Elendor
Whirling colours and trolls!
The dwarves are hallucinating, and there's two trolls to watch them!!
Sort Date: no date set
Location: East Road - Near the Trollshaws
Game Date: Day 9 of May 3044
IC Time: Late night
Weather: Clear
Description:
East Road - Near the Trollshaws
The road here passes through rolling hills. There is hardly any difference between east and west, but the land seems to be rising to the west and dropping to the east. A small footpath leaves the road toward the south. The surrounding forest looms close to the road here and, though your light enables you to find your way, you can see no great distance in the darkness.
Contents:
Thari
Dwarven Camp
Bundle of things
Obvious exits:
Shepherding Village, North, East, and West
[Frarin] The hour is late here in the Trollshaws and the camp of dwarves quiet. About it lurk creeping shadows, but also the heavy guard established during the dwarves' passage through this troubled area. The dark figures of sentries are outlined against a few sparse lanterns, but the rest of the company is in sleep.
Well, almost. Frarin is awake even at this hour, sitting up on his bedroll. His breathing is heavy and in great heaves as if he has just awoken, but not pleasantry, rather like as one waking from a nightmare. He is blinking also, frequently and quickly as if to clear his mind. And his right hand is held before him, turning over as he inspects the palm and back of it. Overall, his expression, what can be seen of it in a nearby lantern, looks perplexed.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari is already awake. She stands not far from the fire, holding herself and flinching with any loud crackle of the flame. She turns all at once toward Frarin and walks to him where he studies his hand. She drops to a kneel beside him. "Frarin," she whispers. She blinks wide once. "Something's wrong."
Even the guard has briefly become a bit lax. Those who are awake are twitching and slapping their hands and looking rather perplexed, much like Frarin.
[Frarin] Frarin continues breathing hard and staring at his hand, even as Thari comes towards him. When she speaks, his eyes flick sideways for a second, but then he clasps his hand into a fist, then spreads the fingers again. With a deep breath, he shakes his head, looking up to Thari. "Yes, something is," he rumbles low. His fist continues to clench and unclench. "My hand is tingling and--" clench, unclench "--I cannot make it go away."
Sweat is gathered under his eyes and it glistens in the poor light as he looks to Thari. "And I have been having dreams. Troubling...dreams." He nods towards a few of the guards. "Are the others feeling the same? How are you?"
[Thari(#31038)]
"My arms." Thari's hands rub up and down her arms. "I don't--" She crawls closer to him and presses her brow to his shoulder. "I thought I was the only one. I don't-- I can't-- I won't say the things I've seen." She reaches out for his clenching fist.
[Frarin] Frarin allows his fist to be taken by Thari and his tingling fingers wrap around her hand. He shakes his head again, blinking, as if his thoughts are somewhat jumbled. "Seen? While...while sleeping?" He blinks again, his train of thought abruptly switching paths. "I have not touched the meat. I have had vegetable broth and bread for the previous two days. But by the Maker, I have only rarely felt ill like this before."
[Thari(#31038)]
"Frarin." Thari's eyes squeeze shut, her hands wrapping around his tingling fingers. "You would think me mad if I told you what I am seeing." She whispers this in an urgent tone.
[Frarin] "Seeing?" Frarin says, his attention returning to Thari. His lips part, making his breathing louder and more obvious. "Not when you are sleeping, you mean?" A wary glance is cast about, but Frarin as usual has made his bed near the edge of camp and there are no guards within hearing range. "There is something wrong, Thari. You...you said it yourself. I do not think you mad." His words are almost jittery, with odd spaces inserted as if his jumbled thought process continues. Again his head is shaken. "We can't...This is madness. Is everyone being affected?"
[Lucy(#29415)] From beyond the dark line of trees, two hulking figures plot and plan. The smaller ones have been seen - actually, their scent is what brought the beasts closer. That, and their hope to spring a plan into action! "No traps yet" Lucy urges, a thick finger raises to the lips of the taller giant, and she moves forward into the trees.. attempting a silent approach to observe the camping furry-faced beings more closely.
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver's eyes brighten and he raises onto his tiptoes and creeps up behind Lucy, peering over he shoulder. A troll tiptoeing - what a crazy sight.
[Thari(#31038)]
"When I close my eyes," Thari murmurs, "There's the colors. Do you see the colors?" The smaller dwarf's head lifts. "They-- the colors... Ohh, Frarin, I shouldn't talk about it. What, what, are you sick too?"
[Frarin] Frarin's eyes widen at Thari, but in a distant, almost distracted manner. He shakes his head and starts to stand, throwing his blankets off of him and pulling his boots on. "No," he says, "I don't see colours. But I dream of falling mountains, only to be rebuilt, to become forests, which are then only bushes." Yet again he shakes his head. "I don't know. I feel...distracted. By the Maker."
Lucy glaces quietly to Ollie, frowning a little as his tip-toeing before turning large yellow eyes to the others. She listens, for now .. and does an impressive impression of a rather large mound of earth. One seems to be getting up to move, fetching his boots. Lucy smiles - heeere fuzzyfuzzyfuzzy!
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver antses impatiently. Finally, he hisses (quietly, of course!), "Make traps!" And jabs Lucy in the back.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari stands as Frarin does, hands hanging limply. "It's lovely, but it whirls, and..." Oliver whispers. Thari's head turns and the littler dwarf sways. "There's more. I see eyes," she murmurs.
[Frarin] Frarin comes fully to his feet and clutches suddenly at the back of his head, teeth gritting almost as if he has been struck from behind. He stands thus for a moment, then reaches down and retrieves his belt and hammer. And, unusually, he does not reply directly to Thari. "I am going...to relieve one of the lads. I can't sleep like this. I woke up shaking." The healer is almost ignored.
[Lucy(#29415)] The eyes squint as she watches them, curious to their behavior. They seem to be behaving much differently than they have before. One or the both of them seem to be in pain, but she does not see any evidence of injury. "Quiet!" she whispers to Ollie, then points his attention toward the one moving away.
[Ollie(#15066)] Ollie grins, exposing jagged teeth, and he nods enthusiastically, taking her gesture for an order: Go Get It, Ollie! And carefully, stealthily, still tip-toeing, he sneaks through the trees. "Traps," he murmurs to himself. "Ollie makes traps too!"
Such a pity that 'sneaking' for a troll involves so much noise! A branch breaks, a stone rolls - Oliver is sublimely oblivious, entirely fixated on his 'trap'.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's lips twitch into a smile briefly, looking away toward where Lucy and Ollie are. If they are seen is uncertain, considering the welcoming smile that is given, but the smaller dwarf's head turns back toward Frarin. "Wait!" Thari gasps. "No... I..." The healer's face crumples up as if to weep, though no tears come.
[Frarin] "Thari, come now," Frarin says in that same distracted tone. His gaze is distant. "Come on, get up." The silversmith is unusually impatient this night, reaching for Thari's shoulder as the healer looks on the verge of tears. He reaches down again, this time bringing a small chain mail coif over his head. But all in all he looks dishevelled, and there is sweat still under his eyes. "Thari, you should go back to--"
Frarin cuts off, though not abruptly. Rather, his voice drifts off as a strange series of noises, heard and yet not heard, finally break through his jumbled thoughts. Several of the sentries have begun to murmur among themselves. Frarin holds the back of his head again, squinting into the darkness where the sounds come from.
