Worlde Arcane: Driftwood Cabin

By An Irritable Black Warmare (Calamity)

Saturday, August 8, 2009 - 2:35 am GMT | Edit | Link |

(FROM:

Lorimar 15: Seabreeze Road)

The healer, his robes and cloak soaked and dripping, strode into the ramshackle cabin, the unconscious Darver in his arms. The strange wanderer looked about in the dark, looking for a good place to lay his patient down. He did not seem to mind that his garments were swiftly making mud of whatever portion of the cabin he stood in.

There was a fire circle in the center of the cabin - while it had certainly not been used in quite some time, it was clear that this was a popular place for travelers to stop.

Saturday, August 8, 2009 - 2:39 am GMT | Edit | Link |

The healer's horse, however, did not settle quietly in for the night. She had seemed anxious since the group had turned in towards the cabin, wickering and stamping her feet in the rain. The lean-to would accommodate Dinner and Lofis' road-weary creature, but it would certainly not contain the sizable warmare.

Once the white-cloaked healer dismounted with his charge, the horse whinnied to him. He offered her little more than a nod before he entered the cabin, and she, in turn, rode off into the night.

Strange indeed that the creature would do such a thing, and stranger still that the healer seemed to display no consternation at her departure.

There was something in the air here. Something disturbingly familiar.

(TO:	The Breeze Inn)

Saturday, August 8, 2009 - 1:38 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

After settling Dinner away for the night, Sasha entered the cabin. She was disappointed to find that a fire was unlikely as there was little dry fuel to be found. She didn't know how to start a fire under these conditions.

She watched as the healer carried his charge in, thinking that the man's sleight frame belied a surprising strength. She considered Lofis's theories concerning the strange white-garbed man.

She settled in a corner away from the hole in the wall, and began digging whatever small stores they had acquired from her pack. She was quiet for once, as there was plenty to keep her mind busy.

By Anonymous

Saturday, August 8, 2009 - 6:05 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

Darver came awake slowly. He moved his arms, stretched his legs, raised a hand to his bandaged face. Then he opened his eyes.

Nearby was the thief who had tried to steal his satchel in the tavern in Terajin. Darver's mind, still fuzzy, took a moment to reconstruct the memories: she had died of his elude-vapor -- quite a surprise! -- and he had reinvigorated her body before her spirit could seep from it. But what had come after? Ah yes ... he had abandoned the tavern, skulked about the city until dawn, then met his associate and been given the swift golden mount ... and then ... yes, an UnderNeath thing had chased and overtaken him, and taken his treasure ... that crucial treasure ...

"I did yew wrong, to bring yew back from such a peaceful demise," said Darver to Sasha, "for now yew face a worse fate ... as do we all."

He looked around the driftwood cabin. "I smell the sea. Are we near Seven Oaks?" He mused, "Perhaps Wurcifer knows a magick to bear us to the Moon." Then he laughed darkly. "Ah, but we must flee farther than that! Do yew know of the Moon's little sisters? But even Wurcifer is not so strong a magician as to reach them."

Saturday, August 8, 2009 - 6:08 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

Lofis stepped inside and slammed the door closed behind him. He then proceeded to take off his wide brimmed hat and began shaking the water off whilst muttering angerily to himself.

"Well this is cosy isn't it?" He said, visibly annoyed from his condition.
"I'm soaked, I've got bug bites all over, my arse is dead and worst of all I'm sober!" He cried out and threw his hat on the floor and sighed, before slumping down onto the floor with a groan.
"Have we got any food?" He asked in a far calmer manner.

Sunday, August 9, 2009 - 12:53 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

The healer had been busying himself pulling planks of wood from the hole in the far wall, feeling them for dryness on the off chance they would be able to use them for a fire. After two nights of the open road with his newfound companions, he grasped the necessity of a central flame for the camp to gather around. A few minutes' work generated a mismatched pile of wood in the fire ring at the center of the cabin. He stared at it blankly... outside of his own unearthly means, the healer had no idea how to properly start a fire.

