The Deep Realms

[Shadowseldil]

"Lots of people die, Gabe" Naaman said coldly, rinsing out Rosalie's mug. "In fact, everyone, at some point in time. The difference is some people live. Death is always in vain, but life is not always so. No, I take that back. There are a few times death might not be vain." Naaman stared at the fire, lost in thought.
All around them, the light began to fade, slowly, but noticeably. The firelight was brighter and cast more shadows. "I guess that's our cue," Naaman said, coming out of his reverie, finishing up with the mug and repacking it. "Good night all." Naaman scooted away from the fire a few paces and lay back.
"I'm not quite sleepy, yet," the scholar said softly, "I'd like to make a few more notes."
"Don't wander off anywhere," Naaman warned without sitting up, and added, "And don't you think about posting any watches, Gabe. Rosalie said this place was safe enough, and besides, if any trolls do come around; well, she said we would hear them long before we saw them."
Naaman sighed contentedly as the scholar's pen scratched across the page. It was a soothing sound.

 

[Big Al545]

Gabriel had thought of staying up through the night, keeping watch, but he was tired and sore from his work and the events that had taken place. He slowly laid down on the ground and closed his eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep.

 

[WhiteLily]

Rosalie leaned against the trunk of her tree, it whispered sweet little comments in her ear as Rosalie herself drifted off. It felt like moments later when Rosalie's eyes shot open, the trees were beginning to brighten again, a new day was approaching, but something felt off. Rosalie pressed her hand to the sleepy tree, "What is going on?" She whispered, the tree sent out the message and before she knew it, Rosalie saw what the trees were seeing, trolls. They had seen the smoke from the fire and were coming to investigate. Quickly rising above the treetops Rosalie could see the trolls crashing through the forest. She dove back to the ground and went to the warrior, "Warrior! Wake up!" Rosalie shook his arm desperately, "Wake up!"

 

[Shadowseldil]

(((Well, that works for me to introduce my second character. Not quite yet though.)))

Naaman's eyes shot open as Rosalie lightly landed on the ground. He surmised it was time for another "day," although the dull light hardly qualified to be ranked with the brilliance of the sunrise. He was about to sit up when Rosalie shook Gabriel by the arm, sounding much like a bag full of coins. "Warrior!" She said softly but fervantly, "Wake up! Wake up!" She began to shake him more.
"Trolls?" Naaman asked seriously as he got to his feet.
The scholar sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Hey ho, what is it? Time to get up already?"
"Quiet," Naaman said softly. He was certain he could hear something on the edge of his hearing, but growing louder.
Then, a wild sound, "Aaaaawhooooooopwooowoowoowooha!" It echoed off the vast cavern wall, so potent was the call. It was answered by similar, but shorter cries. It was hard to tell the direction of that sound, but another sound, a rustling, could be heard now, and it was growing closer.
Quickly.

 

[WhiteLily]

Rosalie spun around and began kicking dirt onto the fire, "Run, follow the moss on the right side of the trees, it will take you to the water. I will hold them off as long as I can and find you later."

 

[Big Al545]

Gabriel woke up, startled. His hand instantly moved to his flintlock and his other hand grabbed the hilt of his sword.
"What's happening," cried Gabriel, startled by the sudden burst of activity. He hadn't quite fallen asleep, and he had caught the word 'trolls'.
"I was hoping that we'd avoid them, hopefully that wall will provide some protection for a short amount of time, but it most likely will not do," said Gabriel. He got up and quickly slipped on his chain-mail, then covered it with his leather body.
"By your description of the trolls earlier, you won't hold them off for long, I'll stay with you," he declared, then he turned to Naaman, "You think you can take care of Tarvis and the scholar for me?"

 

[WhiteLily]

Rosalie paused for a moment at Gabriel's declaration. "Fine, just help everyone get out of here." Rosalie turned to the trees and raised her hands. Roots began pulling up from the ground and wrapping around the tree across from their base, creating a wall. Tree branches bent down and interlocked themselves to block the top of the root wall, "They'll have to get through that for now. It will buy us time."

 

[Shadowseldil]

The others were up now, and on their feet. The meager belongings had been packed hastily and they were ready to go.
Gabrial turned to Naaman, "You think you can take care of Tarvis and the scholar for me?"
"Leave them to me," Naaman said. He rejoined the others on the edge of the thick. "Simon," he said firmly, "Help Tarvis with his leg. This way, come on."
He led them out of the thicket on the far side of the noise. "Alright, scholar. It's in your hands. Head for the water."
"What, what?"
"Follow the moss, like Rosalie said."
"You're leaving us?"
"They're fighting trolls," Naaman said coldly, "They're going to need a healer."
"I understand. All the same, do hurry along, eh?"
"We'll be right behind you. Now go. Simon! You take care of them both now, hear me?"
"Yeah, Naaman," Simon said, "I'll get them out of here."
Naaman nodded and turned around, heading back toward the other two. He could hear the sound of the trolls tromping through the woods much clearer now. How he wished he had a staff or something, but there was no time to look for one now.

