|
Post by Nilaya on Dec 1, 2008 21:41:08 GMT -6
"For now I think we should just get out of the city, away from the city. You're right, he's not safe here. We can question him about it once we're safer and maybe we can figure something out then. I do know what the king looks like, but I think Korin supposedly inherited his looks from his mother, or so word goes.... we'll worry about it later though."
She turned to Lagritz. She took a breath and reminded herself to slow her speech down. "We want to talk more, but we should get away from the city so you are safer. We don't want something bad happening to you." There were several questions going through her mind right now, really random ones. One of the most random was, I wonder if he even realizes I'm female. They hardly mattered though so she was ignoring them for the time being. Focus on what's important now. Worry about other stuff later.
|
|
Lagritz
Untrained
Urgal Spellcaster
The truths of this world are both wonderful and terrible.
Posts: 29
|
Post by Lagritz on Dec 1, 2008 22:13:45 GMT -6
Lagritz gestured his agreement, but then realized that they may not have understood his gesture so he said, "Understood." It had been foolish and lazy for him to have rested so close to where so many people traveled anyway. Lagritz turned towards the forest that was not far behind him and said, "Follow."
As soon as Lagritz reached the tree line, he remembered why he had avoided the forest in the first place. All around the perimeter were thick patches of burs. He hated getting burs stuck in his corse leg-hair. However, he did not want to look weak in front of his new acquaintances, so he trudged on through.
When he finished carving a trail to the other side, he looked down at his legs. They were completely matted with burs. Lagritz concentrated for a moment then said, "Remove tangle," in the ancient language. All of the burs instantly untangled themselves from his legs and fell to the ground, saving him the trouble of having to do the task by hand. He wondered if the humans would want his help with their burs as well. "Need help?"
|
|
|
Post by Nilaya on Dec 2, 2008 13:11:31 GMT -6
Nilaya gave a quick glance back to Berl and said, "He want's us to follow him." Then she turned and persued the urgal. When she reached the forest she noticed what might have been an obvious reason for how close Lagritz had been to Teirm. The edge of the forest was thick with patches of burs, which was proably as annoying to remove from his legs as it was for humans to try and remove them from their clothes.
Lagritz persisted with traveling into the forest, and once he reached the edge he spoke another language, but it wasn't the urgal language. Nilaya could recognize them as words in the ancient language, the language of magic. She didn't know what they meant or did, but the burs fell off his legs. Is he another spellcaster? It seemed plausible.
He turned and asked if they needed help with their burs and Nilaya nodded, saying, "Yes" when she realized he might not understand the human gesture. She then continued though. "Lagritz are you a.... spellcaster? a magic user?" Would he know what she was asking? She wasn't entirely sure.
|
|
Lagritz
Untrained
Urgal Spellcaster
The truths of this world are both wonderful and terrible.
Posts: 29
|
Post by Lagritz on Dec 2, 2008 17:29:22 GMT -6
"Yes," was all Lagritz said in reply to the inquiry. Then he directed his attention to the burs on her legs, "Remove tangle." They all fell off, the same as his.
Perhaps these people would be kind enough to escort him to a place that was less hostile. They seemed hardy enough to make such a journey. He was going to ask them, but he hardly knew them yet so he held his tongue.
"You too? Burs?" he said, pointing to the one called Berl. Kindness seemed to be a trait that humans greatly appreciated, but only occasionally possessed. Maybe if he was kind, they would be more likely to help him later.
|
|
|
Post by Berl on Dec 3, 2008 9:24:43 GMT -6
It took a second, but Berl was able to guess what he was saying, though he wasn't sure if Lagritz was saying "You too? Burrs?" or "You too? Berl?" but each one amounted to the same thing. "Sure," said Berl. It was a surprise to him, finding an urgal spellcaster. He'd heard stories about them, but he'd put the stories down as fear mongering, since according to these tales, urgal spellcasters lived to sacrifice human young on black altars to call forth eldritch magic. To be honest, Berl had doubted that urgals were able to concentrate enough to use magic, but here one was. He still doubted the sacrificing human young for black magic story, though.
