There's a day of unrelenting toing and froing as the Rangers gather their allies, source boats, supplies and hit up as many contacts as possible in their attempt to free Babeestor Gor from Zorak Zoran...

Temple ceremonies start at dawn, with incense and magical blessings. Myths are consulted and new debts incurred.

Bexc is possibly the busiest of all, a fact she keeps reminding her son of periodically and how costly it would be for him later. She's arranged a meeting of Trolls at Dusk and insists that all should meet at the Argan Argar Temple then.

Amara appears decked out in new armour. Bronze mail hauberk, greaves and vambraces, with a fine linen hauberk beneath. A pre initiation gift from Angelika, who stands by her side, flanked by the city's remaining 4 Vingans. (For the rest had already set off for the Pairing stones the day before.)

Storm Bulls sharpen axes and promise to guard the boats which will be on the river, ready to sail at dawn the following day, which is their holy day and they have promised to keep the party free of chaos.

Now it was midday and the Rangers have met quickly at Bexc's house...
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:46, Fri 10 May 2019.

Where a worried-looking Hoskar speaks.I hear much that bothers me these past few days. Try not to pick a fight with every Uz in there. This is not safe like a stroll in the wastes anywhere as some people seem to think. The things...and people...in there are tough cookies. In the wastes we see things coming half a day off. In there. Well it is called rubble for a reason. In the wastes we meet a spirit and like as not it is our friend Mahome or Grandmother Thorntree. In there like as not it thinks there are the cunts he glances guiltily at Becx but continues anyway who busted up our walls so let us nail them forthwith.

Seriously. Drop your guard or fight when sense says run and you join the great herd if you are lucky. If you see me running, try to keep up.

Surprised at his own assertiveness, he sets about checking the straps on his plate armour, unadorned after a trade with some grateful Humakti who seemed glad to get their runic set back. He casts an appraising eye around his new comrades...

Amara stood ready with all the people she'd managed to persuade to come along. The wishes of the Earth priestesses with her. She looked to be ill at ease in her fine new clothing and armour. To her they were of wealth beyond measure, but having such a gift made her feel uncomfortable.  They were necessary, but she didn't want to know how much Angelika had spent to have them prepared for her in such short notice.

She nodded to the others, glowering at all of the ravens, just knowing somehow they'd destroy her plans to settle this with as little bloodshed as possible. She spoke quietly to Hoskar "It is a fools errand to meet with some of the Uz just to antagonise them. I hope instead to ally with them against the Death Lord that took Delenda. In the trolls home ground, we'd be hard pushed to survive, let alone rescue Delenda."

There is relieved gratitude in Hoskar's worried expression. Agreed, Amara he murmurs. We trade and talk and act and push on. I am more worried what some others of us might be plotting. They split up or act up in there and all is up.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:23, Fri 10 May 2019.

Amara's eyes twitched towards Angelika "Perhaps a word in the right ear might persuade those who might stray afar, to remain close and somewhat compliant."

The Priestess had already been filled in somewhat by Amara and hadn't risen so far by being stupid.

"Melock! What are you up to! And where's that damned Ohanzee."

Of course Ohanzee is nowhere to be seen, not since he left the bar earlier that day.

It's then that someone spots the rope knots swinging from a beam

Gone walkabout. Things to do. Meet later.

Melock stops what he's doing, gulps and after taking a moment to blank his face, turns to Angelika, "In regards to? Mistress."

"In regards to what you are up to... Do you know why the authorities are up in arms? A certain theft in Downtown? No? Manul cat got your tongue?

And where is Ohanzee?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:32, Sun 12 May 2019.

'I have no idea where one of my fellow Ravens is," he pauses a moment while he considers his next words carefully, "I have been faithfully following your instructions Mistress," Melock's eyes drop and focus on a spot on the floor, just in front of Angelika's feet, "following the call of my inner Raven."

Amara massaged her temples. "Ohanzee has...chosen a different path." she pointed to the rope knots. "Evidently this expedition is not all that important to him. Once again, he's off to mess things up again. Melock...I swear if you set one foot wrong in this meeting, I'll leave you to whatever fate has in mind without my intervention. It's probably nasty and involves excruciating pain, and certainly more pain than my presence might cause"

He looks hurt by Amara's stinging words, "Very rarely do I set out to mess things up." As a thought flashes through Melock's mind, he grins, "I'll go where you go, step where you step. When someone insults me, I'll do what you do."

In reply to Melock (msg # 11):

Hoskar smiles wanly and bows to the revered Angelika. Into thin air, with no special auditor in mind, he remarks:

Though I doubt any Raven would ever thank me for this, I believe Melock speaks truly here. Ohanzee walks his own path.

Ohanzee and I have our differences but he has never left us in trouble. Melock gets us out of more trouble than he creates though it would likely shame him to admit it.

When he thinks no-one is looking, he raises an eyebrow to Melock and risks a brief wink.

