Clarion Quietus (IC) Part 1

[Luiniel Blades]

Laying quietly among the tall grass, Xein listened in on the group of resistance members.  As each one spoke he focused on their voice trying to memorize the sound into his mind as he picked the conversation apart in his mind, looking for details.
The one called Amethyst, seems to have a great number of talents including herbalsim.  She also seems to be a source of inspiration for the group.  This Siobhan seems to be able to manipulate fire the way Cara can manipulate the weather, she also seems unstable and new to the resistance, yet she is no Channeller.  The Dornish man is far stronger than any of the Dorns I've seen, he also defeated the Alpha in combat.  We'll have to be careful of him in the future.  The driver Wendle is an older member of the resistance.  The other Gnomes, Star and Otter are also experienced resistance members.  Otters eyes were burned, that should leave scars .  Flour ... detonates when exposed to fire.  Interesting.

 His ears perked up at the finality in the voice of the one called Mandag.

So they're heading to the mountains.  Mandag has some ability to treat wounds and also seems to be something of the authority of this group.

[Sholano]

There was a grunt from the edge of the light. Dorin's eyes stayed closed and his breathing measured as he spoke in a controlled basso.

"What is -" A low irritated noise rumbles from his throat. "What is in the mountains?"

[Doomed Hero]

"Our business." Mandag grumbled. "Frankly, I'm not thrilled that what was supposed to be an easy pick up and carry has turned into a full blown clusterfuck." the gruff erenlander finished stitching up his face in his small mirror and sighed. "What the hell happened on this one, Star?"

"Too much happening all at once." the gnome shrugged. "Last arc Garion, Linus and Nefario busted Cara out of Lord Skinners little madhouse. This was the most convenient pick up. They were supposed to be added to Wendle's crew without any issue. These three ladies were added last minute as a large favor for one of our best drop off clients. It was sheer coincidence that Siobhan here seems to be Cara's long lost daughter, and apparently the trigger to whatever it was that Skinner put in her head."

"Damn big coincidence." Mandag said spitting out a mass of blood.

[Ilona Ebonblade]

"Grandfather always said there were no coincidences. I met and lost both my "dead" parents in the same day, forgive me if I'd rather have explanations than pointless bitching." Siobahn responded, her frayed emotions taking a toll on her.

[Exile]

"We are all rather tense and on-edge", Amethyst quickly put in, tone mollifying.  "But it is also clear that we share powerful enemies in common, and that we can work together rather well.  We faced exceptionally heavy odds back there, and we came through it.  Not unhurt, by any means, but I am quite sure that the powers of Shadow would have expected to have captured or killed every last one of us, and with many fewer losses than they experienced."

While her hands work on preparing the poultices and eye-wash for Otter, Amethyst ventures a rueful smile at the group in general.  "I'm not saying that we should gloat or boast about what we achieved.  At best, it was chaotic.  But we are alive and we are free.  There is reason to hope that those left behind were able to escape.  And it seems that we have a destination.  There is much to be thankful for, and we have work to do to prepare ourselves for travel on the morrow.  Shall we all try to reserve our harsher words and thoughts for the enemy?"

[Luiniel Blades]

As Amethyst spoke, the howls of the wounded and dying pack members echoed through Xeins mind.  Anger began to claw into his thoughts.

You should all be dead!  Instead you are alive, after experiencing a little pain.  We underestimated you, no we underestimated them.  Cara and the three cloaked ones.  We will not do so again.  Drop off client. Grandfather. Powerful enemies yes, Lord Skinner and others too.  You are alive, but not free.  You and those you know are now hunted.  Before this is over, you will know true pain!

[Doomed Hero]

Otter gets up and cautiously makes his way around the fire to sit next to Amethyst. He props himself up and lays back so she can apply her medicines and pats Siobhan's arm.

"I don't know much about where you're coming from. We make a habit of not asking or answering too many questions. The fewer people who know all the details the safer everyone involved is. You needed to get east, this was the fastest way. We had no way of knowing it would fall apart like this. I can't tell you much, but I can tell you that your parents have been fighting back and trying to help people for a long time. It's what got your mom captured. Your dad almost lost it after that, but we managed to keep him going. We all thought Cara was dead until about six arcs ago. We rescued one of Skinner's slaves. His description of Cara was dead on. Garion went into a frenzy figuring out how to break her out. Now I think the slave a was a plant. They were obviously grooming Cara as some kind of shill. I don't know what they did to her, but you were part of it somehow. Some kind of trigger. Probably meant to trigger the first time Garion brought up her lost daughter. It was just a fluke that Ivy tossed out your name and set her off early. If you hadn't showed up when you did I think she would have killed us all. As for now, you're not really in anything. you're just running like the rest of us."

