Log: A scouting party
Sat Jan 24 17:03:36 2009
--[ Along the Ghenesh pathway(#3014RJ) ]---------------------[ Somewhere ]----
Snowy weather in a forest.
Clustered here are Beatrice and Benedict. Also here are Imre-Ulani,
Macha, and Robin.
--[ setting, places ]--------------------------------------[ Exits: None ]----
Imre-Ulani looks from Macha to Beatrice.
Hippo nuzzles at Benedict's shoulder, and gets fed a sneaky sugar-lump.
Macha waits, since, really, Beatrice is running things. She'll wait for her.
The dinosaur roars. Ben mounts up and says, "I'll ride ahead and clear the weather," and urges his mount into a slow walk. He does not seem to be concentrating on where he is going.
"Thank you," Imre calls as farewell for Benedict.
Beatrice spends some time putting specific supplies together, and checking some positions on a map.
Beatrice asks, "Imre, you'll ride?"
"I've never ridden before," Imre says but is smiling, "But I'd like to ride, yes."
"Can ride with me." Macha offers.
Beatrice lifts her brows, and considers, "So long as Macha is offering. If not, Chastity can bear us both a while if needs to be give Reagan a rest, as well." She nods that she is ready to set out, telling Macha, "We follow your lead, and Imre's sense. I'm just here as a sword-arm and a trained scout." A few whispered words to Promachos, and he takes the sky.
"We can't go too quickly, though," Imre says, "I don't know how well I'd be able to mark out the territory if we ran by as a gallop."
Beatrice nods, "Very much understood. And we'll need to cover a fairly wide area, in a zig-zag pattern, staying clear of enemy scouts, so that should take a while, as well."
Imre-Ulani follows after, taking whatever help is offered to mount up and get the search on the road.
Macha of course helps Imre onto her horse, then follows, "If we go to fast, tell me." She then nudges her mount, the horse jumping to a start, heading off in the most logical direction.
Beatrice posts out of camp with the others. Periodically her owl calls down to her, and she answers....
Macha of course helps Imre onto her horse, then follows, "If we go to fast, tell me." She then nudges her mount, the horse jumping to a start, heading off in the most logical direction.
Beatrice posts out of camp with the others. Periodically her owl calls down to her, and she answers....
They ride out quite a while, zig-zagging to one side of the road or path, such as it is, and the other. This takes them in and out of hills that are increasingly lightly forested. Beatrice is sure to make sure Imre takes turns on her mount with her as well as Macha's.
They ride out quite a while, zig-zagging to one side of the road or path, such as it is, and the other. This takes them in and out of hills that are increasingly lightly forested. Beatrice is sure to make sure Imre takes turns on her mount with her as well as Macha's. (repeat for Aryn)
Macha knows the area, and seems to have a decided plan on movements. Based on the plauge sensing that Imre does. Her horse's hooves move at a steady pace, never showing a sign of weariness.
Aryn, as a wolf, does not ride. Thankfully, both Beatrice's horse and Macha's horse are marvelous around Weir, so she is able to stay near them, nose to the ground as often as not.
Imre-Ulani looks around with open curiousity and slight wariness. At this point, she's on Reagan behind Macha.
The weather on their journey is of course ideal for quite a while, but they are eventually hitting some very light snow -- the sort that is perfect and fluffy and would pack perfectly were they inclined to make snowballs. More than once, the group has passed signs and scents of the passage of cavoraptors, some very few more recent than the confrontation a few days ago, and Beatrice is careful to mark their paths on a map she's brought with her to the purpose. But now they are many leagues ahead, in the hills off to the right of the path. Her owl cries; Aryn catches the scent on the wind. And soon enough they can all see smoke.
RPG: Imre-Ulani declares that she has the Sense of Life (LIF-SL) gift:
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The character can alter his perception to gain a heightened awareness of the traces of life energy that is associated with all living things. Everything looks roughly the same, save that the colors of all living things are more vibrant, with a strength corresponding to the vitality of the subject. The character can get a general sense of the state of health and well-being of the living things around him, and allows him to see, in a general sense, how close to death someone is.
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RPG: Imre-Ulani used the following +declare targets: Beatrice
RPG: Imre-Ulani declares that she has the Sense of Nature (SUK-SN) gift:
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The character has an innate understanding of when natural forces have been interfered with or are out of balance. Pollution, animal populations out of sync, diseased forests, or magically shaped events may cause anxiety or illness. It is not a finely tuned sense by any means, nor is it a proactive warning system. It may be used in a GMed scene (at the GM's discretion) to give warning of an approaching event.
