SURVIVE 4 — Land of Savages • [DAY 3 | Early Night | In the Squall]

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Author Topic: SURVIVE 4 — Land of Savages • [DAY 3 | Early Night | In the Squall]  (Read 29694 times)

Yana walks away in shame and seems to be muttering something that Aif can't hear, heading upstream to wash off her hands.



Yana washes her hands off in silence, this time not because she doesn't know what to say. The mental image, frozen in her mind, grips her as she looks into the reflective water's surface. She shakes her head, grunting and beating her head with the wrists of her balled up hands. She then huffs and heads back to the camp, trying to avoid the road that she took before that led her to the stream.



Theric follows the soldier down to a large boat waiting at the harbor. Soldiers are loading supplies onto the ship. A small, moderately well-dressed, middle-aged, man is talking with Ikhannuk on the starboard quarter.



The rest of the servants finish their meals, and Douzheng is offered handshakes by the boys. You're pretty sure they just introduced themselves as Ankannu and Divedi. The servants get to their work and the older servant from upstairs comes back down to invite Douzheng up to s Zaluk.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2018, 01:23:42 AM by SWAT One »

Theric follows the soldier down to a large boat waiting at the harbor. Soldiers are loading supplies onto the ship. A small, moderately well-dressed, middle-aged, man is talking with Ikhannuk on the starboard quarter.

Raising his hand, Theric hails Ikhannuk and the middle-aged man. He looks him up and down in an appraising manner- mostly looking at his body language before he looks up to Ikhannuk and briefly does the same. "I'm ready to go when the others are." he tells him.

Aif finishes bathing and, resumes spear fishing.  As is his habit when alone and under stress, he begins disjointedly talking to himself, "Drei help me.  Drei help us both.  The shame, the shame.  If only I'd stuck to fresh water fishing like Aik.  I bet he's out on his boat right now, letting out the nets, enjoying the sun, full belly, plenty to drink.  And here I am, and I go and get exposed.  The trouble there'd be back home.  The trouble there'll be here.  I'm shipwrecked, and by the blessing of the Drei I'm not set upon by savage cannibals, but find another person who I can speak with within a couple of days and what do I do?  I go and ruin it, odds are.  Ten to one she takes off running and I'm back to being alone.  Maybe it'd be for the better, given how worked up she seemed and I am."

Needless to say, his frustrated ramblings don't help his fishing, but after a while to cool off, he recovers his level head and gathers his catch together to head back to the hut.

The middle-aged man returns Theric's same glance briefly, probably wondering, Why is this man watching me? before stuffing a rolled-up scroll into his pocket and bidding farewell before disembarking off a wood plank ramp. The last of the soldiers give a short bow to the man and load the remaining cargo aboard the ship, taking the ramp up with them and untying the boat from the dock.

Ikhannuk's eyes narrow at Theric's gaze and his lips purse, staring back at him. "Take a seat," he says, finally, nudging with his head to the left to indicate that there is a seat at the port quarter for him.

The men unfurl the sails and a helmsman to Ikhannuk's right begins to steer the ship out, navigating out of the harbor and toward the sea. "Show us where to go," Ikhannuk addresses Theric.



Aif gathers enough fish to last them the rest of the day and returns to see Yana staring at the fire, simply poking a stick into it, the hut unfinished. She doesn't look up.

The middle-aged man returns Theric's same glance briefly, probably wondering, Why is this man watching me? before stuffing a rolled-up scroll into his pocket and bidding farewell before disembarking off a wood plank ramp. The last of the soldiers give a short bow to the man and load the remaining cargo aboard the ship, taking the ramp up with them and untying the boat from the dock.

Ikhannuk's eyes narrow at Theric's gaze and his lips purse, staring back at him. "Take a seat," he says, finally, nudging with his head to the left to indicate that there is a seat at the port quarter for him.

The men unfurl the sails and a helmsman to Ikhannuk's right begins to steer the ship out, navigating out of the harbor and toward the sea. "Show us where to go," Ikhannuk addresses Theric.

Theric guides them along back to the crash site, pointing them out and along the coast from his seat. In the mean time, he makes small talk. "How many battles have you seen?" He asks Ikhannuk, his gaze still settled beyond the confines of the ship as he says to the helmsman, "You should just have to follow the coast like this."

Stepping aside, Theric looks back to Ikhannuk. "The land seems peaceful, compared to what I'm used to. I only heard murmurs of threats, so I didn't expect to see someone who carries himself like a proper fighter." Theric pauses, and then he looks out at the coastline as they sail by it. It's a little comforting, knowing this place may put up a fight. The thought passes through Theric's head and leaves a thoughtful twist of his lips on his face, before he hides the expression as quick as it came.

The rest of the servants finish their meals, and Douzheng is offered handshakes by the boys. You're pretty sure they just introduced themselves as Ankannu and Divedi. The servants get to their work and the older servant from upstairs comes back down to invite Douzheng up to see Zaluk.

Douzheng shakes the boys' hands, and follows the older servant to Zaluk.

Aif, now failing to contain his embarrassment in the face of Yana's silence, "If you want to gut these fish with that knife of yours, I'll go grab some potatoes."  Aif quickly places the fish somewhat far from Yana and begins to head off toward the potato patch but stops and comes back and with the sangfroid more typical of him.  "I'm just going to forget about all that if you're willing to.  Otherwise, if you'd rather just part ways, I'll leave once the fish are eaten."