 

[WhiteLily]

Rosalie finished with her tree wall and pointed at Gabriel, "Warrior, stand at the other end of the trees, Healer, you go that way,2 She pointed at the opposite side, "And I'll be in the middle, trolls are very stupid, if we spread out and look bigger they will think we are something we're not. Make lots of noise and move around to confuse them. Don't attack first, they have clubs the size of me with metal spikes in them. If you get hit and survive, play dead, don't fight. Aim for the eyes and the necks, everywhere else is hard like rocks."

 

[WhiteLily]

((C'mon guys! TAG!))

 

[armyman_83]

(((WhiteLily invited me. If you don't mind me crashing. If my post is unwelcome, just delete it ha ha!_Arius Ulfilas)))

Sir Arius Ulfilas strained to open his eyes. His head hurt terribly and he had dreamt of horrors of falling and falling, of rock and noise, of screams and cries of agony. His entire body ached, his head worst of all. He opened his eyes more and there was a strange light surrounding him. He slowly moved his body upward and sat peering about into a world he had never seen before. Strange lights and strange trees were everywhere. Everywhere too was the scene of carnage and wreckage. Bodies lying lifeless and cold, supplies strewn about, disorder had struck.

He had not dreamt, but experienced a nightmare. The expedition he was part of had seemed to had been swallowed by the earth, as if to rebuke their attempt at fortune and fame. He tasted something bitter sweet when he licked his lip. A taste of his own blood, a drizzle from his head. His back ached and felt horrid. He whipped his bare head, he couldn’t see his helmet anywhere, the blood smearing across his brow. Then he noticed where he was. He was atop a tree, well in the midst of one. The tall branches had broken his fall, and kept him safe from the certain doom of colliding with the solid ground. He moaned loudly as he rolled over to the trunk of the tree and made his way pain stakingly to the earth floor. He leaned against the tree and felt dizzy from overuse of his sore body.
He threw up after almost swooning, taking a knee and catching his breath. He had taken hard blows before, but the fall should have killed him. Fate Arius thought to himself. He looked far above and could see little, then looked about him in the strange light and saw his shield lying face up. His simple family crest showing clearly, he scooped it up and moaned as he slung it across his back. He checked the body closest to him. It was cold and the face was the same face he had seen before, the face of death. He walked about. Some of the party were missing. He didn’t know what had happened. He pondered to himself as he walked about searching the area for survivors and supplies. Supplies were about, strewn and mostly destroyed, but survivors were nowhere to be found. Most met a quick death.

Where is the Scholar? Arius thought to himself as he took a bite of hardtack from a smashed bin of supplies. He looked about and his heart sank. He was glad to be living, but for what cause? Death in a strange land was no mercy, better to have been smashed upon the rocks. He remembered being near the end of the column when the rocks began to fall and the earth floor began to fade beneath his feet. Some men when one way, some the other way, everyone had been split up. Perhaps others did survive? He hoped against hope. He gathered a small satchel and found a small goatskin of half water-half wine, a good trick used for long marches. Arius nearly stumbled over his own helmet, and was surprised to find it so far from where he had fell. He picked it up and put it on.


Among his rummaging he found a flint and steel, some hardtack, some moldy cheese, and some salted jerky, a matted cloth, and a few other odds and ends that might aid him in his travel. His travel, however, was in no particular direction. He had an eerie feeling about the whole mess. He had come upon the venture without friends, leaving his retinue behind to aid his father at home, for that, he was glad they had not met the fate of the others with him. He marked in his mind the location of this wreckage and moved off into the odd woods, ever watchful of things both seen and unseen. The trees seemed to make strange noises and he walked with caution. He wondered and wondered seeming to make no great progress. After what seemed like an eternity and after his pounding head told him to halt, Arius rested by a cozy looking tree. He hated sleeping alone in a place like this. He wanted to post a guard, but it was only him, and a man must sleep. As he gathered small plants to try and conceal himself from what ever lurked in the strange wood he noticed that it began to grow dark. Odd. Thought he. No sun wherewith to shine, no moon wherewith to grown dark? He made a place of poor concealment and covered himself with leaves as best as he could. His satchel being his pillow.