He hoped he didn't seem standoffish, but the urgal clearly didn't understand him and, most of the time, he didn't understand the urgal. So he let Nilaya do the talking.
|
|
|
Post by Nilaya on Dec 4, 2008 11:35:20 GMT -6
Nilaya was going to translate what Lagritz had said for Berl, but apparently he understood well enough to get the gist of the question. He agreed and Lagritz removed the burrs from him as well, as he had also done for Nilaya. She hadn't really needed his answer to her question to know that he was an urgal spellcaster, but his confirmation was useful all the same.
She pushed back a few strands of her short-cropped hair. She kept it at the length she did because traveling and long hair didn't go so well together. "So, we know Lagritz witnessed the kidnapping of a male and that Prince Korin is supposedly kidnapped. Also that Lagritz followed the kidnappers here. I'm thinking Lord Anundr knows more than he's letting on, we suspected him of being a rat anyways. The question is what do we do with this knowledge? Is there anything we can do?" She spoke the words slowly so both Berl and Lagritz would understand her.
She started thinking. Lagritz wasn't safe in Teirm and she and Berl wouldn't be able to do much against Lord Anundr's guards. Possibly their best bet was to travel on, to get Lagritz somewhere safer, and see what plays out from this whole thing. Besides, why get themselves caught up in a mess they weren't currently part of?
|
|
Lagritz
Untrained
Urgal Spellcaster
The truths of this world are both wonderful and terrible.
Posts: 29
|
Post by Lagritz on Dec 4, 2008 14:47:14 GMT -6
Could it be true? Was the person he saw being kidnapped really the human prince? No, a prince would have been bigger, stronger, more capable of defending himself. Although he had to admit, humans were not the most logical people, so maybe that really was their prince.
"I followed him to punish the cowardly kidnappers, but was unable to follow them into the city. We probably can't do much to help him ourselves, but maybe we could inform someone who can? Do you know of anyone with enough influence to do something about this?" Lagritz still did not want to see the lowlifes escape unpunished.
|
|
|
Post by Berl on Dec 4, 2008 15:19:54 GMT -6
As Nilaya translated, Berl found himself understanding Largitz a little better. He could almost begin to hear words through the heavy accent. But something was bugging him. If it was indeed Korin that had been kidnapped, where had his guards been? There were three possible explanations for this:
1: From what little Berl knew of Korin, he knew him to be very arrogant. In his over-confidence, Korin may have gone out riding or something without guards. However, his guards would have been trained to know that he was like this, and probably would have known that he was leaving and followed at a distance, so this didn't seem very likely to Berl.
2: The guards had been bribed to stay away. This seemed most likely to Berl, since the guards were probably not paid very decently, and also, as said before, Korin was a hard person to like. However, this was a problem, since that meant the kidnappers had money, and when kidnappers had money, it usually meant they'd hired mercenaries with other money. That, and they were well-supplied. If this was the case, getting Korin back would be difficult. And considering this, who knows? It may very well have been the Varden. But Berl doubted it.
3: The last possibility that Berl could think of was that the guards had been ordered to stay away. But that would mean that Korin had been kidnapped by someone with rank. Someone like Lord Anundr. The thought jumped in his head, but it almost made him laugh. The very prospect of it seemed impossible to Berl. He was almost completely certain, except for a small spot in the furthest reaches of his mind, that Lord Anundr was not behind this.
He voiced these possibilities to Nilaya, though he kept the absurd idea that Lord Anundr was behind it to himself.
|
|
Lagritz
Untrained
Urgal Spellcaster
The truths of this world are both wonderful and terrible.
Posts: 29
|
Post by Lagritz on Dec 6, 2008 18:52:33 GMT -6
Lagritz tried to listen to what Berl was saying to Nilaya, but he still did not know the language well enough to comprehend everything. His mind quickly began to wander as he thought about what sort of history these two might have. Then, his attention quickly snapped back to reality when he heard the faint sound of leaves being rustled.
His body tensed as he immediately looked towards the source of the sound. Then he relaxed. It was only a squirrel jumping through the underbrush, looking for its food. Lagritz realized that he would have to make a conscious effort to loosen up a bit, lest he kill himself from being overly stressed. He turned his attention back to the conversing humans.
|
|
|
Post by Nilaya on Dec 6, 2008 19:06:23 GMT -6
Nilaya went about translating, or repeating, everything Berl had said for Lagritz. It was a slow process, but she wanted him to be on the same page as them. She noticed something though, sort of the way he mentioned it could have been someone paying for it. She was thinking it could be Lord Anundr, or that he knew something they didn't. He still seemed like a rat to her.