[Sholano]

Dorin spoke again, in a quiet, weary voice. "Running." He drew in a ragged breath, and slowly let it out again. He said nothing more, but that one word conveyed the age-old frustrations of a people who once, too long ago, would sooner die than retreat.

[Exile]

"Most people spend all their lives running", Amethyst put in, voice pitched low - though a rueful smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.  "Generally, they simply retreat far inside themselves, and chase to and fro through their frightened thoughts and frightful lives, forever seeking somewhere to hide from all that happens around them.  Because there's no other way for them to get away from it at all.  Us, however...?"

One hand waved extravagantly around the collection of tired and wounded individuals, before returning to dampening a little pad of clean linen.  "Well, we enjoy the privilege of high-tailing it in body as well as spirit.  And that's the very worst thing we can do, as far as the Shadow's minions are concerned.  We don't accept the limits we are intended to, and we don't even settle for thinking our own thoughts and letting them control our bodies.  We don't surrender either part of ourselves.  We are, in short, a set of right pains in the arse."

Shifting position, Amethyst carefully brought her hands - smelling rather sweetly of a lotion intended to reduce the risk of her adding to a patient's problems - up to Otter's head, as she peered cautiously into his eyes.

"Whether it derives from the depths of insanity or the heights of idealistic heroism, there's a purpose to our running.  There's a reason why we aren't simply hiding inside our heads, pretending that the events unfolding before us won't hurt us if only we keep our gazes respectfully lowered when in the presence of our tormentors."

Gently holding one of Otter's eyelids fully open with finger and thumb, Amethyst set about delivering the awkward, intense sensations of his eyeball being delictately bathed - first sluiced with liquid, then examined in search of lingering grit or signs of permanent damage.

"We have hope that the dark can be held back.  That the wrongs that we have seen are not universal.  That the events of this evening were not simply a bizarre aberration, but a demonstration of something greater."

Offering the gnome an apologetic look, Amethyst released her hold - letting him blink and grimace, before she sought to tackle the other eye.  "Hope is arguably the one force the Shadow most fears and despises.  Its agents certainly seem to work harder to suppress it than anything else.  Even knowledge can be permitted to survive, so long as those who wield it do not believe that a better future might be possible.  But hope?"

Finishing her close-quarters examination of Otter's eye, Amethyst again released him, before setting about giving each orb another quick wash, then reaching for her poultices to bind them into place, continuing to talk as her hands moved to and fro.

"Hope is both the last refuge of the desperate and the Shadow's greatest enemy, it seems.  And what happened tonight was terrifying, and painful, and bloody, and... in part because of that, there was much in there to give us reason to hope.  Yes, we run.  But we don't run simply because our blood was spilt or we experienced bowel-loosening terror while nearly falling under the wagon's wheels - as a personal example.  We're not simply the frightened animals the Shadow wants us to be.  We don't just seek a bolt-hole that seems marginally less terrifying than the rest of the world, and hide there until another predator finds us.  Instead, with hope, we can bring together a disparate collection of strangers, and foil the plans of those who sought us as their prey."

Tying a blindfold around Otter's head, to hold the poultices securely in place, Amethyst finally sat back.  "Running is in itself an act of rebellion, in these benighted days.  The Shadow would much prefer it if we stood and fought.  Desperate last stands, it can welcome.  What matter if it loses another legion of orcs if it can exterminate hope in a region?  But people who run?  They run because there is something worth living for.  And that is what the Shadow truly cannot abide."

[Doomed Hero]

As she spoke, Amethyst's memory was drawn back to the ruins of Hornblower's Hill where an old man had drawn something strange in the dirt. She could see it in her mind as it spiraled outward, blooming as he drew. Constance's words echoed in her ears-

"You said this knowledge draws attention to itself. I cannot risk it. Not so long as my people are hunted and enslaved. We survive by staying as far beneath notice as possible. Not for the secrets of the lost gods themselves would I risk my people to the forces of the Fallen One."

[Doomed Hero]

The water from the tiny stream carried away most of the blood as they treated each other's wounds. Day broke with birdsong, lighting the expanse of the central plains in gold and green. Autumn was well on it's way. The air was brisk and the mists lay low on the ground.