He drifted off into sleep, a light sleep and woke before the strange dawn appeared. He opened his eyes. Stretching and yawning he moved to his feet, gathered his things and began upon his journey once again. As the light grew brighter he looked and saw something he did not expect. Smoke. And where there is smoke there is fire, and where there is fire, there is civilization—or worse. He moved with caution toward the smoke, moving ever carefully scanning the woods for threats. The smoke seemed to die away in the near distance, and the disappear. They strike camp? Arius questioned himself. He headed faster toward where the last puffs of drifting smoke had come from.

He entered a clearing and saw an unexpected sight. A creature, what appeared to be a farie flanked by two men. One clad in mail and plate, the other a cloak and bearing a staff. They looked familiar, and surely came from the expedition, but from far way it was hard to tell. He began to move closer to the three when strange and terrible sounds began to make their way through the forest.

 

[Big Al545]

Gabriel ducked behind a tree, his back pressed up against it. He listened to the fairy, acknowledging that she would have far more experiences fighting in these conditions. Already, Gabriel had begun to sweat, whether it was from anxiety or adrenalin, he could not tell.
"If we wait any longer, they will smash right through the wall. Simeon is a good soldier, but he won't last long with no support, other than a scholar who's in way over his head, and Tarvis, who was injured," said Gabriel.
Gabriel quickly slipped off his leather covering his body, leaving just his chain mail on. He quickly climbed up the tree, listening to the terrible roars and grunts of the trolls, who were getting closer and closer.
"Forgive me if I try something ridiculously dangerous," shouted Gabriel, who had successfully climbed up the tree and into a branch. It was made difficult do to the trees being tightly woven together, their branches poked and prodded him and he crawled across a thicker branch. His hand on his sword, he waited for the first sign of a troll.

 

[WhiteLily]

"Don't move away from us!" Rosalie called, here eyes on the tree wall, "If you attack first they will know we are small and easily hurt. Stay close to us!"

 

[armyman_83]

Arius peered toward the odd group again, the man in mail seemed to be climbing a tree. The trees, he then noticed had, as it were, formed a strange wall. Foul magick! Arius spat as he moved closer toward the group. Once within ear shot he hailed the company as he neared them.
“Ho!” cried Arius moving nearer.
“Remints of the expedition?” Arius questioned as he moved nearer. “And by the heavens what are all these odd noises!?”

 

[Big Al545]

Gabriel turned his head quickly, looking at the strange man who had appeared from the forest.
"Those noises are trolls. And we are from the expedition," explained Gabriel, "We can fill you in later, but right now, we have to get rid of the trolls."

 

[Shadowseldil]

(((It's all good, except that Naaman doesn't have a staff. He lost his, and hasn't found a replacement yet. The OOC is here: The Deep Realms)))

Naaman moved into the position that Rosalie had indicated, but hung back a little. His purpose was not to fight, but to heal. He had nothing to fight with, anyway, and he had little belief that his bare hands would do good against trolls. From what he remembered of the lore, trolls had skin like stone. Although, the truth was that little was actually known about trolls; they were practically a myth on the outside world. Mythoi claim that sunlight turns them to stone. If only they could have some sunlight here, but that would be impossible. And he knew his magic light was just that: light only; it had to be sunlight.
Another man came into the camp, making noise and claiming to be part of their company. He must be, since no other humans would be down here, but that noise would certainly draw the trolls.
And it did. Soon, he could see shadows of the trolls through the canopy of the trees. All told, he counted three of them. They were larger than the seven feet Rosalie suggested, one seeming to reach close to twice the size of a human, although, it seemed that one actually fell short of the seven-foot mark. Unless the one was a child (although the idea of troll children was bizarre, but, Naaman admitted, must be an actuality of life), Naaman gathered that trolls might come in a variety of sizes. Perhaps the smaller ones were easier to kill? Then again, the bigger they are...
Once again, that strange cry came again, "Awhoooooowaawaawaah." The trolls seemed to take notice; it clearly was not one of them making the noise.
Naaman wanted to ask what that was, but he knew the value of silence. Perhaps the trolls would overlook them. If they did, though, it might go worse for the others.
He would leave the decision to Rosalie. If she wanted to attack, then she would attack; if she wanted to remain hidden, he would not hinder that. Of course, the trolls might find them out on their own.

(((When you are ready, WhiteLily, go ahead with the battle.)))

 

[armyman_83]

(((oops my bad!))

“Trolls!?” Arius exclaimed, half to himself than to the others.

