ElSe – 1×04 – Southwards (End)

Due to PB rushing off to work I had no real chance to finish of the last session appropriately. I then decided to try to write off the end here, which will mean that I will act as I think your characters would act in these situations. I will therefore add some effects and decide the outcome of things you might have had a chance to alter. I will do this from a couple of different viewpoints too so you get an insight from some of the SLPs, which also will give you a hint of what to come. I will first give a brief summary of what just recently happened so people who read this might understand a little.

Summary
A party, travelling in a wagon drawn by two horses, has just recently been attacked by a party of mages that one of the body guards in this company has enraged. Fortunately they managed to fight them off and they’ve just recently escaped leaving two wounded. One is a human boy named William who has gotten a bolt from a crossbow in his shoulder and the other one is the South Brizzt Eldtofs who got a bolt in her right arm. A dwarf named Jay in the party, one of the body guards, have tried to take care of the boy’s wound with his doctor skills but failed to stop the internal bleeding caused by the bolt. He is reluctant to try to use healing when he doesn’t want to expose himself as a healer in front of their employers.

Then a strange thing happened, the world became purple and everything started to work strange. Every object moved slower and even animals and plants seemed to be slow, moving almost as if they were covered in jelly. This was explained, by Kristian – one of the body guards – to be a strange phenomenon called Time Bubble, which is a side effect of a catastrophe caused by a Tyniker long ago.

William’s sister, Serena, have just recently been taken into the wagon by her servant, Sture, to rest after the traumatic events that have recently taken place around her. And just before this they’ve heard screams for help inside the forest. Two have decided to follow, Eldtofs and Adam – Serena and William’s guard, the sound of the screaming while Jay and Kristian stayed behind.

Eldtofs and Adam then found a vortex spinning in the air, shifting in all the colours of the rainbow, between a couple of trees. Suddenly a gloved hand appear in the middle of the vortex together with a scream from a wounded man. Adam draws his sword in fear while Eldtofs grab the hand and pull the rest of it through the vortex. And down on the earth a severly wounded man falls out.

Southwards – The End
Jay was standing on the coach box looking at the backs of his friend and Adam. He took a relived breath and turned against the boy but suddenly he froze. Kristian was still standing only a few meters from the wagon looking straight at him with keen eyes and a faint smile on his face. A stern but determined smile. Jay shrugged slightly, the man gave him the shivers and he didn’t like people that took for granted they were in charge. He brought up a smile of his own.

“Aren’t you going to follow them,” he asked, jumping down from the coach box walking towards his pipe that was hung in midair in front of the horses. He tried to walk nonchalantly without even a glance at the boy, but it was hard. I should follow HoS on this one, I really should. Why care about that boy, he is only a noble boy. Even in his thoughts he couldn’t even sound convincing to himself. He couldn’t just see someone die just because of his fear for being persecuted by the Guild. Damn! I’m not even from this country! If this were Meno I would be treated like a hero for healing him instead of being thrown into jail for ruining their business! However, he was in Lanticka and now he just had to abide by their laws and stay careful. So how would he be able to heal that boy without Kristian noticing?

“I’m not going to follow them,” Kristian answered, “because I want to se what you plan to do with that boy. I know what you are, dwarf,” he said with a smirk on his face. Jay’s smile faded and he got all cold inside. How could he know? Kristian suddenly burst into laugh. He had tricked him! “Go ahead and heal him dwarf, just remember that I am the one who is in charge and I know what you are now, so don’t you even think about ignoring me anymore.” Kristian turned his back and started to walk into the forest. Jay just stood there, all red in the face, and followed him with his eyes until he disappeared into the forest towards the others.

***

“Where am I?” the man asked weakly as Eldtofs helped him to lean against a tree. The man’s former armour was torn to shreds and he had at least two dozen different open wounds on his body beneath it. All pain from wounds seemed to have completely disappeared within the Time Bubble, but the man still seemed to be in great pain. He lay the sword down beside himself and leaned back his head to the tree, taking deep breaths. Adam had still his sword drawn but he seemed confused over the whole situation. The whirlpool of light had collapsed in itself and only leaving the man Eldtofs had dragged out of the thing.

