The Road to Tullybrook

"Nothin' I cannae hold meself to," Abryxia replied, puffing out her chest and grinning. She'd never quite admit it, but Rally saying when she was famous, not if made her a little more giddy than she'd any right to be. They were just a kid talking like a kid. Kids didn't talk in maybes and hopefuls, for them, everything was absolute, and any difference in that was simply a detour to the inevitable.

But - Rally wasn't just a kid, were they? And something about that certainty felt - nice, coming from them. It was an odd request, to set the record straight on the Dark One of all people, but Rally seemed quite invested in the whole ordeal. A child with incredible feats of magic - who seemed to have an intimate knowledge of the Dark One's past - and an emotional stake in the whole thing -

Oh, Abryxia wasn't all that smart, but she was certainly able to put two and two together. The Dark One had a lotta cults all around, and they were absolutely the sort to get into magic. If Rally wasn't the kid of some high up cultist, well, she'd eat her own socks. She didn't say so, though, and didn't ask. Rally wasn't being open about it for a reason, and whatever that reason was, Abryxia didn't care.

"I'll make sure ta set tha record straight -" she paused, scratching her head. "- lessee here. Sixty-three days, an' no worship, ye say?"

The fire was warm, and her belly was full, and crickets were out by the plenty. It was a lovely night. A lovelier night than any she'd had in weeks. And she'd met a dragon! Not everyone could say that, no they couldn't. High on life and high in spirits, she reached for her lute, giving the strings a quick, careful strum.

"Don' worship me, sixty-three - stormy sea - hm. Ol' High Mere, fear... steer? Arrear."

A few more notes.

"Tha Dark One's all misunderstood under his big black hood,
He doesn' wanna be a god, he jus' - he jus' does what he does
An' if ye wore that big black hood an' did what Dark Ones do
I bet fer all yer mighty deeds, ye'd shun tha worship too!"
 
All the while as the pair were talking, the wyrm only seemed mildly interested in them - but the whole time was creeping closer and closer. It was remarkably silent, for a beast of its size, to the point where if either of the women were to look up it'd seem like it had suddenly teleported just beside them both.

Still, the puff of smoke that billowed between them was a dead giveaway of the head, neck craned, looming above them both.

Mrrrrrrrrror.

Leaning in, its mouth gaped - jaws clamping shut on the edge of Morgan's hair.
 
"It's... closer," Rally Rose allowed, tilting their head a little bit underneath the hat. They leaned forward, presumably resting their cheekbone on their kneecap, if the positioning of the hat was any indication. They watched the fire, tiny and tame.

"They were dying." A quiet statement. "In High Mere. Sixty three days of siege. The defenses were so strong, but they'd run out of food, and they were dying. Not the fighters. The sick. The old. The children."

Rally wrapped their fingers around the stick again, drawing lines on the ground with the charred tip beside the fire. Maybe it was a town, or a castle, or a fortress. Something like.

They studied the back of their hand, watching the movement of the bones beneath the skin. "Living magic, it... flows downhill, you know. Like a river. An insect cannot bring back a bird. Rarity, strength, wisdom. Time. You can bring back a child at the cost of their parents. And you can bring back all the children and the elderly and the sick, after sixty-three days, at the cost of everyone remaining."

The fire flickered, a wayward flame leaping for a moment before settling back in with the rest of them.

"And then, of course, there's no one left who can hold a weapon, so the army just... walks in and kills them all again."
 
It was beginning to grow irksome and suspicious that the woman seemingly refused to identify herself. Viviane turned on the rock she was seated on, facing her body towards the fire as she prepared herself to get up and rejoin the rest of her travelling companions, giving Morgan a wary glance. "As much as you may believe otherwise, I have no command over it. Whether it follows us or not is entirely its own decision."

As she spoke, the Lady moved to stand, before being taken completely and entirely off guard by the dragon, who had, at some point in the last few moments, rose to its own feet, easily towering over the two of them. The column of smoke that it produced was enough to freeze Viviane in her tracks, half standing, eyes wide as it clamped its jaws on her cagey visitors hair. She was stunned speechless, and now much to afraid to move, instead watching in a terrified silence.
 
Stupid, stupid- curiosity should never be mistaken for peacefulness, no matter how weird the situation is. She ought to have run from this damn thing the moment she saw it- why did she stop to chat?

Its jaws narrowly missed her head. Morgan stumbled forwards, still refusing to look at the beast- though there likely wasn't much point in that, given that the damn thing was already provoked. Fuck- think, think. It was a juvenile, which meant its flame sac was still developing, right? There should be a soft spot under its chin, where the scales haven't fully fused yet- wasn't that some sort of pressure point? That should be enough, shouldn't it? What did that hunter tell her- thwack it under the chin, and it'll stop breathing fire... or just stop breathing? Stop you breathing? Catch fire?