Though he winces at Hoskar's words, Melock nods his thanks to him. "If I had to guess where Ohanzee is, I'd say with the Stormbulls."

Kobal walks among the new Thunderbirds in their group, giving them a firm shake on the shoulder.  "I figure you all know more about the Rubble than most of us, except perhaps Hoskar and Grundar.  Once we're in there, let us know of anything which is not like the Wastes, so we don't have any nasty surprises."



Kobal catches Amara's eye and makes an obvious show of running an eye over her finery.  Shiny armour, clothes not weathered by the elements.  She looked like an out-of place outlander, rather than a brave of the Wastes.  He controls the urge to laugh.  Barely.



He groans and puts a palm to his face.



No, but he messes things up anyway.

With a grateful glance at Kobal, Hoskar nods to the new Rangers and adds another thought for what he hopes is the benefit of the others.

You live here, so bring me up to date if I miss something. Here is one more reason we should not be getting distracted or incautious. The cult around here has no fighter priests. They try. They go into the old city to prove themselves. They know more of the place than we do. Naturally enough as they worship Pavis. So the old city does not hate them. They do not qualify. They are too busy being dead.

No distractions is my motto. Down the river. In and out. Back round the outside. Maybe talk to a tree outside and deliver the nut if the gods like us and we get that far.

The priestess has been listening intently

"You are going by boat, without mounts. How are some to visit the Yelornans, by foot? Didn't you just give some of their neighbours a beating recently? This is Pavis...Every one knows your business, so expect your enemies to know what you plan.

Delenda is your mission. Get side tracked and at best she will be freed by her Clan and at worst she will be devoured by Zorak Zoran.

The unicorn riders are not going anywhere and if the Uz hear you have visited them they will expect that you plan to decieve them.."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:55, Sat 18 May 2019.

Amara agreed with Angelika "Mother of my heart, the ravens do as the ravens please without a thought or word in consideration for others. They follow their own goals and paths. she nodded towards the message Ohanzee left "And when they get into trouble they expect us to haul them back from the fire and whatever mess they find themselves in this time."

"Melock, this is a serious endeavour. It is not a time for frivolity. Yelornans will not help the situation. If you truly feel remorse, then send them a message. Their intervention will not help. We need troll allies to get Delenda back."

"Melock you can visit them later if you so wish. I can send word that you come under my protection."

He shakes slightly at the thought of being on a boat. "I had thought a small group of us could ride to their temple and then catch up to the others.



Melock's face falls when he hears how Amara thinks he is, "I do think of others when I act, sometimes in a good way, others not so much. Don't we all just follow our own goals, it's just for most of that time they happen to be others goals as well." He shakes his head and starts to pace, "Maybe I'm just trying to sort out things so that they don't become the Rangers problems," Melock looks at Temush,""I said maybe." He sighs, "I will do my best to follow your orders Amara, but there will be things I do that you won't understand why I do them, just know that I only do them because I have to."



He stops pacing and turns to face Angelika, "You would do that for me?" Melock looks worried but also relived, "Who knew trying to do the right thing would be so difficult."
Melock looks round at all the Rangers, "Well that got too serious, too quickly. Who wants a drink?"

At the mention of drinks the priestess rolls her eyes and looks like she's about to give Melock a probably deserved hiding

No time for boozing you black feathered pain in the ass, so help me i will give you such a beating. Get out there and make sure everything is ready. All of you! Before I regret setting eyes on the lot of you. Amara come with me, we must organise for tonight.

As she leaves those present get a long hard glare from her piercing blue eyes.

Amara stood up, following Angelika, her eyes promising Melock there would be a lot to pay for if he started any silliness while she was gone.

Kobal looks at his feel, abashed.  Why didn't we think of these things?  I guess that's why the Snowspear is a rune priestess, while we're just grunts.



As Angelika leaves, he walks up to Melock and puts a consoling hand on the young brave's shoulder.  "We know you Ravens mean well, brother, but you have to let us know what you're thinking.  We're all Rangers.  One foot should know what the other is doing, otherwise how would we get anywhere?"



"Never mind any orders from Amara - you're lucky Angelika didn't give you specific orders about what to do next.  Where would you be then?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:34, Mon 20 May 2019.

Melock does his best to hide a grin at Angelika's words. As Amara follows her out, Melock blows a raspberry at her. He turns to Kobal, "Where would the fun be in that? It's easy to know where my foot is, usually in my mouth." Melock chuckles, "Angelika did give me orders when we arrived here, and I followed them."

.

It's dark, pitch black in fact and pretty damn cold too. None of The Rangers know how deep down they are but with their Earth sense they have worked out that they are in a roomy cavern with many exits...

The entire temple congregation are present, a mix of Uz and humans, who after a short ceremony had made those Rangers present Lay members for a week.

From the tunnels comes the sound of tramping feet.

Kobal stands nervously in the cavern, hoping that his anxiety doesn't show to the trolls around them.

