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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 2:11:54 GMT
Calvera watches the scouts searching the shrine from deep in a thick, rhododendron. It breaks the wind so he is warmer and the flowers should mask his sent.
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Post by Admin on Oct 14, 2019 4:48:43 GMT
The scouts have finished searching the ruin for military reasons and have now set about picking through the remains of the place occasionally picking up some potsherd or shattered piece of stonework and discussing it with each other in low voices. Pieces that are of interest are placed in a belt pouch one man wears.
The two men are grey skinned as rumoured and wear light armour of ornate design. They carry short swords and bows and seem more interested in their archaeology than keeping watch on the area.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2019 0:52:43 GMT
Calvera shivers watching them. Wondering if their archeology has a purpose or just idle looting. He knows many such ruins. Better stone and older gods.
He looks down at himself. His gear is not fine but, fit for a hard campaign. His short sword and light leather armour mark him as a soldier. His other clothes are well made but not identifying. He quietly strips off his armour and buries it and his sword beneath the leaf litter.
Someone commands this army, perhaps they too are interested in old stone and pottery.
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Post by Admin on Oct 17, 2019 18:20:51 GMT
By the time Calvera has stashed his gear the soldiers have finished their archaeological searching and have sat down together and start to study and debate the objects they have collected. Every few minutes one of them will get up and look past the jumbled rocks, over the fields and back to the army. Their language isn't known to Calvera but a few of the words are in accented Thari and fit in with a scholarly discussion of relics. Occasionally this discussion becomes heated and he can hear their loud arguements.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2019 18:46:42 GMT
Thats odd. They burn towns and slaughter everyone they come accross but are careful with old stone.
[OOC: is the Army still on the move?]
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Post by Admin on Oct 21, 2019 17:18:47 GMT
The two scouts seem to have finished with the study of the stone and have moved on to the subject - assuming Calvera is properly understanding them - of the tools used to cut and carve the stones and the mortar used to hold them in place. One seems adamant about the technology coming from this world and the other holds the position that this was brought by people of Amber.
The army has reached the far side of the river and is now preparing to settle down for the night. A dense cordon of guards take up positions a dozen yards outside the central camp area. More pairs of scouts, some mounted on horses taken from the towns and farms they recently raided. The commander must be located in the large tent set close to the centre of the camp, walled in pink silk and flying the invaders flag above it. the crimson and orange banner shows a golden curved sword and writing in an unknown language below.
This army does not seem to have any means to cross the river at this time. Some scouts, like the ones in the ruin, have managed to cross others search around the other side.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2019 13:06:15 GMT
Nothing ventured nothing gained. I've learned just about all I'm going to freezing my ass off in this shrub.
Calvera looked himself over again. He didn't look much like a soldier with out armor or a sword and after week in the field he was more than a bit ragged. Slogging through wet brush and muddy gullys to get here didn't help.
He sneezed.
"Don't kill me Sahib." He said climbing out of the bush. "I mean you no harm." Calvera speaks in a pidgen of 2 local tongue and a bit of Thari, he leaded on the Pattern just a bit to learn their speach. Language is order and the pattern encompasses all order.
"Zheng He is older than Amber. This shrine was a tumbled ruin the first time Benidict came to our lands to battle Oni. The princes come from time to time seeking adventure, but they do little to help us."
It occurred to Calvera as he spun his story that it might well be true. The same things that attracted him to this shadow could have brought his uncles long long ago.
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Post by Admin on Oct 24, 2019 21:44:18 GMT
The solders jump at Calvera's words and grab their weapons. Seeing his ragged condition they let their guard down.
"Just a peasant," one says.
"Yes, but an educated one. One who knows something of the history of this land." says the other.
"Come here, man. Light us a fire and tell us of Zheng He and this Benedict. That name and the city of Amber are the stuff of legend in our land."
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2019 13:06:13 GMT
Calvera begins gathering a bit of dry wood. "Can you make a spark Sahib? Its awfully wet to use flint and steel. Charms will not work in this place, the local fire spirts will not approach Zheng He's temple. He is sleeping but still a great spirt.
Zheng He is a great dragon, he calls this river his home, so we have named it after him.
But I think you want to hear about Benedict. Yes. If it wasn't raining I could show you his constilation."
[How did the army cross the river. Thats one of the things Calvera came to observe.]
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Post by Admin on Oct 27, 2019 6:13:32 GMT
[[Edits made. Army is where it should be across the river.]]
"Even when wet the Daant will not be stopped," one of the scouts says. "We must adapt to all conditions found in shadow."
The words sound like a religious proverb or portion of a litany to Calvera's ears. The strange men get to work trying to light the fire.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2019 22:06:59 GMT
They have no fire making charms. Good to know. Calvera helps build a fire a tells them of the time long ago when Zheng He transformed himself into a man and build a great treasure ship he the Emperor so he could sail off and find adventure.
There have been no Emperors on this side of the mountain for a long time much to everyone's sorrow.
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Post by Admin on Nov 15, 2019 5:13:27 GMT
"Ahh, treasure! Adventure! If only we had that rather than all this marching and mucking about," says one of the soldiers.
"Not for me," says the other. "I just want to find Amber and settle down for a quiet life on a farm. They say that the weather is perfect there; always just enough rain and never suffer early frosts. A farmer's paradise!"
"So whatever became of the treasure ship?" asks the first scout.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2019 17:45:25 GMT
Zheng He sailed for many years and discovered many new lands to trade with but the Emperor died and the new one favored Zheng He's rivials. The treasure fleet was abandoned and Zheng He retired to the river.
Calvera sat back on his haunches warming his hands over the fire.
"The roads to Amber are long and dangerous for here. If you just want a farm there is land here. The valley you just crossed floods every spring, as you can see, making it particularly fertile. Why go all the way to the fabled city of Amber?"
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Post by Admin on Nov 18, 2019 4:55:34 GMT
"The Promise was made to our leaders long ago. We now march to claim our reward." says the second.
The first scout looks at Calvera through slitted eyes.
"Why do you show such interest, man? And why do you show no fear toward your conquerors?"
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2019 23:38:32 GMT
"Yesterday I was cold and wet, today I have a fire. If you don't kill me you might feed me."
"You clearly need a local guild, you are traveling too early, the rains will stop soon and the roads dry out in a week or two. And you are going the wrong way, the path to Amber is through the western desert, all the stories agree. You are headed south to the mountains. You don't have enough men to force those passes. Hell there aren't enough men in this middle kingdom to force those passes."
"If its Amber you are seeking I can guild you to the western desert but you have to find the path from there your self. If it is mearly glory and plunder the Marquis en Rouge has a city just North of here. She taxes both the river and the road, and the soil as you can see, is quite rich, take the city, take wives from the local people and live out your days taxing fat merchants."
"I have not always been a refugee, and have never been a peasant. I can guild you to either goal though one of them is foolish."
"I have shown you my hand now. As you can see I am not frightened of you because I have nothing to fear, things can only get better for me."
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