Even if she failed, she thought, she was probably going to die anyway. Better to at least try to save the other one, right? Morgan reached an arm out behind her and punched upwards, aiming beneath the wyrm's head, attempting to wound the flame sac- though, to what end, she couldn't quite remember. Regardless of the outcome, she wouldn't be sticking around. Morgan ran as soon as the strike landed, reaching out to grab Viviane as she passed.
 
“That’s… a rather dreadful story” Sae said, a concerned turn to the corners of her lips. She tossed the last of the bread into her mouth before brushing the crumbs off her hands. It was quite the gruesome thing for a child to know with such detail, had it been a part of Rally’s education? They seemed rather heated about the whole idea of Dark One worship so perhaps that was the reason why?

“I can’t say I’ve heard that version of the story before.” Sae said. She picked up a log and added it to the fire, it lit up well. “Is it one that’s been passed down where you’re from?”
 
The strike hit the wyrm true, and it let out a sound that was a mix between a huff and a goose's honk. Opening its mouth to let the poor taxidermist free, it took a few steps back, lowering its head to keep its eyes level with the fleeing woman. Sending out a heavy blast of smoke, it stretched its tiny wings, then turned.

Swish. Swash.

The tail sent up a cloud of rocks and dirt and debris, hiding its massive form as - with rumbling steps - it departed into the forest.

--

Abryxia seemed to droop a bit as Rally went on, letting her lyre fall into her lap and folding her hands neatly over it. Maybe she'd been wrong about the whole - cult thing. Maybe this was the other way. Seeming sympathies aside, Rally seemed well in rights of the terrible things the Dark One had done, telling a story even Abryxia hadn't heard. Erdgate wasn't the sort of place that liked the Dark One much at all, but even their tales of his conquests weren't so -

Bleak.

"Sorry. Wrong o' me ta - ta make light on a thing like that," she replied a bit meekly. "Didn' know tha full o' it. Sae's - Sae's right, though, where'd ye learn a tale like that? Are ye Aldermerean?"
 
Everything happened in an instant- or, at least, it seemed one to Viviane. The odd woman struck the dragon, after warning her so many times to try to avoid agitating it, and then broke free. Already that was shocking enough, but paired with the grasp on her wrist, and the pull by the woman, she was well and thoroughly lost. Lady Allard was pulled along towards the tower for about two steps, and as she turned to look back, expecting a jet of flame or the flash of teeth, she found... nothing.

She had no idea where it had gone, save for the distant rustling of the brush as it took off. As everything fell back into silence, it was only now that Viviane realized just how hard her heart was racing, how flush her face likely was. It felt like she'd just chanced death, and defied the odds. Granted, it was the stranger who had run it off, not her, but still! She'd been there, with her!

Viviane cleared her throat, and gently but firmly pulled her wrist free from the woman's grasp. "Now that the dragon is gone, I must ask- how did you do that? Run it away, I mean. And, again, what is your name? I refuse to not know who I am speaking with any longer than this."
 
Maybe they should not have said anything.

Maybe they just should have stayed silent, like a dead cicada. Cicadas weren't really supposed to live very long, after all. Rally Rose wondered what that was like. They didn't really want to be quiet, though. If you didn't say anything, people just assumed that you agreed, and you ended up going along with a lot of things.

They didn't really want to answer the questions. Rally considered lying, but... you really weren't supposed to lie to your friends, right? They were pretty sure about that. They weren't sure if Sae and Abryxia were friends, really, but they weren't going to be if Rally Rose started lying to them. Not real friends, anyway.

They stared for a moment at the stick-drawn city, wondering if it still looked anything like that - but no, of course it didn't. It hadn't even looked like that-

Well, not since the armies went through, anyway.

"No."

Their voice was very quiet. Maybe the wind would take it away and no one would hear. Then they wouldn't have lied and they wouldn't have been silent.

"No, I... I just remember."
 
Well fuck me sideways, it actually worked.

It wasn't until they had stopped running that Morgan realised this, turning over her shoulder to see that their pursuer had flown off. Her head was still intact, it seemed- as was Viviane's. All in one piece, eh? That was a stroke of luck if ever there was one- she'd have to check her pockets once they were back, in case she had accidentally packed her entire stock of rabbit's feet.

When Viviane asked her name, Morgan answered immediately.

"Calanthe."