Tunnels and caves are not his thing, but at least this is a large cave.  Amid the echoes of the footsteps, he tries to make out which the direction the sound is coming from, so he can turn to face the right direction.

Haaro, can you make out anything?  he sends to his familiar.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:32, Thu 04 July 2019.

Troll war party

The familiar sounds rather scared

Also Dehori spirits.  Quite alot of them.

Melock stands tall, enjoying the dark. Even though he can't see that far, he turns to face the sound of tramping feet with a sense of anticipation. "Ohanzee, what can you see?"

Kobal stiffens at the explanation.  Then tries to relax (with difficulty).  These trolls should be on their side, but in the Darkness they could do what they want with him.  Hopefully he doesn't appear scared to the trolls and spirits.  He tries to focus on his Earthsense.

Next time I ask what's happening, don't tell me.

Amara waited patiently. She wasn't as worried as the others. The Pyre brigade would warn her should things turn problematic. She wasn't wearing her sandals either, trusting in her connection to the Earth to try to remain aware of her surroundings. The constant tug to somewhere near the Paps in her psyche meant that she was reasonably confident of where they were to. The only thing giving her pause would be how the Ravens might mess up her plans.

After a few moments of silence, Melock shrugs, then chuckles to himself at the pointlessness of that gesture. "Anyone know where Ohanzee is?" after another silent moment he adds, "Amara, I don't know what he has planned and any problems with that plan are nothing to do with me."

Amara listened to Melock, her voice when she responded was measured and calm "Melock, I accept your words at face value. However, should Ohanzee interfere and you know something of what he has in mind and you stood by and let it happen... then I will take that as you being as equally culpable as him. I have a real and good way to win us troll allies, and perhaps for something more than the immediate and short term."

"Thank you for your trust." he steps nearer to Amara, "I look forward to seeing how you can make allies with the trolls. What can I do to help?"

Temush snorts but adds nothing intelligible to the conversation

Melock chuckles when he hears Temush snort, "nothing to say Temush?"

Temush sighs but add nothing inteligible to the conversation

"Maybe we should discuss this at another time," says Kobal in a low voice, in the direction (he thinks) of Melock's voice.  "There are a lot of trolls around us..."

Having looked uncomfortable at first, under the earth and away from the comforting sky Condor craves, Hoskar relaxes by degrees in the atmosphere of the space they occupy. He seems to exult in some aspects of the ceremony; bowing often. Upon the acceptance of the Rangers, he makes the sign of trade with his hands as the Rangers have seen him do ofttimes before.None make dispute or break harmony here he murmurs softly, as if in awe.

There's some audible shuffling coming from the waiting trolls as the Rangers begin their typical squabbling. Then a shush from one of the human Argan Argar priests.

Then the new comers arrive in a gust of cold air.

Green eyes float about the room as Dehori spirits waft about and from the thud of heavy feet it seems that the cave is filling up. The troll smell is unmistakable and almost unbearable now that there are so many present.

Temush feels something or things tugging at his shield, but after a while they stop.

Uz voices boom out at various levels of loudness, those present knowing that they hear or sense only a fraction of what is going on.

Then they themselves are addressed in Praxian by a Troll

"Wotcha. So what do you mob want? Rescue some skinny thing from the death krew? Spit it out quick."

Standing quiet after his murmured benediction, Hoskar remains passive under what feels like probing from surrounding spirits. His eyebrows shhot upwards at the nature of the greeting given, which is such he feels he must respond albeit briefly.

Wotcha he remarks, trying to match the Uz's tone. You've got it there. Annoy the trews off him, I imagine, for us to...ah...soar away with her. Not my plan though: I'll let others give you the lowdown.

Melock nudges Amara in the ribs and whispers, "It's your plan Red, you better do the talking."

Amara nodded invisibly in the dark before speaking "We need Delenda back. She was stolen by a Zorak Zorani deathlord of a tribe to which you owe no favours. I beat him, but instead of facing me and his death, he ran away stealing my friend. We need your tribes help to get Delenda back. You don't know of us and we don't know of you, so a bargain needs to be struck between us." she closed her eyes feeling the tunnels around her. "We have come to you in this darkness, in your home, but we cannot strike this bargain here with you. Take us to your shaman. The one who is mother to your tribe, with her I may speak as one female to another. As mere males, you would not comprehend the nature of our proposal."

Kobal considers saying something in support of Amara's words, but decides against it.  Anything from a "mere male" would probably detract from the gist of what she was saying.  He remains silent, but feeling more comfortable now, even in the Dark.

His face a mask of studied neutrality at first, Hoskar turns towards Amara with every appearance of rapt attention. At the end of her speech, he bows to her, murmuring it is as she to be respected says to himself, abstractedly.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:09, Wed 10 July 2019.

Amara motioned to the Pyre brigade to step forward. "If they didn't understand me, could you please translate for me?"

Nod it might be better if you can translate through the spirits


How many other dehori are here?

Henal's shadow is much bigger down here and eyes can be seen staring out of it.