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[Fensalir] Abrupt Introduction
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 3:47 am
by Visna Namdalen
Post contains mentions of calendar events:
- Brushfires from the 50th-83rd of Ymiden
- “Outlanders, Redux” on the 69th of Ymiden.
Everyone in the Druid contingent sent from Raelia to assist in the bushfires that currently ravaged eastern Melrath was exhausted. There were no two ways about it. It had been a long, non-stop expedition and now, sore with eyes, noses and throats burning from prolonged exposure to the acrid smoke, Visna’s small group of six were all keen to get to Fensalir to recover and replenish their stores before returning to the frontline.
Travelling along the southwesterly route from Noatun, the small collection of Ragnari guards and Ydalir guides in their company had grown tense since news of the appearance of outlanders around Fensalir had reached them, their small numbers collectively deciding a slower pace would be safer.
It was agony.
The unrelenting sun was low in the sky as the group found a clearing to make camp in. It sent long black claws of shadows stretching through the trees that surrounded them, interspersed by blinding strips of gold that flashed and flickered around the dry dust their number kicked up.
Visna dug a heel into an angry, watery eye. She longed to enjoy her surroundings now that they had put distance between themselves and the fires - having longed to be within the lush Myrkvior Forest - but all her senses were dulled from the acrid smoke. She craved the sound of running water as she desperately wanted a bath to rid herself of the layer of grit that coated her but all that could be heard was the odd rustle of leaves from a passing, lazy breeze. She made do with a water skin and a piece of cloth, wetting it and dabbing it over her red eyes.
She then began to breakdown her pack to make camp, clearing a space of twigs, stones and leaves before laying out her bedroll just shy of ten paces from the main campfire that one of the Ydalir was setting up. Glancing towards the man, she made a mental note to get some hot water once the fire was going to make some tea as well as a rinse for her irritated nose and throat. In preparation, she pulled out a dented metal mug and an earthenware teapot - carefully wrapped in a shawl - as well as a small container of honey and a pouch that held some leftover cardamom pods and cinnamon that she had been gifted trials ago.
Her attention was diverted when the other Ydalir guide - who had been out scouting the area - came rushing back into the camp.
“Druids! There’s been an ambush near the Old Ruins. They need as many of you possible to assist the wounded. Come, I will show you the way.”
Despite her exhaustion and her whole being feeling dry and irritated, Visna did not hesitate to get up immediately, only pausing in-so-long to pour some water over her hands to quickly scrub them. She failed to notice the hesitation some of those in her group had stemming from the mention of the Old Ruins; having never actually been to Fensalir, Visna only knew what her mother had taught her of the area and those teachings were focused more on the thought process and traditional culture of its people and the long history it held. She knew nothing of the superstitions surrounding the area - of the tales of warning to avoid the place. To her, there was just as much of an allure to entering an ancient place as there was to seeing potentially dead outlanders.
Re: [Fensalir] Abrupt Introduction
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 6:42 am
by Visna Namdalen
It took less than half a break to reach the area where the clash between the Outlanders and the Ydalir-Ragnari patrol had occurred.
Crows cawed and took wing as they approached and the first thing Visna noticed despite the numb irritation in her nose was a strong coppery smell. Then voices - frenetic yet firm; the sound muffled by the trees yet reverberating off the few old and ruined walls, pillars and arches that looked only a handful of arcs away from being fully reclaimed by the forest.
Ylka - the blonde Ydalir guide that had led Visna and the few other Druids who had put superstition aside to venture here to help - motioned them forward and then held her arm outstretched towards the epicentre of the skirmish. The young Namdalen Druid wound her way around a crumbling wall that was more ivy than stone and was met with the grisly scene.
The smell of blood was pronounced now, bright red splatters and darker, drying pools of it were everywhere. Three lifeless bodies lay where they had been slain: one slumped awkwardly against a thick trunk of an ancient pine, another collapsed four paces away and the last crumpled awkwardly on his back. Visna could see a huge red gaping maw in his neck. There were two slain horses laying on their side in a way that was unnatural and wrong.
Visna had seen dead bodies before - the worst of their injuries covered by blankets - but this, seeing them as they had passed, needing little in the way of imagination to see how their final moments had played out, was more confronting than the young Druid had expected. She froze in place, big flinty eyes transfixed on the scene as her chest drew tight.
A voice called out - sharp and stern - and snapped her out of the state she had found herself in. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw another five bodies - one deceased and others injured and being worked on. The Druid who had called out was on her knees at the head of one of the injured - her Aesir vestments ruined from blood, more smeared on her cheek and dark, curly hair threatening to fall from the leather throng that desperately tried to secure it.
Visna approached despite feeling out of her depth and lowered stiffly onto her own knees, dark eyes wandering the body of the man before her. He had messy red hair and his youthful face was contorted in pain, the muscles along his neck corded with tension. His armor was unfamiliar, however, bloodied as it were due to a chest wound that looked to be the result of an axe. It took a few trills before she realised it was unfamiliar for a reason, however. This was not an Ydalir. And it certainly wasn’t a Ragnari.
“He’s an Outlander,” she said with conviction despite her voice cracking from being so dry. She didn’t budge and remained stiff and still with her hands on her knees as her eyes stayed fixed on that unfamiliar armor.
“He’s injured - badly. He requires our help,” the dark haired Druid replied evenly, although Visna sensed a faint undertone of heat, frustration. Then, more strained as she worked to keep him still, one palm pressed firmly to the top of his chest, the other wrapped around his forehead, “I need you to put pressure on the wound on his leg. He’ll bleed out before I can tend to this chest wound if not.”
