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 Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:03 am
Torzeh was already halfway down the corridor when she realized she didn't know where she was going. She stopped and leaned against the wall, thinking of what she'd do for the rest of the night. Maybe she'd collect some firewood...something would come to her then. Nodding to herself, she went to collect her bag from her room, then left to walk under the trees. She'd remember to stay close to the cathedral, just going far enough to gather her thoughts properly. She looked at the small pouch on her bag that contained her flute. Perhaps she'd compose a song...she began to sing softly as she searched for suitable wood. "I'm almost afraid, though I know well the night....hmm....Are there spirits lurking near, in the pale moonlight? No, no, that's no good at all..." Frowning slightly, she went on her way, trying to think of something better.
An hour or so later, she returned, her arms laden with sticks to burn. She stacked them on the small pile already there, sat near the entrance to the building, and took out her flute. Now, to just get the music to reflect the song properly...it would take a while, but what else did she have to do?
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:27 am
Matasoga began to feel restless after a while. He collected Apep and made a patrol or two but the night was quiet.
He went to the "Stables" which were really out of the way...Even hidden and this was by design. There were many who would object to the manner of being that he kept.
Placing a scented cloth near the door over his nose and mouth he entered the room and found his four, undead horses still tethered to his stagecoach. It was quite costly to have them animated paying for the spells, the onyx, and the horses themselves. He was most reticent to leave them, but trusted that Sergius would be able to keep their location hidden.
The shame of it was in having to keep them hidden. The creatures were under his control, so what's the harm in it? It is true that those who ally themselves with high morals do not, perhaps even could not cast the spell on the grounds that it created evil creatures but what manner of absurdity was this? They were mindless to say nothing of sentience. True the few zombies of any type that were granted sentience were invariably evil but if they were non-sentient and controlled, what could be the harm in embracing the practicality of creatures that would not tire, that could go all night, would consume no food, and require no grooming?
He would gain a station of power in this town and then things would begin to change. The undead without sentience would be seen as useful tools and those with, one day might even be seen as citizens instead of driven out of town...One day he might even join them.
But for now there were a few final matters to which he had to attend. He left the stables and sent for Sergius who was asked to report to Matasoga's office. He was a human and the most intelligent of the soldiers available, thus Matasoga's appointment of him as his second in command.
The briefing did not take long. He was already instructed, at length, how things were to be run in Matasoga's absence. After that, Matasoga set up his chessboard and spent most of the rest of the night matching wits with him.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:20 am
It was dusk before Eliae finally left the room, gathering her things into her bag and dropping the gold that she had been removing from the possession of others into a small pouch that rested at her waist. Re-adjusting her shirt, she made sure that it was fitting properly before pulling her boots on and walking out into the hall, the pack slung over her shoulder as she looked down the corridor.
Since the half-dragon had not specified a place for them to meet at before they left, the pseudo-human decided that it would most likely be a safe bet to wait within the main room. There, at the least, was a good, central meeting place, not to mention one that seemed to give her quite a bit of attention that she found to be quite amusing. If only she had the time now...
The thought made her smirk. Already, several of the guards would be getting into no small amount of trouble, as she had not only left her scent upon them, but left her mark as well- and at least one of the men that she had lured was married. Though such things meant little to her, she knew that it was important to them. If only she could watch the reaction of their families as they went home. Unfortunately, though, she would be unable to do so, as she was soon to depart this town, if only for a time. She would have to amuse herself with their antics again when she got back; even now, she could see some of the men who hadn't wandered off to bed eying her once again. If only to lead them on a little, she grinned at each of them and gave them a slight, almost playful wave of her hand.
Running her fingers through her hair before pulling it back into a ponytail, the woman ran her eyes over the rest of the room, mostly looking for Torzeh and Matasoga. It was right around the time that they were to be departing, and she really didn't feel like waiting for too long to leave, knowing that it would only be a matter of time before some of the men began to approach her. Though she was far from minding the attention of the humans, she was more concerned with seeing what she could do to get within the half-dragon's guarded mind- ideas that she kept very much to herself.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:56 pm
Matasoga was leaning on a pillar, having gotten up a bit before dusk after sleeping for the brightest eight hours of the day. He soon decided that it would be dark enough that the others would likely be out, soon.