They were cold, their clothes sodden with clammy blood and sweat. They were hungry. Most of the flour and spices were gone, scattered to the winds and flames. They could not risk a fire big enough to cook a meal to feed them all, so they made do with what they happened to have on them. The one thing they had plenty of were blankets. Wendle had stocked well, and though they were covered in flour, salt and shattered bits of wood, there were enough to go around.

Siobhan knew she had not gotten the answers she wished for, but she was just too tired. The violent events had only taken about five minutes to unfold, but it was the time spent with her mother in that strange place that felt like an eternity. She was as hungry as she could remember being but almost too tired to chew. Her anger had kept her going for as long as it was able, but once Amethyst started talking it was impossible to keep it stoked. Ivy and Eirik had been asleep since they had stopped. Dorin nodded off shortly after grumbling about running. The others dropped off one by one, and finally with only Nefario remaining awake to keep watch, she slept.

From the grasses atop the western hill a pair of sharp blue eyes watched them, planning their demise.

[Doomed Hero]

Near Kurgun Falls, Arc of Obares, Fall, midday.

Clouse was noticing patterns that he did not like. Nothing he could wrap his head around easily. He, like most of his kind, sought simple answers to problems. He was a pragmatist, and that very pragmatism was causing him to toy with conclusions that he was unhappy with. Words like "curse" and "sabotage" drifted through his mind with more and more regularity. It couldn't possibly be bad luck. The usual dwarven traps came, as expected. They'd been around long enough and moved far enough in that they had gotten the attention of the Kurgun scouts. There had been a few rigged rock falls and a few covered pits, some poison footspikes, the occasional volley of crossbow bolts out of the darkness. All the usual stuff. No, this was different. The accidents were too frequent. Too severe. Everything that could go wrong, had. Falls, slides, storms, equipment and labor shortages, food shortages, injuries, infighting, sickness. All the setbacks had gotten the attention of higher ranging officials, so their visits were more frequent, which always made things more inefficient. The list seemed endless. He and the other goblinoids had even developed a rash. Apparently something in the mud here disagreed with his kind.

He had no evidence at all. He hadn't seen anything strange, no one reacted in any way that wasn't expected when things happened. It was just a nagging suspicion. He just needed any explanation at all for what had become the most frustrating job of his life. He'd worked the dwarflands before. When they sabotaged you, you knew. They didn't poke. They punched. This wasn't like that. It felt like being the butt of a practical joke, ten times a day for months, and it was happening to everyone. Nerves were about as raw as they got before people started killing each other. He wanted to figure out who to blame before it got to that point.

The Odrendor in charge of the project was an infuriating combination of grumpy and stoic. He was always busy and never listened, but would make a point to bark orders wherever he happened to look, continually complaining about the competency of everyone that wasn't him. His assistant, the gnome, seemed a decent sort. He knew his place. Showed proper deference, did his job, kept his mouth shut. The human bothered him though. He didn't seem to fit. Where had he come from? Why was he with this dwarf? He said little, and was obviously both strong and dangerous. He reminded Clouse of a Soldier Legate. Was he a bodyguard of sorts? It would not surprise him. In this ridiculous system without any sort of real identifying markers, a Black Blood would be a target for extermination without someone to vouch for him. Usually a Black Blood was kept on a short leash by someone with enough clout to keep prying eyes at bay. No one else fit the bill. It had to be the human. All the pieces fit. That meant that this particular human was likely the one who was really in charge. That was good information to have.

The project was still behind schedule, but they were catching a break. The weather had cleared and they had just received another group of slaves. They were finally starting to make up lost time.

The job site had lengthened as their progress increased. It was now nearly half a league in length, mostly uphill, full of switchbacks and drop-offs. He spent most of his time at the front with his crew and the ogres, and the Dwarf's assistants, overseeing the most dangerous extractions and clears. The damn dwarf seemed to show up when he felt like it, always running of to his next check or plan.

Today though, he was rigging up a tricky system to hoist a large boulder. It had been decided that breaking it up would take too long, so the question was, would they attempt to lift and swing it over the work site and let it down on the far side to be broken up by another crew, or would they lower it down off the switch back to the camp.

