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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 5, 2018 20:35:10 GMT -8
"I know it's probably... absolutely terrifying for you! I'd hate to be in your shoes. But... er,"
A thought struck her of the holy oil fire. Perhaps it wasn't a trap, but a flare?
"The fire within... will help you be bright to slay the dark?" She tried, rubbing her neck. Finding something actually legitimate, instead of made-up dribble and buzzwords, to pique holy folk's interest, was a lot harder than she'd have thought.
She squinted and tried to remember what Grace had said, years ago, but it was lost on her. She shrugged, finding it difficult to focus in this stifling miasma.
She wished they could have scouted out the Ruins or the Weald alternatively, in hindsight.
"We're veterans. We've got a writ to scout out, and everything. We're probably the friendliest things you'll find in this fog, so..." She held up her palms, squinting up at the open hatch. It wasn't closed yet, so they were at least listening.
"Have a look at us, or our writ? We're professionals!"
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Post by black379 on Mar 5, 2018 20:46:39 GMT -8
Courcy was doubtful of her own ability to coax a response from whoever might have been hiding above. She deferred to her companions, and remained mostly quiet. Their attempts seemed reasonable enough to her anyways.
Turning to her companions as Lekalis withdrew his hand from her shoulder, and as Tilly offered her own empty palms, Courcy cleared her throat and lowered her weapon. She held it in one hand, with the end upright, more like a walking stick.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 5, 2018 20:57:54 GMT -8
/Limestone Tower/
There was no response for a time, it dragged on just long enough to become a touch palpable.
Then there was another soft rustle of chain mail, a piece of metal hit the wood and raised. Heavy boots walked boldly... then shuffled, to the edge. The flat top of a helm glimmering in torchlight was seen first, then the steel brow, and finally, brown eyes squinted down into the dark.
"S-state your name and business! Ser and... and Ladies..?"
Somehow, the taupe skin of the eyelids squinted up even more,
"... why are you... Nevermind. I'm-- No, wait. Tell me who you are!" His voice was on the brink of breaking puberty, and broke on occasion as he took a few more steps forward and waggled a shortsword at them.
His upper torso was apparent, and he wore the same tabard as his comrades, though it was moth-bitten and bloody. His gauntlets were almost solid red, and his sword too. The boy couldn't have been more than six or seventeen.
A chainmail veil covered the rest of his face, leaving only his bloodshot and battle-weary eyes to peer out boldly.
He doubly wielded a heater shield in his offhand. Its regalia wasn't apparent, but on the inside, it seemed to be made of the same red-white wood of the door.
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/Lekalis/
An expression of amusement and boredom crossed Lekalis' face before he looked to Tilly and Courcy with some incredulity; then he put on the best smile he could to look up at the boy, stepping closer to the square of light offered by the hatch.
"I am Lekalis Fanuschrat. Or Blood, as they used to call me." He introduced, again, arcing a brow as he produced the seal on the expedition papers given to them.
He held it up lazily, his spear leant against himself, as his smile twitched into a smirk.
"We are very much, ah--" He looked over to Tilly, jerking his head at her for a moment,
"-- Professionals."
He motioned to the distance between them,
"A ladder then?"
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 5, 2018 21:11:44 GMT -8
Tilly gave Lekalis a look of utter incredulity.
"You're going to introduce yourself as Blood? Are you trying to scare the poor sod even more? 'A ladder then'?" She flashed an apologetic grin to the boy as though he wasn't brandishing a shortsword at them.
She even gave him a cheery wave.
"You can call him Lekalis. Blood's the name he uses when he's trying to look scary. He's rather sweet, really; likes wine and perfumes and the like. He'd give you the shirt off his back if you needed it."
Then she jerked a thumb to herself, "And I'm Tilly! I'm quite fond of crochet and throwing darts, myself, when I'm not out running errands for the Heir."
She waggled a hand at Courcy, "And that's my dear friend, Courcy. She loves... meeting new people!"
She stepped forward, tipping her hat as far back as it could manage without disturbing the good Beansprout too much.
"We're folk the Heir's hired; s'how we make money, we kill all the big bads in fog like this. We're supposed to scout this giant boardwalk..."
She shrugged, shifting on her feet again. She made a longing look at the door to the boardwalk, "I'd love to talk to you at a friendlier angle? We've some food with us, and supplies if you need it. It wouldn't be right of us to just leave you to fend for yourself on your lonesome."
