Searching Ruins

OOC note: I do not have the previous logs of this Harad TP but the basic plot so far: The Variyah ship had been sailing North for Gondor (for a raid, I believe), but was hit by a hurrican/storm and was blown way off course to the West. Now they are near the Gwathlo with damaged rigging, ect. 

Great Harbour Road

Once proud buildings line this great road, now low and grim. Elaborately carved marble is faded by the brackish rains of sea the storms of the coast have torn asunder much that was once great, shattering statues and breaking the cobblestones up so that tufts of rough grass push through the soil.
 
A cool breeze races through the streets and alleys, driven from the sea to the south. All about there is silence, and only the scarcest hint of movement: a rat? A gull? A feral dog? Who can say.

Contents:
Kiraz
Suniti
Mara
Anouar
Alimah
Su'ad
Obvious exits:
 West leads to Eerie Ruins.
 Southwest leads to Long Quay.
 North leads to Shattered Bazaar.
 Darkened Doorway leads to Old Warehouse.

[+TIME] Middle-earth time is:
Late Morning on Sunday, Day 18 of September.
Execute the +TIMEFRAME command for year information.

Real time is: 19:44:55 MDT on Sun Apr 18 2010.

[Kiraz(#32438)]
The sun hangs low in the eastern sky. A black-sailed ship docks at the crumbling quay, her crew breaking the silence of the long-deserted city. A few stretch their legs upon the quay, armored and armed - guarding those who have already resumed their efforts to replace and repair the tattered rigging and sails.

Northeast of the harbor, a broad road of cobblestones and grass leads into the ruins. The jagged remnants of Numenor's might cast long shadows in the harsh early morning light. High above the road, a single seagull wheels and cries mournfully.

[Alimah(#24218)]
"This way, I suppose." Alimah gestures toward the cobblestone road, leading the small foraging party as they prepare to explore. "It looks deserted, but, keep an eye out. Who knows what, if anything, dwells here. We're looking for food, of course. Lumber, water. See what's about."

[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad follows along in the party, her good sword strapped to her side, and sheathed, her hand resting on the pommel as she walks, her unsteady sea legs having trouble with the footing of the uneven cobblestone. "I don't know if I should say I am pleased or disappointed in this town." she mutters.

[Tasnim(#16424)]
Trailing along amid the others is a black-clad girl. Tasnim steps along in silence, gazing about from time to time at pieces of the ruins that loom up like crumbled fingers reaching up to clutch at the sky. The atumn sea breeze is chilly here, and she raises a hand to pull a dark red headscarf closer about her neck the scribe bears no visible armament.

[Kiraz(#32438)]
"I suppose we should be grateful we have a safe place to make repairs," comments Kiraz, trying to sound mature as she walks beside Su'ad. She glances toward the older woman to gauge her success. "Right?"

[Suniti(#17201)] 
        Unarmed, but in attendance of the group is Suniti. She carries a pack full of healing implements (Presumably) and is looking aorund with a look of wide eyed wonder at everything, and seemingly very, very grateful to be on the ground.

[Anouar(#19830)] As with Alimah's promise aboard the Variyah, Anouar takes a lead position, though if not before Alimah, that off to the side and only slightly back, peering through the bars of his visor. In this position, Anoaur might pursue what he has come there for most effectively: Bloodshed. Indeed, others may be looking for food or water, but not Anouar, or else speaks his naked blade which he brandishes with a certain air of the predatory. Of course, swords needn't speak when he has repeatedly spoken about 'slitting throats of savage ne'er do wells' for the last five hours prior to disembarking.

[Su'ad(#20109)]
"Yes," responds Su'ad as she nearly turns an ankle, stumbling. "which is why I am pleased. But I had hoped for a little blood, a little something to take home. We'll have to wait, 's-all. This looks so old and deserted, we'd probably have to look long and hard for anything besides rocks."

