The Town of Inaba (Episode 1 - Closed)

[Hunter Sopko]

His brows furrow a bit as she stares, but his eyes stay level and steady, keeping their appraising look. "Is something bothering you, Lady Aaeiko?"

[May]

Akeha watches Lee close the gap, starting to laugh softly and a bit sloppily as things get quite close. She settles back towards her corner of the table, leaning on it and glancing at Tora. "Is she usually this... direct? Bold? Not sure how to describe it..." in accented Rivertongue.

[Carthrat]

Lee speaks with intensity, winding between a whisper and a voice.

"Bother? No, no, I am not bothered. Cruelty and greed bother me, and this is not that so I cannot be bothered. But, well, what a to-do, how might I unravel you, knotted doll that's tightly wound? What thread should I pull to see what's beneath? Have you an unsettled score? A quest to abhor? A yearning for a place? A tale to tell? A desire for admiration? A bond sought and chased? A opus to display? An idea to plant or a people to promise? The possibles stack up, ready to collapse on the certain and one day I will see and know, so why not today?"

[Hunter Sopko]

"Aha." Vol eases back into a smile, his gaze returning to the same "Now I see it. It makes sense that one such as yourself would not understand those who are unsung. Is a contentment in operating in the background and offering my support such a confusing issue? Even those on the main stage rely on those in the rafters, if I understand theater correctly..."

[Carthrat]

"Certainly," replies Lee, thoughtfully, as she reclines back to her sitting position. "We all have many roles to play, in and out a production. Ah, but it is not really the means I am interested in, but the end- or the change, if you will. We are agents of change, after all, set to Creation to reshape it. Lady Hakuhi, I feel, I understand to some degree, but..."

She raises a palm to her mouth in shock. "Oh, no! You must think me very rude."

[Excal]

Rishi/Khun

The man will guide the pair of you into one of the least damage huts, and quickly show you to another in the garb of the crane, his arm messily bandaged with apparently whatever cloth could be found. The wounds do not take an expert the assess: the man clearly got the worst of a mauling on it. Some sort of beast. The man offers a pained grin. "Reinforcements? Were we not trusted to get the job done?"

"We were just discussing what best to do. We need to to report back to Tetsuzuru-san as soon as possible." The uninjured man shakes his head, remaining in Foresttongue once he knows the newcomer speaks it. "Things are bad here, as you no doubt saw. We lost Rin in a skirmish before we even made it. Aki and Shou are in the bodies out there. Sho and I were going to try and make our way back to Inaba and report ahead of them, provided he didn't just drop dead."

So much for that hope, Khun thinks as he looks at the crushed arm.  "Of course you were trusted," he says tersely as he thinks on what he has, fortunately, farmers occasionally get themselves mauled with their plows or their animals, and so most of what he needs is on hand already.  Dried, sorted, and properly stored.  "But things changed after you left.  Your Lady Akeha found out things were worse here than she expected, and why.  So, if she needs scouts, she'll send you back out properly warned and equipped for the freaks shambling about."

As he speaks, he reaches into his satchel and pulls out prepared bandages, as well as two small pots, three twists of paper, a small bowl and a waterskin.  He pours the contents of the paper into the bowl, then carefully unstoppers the pots, taking a few pinches of what is in each and adding them to the bowl.  Then, he mixes them together, slowly adding in water until they worm a pungent brown paste.  This he smears onto one side of the bandages.

"Now, sit back and be still.  This is bad, but survivable bad, and this'll help it heal faster and better," he says as he prepares to change the bandaging and put his new ones on.

[Hunter Sopko]

Vol gives a polite laugh at the implication, taking the opportunity to sip his drink again. "Not at all, Lady Aaeiko. Indeed we are agents of change. Lady Hakuhi seeks to improve this town, but to accomplish that, you could say I am her agent of change for her bureaucracy."

[AndrewRogue]

Lee/Vol/Akeha

Tora smiles, moving between languages with ease. His tongue is quite skilled. "Our people thrive on drama, Lady Akeha. It is why she leaves most of the tedium of our journey to one such as myself, not so naturally inclined towards high adventure." He looks at her once more and offers, with a somewhat hushed tone, "Though perhaps the drink here is a bit strong."

[May]

"Truly," Akeha agrees, blinking a little at the use of her personal name, even in Riverspeak. "You hardly seem at all ill-suited to adventure, though. Perhaps just a bit less... mercurial so far," she admits, pursing her lips.

