Rough Times

[MrEdwardNigma]

Characters

Various
'Slim' & 'Fats'
'Slim' is extremely skinny and has a face resembling that of a rat. His thin moustache is quite resemblant of whiskers. Together with the hook nose, the big ears with several rings through them each and his large front teeth, it makes him an ugly man to look at. He was wearing some leather pants, a red and white striped shirt and a sleeveless green vest when X first met him. On his head he had a red bandana, some of his thick black hair peeking out of it at various places.

'Fats' is, as his name suggests, fat, and short. He looks like he has three chins and the several warts on his face certainly don't make him seem any more attractive. He is much older than his comrade, a fact shown by the grey stubbly beard and the few strands of grey hair left on his balding head. When X met him he wore leather pants similar of those of his friend and a thick green knitted sweater. He had a red sash as a belt with a sabre in it.

'Fats' and 'Slim' were waiting for the boy when he exited the prison. They say X's father owed them money because he'd hidden the loot they gathered together when he went to prison. They seem to think he's left behind clues of how to find the treasure for his son and want to find the loot for themselves. They didn't kill X, because his father saved their lives once, but they did rob him of his father's hat, bottle of wine and compass.

The Horseman
X met this man near the prison, where he claimed he wanted to "pick up some stuff" in the water. He offered X a job, but X declined and the man went off on his own. Precisely what his purpose was remained unclear.

In any case, he seemed to be reasonably wealthy, judging from his proud white horse, his silken shirt with lots of frilly bits, his broad rimmed hat with a fuzzy white feather on it, his long riding boots with golden bits of decoration and his long scarlet cape. The man himself looked very clean too, with pearly white teeth, a thin curled up moustache and a small goatee. The man's eyes were a delightful green, and his hair a deep black. He managed to be quite handsome despite his somewhat largish nose.

Prison
Groggo
Groggo is a guard at the prison, and hardly a good one. He's out of shape, fat and lazy. He's also ugly and short, but that's not really a problem while working in the prison. Most of his time is spent dodging duty and sneaking into the kitchen to pilfer food.

Ernman
Ernman handles some of the paperwork at the prison, and his most important duty seems to be guarding the prisoners' personal items, which he's notoriously bad at. Ernman is too old and bent out of shape to hold his own in a fight, which makes him more than weary around prisoners. Enough to keep a handcrossbow trained on them at all times.

The Ferryman
Real name unknown, probably because he doesn't talk a lot. He's thin, tall and bald and transports prisoners from the shore to the island and back for a living. This seems to have made him quite gloomy, as all he ever sees is how they go in, and how they go out. To be honest, there's more prisoners going in than going out...
His voice is slow and solemn, and he seems to have given up caring, or never cared in the first place.

Swan's Pont
Grut (Real name: Gerhald)
Grut is an old lumberjack who does farmwork during the harvest. He barely gets by, but he's managed to establish himself in a small cabin near Dark Wood. Despite him impoverished he is he took X in when he was wounded and fed him.

He dresses in rags and has long grey hair, which hangs across his thin face in long streaks. The old man has blue eyes, a big nose and some sort of fungus on his lip.

Old Miriam
Something of a "witch", Old Miriam lives in a hut past the lake, near Dark Wood. She makes a living by helping the villagers and farmers with herbs and ointments, and by catching wildlife in the woods, who's bones she keeps in a pit behind her cabin. Her cabin is less shabby than Gurt's, but quite as small. She dressed in thick layers of rags and looks quite scary with her white, blank eyes and the swervy drawings in blood on her face. She somehow manages to keep her teeth perfectly white though.

Old Miriam feels a strong connection with the old beliefs and with nature, with the real world, as she calls it. She believes the world is a cruel place, and that's just something you'll have to accept. It's in her character to lash out at those who don't show her respect.

She nursed X's wounds for free, so now he is in debt to her.

She has a niece in Crossham, Hazel, and would like to know what happened to her.

Father William
Father William is quite possibly the most senior member of the village community in Swan's Pont. He lives in a shack in the slums about big enough to hold his bed, but no more, and spends his nights at the tavern, telling tales to the younger men. He only has one leg and seems a reasonably nice guy.

Gambal
Gambal seems the religious sort. X met him when he was collecting money in the local inn, where he was serviced free of charge.

He wore a thick brown robe that was heavy with rain and clung to his flesh when X met him. He had a string of frayed rope for a belt and from it hung a heavy mace and an equally heavy purse. There was a faded tattoo of a spider on his skull and a swollen scar running through it. It looked badly stitched, but not recent. He was sort of moody at the time, but that kind of weather would have probably done the same to anyone.

