voice is marked by more pain than the mere physical. "You can't understand," he wheezes to Miruna.

<23:28> [Miruna] "Not gonna bother."

<23:28> [ST] The key doesn't work, but Broc appears to appreciate the effort. "Hell if I know," he says, "No one I'd seen before I wound up down here. Not my type, either, much as that damn shaman wanted her to be."

<23:29> [ST] "And they say Nexus is debauched." The big man is actually shaking at the promise of freedom.

<23:30> [ST] "It didn't have to be like this..." Swan groans. "She wouldn't listen."

<23:30> [Miruna] "Lemme." He hefts his mace. He'd break the chain, or the wall, either way would work fine.

<23:31> [Avir] "Who is she?" Avir asks again, cold as winter.

<23:32> [ST] It is Swan that answers this time, leaning against the wall, speaking quietly and hurriedly as if that would keep the secret from the others. He does not look up from the floor.

<23:32> [ST] "My daughter."

<23:33> [Avir] "I thought she was." Avir doesn't sound very gratified. The sound of his sword being drawn from its scabbard is a harsh and rusty sound. He lays the edge alongside the old man's throat. "Tell us the story."

<23:34> [Miruna] Miruna maneuvers around Avir, and goes to free the caravan guard. "Ye'll want to hold still."

<23:35> [ST] "She was with child when we came to the Emerald. She was unconscious with the pain. The birthwomen were all dead. Grond delivered the child. I told her later that it was dead. But it wasn't. It was alive. I was glad it was alive. My other grandchildren had been killed by the raiders."

<23:35> [ST] Broc nods, steely-eyed.

<23:36> [ST] "The Dogs came when we were at our weakest. They demanded a blood offering. They demanded the child, and it was a small thing," Swan shakes his head. "It was a small thing, don't you see? So new to life, and against the lives of everyone, who had come so far. It was a small thing."

<23:36> [ST] "So I gave it to them, and promised them worship, and they promised to protect us. And they did." He shudders. "They kept their word."

<23:37> [Avir] A small thing. A small thing that had become everything. "How?"

<23:37> [ST] Miruna frees Broc with a series of blows, silence gripping him as he hears the story.

<23:38> [ST] "You must have noticed... I heard the Djala speaking ill of our soldiers. No protection against Greenfield bandits, or Magdala's raiders, or the Wyld, not really. The Dogs protected us, unseen. Only Grond and I knew they inhabited the forest. But they demanded... sacrifice."

<23:38> [ST] "It wasn't my intent. You must believe that. It wasn't my intent, but it was too late."

<23:39> [Avir] "Every two years, wasn't it? Who did you give to them?"

<23:39> [ST] "How- how do you know that?"

<23:41> [Avir] "This is your story, Swan. Tell it."

<23:41> [ST] "It wasn't- at first, the agreement was poorly understood. We had made it in such haste. For two years, we were all at peace. Shinza overcame her dead child, and became pregnant with another. And that's what drew the Dogs forth. Grond tried to placate them. He offered them Rolf, and Lark. He offered them our old, and our worthles youth, but they... they wanted only one thing." He hangs his head.

<23:42> [ST] "This could have been avoided, if Shinza had just seen reason. She knows... our people... it is the duty of a leader to sacrifice... for the good of everyone. This could have been avoided. If she'd just listened."

<23:43> [ST] "But she wouldn't. You will think me cruel, to have done this. But she was kept comfortable. She had her father. Books, once. And later the heroin, to numb the pain of the sacrifice she must make."

<23:43> [ST] "I treated her well."

<23:43> [ST] He says this last defiantly, though his hands tremble violently.

<23:44> [Avir] Avir listens pitilessly. "How many of her chlidren-" He shuts his mouth. He knew how many; he had seen the marks on the paper. "What did you do with those like Broc?"

<23:45> [Avir] He wondered how many fathers there had been. He can taste vomit in his mouth.

<23:47> [ST] "There was only one. A dead man now." He shakes violently. "A good man. A friend, who could see what needed to be done. But a few years ago, for the first time... something went wrong. Grond was an old man. Perhaps his seed had finally gone bad."

<23:47> [ST] "He took the Southlander to replace him, but the Dogs would not be quieted. They had acquired a taste. Grond hoped that a related child might be enough..."

<23:49> [ST] He sinks against the wall, shrunken, defeated. "They were not satisfied with Selza's child. They must have killed Grond, then."

<23:50> [ST] "You ask me, you oughtta let me strangle this old bastard and be done with it," Broc snaps.

<23:50> [Avir] "I see." Avir shakes his head, almost bemused. He is gone beyond horror, now; he is only calculating what is to be done. "No. No. That would not be...proportionate."

<23:52> [ST] "I kept the people safe," Swan repeats slowly. "What more could they ask of me?"

<23:53> [Avir] Avir's cold eyes meet his. "Your loyaty."

<23:54> [ST] "I did everything for them!" He protests, his voice growing more shrill. "My own flesh and blood, I gave, for them!"

<23:56> [Avir] "It grew seductive, didn't it, that sacrifice? Choosing an evil for them they never would have chosen for themselves."

