Histories of Allurand: The Keep of Kiirsahqoqeth

Stone Boar

Grabbing his tankard of mead and quaffing it in a heartbeat, Sigurd muttered "Another. Keep them coming:" as he slammed the now empty mug onto the bar and dropped a handful of silver coins onto the bar.

As introductions were made Sigurd spoke up "Thane Sigurd Magnusson of the Vald."

Impatiently, Sigurd added "Introductions are done. When does our planning commence?"

Stone Boar

While the others talked and discussed, Aya hummed to himself. He had finally found the right song for these grief stricken people. Weaving through the group he made his way up to the stage of the tavern where he sat down on a chair and took out his lyre. He passed his finger over the strings once or twice before setting to work, plucking and gliding across each in sequence, a soft and cheery melody.

Eventually the tune became more somber as the avian began to sing. He sang of a kingdom plagued by a dragon, who demanded the sacrifice of the princess lest the kingdom be burned, and how to keep the hope of her people high, and to save all of them, the princess nobly offered herself to the Dragon. The notes from the lyre become soft and pensive at this point in the song, with the avian continuing to sing, telling of how the planes went peaceful after the Princess entered the Dragon's lair, and how the next month passed without a single shred of dragon flame. Aya fell silent as the soft song continued, for several minutes, as if emulating the stillness and apprehension of the quiet.

Yet finally, the song picked up into a more joyful tone, as he began to sing again. He sang of the return of the princess, with a man on her arm with a fiery and passionate personality. Before the Princess's father, he kneels before him, introducing himself as the Dragon, heart soothed by the gentleness of the Princess, and asks for the King's blessing to marry.

The Stone Boar

"Yes, sir." The innkeeper collected the silver pieces and continued to serve Sigurd his ale, but the man seeming to cringe a little at Aya's ballad, where a dragon turned out to be a redeemed hero instead of a monstrous villain.

"Alright, let's see what we can find," the dwarf said as he led Cassian to the records that the builders' guild kept over the many years that Corneron had seen.

"Corneron Castle, Corneron walls...here!" The dwarf pulled out a sizable bound text that read in words written long ago "Fort Mons." "'Ere we go! This is everything the original builders were allowed to keep when they left Fort Mons and founded Corneron. I hope it helps. Now, you understand that you're renting that text per day, aye? We don't just hand out records to anyone who asks for free, miss beastie."

The Stone Boar

"Mmm... I apologize, that one was in a bit of poor taste." Aya said, noticing the innkeepers discomfort. "By all means I do not mean to woo this dragon. Its flesh will taste my blades, I assure you that. What the story tells, at least so I think... Is the strength of one. The strength of armies can fell nations, but the strength of one can fell evil. But I do acknowledge that perhaps that is the wrong one for the children. Perhaps a lighter one."

Aya began to play again, this time a different tale, whistling along with it. The song would seem to promote good feelings among its listeners, and they might even feel a bit of their physical fatigue being lifted and some wounds to cease their ache.

STONE BOAR

Hamish grinned proudly. "A cannon? Yep! It's a cannon. Forged it mesilf 'n the blood-socked battle feels! Ye am this beaut at anythin'-Draggin' Cassel, anythin-boom!" Hamish gave a yellow tooh smile.

"I tak it ye only been seein' such thin' in a seige? Right? Wel, I was fightin' against som bestards and I sees it; a cannon! In a cassel and I says to me 'Get that fockin' thin!" He chuckled, patting the cannon and leaning back in his seat. He turned to his new companion.

"you hear that silly wen? We gonna exercise a Draggin?"

Corneron, The Stone Boar

"Been in the business for a long while, so I can rightly say I know one end of a cannon from another. Served in an artillery team once." Bas took a sip of his ale, nursing the brew as carefully as he could. The peculiar emphasis on the word 'business', along with a few other noticeable tells, told Hamish that his new friend might have had some idea what he was talking about.

Bas shrugged again. "I can see a company forming up. I could be persuaded to take a crack at the dragon. Probably beat sewer patrols, anyway."

"I figured I could just rent it till we head out of town, right?" Cassian asked, putting a hand on the book. Her ears twitched, and she giggled again, a little more forcefully. "Fucking finally. Yeah, put me down for a few days rent, I'll return it before we have to leave."