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RPG: Imre-Ulani used the following +declare targets: Beatrice
"There's a spot soon that is perfect for stopping. This time of year there's likely a group of nomads there." Macha says, pointing off into the distance.
Beatrice asks, softly, "You mean the smoke up ahead? A home?"
Imre-Ulani cranes to look around. "It is just a hearth fire?" She asks quietly.
Aryn rears up on her hind legs, the better to scent the upper air.
Beatrice reminds softly, "We don't know if they are partisans. Or infected."
Aryn rumbles, "Hearth fire. Wood, cooking. Whoever is there, is well enough to cook."
Macha shakes her head, "Camp fire. No buildings." She replies, frowning, "Never was before.."
"We have to go look, right?" Imre asks curiously.
Macha nods, "We look." She agrees, then urges her horse forward.
Beatrice remarks, "People can carry plague without having it full-blown. But yes, let's get in closer. Perhaps check from multiple angles."
Beatrice urges Chastity to follow Macha.
Macha nods, "We can circle." She agrees, heading out at a leisurely trot.
Imre-Ulani bites her lower lip as she watches the smoke grow closer.
The first sighting of the settlement seems to indicate business as usual for winter -- not too many people, all-told, and most of them trying to keep warm. There is one largish Amber-style building, with a chimney, and a few smaller ones around it. One very distracted teenager is tending some horses that have large loads strapped to them.
To Imre-Ulani: A very very very VERY faint sickly feeling prickles you somewhere.
Aryn rumbles, "Do you want me to creep as close as I can?"
Beatrice looks at Imre.
Imre-Ulani's dark eyes are focused on the area. "Something isn't quite right." She says quietly, "Not... all the way wrong. But we should be very careful." She looks to Aryn, "If you scout? Be very careful. Don't let anyone touch you, alright? And don't touch anything from the village? Just in case?"
Beatrice says, "Nobody should go ahead of our ability to sense what or where is infected. Become a carrier and you cannot return to camp, nor can I swear that we'd find a cure."
Aryn rumbles, "I wish I could smell this plague. My nose is very keen. But while I might smell someone truly sick, someone who only bears the disease but does not show it, I cannot smell."
Imre-Ulani looks to Aryn a little helplessly and then back to Beatrice. "I can get closer," she offers.
Beatrice nods, and says, "We all go together, then."
"How's the plague spread? Have we figured that out yet?" Mahca asks, starting to slide off her horse.
Beatrice shakes her head no. If they are going, so is she. "Nobody gets ahead of where Imre's senses say it is safe," she reminds in a murmur, drawing no weapons, but looking very ready to.
The young man seems to be fairly regularly unloading large, long, limp bundles from the backs of the horses and laying them out around the outskirts of the buildings, but as the group approaches, he is lugging one towards the well. He seems fairly oblivious to their approach.
Imre-Ulani slides off Reagan as well with less grace than Macha but not clumsily. "Are...those people?"
Macha starts to move forward on foot, her horse following her, "I'm not sure.."
Aryn, creeping ahead a little, and very low to the ground, goes slower and slower. Her ears, at first pricked forward, go to half mast, and then completely flat. Her tail tucks between her legs.
"Aryn, what is it?" murmurs Beatrice.
Aryn rumbles, "Death. Much death. Those are all dead men."
Another two paces and the vacant youth will reach the edge of the well with the dead-man parcel he is hauling.
Macha halts, "Plauge?"
Imre-Ulani nods slowly, "The young man too." She says quietly. She looks to Beatrice, "We... can we go help? They... it must be bad if they are burying their dead in the well." She pauses, eyes widening, "It has to be a dry well, right? They wouldn't... put people in one they drew water from?"
Aryn rumbles, "They might. They might be poisoning it, expecting we might come this way."
Beatrice frowns, "I advise we go in no further."
The body goes over the edge. The splash is a good way down, but just audible to most (very much so to Aryn).
"Poisoning the ground water." Macha replies, eyes widening.
Aryn flinches visibly at something. "Away," she whispers. "We must get away from here. But if we can kill them all first.....and leave them where they lie....better."
Imre-Ulani's eyes are wide and she looks from face to face. "But... he's sick too." She whispers.
There is some movement coming from the doorway of the largest building. The young man trudges uncaringly away from the well. He goes back to unloading one of the last bodies to put with the others on the ground.