[Alimah(#24218)]
"We're going to need to forage for food as well...what there is to be found here. Depends on how long we have to stay to make repairs. So keep your eyes open," Alimah warns. "Not just for blood but for places to trap hares. Root vegetables. The like."

[Mara(#22296)] Behind Suniti, her lips pursed, is the high priestess of Nurn. She looks less put together than usual, but her eyes carefully scan the surroundings. "Mushrooms perhaps?"

[Tasnim(#16424)]
"There are rats at least, it looks," says Tasnim, finally speaking as she turns her head, perhaps having spotted something small moving in the rubble -- or only imagining she had seen it. "But that doesn't sound very appetitzing probably filled with diseases." The girl continues to peer about, looking increasingly uncomfortable as they venture further.

[Kiraz(#32438)]
Holding her hand out to steady Su'ad should she need the aid, Kiraz nods and sighs. "I hope we are ship-shape enough to try another raid on Gondor when we return."

Though she is as far from Anouar as she can reasonably be, her young ears pick up Alimah's instructions. "There must be a well or two /somewhere/ in this city," she offers, her dark eyes scanning the ruined buildings. "This place reminds me of Umbar in some ways. At least the buildings do. They are similar to the oldest in our city, don't you think?"

[Su'ad(#20109)]
Su'ad gives Kiraz a nod at her offer for help, but for the most part seems to shun physical assistance, slowing down instead to pick her footing more carefully. "Well see, it all depends. Why is this town dead? Did we raid it before, and there was no one left to begin again? Or is the water bad? Or did it simply cease to have a reason to exist?" She stops and looks around. "That may be important with the water issue. But good for finding trees, I bet."

[Anouar(#19830)] Talk of blood by the healer girl draws Anouar anouar from his screening gaze against the aforementioned savages which, if one were to judge by his darting head, he expects to emerge from out the overgrowth 'sides the road at any moment. He speaks in voice hollowed into an echo by way of his helm, "Worry not, healer girl. There's the look of habitation about. I'll give you your blood - and then some. I've a tithe to pay and I shan't be found lacking." To punctuate this insistence, his scimitar mimes the slitting of a throat. Notably, his gaze broadens to Kiraz when he makes such a motion and just the slightest hint of a chuckle vibrates between the bars before he returns his eyes forward.

[Alimah(#24218)]
"We're not eating rats," Alimah sighs in exasperation. "Mushrooms. Cabbage. Surely there are hares to be trapped. ANd freshwater fish. The land is deserted, abandoned long ago by the Stonelanders or their ancestors. Or so my charts indicate. The Lady Azradi would know more."

[Mara(#22296)] "Suniti and I can look for appropriate herbs, fruit, that sort of thing, if the rest of you want to hunt," the slight high priestess says softly.

[Tasnim(#16424)]
"Hunting?" the scribe looks up at the word, her fingers now fiddling with the beads around her neck. "I fear I'll not be much use for that, as I am unarmed. Perhaps I may gather lumber?"

[Suniti(#17201)] 
        "Mushrooms and cabbage will at least stave off the Sea Disease." Suniti says, though with a gentle tone like she's trying to be humble about it, and afraid that she is speaking above her station. "But the meat would be useful too."

[Su'ad(#20109)]
Anouar's gesture, directed at the little corsair beside her, catches Su'ad's attention and she rewards him with a frown.

She opens her mouth, like she's going to give him an earful, but then shuts it. After a few moments more she says, "Shall we split up then?" she asks Alimah, by way of offering.

[Kiraz(#32438)]
Anouar's malice is not lost on Kiraz. She scowls at him, her lips almost curving into a sneer. But it is Su'ad she answers. Or, to be more precise, it is Su'ad's answer that changes her expression swiftly. She returns her gaze to the Seaward corsair, looking very worried now. "Perhaps the wells went bad, but there must be a stream or two outside of town? We are very low on water."