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Post by black379 on Mar 5, 2018 21:29:38 GMT -8
Courcy's breath fled from her. The boy was around her age, when she had escaped home. She couldn't imagine what it would have been like to come to a place like this immediately after she had quit her home. Clearly he was scared, as well he should be, and while she already endeavored to appear less intimidating, her features softened too.
"Really, you shouldn't be out here. W-we made a fire just up the walk."
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 5, 2018 22:01:49 GMT -8
/Limestone Tower/
The eyes blinked, squinted harder and then gruffed,
"You already told me that..." He muttered and his sword fell to his side, tapping against the toe of his boot for a moment before looking back to some unseen second person.
More whispers, he looks back to the group and shifts his weight from one foot to the next.
"You're... Right, the... Estate." He nodded again, his brows furrowed and he walked away from the hatch. There was a moment where voices were raised and a cuss went out, then the sound of chainmail and cloth rustling preceded the boy approaching the hatch again.
This time, however, a taller woman dressed in bloodied bed-linens was limping up. Supported by the boy, her dark russet hair was pulled back into a frazzled bun, and her emerald eyes were laden with lines of stress. She looked to be in her thirties. A twinkling golden necklace swung from her neck, the deity not immediately apparent, but clearly religious by design.
She clucked her tongue and shook her head,
"Boy..." She mumbled, before motioning to the hatch,
"... Sorry! We'll have you up--", she began, though the boy gawked incredulously, already making to set her down. Respectfully of course.
"But mother they--", there was a quick hiss and the boy closed his mouth,
"-- They are not fiends, fetch them the ladder." She sighed, rubbing a palm against her temple with a bloody hand as she vanished from view, having been sat down.
The boy looked to the hatch, then the people beyond it with some steely determination before shaking his head, he sheathed the sword and dragged over a wooden ladder which he immediately slid down for the party, sparing no words.
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/Lekalis/
With a huff, he looked to Tilly with some pride, before giving the boy a two-finger salute and taking post at the edge of the ladder, motioning for Tilly and Courcy to go up,
"You go on ahead... Lady's first, after all." He gave a quick wink to either of them as he leant against the wall, cradling his spear haphazardly; he glanced up and nodded,
"My thanks! I'll wait here, keep watch..."
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 5, 2018 22:34:04 GMT -8
"Stars above... thank you!"
Tilly took a relieved breath, as much as she could stand with the putrid air.
She wished fiercely for merciful noseblindness.
She took a glance at the ladder, then to Lekalis. She reached for his hand and pulled him along with her.
"You can't sit here down on your own. It's safer up top. Come on," She tugged at his arm, then turned to the ladder and began to ascend with an eager haste to be out of the ground floor's stench.
She glanced to the door of the tower before looking upward,
"So how many of you are holed up here...?"
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Post by black379 on Mar 6, 2018 8:43:26 GMT -8
Courcy back stepped as the ladder was lowered. She was thankful to be liberated from the nauseating air. Watching her partners trade niceties vexed the hellion. Waiting for the two of them to ascend, she settled her satchel and gripped her halberd just below the head so it wouldn't clatter or flail about as she climbed the ladder.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 6, 2018 11:32:16 GMT -8
/The Limestone Tower/
The boy looked down at them, starting to bounce from one foot to the next, his fingers dancing along the hilt of his sword. The query had him pause, glance to his spoken Mother and then elsewhere,
"Just the two o'us." He mumbled, looking down again, resuming his fretting.
"W-what's takin so long? D'your legs work? Can you not climb? Fish folk could climb..."
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/Lekalis/
He rolled his dark eyes at her as she pulled him along for just a moment, then he shrugged himself free of her grip and resolutely stood against the wall again; looking doggedly at her with a steeled face,
"I'm staying down here to keep watch. I'll not be far off, I'll call out if I need help." He explained, shaking his head,
"Go up there, ask if there's anywhere else like this spot. It might make our job easier." He added, finally breaking a smile again before shoving Tilly's shoulder towards the ladder.
"Go, Go! Consider it an order.", Lekalis glanced to Courcy, raising a brow,
"Don't tell me you won't go too." with a cluck of his tongue, the Ex-Lord jerked his head to the ladder and motioned upwards.
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 6, 2018 12:15:00 GMT -8
Tilly, halfway up the ladder, scowled at Lekalis from her perch.
First the stubborn boy upstairs, then Lekalis. She wondered what it was that day that made the menfolk dig their heels in so much.
That, along with the general scent of the room, wore down on her patience.
