Birthright: Promises to Keep, Chapter 2

[ewancummins]

The Seekers
Outside the Mine Devils’ lair

Hob looks down at the girl and then up at Cormac.
“Boss?”

Sevett kneels and checks the girl’s pulse.
“She’s alive. But I think she’s hurt bad.”

Ned and Gatt wait for instructions, while keeping eyes out on the surrounding country. The light drops off further as evening sinks towards sundown.

Reese murmurs calming words to the horses and the mule.




The Rescue Party
In the Garden of Darkling Delights

After a short rest, Gunnar-Giant rises. He looks down at Devlin and Safana and asks,
“We smash?”


The Kitchen
House of the Masters

The Masters have left the two Halflings alone for now.
But every couple of minutes, one of them comes by and bangs on the door.
One of the Masters shoves the door open an inch and calls through the crack,
''We grow terribly hungry, Ugo. Hasten thyself, slave! Or else you'll be added to our dinner!"

[Adam]

Cormac looks down at the girl, troubled. "We ain't killin' kids," he mutters, dropping down to a knee and checking on the girl's wounds.

[Varrus the Ethical]

SEEKERS

Roald grunts. "That would be a waste. We should get her patched up enough to move. Those things may come to investigate, and I'd like a chance to ask your patient some questions."

[kintire]

Safana nods. "We need to be as quick as we can. They could be..." She pauses and gulps. "Well... bad things could be happening!"

[alhoon]

KITCHEN

Ugo stood silent as the Master slammed the door. It took a couple of seconds for him to decide. A couple of seconds he was growing increasingly pale.
Then suddenly he broke into activity, acting as fast as possible. Without a word, he threw the keys to Filbert in the cage. While Filbert was fumbling with the lock, Ugo threw some foodstuff to the ground near the table and biting a towel hit the back of his head on the table's corner. Dizzy he pricked his finger with a sharp knife and spread some blood over the hair of his back his head, as if he has been stricken hard.
Moving closer to Filbert, he pricked his own neck so that a drop of blood would appear. "Thee broke out as I was about to cut thy throat, overpowered and kidnapped me" he whispered.
"Hold this to my neck. And let's go. Please. It's too late for me to cook thee in time now. My only hope to avoid the pot is Deke Duvlin. Pray to every deity thee know that we find him outside before the Masters find us. They know the garden well. "

Ugo looked at the boiling soup. Would that be his fate now? Would he die the same way so many have died in this kitchen?
What a terrible fate, to slave in this kitchen for years, to never feel the touch of a woman, the companionship of a friend or even own a pet that doesn't end in the cooking pot, only for it to end with him killed because of a delay.
How the Gods would allow such injustice? Sure, he has killed people but did he ever had a choice? He spared this Halfling hoping that his powerful friend will save him and found himself just a step from the cooking pot for his kindness.

Ugo fought back his mounting fear and bitterness before it paralyzed him. Perhaps the world would show a little bit of kindness and save him. Perhaps the Masters would believe he was overpowered and be unable to replace him. Or perhaps Deke Dulvin will stop them, as his assistants magicks could perhaps allow them to navigate the labyrinth.

[ewancummins]

THE SEEKERS-

Cormac looks down at the girl, troubled. "We ain't killin' kids," he mutters, dropping down to a knee and checking on the girl's wounds.

SEEKERS

Roald grunts. "That would be a waste. We should get her patched up enough to move. Those things may come to investigate, and I'd like a chance to ask your patient some questions."

Sevett assists Cormac, following instructions.

The girl's breathing sounds weak and raspy.
She does not respond to Cormac's voice or touch.
Rolling her over, he sees her eyes remain shut.
Cormac finds some scabbed-over cuts on her back, and small yellow-purple bruises on her arms and legs. Apart from those red lines and some blisters on her feet, she doesn't show any obvious injuries, hardly any fresh bleeding.





Hob picks up the cloth the girl had held over her face as she ran out from the tunnel and holds it up. Evening sunlight shines through a couple of thin spots in the threadbare fabric.
"I guess it was better protection than nothing."

[ewancummins]

RESCUE PARTY

Safana nods. "We need to be as quick as we can. They could be..." She pauses and gulps. "Well... bad things could be happening!"

''Smash!"
The Gunnar-child kicks in the nearest door with a big, green foot.

Two figures appear beyond the splintered wreck of the door. One, a tall woman in an antique gown and domino mask, hurls a hammer at Gunnar's knee. The tool bounces off as if it had hit a brick wall. The other, a gaunt man holding a saw and a board, drops what he carries and rushes forward to attack.