He turned to look around the pillar and saw only Eliae. He slowly moved his head back to behind the pillar, deciding that he would remain where he was until Torzeh showed up. It wasn't like her to be late, so he was sure that she would be here soon.
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:15 am
Torzeh sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Apparently, she'd fallen asleep, when she'd only meant to sit for a while. Ah well. It wasn't like it really mattered, because there wasn't anything she had to do...
They were leaving tonight! She grabbed her bag and stumbled down the corridor, slinging it over her shoulder as she went. Hopefully she wasn't already late...Running as well as she could in her half-asleep state, she soon reached the main room. She saw Eliae, but not Matasoga. Catching her breath, she mumbled an apology for not being there sooner, then slumped against the wall to wait for Matasoga.
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:18 am
Matasoga had taken the time to reapply his facepaint, while he had waited. He had scrubbed it off in the unusually thorough bath that he'd taken, since he didn't know when he'd get the chance to bathe in clean water, again.
Matasoga sometimes wondered why he bothered to continued to paint his face each day. While it used to be to conceal his dragonic heritage, in a city of this size it seemed to make little difference. He used to tell himself that there was strategic value in hiding his blue skin beneath a mask of pain and keeping his tail obscured beneath his cape but in the end he had come to accept that by now it was more of a ritual that brought him comfort and set some order to his routine, much like the task of counting his coins each night.
He was just finishing the cross beneath his left eye when he heard Torzeh's voice and caught sight of her in the small mirror he was holding. He dropped the mirror he was using, as well as the cloth he used to spread the paint into his bag and stepped out into full view, picking up the pack which had been resting on the floor. With his other hand, he took up his spear which had been leaning against the pillar. He was quite near to the door already.
He slung the pack over his shoulder before turning to face the girls. "Alright. We probably won't be back for a while. Are both of you ready?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:32 am
Torzeh looked up at the sound of Matasoga's voice, and nodded. She checked that her dagger in her belt was in place, and slung her bow and her bag over her shoulders. She wasn't sure whether her weapons would be necessary, but didn't want to take any chances, all the same. She scuffed her foot slightly on the floor, looking down at it for a moment. Though she would rather have gone barefoot, this simply wasn't practical, so she had worn her boots. Everything else she had was in her bag, and she'd checked that all her medicine jars were properly closed and in their appropriate places the night before. As far as she could tell, she was ready.
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:52 am
She must have been early, the woman supposed. Had she not turned her attention back to the door after leaning up against the wall, she probably would have seen Matasoga peering around one of the pillars and known that they were just waiting for Torzeh. Nevertheless, though, it didn't take long before the girl had hurried her way into the room, once again bringing her attention towards the door. She couldn't yet see why he would want to bring a girl along for the trip, but she also hadn't witnessed the girl's healing abilities as he had.
Pushing off of the wall, Eliae approached the pair, giving the half-dragon another curt nod. "Unless I missed one of my possessions while packing, I'm as ready as either of you are," she replied. Almost instinctively, her hands went to check her pouches and pressed against her pack, which she held in her right hand. "Which I didn't. Whenever you're ready, Matasoga," she said, motioning towards the door with a sweep of her left hand as she swung the pack upon her shoulder before swinging it around and slipping her other arm through the appropriate strap. "After all, we wouldn't want someone to beat us to the mine, now, would we?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:21 am
Matasoga gave a slight nod and turned to the doors, closed the distance in a few steps and pushed open the doors. It was a calm, clear night that greeted them. Matasoga took a brief look around but saw no animated objects, nor other likely hostile forces and began to lead them towards the edge of town, lamenting once more his lack of transportation.
The weight of his pack was beginning to hinder him as well. The tent made to sleep four that he was carrying was of considerable weight, sure to slow him down a bit, thus further prolonging the journey. He needed a horse...They all needed horses, and not the slow, shambling undead horses that Matasoga had stabled but spry, living horses. They could be there and back again in the five days that he quoted earlier on unrealistically optimal conditions or on the backs of horses.
He turned his head over his shoulder and said to the girls "If both of you can afford it, I think that we ought to buy horses, in order to make better time. Can both of you afford at least a light horse?"
As he asked, he was already walking in the direction of breeder's stable.
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:51 pm
Eliae followed him out of the church, pausing as he did. Though she did want to see one of these 'animated' objects, she had even less of a desire to see one close enough to have to protect herself from it. Even as such, she knew that it would happen sooner or later; it was only a matter of when.
