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 Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:56 pm
Raelise's eyes flicked briefly down to the slender wrists; the next second, she turned quickly to face forward once more. In the milliseconds between the two actions, countless emotions flitted across her features, most of them too brief or complex to put a name to. Pity was certainly one of them, and... empathy? In any case, by the time her eyes were on the tree line once again, her pale face was as empty of expression as the endless snow around them. "I have no further questions," she said quietly.
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Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:11 pm
"Nothing else? Then it is most assuredly time for another song!" Silence was entirely too awkward for Zywynran. And really, who would choose such an uncomfortable situation? Not he! Life had taught him the valuable lesson of appreciating its simple joys. Lyrics sprang to his lips, an elven song this time. It was one of his mother's favorites; a love song, which Zywynran found particularly unsurprising. His smile softened into an expression most wistful. It had been a bit of a while since he last visited home. And here he was doing the same sort of fool thing that had likely killed his father. If he fell, who would send word? No one, that was who. So he had no choice, then; he would simply have to live.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:04 am
Raelise stiffened slightly at his choice of song; it was one she recognized, of course. In fact, it happened to have been one of her favorites before... before she left her home for the first time. That meant that it came with a considerable baggage, but that wasn't the point. WHY was he singing, anyway? It made absolutely no sense from a tactical standpoint. If he wasn't able to be silent, she would have to start scouting ahead. It was for that reason, and not because of any silly emotional reaction, that she turned back to face him."Please don't do that," she said abruptly.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:10 am
Zywynran was startled by the sudden interruption from Raelise. Immediately he halted his song, but after a few moments had passed with nothing out of the ordinary happening as a result, he had to ask. "Does it bother you that I sing? It brightens the gloom for me. Particularly that song, which my mother dearly loves." Zywynran had enough tact not to ask why the woman waited until now to bid him stop. It had not escaped him that the first elven song he sang, a song from the land in which they were both born, was the song she had cut short. It could be coincidence only... but the half elf was no great believer in coincidence.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:22 am
His mother? That little tidbit made Raelise feel guilty, though she wasn't sure why. She hesitated a bit before answering carefully, "It bothers me only in that it is possible that it will alert potential enemies to our presence." The fact that she hadn't thought of that before this point didn't make the statement any less true. And she wasn't defensive about it. "We should not speak unless necessary, either," she added as an afterthought.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:38 am
"As you wish." Zywynran replied softly, his voice almost a sigh. It was such a dreary day in a dreary place. How was one expected to remain sane without something to uplift the spirits? Zywynran silently chastised himself as he looked about him. The snow covered landscape was only as depressing as he allowed it to be. Was this not also nature? Was the crisp, white cloak Nature wore over her bare, dark branches not beautiful in its own way? Shame on him, forgetting such a simple truth. And yet... and yet, though he thought these things, never was beauty so heart achingly cold and bare as it seemed to be here in Dargon.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:20 am
The snow started to fall heavier the closer to the caves the party got. It wasn't a blizzard, no wind was present, but it was snowing heavy. To much heavier, and the mountains would no longer be visible. Eventually, a tree line became visible.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:55 pm
Looking over to the Monk in robes Kale looked over the Dwarf, ''Blunderbuss?'' Kale asked in a questioning tone as he twitched his ears to the sound of snow falling heavier. Sighing and looking over his armor Kale shivered at the thought of trudging around in the deep snow. ''Bad environment fore plate.... Shoulda worn my mail.''
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:27 pm
Blunderbuss laughed. "Full of complaints, ain'tcha?"
He nodded to the monk. Before turning back to Kale. "You don't have anything against Graveyards too, do ye?"
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:17 pm
Hope listened to the two talk. Havicson never did explain what the plan was regarding that bard. It was time to speak up.
As gently as she could she said, "Look, Zywynran, It's nothing personal. So you can defend yourself. That's good, you're not a burden. But you see, I'm a warrior, fighting is my livelihood. If I had to guess, I'd say Auriilon here is some kind of scout. There are things you don't do when hunting, which is what we're doing, though we don't really know what we are hunting. This makes precautions even more imperative. What could be strong and crafty enough to remove dwarves and men without a trace? Whatever it is, it's our prey.
First of all, we want to hear it before it hears us. This means silence. I would like to strongly recommend that we stop now and get the bells off your person as well as suggest that we keep our voices down...if we talk at all.
Next, we want to see it before it sees us. You'll notice that Auriilon is not leading us on any trail yet still keeping us from getting too close to the brush. This is for more than one reason. We will be less visible in the undergrowth and we leave less obvious traces in the snow, but we can't brush up against too much or the lack of snow will also give us away. Again it is my strong recommendation that we stop and see if we can do something about your clothes. They are NOT appropriate for hunting."
Turning to Raelise, Hope said, "We may as well get on the trail and act like a choir with the bard looking like this and covered in bells. Before we do anything however, I'd like to say that Havicson seemed to think that the Bard needed to stick out. He did not say why. But personally I want to survive this job." It was obvious that she desired the opinion of the elf woman, but pointedly not the bards.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:05 pm
Something began moving in the brush, darting quickly away. Its was too quick to catch a glimpse of, but it sounded big. The running creature, whatever it was could be heard even as it reached the treeline, but nothing could be made out in the snow.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:47 pm
Raelise opened her mouth to answer, more specifically to point out that Havicson wasn't there... and then something moved. Before the sound had even fully registered in her mind as the rustling of branches, her bow was off of her back. With an frighteningly fast, eerily smooth motion, she fitted an arrow to the string. Whatever it was was running, now, and big as it obviously was, she couldn't see it through the snow. Fortunately, she did not need to see it. Aiming by sound alone, and carefully compensating for the direction and strength of the wind, she sent an arrow after the creature, quickly followed by a second. The whole thing had taken less than five seconds.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:06 pm
There was a thunk that was the sound of arrows hitting wood. Even though her aim by ear was perfect, the lack of visibility had not allowed her to see the obstacles in her path. The creature continued to make a loud thudding noise as it crashed through the forest. However, just on the other side of the bush, large hoof prints were visible.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:30 pm
Raelise stared at the prints for a moment, and then, slowly, she relaxed. It had just been an animal, probably an elk, if she judged by the size of the hooves. Wouldn't she have felt awful if she had killed it? Carefully, she slid her bow back onto her back, and put the arrow she'd had at the ready back into her quiver. "I'm getting my arrows," she said firmly to no one in particular, and then started off in the direction she'd shot said projectiles. There was no way she was loosing two perfectly good arrows over something so stupid.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:12 pm
Zywynran had set down his pack and his hand hovered over the blade at his side, but nothing more. Raelise had the range; it would be foolish for him to act out of turn. The creature escaped, but this did not seem to concern the elven woman. And so Zywynran relaxed and loosed the braids from his hair. He carefully stuffed the belled ribbons within his bedding so that no sound would escape; he'd not toss his ribbons in the snow to appease these two. "I am afraid you will not have my clothing unless you intend to volunteer the warmth I will sacrifice at its loss. If there is nothing else?" He smiles pleasantly toward Hope as he picks up his pack once more. "I would think standing about undressing me is entirely more detrimental to our cause than my clothing itself."
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