“You are in a forest in Lanticka,” she answered. They all looked at Kristian as he approached from the road, the purple shade of the world made it hard to see longer than a couple of meters before it went completely dark. Kristan stopped when he saw the man, his eyes narrowing in the usual manner. “Who are you?!” he demanded, taking to determined steps towards him with a stern look on his face. He really was quick in changing his posture.

The man looked up towards Kristian, his eyes meeting Kristians and his face growing hard in an instance. They looked at each other for about a second, then the man’s face softened and he looked down at his sword. Somehow he seemed… humble. He carefully grabbed his sword and used it to stand up and then he bowed slightly towards Kristan, or maybe all of them.

“My name is Fhelthorn the Young, born Sir Fredrik of Isheim named Fhelthorn after slaying the ferocious mountain beast on the Mountain Fhelthorn, fifth rank of the Monster Hunter’s Guild’s Inner Circle.” He stood up straight after his long presentation, his blond hair framing his young beautiful unscarred face. Eldtofs couldn’t determine how old he was, he was older than Serena and William by far but still a lot younger than Kristian and Adam. Usually humans were pretty easy to determine their age, except for their women that always looked about three to four years younger than they usually were. Eldtofs felt awkwardness in the situation and looked at the other two. Adam and Kristian stood there with a strange expression on their faces. Adam looked like he didn’t believe his eyes, and blinking all the time while Kristian stood there with widened eyes licking his lips nervously and with an almost respectful posture. Was this man important? He must be another one of these nobles considering his long presentation.

The man, Fhelthorn, had obviously noticed their expressions and smiled friendly.
“I see that you recognize me, which is good. I was afraid for a moment that I’ve been thrown to another world again,” he took his wide sword and put it back into it’s sheath he had on his back. “Please, do not stare at me so! I am one of you, a friend amongst friends. I might have been a noble so many years ago, but I am a man of the people, not a controller from the Guild or politician.” He smiled again and almost bowed to them again. His face seemed so full of joy and happiness that it was hard to notice his severely wounded body that was filled with gashes as well as hundreds of old scars. Strange that his face is free from scars when his body is full of them, Eldtofs thought.

“Let me show you to our wagon, Lord Fhelthorn.” Kristian said with a smile on his face, a devious smile. Eldtofs had already started to dislike this man. He seemed more like an immoral worm than a man of honour. In Meno the Hireswords wasn’t all just trying to earn their profit, most of them tried to withhold as much honour as possible. But of course there were scum like Kristian in Meno too, some of them were even worse than him.
“Do you have a healer in your party?” he suddenly asked which made Kristian to stumble. “We have a doctor,” he said looking over his shoulder towards Fhelthorn.

“Ahh, but a doctor won’t do. I will be dead within minutes if my wounds aren’t treated before the bubble burst. A doctor might be able to patch me up but I still think that the shock from time rushing against me will kill me,” he said and laughed joyfully. Laughed at the fact that he might die! This man was crazy if he laughed at his own death, crazy or just plain stupid. Obviously Kristian thought something similar because he looked really confused at Fhelthorn as they continued to walk towards the road.

“Who was it that dragged me through the vortex?” Fhelthorn suddenly asked looking at Adam and Eldtofs with a curiously. Adam blushed like a young boy when he looked at him but nodded towards Eldtofs. Eldtofs smiled towards Fhelthorn, she liked him already. “Yes it was me, eh uhum… Lord Fhelthorn?” she said carefully. Fhelthorn laughed at her making her blush, though nobody would notice it. “Please, my friend brizzt, call me Fhelt. All my friends call me that and that was what my comrades in the Monsters Hunter’s Guild call me.” He slowed down a little to join up beside her. “It’s seldom one see a Menarian brizzt in Lanticka, what’s the occasion? Whatever it is, I am damned lucky you saved me from that dragon!” He said patting her on the shoulder.