Lofis' irritable complaints drew a small smile from the wanderer. He was unfamiliar with these strange conditions he mentioned... the insects seemed to avoid him along the road, and his kind did not know anything outside of sobriety. And what curious circumstances could kill an arse? The concept of food, however, was one he could grasp, though again, not in its entirety. But the rustle from Sasha's packs seemed the proper response to the sodden wizard's inquiry. He would let her answer in turn.

His gaze shot up at the sound of Darver's awakening. In a heartbeat, he was at the man's side, peering at him critically in the darkened cabin. "I see thou hast awakened, goodman Darver. I pray thee, do not strain thyself." The wounded's words were not out of concern for the demonic attack, however. They spoke of something else, some greater worry... but they could just as well be the fevered words of the demon's pox. "Speak, goodman Darver. What is this fate thou speakest of?"

Sunday, August 9, 2009 - 2:54 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

“We got a wedge of hard cheese left, and some black bread, well black excepting the green spots anyway. Eat the fruit,” she said, “its beginning to turn already.” The sweltering humidity of the Saghane road had seemed to have that effect on most of the apples, oranges and apricots she’d purchased. Perhaps, she should have bought ale with the same money.

She chuckled, shaking her head at the healer trying to recover dry boards. The windowless old place was soaked inside and out. Then again, if he wanted to do all that hard work, what did she care? Maybe one of them would get a lucky spark.

Then Darver came awake and began speaking. She gripped the hilt of her chipped cutlass, prepared to do a murder if it was possible and more than one if it was necessary. But the wizard did not talk of reporting Lofis and she to the authorities or even of revenge.

Sasha wanted to say ‘Yew owe me nineteen thousand Krowne and an eye.’ But under the circumstances, it wouldn’t do. Not even Lofis was privy to the true value of whatever was in those saddlebags, and she doubted, at this late date, that Darver himself knew where they were.

Besides, the healer, by chance or design, had put himself between Sasha and her enemy, and she was in no hurry to be tested against the unknown, though clearly significant, power that he possessed. With few other options, she could do little but listen to Darver’s fever babble.

By Anonymous

Sunday, August 9, 2009 - 5:24 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

"The same fate that we always knew would come," said Darver grimly. "But I had hoped to grow old and die in the four-and-a-half hundred years that the prophets said we'd have, before His return. Now I shall count four-and-a-half days as borrowed time."

Sunday, August 9, 2009 - 7:10 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

The wizard sighed as he listened to the list of food that they had to hand. None of it sounded plesant, especially the black bread, but his stomach still protested and he decided that he needed something to eat to keep him happy.
"Give an apple." He muttered and caught the one the Sasha threw to him.

When Darver awoke Lofis almost lept out of his skin. He had hoped the man would simply die so he could forget this money and move on with his pathetic life, but no, of course not, Darver had to keep living and Lofis' lust for money was what was keeping him around.

He listened to Darver and the Healer talk, something about fates and someone coming back from a long trip? Lofis didn't really care.
"What's so bad about someone coming back early?" The coward asked between mouthfuls, "If yew need to meet him, I'm sure he'll be ok in Seven Oaks, not like there's a lack of whores and ale is there? It's a port after all."

By Anonymous

Sunday, August 9, 2009 - 7:38 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

Darver gave Lofis a look of incredulity. Then he lay back and closed his eyes. "Yer ignorance is a blessing to yew."

Monday, August 10, 2009 - 3:10 am GMT | Edit | Link |

There was a suspicious narrowing of gray-blue eyes at Darver's words. "Surely thou exaggerate, goodman Darver. Four and a half days could not bring about His return." Only then did he pause, as if suddenly aware of the implication his statement would have. He backpedaled quickly, artificially lightening his face and voice with a warm and calming smile. "Whoever this doomsday man thou speaketh of is."

The sight of his patient lying back and closing his eyes was a welcome one, and the healer's voice was as soothing as it was patronizing. "Rest now, goodman Darver, and we shalt see on the morrow if this Wurcifer can indeed travail to spirit thee to the moon." He looked up, encouraging his companions to eat and rest in preparation for the last leg of their journey tomorrow with that same obnoxiously benevolent smile he always seemed to wear. "Verily, 'twas a long day's travel... perhaps the sooner we slumber, the sooner we welcome the dawn."

