Quest Reliving the Tales

[Weylin Kyrel]

The woman just looked at Rainie but said nothing. Her attention was then turned to the giants and Faurosk . Her suspicion and caution not hidden. Weylin glanced back for a moment then looked back at her. He knew what her thoughts must be about Ragna and Bergelmir but what she thought of the wizard was unknown. Could she tell what he was or just didn't trust the situation itself?

After a moment of rapid thought, Weylin made a sort of animal like sound. It was not aggressive or timid or commanding. It was simply asking for attention. The action worked. The woman turned her eyes towards the young hunter. Their eyes met.

"We are following the old tale. The Great Hunt." Weylin said without being asked.

"Why?" The woman replied.

"A dragon has been hunting mammoths. We wish to hunt it." Weylin responded with a bit of hesitation in his voice. Would she believe him or think him moonstruck? He certainly would have if not for everything that lead him to this point.

The woman just gazed at him for a bit then pointed off towards the peaks. More animal like sounds came from her that Weylin responded to in a similar fashion. After their odd exchange was done she walked back off into the trees. A few moments after she disappeared a flock of ravens flew off in several directions.

Weylin turned to Rainie and said, "I know where the grove of black yew is." With that said he turned to the rest of his companions and made motions to get their attention. If he was successful he would motion for them to follow him. It was time to get back on this hunt.

 

[Ragna]

Ragna grunted. The mage's smooth apology quickly soothed any ruffled feathers. She turned from him and stomped out of the water. Her nose had caught a fresh scent. Another human was talking to Weylin and Rainie. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion but the moment passed. She didn't appear to be any threat. She still kept a wary eye on the woman, appearances could be deceptive in the Spine.

She went down on her haunches and rubbed some earth between her hands, getting a feel for it, letting it speak to her. As Weylin motioned them onward, she rose back up. She kept up with lazy strides, following them to the hunt.

 

[Rainie]

Rainie listened casually as the two wild people spoke in both Common and strange animal sounds. Her bewildered gaze jumped from hunter to hunter in utter confusion. Her grip remained tight on her bow. Eventually, the dark haired woman wandered away and then Weylin told her he knew where to find the grove of black yew.

"Lovely!" she cried. She had no idea what was going on.

She followed hot on Weylin's heels at an upbeat trot, hoisting her pack higher on her shoulders and replacing her bow. "Was that a friend of yours, though?" She prodded Weylin. As she passed by Faurosk, she snagged his elbow to drag him alongside her. Once she nabbed the wizard, she hissed into his ear, "Nature Boy knows where the fantastic Dragon-Killing black yew is!"

After a moment, she called up to the hunter once more, "And you're sure the black yew will work better than the weaponry we already wield?" She was very worried they were wasting time. If they wasted too much, their companions may believe the quest was worthless. Her eyes glanced worriedly over to her wizard, walking along with his cute little familiar. And then she looked to the impatient giantess. She bit her lip.

Faurosk Weylin Kyrel Ragna Bergelmir Vigil

 

[Bergelmir]

Their new guest spoke with Weylin in a manner only they knew, and the giant was content to ignore the sounds they made. Mimicking animal noises in lieu of actually speaking, it was some strange language that likely only the two hunters knew of. However, the man spoke of knowing where the black yew was, and that drew the giants attention.

"Then let us be away from here before you all partake another bath." The giant laughed. He kept an easy pace with them, staying just beside Ragna a half pace behind her.

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

The forest began to grow thicker and thicker and thicker the further they got from the lake and the closer to the peaks of the mountains. The black yew grove was up there. It was somewhere in the winds, the clouds, the snow. Weylin just ventured forth. He was following some unseen trail. An instinct drove him on. He felt as if he knew the way after that conversation with the old folk woman. It was a sensation in his blood.

It had been hours of trekking with only silence from Weylin. If his companions tried to speak with him they would get nothing from him. He was possessed by something. The hunt. His ancestors' memory. Ghosts of a living tale. No matter what it was, it carried him ever onward.

The sun eventually began to drop to a level that it was beginning to get dark in the trees. The lose of light seemed to finally snap Weylin out of his obsession. Stopping suddenly, he blinked and looked around. No good camping spot near them. Darkness would be dangerous. How far had they gone? He didn't know. It was hard for him to even say where he had lead them to. All those hours were just a blur now. What had come over him?

Weylin turned to his companions and said, "We should find a stop to set up camp."

Rainie Ragna Bergelmir Faurosk

 

[Rainie]

Rainie's questions were ignored. She decided eventually to brush it off and follow after the determined hunter, alternating between making small talk with her responsive travel companions, cuddling Nota as she walked, and playing her flute.

Hours went by. The short day of the Spine grew dark. Chill set in to her very bones. She now clung to Nota like a life line, and was practically pressed up against Faurosk's side for warmth. Her feet were sore, her knees and hips were aching. And still, the hunter pressed onward, deaf to her suggestions to rest.

And then he stopped. Looked around. And suggested they set up camp.

She could scream. "Yes," she nearly shrieked. "We should set up camp!" As she'd been saying for over an hour now.