Ikhannuk, arms folded and previously watching the men talk amongst themselves, eyes Theric for a moment then opens his mouth to reply, "Many. I took part in a number of wars against the Khalimi, campaigns against the Viriani, and of course countless skirmishes with the Bogudani, which I'm sure Lord Eetu told you about."

The helmsman nods, turning the rudder gently port-side as the skerry that Theric passed on the evening prior to coming to town lie ahead.

Ikhannuk responds again, notably quicker this time "War is normal. It's a part of life. Men wish for things that laws of man and Korak restrict. What else to happen but war?"

Theric turns to Ikhannuk as the rocky island pass him starboard. "Where did you say you were from again?" he inquires. Theric and Ikhannuk are briefly distracted by a man at bow shouting that they've located the ship. Ikhannuk shouts back, "Acknowledged! Bring us in!" before returning his focus to Theric.



The boys happily shake Douzheng's hand and thank him before walking off to do the duties of the day. The older servant escorts Douzheng upstairs through hallways, a foyer decorated with all kinds of swords and a mounted bear head. He is led up a flight of stairs to a small study, where at a desk sits Zaluk. To empty chairs are also set up around the desk, one at the hort end, and another on the long side facing Zaluk. A somewhat damaged suit of iron armor is set up to the right, it looks slightly larger than Zaluk. The older servant gestures to Douzheng, offering him the seat opposing Zaluk, and he takes his at the short end.



Yana doesn't seem to respond to Aif's request, instead letting him walk toward the potato patch. Finally, Yana eyes the fish as Aif's footsteps trail off toward the potato patch. What am I getting myself into... God forgive me my sins, oh God!–"I'm just going to forget—" Yana gasps and her head turns rapidly towards Aif, initially out of fear, but her expression relaxes more as sh's able to identify him. "—once the fish are eaten." Yana pauses, eyes darting to parts of the forest, blankly settling on a particular spot as if there were something there. "No..."

"No... Please stay... I'll tell you over breakfast."

"I'll go grab some potatoes then."  Aif flashes a quick smile and heads back toward the potato patch, and returns in a few minutes with enough to comfortably supplement the fish.

Upon Aif's return, Yana had reinvigorated the fire and had filleted two of the fish and laid them out on an elevated stone over the fire. She looks up to Aif as he arrives. "Would this be enough?" she asks, timidly.

After receiving an answer, she notices the tomatoes brought, greens and tubers alike. "Oh and uh, I can start cooking these if you would be so kind as to take off the vegetation and roots from the spuds and plant them over there?" She points with the knife over to an area which Aif notices there is freshly-moved dirt. "We might be able to get a garden going here and not have to travel around so much. After that, uh," she looks around to her sides, searching, "take this," she presents a clay pot, "and fill it with water so we can boil the potatoes."

"I ah, would not like to leave this spot in case there are bears or the like in this land."

Douzheng sits at his allocated chair, and adopts a simple, straight posture. He waits for Zaluk to show his intent.

Zaluk addresses the calm Douzheng that had sat down at the chair before him. The servant introduces himself as Zven communicates that he will try to make the conversation as clear as possible. "Where did you come from?" they start.

Ikhannuk, arms folded and previously watching the men talk amongst themselves, eyes Theric for a moment then opens his mouth to reply, "Many. I took part in a number of wars against the Khalimi, campaigns against the Viriani, and of course countless skirmishes with the Bogudani, which I'm sure Lord Eetu told you about."

The helmsman nods, turning the rudder gently port-side as the skerry that Theric passed on the evening prior to coming to town lie ahead.

Ikhannuk responds again, notably quicker this time "War is normal. It's a part of life. Men wish for things that laws of man and Korak restrict. What else to happen but war?"

Theric turns to Ikhannuk as the rocky island pass him starboard. "Where did you say you were from again?" he inquires. Theric and Ikhannuk are briefly distracted by a man at bow shouting that they've located the ship. Ikhannuk shouts back, "Acknowledged! Bring us in!" before returning his focus to Theric.

"I don't know much about the Bogudani, truth be told. Or at least not as much as I should, considering the way everyone regards them." Theric tilts his head back, his hand coming over as a visor as he peers up at the clouds for a moment or two. "It's a bit comforting though," Theric begins, his gaze moves down before he's back to looking up at Ikhannuk, "Makes this place feel less... Otherworldly."

The foreigners hand rises as his fingers comb through his beard, "It's nice knowing that the people here aren't that different from where I'm from." There's a pause and then Theric looks over at Ikhannuk with a toothy grin, "Maybe I'll be able to give those Bogudani a traditional Vannateli greeting?" Given their history? Probably not a good thing. Though Theric's amused expression may give that away.

"I'm from Demotaya, far to the..." Theric pauses. He doesn't actually know what direction that storm sent him in. "Well, far from here, I imagine." he simply says, looking back to Ikhannuk.

When the voice calls out and mentions the ship being located, Theric perks up a bit and he looks out over to try and get a view of the crashed ship. "Now, if no one got here before us, there should be a bucket of... Grain, I think. Or something like it. Some other things- clothes, mostly. I think some armor... And a book, in a chest. Well, I guess we'll find out what's left once we get there."

Now Theric waits for them to pull in and get ready to go out and investigate.

He knows Latin?

Douzheng's face betrays his surprise, if only mildly. He ponders for a moment, deciding on the right string of words to use.

He nods to Zven, and faces Zaluk.

"I come from Rome, though it is not my homeland. I was bound for the city of Londinium, but a storm with deific force destroyed the ship. I awoke on this island afterwards."




Aif, pleased to see that Yana appears less distraught than earlier, does as she asks, and following this, makes some headway on finishing up the hut.