Monday, August 10, 2009 - 5:48 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

Before she went to sleep, Sasha worked through the situation in her own mind.

Darver, it appeared, would not be such a threat to her livelihood and freedom after all. The man certainly seemed to recognize her, and yet he made no mention of her crimes. She supposed that any ordinary citizen would have run to the guard long ago, yet Darver had not. Indeed, he seemed to be worried about someone else entirely.

In that light, perhaps it was not so strange that he’d worked his healing on her once she’d been killed. Perhaps he had raised her back, simply because her killing had been an accident in the first place. That made sense, now that she considered it. How was the man to know that his vapors contained allergens specific to her. Lofis seemed to recover well enough.

Though she did not like the idea of having been beaten so badly by Darver, she could take solace in the fact that it was through sheer luck that he’d accomplished it, rather than any skill on his part. Her vengeance - being primarily a disguise for the need to silence a witness and steal his valuables, which he no longer seemed to possess – it seemed, was unnecessary.

She was rather disappointed by this series of revelations. Sasha had quite enjoyed the idea of an archenemy. Now, all that remained to be seen was whether Darver’s apparent disinterest in her previous activities would continue once the man was whole again.

But this was not what kept her awake until the deep hours of night. She couldn't help but wonder, since she could attest to the measure of Darver’s cunning and power personally, what sort of thing might scare the man? And what did the healer know about it?

She drifted off to sleep with these thoughts on her mind.

Monday, August 10, 2009 - 9:21 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

Lofis simply sighed at Darver's mellow dramatics and finished his apple. With the night set in and total exhaustion taking it's toll the wizard fell quickly into a deep sleep.

By An Irritable Black Warmare (Calamity)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 2:49 am GMT | Edit | Link |

The hole in the cabin's wall proved to be an eastern-facing one, and the sun's first rays lanced into the splintered shelter like a series of rampaging lances.

The healer had taken up an innocuous position along the wall; now that his charge had awoken, there was no need to hover directly over him, marking every change in pulse and breathing. Goodman Darver could simply voice his complaints now.

At the break of dawn, the strange wanderer's eyes snapped open, and with the soft rustle of robes and cloak, he peered outside. Strange... his steed had not yet returned from her sojourn. 'Twould be most inconvenient for him to lose his transport now.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 3:13 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

(FROM:

The Breeze Inn)

As if on cue, the black warmare came trotting back to the cabin, nickering a horsey greeting to Dinner as she passed. She pulled up to a halt as she came face to face with the healer, clicking her teeth together, and tossing her head to indicate her unearthly passenger.

By Anonymous

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 3:50 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

Sleep carried Darver to dawn. Then, ignoring his hunger and thirst, he sat up and regarded his erstwhile companions.

At last he said to Sasha, who appeared to be stirring somewhat, "Yer time is at hand. Yew and yer kind, the thieves, the freejacks, the opportunists and privateers, yew will thrive in the days to come, when law gives way to self-interest, when boon is measured not by codes or morals but by material triumph, the basest of which is survival. I envy yew! -- to exist only in yer body -- to live as a single being free of the ephemeral strings and chains that men weave and forge in the name of some greater pursuit -- to dance between danger and hazard, picking up such random benefits as yew might, warding away threats with a kick and a dagger-slash -- yes, I am jealous: of yer efficiency, yer integrity, yer self-contained focus. If any shall endure in the days that are upon us, now, it is such as yew."

He stood somewhat shakily, then stepped to the door where Praetor was seeking his horse.

To the Healer, Darver said, "For the rest of us ... nothing."

Then he stepped out into the dawn air and regarded the sky and the worlde, which had changed in all ways except appearance.

By Nameless Cursed Elven Spectre (Irihi)

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 4:59 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

(FROM:

The Breeze Inn)

The spectre mounted upon Calamity's back had faded to near invisibility with the approach of the morning. Likewise her touch upon the mare had vanished, though her essence still paced the horse in a supernatural approximation of ridership.

