Zion: Light of the New Moon, Ch 4.2 Doen
Zion - Light of the New Moon Chapter 4.2
Doen She's Miss-Taken
Jasper will be the focal point of this chapter as the narration follows him on the Doenian Caravan's continued travels. Rust and Narrisa grow closer while Taggart's friendship with Zachary blossoms further... but it is not all happy days and sunflowers.
Jasper traveled beside the caravan, wincing now and again when his mount came down particularly hard on its front right leg. The rat knew well enough that the steed had injured itself in the chaos of the fight with the Orgs, but he also knew that it would mend, and in the meantime he'd just have to make due with its occasional limping. Wincing again, he moved one of his paws from the reins to his ribs; like the mount, he too would heal, but he realized he wouldn't enjoy himself in the meantime.
Despite the discomfort his mount brought him, Jasper realized he would have been in even worse shape if he'd chosen to walk. The Ritual of Transference took a lot out of him and he still hadn't fully recovered from imbuing Lord Rust with life energy... it would take even longer to recover if he didn't watch his level of exertion. Taggart and Haldyn had also helped sacrifice some of their health to save Rust, and he'd told them to rest for the next several days, but the rat had always had trouble listening to his own advice.
Despite the care he knew he'd have to have for his own health, something else weighed on his mind that caused him to keep a faster pace than the caravan, occasionally transitioning from trotting on the highway to venturing off of it. Zeke had a knack for disappearing from the caravan for an hour here-and-there, but he'd never been gone for two days without checking in. Jasper kept an eye out for the elusive fox, catching glimpses of him or clues that implied that he was still following, if not reestablishing contact.
The rat slowed his mount and patted the furred beast's neck. Jasper let out a sigh, looking to a copse of trees a short distance from the road. Nickering softly to his mount, he gave it a light kick with his heels and urged it away from the highway and toward the cover. Zeke had been uncomfortable to find out that Jasper had once been an initiate of the temple of Myrh, so it only made sense that the flighty fox would keep his distance when he saw the rat enact such a strong Sickle Moon ritual. If Jasper were anyone else in any other situation he would have been content to let Zeke take the time he needed to coem to grips with things, but Jasper was Jasper and they were in the Wild Lands, so patience was a luxury they couldn't afford.
"Zeke!" Jasper called, slowly dismounting. He winced as he climbed off his saddle, the spear-wound in his side pulling painfully. He rested his paw across it again and called, "Come out, Zeke! It's not safe here!"
"It's less safe the louder you are." the fox mumbled from one side. Jasper turned to regard Zeke, who was kneeling behind a fallen log.
"You shouldn't be out here alone." Jasper noted, moving closer.
"Stop." Zeke noted with conviction, adding quietly, "Just stay right there."
The rat looked to the fox, ears up, "Zeke... I know you had some bad experiences in the past. I know you didn't--"
"You DON'T know!" Zeke objected, "You THINK you know, but you don't." he stood up the rest of the way.
Jasper stopped his forward movement and lowered his paws. The rat nodded, "alright... then tell me." he moved to the side and took a seat on a log next to him. "I know what the priests did to you... I know what they tried to do."
"You were going to become a priest... you wouldn't understand it." Zeke scoffed.
"I might understand more than you think... if I didn't have the ability to understand then do you think you would have got the help escaping?" Jasper questioned, "If I wasn't able to understand, why am I not a priest back in Myrh right now?"
Zeke opened his muzzle to respond, but shut it audibly. His right ear twitched once... then twice... and his left ear twitched once as well. He lowered his head, "I can't trust you... not now that I know..."
"Why not?" Jasper asked.
"Because you're a priest." Zeke pointed out.
"I was an initiate." the rat clarified.
"You channel the dark power of the moon." the fox attested.
"Tah'Aveen grants her followers many abilities, but none of those blessings are dark... what people DO with them... used for good or ill, THAT is what makes them light or dark." Jasper countered.