Lucy does not notice Ollie's overenthusiastic advance toward the dwarves. It is only when he is out of her reach that she nears the snapping twig that she realizes he is on the move. "No!" she hisses, turning to go toward him. "Not trapz Ollie! Not time!" Lucy rushes ahead, ignoring now the previous attempts at being 'quiet'. Her momentum carries her a little too quickly forward and she bumps into Ollie with a loud *SMACK*.
[Ollie(#15066)] "....Not traps?" Oliver asks, utterly confused. He stops, just in time for Lucy to crash into him from behind, and sways off-balance, waving his arms wildly to keep from falling. A futile effort - he topples face-fowards against a tree (which cracks and splinters, but does manage to break the troll's fall). Leaning there, face mashed against the bark, he is silent. Then there is a spitting noise. Then... "Lucy? It has eated up my eyes!"
[Thari(#31038)]
"I am standing!" Thari's sorrow turns in a flash to irritation. "I--" THe littler dwarf stumbles sideways at a crash and the various commotions to follow. Thari moans and cradles head in hands. "Frarin! Everything's swirling! The road is breathing!"
[Frarin] "Oh for Durin's sake, Thari!" Frarin grumbles, still holding his head. But now some of the guards are moving about and even Frarin's fubbling thought process can grasp the fact that not all is quite right. Again with unusual abruptness, he takes a hold of Thari's shoulder and pushes the healer down towards his bedroll. "Go to sleep, Thari. Just go back to sleep. I'm...going to see what's going on."
It is the Trollshaws and a clear-headed Frarin might first be more concerned about disturbances, and second be wary about leaving Thari alone. But the silversmith is neither this night. He shuffles towards a pair of sentries. "What's going on, lads?" Frarin grumbles, rubbing at his temple.
"Something rustling about out there. And a loud snap or slap or something," one of the guards answers. "Should we wake the others?" Frarin makes no reply.
[Ollie(#15066)] There is silence from the woods. Whatever was stumbling or bumbling or creeping about out there apparently isn't. Silence.
Then a rumbly gravelly whisper. "Lucy? It has eated up my eyes!" Oliver is beginning to sound a little panicked.
[Lucy(#29415)] "What eated Ollie's eyes??" Lucy's rump had found the ground when Ollie flailed into the tree. She gets to her feet with a groan, and tromps toward the tree to look him over. She seems to have forgotten the dwarves. "Ollie stuck?" she pushes a finger against the splintered tree.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari is pushed down to the bedroll. The healer lands on hands and knees, head swaying. A bit of a smile is shown as Thari curls up in Frarin's bedroll.
Thari scrubs a hand through the short-cropped hair. This seems like a pleasing sensation so the little dwaf does it again. Then a third time.
[Frarin] "Master Frarin, should we wake the others?" The sentry is asking Frarin again, which seems the pull the silversmith out of a distracted trance. He sucks in a sharp breath, shaking his head and staring at the two guards. One is holding the back of his head like Frarin, periodically scratching at his arm.
"What? Yes, oh, yes." That is all Frarin says, for then he is looking back into the darkness. Is that...rocks gravelling against one another? Or a voice? Hard to tell. Frarin takes a step away from camp just as one of the sentries retreats to awaken the camp. Still with that distant look, Frarin is at least making some effort to focus his attention on whatever the rumbling disturbance is. Behind him, the camp begins to come to life.
[Ollie(#15066)] "Stuck," Oliver moans, but Lucy's presences seems to calm him. "Hasn't gots no heads no more," he continues, with a sort of doleful satisfaction. "Hasn't gots no eyes. Hasn't gots no.... moufs...." This brings an abrupt and sudden return of terror. No mouth means no eating! "OLLIE CAN'T EATS WIF NO MOUFS!" he wails.
[Lucy(#29415)] In a moment of brilliance, Lucy reaches out and patpats Ollie's shoulder. "Ollie has mouf.. cuz Ollie talkin. See?" She wanders around the tree and around Ollie, large head tilting to assess the situation. She stands behind him, thick hands reaching for his ears. "Lucy gonna pull Ollie out." she announces, and IMMEDIATELY begins pulling back.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari has obediently curled up in the bedroll to sleep, when along comes another dwarf sent to rouse the camp.
"Up you go, Thari!" says a sentry with a shake of the shoulder. "Get your shield and helm!
Muttering, Thari rolls to the feet, and then there's a deep, wailing voice bellowing through the forest. The healer stumbles toward a different bedroll.
[Frarin] The wail rends the night air and brings even Frarin slamming back into the present. His eyes widen and very suddenly his mood is changed. His distracted faraway look is replaced by urgency, but a disjointed, disorganised urgency very much unlike the silversmith. "Hear that!" he cries suddenly, war hammer coming forth from his belt. "Defend the edges of camp! Somebody go take a look! Where's...where's...everyone?"
Everyone is, in fact, right around him. But several are beginning to wander aimlessly towards the noise with that same distant look in their eyes. One or two are doubled over as if in pain.
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver can't nod, his head is caught between to branches. But he sees the sense of Lucy's explanation at once! Of course! He is talking, he clearly has a mouth! And to make sure he continues to have a mouth, he'd better continue to talk! "Ollie has moufs," he says hurriedly. "Big moufs for eating elfs with. Ollie wants elfs. Nice elfs, sweet elfs, elfs with ....AAAAAAIIIIIEIEEEEEE!" But Lucy's ministrations have the desired effect - he is free, rubbing his head tenderly.
Lucy stumblesteps back, but does not fall. She smiles, near beaming, at the oh-so-good idea she had. Suddenly remembering why they're here to begin with, she starts shhh'ing him at once. "Ollie!" she hisses, and puts a finger near her lips again as she listens.. the sounds of the dwarf camp being easily heard now as they begin to mill about, and approach the trees.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari indeed had a bit of hustle to start out with. Several quick steps were taken toward the bedroll with the shield and the helm. The axe was pulled out. However, midway, the fire was noticed. They flicker a lot, fires. Lovely colors like blue and yellow and white. Thari became rather distracted for a few moments.
Once the slack-jawed staring is done, Thari looks around, swaying. The healer wanders vaguely toward Frarin.
[Frarin] Frarin's teeth are clenched, his head pounding in his ears again. But the mighty wailing of Ollie's torment brings the silversmith's eyes up, focusing and unfocusing and focusing again. He abruptly begins walking towards the woods, grabbing a lantern from the sentry next to him and holding it up. Wander alone towards the woods at night with strange sounds around yes, that sounds like a good idea. But hey, there's other dwarves wandering out too, right?
[Ollie(#15066)] An abrupt silence falls. Oliver too, recalled to memory by Lucy, has refocused on the dwarves. He nods eagerly, and sneaks back to stand beside the other troll, craning his head to see around a tree trunk and watch the dwarves.