Calanthe. Not her name at all, but one that might be known- far more famous than Gristlemead, as far as most were concerned.

"I'm a... a hunter from down near Bonewick." She nodded, "Travelling up north for business. I must say, it's odd to see a wyrm so far south... y' got any idea what could've brought it down here?"
 
Just… remembered? For all she was worth, Sae wasn’t quite certain what Rally had meant by that, but it also seemed like they didn’t want to talk further about it and prying further seemed a touch rude for having only known the kid for half a day.

“Well, perhaps you can tell us another story sometime, hm? Sae said, adding two of the smaller bits of wood she had gathered to the fire. Sap sizzled in one. “Stories are half the fun of a campfire anyway. Though, maybe we should tell something a touch lighter next time.” She added with a wink.

“Now, what do we all think about a song to help us all warm some before we sleep for the night?”
 
Calanthe. Just as unfamiliar to her as any of the other names she'd encountered since leaving home, and one more committed to memory. Still, Viviane was dissatisfied. She got one answer, and yet another question dodged in the process of getting it. This woman seemed cagey, and reluctant to answer to her eyes- definitively someone she did not want to associate with, or be alone with, for much longer. "I... see. A hunter. One of the people I am travelling with seems to be one as well. Perhaps you should meet her."

For a moment, she considered responding to the question in kind, and to ignore it and move on. That was unbecoming of her, however, so after a moment of consideration, she spoke again. "I haven't a clue. As I said, Rally Rose brought it back with them. You can meet them, if you'd like, though I doubt you will get an answer. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to return to my travelling companions, and rest." The Lady took a moment to smooth her hair, and make sure she had fully settled back down, before returning to the campfire, hesitating at the edge of their makeshift gathering upon noticing the... tense air, before setting herself back where she had been sitting before Abryxia and Rally Rose returned from their search.
 
"I like that kinda thinkin', Sae," Abryxia replied, a little bit relieved to be gone of all the talk of gloom and war and slaughter. Her curiosity was a fleeting thing, and whatever Rally had been talking about, or whyever she wanted to bring it up, didn't weigh any heavier on her shoulders than the air.

"The past's tha past, and tha now's tha know, so let's make tha know a lil brighter, aye? Ye got any suggestions?"

A rustle from nearby betrayed the noblewoman's return, another familiar face in tow. Abryxia's smile widened a bit more.

"See ye met our friend from tha woods, m'Lady," she replied warmly, scooting over and patting the ground beside. "Come on in! Fire's warm, and there's more - there's more food, aye? We were jus' about ready ta merry up a bit before sleepin'. What'd ye say yer name was again?"

--

The weather did much improving by morning time. A little too much improving, maybe - the clouds cleared entirely, and the sun of Tenstone's wide, open plains beamed down from above, leaving the air hot and humid. Still, the road was solid, and the sun dried the worst of the mud puddles out. It was smooth travel in to Clurneywooble.

Clurneywooble was a town of modest size. The sort of place just large enough that not everybody knew everybody, but everybody knew somebody who knew everybody else. It was a motley affair, buildings white with the slate and sandstone that was part of Tenstone's namesake, but each one a little different, built up slowly over the centuries. For some, there seemed several decades between one half of the building and the other. As the group moved into the town proper, it became clear something had recently taken place.

The streets were largely empty, for one. Any good towny would know the streets were rarely sparse on a morning like this. Doors and windows were closed, and some windows were even covered up haphazardly with sheets and quilts. All about, bits of rubble seemed strewn, rocks and splinters and even twisted metal. This wasn't quite unusual in a place like this, but the amount was a tad alarming. And then -

A tower stood near the town center. Or, the remains of a tower. In place of where the tower part of the tower was supposed to be, the gnarled wreck of what appeared to be a ship sat in its place.

The town's lone inn was near the site of the apparent crash, creaky sign outside reading The Looning Lark in faded, blocky letters. Inside was just as sparse as the streets outside had been, with only a single older woman there, currently seated and hunched behind the counter. She looked up with narrowed, dark eyes as the newcomers entered, gaze lingering.

"No vacancy. Best you lot move along to your next stop," she said, voice low and coarse.
 
Rally Rose was not sure if they slept. They tried anyway, but mostly spent the night poking at the embers of the fire. That was all right, though. By morning, the embers had died down and they were feeling better. They were not going to spend the whole time feeling sad about things that had happened a long time before anyone else had been around.

Like they had said to the very weird people earlier, it was about what you did today.