[Gabboge]

Clouse drew in a deep breath. He had a few plans in mind but they the right choice eluded him. He could lower the rock down, but that meant risking the camp. His other option would be to hoist it to a more advantageous position, but he had bad feeling about that. He saw how each option could lead to failure. The rock could ether crush the camp or cut off his team from supplies and leave them open for ambush. Ambush? Maybe I'm just getting paranoid. I cannot let a streak of bad luck cause me to be rash. Bad luck wasn't something Clouse was used to, in fact he always seemed to have nothing but good luck, he always thought of it as a form of favor from the dark lord. Ether sabotage or unmotivated workers.

"Gentlemen, though it might be risky, I would suggest we lower the boulder down. I think the proper precautions can be taken to address safety issues with thiss."

Clouses lips curled into a viscous smile.

"Some steps I may suggest to take would be to relocate a few members of the workforce to the base camp, preferably the weaker of the workers, perhaps family members if we can sort them out. This will ensure that not only will they not get in the way but also that the main work force remain motivated and careful."

Clouse's eyes were fixated on Duncan, scanning for reaction. Normally Clouse would go with the safe option but something wasn't right here. He would press his luck and get to the bottom of this, if there was a bottom to get to.

[TwiceBorn]

Kjellan tried to conceal his nervousness as he stood at the table with the other. Both plans to clear the pass entailed significant risks to the work crews, and given their 'luck,' it was likely that something would 'go wrong' regardless of which plan they adopted. The last thing he wanted was to be seen pushing too strongly for one plan over the other.

Of late, the nights had been much clearer, which made it easier for him to recharge the pebble charm that he presently had under his tongue, and which enabled him to speak and comprehend languages he normally was not familiar with. That having been said, the arcs he had spent in the proximity of slaves, orcs, and goblinoids had also generally improved his comprehension of both the Trader's Tongue--which he had once known the basics of but forgotten to a great extent over the years--and the much more complex Orcish.

After Clouse had shared his opinion in Orcish, Kjellan waited a few moments to see if someone else would respond first. After a long pause, the gnome replied.

"As you know, my Orcish is not very good, so please forgive me... Clouse may already have said what I am about to say... and in case I misunderstood him, then I hope that what I am about to say will not contradict his thoughts on the matter, as it is not my intention to challenge the wisdom of a much more knowledgable and experienced officer." The gnome looked at the hobgoblin, then back at Khav. Once he was satisfied that he had shown sufficient meekness and deference, Kjellan continued.

"As I see it, both plans entail significant risks. Whichever one we go with, the dwarves are sure to take advantage of the situation and will do their best to ensure that our best efforts to move the rock safely will fail. Yet if the risks are evenly balanced, then I would suggest we go with the most straightforward option, which I believe is to lower rather than lift the boulder.  If I am not mistaken, some of the slaves share bonds of friendship or kinship. Perhaps if we left some of the weaker friends and kin in the base camp while the others lower the boulder, that would motivate them to do everything they can not to screw up, ambush or no ambush... "

As he finished speaking, Kjellan inched a little bit closer to Khav.

[Gabboge]

Clouse gave Kjellan a surprised smiled.

"Very astute. You actually have a surprising grasp on Orcish, I was afraid my dialect might have been too exotic. I generally try to keep the conversation in Orcish because it's such an exact language but I guess traders will do for the sake of clarity to all parties.

Clouse cleared his throat.

"Another advantage would be that it would force any attacker to stage a two-pronged attack, one to rescue the slaves and the other to attack the operation... On that note, I would also advise immediate execution of this plan so that if there are any troublemakers around they will have little time to respond."

[Pheros]

Dunkun spits on the ground:  "My light-suckled kin would love to ruin our day.  But taking that dung-heap boulder off the edge over the camp and the newly cleared trail is as smart as pissing into a elf-sent gale.  So long as we work on it up here, it can't ruin the work we've done already, and I don't want to have to deal with a light-sent delay while we wait for a new group of thin-blooded slaves to replace any that die as that rock tumbles though our crew." Dunkun spits again, and fixes his gaze on the company around the table.

[TwiceBorn]

Kjellan blushed in embarrassment as Dunkun brazenly criticized Clouse's preference. Of course, the dwarf's response made the most sense from many perspectives, but better to be seen backing the hobgoblin's position than the black blood's.