"Don't be ridiculous! Why put yourself in a spot where you can be ambushed in an instant when you can keep watch on top of a watchtower, y'know, where you won't get skewered?" She shrugged and took another step upwards,
"We can ambush the fishfolk from up here if we needed, plus you can patch wounds better than Courcy and I can-- and we need to figure out how to get these folk escorted on out of here."
Nearly to the top, she beckoned to him to follow.
"Come on, then. We'll need all the help we can get."
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Post by black379 on Mar 6, 2018 15:40:07 GMT -8
Courcy shrugged. She meant to go up the ladder, she was only waiting on the other two. As Tilly continued to urge Lekalis to follow, Courcy smirked between the two of them. Mimicking Blood's motion, she too clicked her tongue and nodded upward.
The redhead would only wait a moment for him to go, or else she would start up the ladder herself. There was some sense of urgency in the situation after all.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 6, 2018 18:01:50 GMT -8
/The Limestone Tower/
The boy still shuffled anxiously, he soon ambled off though, away and murmuring could be heard. An indistinct verbiage was exchanged and the boy came back, taking a knee at the edge of the hatch.
His eyes were obscured due to the shadows cast by his helm and the unseen torch behind him, but there was some urgency in the way he clasped the edge and drummed his fingers on the woody surface.
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/Lekalis/
"You-- Both of you, are insufferable" He relented with a shake of his inkish locks, finally stepping onto the ladder and giving Tilly a small shove to her thigh with the lugs jutting out from his spear.
"Right then, up we both go, into blind safety, very wise..." He hummed to himself, though the sass was clearly poised outwardly as he made to follow Tilly up the ladder...
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Post by Vanitypirate on Mar 6, 2018 18:17:00 GMT -8
Tilly made no strictly verbal response; she didn't think it would help their credibility any to bicker in front of the people they had the intent to rescue-- though it certainly would help prove that they weren't any hive-minded fishfolk...
Instead, she pointedly rolled her eyes at Lekalis, over her shoulder, as her thigh was jabbed.
"Cheers." She smiled at the holy folk above as she whisked herself up the ladder, climbing the last few rungs and making to perch at the edge of the hatch to await the arrival of others.
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Post by black379 on Mar 6, 2018 18:34:03 GMT -8
Courcy was the last up the ladder, but she was not leisurely about it. It wasn't in her interest to remain downstairs to be potentially fish-ambushed, let alone to linger in the foul smell.
When she was up, she took her place behind Tilly and Blood and peeked over their shoulders at the boy and his mother.
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Post by Bloodtrailkiller on Mar 6, 2018 19:28:02 GMT -8
/The Limestone Tower/
The boy watched Tilly march up with some surprise, his brow furrowed and he leant away from her before standing up fully as Lekalis arrived, whom he rather immediately squared up against; a hand on his shortsword and a glowering tilt to his helm.
Albeit, his demeanour softened as he watched Courcy trundle up unceremoniously, though his eyes lingered longer on her than any of the rest. He would have stared quietly, before shaking his head and speaking stiffly.
"Welcome."
The boy, taking in his full kit, was dressed as one might suspect of a squire; he had the makings of a knight, shaven of any flourishes and the like. Rust specked his helm and the iron knee caps of some cavalry boots.
Tilly would rather easily spy a few finely hidden pouches along the jerkin beneath his tabard; they were form fitting, but there were small bulges along his ribs that could be coin purses or precious stones.
There was a flask of familiar oil pinched to the back of the boy's belt. The same oil Tilly had.
He also had a hidden dagger in the back of his boot.
The Mother was also there, sitting atop a few crates that lay scattered through out the room. The floor itself was rather brightly lit by a few torches. A few of the crates were cracked open and revealed foodstuffs and miscellaneous weaponry. Swords, mostly.
This level of the tower looked to be purposed for arms-storage. There were no windows, and a ladder was leant against another hatch, on the other side of the room.
But, the Mother was wounded; her left calf looked to have been viciously torn into by many sharp, tiny teeth. It was bandaged, but the small splotchings told well of the wound carried.
She rose a sheepish hand, and gave a smile.
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/Lekalis/
He held his cheeky smirk all the while he marched up the steps. There was some resolve taken in the company of fellow man, and he made a point to enjoy it as much as he could while it lasted.
Yet, he stood and poised himself simply at the hatch, keeping his lips sealed.
The ex-Lord looked to Courcy and made to help her up, though it was a futile effort as she rather easily clambered up and into the room. Lekalis looked to frown, but it was all for jest as he shrugged and took a knee beside Tilly.
"You got this..?" He asked, his hands making to lift the Ladder, though he subtly looked and nodded his head to the boy and mother...
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