Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2, Ch 1.1 Myrh
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 2 Chapter 1.1
Myrh Free Will
The Myrhean party chose to stop and resupply; thankfully there's a medium sized wayside only a few days from their position. Could things really be that easy? We'll have to wait and see. At this point, the party receives ++ Luck, +++ Delay, and + Danger for their decision, but this may be subject to change based on future decisions. Narration for Part 2 for Myrh will be in 3rd person.
Yearl and Thera sat close to the fire, helping Brother Farstrider, who was preparing a large cauldron of stew. It wasn't anything special, but it would be a warm meal, and that would be important if they were going to spend the following day on the road.
"So this town..." Thera noted, glancing to the wolf, "You're sure it's nearby?"
"I've been along this road twice before, and I remember seeing signs to it." the priest acknowledged, "I visited it last time I came through with a caravan and they stopped to restock."
"Stonebrook." Kell noted simply, moving over to take a seat on a rock.
"Right." Brother Farstrider confirmed.
"It's protected by a wizard." the shadowy leopard-wolf commented.
"I remember hearing something about that." the priest acknowledged with a nod, "But I didn't see him while I was there."
"The tower is on the south side of town." Kell added, "It's not exactly on main street."
"We stayed on the north side." Ryan elaborated.
"The tower is very large." Kell noted, pressing the issue for some unfathomable reason.
"We were only there for a night." the priest countered.
"The tower floats." the leopard-wolf added.
"I didn't see it." Brother Farstrider shrugged, looking away and toward the fire.
"And glows." Kell added.
"How do you know so much about this wizard?" Ryan asked.
"Dinner looks as though it's ready." Kell changed the topic suddenly, "I am going to gather everyone." and, without another word, he left.
"What was that about?" Thera questioned.
"The Wizard of Stonebrook, I suppose." the priest answered with a shrug.
"And you never saw--" Yearl began.
"No. I didn't." Brother Farstrider barked back, cutting the lion short. The priest took the next several quiet moments to recompose himself, "I'm sorry..." he apologized, "I guess I've just been a little stressed lately."
The conversation came to a close with that as Jerard came into view with Beo hanging off his arm. The black husky was laughing up a storm, chatting and bantering with the human, who did not appear to be anywhere near as upbeat, but he was decidedly less downbeat than usual. "So what did the assassin say then?" the husky asked, tail wagging a mile a minute.
"Nothing." Jerard answered, cracking a wry grin, "He was dead." He led Beo to a fallen log near the fire and the husky took a seat. Jerard moved to sit down beside him, and glanced to the cauldron, "Campfire stew... it's been awhile."
"Making use of whatever's at hand is nothing new to me." Brother Farstrider explained, starting to dish up the food, "I've spent too long on the road to be worried about the perfect meal."
"It smells better than a lof of the ones I've had." Yearl offered the simple compliment, accepting the bowl from the priest.
"Well... it'll do the job either way. What we need is fuel for our bodies until we can resupply." Ryan noted, handing a bowl to Thera.
"I just hope the people in the town are friendly." she acknowledged, accepting it with a nod of thanks.
"I remember them being polite." Ryan acknowledged, scooping up another serving, "Though I was traveling with merchants back then... and I was left with a feeling that the people of Stonebrook didn't have the love of priests that most Wild Landers do."
"That's because they're godless heathens." Anya responded, emerging from the darkness to take a spot by the fire.
"Well... that makes it sound like a lovely place to visit considering we're on a HOLY PILGRIMAGE." Beo noted.
"Stonebrook?" Jerard asked, glancing around, "We're near Stonebrook?"
"Yes." Ryan acknowledged, "We were planning on heading there tomorrow to restock."
"And hopefully not get lynched by the godless populace?" Thera added.
"Stonebrook is ruled by a powerful wizard." Jerard noted.
"We went over that already." Ryan quickly interjected, "That won't help us much."
"Yes it will." the human noted, his pink eyes reflecting brightly in the firelight, "He was my master's first apprentice."
Beo's muzzle parted in a wide grin, "That means you're practically family!" he noted with glee.
"Assuming he and your master parted on good terms." Anya noted coolly, accepting her share of the stew without comment to Brother Farstrider.
Kell returned to a spot within the firelight, interrupting the conversation, "Artemisia will still not come out of her wagon."