Builders' Guild

"That'll be one gold piece a day, miss," the dwarf replied with a grin as he pulled out a little notebook and wrote something down. "Don't keep it too long. You've got some dragon-hunting to do, don't ya?"

The new owner seemed to relax a little at Aya's explanation, but the twisted idea of the dragon's triumph still looked like it hung over him as he quietly continued his mother's work.

edited 18th Jul '17 5:56:25 PM by Insano

"Awesome. Here's..." Cassian fished into her pockets, hooting a little bit, kind of giddy to finally get what she wanted. She flashed 3 coins. "Here's 3 days!" She paid, then turned and left with the book in hand, running across the town outright cackling and shrieking now.

Cassian opened the door to the inn, still cackling, book tucked under her arm. "I got intel, y'all!" She shot a little plume of smoke out of her mouth, then brought the book up to hold above her head. "Plans and receipts for the castle our target is built on. Who wants to crack this open with me?"

The Stone Boar.

Flexing his hands for a few moments before making them curl up into a fist, the beastkin glanced at the fox, raising an eyebrow. "...So do you just say fancy words to 'seal' things away, or do you actually use proper magic?" He remarked, cutting right to the point before glancing over at the Orca.

"...And you're looking a bit out of place. What would bring someone like you here?"

Newr shivered slightly at the song, the music being played...it wasn't awful, far from it...yet it seemed to be rubbing him up the wrong way...and the other beastkin suddenly bursting back into the inn, raising an eyebrow.

"...Let me grab some parchment and a quill, first. I'm taking down notes in case someone else is crazy enough to join us on this...'quest'."

Stone Boar Inn

"Well then, bard" Alva pointedly ignored Newr's biting remark and focused her gaze upon Aya. "how about you write a ballad of blood and battle, of a mighty dragon's fall and death from mere mortals' blows. Write how its carcass proved ever more beneficial than the beast itself, if only because dead bodies have no evil will of their own."

With that out of the way she addressed the returning hyena. "Ever useful. Thank you. The Wheel shall shine upon you." Alva nodded at Cassian, looking at the documents she was carrying. "You lot, 'tis probably good to pay attention now!"

Stone Boar Inn

Turning to Alva, Aya'netoe gave a confident smile. "I shall indeed compose such a tale... After we have slain the dragon, so that we may regale the people of this town after we have returned, and pass the story wherever I may travel. After all, reality is often just as great an inspiration for fantastical tales of heroism as imagination."

STONE BOAR

"Ye sarv wit' any particular company or did you jes' drift?" Hamish asked the fellow mercenary. He felt slightly better about the whole idea of engaging a dragon with a fellow soldier of fortune. Something about the connection between two men that made a living from battle just made him feel like this man was his brother in arms already.

"An' Fuzzy, don't be a cock." He chastised Newr.

Corneron, The Stone Boar

"Served with the Lonesome Moon for a decade. We were based in the wastes a week's ride south of here."

Now it looked to Bas that there was definitely an organized effort to storm the dragon's keep, especially seeing as more than a few were clamoring about the giggling beastkin. Now there was definitely a company. Though what knowledge Cassian would've gotten made him antsy.

edited 21st Jul '17 10:54:38 PM by KR_Vandal

STONE BOAR

"Ye serf at the battle of Hangman's bog?" Hamish inquired of his fellow mercenary, "As I recall, your band fought on the opposite side of mine." He didn't have a trace of malic or distrust in his voice. Sellswords understood that their friends could stab them in the back any moment and ot be on opposite sides of a battle? Well, that was part of the business.

edited 21st Jul '17 12:41:17 AM by TroyandHawk

The Stone Boar.

The beastkin tilted his head and rubbed his head where humans would normally have ears. He was getting ticked off, yes, but none of the features were starting to show. "...Now you're just making crap up or you've clearly had one too many drinks, old timer. Not fuzzy, not fluffy."

Of course, the other part of the comment made him roll his eyes and smirk. "No, you're right, I'll be one tomorrow, since I suppose I'll be loudly dragging your arses out of bed when morning rolls around. Just don't expect me to sound as pleasant as the bard over there."

edited 21st Jul '17 5:11:49 AM by TheRealWren

Corneron, The Stone Boar

Bas remembered Hangman's Bog. The nights trudging through the bubbling mire. The demented whispers of the godswood with the branches that raked against skin. The pests, the sickness.

