A Wilderness Journey from Ravok to Syliras (Solo)

by **Jeremiah Maccabee** on September 3rd, 2012, 8:17 pm

A Wilderness Journey from Ravok to Syliras (Solo)
1st of Fall 512 AV
Northern Wildlands

MODERATOR :

MAP :

OOC :

“Straight. Queen high.” The short, wiry man across from Mac displayed his cards with a grin on his face. He had lost more than he had won this night and had bid this pot up in what Mac guessed was a last-ditch attempt to recoup his loses.

“Crap,” the fat man said. He tossed his cards on to the table. “Two pair.”

The other two – whom Mac had privately nick-named “Scar Face” and “Beard Man” – had already folded. Mac was a lousy gambler and, true to form, had been losing more than winning this evening. But this time he had the winning hand and a big enough pot to pull him out of the hole. He laid down his seven-high flush.

“Read 'em and weep, gentlemen,” he said, unable to resist a broad grin as he reached out to scoop in his winnings. A calloused hand grabbed his wrist and held it in an iron grip.

“I don't think so,” Wiry Man said. “I think you been cheatin' us an' I'm callin' you out fer it.” He let go of Mac's wrist and pulled his hand away holding an ace of clubs. “Oh my. Look what fell out of your shirt sleeve.” Mac had a feeling that an otherwise pleasant evening was about to turn decidedly unpleasant.

“Not my card, friend,” he said. “And I don't appreciate being set up like that.”

The man's fist came across the table so fast it didn't register in Mac's consciousness until it had connected with his jaw. He tumbled over backward, chair crashing to one side. Scar Face and Beard Man were on their feet and turned grim-faced on Mac. Fat Man didn't move, apparently having decided to sit this one out.

Mac scrambled to his feet just in time to meet Scar Face's fist, which glanced off his forehead. Mac was not a brawler, preferring to avoid trouble when he could. But he was a big man and strong, so when his unskilled left swing hit Scar Face's face, it knocked the man off his feet and on to the table, which promptly collapsed under him. Beard Man came at him low and punched him in the stomach. Mac doubled over with a “woof” as he got the wind knocked out of him. By this time Wiry Man had gotten around the remains of the table and hit Mac's right cheek bone, which hurt a lot. Beard man had backed up to give Wiry Man room, which he took advantage of to throw a right upper cut. It never connected.

Although Mac had not noticed, a large blue man had been sitting alone at another table watching the card game with interest. He moved fast and intercepted Wiry Man's upper cut with one hand on the wrist. He twisted it and the man cried out in pain. Scar Face had found his feet and came at the blue giant.

“You want to stay light on your feet in a fight,” he said to Mac as he danced to one side to let Scar Face charge harmlessly past him. The man's momentum carried him into Mac's fist. He went down and didn't get back up. “Keep both hands chest-high and close in,” the blue man continued. “When your opponent comes at you, don't back away. Jab him instead.” He used Beard Man's face to demonstrate with a quick right jab. Beard Man stopped dead in his tracks, a surprised look on his face. Blue Man followed up with two more fast jabs, which made Beard Man stumble backward a few paces.

Wiry Man took a round-house swing at Blue Man, which delivered only a glancing blow as Blue Man let his head and upper body turn with the blow. Then he crouched and delivered a blow to Wiry Man's abdomen. “When you hit 'em, put as much of your body into it as you can. That's where the power is.” Mac could see that this was true because Wiry Man folded in half and dropped to the floor.

Beard Man decided to take advantage of Blue Man's temporary distraction with Wiry Man, and charged at Mac. Mac took the blue giant's advice and stood his ground. Fists at chest height he met the man with a jab to the head. Beard Man stopped. Mac delivered two more quick hits to the face, producing a spurt of blood from the man's nose. He was feeling pretty good about the fight now, impressed with how effective those quick little jabs could be. Beard man roared and came in swinging. Mac was vaguely aware that Blue Man was just standing there watching. Mac blocked a punch, discovering another advantage to having his fists at chest height and in close. He ducked under the second swing and put his whole body into a punch to the man's stomach. The man backed up with an “oof!” Then he sat down on the floor. “Enough,” he gasped.

Mac looked around at the carnage. Two men down, a third sitting on the floor with blood pouring out of his nose. A shattered table. Oddly, Fat Man was still sitting in his chair. “Best gather up your winnings and get out of here before the Ebonstryfe show up,” he said. Mac grabbed what he could from the wreckage of the table and made for the exit. He had gotten a short distance down the street when Blue Man caught up with him.