"Doesn't matter." Macha replies, then frowns, "Burn it..we have to burn it all."
Aryn begins to creep away, tail tucked, but glancing back. "Kill them," she suggests in the softest rumble. "Kill them. Burn them where they lie. Burn the house over them."
Imre-Ulani shakes her head, "Plague can be healed, disease can be healed. I... we can't just kill them for that. I... we know about the ground water we just don't come this way, right?" She looks towards Beatrice.
Just then voices are heard... people emerging from the main building. They look perfectly healthy, and their voices carry over the winter winds, speaking in Ghaneshi:
A woman: "... Thank you again for returning their bodies home to make their mounds near their home. My brother always said he would return one day. I did not think it would be like this, with the infidel upon the path..."
A man speaks, his words more muffled, but the tones are conciliatory and accomodating.
Aryn rumbles, "...lady Beatrice just said they have no cure."
Beatrice says, "I cannot guaruntee a cure. Perhaps Imre is capable of effecting one in limited doses, but this has not yet been tested."
"Yet." Macha comments, the single word in Thari. She doesn't move further out though, much. Just enough to hear better.
Aryn mutters, "Infidel. Who is an infidel?"
"You are done," The man addresses the youth then, all in Ghaneshi. They all wear similar clothing, suggesting wherever the man and boy are from, tthey rare of the same tribe or general locality. "Bring Wanai and Usay's effects inside for Vola." Vola seems to be the woman he is speaking with.
Beatrice murmurs translations for Aryn's benefit, and at her question answers, "Us, I think."
Aryn crouches, belly to the ground. "Death is here. But...these people seem calm, for people faced with invisible death. Could these have died in battle?"
"The Mountain." Macha murmurs, glancing towards Imre for an answer to the wolfs question.
"The young man," Imre says softly, "And everything near the bodies. The horses... But the lady and the man aren't infected."
Aryn rumbles, "Then they soon will be. But why are they so calm?"
The woman for her part looks as one would expect for someone welcoming home the dead -- calm, yes. Tired. Grieving. Not glazed with exhaustion or something else like the youth. "If we do nothing, she will be exposed in minutes." But she doesn't move to do anything.
Beatrice says this, in a murmur.
Aryn rumbles, "Maybe she has given up. To die with her own dead."
Beatrice murmurs, "Or she has no idea they are riddled with plague. Why would they put one down the well?"
"We could warn her," Imre says, "We should. I don't know how we'd convince them we meant no wrong. Macha? Could we?"
"We..could." Macha replies, then she straightens, stepping out of cover, calling softly to the woman. Or trying to. Unless stopped.
Beatrice holds a hand up for the rest to stay covered, but doesn't seek to interfere with Macha.
Aryn rumbles, "Perhaps Macha can. These are her people. But the rest of us..."
Imre-Ulani falls silent, watching.
The woman is surprised to hear a stranger's voice. "Who is there?" She calls. All still in Ghaneshi.
Aryn creeps over near to Imre-Ulani. The fur on her ruff is all bristled.
"Macha, of the Moonriders." she calls back, gesturing, "Please...come here."
Aryn noses at Imre-Ulani's hand; touches it with her tongue. "Stay," she whispers.
Imre-Ulani nods shortly, but purses her lips tightly.
Beatrice stays down with Imre. Nobody would mistake her or Imre for a Ghaneshi, or really anything but 'infidel'.
The woman calls, "A Moonrider...?"
The man calls, "Please, join us. You find us on a sad day."
Imre-Ulani remains still, swallowing as she listens.
"Ma'am..please..It's very important that you come here." Macha continues to gesture, "Your safety is at stake."
Imre-Ulani looks to Beatrice, "...does she know that the older man is in danger too?" She whispers.
Aryn rumbles, "Tell her to come alone, but....oh, what if she is already carrying the disease?"
"What are you talking about?" The man demands.
"The young man..he carries a sickness. You need to get away from him before you are infected." Macha replies, stepping more into the open, "Please."
Beatrice shakes her head to Imre to indicate she does not know what they know or do not know, but she whispers on the winter breeze to Macha, and it is carryied instnatly and privately, "Neither the woman nor the man are infected. But bear in mind those corpses are between them and us."
The man's eyes narrow. "Fain looks healthy enough, and is strong as an ox."
