Episode 1

Kray and Ivor launch out on a recon mission, looping up closer to the structures ahead but staying in the cover of the vegetation that is off of the trail.

They see that the huts are simple structures made of wood, and most of them elevated off the ground on platforms and plank decks. Taking a position under one of the buildings, the two observers make their way to a great vantage point for a full inspection.

All said, there are probably two dozen structures of various sizes, conglomerated in this central location for the most part, but some tucked away on the periphery on the outskirts within the woods. Most of the houses are built on the short stilts, and several grouped together within a clearing alongside of a lake that stretches out to the east.

The most noticeable feature is the lack of activity. No one is around.

The second noteworthy observation is that many of the buildings are in disrepair. Some even have broken boards, a few fallen in roofs, and a couple seem to have fire damage. There is debris in the open common areas. Grasses are growing in areas that must have once been well-tread.

It becomes pretty clear that the settlement is mostly deserted.



Since detection risk seems low, Kray and Ivor make one more move to another building, even closer towards the center of the settlement and closer to the water. From this angle, they notice something moving on one of the decks of a house that is right on the shoreline. It is a man dressed in a simple animal skin tunic. His hair is wild and gray. It appears that he is fishing off of the dock-like porch of the house, which stretches out a great distance over the water (over half of the structure is built over the shoreline).

Kray studies the man for a time, all the while scanning all around for other signs of life and activity in the settlement. There is none, save for this old fisherman.

After a while, Kray observes something a bit abnormal about the man's movements. His mannerisms and motion seems somewhat out of place for some reason.

It eventually becomes apparent, especially after the man is seen pulling in a fish on the line, taking it off of the hook, and placing it in a nearby bucket. Kray is convinced, based on the way he moves and the positioning of his body, that the old man is blind.

No other people are seen. A few footprint tracks to and from the stairs on the old man's building can be seen however, along with tracks in the sandy ground that suggest some sort of wagon or wheeled cart is being used to move to and from the stairs.

The old man freezes, his head tilting up and locked to listen intently. He pauses for a long while. He seems alert as he can be, soaking in all that he can with his other senses perhaps. But he does not give any signal of being afraid. He finally speaks out in a scrawling old voice, a THICK Dannein accent that is quite a difficult for Kray to understand , "An Ocean Kingsman? All the way here to Bat Hannoc territory? You are out of place here, don't you know that, gold presser?" He turns, slowly leans his fishing rod against the railing, and looks at Kray. The old Dannein's cold dysfunctional eyes are open but they have no pupils and are disturbing in their homogeneous pale yellow coloring. When the old man starts talking, Kray hears a rolling sound from behind the man, on the deck around from the back end of the house that was not fully visible. In a few more seconds, the source of the noise appears. Kray sees a disabled man dragging himself along in a low box cart with four wheels. The man's legs are shriveled and useless, and he sits on them in the cart. His arms seem strong however, and he quickly gropes along with them to pull forward on the deck around the old man and stares severely down at Kray. The crippled man in the cart then scans the area around the settlement.

"This one has long blades and a bow. Another one's cutting out through the bushes north, carrying a big spear," the crippled Dannein says out loud for his blind companion to hear, again with a hard accent that calls for close attention to comprehend. "What you have in all of those bags hanging on you?", the crippled barks out at Kray and stares with a fierce but dull look.

Kray notices one of the crippled's hands move slowly to his side, resting just below the border rim panel of the four wheel cart. By the way of his movement, Kray suspects he has a weapon close at hand, lying on the inner floor of the cart beside his immobile legs.

The older blind man stands steady, now behind the crippled man in the cart. Kray notices too that the old man is armed with a long antler handled knife that is close to his hand as he shifts them slowly to his belt.

Considering the bags the crippled Dannein saw, maybe referencing assumed coin pouches? With more thought it seems a little unrealistic that Kray's coin would all be in a large shirt pocket. Seems uncomfortable, so RP wise for me that's a no. He does take cash security fairly serious though, so I imagine he 'd have small satchel type sack hanging on his side, from over his shoulder and across his chest via a belt-like strap, used for holding plates/old royals. Nothing huge, maybe the size of one of those plastic shopping bags. Hell, maybe that's what a 'coin purse' is. He'd have a coin pouch hanging from his belt for the less valuable stuff like Markes and lower. His inside shirt pocket would have some coin too, maybe 20 coins.

Maybe it's overkill, but for the realistic approach I'll specify it on my character sheet.

As the others walk down the main trail, approaching the shoreline house off to the left of the central settlement clearing, they see Kray talking with two men. Kray is standing on the ground. The two Dannein men are on a platform that surrounds the house. One of the men is very old and the other is on the deck of the porch platform, apparently sitting in a low cart of some sort. His legs are small and deformed. Both of the men are wearing plain soft hide tunics with belts, simple clothing of rural Dannein woodsmen.As everyone gets closer, you can start to hear that the old blind fisherman is talking to Kray. He is speaking in Dannein, but a strange dialect of it that is difficult to understand for most (Talius is probably the most familiar with it I would guess).

Everything looks calm. Kray is talking back and forth with the blind fisherman. The crippled guy is in a four wheeled cart low to the ground. He is staring pretty intently at all of you, as if studying over you and all that you have and carry one by one.

After Thorn points out an onlooker in the window of the house further away past the house where Kray, the blind old-timer, and the crippled, everyone is aware of that guy as well. He is further away, about 75 meters, so details are not great. It looks like a pretty big guy. It does not seem like he is making much effort to remain hidden.