[Anouar(#19830)] A lone, crumbling structure of stone, with a thick, heavy door nailed shut houses a singular, conspicuous hole from whence issues both a pale light and a screeching voice. "Who goes der!?" it yells in a degenerate dialect of Westron. "Swart-faced stranglings dun need bees minds der buznus and leaves here. Nutting here but weeds and brambles. Ah youts cuz trubbles with dits udders. Getchus back to the sea, scalliwags! We doughnot needchus! We gotschas nuddings! Leaves us in pees!"

[Anouar(#19830)] Amusingly, Anouar, having begged leave to check elsewhere, had run off to do just before he would have heard this stranger make his appearance. Drat! And to think he'd have pressed for bloodshed, too.

[Mara(#22296)] "Quaint," the slight high priestess says, her lips pressed together. She moves close to the hill folk man and says very slowly and loudly with the minimum of her accent. "Are. There. More. Of. You?"

[Su'ad(#20109)]
"Weeds and brambles," Su'ad echoes. Then she turns to Kiraz. "Do you think you can go shake that old woman up for where we can find what we need?" she asks suddenly, at the same time her eyes peering off in the direction Anouar went.

[Tasnim(#16424)]
At the sound of the screeching voice, Tasnim startles, failing to stifle a small gasp that parts her lips as her dark eyes flit toward the spot from where it seems the disturbance is coming. She inches backward a little, though she watches intently as the high priestess addresses the man.

[Kiraz(#32438)]
"Shake her up, yes," Kiraz answers, looking doubtfully at the old house nonetheless. "Though I am uncertain I can understand a word she says."

The young girl steps away from Su'ad's side and comes nigh the High Priestess. "Did you understand any of that, your Eminence?"

[Suniti(#17201)] 
        Suniti stands there quiestly, watching, hands folding in front of herself but paying attention to her superiors and their reaction to that... not to mention trying to keep the ones with swords between her and any of the local yokels.

[Anouar(#19830)] From her position near to the hill man's hole, Mara might, by virtue of what appears to be a ill-smelling candle's dirty light, see aged-eyes peeking out from the hole. But for all her troubles, she'd be met with dust in her own!

"I says chu leaves now. Backs to der seas withchutstalls! Swart-faced stranglings! Der be none else cuz youts black sails dun skeered'doff dems lotsolouts das live wits here. Weetsgotch naught!"

Though old and strange this hill-man might be, locked in his house, he seems to be keen earred enough to notice that some of the others seem to not understand a word he is saying. Angrily, he screeches out, "Whatchus says bouts none undahstands mehs? Speaks da right ways, I does, strangelings! Bastids!"

[Kiraz(#32438)]
Straining to understand the man, Kiraz appears to have some success. She bristles at his last comment. "I was born properly!" she insists, her own words properly accented in the Southron manner. She takes a few steps closer, her hand going to her hilt though not grasping it. "There is always something for a Corsair to take. You must have food. And water."

"Where do you draw your water from, old man?"

[Mara(#22296)] "Kill him. He bores me." the slight high priestess says, examining her nails. "He says we are...of ill breeding and...dark... and should leave."

[Tasnim(#16424)]
The scribe's backpacing ceases as she comes to a stop beside Suniti it seems she also has the same idea of keeping the blade-possessing group members in the fore. "I do not understand..but what vile noises he emits," comments Tasnim, shaking her scarf-wrapped head in what might appear to be plain disgust. The hillman's throwing of dust does not improve her expression.

[Anouar(#19830)] "Keels mehs?!" barks, not screeches, the hill billy. "Agh! Likes to seechutstries! Likeschuts see yous breaks me dowhs! But yea, I gotschas waters! Openschuts gullets wide nawhs, bastids!"

A brief pause and a stream of it comes out the hole. A yellow stream. A asparagus stinking, steaming, yellow stream.

"Geevs me an hour and chuts gotsda mores of dat! Naoh getchus backs to the seas, swarties! Drinks and eats my pig's schlop!"