Though the ride was not all that far, the ghostly Elfmaid had fallen into a slumber; or what passed for sleep for a ghoul such as herself. Despite this, the spook remained anchored to the horse, invisibly haunting Calamity, if you will.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 9:25 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

With a groan the wizard awoke to the sound of Darver's monologue. Lofis groaned again and watched him move to the door.
"Great, another talker..." Lofis muttered, comparing Darver to the Healer. Both seemed to have an affinity for speaking in a tone that Lofis dispised. It was as if they enjoyed speaking cryptically, as if they looked down on himself and Sasha.

Lofis considered throwing something at Darver but what would be the point? No doubt Darver could take any attack Lofis had to offer and then he might turn around to murder the wizard. Lofis sighed and glanced toward Sasha.
"Breakfast?" He asked, hoping that there had been a drastic change in the menu from the previous night.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 10:51 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

“There’s hard cheese and moldy bread,” Sasha snapped at Lofis. She’d slept badly; her back was beginning to feel the strain of too many nights spent sitting up. “I haven’t got a pantry hidden up my…” She huffed and let it go.

She knew she wasn't angry with Lofis, but with herself. Sasha was not in the habit of wakening last and didn't enjoy the feeling that any of these folk could have run her through while she snored. They all seemed trustworthy enough, but so did every cutthroat, con man, and criminal in the street. She would try not to let it happen again.

“Have an apple,” she said. She absently picked two of the brownest off the top and passed one to Lofis. She squatted beside him and spoke quietly.

“I miss food too,” she said, “and the city and the ladies who forgot about the stones in their ears until I had taken them, and the gentlemen who wandered into back alleys looking for company and found my sword instead. I miss it all as much as yew do. When we reach Seven Oaks, we’ll have to live it up for a bit, maybe even ride back to Terajin in a coach and have Pallazi perform his alchemy. I expect we could even make a bit of coin ransoming the distic hemopoeia thing to Flanzen if we like. Though I suspect that situation was more complicated than it appeared.

“The only thing I'm certain of right now, is that it’s not wise of us to let those two,” she indicated the backs of Edwulf Darver and the healer at the door, “confer overlong amongst themselves, nor out of earshot.” She bit into the brown apple, looked at it, and headed out the door.

By Nameless Cursed Elven Spectre (Irihi)

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 12:52 am GMT | Edit | Link |

The healer smiled broadly at the approach of the warmare, though his brow furrowed at the signals the beast was providing. She was calling attention to her back, but there was nothing there. Or was there? The wanderer peered curiously at the seeming empty air. There was something wrong-

His examination was cut short by Darver's awakening and subsequent discourse. "Come now, goodman Darver," he said brightly. The misery of the journey, the rainstorm that besieged them, the revelation of the darkness that was to come all seemed to roll off the healer's cloak. "There is always something.

Goodman Lofis, milady Sasha," he called into the shack, his cheerful voice as piercing and intrusive as the morning sun. "We ride! Seven Oaks awaits. Goodman Darver, wouldst thou share mine steed on our approach?" The white-cloaked healer leapt nimbly onto Calamity's back, overlapping the slumbering spectre that already perched there. His face twitched in discomfort at the contact with the phantom; there was definitely something off.

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 2:01 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

Little more than a quaver in the bright morning air, the spectral Elf did not stir despite the activities of the mortals gathering themselves for a day's journeying. Calamity remained a haunted mount, but the bustle of morning did nothing to give lie to the ghost which troubled her.

Quiet for the time being, the spectre continued to go where the warmare willed. Calamity's other riders might find themselves feeling the wearyness of the road moreso than usual or that the stings and rashes accumulated this day seemed worse and slower to heal or scab over than usual.

By Anonymous

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 3:36 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

Darver's mind was elsewhere. His jaw was firm, and his eyes narrow. "I am wrong to despair," he said to himself. "Nothing is decided until it is decided. I will consult with Wurcifer. Surely some opportunity is yet open to us."

As his will recovered, he turned his bandaged face to his companions. "Who are yew people?" He pointed at Lofis and Sasha. "Yew tried to rob me in Terajin ... well, another entity altogether has taken from me what yew tried to take. But -- what do yew know of that thing -- how do yew know my name? Whose agents are yew all?"