Lucy watches as the dwarves approach, though something is most certainly not right. Lucy smiles at the thought of easy prey, and turns to whisper to Ollie. "Ollie get one?" she asks, a slight tease to her tone as she points to one doubled-over and closest to the line of trees. "Ollie be quick and grabbit up.. then Ollie hide again. It a game! Hide'n'Grab'n'Hide. See?"
[Thari(#31038)]
"Frar..." Thari squints, blinks, then squints again, moving toward the silversmith. A bracing hand is laid against a tree while passing it at the edge of the road. Frarin wanders toward the trolls and Thari is following him. "Frarin?"
[Frarin] "What?" Frarin turns around at the call of his name. Once again his mood flip flops and he becomes irritable, turning his back on the woods and heading back towards Thari. "Thari, if you're not well, then go back to your bed. I am...I have things to do. I--" He breaks off as the pounding in his head returns. "Oh for Durin's sake," he mutters to himself, his knuckles turning white as he grips his war hammer. His headaches, distracted thinking, and the noises from the trolls seem to have frustrated him to no end.
[Ollie(#15066)] Catch and hide. Oliver's nodding becomes more vigorous. "Catch," he says to himself softly, moving both hands together in a great mock-hug. "Hide!" And he leaps out from behind the tree, snatching for the nearest dwarf.
Lucy simply watches the feat, keeping an eye out for the others in case they decide to foolishly attack.
[Thari(#31038)]
"But, Frarin," Thari says in a rather wounded tone, "I--"
Whatever profound and no doubt utterly sensible thing Thari was about to say is lost. Ollie's big hand curves around the healer's midsection and Thari's feet are off of the ground. "Durin!" the smallest dwarf gasps. "Everything's swirlin' now!"
[Frarin] Frarin's mouth is already open to make an irritable reply to the healer when a huge bulk suddenly appears in the light of the lantern and snatches Thari into the darkness. Whatever jumbled thought Frarin might be sifting through, that particular sight seems to register. "Thari!" he cries abruptly, hammer rising unsteadily as he lurches into the woods. The lantern is dropped without a thought. Somewhere he can see a dark figure, blacker than the shadows, behind the yelling form of Thari. The mallet of the silversmith's hammer swings out blindly at the bulk.
You blindly attack Ollie with your War Hammer...
[Combat(#13388)->Frarin]
Ollie dodges your attack.
Ranol has connected.
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver, having cleverly CAUGHT his prize (on the first try even!) leaps back into the woods. "Hide!" he crows gleefully, holding up Thari in both hands, and entirely unaware of Frarin's swinging hammer behind him.
[+LIGHT:#31050] Frarin lights lantern.
[+LIGHT] You create a light source named "lantern" in your inventory with 959 minutes of fuel.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari is being held two-handed by a large, smelly troll. Lots of responses are appropriate to this sort of situation, but all the healer can think to do is hang head and groan.
Finally, Thari's head tilts back to look up at Ollie. "Durin," the caught dwarf moans in a thick voice. "You're real, aren't you?"
[Frarin] "Yes Thari! It's real!" Frarin is calling after Thari as the healer dreamily addresses the hulking troll. Bushes flap back at the silversmith's face as he barrels with unusual disregard for wariness through the woods after Ollie and Thari. Again his hammer flies out, hitting either wood or troll, who can say.
You attack Ollie with your War Hammer...
[Combat(#13388)->Frarin]
Ollie parries your attack with his Club!
[Ranol(#26812)] Another dwarf is attempting to come to Thari's rescue. It is Ranol, son of Ranor! His left arm is still in a sling from the last encounter with the troll, but he's at least wearing the rest of his armor. He's moving a bit slow, but has his sword out as he stumbles through the brush and undergrowth. He pauses once or twice when he's convinced that a tree is some creature reaching to grab him, but shakes his head and continues on.
[Ollie(#15066)] The hammer (unseen, unnoticed) smashes into a treetrunk behind Oliver as he gloats. And then... it speaks! Just as he told Lucy it would. "Talks!" he says gleefully. And then his voice turns to an order. "Yer carveens," he says to Thari, sternly.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari blinks owlishly up at Ollie, axe and axe-arm pinned against his palm. "Carveens," the dwarf says thickly. "Yes." Thari's head lolls to the side, eyes rolling up, then straightens again. "What-- I---"
And then a shout is mustered. "FRARIN!"
[Frarin] "I'm commmingg!" Frarin hollers back, his words slurring now with both his jumbled thoughts and his running. He is thrust back from a particularly thick bush at one point, but rounds it after some thrashing in the darkness. There! Again there is a dark figure looming in front of Frarin and it is saying something about 'carveens'? Haplessly unaware of his own danger, the impaired silversmith swings again at Ollie, this time aiming the spike of his hammer at the troll's dark bulk.
You attack Ollie with your War Hammer...
[Combat(#13388)->Frarin]
Your attack against Ollie moderately wounds him!
Ranol hears Thari yelling and his guard-sense tingles more. He hurries in that direction, but pulls up sharply when he sees the trolls. His blue eyes widen considerably. He rushes in then to help Frarin, swinging his sword at the troll's leg with rather hefty dillusions of granduer.
[Combat(#13388)] Ranol wields Short Broadsword.
Ranol attacks Ollie with his Short Broadsword and mildly wounds him!
[Ollie(#15066)] This time, the hammer doesn't miss. And Oliver isn't so distracted by his prize that he doesn't feel the point of the weapon digging into the back of his leg. He lets out a roar, shifting Thari to one hand instead of two (and holding tight so as not to lose her), and feels for his club. Not finding it, his hand closes about a sapling, which he jerks from the ground. Ranol's sword bounces off his calf, possibly leaving a bruise.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari gags while being shifted in the air. The healer tries to take a breath and find that there isn't much room. Still, a bit of air is sucked in, just enough for a hearty scream. This is loosed as the entire universe seems to spin around Thari's head.
[Frarin] "Let him go!" Frarin yells at Ollie, barely registering the arrival of Ranol, who is just another dark figure. The troll's struggle to twist off a sapling is noted, but the silversmith does not attack again. At last some ounce of sensibility works its way into his troubled thoughts - perhaps that adrenaline is temporarily paying off. "Let him go and we'll leave you alone! But let him go!" The hammer is held ready for another attack.
Ranol is about to swing at the troll again, but Frarin's words give him pause. He backs off. "Yes! Let him go! We won't bother you!" The clan-karl echoes Frarin's promise, eying that sapling with some concern. He doesn't have his shield since his arm is still in a sling, and that was what saved him from worse injuries before.
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver turns, glaring at the two small dwarves who are bouncing around his knees. "Mine," he says possessively. "Ollie catches, Ollie hides." Then a cunning smile creeps across his face, and he whispers loudly to Lucy. "Yer catches 'em!" He backs up a step. "Comes here," he wheedles, grinning at the dwarves. "Yers comes here..." Another step back.
Frarin draws a deep, shaky breath, head still aching as he shakes it. But hopefully even a muddled dwarf is smarter than a troll, and fortunately something pushes through Frarin's clouded judgment. He stays firmly planted to the ground, glaring in the darkness at Ollie's wheedling. "Well Ollie's been caught," Frarin slurs out, blinking rapidly. "So not very good at hiding, see? So...give him back."
