Bulwyf glares hard at the pirate leader, "You simply chose the wrong side!" Bulwyf keeps the pace quick, striking more with the water sword, hoping it adapts to damage the pirate leader soon enough. When Salen joins him, Bulwyf gives him a nod of appreciation.

The stone-armed pirate looks dangerous, but Salen is undaunted - a little surprised perhaps, when he is soon enveloped in rainbow colours, but undaunted. He nods in return to Bulwyf, and sets about his own assault on the pirate leader.

Let's see what rainbow light and magic swords do to this brute, he thinks to himself.

As they round the end of the boat, Swift moves the elf as far away from the boat as she can. She heads for some cover as the fight continues.

As Swift leads Ayren away, the Elf looks back towards the boat, and gives a slight protest.  ”On the boat.. they have things they took from Count Dongestede,” Ayren says.  “You have to get them.  He was a wizard.”

Meanwhile, Salen and Bulwyf together now have the pirate leader outclassed, and the light from the Prismatic Fey seems to be… possessing Salen’s sword.  One moment Ziool was there, and the next, the being seemed to merge with Salen’s sword.  Suddenly it feels lighter, easier to handle, and there is a certain energy about it that sparks when it strikes.

The pirate, maniacally cursing, manages to land another blow on Salen, a bruising, crushing, painful hit.  But then, both Salen and Bulwyf manage to hit him with their swords, and he goes down.

Bulwyf stares down at the pirate leader for a brief moment, "Salen, are you hurt? How badly? It seems we've won the day. I'll check him for anything useful, get the others and make sure Swift and the rest are safe." Bulwyf will search the pirate leaders body for any clues who he worked for or items worth taking. If Salen is hurt badly, Bulwyf will help him walk where ever they need to get for the moment, getting back to town would take time.

As she sees the leader go down. She helps the elf back towards the boat. "Salen and Bulwyf, quickly search the boat, Ayren says there are important things on there" she continues to look around to make sure there are not any other enemies are around.

The stone-armed pirate seemed determined to give as good as he received, and no fairy magic was going to stop the massive swing heading Salen's way - and neither was the Elf's shield, sadly. Salen tried to turn his body and brace himself for the impact when he saw he was not about to react quickly enough to parry, but even then he felt the sharp pain of the blow, and he knew at least a couple of his ribs were broken. He inhaled sharply but caught enough of his breath to retaliate, and his own sword swing combined with Bulwyf to end the hulking brute's existence.

As soon as the pirate dropped, Salen did also, to one knee as he strained to deal with the pain. He had to resist the urge to breathe deeply, which meant his breath came in short, sharp bursts. Noting Bulwyf's concern he looked up, smiling as best he could.

"It'll only hurt when I laugh. Which is fortunate, because there's been precious little to laugh about in this dratted marsh!"

He nodded at the human's words and slowly stood up, just in time to hear Swift's call. He called back, just to be sure of the situation.

"You and Ayren are alright?"

Then he headed for the boat, and climbed aboard as best he could - much slower this time, and with considerably more discomfort. He quickly headed for the stowage room to see what there was, taking a quick sweep of the deck before he did so in order not to miss anything.

Salen climbs up onto the boat.  Reney is already there, having never left.  In fact, he took a few moments to swat the flames out on the mast using a piece of sail, and then tossed the rest of the sail, part of it on fire, into the water.

“Well, they will not sail this boat away, he says.  Without at least eight oarsmen I think it it will be moored here for a long time.”

Ayren, looks around at the others-tired and battered though she may be, it is obvious she is one of the ones in better shape, now.  She makes a soft cry of sympathy when she sees Salen climb up onto the boat, still wounded.

“Let me help,” she says mostly to Swift, and she moves to join them.

Reney sees a large chest, and pulls at it, and stumbles backwards.

“It's as light as paper!” he says, having expected much more.

“That's the wizard's box,” Ayren says.  “the wood is Cloudsbreath Ash.”

It's very easy to get the box off the boat.


A quick check of the boat reveals they have other things here too:  there are supplies typical of any sea going boat- oil, rope, a lamp, tools, net.  And there three cloth bags filled with coins and small trinkets, possibly looted from somewhere.  And books, which Ayren identifies as belonging to Dongestede.  In all, more than everyone can carry.