Just as the rest of the party gathers up behind Kray, the big figure in the house beyond steps away from the window and then is seen again stepping out of the door frame and walking around his outer deck around towards the water facing side of that house. He is a large man, kind of lumbering along with his hands held down still to his sides. He has no sandals and wears only a big dirty smock draped over his shoulders, with a rope-like belt. He is carrying something with a handle in his hands, but it does not seem like a weapon.

After a few steps the big man stops on the outer corner of the porch, standing at the edge and looking out over the water to the east (the party's left). He raises the handled item and starts twisting it back and forth from side to side.

Attached to the handle is some sort of bell, more like a pan, probably tin from the sound of it. Tied on strings up and down the pan are either rocks or metal pieces. As the handled pan twists back and forth, the heavy pieces on the end of the string clang and ping loudly against the tin pan. The effect is a clattering banging and knocking ring sound that is immediately very loud. The big man stands there, rattle pan high overhead, twisting the soundmaker back and forth. The clanging bell rings out and the sound carries over the lake and all through the surrounding trees.

"Mananan Mac Lir! Get him to stop that banging." The blind old-timer barks out, his face an expression of frustration and disgust.The crippled man launches into action, turning sharply and twisting the wagon around, pushing and pulling with his hands while leaning forward to reach the deck ground, rails, and sides of the house. The cart rumbles along the planks of the deck, past the front door of the house, and over to the south corner of the deck. Closest to the other house where the big man is rattling the noisemaker.

"Stop that banging, Maeriks, before I come over there and shove that rattle up your fat ignorant ass!!!" the crippled man yells out, looking toward the big man across the way.

The rattling does not stop. The big man continues, but he looks over at the crippled, staring blankly. He is an ugly man with a look of stupor. Now everyone can see that he is likely mentally handicapped.

The crippled in the cart continues to yell across the deck at the big man, to no avail so far.

"That one to the back of me on the other house deck is an idiot. He was born with bad blood and a weak mind. He is always a bother to everyone he is around." the old blind man says to Kray.

"But come, shall we start this cook? I will fetch these carp." He nods in Krays direction and then turns slightly towards the other house. "Maeriks!" the old man yells out, "Fire, you dumb lout! Get that cook fire going! Food, you imbecile! You understand that don't you?!"

The old man turns slowly and starts walking towards his fishing position.

The rattling of the noisemaker is still echoing out in all directions. The big imbecile at the other deck is holding the stringed pan high in the air, twisting it back and forth. He is looking at the entire party with his mouth open, his expressions still fixed in a normal stupor.

The crippled man on the closest deck is still hurling curses and commands across the shoreline between the two houses, insulting the retarded man and badgering him to shut up and start a fire.

The fire pit and benches sit on the ground, roughly between the two shoreline houses, out away from the water a bit, closer to the common area clearing of the settlement.

"She has always been a mean one, but I suppose that is the way witches are from the inside so they are bound to be that way," the old blind man says as he walks around the house to get his fish from the back side of the house. Kray follows a distance behind, watching the old man touch along the house and rails to know where he is as he walks.

"Where she is now, I'm not sure," he continues as he begins to shift some fish from a large water filled trough on the back deck area to a smaller, portable bucket that he grabs and has filled with water. "I think she still stays out at Old Island, though they tell me that place is more flooded than ever. I never lived there, but my father did when he was a boy, before everybody moved here."

He continues to grab fish from the large trough and place them to the small bucket. The old man is quite proficient at his system. "Now everyone has moved back there to the island maybe, if they are still alive I guess. We are about the only ones left in Sruthadmad, as you say. It has been like that mostly since the raid last fall. We got hit hard. Most people got killed then. Some others left back out with the neighbors too. I guess they figured they should join up with them. Not me though. I had no intention of paddling off with those vagrants. I don't care how strong they say you can get. Some of that was true though. Those boys did get strong. An bachnead is some really strong boys." note="Xorthan,Oxbox,Oxbox"]The phrase "an bachnead" means "The Hive." It is a reference to a structure for bees or wasps, but it is not the most common term for it. This is an older way of referring to a hive.

I am thinking you guys may be staying in earshot of the conversation of Kray and the fisherman, who have looped around the back of the house. Plus Thorn can read lips to an extent.[/note]

"Last I heard they were at odds with Rutcrana too, but I don't know what happened. She might come by as she used to, but maybe they just killed her too. Serve her right but I don't care for them either. She might be out at Old Island. Either that or she's probably dead. There is another one now. Fingol. He probably got all of Rutcrana's draichta now if she is dead. He definitely left with the neighbors. I know that."note="Oxbox,Oxbox"]"Draichta" is an obscure Dannein word meaning something like magic, hexes, magical power, maybe like the word "juju". It is a word not used by most tribes. Most have other words for that sort of thing.

You can share that if Kray asks, but play along that Talius did not hear that word directly when the old man said it.[/note]



The old fisherman stops and stands up, then yells out extremely loud, "Haven't you gotten him to stop yet!? Maeriks!!! Stop banging that bell and get that fire lit!!!! I told you!!" In the background, the imbecile's noisemaker is still clanging and rattling. Kray sees him standing over there still. Rattling the handled pan and staring intently down at Ivor and Qiu.

The old blind fisherman looks back towards Kray, his old dead eyes strangely looking right at Kray though they are empty of the light of function. "If you are not going to get with this cook, you should leave up some food to offer. Do you have any of that bread from the city that smells so thick from a rock oven?"

He tilts his head to the side again. "Stop BANGING, MAERICKS!!! Slevin, roll your broke ass over there and get him if you have to!!! Light that FIRE!!!"

He looks back to Kray. "Send one of those big boys over there to that dim and rough him up. And tell me what you said about having that bread I asked you for?"