<23:57> [ST] "It was necessary. I promised, fifteen years ago, to never let them come to harm. I did what I had to, as did Grond."

<23:59> [Avir] Avir shakes his head, and brings him up by his collar. "We're leaving together, you and I. Miruna..Broc..please tell the villagers what happened here. I'll be return in an evening or two."

<23:59> [ST] "And now... I suppose you think you've helped them. But no one and nothing will keep them safe now."

Session Time: Thu Jul 17 00:00:02 2008

<00:00> [Miruna] "Sometimes its better to die" he rumbles. He glances at the other man. "You're not going to feed him to that pet."

<00:01> [ST] Shinza stares blankly, drugged into utter oblivion. She has not responded to anything.

<00:01> [Avir] Swan spoke like some soft creature from the hotter lands down south, where living came easy so long as you whored yourself out to the strongest lords. "No. No, of course not." He had a choicer fate reserved.

<00:02> [ST] Broc nods, looking away from the woman chained to the wall. He almost runs out, eager to be out of the place.

<00:03> [Miruna] He nods. "Right." He wanted nothing to do with him, so he put it out of his mind. He glances at Shinza. "I'd better free her too." He gestures for Broc to hold her arms away from the chain's attachment to the wall.

<00:03> [Miruna] Seeing him run off he yells "Elk" summoning his titular commander.

<00:04> [ST] Elk descends the stairs, looking troubled. He fixes his eyes on the woman. "What... what happened down here?"

<00:04> [Avir] Poor Selza. Even worse for Gaf, in a way. He did not think Shinza would be a Haslanti again, and there was only one fate for those who were not. Avir manhandles Swan up the stairs, brushing past Elk.

<00:06> [ST] Elk frees the woman as Gaf, having heard the commotion, rushes downstairs. "Shinza?" he cries, his voice agonized, and she slumps into his arms, unresponsive. A spasm passes over Selza's face, but she stands aloof, away from husband and wife.

<00:07> [ST] The townsfolk move back in alarm as Alar drags Swan into their midst, his eyes downcast. Guilt is written there, forcefully and plainly.

<00:07> [Miruna] "Eh lad, hold her hands away from the chain link there, nice and easy." He may be drunk but his swing is still smooth, and precise. The mangled end of the chain falls to the floor, and Shinza is free to leave the room at least.

<00:09> [Avir] Avir pushes the old man through the crowd, and they fear his demon enough they give way before him. The outside air is chill with the first taste of winter. "Stomp. Help me carrry him. We're heading to the hills."

<00:11> [ST] The blood ape reaches down, taking the old man as if he were no more than a bundle of sticks. Swan screams and convulses briefly, but his struggles bring only a rough laugh and a tide of rotten breath. He stills, a mouse pinned by a cat. The blood from Stomp's wounds drips onto his fine robes.

<00:12> [ST] "Should I eat his shrivelled little head?" the demon grunts

<00:12> [Avir] "No. I'm afraid I've saved him for someone else. You can have the rest when they're done, though."

<00:14> [ST] The night is beginning to fade, the first touches of the Unconquered Sun's dawning touching the eastern sky, though no sun shines in the Emerald yet. The crowd parts in alarm. Avir and the Blood Ape are not molested, or questioned. Those villagers not fled turn, astonished, as a pale, shaking Shinza is led into the open air by Gaf. Selza follows with Miruna and Elk.

<00:16> [Avir] Avir takes a path away from the village, wandering for some time in the forest, the blood ape and the demon-caller. No one follows. It's a pleasant walk, if one ignored the stench, and the occasional feeble struggles shrieks of the old man.

<00:17> [Avir] It occurs to Avir he should have taken some blood from a virgin before he left. He had the cinnamon at least.

<00:18> [Avir] They walk until they stumble upon a moss-covered boulder, flat and rectangular, almost like a table half-buried in the ground. One often stumbled such boulders, if one had need and the wit to look. The red star in Avir's ear gleams.

<00:22> [Avir] He doesn't bother with ropes or other devises . He methodically cripples the man instead. It is not the same as the first time; there is no hesitation in Avir's swift, sure knife cuts now, and he doesn't tremble when Swan wails, hoarsely, too broken to scream. But perhaps Elder Swan deserved it more. He feels excitement when the cloud boils out of the old man's face, though, and he can see a dozen blades swimming

<00:22> [Avir] through it.

<00:24> [Avir] "I will call you Shatterbuzz," he tells the demon at the conclusion of the pact. And indeed, Stomp feasted on the corpse.

<00:28> [Avir] When the corpse is disposed of, the demons dematerialized and Avir bedded down to sleep, he lays a purple lilac, a white snowblossom, and a withered strawberry under his pillow, and prays for guidence.

<00:31> [Miruna] Letting the townsfolk clean up the dead, Miruna demonstrates for Elk how to get roaringly drunk and laugh that you are still alive. He'd feel the guilt in the morning, that he was relieved, happy while Leopard was dead and the town in shambles. But that was the life of a soldier.