The gnome glanced quickly at each of his table mates before shyly offering another observation. "The assumption that the dwarves would launch a two-pronged attack if we lowered the boulder presumes that they would be concerned for the lives of the slaves, which they may not be. After all, none of the slaves are dwarves, and they might think them a necessary sacrifice if the falling boulder would further hamper and delay our efforts... So which is the greater risk -- delay due to having to break the boulder with hammer and pick, or delay due to loss of labour and destruction of the base camp? We could save a great deal of time if we were able to successfully lower the boulder without dropping it on the base camp... but if we fail, then the ensuing delay will probably be longer than if we had attempted to break the boulder in the first place. But I am not so wise as my masters, who I trust to make the best decision..."  

The gnome turned his gaze towards his toes.

[Doomed Hero]

"I don't much care what you choose." Kahv said looking around at the terrain, scratching one of the small whitish nubs or horn on his forehead. "I just need to know soon so I can start coming up with a surveillance and defense plan. How about we speed this up?"

[TwiceBorn]

Kjellan remained focused on his toes as he waited for someone to emerge victorious in the contest of wills between Clouse and Dunkun. He had no desire to be caught in the middle, or to risk making an enemy of the hobgoblin.

[arnon]

This is taking longer than I hoped at first, Marakal thought fiercely to himself, although he did like the fact that he is getting his strength back with all the work after being weak and sick when the dwarves found him. On the other hand, I'm getting to see how the Shadow-sworn bastards operate, perhaps I'll get a sniff as to where he is...

"Let's lower rock and finish," he said between munches of dried meat.

[Pheros]

"So you're all for lowering the light-licking rock, eh?  What do I know, I've just lived underground longer than any of you have been sucking air." He turns to Kahv, saying "Fine, let's lower the pitiful thing and get this disaster started."

[Gabboge]

"Black blood, let's get things straight here. I am trying to account for all angles. Dwarven sabotage is definitely something I have been considering but other pieces don't quite fit. Generally they prefer sabotage not subterfuge. Perhaps they want this path cleared just as bad as we do and are getting us to do it for while slowly weakening uss and make uss desperate."

Clouse winced a bit, he was letting his s's slide too much. This normally meant he was getting emotional, something that was always a bad sign.

"Another thing to think about is that while the dwarves might think of the people we put into camp as 'acceptable loss' I don't think the dorns will. If we can keep them from rebellion during an ambush we can better control the situation."

Clouse got up from the table, brushing himself off.

"if there is nothing else to discuss then I will get my engineers to work on the rigging. I will assign my personal security team to guard it. Also I will lend the Dwarf one of my assistants in case he needs to send message to me quickly, in case of emergency we can't spare workers or guards so my assistant will have to do."

[Pheros]

Dunkun nods.  "Fine by me.  Let's get started."  Dunkun stands and leaves the tent, barking orders at nearby slaves almost before he's cleared the flap.

[Doomed Hero]

It didn't take long to get set up. for the first leg. It was mostly a brute force operation, ogres heaving and pulling from both sides of the rock, levering it out of the ground it had been in for half a century and slowly moving it the twenty feet it needed to go to get onto the net they'd built to secure it in it's journey off the drop.

Things went smoothly as the transfer was made from pushing to hoisting. The weight was taken so cleanly that the drop-off was hardly disturbed at all. As the rock began to be lowered the ogres joined the crew of hauling slaves and Clouse finally began to have hope for a successful operation.

The rock had inched some 15 feet down off the edge when pain lanced from his left thigh. Looking down in shock he was surprised to see the fletched end of a crossbow bolt sticking out of his leg.

The screaming didn't register at first, but glancing around as his instincts took over, he saw nearly a dozen downed slaves and others bolting for safety, shocked and angry ogres who had dropped their ropes and turned to see where the nasty little poky things had come from, the rock itself beginning to plummet but being caught by the ratcheting failsafe system they had rigged, and the Black Blood foreman cursing up a storm and throwing himself behind a large spool of rope while clawing at the bolt sticking out of his back.

An uncomfortable tingling warmth began to spread from the wound in Clouse's leg. This was not good.

[Gabboge]

I KNEW IT!! Coulse couldn't help but let the thought race across his mind. Now things made sense, now the pieces fell into place for Clouse. The politicking and hands off approach had never suited him but now it way just the open field, him and his enemy with nothing but cunning and guile to save him.

"Formation!" he shouted at the top of his lounges. His men knew what to do. Red would go draw his tower shield and lead the front. the others would take their positions and they would press the enemy. Normally Could would take his place at the front, but he had an idea of what to expect. They chose this moment to attack, they were going for the boulder and that's where he would hunker down at and wait with his trusty lackey.

"Remember dorns that these things intend to drop that boulder down onto your family and friends!"