The giants were struggling through the denser copses of trees. They would need a clearing to rest in, even though they barely looked winded from the day's intense travel. Rainie remained rather high-strung and shrill through the rest of the night, and rather nastily suggested the hunter take second watch as she claimed the first for herself.

--

Several days went by filled with nothing but travel and small scuffles. The hunter had a new wolf pelt to tan, and Rainie kept herself busy playing songs to invigorate the travelling party and cooking the hunter's kills for them. Her music wasn't just for the party's sake, but for her own as well. Whenever she grew tired or hopeless or desperate, she would play a little ditty and see magnificent scenes in her head.

She was rather fascinated with dragon slaying at the moment, understandably. And she knew quite a few stories and songs within that theme, as a matter of fact. If she could get away with it, Rainie would spend her nights watch, first shift of course, singing, playing, humming or dictating a tale of valor in quiet tones to lull the party to sleep. Sometimes, they featured dragons. Others, great leviathans or old, fallen gods. For her, it both passed the time and invigorated her spirit to simply keep going.

Bergelmir Ragna Faurosk Weylin Kyrel Vigil

 

[Bergelmir]

Bergelmir was not one to be quiet, if a peak giant could ever be called quiet. Raine would speak in their travel behind the hunter that was so focused on his task that he ignored suggestions and calls to him. It alarmed the giant, but humans were strange folk, and this could have been one of their strange quirks.

The hunter snapped from his trance after some time, the suggestion of camp finally being heard. The trees had become harder and harder to pass through for himself as he snapped limbs in places to follow behind them as well as he could. Other times simply keeping them in his sight as he passed around a large clump of trees to meet them in a more open space.

Now however, he set about the task of finding a spot that would allow him to sit below and sleep even somewhat comfortably.

---

The days passed, and between them all small trades of words and sometimes bickering happened. The runes adorning the giant would wax and wane with his own feelings, though the marks would become nearly invisible in his content state of listening to the woman play music for them. It was a neat thing to hear another people's music and instrument. A small insight to one part of their lives that seldom given most likely.

Bergelmir did not argue for the first shift of watch. He took the second after Raine, his eyes not quite seeing in the dim light so well, but his hearing and ability to smell trouble were enough to make up for it. At least he believed it did. He did little more than sit quietly and listen, occasionally stoking the fire if it needed it. Always keen to avoid waking the others, a neat pile of logs usually sat next to him of an evening before nightfall. All trimmed and ready to be used, though quite hefty for a human. Though, with a bit of careful effort, they could certainly manage it.

 

[Faurosk]

Faurosk came along quietly for the rest of the day, speaking up only occasionally to voice his budding concern over their purported leader's fugue state. He spent a majority of the day lost in his own thoughts, which lingered mostly on just how he'd let himself get talked into this trek, when they were going to take a break from the road, and other minor grievances he had with the adventure's upper management.

At first, he hadn't even realized the hunter leading the group had stopped, continuing forward a few paces before stuttering to stillness. His gaze lingered on the back of Weylin's head for a measure, the look of worry mingling with his poorly hidden displeasure. It was then that Weylin turned back to his not-quite-loyal followers, and Faurosk's expression returned to the veil of secrecy characteristic to a 'subtle and quick to angry' wizard.

He nearly leapt from his skin when Rainie all but screamed her agreement from her comfortable position at his side, blinking the surprise from his eyes before nodding along. "Ah, yeah," he said, tone unfocused and tired after the day of continuous travel. "That sounds like a fair idea."

Once the more outdoors oriented party members found a place to set up camp and went about finding wood to feed a fire, Faurosk kicked around the underbrush and snowdrifts, claiming a number of small sticks and twigs before returning to the center of the clearing. There, he set about assembling the twigs into a circle, laying three of the longer ones across it to form a perfectly equal triangle. With the circle closed and the inner sigil complete, he closed his eyes and balled up his will-- He wasn't the best at the fast and dirty style of magic that was Evocation, but he was good enough to at least be somewhat useful. Without giving the rest of the group any more time to make a fire of their own, he forced his condensed will at the twigs, imbuing the circle with just enough arcane power to close itself off and erupt into a magical bonfire. It was more than enough flame for the three humans, but the mage looked to the giants in his company and wondered if it would suffice to keep them warm through the night.

"That'll buy us an hour or so," he said, "After that, it'll need to be fed logs and such, just like any campfire." Content with his contribution, the mage sulked off to the corner of the clearing where he would be spending the night, hoping that they'd reach their destination sooner rather than later.

________

The following days went by without much comment from the mage. He took the final watch on the first night, and continued to do so for each night hence. He found himself bored during these watches with quite some frequency, finding that his familiar much preferred to cuddle up with Rainie in the wee hours of the morning rather than keep him company. Most nights, he kept himself awake by studying the few books he'd thought to bring with him, but on the second night he decided to keep his hands busy by whittling a branch of pine with his athame. This hobby continued into the following days of travel and watch, and the branch eventually took shape from an unrefined hunk of wood to a decently fabricated rod about three feet long. One end was carved into the visage of a shouting wyrm with its mouth agape and hollowed to a depth of about a foot and a half.

If he was ever asked about his purpose in creating such an item, his answers were invariably some curt variant of 'Just something to keep me entertained'.

Weylin Kyrel Bergelmir Ragna Rainie