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari is breathing shallowly and seems rather uninterested in the proceedings, eyes focussing on the underside of the leaves above. Something brings the little dwarf out of it and the face is tilted back toward Ollie. "Master troll?" Thari sways, but continues to speak with firm concentration. "What are carveens?"
Ranol looks over at Frarin in confusion, then realizes what's going on. He looks back up at Ollie. "He's right. We caught you. You put him down and then we'll go find you again. But you have to put him down first."
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver's forehead wrinkles in a frown. "Ollie not hides," he repeats. And then a brilliant light of comprehension spreads across his face. "Hides better!" he declares, and turns to shove his way back further into the trees. Thari's question brings an absent response, "Carveens. Makes little rocks that walks an' talks."
[Frarin] "No no!" Frarin cries, quickly pursuing Ollie as the troll runs again. "Put him down first! Then, then, then...try again! Then try again!" Jumbled and slurred are his words as he is slapped again with flying branches. "Ollie! Put him down or get bit again!"
Lucy's eyes seem to almost glow in the darkness as she watches the scene with impish delight. She cheers Ollie on, and watches the others scatter about, some stumbling here and there sluggishly. Motioning for Ollie now, "Give Lucy... go snatch 'nuther! Ollie so fast.. so sneaky!" A compliment? From Lucy? Surely she's up to something - and she is - and she hopes Ollie is having too much fun to notice.
[Thari(#31038)]
"Ooohhhh," Thari moans again as the troll shoves backwards. The little dwarf hangs sideways and looks nearly green, or would if it weren't so dark. "Carveens," Thari mumbles as if to herself. "Carveens. Oooh, I'm sick. I have carveens."
[Ranol(#26812)] "No!! Put him -down- Ollie! Otherwise he'll yell a lot and give away your hiding spot!" Ranol struggles to appeal to the troll's level of wit, but he's not terribly experienced with such negotiations. He rushes after Ollie, his sword hacking at branches in his way. As long as he focuses on one thing, the weird disorienting vision isn't too bad.
[Thari(#31038)]
"Ooohhhh," Thari moans again as the troll shoves backwards. The little dwarf hangs sideways and looks nearly green, or would if it weren't so dark. "Carveens," Thari mumbles as if to herself. "Carveens. Oooh, I'm sick. I have carveens."
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver's face is alight with glee. This game is fun! "Mine!" he shouts to Lucy, exuberance over-ruling stealth. "Yer gets yer own!" And he flails still through the woods - though Ranol's words give him pause. "Yells?" He half-hesitates, looking closely at Thari. "Not yelling," he decides - the silence though has let her words be heard. "Gives!" he demands, abruptly ignoring both other dwarves and Lucy too. "Yer gives Ollie carveens!"
[Frarin] The voice of another troll causes Frarin's head to swivel, not having previously registered Ollie's address to Lucy. But the silversmith is unable to multitask in his state and his glance sideways sends him flying headlong into the dark mass of a high bush and from thence to the ground. "Oof!" Frarin spits, wiping soil from his mouth as he struggles to come to his feet. He sways rockily once he is standing again. But his momentary recognition of Lucy's presence is forgotten.
"Ollie," Frarin grunts at the troll once Ollie has paused to demand the mysterious 'carveens' from Thari. "Ollie, he can't get you carveens with you holding him. Put him down, put him down."
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's eyes squeeze shut as Oliver speaks so sternly and closely. "Durin!" the little dwarf gasps. "The smells are singing now and they ain't pretty!"
Another gasp and a thick swallow. "Carveens." Thari's head lolls back and again the underside of the leaves begin their seductive singing. A half-smile. "Carveens!" Thari's head jerks up. "At the camp!"
Ranol stops and looks over at Frarin. He makes sure the silver merchant is recovering from the fall on his own, then swings his gaze back up to Ollie. "That's right. Put him down to get the carveens.. " He sheaths his sword and holds his free hand out in a non-threatening manner. His left arm is in the sling, hardly something for the troll to worry about.
Lucy frowns toward Ollie as he refuses to cooperate! The nerve... She sighs as the dwarves seem to be completely drawn toward Ollie since he held one of their own in his grip. Begrudgingly, she follows.. essentially falling in behind what dwarves have taken up chase.
[Ollie(#15066)] "Ollie catched it," the troll sings happily to himself. He turns his head to find Lucy, so she can share in his triumph. "Ollie /catched/ it!" he tells her, "An' its got carveens!" But now he becomes a bit confused. "Where's carveens?" he asks Thari, holding her up so he can look her in the face.
[Frarin] Frarin begins to edge towards Ollie, but when the troll begins addressing another, the silversmith turns to look behind him, where Ollie is looking. Lucy! A troll all too familiar to Frarin, unique for her gruesome crown. Frarin jumps to the side so that he may see both giants simply by turning his head, though doing so seems to pain him still. But he doesn't say anything, all of his effort focused on keeping his attention on the two trolls at once, which seems quite an effort indeed.
[Thari(#31038)]
The trip upward makes Thari go all floppy again. "Camp, camp!" the dwarf moans to Ollie. Thari's eyes open again, look at Ollie's face, and there is a sudden deep terrified scream, as if the situation in its entirety has only just occurred to the dwarf.
Ranol cringes at the mistreatment of his cousin. He battles away a wave of helplessness and raises his voice to address the troll again. "Ollie.. Ollie, listen! If you scare him too much, he can't get you the carveens. Put him -down- and he'll show you. Back in the camp, he can show you if you put him down." He avoids looking back at Lucy, not wanting to turn his attention from Ollie.
[Ollie(#15066)] There are voices babbling at him from every side, and none will tell him where the carveens are, nor produce one for his amusement. Oliver looks frowning towards Lucy... but she too has abandoned him! Sulkily, he turns on his heels and takes off, lengthening his stride to leave the pestersome two behind, dragging the makeshift club behind, and carrying his treasure - careful, more or less, not to squish it too hard.
[Frarin] "Thaaarrri!" Frarin's usual composure is broken with his mental state and his emotions well up as Thari and Ollie disappear into the darkness. "ThariThariThari!" Although it is dark, his face is turning red and now it is more than sweat beneath his eyes. He runs after the troll, the wide trail easy enough to follow even despite the night. Ranol is ignored, Lucy is ignored, and Frarin's hammer is swinging. But Ollie is barreling through the forest, the troll's giant strides easily outpacing the disoriented silversmith's.
Soon the sound of crashing has grown faint, but on Frarin jogs. In only a short time, the sounds are gone entirely and only the night time noises of the Trollshaws accompany Frarin. But the trail at least remains. On Frarin chases.
[Ranol(#26812)] "Oh.. Durin.. Oh.. hell.. " Ranol looks back towards the camp, then on to where the troll ran off and Frarin's desperate chase. He scrubs his hand through his hair in indecision, then tries to sort through his muddled thoughts what Braldor would want him to do. Rescue Thari. Yes. That is most important. The clan-karl hurries after Frarin, tripping once or twice from impaired mental facilities, but at least he's been getting a lot of rest lately.