The sun was up and it was dry outside. Pony wasn't there any more, which was a little bit sad, but maybe he had gone off to find something to eat that wasn't horses, so Rally decided that was all right. He seemed like he felt a little awkward about all this anyway. Rally Rose could understand that. Most of the day was walking and walking and walking and walking. Rally Rose probably did about three times as much walking as anyone else, but that was because they had not stopped running off in every direction to see if there was anything interesting, then rejoining the group for a little while.

The sunshine was very nice, after all the rain. Their hat was very good for sunshine, too. It was a multipurpose hat! Rally Rose hummed a little bit, working their way down the road as they went, humming nonsense that eventually turned into nonsense with words, and went something like:

"I found a little wy-rm
I'm rather fond of him
I put him in the river
To see if he could swim

He drank up all the water
He ate up all the fish
Now - our - path forward is dry as you could wish!"

It was another one of the old tunes that no one really sang any more. A children's song. From High Mere. That was probably why no one sang it any more.

When I was at the market
I found a little goat
Ma said that I could keep him
If I bathed him in the moat

He drank up all the water
He ate up all my soap
And when he got the hiccups, all the bubbles made him float!

Rally kept that version to themself, though, even if they did remember. It didn't feel right to sing it that way.

Eventually they found a town, which was very quiet. Rally Rose thought it was very big to be so quiet, but they did not know very much about towns.

There was a boat on top of a tower. Rally Rose contemplated this for a moment.

"I did not do that."

Rally Rose felt that it was maybe important to establish this right away.
 
“Didn’t think it was that windy last night.” Sae muttered, in jest, as the group made their way along a street that looked as if it had been plucked up and given a good enough shake to send the loose nails tumbling and fling everything that hadn’t been nailed down this way and that. The hunter turned her eye towards the windows here and there, looking to see if there were people inside giving strangers a weary stare, the living stillness that came with someone simply keeping their head down, or if they had been hastily abandoned when what had gone wrong went and became that wrongness.

And then Sae saw the ship, which was the sort of curious that she very much didn’t have a way to explain. Rally did, helpfully, announce that they weren’t responsible, which took a load off her mind even if she hadn’t once thought the little mage could have done it. Could they have done it?

“Well that’s for the best Rally.” Sae said with a look down at the floppy hat. Sae turned to the woman and offered a respectful tip of her head. “Was there an attack of some kind?” Sae asked, as a ‘what happened here’ seemed like it was very well answered by a simple ’a boat fell onto the tower’ which didn’t really answer any of the questions that seemed like they needed answering.
 
It was the very first time Viviane had never slept in a bed. It was, perhaps, the worst thing she had ever done, in her life, up to that point. Yes, the ruined tower was shelter, and it was warm enough, even with the embers of the fire, given the walls held it in. The ground was hard and uncomfortable, and it felt like it took her hours to fall asleep once she ate and settled in. She was nervous out in the wild like this, but having other people around made her more comfortable.

At least, it did, right up until she unfortunately reminded herself that she did not know them. They were complete and utter strangers- at best, she'd met them that morning, and even then. At every slight noise, throughout the night, Viviane found herself waking, eyes shooting open to scan the darkness, before eventually attempting to settle back into sleep.

This meant that as the sun began to rise, and she woke as she normally did with it, she was utterly exhausted, at least by her own lofty standards. She made no mention of it, of course, and instead focused into her morning ritual of making herself presentable, ideally before anyone else had time to see her.

Travel was easy, thanks to her horse, and when she saw the approaching buildings, a wave of relief shot through her. Of course, that went straight out the window when she saw how empty it was. It made her uncomfortable, but there was nothing to be done about it, and so they pressed on instead.

Lady Allard knew that it wasn't Rally Rose who had done it- at least, she didn't think it would have been. As they approached the inn, and as they entered, who she assumed to be the owner spoke up. The thought of there being no vacancy nearly sent her spiraling, but instead, Viviane decided to ask a question of her own.

"Pardon me, ma'am. My name is Lady Viviane Othelia Allard, heir to the Barony of Duleis. I understand that there may be no rooms available, but- I must ask, where is everyone? Your town is oddly empty, and it struck me as quite odd."
 
Another hunter? A... real one? Morgan just smiled and nodded- yes, she'd have to meet this one. She'd have to meet her so she'd know exactly who not to talk about monsters with, lest the gaps in her knowledge give the game away. Morgan wasn't sure quite why she had settled into this lie so quickly. Perhaps it was awkwardness, perhaps it was insecurity, or perhaps it was grief. If she was Calanthe, then Calanthe wasn't dead, wasn't gone. And, really, who deserved to be remembered more?

