04.04a - "Hill Giant Aftermath"

A’postrofae began walking around in the wooded area looking for thorns. Blak limped off to collect Ludo. Seeing him, she started trotting back over, nuzzling his neck and chest. The bard checked her over quickly and gave her a loving pat once he was satisfied that she had escaped injury. "Take a look at how lucky you are," he playfully chided. Before mounting back up and rejoining the others by Leda, he leaned against the shaggy Roan and massaged hard at his legs, extremely grateful that the angled terrain took the brunt of the trees weight. "It could definitely have been worse. Seems I need to be more careful in these heroic endeavors." As he neared the others he spoke up. "I just want to say thank you, everyone, for coming to help when that tree fell."

"And thank you for that extra fighting boost, Blak.” Bismark said. “I managed to came out vithout a scratch because of it." he smirked towards Brynne. "Albeit a little wet"

Brynne rides up on pig and says, "Well, dammit, I shouldn't've stopped fer tha arrow shot. Poor ol' pig dinnae get his name again"

Blak looks surprised. "You mean, Warpig isn't its...er...his name?"

Brynne shook he rhead. "Nah. He hates tha name he had back home. Wants a new one, so he's pig until then"

"And to get a new name he has to survive a fight or somesuch?" Blak asked.

"Yah, tha's tha gist of it" she answered.

Blak looked interested. "Do you name him after that or does he just know?"

"I name him" she replied. "So. Guess tha' ring's a bunch o' bunk, then, eh?"

Blak looked at the ring of protection on his finger "Well, I didn't get all the way crushed by that tree?"

Brynne laughed. “True.”

"Were those...um...engorged Giants the only threat at present?" Blak asked, looking around

"S'far as I could see" Brynne said.

Bismark looked back to the pond."um... maybe not, but certainly the most pressing", squinting to try and see what was written on the sign across the pond.

Able mourned the loss of Ol' Stinky, and then walked over to examine the remaining Hill Giant corpse that didn't get sucked into the Pond of Rending Teeth, looking for signs of mutation or other Fields shenanigans. ''A'postrofae followed, and stuck her hand into the hill giant, pulling it out and drawing war paint on her face. ''

Bismark walked quickly over to Leda and asked "Did Orvuestra make it back safely?"

Leda, head on a swivel surveying the scene looks down at Bismark with a quick glance, "The girl rode past me at such a speed I was sure all the Hells were following behind." Leda turned her attention to Blak for a moment, making sure he was okay, seeing his pants leg in absolute tatters and blood soaked." Right then, Brynne appeared and started complaining about not enough blood and she blinks, listening to the description about naming traditions with warpigs. Shortly after, one of the guards arrived who had been with the pair and reported in. They had gone off only about 100 yards to do some arrow practice, all 4 went to retrieve some arrows, this being the "calmer" area of the Fields according to previous treks. They were going around the small pond when they were shocked to discover the two large mounds were slumbering Hill Giants, evidently spooning post coitus. They jumped up with such a rage that they had never witnessed up close. Hendren yelled for them to run and was then killed in a single blow.

Leda looked over to Apostraphe and Able near the corpse for the dead female and shouted. "Stay the FUCK away from the water!"

A'postrofae looked at Leda like she was an idiot. "We just saw a fucking giant tentacle drag a giant into their. Do you really think we are going to get close to it?"

The warpig whimpered a bit at Apostrofae passed by, face bloodied.

Able looked at the Hill Giant, noting that he’d seen bigger. The entire lower half of her body was lacerated, from running through and then falling dead in the thorny hell that was A'postrofae’s creation. She looked well fed but maybe greener in pallor than Able thought she should be, but he wasn’t completely sure. Afte rhe gave her a look over, Able got out of there, taking a long way around the pond. "Nothing too creepy on these ones. Maybe it's a light year for the Fields. Can I...uh...bum a ride pack to the caravan with someone? My horse got disintegrated." he said, pointing at the pile of ash with four hooves standing in it

Apostrofae waved him over and he hopped onto her horse. "Sorry kid, I have to be big spoon"

"big spoon?" she asked, "Are you going to eat the hill giant?"

Able shook his head. "I have to sit in the back. Spooning is...well, ask Brynne. It will make more sense coming from her"

"Oh", said Apostrofae, beginning to trot back to the wagon train. "I need to talk to Brynne anyway. She is going to lose control of pig if she keeps denying him."

"Don't want the pig to catch the wandering eye, that's for sure" Able added.

Leda dispatched the two surviving guards and the others that arrived to help respectfully carry Hendren's remains back to the camp where they begin to dig a grave, a few going to look for rocks in the very near vicinity for a cairn, returning with not nearly enough. They seemed upset that animals would soon dig up his remains. Leda approached Able, looking, incredibly frustrated at the events of the evening. As the sun dips below the horizon, she told him. "Rumor is you need a horse?"

Able straightened to attention. "Yes marm"

"Thank you for rushing to the aid of my guards.” she said. “You don't have to keep doing that, remember you're tasking with keeping your one charge alive. I'm sure Hendren would feel good knowing a warrior like yourself had his horse."

"Yes marm. Thank you, marm.” Able paused. “Uh, permission to speak freely, marm"

"Go ahead." she answered, as A'postrofae looked at Able with an amused look on her face.

"If I may be so bold, marm...burying a man this close to camp in the Fields may not be wise. I recommend a more complete option. A pyre would be best. If that's too much attention, then we could have the holy man lay a whammy on his remains, to prevent them from going walkabout. Barring that” he said clearing his throat “we should break his arms and legs to lessen his strength, should the worst come to pass" Bismark looks up at Able’s comment. "I was hoping we weren't deep enough to be worried about that but you're probably right. We'll guard the grave tonight and do a pyre first thing. Thank you for the recommendation."