East Road - Near the Trollshaws
The road here passes through rolling hills. There is hardly any difference between east and west, but the land seems to be rising to the west and dropping to the east. A small footpath leaves the road toward the south. The surrounding forest looms close to the road here and, though your light enables you to find your way, you can see no great distance in the darkness.
Contents:
Thari
Dwarven Camp
Bundle of things
Obvious exits:
Shepherding Village, North, East, and West
[Frarin] The hour is late here in the Trollshaws and the camp of dwarves quiet. About it lurk creeping shadows, but also the heavy guard established during the dwarves' passage through this troubled area. The dark figures of sentries are outlined against a few sparse lanterns, but the rest of the company is in sleep.
Well, almost. Frarin is awake even at this hour, sitting up on his bedroll. His breathing is heavy and in great heaves as if he has just awoken, but not pleasantry, rather like as one waking from a nightmare. He is blinking also, frequently and quickly as if to clear his mind. And his right hand is held before him, turning over as he inspects the palm and back of it. Overall, his expression, what can be seen of it in a nearby lantern, looks perplexed.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari is already awake. She stands not far from the fire, holding herself and flinching with any loud crackle of the flame. She turns all at once toward Frarin and walks to him where he studies his hand. She drops to a kneel beside him. "Frarin," she whispers. She blinks wide once. "Something's wrong."
Even the guard has briefly become a bit lax. Those who are awake are twitching and slapping their hands and looking rather perplexed, much like Frarin.
[Frarin] Frarin continues breathing hard and staring at his hand, even as Thari comes towards him. When she speaks, his eyes flick sideways for a second, but then he clasps his hand into a fist, then spreads the fingers again. With a deep breath, he shakes his head, looking up to Thari. "Yes, something is," he rumbles low. His fist continues to clench and unclench. "My hand is tingling and--" clench, unclench "--I cannot make it go away."
Sweat is gathered under his eyes and it glistens in the poor light as he looks to Thari. "And I have been having dreams. Troubling...dreams." He nods towards a few of the guards. "Are the others feeling the same? How are you?"
[Thari(#31038)]
"My arms." Thari's hands rub up and down her arms. "I don't--" She crawls closer to him and presses her brow to his shoulder. "I thought I was the only one. I don't-- I can't-- I won't say the things I've seen." She reaches out for his clenching fist.
[Frarin] Frarin allows his fist to be taken by Thari and his tingling fingers wrap around her hand. He shakes his head again, blinking, as if his thoughts are somewhat jumbled. "Seen? While...while sleeping?" He blinks again, his train of thought abruptly switching paths. "I have not touched the meat. I have had vegetable broth and bread for the previous two days. But by the Maker, I have only rarely felt ill like this before."
[Thari(#31038)]
"Frarin." Thari's eyes squeeze shut, her hands wrapping around his tingling fingers. "You would think me mad if I told you what I am seeing." She whispers this in an urgent tone.
[Frarin] "Seeing?" Frarin says, his attention returning to Thari. His lips part, making his breathing louder and more obvious. "Not when you are sleeping, you mean?" A wary glance is cast about, but Frarin as usual has made his bed near the edge of camp and there are no guards within hearing range. "There is something wrong, Thari. You...you said it yourself. I do not think you mad." His words are almost jittery, with odd spaces inserted as if his jumbled thought process continues. Again his head is shaken. "We can't...This is madness. Is everyone being affected?"
[Lucy(#29415)] From beyond the dark line of trees, two hulking figures plot and plan. The smaller ones have been seen - actually, their scent is what brought the beasts closer. That, and their hope to spring a plan into action! "No traps yet" Lucy urges, a thick finger raises to the lips of the taller giant, and she moves forward into the trees.. attempting a silent approach to observe the camping furry-faced beings more closely.
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver's eyes brighten and he raises onto his tiptoes and creeps up behind Lucy, peering over he shoulder. A troll tiptoeing - what a crazy sight.
[Thari(#31038)]
"When I close my eyes," Thari murmurs, "There's the colors. Do you see the colors?" The smaller dwarf's head lifts. "They-- the colors... Ohh, Frarin, I shouldn't talk about it. What, what, are you sick too?"
[Frarin] Frarin's eyes widen at Thari, but in a distant, almost distracted manner. He shakes his head and starts to stand, throwing his blankets off of him and pulling his boots on. "No," he says, "I don't see colours. But I dream of falling mountains, only to be rebuilt, to become forests, which are then only bushes." Yet again he shakes his head. "I don't know. I feel...distracted. By the Maker."
Lucy glaces quietly to Ollie, frowning a little as his tip-toeing before turning large yellow eyes to the others. She listens, for now .. and does an impressive impression of a rather large mound of earth. One seems to be getting up to move, fetching his boots. Lucy smiles - heeere fuzzyfuzzyfuzzy!
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver antses impatiently. Finally, he hisses (quietly, of course!), "Make traps!" And jabs Lucy in the back.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari stands as Frarin does, hands hanging limply. "It's lovely, but it whirls, and..." Oliver whispers. Thari's head turns and the littler dwarf sways. "There's more. I see eyes," she murmurs.
[Frarin] Frarin comes fully to his feet and clutches suddenly at the back of his head, teeth gritting almost as if he has been struck from behind. He stands thus for a moment, then reaches down and retrieves his belt and hammer. And, unusually, he does not reply directly to Thari. "I am going...to relieve one of the lads. I can't sleep like this. I woke up shaking." The healer is almost ignored.
[Lucy(#29415)] The eyes squint as she watches them, curious to their behavior. They seem to be behaving much differently than they have before. One or the both of them seem to be in pain, but she does not see any evidence of injury. "Quiet!" she whispers to Ollie, then points his attention toward the one moving away.
[Ollie(#15066)] Ollie grins, exposing jagged teeth, and he nods enthusiastically, taking her gesture for an order: Go Get It, Ollie! And carefully, stealthily, still tip-toeing, he sneaks through the trees. "Traps," he murmurs to himself. "Ollie makes traps too!"
Such a pity that 'sneaking' for a troll involves so much noise! A branch breaks, a stone rolls - Oliver is sublimely oblivious, entirely fixated on his 'trap'.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's lips twitch into a smile briefly, looking away toward where Lucy and Ollie are. If they are seen is uncertain, considering the welcoming smile that is given, but the smaller dwarf's head turns back toward Frarin. "Wait!" Thari gasps. "No... I..." The healer's face crumples up as if to weep, though no tears come.
[Frarin] "Thari, come now," Frarin says in that same distracted tone. His gaze is distant. "Come on, get up." The silversmith is unusually impatient this night, reaching for Thari's shoulder as the healer looks on the verge of tears. He reaches down again, this time bringing a small chain mail coif over his head. But all in all he looks dishevelled, and there is sweat still under his eyes. "Thari, you should go back to--"
Frarin cuts off, though not abruptly. Rather, his voice drifts off as a strange series of noises, heard and yet not heard, finally break through his jumbled thoughts. Several of the sentries have begun to murmur among themselves. Frarin holds the back of his head again, squinting into the darkness where the sounds come from.
