Tree Lords III

[NoTrammeling]

Fikod keeps his mouth closed and his eyes on the ground as Locky tends to him, retreated to some inner pit of misery. And in that pit he intends to remain for the duration of the night, and most likely well into the next day. He shrugs his pack, using it for a pillow right out there in the open.

[Breila]

"Ulster, Thuskar, let me see if I can do something to help with your wounds, maybe to ease the pain a little" Babushka tells the two henchmen and sees what she can do.

1d20=18, 1d20=7, fail for Ulster, pass for Thuskar

[JadedDM]

"Silvanost," Dara answers. "My family is from House Protector. My father was a wildrunner, whom are rivals to the kirath. So he was a little disappointed in my career choice," she explains. Her voice is perfectly even, without any hint of emotion. She hugs her legs to her chest, her back up against the blue tree.

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(OOC: This pretty much marks the end of the chapter. So the party is free to interact a bit, if they like. I'll close the chapter down and calculate XP when we hit page 30 or everyone is ready to move on; whichever comes first.)

[Jerrard]

"How long have you been a Kirath?" The mage asks intently, trying to ignore his awful wounds. "My family wanted me to be a warrior, I trained as a guard, but it was not where my interests lay. It was right about me, I was a lousy warrior."

[Jenara]

After tending to the others Locky sits by a tree, listening to Dara and Jerrard. "It wasnt me saying those things..."

[HorizonsDream]

"I'll take the first watch, then," Imani says as she walks over to the edge of the protection from the tree.

She wanted to be pretty much alone at this point anyway. After her fight with Dara, the things that she said to her about how she was a terrible mother, and now she had abandoned her son put her in a state of depression. These were things she was all ready thinking, but now they were out in the open. Did the others really think that about her? After all, she was seemingly a pretty poor leader at this point considering someone had died, so it was reasonable to assume that she really was a poor mother too as she did leave her child behind in some evil nation.

She finally sits down under the branches of the newly formed tree. She leans back on her hands, and looks up into the boughs hoping to see part of the sky under the branches. It was times like these where she wanted nothing more than to run up to her son, pick him up, and never let him go.

[JadedDM]

"About twenty-five years," Dara says, her eyes on the ground before her. "I was initiated right before my parents died in the siege from the Dragonarmies...back then, a kirath's job was just to protect the forest as it was. Not we work against the corruption that had gripped it."

[Breila]

"And what was the difference between the wildrunners and the kirath?" Babushka asks.

[Jerrard]

"A worthwhile pursuit." Raising his chared hand he gives her a little pat on the back, "Do not worry, the forest will return, Habbuak will see to it, did he not intervene already?" He looks to Babuskha,

"I can't hope to imagine how you feel, but remember, you were not yourself. The Gods have those who died now, they will not look on you with distaste, rather with a grim understanding, do we hold you any ill?" Looking down at his battered form he winks, causing his eye to flicker, "Your job now is to keep doing what you always did, to protect this forest, while we are here, we will aid you."

[Breila]

"Let us sleep, get our much-needed rest" Babushka reminds the others. She rolls into a ball, thinking over what happened and slowly drifting into sleep.

When Imani wakes her for her watch, she asks her: "Could I have a word before you sleep?"

[JadedDM]

"And what was the difference between the wildrunners and the kirath?" Babushka asks.

The windriders and wildrunners are what the Silvanesti army is comprised of," Dara explains. "The windriders are our aerial cavalry--griffon riders. The wildrunners are our infantry. Both suffered tremendous losses during the war."

"Your job now is to keep doing what you always did, to protect this forest, while we are here, we will aid you."

"...Yes, I suppose so. The only way I can find redemption is through my work as a kirath," she says.

[Jenara]

"Indeed." Jerrard smiles and at that lays back on the ground. "You should rest, if the nightmares come, open your eyes and look at the trees."

(Ready to move on)

Locky closes her eyes, trying to get comfortable, her little body jerks painfully... Behind her eyes she sees her best friends engulfed in flame, their bodies becoming a ball of fire...

[HorizonsDream]

Imani looks up to the gnome from where she is sitting, and gives her a nod. "Sit down," she says quietly to her as she turns her gaze back to the high branches of the trees.

[Breila]

"Imani, you look worried and sad, I guess it is because you think it is your fault that Jeremy died and I would have if Habbakuk hadn't saved me. But it's not your fault. We asked you to be our leader in battle because we couldn't organise ourselves sufficiently, and you were the best trained in group combat. But that doesn't mean that you and you alone must make the decisions for the group in other situations, too.
Jerrard absolutely wanted to go this way when Dara told us Malika had come here, and I wasn't clever enough to check if our animal's tracks really led in this direction. Fikod was the only one who really did not want to come. Locky," Babushka smiles affectionately, , well Locky will go everywhere as long as Jerrard and I come with her. Ulster and Thuskar are henchmen, they will go where Jerrard and I go, too. It was not poor battle tactics that killed Jeremy and me, it was the evil of the Demon who thanks to Habbakuk is now held back by that seal again."

[HorizonsDream]

"It is still a difficult thing to deal with, even if it was a demon of some sort that killed him," Imani said. "If I hadn't been so focused on Dara, I might have noticed that he was there by himself," she explains softly. "So, I still feel it is partly my fault that he has died. It is something that I have to come to terms with." It was something that a leader always has to deal with, but death does happen at times. If she is ever to get her son back, she has to come to terms with that very notion.

"Though, thank you, and I'm glad that your God saved you," she adds. "It isn't just his death that is bothering me. You can tell me that a demon was saying all of those things to us, but somewhere in the back of my mind part of me thinks that it is true."