“By the heavens, fate has dealt us a foul blow.” Arius said as he dropped his satchel of odds and ends along with the goatskin of water diluted wine. He didn’t need to be burdened with such things were he in a fight. And a fight with trolls no less. He had never fought a troll, never seen a troll, and didn’t even know if they were real. He thought the noises were from other beasts perhaps, or at least he wished the man clad in mail and plate was wrong.

He looked to the man in the robe, and saw he bore no weapons. An enchanter or magick fellow. Arius thought. He disdained magick.

Arius took his heater shield from his back and bore it upon his arm, unsheathed his long sword and moved near the wall of trees. He didn’t know what to expect. How does one kill a troll? Either way it can be killed if it can breathe. Arius thought.
Arius looked back at the healer. “Have you no arms?” Arius questioned. “I have a dagger, should you have need of one. I feel we need as many blades as we can get. Accursed trolls.” Arius spat.

 

[WhiteLily]

"Will you be silent?" Rosalie growled at the newcomer, she didn't like one more human to deal with. Rosalie watched as the trolls hacked through the tree wall, loyally the trees remained silent, bearing the pain for their friend. The first troll to break through the wall was the largest, Rosalie recognized him as the main hunter of the troll herds. His head, tiny in comparison to his body, looked around for the source of the fire and roared when he didn't find it. The smaller one, a new hunter, walked around the camp. He was young, but no smarter then the others. But Rosalie still was wary as he swung his club around into bushes and trees. The herd still hadn't noticed the small group and Rosalie prayed it would stay that way, but luck wasn't on her side today. The young troll stomped it's way around the camp and swung it's club right into Rosalie who leapt out of the way, her wings carrying her into the troll, attacking his face. She rammed her dagger into the troll's neck. The youngster let out a bellow of pain and swung his club up at Rosalie, who dropped off out of the way, covering her face as the troll's own club smashed itself into it's owners face, ending him in a bloody explosion. The other trolls yelled and charged in all directions, clubs first.

 

[Shadowseldil]

(((One small note, Armyman: magic, without a "k." There is a great difference and distinction between fantasy magic and demonic witchcraft, and I prefer to keep it that way, even if your character believes it to be the latter. You can use it in his speech or thoughts, but please not in general description. Take it from one who has studied the matter.)))

Naaman was swift to act. He moved up behind the newcomer and relieved him of his dagger. "Ill take you up on the offer," he said, slapping him on the back. It would be little known to the fighter, but Naaman had placed a protective spell on him, one that would make his body more hale, so that a blow from those massive clubs would not kill him outright. It would take more than his own training to keep them from getting hurt completely.
Next he dashed out toward one of the trolls, the biggest, who was closing in on Rosalie. He shouted and waved his arms, trying to attract the troll's attention, "Oy! Lummox! Here, have at me!"
It did, swinging its club in an outward arc. Naaman fell back to his knees, sliding under it, but one of the spikes gave him a nasty scrape across the shoulder; nothing serious, save from infection, but smarting all the same. It was a bit hard to avoid a man-sized weapon completely.
The trolls were slow, fortunately, and Naaman was able to get back away from the troll while it recovered. He took the moment's respite to prepare another protection spell for Gabriel. He would have to make his way over to Gabriel as soon as they both could manage an opening. For now, though, the largest troll seemed fixated on himself. Naaman easily managed to roll away from a downward smash, but he had no opening to counter. He hoped one of his mates could manage something.

 

[armyman_83]

(((Yeah, I am a little bit aware, that’s why I used it with a “k”. But I will, as you request, keep it only to Arius’s thoughts and speech. )))

Arius after being scolded by the fairy looked toward the wall of trees. The cloaked man had taken his dagger and for some reason he felt better. Encouraging, no doubt, it was to have others in the deep and strange place. Just then a giant troll burst through the wall of trees. Its eyes glaring, bent on killing. Arius had never seen a troll and his heart skipped a beat. It was one thing to kill men in the press of battle, but trolls and other creatures always seemed such odd enemies.

The Fairy dodged a blow and Arius was sure that the Fairy was done for. But the little Fairy had claws of her own, and countered with some sort of dagger. The cloaked man rushed forward trying to bring attention to himself. It worked, and he only just missed a deadly blow. Another strike at the cloaked man, another dodge.

Arius leapt into action. The trolls downward thrust had driven a large spike of his club deep into the earth. He fumbled with it for a moment and that is when Arius attacked. He moved his full weight into a an upward thrust toward the beasts armpit. The strike did little, if anything at all. And he was fortunate it did not break from the blow. And Arius was suddenly hit by the creatures arm with one side stroke. It knocked Arius nearly clean over and he moved quickly to recover.

Accursed fiends! Arius thought to himself, No doubt their head is weak, perhaps their necks. Blasted creatures!