Bismark interjected. "I could perform a funeral rite, but I vould need to find some more powdered silver amongst the caravan, as I've used all of my own. I'd not expected to need this much on the trip. lesson learned. But yes, Able's option is more permanent."

Leda looked to Bismark. "You can check with the armorer, he might have some for silvering weaponry, no one else declared any metal goods for sale beyond pots and pants that they'll sale on the road to the small townships. And Bismark” she said with a deep sigh. “I have  a bodyguard opening. Go, speak with the girl. I think she was fond of Hendren. Hell, everyone was, minus you"

Bismark nodded. "I was only upset at losing my charge, maam. He treated her well, and ultimately put himself between his charge and the danger. He had and has my respect." He nodded again in salute, and then walked off to find Orvuestra and his horse.

-

Blak overhearing the conversation comes over and asks the artist formerly known as Bismark, "If we start filing down silver coin, will that get you the silver you need?"

Bismark stopped momentarily to answer blak. "I don't know for sure, but think it would take a bit more than just filing down the coin. It needs to be a fine powder. Besides, Able had a more thorough suggestion. I will be going to speak with the armorer, however to see if he has any to spare." he then dismissed himself to go to Orvuestra’s wagon

Blak looked to Leda. "I mean, it's for the good of the caravan that the holy man be well equipped to deal with this sort of thing especially if more may come, right Leda?  I seem to recall a chest in the back of the caravan that was loaded with a lot of unregistered silver… Or I like to call wagon safety and transport tax." He bent a bit to massage his cramping leg and smiled.

Leda actually smiled at Blak's quip. "I plan on speaking with them over the next couple of days, maybe give their cart a real good once over. But like someone said. If you're transporting THAT much wealth. Would YOU declare it?"

"Honestly?  I'd have used some of it or at least some other bargains wealth like that can harbor to hire the best of the best of mercenaries to help guard and transport it. But, maybe they were moving it in a really big hurry for some reason and decided like that last merchant we passed up to just risk it."

Leda seemed to thoughtfully consider that for a moment then looked back at the train, settling down for the night. "I have a lot to do and need to get rest. We have a tough road ahead. Already more exciting than I was hoping. Remember. we'll be powering through the Fields as fast as we can over the next 6 days. Rest up."

As she left Able visibly relaxed. "That woman scares my bollocks off"

"I think she's kind of cool." Apostrofae said, walking by.

-

Bismark approached Orvuestra's wagon. "Orvuestra?" Bismark arrived at the young woman's wagon, head bowed as she holds an arrow in her hands, she is clearly grief stricken. Right as he steps up to her she utters a curse and snaps the arrow in two, throwing the pieces to the ground and buries her face in her hands, sobbing. Bismark walked up and put his hand on her shoulder "I'm sorry, Orvuestra."

She smacked his hand away. "Leave me alone!"

Bismark steps back, surprised. "when you are ready." he said, and stood nearby waiting. She sobbed in her hands for a few minutes, the guards and various other merchants giving her a wide berth. One guard even made her night fire just off to the side before nodding to Gustaf and moving on. Eventually she subsided and all that was left was the crackling fire and the sounds of her sniffs and rubbing her face with a kerchief. Bismark handed her a new kerchief. She accepted it after a moment and cleaned herself up. Then just stared at the fire.

"I killed Hendren" is all she said.

"What? no, no you didn't, Orvuestra" Bismark told her

She shook her head. "It was my idea to show him how good I was with a bow. It was my idea to go recover the arrows."

Bismark frowned. "Hendren knew what he was doing, and wouldn't have gone looking, had he not thought it was safe. None of you could have known that those giants would have been there."

"Do you have anything to drink?" she asked

A head popped up over the side of the wagon, and apostrofae said "I do!"

Seemingly unaffected by her sudden arrival, Orvuestra nodded and looked around for a cup. Apostrofae stood there waiting waiting like she had nothing better to do, eventually handing her the bottle of bathroom cleaner liquor from Baldur’s Gate. Orvuestra took a long pull and immediately starts coughing while trying to hand it back. "Hells, this stuff is disgusting!"

"I know. It works though." Apostrofae said. Want some Gooooostof?"

Bismark pulls out this own bottle and pulls the cork, then takes a swig and sets it down for a second reaching into his pack for his waterskin.

Apostrofae shrugged and started to walk away. "Bye Goooooooostoff." Orvuestra waved.

Bismark handed Orvuestra the water skin. "Here, might get that taste out of your mouth"

Orvuestra gladly accepted the water. "Sorry, I yelled at you Gustaf"

"That's alright. It's been a right day" he told her.

"I dont' like this. I wanted an adventure and my aunt said travel would be good for me. I didn't want to see anyone die. I want to go home.” Orvuestra said.

Bismark looked at her as the fire sent light flickering around her camp. "Well your aunt was right in that it is good for you to see what much of the world is like. There is much danger in our world, as I'm sure you've learned. Your aunt believes that you are strong enough and wise enough to make good decisions along your journey - knowing when you can and should stand your ground and when you should get out of there as fast as your horse will carry you. As I see it you did some of both today. You got some great shots in on that monster!" Bismark reached down, picking up the broken arrow. Then pulling the lodestones ot of his pouch andproceeded to mend the arrow back together. He held it out to her. "You're a strong girl. don't let what happened today break you."

She looked, wide eyed, at the arrow and then at Bismark, "What . . . how, Gustaf?" Bismark just smiled.