"The Sickle Moon frightens me." Zeke admitted.
Jasper chuckled softly, nodding, "That's alright, Zeke... it scares me too."
The two of them sat under the cover of the trees for several long minutes before Zeke spoke up, "I want to believe that Tah'Aveen loves us... but how can she just sit by while all of the priests do things like that in her name?"
Jasper looked up to the fox, who was gazing right at him, eyes outlined with damp fur. The rat let out a steady sigh and shook his head, "I don't know, Zeke... maybe she tests her priests with her favor and they're punished in the next life for these transgressions?"
"Where does that leave the rest of us if they're making this life so horrible?" the fox challenged.
"That could be OUR test..." the rat stood, holding out a paw, "How we respond when we're challenged by those who do not walk her path might be what she looks at when she judges us." Jasper smiled softly, "Come back to the caravan, Zeke."
The fox stood, but remained where he was, "What if we want to walk the path... but..."
The rat stood his ground, paw still out, "Tah'Aveen may give her Priests their power, but she can't determine how they'll use it... she can show you the path to walk, but she can't force you to travel. In the end, you still determine your own fate. You got away from the temple... you survived the Wild Lands... you've already taken quite a few steps, Zekr so what's a few more?"
Zeke's eyes stayed focused on the rat's as he closed the distance, and Jasper heard the fox release a held breath the moment their paws clasped. "The caravan is passing us by." Zeke offered tentatively, breaking eye contact as he looked away.
"Then we'd better catch up, don't you think?" Jasper winked, and proceeded back to his steed. The mount did a fine job carrying them both despite its injuries, and they got back to the wagon train just in time to walk in on a bit of an argument. Zeke went to report in with the wagon master while Jasper gave into the urge to eavesdrop.
"I understand your situation, Ms. Hearthsinger, but you will have to understand mine." Dillan noted professionally to the tigress, though his voice did sound a little strained, "So, I repeat for the fourth time: I am a MERCHANT, and I cannot make a living by giving away my merchandise."
"This is a caravan, Dillan." Narissa noted, her fur starting to stand on end; she barely managed to keep a snarl out of her voice, "Supplies need to be shared."
"And they ARE, my dear." the ferret noted, "As I said... go find what you need in the supply wagons." he smiled pleasantly, but it was obvious to Jasper that Dillan knew that they wouldn't have what she was looking for.
"I already told you..." the tigress noted, grabbing hold of the front of his tunic, "the supply wagons don't have any!"
The ferret calmly snapped his fingers and two muscle-bound, armored badgers broke Narissa's grip on him and pushed her back several feet. "Ms Hearthsinger..." the merchant noted, his voice full of sugar and honey, "I am a business man, and I'm happy to provide you what you're looking for... but I can't very well offer it for free." he motioned to his wagon, "I have upkeep costs..." he motioned to the badgers who remained at his side, "I have payroll..." he smiled pleasantly, cocking his head to the side, "Surely you can appreciate that I am not running a charity."
"Sixty Lunas for one phial is insane!" Narissa roared, her fur standing on end. The badger guards moved to stand between her and Dillan.
"I've got 100 Lunas for a single dose before, Ms Hearthsinger." the ferret responded, holding up a leather vial case, "The value of something is tied directly into what someone is willing to pay for it... or so the saying goes."
"I don't HAVE sixty Lunas..." she hissed.
"Well... what do you have? I'm sure we can reach an understanding." the ferret smiled pleasantly... a little too pleasantly.
"Thirty three Lunas, and nine Stars." the tigress shook her coin pouch.
"Hmmm... well that IS a rather light amount." the ferret nodded thoughtfully, "Perhaps we can come up with an alternate form of payment..." he licked his muzzle, then grunted when a sack of coins impacted against the side of his muzzle.
"Sixty." Lord Rust noted, "Now give the lady what she asked for."