So what it seemed they'd figured out was over confident as Korin was he wouldn't have been riding without guards, but she made the point to suggest that he could have tried to ditch the guards if he didn't like having them. Ditching them would have been made easier by bribing them to stay away, to let him lose them. That or they'd been ordered to stay away, though the order couldn't have come from Korin himself. The order to watch him would have been his father's and the Prince didn't have the authority to overturn an order from the king.
"I think we're best off just trying to stay out of it. I don't know anyone with enough authority who I don't suspect knows more about this situation than he's letting on and I wouldn't go to Lord Anundr anyways," she said. "They're trying to start a fight and I don't see a way to stop it with the help of any member of the royal family."
|
|
Lagritz
Untrained
Urgal Spellcaster
The truths of this world are both wonderful and terrible.
Posts: 29
|
Post by Lagritz on Dec 6, 2008 21:42:43 GMT -6
As much as he hated to give up, Lagritz knew that it was hopeless. They could not pursue Korin (if it was Korin) into Teirm. Not on their own at the very least. "Ageed," Lagritz said in response to Nilaya's remark.
Then a thought occurred to him and he decided to inquire about it. "Please correct me if I am wrong. I am not very well educated in the intricacies of human social structure, but aren't you humans governed by more than one ruling family?" If he was right, then perhaps the other ruling family would be willing to help them. Although he still didn't know how they could ask for it.
|
|
|
Post by Berl on Dec 8, 2008 15:15:18 GMT -6
(ooc: we can just assume that Nilaya translates anything berl and lagritz say, right?) Berl frowned. "Yes, but what good does that do? Are you saying another noble family is behind this?" It would make sense. Berl's mother was often called away to resolve disputes between the royal families, and he found it easy to assume that, without the Riders, such disputes turned violent.
"But I disagree. If Korin's been kidnapped, and the king dies, this country could fall into chaos, and however bad the king is, he's not as bad as no ruler at all. Because that would send these so-called 'noble' families warring with each other for the throne. Heck, it would even set the king's relatives warring with each other. We need to do something."
|
|
|
Post by Nilaya on Dec 8, 2008 23:14:07 GMT -6
((OOC: Yeah. I don't want to type it all out and I get sick of having to say that I do that.))
"I think he want us to go to the king of Surda and try to get him to convince King Radimir that Korin is not within his country. I know there's also the elves and the dwarves, but they don't get involved unless it's really serious. I think the Surdan king would know if the leader of the Varden had brought Korin over the border though." Maybe she was being too optimistic, but they couldn't go to anyone else.
"I agree though, if Radimir gets killed with Korin gone things go into chaos.... or...." She paused and trailed off. And we already thought Anundr was a rat. This proves it. "With Radimir gone and Korin missing the rule would go to Anundr because Korin doesn't have a sibling old enough to rule that I've heard of. Anundr is Radimir's brother, the next in line aside from Korin." Anundr had to have Korin. He wanted the throne badly enough to get his older brother killed by kidnapping his nephew, framing the Varden, and starting a war. It made sense.
|
|
Lagritz
Untrained
Urgal Spellcaster
The truths of this world are both wonderful and terrible.
Posts: 29
|
Post by Lagritz on Dec 9, 2008 0:27:37 GMT -6
Lagritz was getting a little befuddled by all of this talk about how human royalty worked. It seemed too complicated for what it was worth. They should just pick the most competent leader, regardless of birth like his people did.
However, it seemed they were on to something. Apparently the person their group thought was behind the kidnapping would become the new ruler in the prince's absence. If he would do something as cowardly as that, there is no way he should be allowed to become king. "We must do something about this," Lagritz said matter-of-factly. "We can not allow this to happen."
|
|
|
Post by Berl on Dec 9, 2008 8:19:51 GMT -6
It seemed he'd gotten everyone active again. Sure, he didn't think to highly of Korin from what he'd heard about him, but this was a serious situation. There was no time for personal opinions to get in the way.
"So, what's our first move?" he asked. "Off to Surda? And how can we make the king over there believe us?" He scratched his chin.
|
|