So, when Abryxia asked her name, she gave hers. This was the persona, now. This was who she had to be.

----

Against her better judgement, she had decided to stick with this party of suicidal maniacs. At the very least, they might be able to point her to a room, or provide cover when she inevitably agitated one of the creatures found further north, or god forbid give her some company so she didn't start talking to her taxidermies again.

"No vacancy. Mm."

Well, she was tired.

"Anywhere else we can give our coin to, then?"
 
Abryxia didn't quite recognize the song Rally was singing. It wasn't even the typical sort of thing, where Rally and Abryxia both knew the song, but Rally had slightly different lyrics - this one was entirely foreign. Still, it was a simple tune, and eventually she was able to pick up enough of the rhythm to play along, if a bit shakily.

They entered Clurneywooble without much fanfare. Without much of anything at all, by how empty everything looked. The bard wasn't a stranger to small towns, and wasn't a stranger to the sort of emptiness that tended to come with them, but this was a very special sort of empty. An -- uncomfortable empty.

She stared at the boat perched on the ruins of the tower as they passed, catching Rally's statement with a slight quirk of her lip.

"Aye, nobody's gonna blame ye, Miss Rally. Din' doubt ye could if ye wanted, but ye don', so ye didn'."

Entering the Looning Lark gave the same sort of feeling the rest of the town did. It wasn't empty, there was a stern looking old woman behind the counter with her hands on her hips, but -

It felt unwelcoming. That was it. Like they weren't supposed to be here. Like they should turn around and leave, next chance they'd get.

--

"Attack? Attack is a strange word," the old woman said, giving the elf a leery eye. "What makes you say attack, hm? You going to attack us?"

She wheeled to Morgan.

"Nowhere, nowhen. Like I said, best you move along. Whole town's in a -" Her words fell off as she noticed Viviane. "Ah."

At the Lady's introduction, the woman almost cowered a bit, lowering her head slightly.

"Thought I knew your - I mean - I didn't - there might be rooms available. If this is your party." She let out a noise halfway between a laugh and a huff. "I'd - if you really want to stay here. We're in a bit of a situation, see. First, we get black-tongued cultists come through, then, a damned - pardon my tongue - airskiff from up north comes crashing into our clocktower. Dark One brought calamity, we think. Trying to shake our simple, quiet lives."

She looked over her shoulder, as if checking to see if anyone was listening. Considering there was a wall behind her, no one was.

"We drove the cultists out, but - thought to lock up the ship captain for the time. In case he's... sympathetic."
 
The person in the inn seemed to have some very strange ideas about what was happening. Rally glanced over at Sae for a minute, from underneath the hat. Were they going to attack? What would they even attack with? Rally considered the idea of Abryxia hitting someone with a lute, but they were pretty sure that was not very good for the lute, so it just seemed very unlikely. And Lady Viviane seemed like she was more likely to talk to people about the importance of proper posture than to attack anything.

Maybe the person sensed that, because she seemed a lot more willing to talk after Lady Viviane made her introduction - though she did not, Rally noticed, sit up any better. A story unfolded, or maybe it unraveled. It did seem to have a number of loose ends, mostly about calamity.

Rally Rose folded their arms across their ribcage and stomped an indignant foot.

"I did not." The words had been quiet, because Rally didn't really want to interrupt, but also, it was important. At least Sae and Abryxia had believed them. Hopefully they continued to do so.

Rally paced back to the doorway, peering out at the ship and the ruined tower, and thinking about horses and spooking and trying to do things right, and how to figure out what right actually was. Their next words were a whisper, meant only for...

...friends?

"Do you think I should fix it?"
 
Sae squared her shoulders as the old woman spoke, her lips pressing into a fine line. This seemed like the sort of fight that wasn’t worth the struggle as that’d only pull you deeper into the brambles. Thankfully, Viv pulled the woman’s attention, saving Sae from trying to navigate whatever fight it was the woman was trying to start. The mention of the cultists chased off did catch her ear in a way that curled the edges of her lips into a frown, as she felt certain that she knew who the woman was talking about. Hard to know how to ask that question without really getting her hand stuck in the brambles though.

Instead, Sae left getting the room to Viv as she turned her attention back to Rally and Abryx who were scoping out the ship.

“Fix it? Must be a mighty fine sorcerer to pull a feat like that” Sae said, not loud enough for the old woman to hear, well, she might have caught the merry chuckle. “Ah, but still, is there a way to fix it safely? Don’t want to go an’ accidentally squish one of the townsfolk while trying to help.”

Don’t want to give them more of a reason to chase us out of town too.

That part Sae kept to herself.
 
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