Locations

Prison
Dark Wood
Swan's Pont
Crossham


"Quests"
X Marks the Spot
X's father, whom he never met, is rumoured to have some hidden treasure somewhere, and he quite possibly left X hints to find it. Slim and Fats are after this treasure too, and have stolen some of X's father's possessions in the hopes that they will lead them to the treasure. These possessions are a hat, a bottle of wine and a compass. X still has a bent fork, some pants, an empty sheet of parchment and an envelope with a broken seal. His father had left him other items too, but all of those were stolen.

X is trying to find someone who can read to decipher the broken seal on the envelope right now.

And this little piggy went...
The butcher's wife has told X that a pig has gone missing from it's pen, and he needs to find it for her. The butcher himself seems to be quite certain that no-one stole it, but assumes it somehow escaped the pen by itself and ran off

Relatives & Relations
Old Miriam has asked X to look for her niece, Hazel, in Crossham. Last she heard from her she was seeing a tailor's son.


The sound of guards' boots. The boy sat up and tapped along to the rhythm with his hand on the cold stone floor. The slow, heavy pace suggested that this particular guard was the one they called Groggo. The boy heard the guards talk outside his cell often enough, so he had learnt a lot about them, but he had also learned not to talk himself while they were around. Two beatings had been enough to teach him that lesson. The guard's pace slowed down. The boy stopped tapping along. This was wrong. The boy hadn't heard any other guards around, and it wasn't dinnertime, so there was no reason for the guard to slow down. He was supposed to just walk past the cells. Especially Groggo, since he evaded guard duty as much as he could and spent a lot of time in the kitchen, nicking the cook's food. Groggo halted outside the boy's cell door, and for a while it was quiet except for the jingling of keys. That door had only opened twice since the boy was first shoved into it, when he was ten years old. Before that time, he'd shared a cell with his mother, who had taught the boy how to speak and had tried to teach him about the outside world by drawing pictures on the walls with chalk and telling him stories. Only very little had stuck with him.

The door slowly swung open, making a horrible screeching sound. It hadn't been oiled for six years either. Groggo waggled into the room, and the boy crawled back hastily into a corner. He didn't understand why the routine he was so used to was being broken, and half expected another beating. Groggo scratched the back of his head. Groggo was too short for his uniform, but also too wide. His fat gut peaked out from under his leather shirt but his hands were hidden in his sleeves and his pants had been rolled up, showing a bit of his thick hairy legs. His guards' boots and leather shirt were worn to the point of having holes in them and the shortsword on his belt had a clump of rust on one side. There were stains of cabbage on his shirt and in his neckbeard. To anyone with some knowledge of the outside world, Groggo would have been a laughable sight, but the boy didn't laugh.
"You're free to go" the guard said. The boy blinked. Groggo sighed.
"Oh, boy, they're always like this... Good thing this only happens once every couple of years"
Groggo walked over to the boy and grabbed his arm. The boy tried to escape his grasp.
"C'mon, boy!" Groggo yelled, "You're going free! Out of this cell, to the outside world, you understand?"
The boy hesitated, and Groggo took this opportunity to drag him out of the room and shut the door behind them. He locked the door and then shoved the boy forward.
"We're heading to check-out. C'mon now, I'd like to get this over before the cook finishes dinner. We're having fowl"
Groggo said fowl because he didn't know what kind of fowl. The fact was that some of the other guards had been shooting down birds with their crossbows for fun, and the cook had tossed them all into a big pot and boiled them to a pulp. Not that the crossbow bolts hadn't pretty much reduced them to pulp anyways.