“Mr. Maccabee. I'd like to talk with you if I may,” he said. “I have a job for you.”

by **Jeremiah Maccabee** on September 3rd, 2012, 9:04 pm

OOC :

“Let me see if I have this straight,” Mac said after another swallow of his ale. They were the only patrons left in a hole-in-a-wall tavern. From the way he kept looking their way, Mac was pretty sure the barkeep wished they'd leave too so we could close up. “You have three slave girls that you purchased here in Ravok and you want to get them to Syliras where you will catch a ship to Riverfall. And you want me to guide you through the wilderness from here to Syliras.”

“That sums it up pretty well,” Soryn said. “I'm told you charge 3 gold mizas per day and that the trip should take about forty days.”

“Plus expenses,” Mac added.

Soryn hesitated before answering. “Agreed. You'll purchase the supplies for us?”

“Yes. And horses. Mountain ponies. 50 gold each.” The Akalak raised his eyebrows at this. Mac explained. “Your slave girls aren't going to survive the trip on foot. So we'll ride. It'll also cut our time down to thirty or so. You can sell the ponies in Syliras and get most of your money back.”

Again Soryn seemed to weigh this before responding. “Agreed.”

“And one more thing,” Mac said.

“What's that?”

“My fee will be 4 gold per day, not 3.”

“Why?”

“I'm sure you can handle pretty much anything that comes our way out there,” Mac said. “But the slave girls are a different story. Trying to keep them alive in the wilderness isn't going to be easy. It introduces an extra risk.”

The Akalak thought about this and said, “Three and a half.”

Now it was Mac's turn to think. “No. Four gold per day. Or find someone else.”

The Akalak frowned but relented. “When can we leave?”

“I'll need a day to purchase supplies. Day after tomorrow, I'll meet you at the Southern Trading Post. Get there as early in the morning as you can.”

The Akalak gave him 300 gold for horses and supplies, along with 40 gold as partial payment for Mac's fee with the rest due when they reached Syliras.

by **Jeremiah Maccabee** on September 5th, 2012, 2:46 am

OOC :

The next morning found Mac in Rill's tiny apartment. Mac had a problem. He didn't now the route from Ravok to Syliras. The smaller man listened patiently to his story, occasionally scratching at the arm tied tightly to his body in a sling. He had broken it and it was not yet fully healed.

“So that's the situation,” Mac said. “I need to know how to get there.”

“Why not just back out of the deal?”

“I need the money.”

“Ah. I see.” Rill scratched some more at his arm. “I know of two routes to Syliras. I'm going to describe the longer one to you because it's easier to follow than the other one.

“How much longer?”

“Two, maybe three days.”

“I'm good with that.”

“Horseback?”

“Yep.”

For the next hour Rill described as best he could the landmarks and approximate distances. Mac stopped him a few times for clarifications but for the most part did his best to absorb the precious information. In the end he had a list of landmarks. He played them back in summary.

“From the Southern Trading Post, follow the road along the western side of the lake about one day's journey to a ford across a small river. Follow the river west into the hills, through an ancient spruce forest to a large, shallow lake created by a massive beaver dam. It's a good place for fishing and hunting. Continue following the river to its headwaters near a pass between two peaks often shrouded in clouds. On the other side of the pass are two days' travel through a vast marsh. Beyond this is the Everstone Forest. Find a great rock that looks like mountain lion. Half a day south of it is the Jade Pool, a good place to rest for a few days if needed or to seek shelter from inclement weather.

“Leaving Everstone, head south through a seemingly endless forest of cedar giants, passing a great waterfall a hundred meters high and a heart-shaped lake and a great ravine that must be crossed on a massive log. Two or three days south of this is Filrian Bog, as unpleasant a place as you are likely to pass through.

“From Filrian's Bog turn west again and continue to what's left of the Kabrin Road. The forest has mostly taken it over but it is still reasonably passable. Follow it south to Syliras.”

by **Jeremiah Maccabee** on September 5th, 2012, 2:48 am

OOC :

Mac and Rill spent another hour making a list of supplies and equipment Mac would need to pick up for the journey:

Mac spent the rest of the day visiting various merchants around town purchasing the needed items. He made the trip across to lake to the Southern Trading Post and purchased four horses and tackle for his party. He had his own horse for himself.

by **Jeremiah Maccabee** on September 5th, 2012, 2:50 am

OOC :