The ferret rubbed the bridge of his nose, kneeling down to pick up the coin purse, "Well... I'm glad to see that you're feeling better, Lord Rust... your injuries certainly haven't inhibited your throwing arm at all." he glanced at the badgers, "Next time I expect one of you to be standing between me and anything that gets thrown my way." he stuffed the leather case into one of their paws and, without another word, the ferret turned around and reentered his wagon.
"Don't worry..." Narissa stated, accepting the package from the badger, "I'm sure he'd have complained about you grabbing his payment before he could if you'd have blocked it from hitting him." Both badgers chuckled quietly at the joke, but said nothing in response.
"Are you alright?" Rust asked as Narissa passed by him.
"Fine... Dillan seems to think he owns the caravan because he is the only supplier of certain goods." the tigress responded; Jasper didn't miss the hesitance she had when choosing her last words.
"He has a way of getting on peoples' nerves." the echidna offered calmingly, "But you got what you needed, right?"
Narissa smiled, just a little, "My supplies, and a little help..." she chuckled, walking a little closer to the echidna as he escorted her back to her wagon, "Exactly what I needed." her tail lashed mirthfully, and she didn't pull away when Lord Rust rested his arm across her shoulders.
"Brother Zachary was there when I went to talk to the Wagon Master." Zeke spoke from beside Jasper, calling the rat's attention away from the scene.
"Oh?" Jasper inquired, casually heading back to his horse, "If you want, I can go talk to the wagon master for you then."
"It's alright." Zeke noted, an unsure smile on his muzzle, "I said hello to Brother Zachary, and then checked in."
"Good!" Jasper smiled in response to that, "Did everything go alright?"
Zeke nodded, "Brother Zachary welcomed me back and thanked me for helping to heal him."
"He's not that scary for a priest, is he?" Jasper asked, climbing up into his saddle.
"Not as scary as you, at least." Zeke noted, mounting his own steed, which was right beside Jasper's.
"I don't want to frighten you." Jasper answered honestly, "Just tell me wh--" but he was unable to finish his sentence as Zeke leaned across the distance and pressed his muzzle to the rat's cheek.
"My mother told me that caution would keep me safe..." the fox blushed, straightening up in his saddle, "but she also told me that too much fear would lead me to ruin..."
"I think a certain amount of caution isn't too bad..." Jasper responded, his ears raised, tail quivering in amusement, "but sometimes too much prudence keeps you from all the stupid decisions in life that are so much fun."
"I'm tired of being afraid of everything..." the fox sat up a little straighter, as if admitting it took some of the weight off of his shoulders.
"So save your fear for the worthwhile stuff..." Jasper grinned, "like scary rat priests." he wagged his fingers in Zeke's direction.
The fox paused, eyes opening wider in surprise and alarm. For a moment, Jasper thought that he had overstepped the boundaries of good sense but, two seconds later, the sound of a loud crack followed by wood sundering called his attention to where Zeke was REALLY looking: Narissa's carriage.
Small, twisted little humanoids were crawling all across its surface like a swarm of ants. Each had to have been no larger than two foot tall... some scarcely one foot. They laughed and growled and cackled as the wood warped and burst in their presence.
"Away!" Zachary shouted, swinging his glowing staff in the air to ward off the creatures. Taggart and Haldyn came with him, closing in on the damaged carriage as well. Rust was there already, pushing, shoving, punching, and swinging at the creatures, but as soon as he took aim, they had already moved; he was doing as much damage to the wagon as they.
"Lord Rust!" Zachary shouted, coming to a stop as the carriage started to expand and stretch, popping out nails as it inflated like a balloon, "Get back!"
The rabbit extended his staff even as Jasper and Zeke ran to help. A powerful white wall of energy spread out between the group and the wagon, separating Rust from the carriage right when it exploded.
"HELP!!!" came a cry from the wreckage, and an unharmed Narissa struggled against a dozen little clawed hands as she was picked up off the ground, restrained, and dragged off into the forest.