“Good,” Visna replied, trying to make her scratchy words all venom, “we shouldn’t waste time on him.”
“If we keep him alive then he might tell us more about what they are doing here!” the other Druid hissed through white teeth, her own dark eyes narrowed. “Now put pressure on that wound, Monk!”
Visna shot the other Druid a cutting glare but did as told, knowing this was an order, and made no show to hide how much she loathed what she was doing. Without using any cloth to staunch the blood, she placed one palm over the deep gash on the man’s leg, then laid the other over it and leaned into them, gripping his leg in a hard and unnecessary fashion. The young man beneath them cried out and tried to twist out of the grip and Visna felt the other Druid’s narrowed look burning into the side of her face.
She ignored it.
Re: [Fensalir] Abrupt Introduction
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:13 pm
by Visna Namdalen
The other Druid’s voice softened as she spoke again, “What is your name?”
Visna, without even thinking, replied, “Visna.”
A moment passed where nothing else was said - apart from the young man’s pained groans - and Visna glanced curiously in the other Druid’s direction, wondering why she hadn’t introduced herself, in turn. However, it wasn’t until she saw the perplexed look on the other woman’s face that she realised the question wasn’t directed at her and it only further soured her mood.
The other Druid picked up where she left off, calmly urging the man to give his name while also explaining his current state and situation to him in a bid to both distract him but also to try and settle him.
He opened his mouth but only managed to pant and cried out once the other Druid’s hand moved down to the wound on his chest.
“Outlander, you are wounded. My name is Sivnne and this is Visna. We’re going to help you.” The other woman’s attention shifted from the man to Visna and she indicated with a nod to his armor before she spoke more to the man than the younger Druid, “We need to get your armor off so we can tend to your chest wound. Is that ok?”
Visna’s eyes narrowed at the question, visibly unimpressed Sivnne’s was bothering to get consent from an Outlander.
The red haired man only heaved a thin groan and grimace in reply.
With another bob of her head, Sivnne indicated her wishes to Visna as she began to unbuckle the armor fastenings at the man’s shoulders. As much as she did not want to assist, Visna did so, removing one hand from the man’s leg to aid in liberating the armor from the man’s upper torso.
Visna returned her hand to the other and once more pressed down hard on the man’s leg wound, inwardly delighting in the grunt of pain it brought forth from the Outlander.
Sivnne was distracted, half twisted to reach the hand that had been at the man’s forehead to the pack at her side. Without ceremony, she upended the pack, dumping the contents upon the ground at her side. She retrieved a pair of pruning shears and cut just as unceremoniously though the layers of cloth and padding that lay beneath until, at last, the man’s bloodied chest was exposed.
Visna heard Sivnne speak softly to the man once more as she poured water from a skin over the Outlander’s chest, using the entire skin’s contents to cleanse the area. Dropping her own gaze to her hands and the man’s thigh, the Druid Monk tried to figure out if it was any bloodier than it had been when she first applied pressure to the wound.
Content it wasn’t at least any worse than it had been, her attention then moved to the way Sivnne moved her hands on the man’s chest. One remained pressed against his left pec, above the heart, while the other moved along the entire length of the ugly wound there. No, Visna realised once she noticed no further grimacing from the Outlander, the other Druid must only be hovering her hand over the wound rather than touching it.
It was an odd action and one the younger Druid hadn’t seen before - not that she had a great deal of field experience - and became all the more odder still once she saw the wound begin to stitch itself up.
Nearly reeling back from the surreal sight, her dark eyes instantly darted to Sivnne but the other woman seemed deep in concentration.
Was it some clear balm she hadn’t seen?
Her mind whirled trying to make sense of what she had just witnessed.
“Visna,” came Sivnne’s calm yet firm voice, “how is his leg looking?”
The younger Druid’s dark eyes met Sivnne’s equally dark ones, the woman’s face betraying nothing while Visna’s expressed every bit of confusion she felt.
The more senior Druid repeated herself, “How is his leg looking, Monk?”
“Fine.” Visna answered curtly.
Re: [Fensalir] Abrupt Introduction
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:32 pm
by Jackalope
Experience: +10 xp
Knowledge:
Skill:
Knowledge:
Detection: Outlander armor is unlike Ydalir or Ragnari armor
Detection: Sensing a serious wound healing without conventional medical intervention
Discipline: Obeying a command despite being wholly against it
Medicine: Clean hands before tending to casualties
Medicine: Putting pressure on a wound to stop it bleeding
Tactics: Saving an Outlander to get information out of them
Skillplay: Appropriate to level
Loot: None.
Injury/Overstepping: None.
Renown: +5
Wealth Points: None.
Collaboration: No.
Magic Experience?: No.
Comments:
This is my very first Visna thread.
Melrath is always a very interesting place, and the attitude towards Outlanders makes for a very interesting dynamic.
Using the calendar event as a backdrop, to set Visna’s mood and condition, made for an interesting opening. You describe the challenges she faces upon seeing the mangled bodies, and being ordered against her inclination to help the outlander, quite well. And you establish an air of mystery around the older druid’s healing abilities. Visna’s reaction to it, her initially wondering if it isn’t some balm she didn’t notice, was a nice touch, as were the little things like her mistakenly thinking Sivnne was asking for *her* name rather than the Outlander’s.
One thing, though. If you have 0 xp and 0 knowledges in a skill, your proficiency level is Untrained, not Novice. Keep that in mind, as well, when deciding how to play Visna’s use of those skills.
I look forward to reading more of Visna’s adventures.
Enjoy your rewards!