"Vol, you truly are far too subdued," Akeha admonishes lightly, returning to her accented butmore conventional Forest-tongue. "Even such a skittish creature as myself from a reserved society as Suizasho could see the plain invitation," she sniffs, grinning. "Take ownership! Declare yourself the harbinger of efficiency! The consul of discipline!" she prods, riaisng an eyebrow and taking another sip of wine, her cheeks flushed with its effect. "If there was anyone you should expose yourself too, it is Lady Aaeiko, forwith!" she points at him imperiously, all of this far more than usually spilled out of the white haired spear princess. "I have already laid you bare to her!"

[Hunter Sopko]

"Have you now, Lady Hakuhi?" he casts a sideways glance to her, vastly amused as he looks back to Lee. "It is a great trial to maintain my title as Consul of Discipline under such circumstances." he quips, deadpan as you please as he sips his drink again.

[AndrewRogue]

Rishi/Khun

Sho, the injured man, nods and braces himself for what is going to be quite uncomfortable. "Shouldn't have lost the sake, Ren," he says, attempting good humor before it bleeds out of him.

Ren looks more concerned. "What has happened in Inaba?"

((OOC: Intelligence + Medicine, Stunt 1. Looking for 2 successes for an awesome treatment. The arm is pretty bad and has not been kept well. Luckily you are no ordinary doctor.))

[Carthrat]

"Alas, Lady Hakuhi, some things are difficult to force. It is like trying to catch a slippery fish with your hands; the harder you thrust into the water, the further it ends up splashing away," laments Lee, shielding her mouth with her sleeve.

[Magetastica]

As Khun prepares to treat the horribly injured man, Rishi pulls the other warrior to the side a little to give Khun some room. "A considerable group of refugees from up river arrived, though they are friendly and intend to work earnestly for their keep. They came and met with Lady Akeha already, and warned us of what was going on. Master Khun here was with them, and without his help we would not have been able to arrive when we did." He attempts to give a comforting smile. "Everything is fine in Inaba itself, however. They're even holding a party! We just decided that you shouldn't miss out on it, y'know?"

There are a few seconds of uncomfortable silence before he speaks up again.

"Sorry, not good with these kinds of situations. I promise Inaba is still secure, though."

[Excal]

Khun pulls a flask out of his satchel and says, "drink this," before getting to work on cleaning the wound.  The whiskey should help keep the pain at bay while he worked.  "Listen to the kid.  Inaba's fine, and ain't nothin I've heard of about to change that unless it's coming from inland."

<Tarubot> 1,0Snackoo_Detective_Excal rolled :1,0 9#d10 --> 1,0[ 1d10=9 ]1,0{9}, 1,0[ 1d10=4 ]1,0{4}, 1,0[ 1d10=6 ]1,0{6}, 1,0[ 1d10=5 ]1,0{5}, 1,0[ 1d10=9 ]1,0{9}, 1,0[ 1d10=2 ]1,0{2}, 1,0[ 1d10=8 ]1,0{8}, 1,0[ 1d10=8 ]1,0{8}, 1,0[ 1d10=5 ]1,0{5}
<Snackoo_Detective_Excal> Wait, stunt 1
<Snackoo_Detective_Excal> roll 2#d10
<Tarubot> 1,0Snackoo_Detective_Excal rolled :1,0 2#d10 --> 1,0[ 1d10=5 ]1,0{5}, 1,0[ 1d10=7 ]1,0{7}

5 successes

He works quickly and competently, tightly binding the new bandages and making sure there is no trace of infection to hamper the healing process.  With the skill put in, it should even have not hurt too badly.

"Now then, I can't take the pair of you out of here, but, if Rishi's willing to escort the two of you out of here and back to the river, what I can do is, in the morning, go to where your friend fell and return her to Inaba for a proper burial."

[May]

Akeha groans in frustration, leaning on the corner of the table. "He's too important to not bring to these things, but he would fit in with a regular Suizasho social atmosphere way better than me," she hmphs.

Akeha eyes Lee a moment, shaking her head. "For all his coy modesty, he is certainly difficult to force," she agrees, covering her mouth with one long and ornate sleeve to stifle a wine induced moment of sleepiness. "It is oddly comfortable, though, to not be worried about my... condition with a group of people," she smiles a little. "It's been the source of great duress thinking about my family."

[Hunter Sopko]

Vol chuckles. "Or you're just not using enough force. Blood from a stone requires much more pressure, ladies."

[Carthrat]

"Alas, stone crumbles, rather than bleeds," replies Lee, shaking her head. "And who would seek to ruin such an ornate figurine?"

She yawns, rather suddenly, and has sufficient grace left to her that she can look ashamed. "I fear the night has caught up with me," she admits. "'tis time to retire, lest I yawn and stretch during my morning address."