Macha shakes her head, skirting around until she's hopefully not in a straight line from the bodies, "Please, trust me. He is sick. And your loved ones are also carriers. You have to come away."
Beatrice fingers her arrow.
"You don't know what you're talking about," the man dismisses. The woman seems confused, torn. Tired and with red-rimmed eyes.
Imre-Ulani closes her eyes. Her lips begin moving, as she murmurs some thing or another.
Macha shakes her head, "I do. I know that it sounds unbelievable..But it's the truth."
"How do you know this?" The man demands. The youth continues to stand there, silent. Just standing there. In the cold.
Beatrice whispers translations for Aryn.
"My companion can sense it." Macha glances back, gesturing, "She's a wolf."
Beatrice's lips press together.
Beatrice goes back to translating a moment later.
Aryn does her very best 'who's a good doggie now?' imitation, sitting at Imre-Ulani's side. The tip of her tail flicks repeatedly and her ears are flat, harmless.
The woman says, "What is this...?" but looks to the man for guidance and the man looks angry. He hisses words at the woman then barks at the youth. "Come, now." The youth does exactly as bidden, the moment the man says it. He's got the personal effects of the dead and goes to the house.
Macha sighs, shaking her head, "Burn it." She murmurs, shoulders slumping.
"But why....?" the woman is asking as the man slams the door.
The youth has vanished inside, with the personal effects of the dead.
Long distance to Imre-Ulani: Beatrice definitely thikns you can be purfying any snow touched by the dead bodies! not necessarily helpful.
Beatrice murmurs, "The snow will start up again soon. We should backtrack the path that these horses took to see where they came from."
Aryn rumbles, "Tell her that if she comes away now, she may live. If she turns to follow the man, she will die with him. Then she can make the choice she wants."
Macha nods faintly, returning to the others.
"Alright," Imre says softly.
Beatrice, for what good it may do, whispers on the wind in Ghaneshi. Perhaps the breeze will find the woman, or did before the door shut. "We must track this trail, and be careful and quick about it.... if you are willing, Macha? Aryn? And be careful, the actual tracks these horses made in the snow could be infected."
Macha nods, moving to climb back onto her horse, "I'm not worried about Reagan. And Reagan will protect me."
Aryn springs off. She is less stealthy now, swifter. Hoofprints can be tracked by sight, and do not need the use of the nose, so she begins to follow at visual range.
Imre-Ulani comes to stand by Beatrice and, silent, watches the settlement for a time.
Beatrice finds herself, in that case, repeatedly reminding Aryn in a throaty Weir-growl not to get ahead of Imre's ability to clear where she is going to step of plague.
It is harder and harder to navigate around the path of infection, but with Imre's guidance and Aryn's ability to track, it is not hard to figure out the path that the horses took through the snow. Soon they are on the outskirts of another settlement. Beatrice sends Promachos soarding overhead.
Beatrice murmurs, "Hold... Imre, Aryn, hold. I know where we are."
"Where are we?" imre asks.
Beatrice glances at Macha perhaps to double-check she's right. "Near a significant settlement..."
Macha nods faintly, "There's one up ahead." She agrees.
Beatrice checks her map, as she's done periodically. "The one where My Prince encountered the plague at the first."
"Do you think it's the source?" Macha asks, even though she knows that's to simple.
Beatrice says, "At least of the infection in the settlement we saw... I recommend we check it in a wide circle, without drawing too clsoe in."
Aryn rumbles, "If that man came from the settlement....then I do not see the point in checking it. If people there were well, they will be ill after his visit."
"The horse trails," Imre says, looking a little green about the gills. "They are infected."
Beatrice nods to Imre, and nods for them to move around and around in a wider berth. Soon it becomes evident that there are several paths in different directions going to and from the settlement -- mostly from, and all bear traces of infection.
Macha continues to look around, "It'll be everywhere.."
Aryn rumbles, "If paths through shadow can fall apart and need mending, perhaps they can also be destroyed. I cannot think of a better thing right now than to withdraw all of us, and the army, and destroy that path."
Imre-Ulani draws her cloak close, falling silent once more, "Do they know they are doing it?" She says finally.
Beatrice frowns, "You may certainly make the recommendation to My Prince." But she glances to see how Macha is taking that suggestion.
Aryn lays her ears flat, tail tucked. She falls silent.
Macha shrugs, "I don't know anything about that sort of thing."
"They aren't going anywhere," Imre says finally, "And they are doing their damage. Perhaps we should just return and report?"