He touched his face. "Yew could have left me for dead. Instead yew've succored me. At the very least, yew are not minions of evil." But were they potential allies? He dared not even voice the thought.

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 5:36 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

“I am no one’s agent,” Sasha said.

“Yer name came to us through some friends of yers. We overheard them outside The Black Rose, after the…attack, and again from a man named Flanzen.” Sasha adjusted the crusty strip of cloth that covered her empty left eye-socket.

“As to what yew were carrying, well that I overheard from yew. Yew should avoid mentioning large sums, even in empty hallways. As they say, the walls have ears, and some know how to listen. I only know that it’s valuable, though I'm certain that must be its most important attribute.”

Until now, the healer had been giving Darver a quiet sort of protection; else she would have cut his throat already. Happily, there was no need to mention that now.

Sasha was surprised with her own candor. Perhaps it was a product of the healer’s jovial aura or whatever other equally unknown forces were at work around the driftwood cabin. “I’m called Sasha,” she added, smirking, "and don't be so certain about the evil minion part."

By Anonymous

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 6:05 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

Darver squinted. "Flanzen? I know no one of that name. But then ... until yew said yer own, I thought knew no one of the name 'Sasha.'"

He added, "I think it is yew who should be uncertain of yer morality. Lawlessness does not constitute evil; and do not so quickly wish to count yerselves among the minions, until yew have ... met one. I have met them, face-to-face ... many years ago." He touched his bandaged face, wincing. "Even their lackeys make a thief look like a saint."

At her mention of his treasure, he nodded. "Indeed, of course, any thing's value is its most important attribute. But the sum that I paid for it -- which, as yew point out, I so foolishly said aloud in the tavern hall -- is no representation of that object's value. Indeed, all the coin in the Knowne Worlde would I gladly pay over, and all the silks and gems, and every virgin's honor, to have back that one glass bottle."

He turned and pointed to Praetor. "He knows."

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 6:25 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

Sasha's few words of comfort let Lofis' mind wonder for a moment, thinking of ale and beds once more. He had only spent a few days out in the wild but he already hated it. There had been potential demon attacks, they had met the man who almost killed them both for good and the rain and insect bites of last night were just a little too much for a man who knew of hardships but had been living in relative comfort for some time.

He looked at the apple and his stomach churned. He couldn't eat another one of these, so he tossed it aside and went to join the others outside. Now he was being asked of his morality, at such an early hour? This was becoming a little too much for the wizard.
"Look," He began, "Can we keep the boring morality issues for the pub, I am starving and I need a pint in me."

He wandered over to his horse as the others continued talking. He returned with his horse just to hear Darver speak of the object he had lost and how much he would pay for it.
"And what, 'pray tell'," He began in a mocking tone, "Was in this bottle that made it so precious exactly?"

By Anonymous

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 6:36 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

"To a man such as yew," Darver said carefully, with a wry grin struggling to appear on his mouth, "it should come as no surprise that all that makes the Worlde good and fine and beautiful, all that sweeps away the grime and shadow, all that gives hope and relief and that special sense of wonder, should come from a bottle."

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 6:52 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

The healer's face fell, just for a second, at Darver's indication of him. He seemed ready to deny any sort of knowledge of the matter, but Lofis, blessed Lofis, was quick to interject with a question of his own. Whether he knew or not, the wizard's interjection allowed the wandering man to skillfully dodge all of Darver's questions.

"The same, goodman Darver, could be said of thee," he said mildly, fidgeting on his warmare's back. The presence of the haunt made him uncharacteristically nervous, though his anxiety was not shared by his steed. Seven Oaks weighed heavily on his mind, and he felt an irresistible urge to get back on the road. "Come, my friends. Questions asked and answered may always happen in the comforting confines of a proper Inn."

With a nudge, the warmare took her rider(s) out to the Lorimar.

(TO:	Lorimar 15)

By Anonymous

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 7:00 pm GMT | Edit | Link |

With destiny and despair weighing heavily upon his shoulders, Darver trudged after the mounted healer.

(TO:	Lorimar 15)