Lucy does not notice Ollie's overenthusiastic advance toward the dwarves. It is only when he is out of her reach that she nears the snapping twig that she realizes he is on the move. "No!" she hisses, turning to go toward him. "Not trapz Ollie! Not time!" Lucy rushes ahead, ignoring now the previous attempts at being 'quiet'. Her momentum carries her a little too quickly forward and she bumps into Ollie with a loud *SMACK*.
[Ollie(#15066)] "....Not traps?" Oliver asks, utterly confused. He stops, just in time for Lucy to crash into him from behind, and sways off-balance, waving his arms wildly to keep from falling. A futile effort - he topples face-fowards against a tree (which cracks and splinters, but does manage to break the troll's fall). Leaning there, face mashed against the bark, he is silent. Then there is a spitting noise. Then... "Lucy? It has eated up my eyes!"
[Thari(#31038)]
"I am standing!" Thari's sorrow turns in a flash to irritation. "I--" THe littler dwarf stumbles sideways at a crash and the various commotions to follow. Thari moans and cradles head in hands. "Frarin! Everything's swirling! The road is breathing!"
[Frarin] "Oh for Durin's sake, Thari!" Frarin grumbles, still holding his head. But now some of the guards are moving about and even Frarin's fubbling thought process can grasp the fact that not all is quite right. Again with unusual abruptness, he takes a hold of Thari's shoulder and pushes the healer down towards his bedroll. "Go to sleep, Thari. Just go back to sleep. I'm...going to see what's going on."
It is the Trollshaws and a clear-headed Frarin might first be more concerned about disturbances, and second be wary about leaving Thari alone. But the silversmith is neither this night. He shuffles towards a pair of sentries. "What's going on, lads?" Frarin grumbles, rubbing at his temple.
"Something rustling about out there. And a loud snap or slap or something," one of the guards answers. "Should we wake the others?" Frarin makes no reply.
[Ollie(#15066)] There is silence from the woods. Whatever was stumbling or bumbling or creeping about out there apparently isn't. Silence.
Then a rumbly gravelly whisper. "Lucy? It has eated up my eyes!" Oliver is beginning to sound a little panicked.
[Lucy(#29415)] "What eated Ollie's eyes??" Lucy's rump had found the ground when Ollie flailed into the tree. She gets to her feet with a groan, and tromps toward the tree to look him over. She seems to have forgotten the dwarves. "Ollie stuck?" she pushes a finger against the splintered tree.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari is pushed down to the bedroll. The healer lands on hands and knees, head swaying. A bit of a smile is shown as Thari curls up in Frarin's bedroll.
Thari scrubs a hand through the short-cropped hair. This seems like a pleasing sensation so the little dwaf does it again. Then a third time.
[Frarin] "Master Frarin, should we wake the others?" The sentry is asking Frarin again, which seems the pull the silversmith out of a distracted trance. He sucks in a sharp breath, shaking his head and staring at the two guards. One is holding the back of his head like Frarin, periodically scratching at his arm.
"What? Yes, oh, yes." That is all Frarin says, for then he is looking back into the darkness. Is that...rocks gravelling against one another? Or a voice? Hard to tell. Frarin takes a step away from camp just as one of the sentries retreats to awaken the camp. Still with that distant look, Frarin is at least making some effort to focus his attention on whatever the rumbling disturbance is. Behind him, the camp begins to come to life.
[Ollie(#15066)] "Stuck," Oliver moans, but Lucy's presences seems to calm him. "Hasn't gots no heads no more," he continues, with a sort of doleful satisfaction. "Hasn't gots no eyes. Hasn't gots no.... moufs...." This brings an abrupt and sudden return of terror. No mouth means no eating! "OLLIE CAN'T EATS WIF NO MOUFS!" he wails.
[Lucy(#29415)] In a moment of brilliance, Lucy reaches out and patpats Ollie's shoulder. "Ollie has mouf.. cuz Ollie talkin. See?" She wanders around the tree and around Ollie, large head tilting to assess the situation. She stands behind him, thick hands reaching for his ears. "Lucy gonna pull Ollie out." she announces, and IMMEDIATELY begins pulling back.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari has obediently curled up in the bedroll to sleep, when along comes another dwarf sent to rouse the camp.
"Up you go, Thari!" says a sentry with a shake of the shoulder. "Get your shield and helm!
Muttering, Thari rolls to the feet, and then there's a deep, wailing voice bellowing through the forest. The healer stumbles toward a different bedroll.
[Frarin] The wail rends the night air and brings even Frarin slamming back into the present. His eyes widen and very suddenly his mood is changed. His distracted faraway look is replaced by urgency, but a disjointed, disorganised urgency very much unlike the silversmith. "Hear that!" he cries suddenly, war hammer coming forth from his belt. "Defend the edges of camp! Somebody go take a look! Where's...where's...everyone?"
Everyone is, in fact, right around him. But several are beginning to wander aimlessly towards the noise with that same distant look in their eyes. One or two are doubled over as if in pain.
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver can't nod, his head is caught between to branches. But he sees the sense of Lucy's explanation at once! Of course! He is talking, he clearly has a mouth! And to make sure he continues to have a mouth, he'd better continue to talk! "Ollie has moufs," he says hurriedly. "Big moufs for eating elfs with. Ollie wants elfs. Nice elfs, sweet elfs, elfs with ....AAAAAAIIIIIEIEEEEEE!" But Lucy's ministrations have the desired effect - he is free, rubbing his head tenderly.
Lucy stumblesteps back, but does not fall. She smiles, near beaming, at the oh-so-good idea she had. Suddenly remembering why they're here to begin with, she starts shhh'ing him at once. "Ollie!" she hisses, and puts a finger near her lips again as she listens.. the sounds of the dwarf camp being easily heard now as they begin to mill about, and approach the trees.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari indeed had a bit of hustle to start out with. Several quick steps were taken toward the bedroll with the shield and the helm. The axe was pulled out. However, midway, the fire was noticed. They flicker a lot, fires. Lovely colors like blue and yellow and white. Thari became rather distracted for a few moments.
Once the slack-jawed staring is done, Thari looks around, swaying. The healer wanders vaguely toward Frarin.
[Frarin] Frarin's teeth are clenched, his head pounding in his ears again. But the mighty wailing of Ollie's torment brings the silversmith's eyes up, focusing and unfocusing and focusing again. He abruptly begins walking towards the woods, grabbing a lantern from the sentry next to him and holding it up. Wander alone towards the woods at night with strange sounds around yes, that sounds like a good idea. But hey, there's other dwarves wandering out too, right?
[Ollie(#15066)] An abrupt silence falls. Oliver too, recalled to memory by Lucy, has refocused on the dwarves. He nods eagerly, and sneaks back to stand beside the other troll, craning his head to see around a tree trunk and watch the dwarves.
Lucy watches as the dwarves approach, though something is most certainly not right. Lucy smiles at the thought of easy prey, and turns to whisper to Ollie. "Ollie get one?" she asks, a slight tease to her tone as she points to one doubled-over and closest to the line of trees. "Ollie be quick and grabbit up.. then Ollie hide again. It a game! Hide'n'Grab'n'Hide. See?"