Beatrice says, "I am in favor of that, post-haste."
--[ Along the Ghenesh pathway(#3014RJ) ]---------------------[ Somewhere ]----
Snowy weather in a forest.
Clustered here are Beatrice and Benedict. Also here are Imre-Ulani,
Macha, and Robin.
--[ setting, places ]--------------------------------------[ Exits: None ]----
Imre-Ulani looks from Macha to Beatrice.
Hippo nuzzles at Benedict's shoulder, and gets fed a sneaky sugar-lump.
Macha waits, since, really, Beatrice is running things. She'll wait for her.
The dinosaur roars. Ben mounts up and says, "I'll ride ahead and clear the weather," and urges his mount into a slow walk. He does not seem to be concentrating on where he is going.
"Thank you," Imre calls as farewell for Benedict.
Beatrice spends some time putting specific supplies together, and checking some positions on a map.
Beatrice asks, "Imre, you'll ride?"
"I've never ridden before," Imre says but is smiling, "But I'd like to ride, yes."
"Can ride with me." Macha offers.
Beatrice lifts her brows, and considers, "So long as Macha is offering. If not, Chastity can bear us both a while if needs to be give Reagan a rest, as well." She nods that she is ready to set out, telling Macha, "We follow your lead, and Imre's sense. I'm just here as a sword-arm and a trained scout." A few whispered words to Promachos, and he takes the sky.
"We can't go too quickly, though," Imre says, "I don't know how well I'd be able to mark out the territory if we ran by as a gallop."
Beatrice nods, "Very much understood. And we'll need to cover a fairly wide area, in a zig-zag pattern, staying clear of enemy scouts, so that should take a while, as well."
Imre-Ulani follows after, taking whatever help is offered to mount up and get the search on the road.
Macha of course helps Imre onto her horse, then follows, "If we go to fast, tell me." She then nudges her mount, the horse jumping to a start, heading off in the most logical direction.
Beatrice posts out of camp with the others. Periodically her owl calls down to her, and she answers....
Macha of course helps Imre onto her horse, then follows, "If we go to fast, tell me." She then nudges her mount, the horse jumping to a start, heading off in the most logical direction.
Beatrice posts out of camp with the others. Periodically her owl calls down to her, and she answers....
They ride out quite a while, zig-zagging to one side of the road or path, such as it is, and the other. This takes them in and out of hills that are increasingly lightly forested. Beatrice is sure to make sure Imre takes turns on her mount with her as well as Macha's.
They ride out quite a while, zig-zagging to one side of the road or path, such as it is, and the other. This takes them in and out of hills that are increasingly lightly forested. Beatrice is sure to make sure Imre takes turns on her mount with her as well as Macha's. (repeat for Aryn)
Macha knows the area, and seems to have a decided plan on movements. Based on the plauge sensing that Imre does. Her horse's hooves move at a steady pace, never showing a sign of weariness.
Aryn, as a wolf, does not ride. Thankfully, both Beatrice's horse and Macha's horse are marvelous around Weir, so she is able to stay near them, nose to the ground as often as not.
Imre-Ulani looks around with open curiousity and slight wariness. At this point, she's on Reagan behind Macha.
The weather on their journey is of course ideal for quite a while, but they are eventually hitting some very light snow -- the sort that is perfect and fluffy and would pack perfectly were they inclined to make snowballs. More than once, the group has passed signs and scents of the passage of cavoraptors, some very few more recent than the confrontation a few days ago, and Beatrice is careful to mark their paths on a map she's brought with her to the purpose. But now they are many leagues ahead, in the hills off to the right of the path. Her owl cries; Aryn catches the scent on the wind. And soon enough they can all see smoke.
RPG: Imre-Ulani declares that she has the Sense of Life (LIF-SL) gift:
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The character can alter his perception to gain a heightened awareness of the traces of life energy that is associated with all living things. Everything looks roughly the same, save that the colors of all living things are more vibrant, with a strength corresponding to the vitality of the subject. The character can get a general sense of the state of health and well-being of the living things around him, and allows him to see, in a general sense, how close to death someone is.
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RPG: Imre-Ulani used the following +declare targets: Beatrice
RPG: Imre-Ulani declares that she has the Sense of Nature (SUK-SN) gift:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The character has an innate understanding of when natural forces have been interfered with or are out of balance. Pollution, animal populations out of sync, diseased forests, or magically shaped events may cause anxiety or illness. It is not a finely tuned sense by any means, nor is it a proactive warning system. It may be used in a GMed scene (at the GM's discretion) to give warning of an approaching event.