“Hehe, but maybe it was fate? Even so, I will reward all of you if I survive. I have a vault in the Grandeur, and as soon as I can get access to it you will all be rewarded, that is if I survive,” once again he laughed joyfully as they came out onto the road. Sture was sitting on the coach box together with Jay and William where nowhere to be seen. Jay was obviously trying to smoke his pipe again, but with no luck. Sture looked at them as they emerged out from the forest and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw the man, he obviously recognized him.

***

This couldn’t be true. The man walking with the body guards and Adam couldn’t be the man Sture had seen as a boy, it just was impossible! Yet he walked there with a huge smile on his face, the same boyish smile he had had when he walked into Sture’s village for shelter after a fending of a pack of Frosttrolls in the early winter, full of wounds and still walking as if not even the cold could bring him down. And he was not a day older since then either. The man was walking as if his wound’s didn’t touch him the least with his arm around the brizzt’s shoulder talking joyfully to the other two that looked as they just had seen a ghost from a fairy tale. And indeed they were, if this was the same man as Sture knew it was.

“Servant! This man needs change of clothes!” Kristian suddenly shouted to him. Anger filled Sture. He wanted to kill the man, but he was a decent man, he wouldn’t kill him. But he would dream of it until it was true. The only reason you are here is because the Miss Serena wants you here, he thought bitterly. The man had hurt his protégé and no good servant would let that be easily dismissed. And not only had he dragged her out of the wagon as a doll of his, he had hit him in the face without a proper explanation and then he had attacked Miss Serena with a knife. A knife! Kristian smiled and looked to the dwarf instead, he had probably noticed his eyes.

“Jay, get this man some new clothes. I am sure you can find some clothes in one on the trunks on the roof,” Kristian smiled when he saw Sture’s face. Sture rose carefully from the bench and walked calmly to the back of the wagon. He brought forth some of Adam’s common clothes and as he was standing on the ladder he saw the lot speaking in front of the wagon. Didn’t they know that Miss Serena and Young William were sleeping, how rude of them! When he got back on the ground he drew a deep breath and calmed himself before he walked to the men gathering in front of the wagon. He wasn’t sure if the brizzt was a male or female, he couldn’t really distinguish any features. Sometimes it looked like a Woman but on second glance it could as well be a man, not that he cared. He didn’t like animal races, they were so filthy!

“I can take ‘hose,” the dwarf muttered, he never spoke clearly and he stunk of both alcohol and sweat. He could be thought some manners, even so he somehow had seemed the most house-trained of the two. Sture gave the clothes to the dwarf then turned towards the others. “Good evening, Traveller,” he said and bowed slightly to the man with a hand on his chest, his heart was speeding up. It cannot be him! He looked into the young face and his blue eyes that somehow reminded him of Miss Serena. To his surprise the wounded man returned his bowing with an equal bowing, which perplexed Sture though he didn’t show it.

“Good evening, servant Sture?” he said questionary tone. This man was being polite, to him! Could he really be the hero from his childhood? He nodded acceptingly to his inquiry and then stood silent awaiting presententation. This came from Adam, that almost sounded like William. “This is Fhelthorn,” he said, “Eldtofs rescued him from a dragon… somehow,” he must have sensed that his sentence didn’t make any sense because he looked confused himself. Eldtofs stood straight for a change with a proud posture even though the brizzt also looked a bit confused. They continued to talk, but Sture didn’t hear a thing. He just stood there, paralyzed. This was Fhelthorn, a dead hero from half a century ago? He just stood there, looking at him not even aware of when he fainted.

So, this is the final part that I actually missed. I would have maybe played a few minutes more or just skipped the rest. This story though is based mainly on the thoughts and inner workings of the charaters so I didn’t put in so much action, only re-action =) to this man. Next time he will have been healed while Adam were carrying away Sture to the wagon, healed, patched and with the Common Clothes he got from Jay. More descriptions will most likely be made the next session when I think we will skip ahead to morning. After the bubble had burst and you’ve reached the resting place and slept.

One last thing is that I want opinions from Ankan, especially on what you think about my way of describing they way Eldtofs thinks, notice things and reacts to the situation.

Best regards,
Herid Fel