Soryn and his slaves arrived just after sunrise. They looked young, maybe fifteen years old. They were small and frail-looking with pale skin and white hair. Mac had seen Konti before but he didn't know much about them. Their hands were tied in front of them. They did not look happy. Mac had already saddled the ponies and loaded them with supplies and gear. Soryn lifted each of them on to their respective mounts easily, as though they weighed almost nothing. He mounted his own horse with a relaxed ease that showed him to be an experienced horseman. Mac mounted Shin'ta and took the lead. Soryn was next. He had strung the women's horses together so he could lead them. They hung on to their saddle pommels tightly, clearly not used to riding. Mac stopped and looked back at them. Each woman each wore a long, black wool clock with a hood covering her head. “Ladies,” he yelled. “Just relax and let your horse do all the work. All you have to do is not fall off.”

The fiver riders followed an old rutted wagon road single file for several bells as it wound its way along the southwestern shore of the lake. Around mid-day they stopped to eat and rest the horses. Soryn plucked each woman off her horse and deposited her at the shore of the lake. He untied their hands so they could relieve themselves in the nearby bushes and wash themselves in the cool water. They were clearly property in Soryn's mind but he treated them gently, seeing that their basic needs were met.

When they were ready to move on, Soryn made each girl bend over so he could pull up her cloak and skirt to reveal bare bottoms red with bruising and forming the beginnings of welts. He retrieved some kind of ointment from his saddle back and gently applied it to each of them. Then he put them on their horses, leaving their hands untied, and mounted his own horse.

“Guess you've done this before,” Mac commented.

“Yep,” Soryn said. “It's what I do.”

“They're going to Riverfall?”

“Yep.”

“What awaits them there?”

“They will be treated well. They are highly prized among my people. Their main task will be to bear Akalak sons.”

“I'm afraid I don't know much about the Konti or the Akalak,” Mac said.

“The Konti are an all-female race,” Soryn explained. “The Akalak are an all-male race. When an Akalak and a Konti mate, she will produce either an Akalak son or a Konti daughter. A son will be raised to be a warrior. A daughter will be raised to bear more Akalak sons.”

_________________________

Mac called a halt as Syna dropped behind the mountains to the west.

“You,” he pointed to one of the girls. “What's you name?”

“Ar'kel,” she replied.

“Ar'kel, I'd like you to collect kindling. You're looking for pencil-thin branches. The best kindling comes from dead branches that are still attached to the tree. I need about two arms full.”

“And you?” He looked at the second Konti.

“Missil.”

“Missil, I want you to collect larger branches. Again, the best are dead branches still on the tree, but dry branches on the ground are okay too.”

“And you?” He said to the third woman.

“Sishel.”

“Sishel, I want you to scrap a fire circle right here,” he pointed. “About a meter across and maybe two inches deep. Line the perimeter with stones.”

“Soryn, it's obvious you know your way around horses. Your job is to feed and water them and brush them down for the night. Shin'ta doesn't need to be tethered, but tether the others. I don't want them running off in the night.”

Soryn took in Mac's orders to the various members of the party. He looked a bit peeved, but didn't object.

“What about you?” he asked Mac.

“I'm gonna get us a fire going.”

It was dark by the time they had finished eating their traveller's stock soup. The girls cleaned up the cooking and eating utensils, and then bathed in the shallow water near the shoreline. Soryn had tied their hands again. Mac asked him about this.

“The Konti are excellent swimmers,” he said. “They have gills that allow them to breath underwater. If you look closely you'll see scales on most of their body and slightly webbed fingers and toes. They are creatures of Laviku. I tied their hands to discourage them from trying to escape by swimming away.”

Mac said, “But you leave them untied the rest of the time.”

“Yeah, I don't like keeping them tied up all the time. They know they wouldn't survive long out here in the wilderness, so I figure they're not likely to run away. Once we're away from the lake I won't have to tie them at all.”

Mac sat on the beach watching the women bath, their spiraled scales shimmering in the moonlight. They laughed and splashed each other. Then they noticed that Mac was watching them and became subdued. Mac decided they were embarrassed so he returned to the fire.

Soryn and his women slept in Mac's big four-person tent, with Soryn lying in front of the door. He had untied their wrists. Mac retired to his one-person tent. He didn't sleep well, but then he never did for the first few days on the trail.

by **Jeremiah Maccabee** on September 5th, 2012, 2:51 am

OOC :

The next morning they came to a river bringing water from the western hills to the lake. They forded and turned on to a faint, steep trail that paralleled the river. The climbed for several bells, the ponies proving their sure-footed reputation. Mac let Shin'ta pick her own way through the underbrush and roots and loose rocks. He looked back to see how the others were doing. Soryn was at ease but the three Konti were finding it tough going. They leaned forward over the pommel to compensate for the steep uphill angle. Mac called a halt and walked back to the slaves.