The boy was led to a room down some stairs with a counter. Behind the counter there were some shelves with boxes on them and a door to a room with much more shelves with boxes on them. Groggo pushed the boy up to the counter and slammed his hand on the counter a couple of times.
"Hey, Ernman, get over here!"
After a while an old man shuffled out of the doorway behind the counter, carrying a thick leatherbound book. He dropped it on the counter, sending dust flying in all directions. Groggo coughed waving his hand at the dust.
The old man took out a goose's feather and an inkwell and then opened the book. The paper was yellow, torn, and full of strange scribblings. The boy couldn't actually read any of it, because he'd never learnt how. The old man gazed at him over his half-moon spectacles. His eyes were a glazed over blue.
"You need to sign the register" he said. The boy stared awkwardly at the feather the man was offering.
"Just sign with an X" the old man said, drawing a small X in the air with a wrinkled hand.
"Why?" the boy finally said. Groggo looked at the two and then at the door they came through.
"Look, eh, this is gonna take a while, so I'm gonna head down to the kitchen to check if the food is alright, okay? Ernman, you handle this and send him to the ferry when you're done"
Groggo walked off hurriedly, which looked silly in his pace. Ernman didn't seem to happy about this, but eventually pointed at the boy and firmly said "You stay here, I'm going to go get something"
He disappeared into the back room, and after elaborate shuffling and moving of boxes he returned with a big box and an ancient handcrossbow on top of it. Ernman put down the box and took hold of the crossbow with one hand while he let the other glide through what was left of his scruffy grey hair. Ernman was the kind of man that looked scruffy all over, and probably didn't even notice it himself. The fluffy woollen blue shirt he was wearing didn't really help counter this impression. Ernman took the handcrossbow off the box and put it on the counter with a thunk.
"You - need - to - sign - the - register" he said, putting emphasis on every word, "because you need to state that you got your stuff back". Had the boy really been stupid enough to need the slow talking and the emphasis, he wouldn't have understood the second part of that sentence, but this escaped Ernman's notice.
"Stuff?" the boy asked. Ernman nodded slowly.
"Stuff" he said, tapping the box. "Your father and mother were very bad people, so now they have to spend the rest of their lives in his majesty's prison. Your mother was pregnant with you when she arrived, so you were born in a cell. There was no-one to take care of you and the rules don't allow us to send little baby boys off into the wild, so we kept you until you were an adult and could look out for yourself. It's not fair, but it's the way things work. Now you're not guilty, so you can leave. You didn't have any stuff when you arrived though, so we don't have a box with your name on it, but your dad decided to kill himself when he heard you were getting out, so his stuff would pass on to you"
There was a name written on the box, but it was illegible to the boy. Ignoring whatever reaction the kid had to the news of his father dying that very day, Ernman opened the box and started reading a list of included items, ticking them off on the list.
"Broad-rimmed leather hat, red feather. Present. Compass, boxed. Present. Purse with 214 gold pieces. Missing"
He ticked off the box anyways and continued.
"Silver sabre with inscription. Missing. Leather embroided coat with family crest. Missing. Dark green pants. Present. Leather belt with golden buckle. Belt present, buckle missing. Bottle of wine. Present. How odd. It does look like it's been opened, though. Bent fork. Present. Sealed envelope with family crest. Present"
Ernman ticked off the last box and then handed the feather to the boy.
"There's some stuff missing, but that's bound to happen if it's just lying around in a box for years. There's no way we're going to find any of it now. Consider it a sort of storage tax"
The old man tapped the paper of the book, indicating where the boy had to sign it. The boy scribbled an X on the paper and gave back the pen.
"All right" said the old man, "You can go change out of your prison clothes and into the ones that belonged to your dad while I put back the book and archive this list. The prison clothes are property of the crown, so you're not keeping them"
The boy obeyed. His dad's pants were a good fit, but the hat was somewhat largish. It bothered the boy that he didn't have a shirt on, since it was pretty draughty in the castle. He stuffed most of the stuff down his pockets and held the bottle of wine in his hands. The old man returned holding handcrossbow in both hands and ushered the boy down another flight of stairs.

They were now in a large room with water down the middle. At the end of the room there was a large grating which could be lowered or highered by a system of pulleys and chains. Behind the grating lay the sea, waving into the room. Ernman led the boy to a small boat that was waiting for him. There was a tall, thin bald man in a dark purple cloak waiting on the boat: the ferryman. The boy stepped into the boat and Ernman stepped back as the ferryman pushed the boat off with his stick.

As the boat slowly set off across the waves, the boy got his first look of the island. The prison was on top of a tall cliff, with the grating set at the water level, and a wooden pier was built from the top of the cliff, many, many feet above the water. Several guards were walking on the pier high up, carrying a thick bag with rocks tied to it. When they reached the end, they threw it down. It landed in the water with a loud splash, and the impact made the boat wobble, even while it was quite far away from where the bag landed.
"Another dead prisoner" the ferryman said, in a solemn slow voice.

OOC: Right, I think that was quite long enough for a first post :smalltongue:
The ride to the mainland in the boat is reasonably long, so if you want to do anything you have some time to kill right now. Reactions (both IC and OOC) are welcome too, as well as any questions. I hope this seems like a fun game.