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RPG: Imre-Ulani used the following +declare targets: Beatrice
"There's a spot soon that is perfect for stopping. This time of year there's likely a group of nomads there." Macha says, pointing off into the distance.
Beatrice asks, softly, "You mean the smoke up ahead? A home?"
Imre-Ulani cranes to look around. "It is just a hearth fire?" She asks quietly.
Aryn rears up on her hind legs, the better to scent the upper air.
Beatrice reminds softly, "We don't know if they are partisans. Or infected."
Aryn rumbles, "Hearth fire. Wood, cooking. Whoever is there, is well enough to cook."
Macha shakes her head, "Camp fire. No buildings." She replies, frowning, "Never was before.."
"We have to go look, right?" Imre asks curiously.
Macha nods, "We look." She agrees, then urges her horse forward.
Beatrice remarks, "People can carry plague without having it full-blown. But yes, let's get in closer. Perhaps check from multiple angles."
Beatrice urges Chastity to follow Macha.
Macha nods, "We can circle." She agrees, heading out at a leisurely trot.
Imre-Ulani bites her lower lip as she watches the smoke grow closer.
The first sighting of the settlement seems to indicate business as usual for winter -- not too many people, all-told, and most of them trying to keep warm. There is one largish Amber-style building, with a chimney, and a few smaller ones around it. One very distracted teenager is tending some horses that have large loads strapped to them.
To Imre-Ulani: A very very very VERY faint sickly feeling prickles you somewhere.
Aryn rumbles, "Do you want me to creep as close as I can?"
Beatrice looks at Imre.
Imre-Ulani's dark eyes are focused on the area. "Something isn't quite right." She says quietly, "Not... all the way wrong. But we should be very careful." She looks to Aryn, "If you scout? Be very careful. Don't let anyone touch you, alright? And don't touch anything from the village? Just in case?"
Beatrice says, "Nobody should go ahead of our ability to sense what or where is infected. Become a carrier and you cannot return to camp, nor can I swear that we'd find a cure."
Aryn rumbles, "I wish I could smell this plague. My nose is very keen. But while I might smell someone truly sick, someone who only bears the disease but does not show it, I cannot smell."
Imre-Ulani looks to Aryn a little helplessly and then back to Beatrice. "I can get closer," she offers.
Beatrice nods, and says, "We all go together, then."
"How's the plague spread? Have we figured that out yet?" Mahca asks, starting to slide off her horse.
Beatrice shakes her head no. If they are going, so is she. "Nobody gets ahead of where Imre's senses say it is safe," she reminds in a murmur, drawing no weapons, but looking very ready to.
The young man seems to be fairly regularly unloading large, long, limp bundles from the backs of the horses and laying them out around the outskirts of the buildings, but as the group approaches, he is lugging one towards the well. He seems fairly oblivious to their approach.
Imre-Ulani slides off Reagan as well with less grace than Macha but not clumsily. "Are...those people?"
Macha starts to move forward on foot, her horse following her, "I'm not sure.."
Aryn, creeping ahead a little, and very low to the ground, goes slower and slower. Her ears, at first pricked forward, go to half mast, and then completely flat. Her tail tucks between her legs.
"Aryn, what is it?" murmurs Beatrice.
Aryn rumbles, "Death. Much death. Those are all dead men."
Another two paces and the vacant youth will reach the edge of the well with the dead-man parcel he is hauling.
Macha halts, "Plauge?"
Imre-Ulani nods slowly, "The young man too." She says quietly. She looks to Beatrice, "We... can we go help? They... it must be bad if they are burying their dead in the well." She pauses, eyes widening, "It has to be a dry well, right? They wouldn't... put people in one they drew water from?"
Aryn rumbles, "They might. They might be poisoning it, expecting we might come this way."
Beatrice frowns, "I advise we go in no further."
The body goes over the edge. The splash is a good way down, but just audible to most (very much so to Aryn).
"Poisoning the ground water." Macha replies, eyes widening.
Aryn flinches visibly at something. "Away," she whispers. "We must get away from here. But if we can kill them all first.....and leave them where they lie....better."
Imre-Ulani's eyes are wide and she looks from face to face. "But... he's sick too." She whispers.
There is some movement coming from the doorway of the largest building. The young man trudges uncaringly away from the well. He goes back to unloading one of the last bodies to put with the others on the ground.