The woman sighed, looking down to her coinpurse as Matasoga inquired about their funds for a horse. She had plenty for the horse, she knew, but it wasn't the money she was concerned about. All she could do was hope that the horses didn't do too much in her presence to give her away, as the last thing that she desired was to have something foolish ruin any and all of her plans.
"I have enough to cover my horse and its supplies," she said reluctantly as she followed the half-dragon to the stables, "but that's about it. Any other expenses are going to have to wait."
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Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:29 pm
Matasoga had not yet seen her admit any shortcoming of any sort, no matter how trivial or circumstantial. He hadn't known her long but it was still enough to take him off his guard. Rather than say something biting like "Didn't your last lay have enough to at least allow you a horse and a night on the town?" he instead offered "Have you purchased food yet?"
As soon as he said it he wondered silently to himself Did I just imply that I would buy her food? He shook this aside. Did she mean enough for a horse, a saddle, a bit, 5 days feed, or enough for a horse and that was it? He then wondered if he had already suggested that she try getting some snowshoes to make swamp travel easier?
Matasoga but back a sigh. He knew she'd be trouble but he never thought it would be financial.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:39 am
Torzeh checked the amount of coins she had stashed in one of the many pouches inside her bag. Surely she had enough...but, then, she'd never had reason to buy a horse before, so how could she know? She looked up at Matasoga again. "I'm....fairly sure I can afford a horse." If she couldn't, then, really, what good was she at all? She couldn't fight for herself..but would others have to start paying for her, too? How long would she have a place here, if that happened..? She shook her head slightly to clear it of such thoughts, and told herself she had nothing to worry about. Fiddling with the strap of her bag, she followed Matasoga towards the stable.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:50 am
The woman couldn't help but to giggle a little at the half-dragon's slight note of concern, presumably over her monetary status. "My food's been taken care of already," she replied with a slight smirk. "One of the guards was... kind enough to offer to get me enough rations for the journey, thankfully."
Though she had plenty to get what they needed for the journey, that was a far cry from saying that she would be willing to spend much of it. Though she saw it unlikely, if she could get him to pay for some of this... The woman brushed the thought from her mind. No, she thought. If he was anything like his heritage, she knew that he would be quite stingy with what he would buy, and would most likely only listen to her less than he already will.
Slowly, the stables loomed ever closer. Though she didn't doubt that she could ride one, that still left her with the problem of their reaction to her presence. With any luck, though, at least one of them would have little or no reaction as she approached.
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Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:02 am
Matasoga and his company approached the stable, just outside of which a small counter had been erected but was unmanned. Matasoga approached it and when no one came he called "Service!"
"I'm comin' I'm comin" came a young womans's voice.
Footsteps came and soon a girl who couldn't have been much older than 15 appeared at the door. "What'll it be?" she asked.
Matasoga raised an eyebrow. "You keep these horses?" he asked.
"I'm the breeder's daughter. What of it," she asked tersely, leaning with an elbow on the counter.
Ignoring this, Matasoga pointed at a black stallion that he believed would bear his weight and said "I'll take that one," he said. Fit it with a saddle, saddle bags, and throw in 5 days worth of feed." he said, beginning to count out his gold.
Without looking up he said to the girls "Go ahead and place your orders."
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Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:32 am
Eliae's eyes were firmly on the horses as the small group approached the counter. Surely, she thought, at least a few of them could sense her. Her eyes moved over each of the horses, studying them a little more as Matasoga pointed out the horse that he had wanted. The woman couldn't help but to smile when she saw that none of the horses had reacted to her.
As she continued to look over the horses, she found her eyes drawn to a bay mare with a good, sturdy frame. She continued to watch the horse for a few moments, watching its movements. Bringing her eyes back to the girl that had stepped out of the building, she motioned toward the horse she had been eying. "I'll take her," Eliae said slowly, seeming to be most interested in that particular horse. "Same supplies as him," she added, nodding her head toward the half-dragon.
Reaching down to her waist, she pulled her coinpurse from her belt and proceeded to pull out some of the coins. Pausing for a moment, she looked back at the girl. "Would you mind bringing your father out, dear? I would like to speak with him of the horses, if he doesn't mind."
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