"GET RID OF THE FUCKING WALL, ZACH! DO IT NOW!" roared Lord Rust, slamming his iron hammer against it so powerfully that sparks were thrown.
The rabbit fumbled his staff and began dismissing the effect, but Dillan grabbed him by the arm, "Those are Fey." he announced to everyone, "And Fey get what they want."
"Like hell they do!" Rust growled, "We're going after her."
"Listen to me..." Dillan stepped closer to the echidna, "For each ONE we see there are easily TEN MORE that we don't. If we go after her--"
"We're going after her." Rust declared, pushing the ferret back with his iron fist, "YOU can stay if you want."
Jasper stepped forward, "Dillan's right." he admitted, but quickly added, "So if we're going after her then we have to do it as fast as possible... and we can't stop for anything." the ferret scowled at the suggestion.
"We're better off killing everything on the way." Haldyn argued, "If we leave the Fey behind us they we'll get surrounded."
"There's no time." Zachary pointed out, "If we stop to kill everything then she'll be long gone."
"Maybe... we could negotiate for her return." Zeke offered. Several eyes went to him, including Jasper's; the fox was not usually one to offer up suggestions.
"She's gone." Dillan noted flatly, "I'm sorry... but that's the facts that we're faced with. If you want to go after her then you're gone too. This is their forest, and fighting them will not save her-- it'll only get you killed."
"Then maybe we SHOULD consider trying to talk them out of taking her..." Taggart offered.
"Yea..." Dillan chuckled darkly, "That will go over well..." he snorted, "Try negotiating with Fey... the last time I did that I--" he froze when several eyes looked at him. He cut himself off with a grunt, "I'll be in my carriage." and he made himself scarce.
* * * * * *
The Doenian caravan has spent a lot of time passing the hours with some wonderful dramatic character development... but this is the last chapter of that before something "interesting" happens!
It's time to make a decision:
1) Go after Narissa killing all the Fey that you see.
2) Chase after Narissa as fast as possible, evading the Fey when possible.
3) Try to negotiate with the Fey to get Narissa back.
4) The loss is a painful one, but there's no way the caravan can do anything to get Narissa back... just get out of there while you can.
At this point, a character may also spend 1 Willpower to choose to follow through wtih their elected vote regardless of what the party chooses. If the character can make a roll of Presence + Mettle (15) then they will follow through with whatever vote them make even if the rest of the party doesn't agree.
Also, Champions of Doen, since you may end up in combat based on how the votes (and rolls) go I will require a Stance from each of you. Stance is given on a rating of 0-5 where 5 is full offense, 4 is aggressive, 3 is neutral, 2 is conservative, and 1 is reserved, A rating of 0 indicates that the character will NOT be taking part in combat (not even in a support role). Please bear in mind that these ratings will increase your Offense the higher your Stance number and increase your Defense the lower your Stance number (or, in the case of 0, have the character try to avoid combat altogether)-- the opposite sub-trait decreases conversely (Defense goes down if the number is high; Offense goes down if the number is low).
I will also require a Utilization number for those characters that have an 11 or higher in combined Magic + Sub-Trait or Faith + Sub-Trait. Like Stance, Utilization ranges from 0-5. Utilization is a numerical equivalent of how free your contributed character is with their magic and/or prayers-- a charater with a higher Utilization is more inclined to use their abilities often and more powerfully while a character that elects a lower Utilization is less likely to depend on them (Utilization of 0 will result in the character foregoing any such abilities). Bear in mind that the higher the level of Utilization the more likely a character is to suffer from fatigue. Characters with higher Attribute + Sub-Skill totals are able less likely to be affected by fatigue unless they use a higher score of Utilization.
For an example of how to declare Stance and Utilization, please view the actions taken by the Author-Contributed characters below.
Contributing Readers, make sure you make your stance and utilization selections before midnight (pst) on Thursday, August 11th.