“Mountain ponies are really good with this kind of terrain,” he said. “Trust them and they'll get us where we're going.” Missil and Sishel were sweating and looked tired. Ar'kel seemed to be holding up better. “Try not to lean forward so much,” Mac said. “Let yourself sit back in the saddle and just go with the ride. The ponies will take care of you.”

By late afternoon the terrain had leveled off and they found themselves riding through a deep, still forest of spruces. They were big trees, some four meters in diameter at the base. Mac couldn't tell how tall they were because their trunks disappeared in the dense canopy above them. Not much sun got through here, creating an eternal twilight. The forest floor around the widely spaced giants was covered with leafy green bushes and shrubs. It was a silent forest. Only an occasional bird song or a scolding from a squirrel safely ensconced in a tree for out of their reach. Only the river proved to be a constant source of sound. They made camp.

They came to a break in the forest the next afternoon. The river they had been following ended abruptly at a massive beaver dam, behind which lay a large, shallow lake. Grasses, cattails, huckleberries and other plants formed islands here and there all over the lake. Mac guessed they could wade all the way across if they wanted to. They rode around the lake to the opposite shore where they picked up the river again. It continued west. Mac called a halt and they made camp on the western shore of the beaver-built lake. Again he set everyone to work.

by **Jeremiah Maccabee** on September 5th, 2012, 2:52 am

OOC :

Mac took his woodsman's axe and walked into the trees where he soon found a tree that had fallen many years before. He chopped away at the decomposing wood and was rewarded with two grubs. He continued hacking away at it until he had a dozen or so grubs. Returning to camp, he dug his fishing gear out of a saddlebag and walked along the lake shore for a while. He found a shady spot where two short trees leaned out over the water, putting it in shadow. The water was deeper here than in some places. He settled himself between two tree roots protruding out from the bank.

He pierced one of the grubs with a fishing hood and dropped the line into the water. Then he waited. And waited. And waited some more. He pulled the line up and discovered that the grub was gone. Either it had wiggled off or a fish has managed to take it without hooking itself. He speared another grub and dropped the line into the water. Almost immediately he felt something pull on the line. He yanked hard. The hook flew past his left ear and embedded itself in the tree root. Sans grub. Over the next half bell he lost two more grubs the same way. The fish appeared to be biting but he wasn't hooking them.

He hooked another grub and dropped the line into the water. A few minutes when by and then he felt a tug on the line. Instead of jerking it hard, he tugged back. Gently but firmly. Something tugged hard on the line. He began pulling the line in hand-over-hand. A ten-inch trout broke the surface. Mac pulled it out of the water and swung it over on to the ground. Then he picked up a good sized rock and smashed it's head. It stopped flopping about. It was a beauty! At least it looked like a beauty to Mac.

He caught four more similarly sized trout over the next two bells and returned to camp triumphantly displaying his catch. This met with considerable enthusiasm since everyone was getting tired of the traveller's stock soup. That night they feasted on fried fillet of fish.

by **Jeremiah Maccabee** on September 5th, 2012, 2:54 am

OOC :

Three days later they entered the Everstone Forest. The swamp had been challenging. There was no hint of a trail. Nor did Mac find any trail blazes on trees. So he kept an eye on the sun to ensure that they kept moving west. He was relieved when they left the damp, smelly place behind. It was full of flies and mesquites, both of which bit, and always smelled like rotten eggs. The Everstone Forest couldn't have been more of a contrast.

There were trees, of course, but they didn't form a forest so much as a collection of randomly placed copses popping up here and there among the rock formations. The formations were huge – fifty-foot stalagmites jutting up out of the earth like clusters of teeth belonging to a monstrous stone giant. They couldn't really be stalagmites, of course, because stalagmites formed from mineralized water dripping from the ceiling of a cave. Unless these had been formed in underground caves and later thrust up to the surface. A Valterrian artifact perhaps. Whatever their genesis, they were unlike anything Mac had ever seen before.