[Su'ad(#20109)]
"You see what you can do with him. Cut off his spigot and his "water" might get a little more humble," she suggests. "I'm going to go after Anouar." she announces suddenly, and heads down the trail after him.

[Mara(#22296)] "Well, person-who-lives-with-pigs, are you going to tell me where water is or will I need to drink your blood?" the high priestess asks.

[Kiraz(#32438)]
"You miserable old son of a goat!" exclaims Kiraz, her young face darkening. She draws her scimitar and advances on the door - staying clear of the eyehole and that which was recently deluged from it. From the side, she reaches for the door handle with her left hand and pulls hard.

[Suniti(#17201)] 
        Suniti is just standing and watching this, near to Mara.

[Vague_Figure(#14221)] Chaos!

Out of the relative silence and lack of movement in this long dead city, suddenly movement everywhere. It starts with a distance whistle. High pitched, yet not loud. The noise comes from several places at once, making it directionless. What happens next is anything but.

Terns and Wrens and Gulls and Pelicans take to the skies, in flocks, all at once, scattering to the four winds. They do not go quietly. The contrast of a cacophony, springing from the near silence of the barren streets make the noise all the more startling, if not momentarily deafening. Some dart away, while some criss cross in paths, overhead, leading to an even louder conflagration. Several minutes pass before the flurry of motion and noise pass. Several more before the ruffled feathers finish drifting down to the streets below.

[Anouar(#19830)] "Blargh if I tellschu will chus gets backs to the seas and leaves us in peis?!" asks the hill folk rhetorically until the thudding of Kiraz's efforts break him from his apparent path-to-concession. He hollars again,

"Getchus aways from mehs door or I send out more than stink-water from me ding-a-ling!"But even the rage of a hillman is quelled by the sudden appearance of a sky full of birds that he sees and hears through his hole. Indeed, rage turns to fear quickly in his voice, as he squelches his light and cowers inside. He screams, "No canny birds in flight! Gets chus away wichies! Watersinchu back by da hogguhs! But getchus away! Dey be witchurrydafoot!"

[Tasnim(#16424)]
The scribe's frown twists into a second startled countanence at the sudden shrill whistling that comes from all around. Her wide eyes dart skyward at the commmotion of the panicked flight of many wings echoes through the empty ruins -- though perhaps no longer so desserted. Tasnim jerks a hand up, whisking away the fallen feathers that have settled upon her head and shoulders.

[Kiraz(#32438)]
Chaos indeed. The first piercing sound is enough to draw Kiraz' attention and the cacophony of flight forces her to take a startled step back from the door. She cranes her neck in all directions, eyes darting from one shape to another. Thus she sounds, silent until it has ended. She holds her hand up to catch a stray feather upon her palm then looks to the High Priestess, the one would most understand the 'uncanny'. There is a glint of fear in her eyes. "Wha...what was that, your Eminence?"

[Mara(#22296)] "It was...nature. Yes....nature. Nature is a bit strange in foreign parts," the slight high priestess says, raising an eyebrow. "And that means there's food..."

[Kiraz(#32438)]
"And water," the young girl adds, nodding her head to the priestess' answer. Kiraz looks at the old man's door and sighs heavily, "/where/ did he say that water was?"

[Mara(#22296)] "Back with his...pigs," the slight high priestess says with distaste, her hands going up to fix her hair.

[Kiraz(#32438)]
"Then I shall go look for these pigs," Kiraz replies, re-sheathing her scimitar. "If nothing else, we shall have fresh meat this night."

She makes a gesture as if she were about to let the feather go, then hesitates a moment before tucking it away inside her clothes. With nothing more, she strides off and soon disappears behind the house.

[Anouar(#19830)] As promised by the hillman, there is a rooting sty of hogs gulping schlop some hundred yards of feather-strewn poverty-grass behind the ruined stone hovel. A troft of water is fed from a nearby well with a rickity looking bucket balanced on the rim.