Devlin, blade at the ready, steps in to protect Gunnar and Safana.

The gaunt man dodges past Devlin's rapier and lunges for Gunnar.

The lady who threw the hammer screams and falls on Devlin like a madwoman, clawing and biting. Her foul breath nauseates Devlin, who gags and reels back from her advance. He gives ground, leaping back, drawing the "Lady" out from the protection of the doorway and onto open ground.


Gunnar screams at the ghoulish gentleman attacking him,
''Waaaah! Bad man! Go away!"
The child-giant swats the man against the building and then punches him in the face, full force. The man's skull explodes, leaving a trail of stinking slime dripping from Gunnar's knuckles.
A thin crack spreads across the gore-splattered wall.

[VAN]

The kitchen

Filbert gets the keys and immediately tries the lock.

"Thank you! I will never forget your kindness and if we manage to get out of here alive I will try to get you back to your home or whereever you prefer."

[Adam]

"Looks like she's received ill treatment," he mutters, "Maybe the knockers were keepin' her as a slave."

He reaches in a pouch and pulls out a brightly red berry, opening the child's mouth and helping her to chew it up and swallow.

[Varrus the Ethical]

SEEKERS

Roald leans over to get a better look at the girl.

"Or a hostage," he says. "Revenge against their former masters, perhaps?"

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Crosspost!

[ewancummins]

SEEKERS
Roald takes a closer look at the injured girl.
She shows a mixture of human and elfin features.

Foerde steps closer, looks down, and says, ''She's not my ward. Gaele is a human, the same as you men."

Cormac slow-feeds the girl the berry, crushing juice onto her tongue, careful not to choke her. She opens her eyes wide, coughs, rolls upright.

In a small, weak voice, she says, "Are you come for to fetch me home?"
She speaks the common tongue of Anuire with in a nasal accent (a mode of speech most of the seekers recognize from their past interactions with the western Tuor border-folk, during months of chasing rumors and false trails all over this end of the duchy and the neighboring wilderness).

[ewancummins]

The kitchen

Filbert gets the keys and immediately tries the lock.

"Thank you! I will never forget your kindness and if we manage to get out of here alive I will try to get you back to your home or whereever you prefer."

The key turns with a thin, metallic screech. The lock opens. Filbert shoves the cage's iron-barred door open and steps out onto the kitchen's stone floor.

The Halflings both hear a sudden clamor, which seems to come from someplace beyond the closed kitchen door: sounds of splintering wood, heavy thudding noises, indistinct shouting and screaming.

[Varrus the Ethical]

SEEKERS

"Oh."

Roald glances at Foerde, then back to the girl.

"We just stumbled upon you, but we can see you safely home, once we know where home is." Roald looks up in the direction of the cave. "Is she well enough to move, Cormac?"

[ewancummins]

SEEKERS

"Oh."

Roald glances at Foerde, then back to the girl.

"We just stumbled upon you, but we can see you safely home, once we know where home is." Roald looks up in the direction of the cave. "Is she well enough to move, Cormac?"

Roald sees that the knocker lair's entrance has collapsed, choked shut with dirt and rubble. A simple inspection suggests it could be dug out again, but not without a couple of hours' hard labor and the use of spades or picks.


The girl stands upright with Cormac's help.
"My home is..."
She looks west, to where the sun has now dropped almost all the way down behind the high mountains.
"I'm lost! But I know I'm supposed to walk away from the sinking sun."



Foerde pulls his hood up, and steps away from the rest of the party, setting his back to the sunset and the mountains.
He points southeast and away from the high mountains, across a low region of woods and heaths silvered with frost and snow, towards a dim range of purple hills at the limits of the visible country.
"My home isn't far to the southeast. We could reach it before midnight if we kept moving. It may be the girl will recognize some landmarks along the way, although it will be dark very soon. Haelyn's stars have left the sky and the moon's knife-thin."

He turns back to look from Cormac to Roald, and Roald to Renault. Now he wears a scarf pulled over the lower part of his face; along with the hood and in the weak evening light, his bestial features can hardly be seen.


Hob mutters something about the Eve of the Dead.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

SEEKERS

Renn has to turn away from the little half-breed to hide his scowl. "That's a good jaunt away from our destination. A pity."

He then turns towards her, a pleasant smile now on his face. "My lady, can you tell us how you came to be captured?"