"I'll get her." Yearl noted, setting his empty bowl aside, "Sit and eat." He stood, gave Thera a pat on the shoulder, and walked out into the darkness.
"Well...?" Beo asked of Jerard, picking the conversation up where it left off, "WERE they on good terms?"
"From what I understand, yes." the human nodded, "The Wizard of Stonebrook and my Master continued writing letters to one another throughout the rest of my Master's life."
"You know the Wizard of Stonebrook?" Kell inquired of Jerard.
"They had the same Master." Beo explained.
"So you know about his floating tower?" the leopard-wolf asked the human, glancing at Brother Farstrider.
"Yes... of course." Jerard acknowledged, "It glows."
Kell looked as though he was about to say something to the priest, but the chance passed him by at the sound of Artemisia's voice, "What ELSE do you know that you aren't talking about... Captain?" the tone was loud and full of accusation.
"Artemisia... calm down." Yearl noted, his voice closer to the campfire.
"I won't calm down!" the dragoness growled, "You knew Chase? You knew about him and knew about the Demons of Ashlai? I didn't know that there were three demons and I was one of them!" the comment came out almost as a roar, "How did you know? How?"
Yearl came into view of the fire, paws held out and up, palms facing the darkness where two red, glowing eyes gleamed threateningly, "I am a Captain of Myrh, Artemisia... these are things that they believe I need to know, and so it is part of my position."
"And it's become clear that Myrh wants me dead." the dragoness countered, "Are you going to be the next one to try and end me? Is THAT it?" she demanded.
"Artemisia, stop!" Thera noted, jumping immediately to Yearl's defense, "That dragon tried to kill us all, remember?"
"I remember the two of them talking like old friends." the dragoness hissed.
"And then that dragon almost killed him!" the mouse reminded her.
"What else do you know that you aren't talking about?" she demanded a second time of the lion.
"He's not your enemy, Misia." Thera noted, still between the two.
"Don't call me that." Artemisia scowled, "You don't have a right to call me that."
"That's what your friends call you... isn't it?" Thera asked.
"No." the dragoness scowled, "I don't have friends."
"He used to call you it when you were young." the mouse pointed out.
"Do NOT start with me, Mouse." Artemisia snarled aggressively, "You have NO RIGHT."
"Whether I have the right or not, something happened that opened us up to one another." Thera stood her ground, "I know things about you, and you know things about me."
"I didn't ask for it!" the dragoness grated.
"Neither did I... but it happened!" the mouse took a step forward, "Look at what I've been through with Yearl... I've known him for DECADES... look into THOSE memories and tell me if you think someone like that would be doing what you're accusing him of."
"No." Artemisia growled, but she stopped advancing.
"Think about what you know and I know." Thera stated, "Put down the sword... there aren't any enemies here."
The dragoness eyes went from one face to the next, gazing at everyone in the firelight before she turned around, and stormed back off to her wagon without another word.
It took several minutes for everyone by the fire to calm down. Whispers of insanity flowed from traveler to traveler mixed with thoughts that she had broken under the stress... one voice even spoke up about it being 'that time of the month', but Beo was quickly hushed. The quiet comments continued until Anya silenced them.
"We have a long trip tomorrow, and I will want to reach Stonebrook before nightfall." she stated, "Save your breaths and go to sleep... we will be on the road at dawn." and, with that, the jackal stood, and disappeared into the darkness.
* * * * *
Welcome to Chapter 1, Post 1 for the Myrhean Caravan in this, Part 2 of Zion: Light of the New Moon.
We pick up the story a few days after the party dealt with Chase.
Jumping right into things, we're focusing on a discussion the party has about what will happen next. It's been decided that the group will look for supplies and, thanks to some experienced members of the party, the location of a nearby Wayside town is revealed... but apparently not everyone is convinced it's a good diea.
Ryan's reader did not vote during the last post. As this is a Reader-Contribution story this does go directly against the whole point. Traditionally, the penalty is that the character loses 1 Willpower and the Party loses 1 Favor. Since this is the first offense for this part of the story, I'll take a poll:
1) The usual sounds fine; Ryan loses 1 Willpower and the party loses 1 Favor. 2) The party shouldn't have to suffer; make Ryan lose 2 Willpower instead! 3) Hard luck cases win every time; no need to penalize him, we'll just take a -1 Favor.
Contributing Readers have until Thursday, November 3rd at midnight. In the case of a tie, or non-vote, the option will revert to #1. Thanks!