"Yeah, I remember. Helluva place Freiholt chose to make his stand." Bas sipped his drink. "Lord Arunsun had three other companies in his van. Which one were you, the sun breaking the castle wall?"

"I may hev, but yer runnin' low on the shevilary." Hamish retorted to the beastkin, "an' please, when ye wake me, bes' be singing a good bawdy one."

Hamish turning back to his fellow mercenary, taking a sip. "It were us, Heckyll's Whoresons, The poxy brothers and one other, they started a fire under the cassel. Buried the dumshits alive. They was yer sun." Hamish said a chuckle.

"Gotta admit, dint e'en know the baron's name. We calls him Baron Shitstain, lord of coonts and he jizzed dead ants. False, I assum but funnier than hell." He said with a laugh. "I have to admit, ye fought good." It was a hellish fight, dreary and horrible yet he looked back on it with no grudge.

edited 22nd Jul '17 12:05:50 AM by TroyandHawk

Corneron, The Stone Boar

"I made sergeant a bit before, so we had to know the names." Bas' ale mug was running low. "That was us who also messed with your supply train in the early goings heading to the Bog. The Whoresons were right bastards, though I'm sorry your lot must've missed a big payoff when we got Freiholt's family out through the catacombs."

He snorted. "Hell, we coulda gotten him away too, but he wanted to make a stand with the rest of his household guard."

edited 23rd Jul '17 4:02:55 AM by KR_Vandal

STONE BOAR

"Well, Lor Arunsun wasn't too great. See, Their feud? Well, 'parently Aroonsoon spend all his coins on us fer the bog. So, we took yer castle, killed lord Shitstain of coonts and his hoosehold gard, and boom! Fecker's in the poorhoose!" Hamish shrugged, "heard he hanged during a Peasant Rebelling. How much did Lord Shitstain pay ye?" The Dwarf leaned back, it would be clear to the fellow bounty hunter that Hamish was thinking about the sort of pay one gets for the murder of a dragon.

"Alright, humie, dorf, lemme just clear some room for us and we can figure out what we've got." Cassian nodded to the two of them in turn and took a seat at an empty table, settling herself wide and cracking open the tome. The dwarf reminded her a bit of the Crest Knights's high-falutin' language, but unlike the Knights she wasn't paranoid enough to not have armor.

The book listed receipts for various tasks in building Fort Mons, and there were several that Cassian found interesting:

• tunnel staircases (below): 1 northwest, 1 southeast
• tower staircases (above): 1 southwest, 3 southeast, 2 “center” (1 north half, 1 south half), 1 northeast
• gates (direct): 1 southeast heading south, 1 northeast heading east

Stone Boar

Picking up his tankard, Sigurd sauntered over to those actually starting to come up with a plan to invade the Dragon's lair. Taking a swig from his mug as he attempted to read the book over Cassian's shoulder before musing over the fact that he was completely unfamiliar with the runes that the southerners used.

Raising his voice once again, Sigurd asked "I cannot read these runes, have you found anything useful?"

Stone Boar

Flammas pulled out a chair across from Cassie and settled into it, nursing his cup of wine. "Likewise, my upbringing didn't see much use for reading. And there's somehow no monsters anywhere near the town." He frowned in confusion. "Which not only leaves us with no chance to interrogate a captive where we're sure we won't be interrupted, it's just odd. What kind of siege force just up and leaves what they're sieging be?"

Stone Boar Inn

"The one so assured of their victory." Alva frowned, looking at the documents. Her education did in fact include reading, so she could at least give the receipts a glance to make some sense out of them. "And you're mistaken, gladiator. There will be no siege to speak of if the dragon gets its way. It will be a raiding party, and it will turn this city into ashes if its wicked master so wishes."

"Its hubris will be its undoing, but that is something all of us understand." She shook her head and gave the glance over at the tome. "Anyway, if I understand this correctly, there are two underground passages into the fort. 'tis fair to assume the dragon knows about them, but it's probably a better option than storming the front gate."

"Ah," Ryo responded to his sister, his tone a bit softer with a bit of happiness as he realized that his little sister recognized him after so long. "Sorry about that, Suzu."

And with the dog's retort, he stiffened up slightly, his more neutral tone returning. "Vardi only picks legitimate mages as his followers. I assure you, should we encounter any threats, I won't be muttering empty words." His attention turned once more to the fish girl. "As for you, he has a point. You're obviously a long way from home. What exactly are you hoping to find here?"