[Thari(#31038)]
"Frar..." Thari squints, blinks, then squints again, moving toward the silversmith. A bracing hand is laid against a tree while passing it at the edge of the road. Frarin wanders toward the trolls and Thari is following him. "Frarin?"
[Frarin] "What?" Frarin turns around at the call of his name. Once again his mood flip flops and he becomes irritable, turning his back on the woods and heading back towards Thari. "Thari, if you're not well, then go back to your bed. I am...I have things to do. I--" He breaks off as the pounding in his head returns. "Oh for Durin's sake," he mutters to himself, his knuckles turning white as he grips his war hammer. His headaches, distracted thinking, and the noises from the trolls seem to have frustrated him to no end.
[Ollie(#15066)] Catch and hide. Oliver's nodding becomes more vigorous. "Catch," he says to himself softly, moving both hands together in a great mock-hug. "Hide!" And he leaps out from behind the tree, snatching for the nearest dwarf.
Lucy simply watches the feat, keeping an eye out for the others in case they decide to foolishly attack.
[Thari(#31038)]
"But, Frarin," Thari says in a rather wounded tone, "I--"
Whatever profound and no doubt utterly sensible thing Thari was about to say is lost. Ollie's big hand curves around the healer's midsection and Thari's feet are off of the ground. "Durin!" the smallest dwarf gasps. "Everything's swirlin' now!"
[Frarin] Frarin's mouth is already open to make an irritable reply to the healer when a huge bulk suddenly appears in the light of the lantern and snatches Thari into the darkness. Whatever jumbled thought Frarin might be sifting through, that particular sight seems to register. "Thari!" he cries abruptly, hammer rising unsteadily as he lurches into the woods. The lantern is dropped without a thought. Somewhere he can see a dark figure, blacker than the shadows, behind the yelling form of Thari. The mallet of the silversmith's hammer swings out blindly at the bulk.
You blindly attack Ollie with your War Hammer...
[Combat(#13388)->Frarin]
Ollie dodges your attack.
Ranol has connected.
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver, having cleverly CAUGHT his prize (on the first try even!) leaps back into the woods. "Hide!" he crows gleefully, holding up Thari in both hands, and entirely unaware of Frarin's swinging hammer behind him.
[+LIGHT:#31050] Frarin lights lantern.
[+LIGHT] You create a light source named "lantern" in your inventory with 959 minutes of fuel.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari is being held two-handed by a large, smelly troll. Lots of responses are appropriate to this sort of situation, but all the healer can think to do is hang head and groan.
Finally, Thari's head tilts back to look up at Ollie. "Durin," the caught dwarf moans in a thick voice. "You're real, aren't you?"
[Frarin] "Yes Thari! It's real!" Frarin is calling after Thari as the healer dreamily addresses the hulking troll. Bushes flap back at the silversmith's face as he barrels with unusual disregard for wariness through the woods after Ollie and Thari. Again his hammer flies out, hitting either wood or troll, who can say.
You attack Ollie with your War Hammer...
[Combat(#13388)->Frarin]
Ollie parries your attack with his Club!
[Ranol(#26812)] Another dwarf is attempting to come to Thari's rescue. It is Ranol, son of Ranor! His left arm is still in a sling from the last encounter with the troll, but he's at least wearing the rest of his armor. He's moving a bit slow, but has his sword out as he stumbles through the brush and undergrowth. He pauses once or twice when he's convinced that a tree is some creature reaching to grab him, but shakes his head and continues on.
[Ollie(#15066)] The hammer (unseen, unnoticed) smashes into a treetrunk behind Oliver as he gloats. And then... it speaks! Just as he told Lucy it would. "Talks!" he says gleefully. And then his voice turns to an order. "Yer carveens," he says to Thari, sternly.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari blinks owlishly up at Ollie, axe and axe-arm pinned against his palm. "Carveens," the dwarf says thickly. "Yes." Thari's head lolls to the side, eyes rolling up, then straightens again. "What-- I---"
And then a shout is mustered. "FRARIN!"
[Frarin] "I'm commmingg!" Frarin hollers back, his words slurring now with both his jumbled thoughts and his running. He is thrust back from a particularly thick bush at one point, but rounds it after some thrashing in the darkness. There! Again there is a dark figure looming in front of Frarin and it is saying something about 'carveens'? Haplessly unaware of his own danger, the impaired silversmith swings again at Ollie, this time aiming the spike of his hammer at the troll's dark bulk.
You attack Ollie with your War Hammer...
[Combat(#13388)->Frarin]
Your attack against Ollie moderately wounds him!
Ranol hears Thari yelling and his guard-sense tingles more. He hurries in that direction, but pulls up sharply when he sees the trolls. His blue eyes widen considerably. He rushes in then to help Frarin, swinging his sword at the troll's leg with rather hefty dillusions of granduer.
[Combat(#13388)] Ranol wields Short Broadsword.
Ranol attacks Ollie with his Short Broadsword and mildly wounds him!
[Ollie(#15066)] This time, the hammer doesn't miss. And Oliver isn't so distracted by his prize that he doesn't feel the point of the weapon digging into the back of his leg. He lets out a roar, shifting Thari to one hand instead of two (and holding tight so as not to lose her), and feels for his club. Not finding it, his hand closes about a sapling, which he jerks from the ground. Ranol's sword bounces off his calf, possibly leaving a bruise.
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari gags while being shifted in the air. The healer tries to take a breath and find that there isn't much room. Still, a bit of air is sucked in, just enough for a hearty scream. This is loosed as the entire universe seems to spin around Thari's head.
[Frarin] "Let him go!" Frarin yells at Ollie, barely registering the arrival of Ranol, who is just another dark figure. The troll's struggle to twist off a sapling is noted, but the silversmith does not attack again. At last some ounce of sensibility works its way into his troubled thoughts - perhaps that adrenaline is temporarily paying off. "Let him go and we'll leave you alone! But let him go!" The hammer is held ready for another attack.
Ranol is about to swing at the troll again, but Frarin's words give him pause. He backs off. "Yes! Let him go! We won't bother you!" The clan-karl echoes Frarin's promise, eying that sapling with some concern. He doesn't have his shield since his arm is still in a sling, and that was what saved him from worse injuries before.
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver turns, glaring at the two small dwarves who are bouncing around his knees. "Mine," he says possessively. "Ollie catches, Ollie hides." Then a cunning smile creeps across his face, and he whispers loudly to Lucy. "Yer catches 'em!" He backs up a step. "Comes here," he wheedles, grinning at the dwarves. "Yers comes here..." Another step back.
Frarin draws a deep, shaky breath, head still aching as he shakes it. But hopefully even a muddled dwarf is smarter than a troll, and fortunately something pushes through Frarin's clouded judgment. He stays firmly planted to the ground, glaring in the darkness at Ollie's wheedling. "Well Ollie's been caught," Frarin slurs out, blinking rapidly. "So not very good at hiding, see? So...give him back."