"Doesn't matter." Macha replies, then frowns, "Burn it..we have to burn it all."
Aryn begins to creep away, tail tucked, but glancing back. "Kill them," she suggests in the softest rumble. "Kill them. Burn them where they lie. Burn the house over them."
Imre-Ulani shakes her head, "Plague can be healed, disease can be healed. I... we can't just kill them for that. I... we know about the ground water we just don't come this way, right?" She looks towards Beatrice.
Just then voices are heard... people emerging from the main building. They look perfectly healthy, and their voices carry over the winter winds, speaking in Ghaneshi:
A woman: "... Thank you again for returning their bodies home to make their mounds near their home. My brother always said he would return one day. I did not think it would be like this, with the infidel upon the path..."
A man speaks, his words more muffled, but the tones are conciliatory and accomodating.
Aryn rumbles, "...lady Beatrice just said they have no cure."
Beatrice says, "I cannot guaruntee a cure. Perhaps Imre is capable of effecting one in limited doses, but this has not yet been tested."
"Yet." Macha comments, the single word in Thari. She doesn't move further out though, much. Just enough to hear better.
Aryn mutters, "Infidel. Who is an infidel?"
"You are done," The man addresses the youth then, all in Ghaneshi. They all wear similar clothing, suggesting wherever the man and boy are from, tthey rare of the same tribe or general locality. "Bring Wanai and Usay's effects inside for Vola." Vola seems to be the woman he is speaking with.
Beatrice murmurs translations for Aryn's benefit, and at her question answers, "Us, I think."
Aryn crouches, belly to the ground. "Death is here. But...these people seem calm, for people faced with invisible death. Could these have died in battle?"
"The Mountain." Macha murmurs, glancing towards Imre for an answer to the wolfs question.
"The young man," Imre says softly, "And everything near the bodies. The horses... But the lady and the man aren't infected."
Aryn rumbles, "Then they soon will be. But why are they so calm?"
The woman for her part looks as one would expect for someone welcoming home the dead -- calm, yes. Tired. Grieving. Not glazed with exhaustion or something else like the youth. "If we do nothing, she will be exposed in minutes." But she doesn't move to do anything.
Beatrice says this, in a murmur.
Aryn rumbles, "Maybe she has given up. To die with her own dead."
Beatrice murmurs, "Or she has no idea they are riddled with plague. Why would they put one down the well?"
"We could warn her," Imre says, "We should. I don't know how we'd convince them we meant no wrong. Macha? Could we?"
"We..could." Macha replies, then she straightens, stepping out of cover, calling softly to the woman. Or trying to. Unless stopped.
Beatrice holds a hand up for the rest to stay covered, but doesn't seek to interfere with Macha.
Aryn rumbles, "Perhaps Macha can. These are her people. But the rest of us..."
Imre-Ulani falls silent, watching.
The woman is surprised to hear a stranger's voice. "Who is there?" She calls. All still in Ghaneshi.
Aryn creeps over near to Imre-Ulani. The fur on her ruff is all bristled.
"Macha, of the Moonriders." she calls back, gesturing, "Please...come here."
Aryn noses at Imre-Ulani's hand; touches it with her tongue. "Stay," she whispers.
Imre-Ulani nods shortly, but purses her lips tightly.
Beatrice stays down with Imre. Nobody would mistake her or Imre for a Ghaneshi, or really anything but 'infidel'.
The woman calls, "A Moonrider...?"
The man calls, "Please, join us. You find us on a sad day."
Imre-Ulani remains still, swallowing as she listens.
"Ma'am..please..It's very important that you come here." Macha continues to gesture, "Your safety is at stake."
Imre-Ulani looks to Beatrice, "...does she know that the older man is in danger too?" She whispers.
Aryn rumbles, "Tell her to come alone, but....oh, what if she is already carrying the disease?"
"What are you talking about?" The man demands.
"The young man..he carries a sickness. You need to get away from him before you are infected." Macha replies, stepping more into the open, "Please."
Beatrice shakes her head to Imre to indicate she does not know what they know or do not know, but she whispers on the winter breeze to Macha, and it is carryied instnatly and privately, "Neither the woman nor the man are infected. But bear in mind those corpses are between them and us."
The man's eyes narrow. "Fain looks healthy enough, and is strong as an ox."
Macha shakes her head, skirting around until she's hopefully not in a straight line from the bodies, "Please, trust me. He is sick. And your loved ones are also carriers. You have to come away."