There was no trail so they simply headed more-or-less in a westerly direction, meandering around the copses, both tree and stone. It was a rugged, twisted land, once again give the mountain ponies a chance to show off their talent. Mac let Shin'ta pick her own way through the boulder-strewn terrain while he scanned to the left and right. It was getting toward evening when he spotted a stone prominence rising up above its fellows. It was Wildcat Mountain. They were east and a little south of it. The continued in their current direction until the landmark was due north of them. Then Mac turned them south. The stone giants gradually gave way to wooden giants and they found themselves going down into a deep ravine, which was soon in complete shade due to the rising cliffs on each side. The path of least resistance wound around a huge stalagmite and opened into a glade of trees and bushes clustered around a pond. They had found the Jade Pool. It was not very large but it was deep. The water was still and clear, allowing them to see all the way to the bottom.

Mac stated the obvious: “We'll camp here tonight.”

by **Jeremiah Maccabee** on September 5th, 2012, 2:54 am

OOC :

The girls immediately took off their clothes and dived in. For the next bell they splashed and dove and explored. Being underwater breathers they would sometimes disappear beneath the surface for many chimes. Mac could see them slithering around near the bottom, exploring crevices. The pool had an outflow but Mac didn't see an inflow. Missil pointed it out to him. “It's over there. It flows out of an opening in the rock wall just below the surface.” Mac walked over to where she was pointing and saw that it was so. He climbed up the cliff wall and discovered a lake. Apparently the lake emptied into the pool.

Later, while the others set up the tents and collected fire wood, Mac took his fishing gear with him and climbed back up to the lake. He dug up some worms and did a little fishing. Two bells later he had a dozen bites that netted him nothing, and three bites that netted him three twenty-inch trout. They would feast on fish again tonight. He was getting ready to head back to camp when he falling rocks behind him. He leaped to his feet and spun around just in time to see Ar'kel clambering over the edge. She had climbed up the same cliff he had climbed up. She saw him and waved. This turned out to be a bad move because she lost her balance and fell backward with a shriek. Mac ran over to the cliff edge and looked down. Missil and Sishel were pulling her out of the water, which was cloudy with blood.

by **Jeremiah Maccabee** on September 5th, 2012, 2:56 am

OOC :

Mac grabbed his fishing gear and his trout and hurried around and down the ravine to their campsite. Ar'kel was lying on the ground moaning. Soryn was examining her carefully. He looked up.

“She hit a boulder on the way down,” he said. “I think she broke her leg.”

Mac pushed him out of the way and did his own examination. The lower part of her left leg was bleeding heavily. He threw some water on it and saw that the bone had broken through the skin. “Not good,” he said. “Gonna have to splint that.” He looked around at the others. Soryn was clearly concerned. The other two girls were nearly hysterical. It was important to get things calmed down.

“Missil,” he said. “There are cloth bandages in my saddle bags. Cut one of them into strips that I can use to tie a spint to her leg. Sishel, go find me a solid piece of wood about this long and about this big around. Then find two more just like it.”

While they busied themselves with these tasks, Mac poured water over the wound repeatedly to try to clean it out. It was still bleeding but not as much as before, which led Mac to believe the artery had not been punctured. Missil returned with the strips of cloth.

“I know of an herb that can help stave off infection,” she said. Her voice was trembling.

“Around here?” Mac asked.

“Yes,” she said. “I saw some about a mile back.”

“Soryn, you go with her. Take the horses. Missil, get her some water.”

Mac scraped the bark off the branches and laid two of them on the ground parallel to Ar'kel's broken leg. He wrapped several layers of cloth around her leg above and below the break. She cried out once and then lapsed in sobbing.

He looked toward Missil. “Hold her down.” He said to Ar'kel, “Sweetheart, this is gonna hurt.” He grapped hold of her lower leg above and below the break and forced the leg straight. Ar'kel shrieked once and passed out. Mac used a strip of cloth to secure the three sticks tightly to her leg above and below the break. Two were along the bottom side, one along the top side. He hoped that would immobilize the leg.

Sishel and Soryn returned with the herbs, which Sishel crushed and mixed with water to make a paste. She lathered it over the broken skin and Mac wrapped it with a strip of cloth.

“Well,” Mac said as he stood up. “That's the best we can do. We just need to be sure she doesn't put any weight on that leg.”

Soryn pulled him aside and asked, “Will she walk again? Will she have a limp?”

Mac stepped back from the man and stared grimly at him for a moment. “Why should that matter. All she has to do is produce babies, right?”

An angry expression crossed Soryn's face for a moment and then was gone. “Yes, that's all she has to do. But it would be nice for her to know whether she's ever going to walk again.”

Mac suddenly realized that the institution of slavery was more complicated than he had thought.