[Hunter Sopko]

"Just so." Vol replies, smiling contently as whatever point he was attempting to make has, apparently, been made

[May]

Akeha laughs warmly, struggling to her feet. "...I should see you out, but I think I'm... overindulged a bit," she admits, abashed. "I haven't had good reason to drink for months..."

[Carthrat]

Lee shakes her head with another yawn, whilst unsubtly nudging Tora beneath the table with her foot.

[AndrewRogue]

Rishi/Khun

Sho does indeed make it without too much pain. He was certainly braced for much more than your expert hand delivered.

"We can follow him, yes. It is important we inform Tetsuzuru-san of the situation." Ren shakes his head. "I would recommend against you staying behind though. You may be a sorcerer, but the things out here are bad. More of those things could show up. Or worse."

[Magetastica]

Rishi walks over to an unused table and pulls out his map of the area, which includes the area surrounding Inaba as well. "We'll try to go swiftly, but safely." He starts pointing out the path he took to get here four years ago, when he was last in Bajun. "We'll take these routes and I know of quite a few excellent hiding spots should anything start chasing us or show up along our path. Master Khun, please head back as quickly as you can and inform Lady Akeha of our route, and see if you can get a few reinforcements from her in a worst-case scenario. We'll take some time to rest up here, and head out when we're fully ready. We'll also try to collect the personal possessions of the fallen along the way so we can give them proper burial rites."

He rolls up his map again as he finishes speaking. "Also, please let Lady Akeha know that I will be requesting an urgent meeting with her when next we meet. If you feel up for returning to help out, that is entirely your decision, but I feel that getting the information to her as swiftly as possible is the best thing we can do right now." Rishi stops and looks at each person in the room, allowing his next words to weigh on each of them before he continues his preparations. "If anybody has any suggestions or such, please speak them now."

[AndrewRogue]

Lee/Vol/Akeha

"Please, Lady Hakuhi, do not trouble yourself. You have already shown us great kindness." Tora stands and bows, gesturing for her to relax. "I am sure we will speak and dine again, at which point you can repair this grave breaking of decorum by showing us out twice." He extends a hand to help his mother up as he also offers a bow towards Vol. "I believe this is the warmest reception we have received since leaving home. I hope things may continue so well long into the future."

Rishi/Khun

Sho shakes his head. "Don't need rest anymore, need to get going. Not like my arm is gonna get much better just sitting around." He cringes, but a stiff drink and the expert medical work have done their job.

Ren clears his throat. "Yeah, I got a suggestion. Be careful around the mists. Those things cut. The people here said it was one of their goddesses protecting them, and the survivors followed them, but I certainly wasn't going to risk following bloody mist before we reported back." He snorts.

[Excal]

Khun frowns, "Don't worry, I'm not staying here.  If you know where the two in the city you lost are, and feel good getting them, then get them.  Otherwise, get out and back to the port as fast as possible.  The mist is associated with the San, but I can't be sure this one is hers.  Of course, at least one of the Nine is pissed like hell at mortals right now, so she may not think too highly of foreign scouts on her land.  As for the first of your number that fell, I already grabbed her personal effects in case we couldn't get back to her.  But, if I'm able to travel alone, I can and will take her body back to Inaba so she can be buried.  I can do this quicker, and faster, than you three can, and I can carry her without hampering my ability to defend myself."  Khun's tone is grim, his face suggests he's not keen to debate this point.

He then begins moving himself, and briskly pulls out two bandoliers filled with approximately ten flasks and holds them out to Rishi.  "This is what's left of my potion.  Each one'll give you a bit of protection against Wyld taint for a day.  Stay safe, and see you in Inaba."

[Magetastica]

Rishi nods as each of the three speaks their mind, then takes the bandoleers from Khun and puts them on. "Thank you. With these, I have a feeling we'll be able to make it out okay." He hands a flask to each of them and briefly mentions to just "chug the contents like you would hard liquor." "I have a feeling I don't need to say it, but please stay safe yourself."

After Khun finishes his final few tasks and departs, Rishi turns to the two warriors in the room, taking out and stringing his bow. Seeing them here, like this, makes me feel like I've gone back in time. I won't see a repeat of that day. "I know you both said that you want to get moving, and I won't stop you. But I do intend to recover the bodies of your friends out there. You're honorable warriors and don't deserve to be left in an abandoned town. Come with me for as far as you're comfortable, but please don't feel the need to see me all the way there if it's still dangerous." He finishes with his bow and pulls out his katana, inspecting every last nick it has endured in its long tenure at his side. "We leave when you're ready, or when you've given me directions to where to go."