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari is breathing shallowly and seems rather uninterested in the proceedings, eyes focussing on the underside of the leaves above. Something brings the little dwarf out of it and the face is tilted back toward Ollie. "Master troll?" Thari sways, but continues to speak with firm concentration. "What are carveens?"
Ranol looks over at Frarin in confusion, then realizes what's going on. He looks back up at Ollie. "He's right. We caught you. You put him down and then we'll go find you again. But you have to put him down first."
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver's forehead wrinkles in a frown. "Ollie not hides," he repeats. And then a brilliant light of comprehension spreads across his face. "Hides better!" he declares, and turns to shove his way back further into the trees. Thari's question brings an absent response, "Carveens. Makes little rocks that walks an' talks."
[Frarin] "No no!" Frarin cries, quickly pursuing Ollie as the troll runs again. "Put him down first! Then, then, then...try again! Then try again!" Jumbled and slurred are his words as he is slapped again with flying branches. "Ollie! Put him down or get bit again!"
Lucy's eyes seem to almost glow in the darkness as she watches the scene with impish delight. She cheers Ollie on, and watches the others scatter about, some stumbling here and there sluggishly. Motioning for Ollie now, "Give Lucy... go snatch 'nuther! Ollie so fast.. so sneaky!" A compliment? From Lucy? Surely she's up to something - and she is - and she hopes Ollie is having too much fun to notice.
[Thari(#31038)]
"Ooohhhh," Thari moans again as the troll shoves backwards. The little dwarf hangs sideways and looks nearly green, or would if it weren't so dark. "Carveens," Thari mumbles as if to herself. "Carveens. Oooh, I'm sick. I have carveens."
[Ranol(#26812)] "No!! Put him -down- Ollie! Otherwise he'll yell a lot and give away your hiding spot!" Ranol struggles to appeal to the troll's level of wit, but he's not terribly experienced with such negotiations. He rushes after Ollie, his sword hacking at branches in his way. As long as he focuses on one thing, the weird disorienting vision isn't too bad.
[Thari(#31038)]
"Ooohhhh," Thari moans again as the troll shoves backwards. The little dwarf hangs sideways and looks nearly green, or would if it weren't so dark. "Carveens," Thari mumbles as if to herself. "Carveens. Oooh, I'm sick. I have carveens."
[Ollie(#15066)] Oliver's face is alight with glee. This game is fun! "Mine!" he shouts to Lucy, exuberance over-ruling stealth. "Yer gets yer own!" And he flails still through the woods - though Ranol's words give him pause. "Yells?" He half-hesitates, looking closely at Thari. "Not yelling," he decides - the silence though has let her words be heard. "Gives!" he demands, abruptly ignoring both other dwarves and Lucy too. "Yer gives Ollie carveens!"
[Frarin] The voice of another troll causes Frarin's head to swivel, not having previously registered Ollie's address to Lucy. But the silversmith is unable to multitask in his state and his glance sideways sends him flying headlong into the dark mass of a high bush and from thence to the ground. "Oof!" Frarin spits, wiping soil from his mouth as he struggles to come to his feet. He sways rockily once he is standing again. But his momentary recognition of Lucy's presence is forgotten.
"Ollie," Frarin grunts at the troll once Ollie has paused to demand the mysterious 'carveens' from Thari. "Ollie, he can't get you carveens with you holding him. Put him down, put him down."
[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's eyes squeeze shut as Oliver speaks so sternly and closely. "Durin!" the little dwarf gasps. "The smells are singing now and they ain't pretty!"
Another gasp and a thick swallow. "Carveens." Thari's head lolls back and again the underside of the leaves begin their seductive singing. A half-smile. "Carveens!" Thari's head jerks up. "At the camp!"
Ranol stops and looks over at Frarin. He makes sure the silver merchant is recovering from the fall on his own, then swings his gaze back up to Ollie. "That's right. Put him down to get the carveens.. " He sheaths his sword and holds his free hand out in a non-threatening manner. His left arm is in the sling, hardly something for the troll to worry about.
Lucy frowns toward Ollie as he refuses to cooperate! The nerve... She sighs as the dwarves seem to be completely drawn toward Ollie since he held one of their own in his grip. Begrudgingly, she follows.. essentially falling in behind what dwarves have taken up chase.
[Ollie(#15066)] "Ollie catched it," the troll sings happily to himself. He turns his head to find Lucy, so she can share in his triumph. "Ollie /catched/ it!" he tells her, "An' its got carveens!" But now he becomes a bit confused. "Where's carveens?" he asks Thari, holding her up so he can look her in the face.
[Frarin] Frarin begins to edge towards Ollie, but when the troll begins addressing another, the silversmith turns to look behind him, where Ollie is looking. Lucy! A troll all too familiar to Frarin, unique for her gruesome crown. Frarin jumps to the side so that he may see both giants simply by turning his head, though doing so seems to pain him still. But he doesn't say anything, all of his effort focused on keeping his attention on the two trolls at once, which seems quite an effort indeed.
[Thari(#31038)]
The trip upward makes Thari go all floppy again. "Camp, camp!" the dwarf moans to Ollie. Thari's eyes open again, look at Ollie's face, and there is a sudden deep terrified scream, as if the situation in its entirety has only just occurred to the dwarf.
Ranol cringes at the mistreatment of his cousin. He battles away a wave of helplessness and raises his voice to address the troll again. "Ollie.. Ollie, listen! If you scare him too much, he can't get you the carveens. Put him -down- and he'll show you. Back in the camp, he can show you if you put him down." He avoids looking back at Lucy, not wanting to turn his attention from Ollie.
[Ollie(#15066)] There are voices babbling at him from every side, and none will tell him where the carveens are, nor produce one for his amusement. Oliver looks frowning towards Lucy... but she too has abandoned him! Sulkily, he turns on his heels and takes off, lengthening his stride to leave the pestersome two behind, dragging the makeshift club behind, and carrying his treasure - careful, more or less, not to squish it too hard.
[Frarin] "Thaaarrri!" Frarin's usual composure is broken with his mental state and his emotions well up as Thari and Ollie disappear into the darkness. "ThariThariThari!" Although it is dark, his face is turning red and now it is more than sweat beneath his eyes. He runs after the troll, the wide trail easy enough to follow even despite the night. Ranol is ignored, Lucy is ignored, and Frarin's hammer is swinging. But Ollie is barreling through the forest, the troll's giant strides easily outpacing the disoriented silversmith's.
Soon the sound of crashing has grown faint, but on Frarin jogs. In only a short time, the sounds are gone entirely and only the night time noises of the Trollshaws accompany Frarin. But the trail at least remains. On Frarin chases.
[Ranol(#26812)] "Oh.. Durin.. Oh.. hell.. " Ranol looks back towards the camp, then on to where the troll ran off and Frarin's desperate chase. He scrubs his hand through his hair in indecision, then tries to sort through his muddled thoughts what Braldor would want him to do. Rescue Thari. Yes. That is most important. The clan-karl hurries after Frarin, tripping once or twice from impaired mental facilities, but at least he's been getting a lot of rest lately.
Players: Frarin, Thari, Ranol, Lucy, Ollie