But there is also the obvious conclusion drawn from the amount of supplies:  Two men did not bring this boat here.

“There are four more, but they went on foot to find a town,” Ayren explains.  “I didn't see them, but the others spoke of them.  They were going to claim they were simply stranded sailors.”

She looks around- everyone looks battered and exhausted, and bloody.  Except Swift, who came through it all amazingly unscathed.  Four more pirates...

“We should leave,” she adds.  “They may come back at any time.”

Bulwyf nods, "Swift, you take point, can you get us back to the river and the farms? If you can, I'll bring up the rear, I'm relatively unhurt. I can still fight. But we should move."

She looks at Bulwyf "No, I don't mind leading everyone back. I had hoped to stab the leader in the back but I wanted to make sure Ayren got off before the fighting started. OK, do we want to burn the boat though that might make the others rush back quicker if they see the smoke. She waits to see what the others what to do.

Ah, Reney was still here on board, of course! Noting Ayren's concern Salen did his best to smile as easily as he could.

"Do not worry, Ayren, I shall be fine - who needs more than half a ribcage anyway? The joy I have gained in seeing you free and unharmed will offset any difficulties of mine own."

Taking a quick summation of the contents of the ship, the Elf draws his conclusions.

"We should take as much of the Count's belongings as we can manage, and only take the coin and trinkets if we have hands to spare. But Ayren is correct, we should leave immediately, before the others return.

Swift, let us leave the boat alone - you're right that smoke may draw more attention than we need, and besides, with it's mast gone it won't be going anywhere in a hurry."


OOC: If we can't carry all the books and/or the coin & trinkets, Salen will suggest quickly throwing them over the side of the boat and into the marsh. Better they are lost than left for the enemy!

Heading back they don't have to be as careful as they were coming, but it is certainly painful.  Everyone is cold and tired, many are hurt.

And there are two nights in the open, between here and Ganda.  Fortunately, they are back to the strip of high ground they camped on the night before, by sunset.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:00, Fri 29 Mar 2013.

OOC: Woo-HOO! Salen starts to dance a happy jig of delight, only to quickly stop as the pain from his ribs starts wracking his body.:D I've had two back operations in four years and have suffered cracked ribs in that time too, so I know what I'm talking about, sadly!

It is perhaps fortunate that Elves do not require much sleep, for Salen is getting very little anyway. The pain from his broken ribs precludes lying comfortably, and sitting, standing, crouching...pretty much any position really. At least he and everyone else can spend the night relatively dry, on the high ground they found the previous night. Warmth will have to wait, along with a hot meal, but there is a certain comfort to be had from a mission accomplished - if only to a point. They were not out of the woods, or marsh really, yet.

To use up some of the hours, Salen asks Ayren about herself.

"So what brought you to the Count's manor house, Ayren? How were things in Bruxzella before the attack? Swift and I only glimpsed it in the hours before, although I have become better acquainted since we helped drive off the Hun threat."

Bulwyf will do his best to make the campsite comfortable for those other than himself, he doesn't mind nearly as much as the others seem too. Growing up in the wilderness gives him a bit of hardiness.

Swift leads them back the way they came. As they look around the camp, she tries to see if there are any other scents around that are recent.

She grins as she sees Salen dance around. She is happy they are on dry land finally.  When they make camp, she helps out as much as she can as she is only tired and not hurt. She changes her clothing at some point so she can dry out.

Ayren tells her tale to Salen... although she as much interested in his story as he is in hers... what is a High Elf doing here?

She explains how she is a healer, a breeder of medicinal plants, and a crafter of medicines back home.  The Marquis and Marquessa of the Fourth Ward- that's the part of the Kingdom of the Ardennes she lives in- were assembling a small scouting team to locate the Hun Army, as there were reports that it might be close to the Ardennes already, but no one knew where in the Ardennes it would strike.

A small party was chosen by the Elven noble Reithar Riverlight.  While Ayren herself was not a warrior or wizard, she was a skilled healer and when several of her close kin were chosen for the mission, she volunteered as well, to provide healing if they needed it.  After all, they would be headed away from the forest, into the Human lands, and who knows what would happen.  The Human warrior Bulwyf came to aid them.