Beatrice fingers her arrow.
"You don't know what you're talking about," the man dismisses. The woman seems confused, torn. Tired and with red-rimmed eyes.
Imre-Ulani closes her eyes. Her lips begin moving, as she murmurs some thing or another.
Macha shakes her head, "I do. I know that it sounds unbelievable..But it's the truth."
"How do you know this?" The man demands. The youth continues to stand there, silent. Just standing there. In the cold.
Beatrice whispers translations for Aryn.
"My companion can sense it." Macha glances back, gesturing, "She's a wolf."
Beatrice's lips press together.
Beatrice goes back to translating a moment later.
Aryn does her very best 'who's a good doggie now?' imitation, sitting at Imre-Ulani's side. The tip of her tail flicks repeatedly and her ears are flat, harmless.
The woman says, "What is this...?" but looks to the man for guidance and the man looks angry. He hisses words at the woman then barks at the youth. "Come, now." The youth does exactly as bidden, the moment the man says it. He's got the personal effects of the dead and goes to the house.
Macha sighs, shaking her head, "Burn it." She murmurs, shoulders slumping.
"But why....?" the woman is asking as the man slams the door.
The youth has vanished inside, with the personal effects of the dead.
Long distance to Imre-Ulani: Beatrice definitely thikns you can be purfying any snow touched by the dead bodies! not necessarily helpful.
Beatrice murmurs, "The snow will start up again soon. We should backtrack the path that these horses took to see where they came from."
Aryn rumbles, "Tell her that if she comes away now, she may live. If she turns to follow the man, she will die with him. Then she can make the choice she wants."
Macha nods faintly, returning to the others.
"Alright," Imre says softly.
Beatrice, for what good it may do, whispers on the wind in Ghaneshi. Perhaps the breeze will find the woman, or did before the door shut. "We must track this trail, and be careful and quick about it.... if you are willing, Macha? Aryn? And be careful, the actual tracks these horses made in the snow could be infected."
Macha nods, moving to climb back onto her horse, "I'm not worried about Reagan. And Reagan will protect me."
Aryn springs off. She is less stealthy now, swifter. Hoofprints can be tracked by sight, and do not need the use of the nose, so she begins to follow at visual range.
Imre-Ulani comes to stand by Beatrice and, silent, watches the settlement for a time.
Beatrice finds herself, in that case, repeatedly reminding Aryn in a throaty Weir-growl not to get ahead of Imre's ability to clear where she is going to step of plague.
It is harder and harder to navigate around the path of infection, but with Imre's guidance and Aryn's ability to track, it is not hard to figure out the path that the horses took through the snow. Soon they are on the outskirts of another settlement. Beatrice sends Promachos soarding overhead.
Beatrice murmurs, "Hold... Imre, Aryn, hold. I know where we are."
"Where are we?" imre asks.
Beatrice glances at Macha perhaps to double-check she's right. "Near a significant settlement..."
Macha nods faintly, "There's one up ahead." She agrees.
Beatrice checks her map, as she's done periodically. "The one where My Prince encountered the plague at the first."
"Do you think it's the source?" Macha asks, even though she knows that's to simple.
Beatrice says, "At least of the infection in the settlement we saw... I recommend we check it in a wide circle, without drawing too clsoe in."
Aryn rumbles, "If that man came from the settlement....then I do not see the point in checking it. If people there were well, they will be ill after his visit."
"The horse trails," Imre says, looking a little green about the gills. "They are infected."
Beatrice nods to Imre, and nods for them to move around and around in a wider berth. Soon it becomes evident that there are several paths in different directions going to and from the settlement -- mostly from, and all bear traces of infection.
Macha continues to look around, "It'll be everywhere.."
Aryn rumbles, "If paths through shadow can fall apart and need mending, perhaps they can also be destroyed. I cannot think of a better thing right now than to withdraw all of us, and the army, and destroy that path."
Imre-Ulani draws her cloak close, falling silent once more, "Do they know they are doing it?" She says finally.
Beatrice frowns, "You may certainly make the recommendation to My Prince." But she glances to see how Macha is taking that suggestion.
Aryn lays her ears flat, tail tucked. She falls silent.
Macha shrugs, "I don't know anything about that sort of thing."
"They aren't going anywhere," Imre says finally, "And they are doing their damage. Perhaps we should just return and report?"
Beatrice says, "I am in favor of that, post-haste."