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Healing a Broken Heart

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  1. #1
    CyledyrWyllt's Avatar


    After spending quite a few night amidst the Thorns, Joe decides that his newest Cadets are finally ready for the next step. Both the Metalflesh and the Woodwalker have impressed the Farwalker with not only their knowledge, but also the ability to survive the untamed wilderness of the Hedge. He has led them along the general course of the poisonous-looking waters that had once flown with Glamour and song, taking many detours in order to point out important features, or avoid particularly nasty hazards. Once again, the sun is just beginning its ascent into a sky that appears far too impossibly blue to be real, as Joe awakens them. Sam and Marcus find that the Ogre has already prepared a cold breakfast for them and seems eager to be off as soon as possible.

    "Dig in, we still have a ways to go if we're gonna reach the headwaters before nightfall."

  2. #2
    Marcus Evan's Avatar

    Marcus Evan

    1
    PRE

    Marcus eats the cold Hedge food without hesitation. He grew up in England, after all. He's used to eating much worse. The Metalflesh looks at Joe thoughtfully as he chews. After swallowing, he gestures to the toxic stream as he finally asks the million-dollar question that has been on his mind all week.

    "Do you have any idea what might have caused this, then?"

  3. #3
    Sam Barkley's Avatar

    Sam Barkley

    1
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    Sam chews his breakfast without comment. He hadn't slept well, which was to say, he slept completely normally for a night in the Hedge. The sludge had oozed its way into the hollow space between his wooden ears. This was their Hedge and no one had the right to do this to it. Whoever had, would pay. Maybe then things would return to normal. Joe seemed a good sort, and knowledgeable, though Sam wouldn't go so far as to say he trusted the nipple-pierced Briarwolf. And a half-decent cook, to the Wizened's unsophisticated palate. "Thanks," then Barkley takes up his staff and nods. The Woodwalker travels light. He raises an eyebrow at Marcus' question, interested to hear any theories Joe had on the phenomenon himself.

  4. #4
    CyledyrWyllt's Avatar


    Joe gives Marcus an odd look before answering. On anyone less formidable, it would probably look a little bit like fear. He leans in close to the greasy water.

    "I honestly dunno. I ain't never seen nuthin' like it. At first, I thought it was just some rottin' hedgebeast carcass pollutin' the waters upstream, but look... the closer we get to the source, the more poisonous it becomes."

    Sam and Marcus do, in fact, notice that the waters give off a stronger, even more noxious odor and that all plant life near the stream bed appears to have withered and died.

    "Well, the sooner we get started, the sooner we get there."

    Without another word, Joe leads the Woodwalker and the Metalflesh along the stream once more. However, they both might notice that the Farwalker has quickened his pace and no longer seems interested in taking any educational detours. However, the Ogre does continue to point out dangerous flora, medicinal fauna, and other strange features of the Hedge, expecting his Cadets to identify them, or answer questions about their Wyrd natures. He prompts quick replies by rewarding the first to answer correctly with delicious Hedge bounty.

    "What should you do if you get a splinter from that plant?"

    "What would happen if you drank an infusion of those leaves?"

    "What's the best bait to snare that beast?"


    Sam and Marcus will each make three Intelligence + Survival rolls.

  5. #5
    Sam Barkley's Avatar

    Sam Barkley

    1
    PRE

    Barkley grits his teeth as they travel over the dead foliage. There was no refuge for the Woodwalker here, which set him on edge, but on edge is normal for Sam, so that's alright. Grudgingly, Sam had come to respect Joe's knowledge of the Hedge as superior to his own and the short bastard made a real effort at learning what the Hedge Warden had to teach. When the Farwalker makes it a competition, the Wizened gives Marcus a run for his money.

    "Yeh have ter ask it very nicely to come out on its own, don't yeh?"

    "It'd cure yer boils, hemorrhoids, an' psoriasis, but yeh turn pink 'til sunrise."

    "Yellow?"


    3, 3, fail

  6. #6
    Marcus Evan's Avatar

    Marcus Evan

    1
    PRE

    Marcus had never really done that well at school, but he was pretty good at real life. He answers just a bit slower than Sam on the first question, but holds his own on the second, and goes for the gold on the third, and final question. It looks like the third time really is the charm.

    "You have to ask it to... aw, bollocks."

    "Rose hip tea cures diseases, but it's color stains your skin."

    "Fear and panic are like catnip... it can't resist the smell."


    2, 3, 3

  7. #7
    Sam Barkley's Avatar

    Sam Barkley

    1
    PRE

    "-fear, I was just about to say, fear, damn." Barkley crosses his arms, then concedes the prize to Marcus with a "Hrrrmph," and keeps his eyes along, around, and above their path. Sure wasn't any goblin fruit along the Singing Waters, not right now. He idly wondered how long it would take for the river to heal, assuming they could remove the source of this awful sludge.

  8. #8
    CyledyrWyllt's Avatar


    After the Wizened beats the Elemental to the punch on the first question, Joe hands Sam a murmurleaf blossom. When both men answer the second question simultaneously, he tears an equal number of petals from a dried buglewort flower, dividing it between them. However, when Marcus indisputably wins the last contest, The Farwalker hands over a delicate coupnettle plant.

    "Good job, guys."

    It takes the three men the remainder of the day to hike along the streambed. Lush foliage starts to give way to low, scrubby Thorns and sharp, jagged rocks amid the general rot and decay. By the time the sun is low in the sky, they find themselves in a barren wasteland within a rocky ravine. There is a low, green mist clinging to the streambed and the faint sounds of weeping and moaning. It is actually rather musical in nature, and the sound soon fills each man with a sense of longing and regret. The wailing seems to be coming from just around the next bend in the ravine.

    Sharing the Buglewort

  9. #9
    Sam Barkley's Avatar

    Sam Barkley

    1
    PRE

    Barkley graciously accepts the Hedge Bounty from Joe, stashing the murmurleaf blossom and the buglewort leaves into the various pockets of his jacket according to what the Wizened absurdly thinks of as an organizational system. Just last week he found something he had neglected and forgotten growing out of the pocket, the cheeky bastard.

    Sam's nerves start actin' up as the sun begins to set while they're so far into the Hedge. They might have to make camp here tonight, keep one on guard while the others sleep, Sam thinks, his noggin already chugging along that path, when his ears are struck by the sound. The Woodwalker had thought he'd left such distractions as regret behind when he accepted his Doom, but the song unearths that which Sam had merely buried. And that's just it- Barkley can't help but think of the wailing as a song. If the Singing Waters had been the result of something actually singing, and now the song has changed, that explains the sludge. So what explains the new tune? he wonders, forcing the unwelcome feelings back whence they came. Barkley nods to the others, ready to turn the corner and learn the answer.

  10. #10
    CyledyrWyllt's Avatar


    The setting sun stains the sky with vibrant colors as the three Lost round the bend. They soon behold a large punchbowl basin filled with the familiar toxic waters at the foot of a towering wall of weathered rock. From the smooth grooves worn into the stone, it was apparently once a mighty waterfall, yet now boasts barely a trickle of sickly-looking sludge. It takes a moment for their eyes to adjust to the fading light, but they soon realize the source of the musical lamentations. In a shallow grotto near the foot of the rocky wall, three beautiful women recline against one another as they languidly express their sorrows. The skin of each nymph appears to reflect the same warm hues as the fiery sky. The women appear to notice the men as they approach, but do not cease their haunting dirge.

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