They discovered that the Hun army was besieging the Human city of Bruxzella.  They also discovered a large meadow of the plants called Peaceflowers.  They decided to aid the Humans, as Ayren knew how to brew a strong calming potion from the flowers.

The next part, Swift and Salen know.  Ayren worked out of Dongestede's lab and provided a large quantity of the potion for use by the city's artillerists.  But the Humans had tricked the Orcs- Bruxzella had almost no one left in it, and the defenders were really a small group of volunteers pretending to be a large army.  The Huns attacked suddenly, when they learned of this.

When the city was assaulted, Reithar went back to Dongestede's house to find Ayren.  Even as the main fight was going on near the city's east gate, a force of elite Orcs scaled the wall at the south, and they found the city all but empty.

It was those Orcs that Reithar, DOngestede, and Ayren encountered.  There was a battle, and both Reithar and Dongestede were killed, as were almost all of that group of Orcs.  Ayren couldn't fight back.  She had been so over-exposed to her own potion that she couldn't really resist, and she was captured.

The Orcs took her out of the city, and then, they decided that it wasn't fair that they did all that, and lost so many, and they would have to turn over their prisoner.  They decided to slip away from the main Hun army, and then, see what kind of deal they could get for Ayren.  As they slipped away, they met up with one of the pirates, who liked the way these Orcs were thinking.  He convinced them to bring Ayren back to the boat, and then they would set sail for somewhere else, and the Orcs wouldn't have to worry about being tracked by Elves, or found out by the other Huns.

And then.. she was here.

Salen listens intently to Ayren's tale, smiling or nodding or shaking his head as is appropriate for each part of the story. When finally her tale ends he smiles, takes a breath, then begins his own, albeit summarised very briefly.

"I am a warrior, myself, one of the King's Own Riders, the Hippogriff cavalry of the King of the High Elves, in distant Geneva. Although I am the oldest of the Soulwater children, my younger siblings Ali'Cor and Aelasuria - soon to be wed to Prince Theoderic - ventured into the lands beyond before I did. On one of their missions they returned to Geneva, and when they told me of all that they had seen and heard, I felt compelled to join them. I was given leave from my duties, and have fought the Hun all across the continent ever since.

It was only recently that I met Swift, and we worked together with the Fey to achieve a number of tasks - which is what brought us to Bruxzella, shortly before it fell, and where we met Bulwyf. After aiding in the flight from Bruxzella we headed for the Ardennes, and fought in the successful defence of the Citadel. It was after the Huns were defeated we discovered that you and Reithar were missing, and resolved to find you. 'Tis sad news indeed to hear of his fall, though at least we saved one.

But I am reminded, that there is to be a wedding, and I would so hate to miss my little sister's nuptials! I would doubt and would hope that a Healer would be needed at such an event, but perhaps you would care to join me for occasion? We could celebrate your rescue then, in addition to the wedding - and the victory in the Ardennes! We have yet to do so!"

Recounting his own tale has made Salen smile and laugh, which also serves to remind him of his current wounded state. He winces but soon smiles again, and now waits for the morning and more travelling.

She looks at Ayren and shrugs her shoulders. "I am a scout and tracker. Tracking your scent was one of the easiest things I ever did. I am also a werefox, so sometimes I change and disappear. Its how I got on the boat so easily." she walks around as they set up camp. "And now I will lead you back"

Learning that Salen is related to Aelasuria is an eyeopener for Ayren.  They've never met, but every Elf in the Fourth Ward.. and the Second... knows the name.

Salen's sister is a celebrity, and that makes him a celebrity by blood ties.

Suddenly, Ayren becomes quiet around him, and a little deferential.  He's a noble!  The Elves are not as conscious of their nobility as the Humans are, and their nobility is rooted in a very different basis- magic bloodlines, not wealth and military power- but still, she's respectful.  And it makes her feel guilty- one noble elf died on her account, and one was badly injured.

The next day, her healing powers have returned, and in the morning, she goes to work on the wounded, doing what she can to take the pain away and speed their recoveries.

But still quiet.  By afternoon they are out of the marshes, and on the road to Ganda, near a farm hamlet called Haleftra, known for its thick hedge of juniper.

Bulwyf will remain relatively quiet as well, nothing needs said at the moment, they are all road weary and tired. He knows this, and he's doing his best to get them all 'home' safely.

Swift continues to lead the party back in the direction they came. She takes what she thinks is the straightest path.  When they stop, she reverts to human form "I can't wait to get back across the river, it will be harder for them to follow us. A nice hot meal would also be nice"

Swift may not have to wait long for the comforts of civilization.

On the outward leg of their journey, they missed Ganda.  The tracks they were following avoided it.   But now, heading back, the priority is speed and convenience, and that takes them a slightly different way.  This portion of the Duchy was largely missed by the Huns, but it is also relatively empty- just a few farms and sheep pastures along a raised road that connects Ganda with Bryggia and other settlements on the sea.

Taking the road, the make it to Ganda after a two day journey back through wilderness.    Along the way, Ayren has dealt with the injuries, but soreness and the ache of over-abused bodies has set in.  The long slog through the cold marsh didn't help, but the last leg of the trip, along the Bryggia-Ganda road, was a blessing.

But Reney knows this area, being a native of Belgica, and he proposes that the group head immediately for the castle, on the northwest side of town, the capital of the Duchy of Ganda.  As they recall, Titus and Seti were headed there two help get Ganda back on its feet again, as the Duchy as a whole had been badly hit.

Ganda is situated on a low plain where two rivers, the Lys and the Schlee, join in a complex meeting, made more complex over the centuries by artificial changes to the water courses, to improve transport, drainage, and defense.  The town is built on high ground, while much of the surrounding area is flat and low and experiences frequent floods.  But, when not flooded, the fertile and moist soil hosts rich grass meadows, and in these meadows graze some of the fattest, happiest, healthiest looking sheep in Europa.

The water courses also protect the town, which has no fortifications beyond a few towers and a wooden palisade wall.  The rivers provide not one but several rings of interlocking moats.  The land surrounding the town is low and damp, the kind of soil that can quickly turn to sticky, deep mud.  There are holding canals, arranged so that water can be let loose to spill into the meadows in the event of an attack.  With those let free, Ganda would very quickly be surrounded by wetlands.

Ganda is not a very large town, and unlike many others in the region does not have a depressed, impoverished look.  It's a mid sized place, and prosperous looking.

Bulwyf smiles when he realizes where they are, his new friends were incredible traveling companions, but he missed Seti and Dagnish. "Come then, let's get to the castle and see what news Titus and Seti may have. This river defense they've set up is quite incredible really, genius."

It all sounds so simple to Salen, but then it is just natural to him - born to high station it is all he has ever known, and sometimes he forgets that it is not so simple to others. But he tries to make Ayren more comfortable whenever he can, particularly when her healing is so welcome.

"You have much to be proud of, Ayren Stargem. If not for your work with the Peaceflower who knows how many others would have perished? And your healing here I most certainly welcome! Look at it this way: down here, in the muck of the marsh, we are all equals!"

Two days march through the mush was no-one's idea of fun, but it is welcome news when Reney mentions how well he knows the area, and directs them all to Ganda. Some dry, flat ground and the promise of a wash and warmth and hot food brought a spring in the step to them all. The fact that the area had avoided Hun depradations for the most part also made it pleasing on the eye, which was most welcome.

Ayren is from a well respected family.  The Stargems have a small forest settlement to themselves.  They are closer to the Elven ideal, living in the deep forest, than many of the Elves along the Meuse river.  The family has produced more than its share of “Warders”, the Elves who patrol the frontier of the kingdom.  Ayren knows this, and she is proud of them.  But they aren't nobility.

The party crosses the town quickly, the promise of hot food and a rest driving them on.  The sun is setting as they arrive, and shops are closing, and people headed to their homes.  They attract attention on the street.  A few of the locals recognize Reney as a nobleman from Bruxzella, but the real attention is on the Elves.  Four of them!  Elves have rarely been here. They're not total strangers, but usually, the Elves that leave the Ardennes have gone to the closer towns, especially Bruxzella.

Ganda is compact.  They cross from the main gate to the castle in less than fifteen minutes.  Reney has been here before, on official visits, but he doesn't know the gate guards.  It takes a few minutes before they are escorted into a dining room off the castle's main hall.

At this point they go on to another thread, Ganda Castle.