[Innis Cabal]

Everything came swiftly to him. Being thrust out of the world you were born and raised in, one of cold cells, disease and criminals all the way to open sea...he was lucky he had not completly gone into shock.

The news of his fathers death did not phase him truely. He had no memory of the man, and the items that piled up did nothing to help his memory.

And now, finding himself on the boat...a thousand questions, a thousand thoughts...it truely was all he could do to just sit there without screaming.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The small boat slowly glid across the water, the ferryman pushing it forth with the long pole he carried. After his remark about the corpse, the ferryman had stayed silent and simply gazed ahead of him.

Most of their surroundings were obscured by a thick white fog, and soon the island disappeared out of sight. The only thing the boy could see were some pointy rocks sticking out of the water here and there, usually quite near to the boat, as if they were passing specifically through a path that had a lot of them. The salty wind and the sloshing waves battered the boat, but the ferryman stayed unphased. The boy noticed that most of the waves broke on the pointy rocks, which explained why the ferryman chose this route. He also noted that the water was quite undeep here, allowing the ferryman to steer the boat with a simple rod rather than oars.

The water got less deep even and the rocky bottom changed into sand. The boat stopped.
"You get off here" the ferryman said in his deep solemn voice. The boy looked at the water. If he got off here he'd be waistdeep in the cold water, and there was even no land in sight, while the fog allowed him to see about four boatlengths ahead of the boat. The waterlevel did seem to go down some ahead though.

[Innis Cabal]

(One question only. For now >.>. What was his actual upbringing like. Not like learning. What did he deal with everyday. People other then the guards. Etc)

The boy gives the men a look

"I can' swim."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"You can walk" the ferryman said, and he prodded the bottom with his pole to show the water wasn't that deep. Waist height. Cold, exhausting and wet, but walkable.

((OOC: The boy remembers very little of his time in the prison. Somehow, most of it is a haze. Still, he remembers the room, which contained a rough bed and a toilet and not much more. He remembers the sludge they fed him. He remembers that once a week they'd slide a pot with cold water and a sponge through the hatch and he'd be told to wash up. He remembers how glad he'd be when a bird would perch on his little barred window, too high in the room for him to reach. The boy never talked with anyone but himself, for six long years, but he did spend a lot of time listening to the guards talk. Sometimes he'd spent time running around the room, and jumping at the window, when he felt energetic, but that hardly ever happened. He remembers feeling tired and too weak willed to fight back or take any initiative the whole time))

[Innis Cabal]

((Alright. Cold, lonely and silent, got it))

The boy merely held his belongings over his head, he didn't want to argue or talk back, though he was somewhat sure he'd drown, and slid into the water. It was cold and draining, but to his surprise he could in fact wade through it. Shivering, he walked forward to where the man had indicated.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The water was an icy chill and the boy soon couldn't feel his legs anymore. The boat set off to the prison again, and for a while the boy had no idea how fast he was advancing, due to all the fog. His arms soon grew tired from carrying the wine, the compass, the fork and, in lesser extent, the envelope above his head. After a while, he saw a flickering light ahead of him. He was now knee-deep in the water, and wondered whether he should head towards the light.

[Innis Cabal]

Light meant fire. Fire meant warmth. The cold seeping into his being was a somewhat familiar feeling in the cold winters in his cell. It was'nt a feeling he was fond of, or wished to remain in for long.

He made his way further toward the light despite the frigid waves and dense all pervasive fog.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The boy was glad to finally reach the beach. The light he'd seen earlier was a campfire on that beach, which two men were sitting at. The tallest one of the two was sitting on an overturned dinghy. He was extremely skinny and had a face resembling that of a rat. His thin moustache was quite resemblant of whiskers. Together with the hook nose, the big ears with several rings through them each and his large front teeth, it made him an ugly man to look at. He was wearing some leather pants, a red and white striped shirt and a sleeveless green vest. On his head he had a red bandana, some of his thick black hair peeking out of it at various places.
"You, over there, come join us! Drinks are on us, eh?"
His Adam's apple bobbed as he talked. The second man raised a bottle of wine as the first invited the boy. He was short and fat, and had taken a seat on a rock. Except for that single rock, the beach seemed quite devoid of them. The short fat man wore leather pants similar of those of his friend and a thick green knitted sweater. He had a red sash as a belt with a sabre in it. The boy noticed the other man had a sabre with him too, but his was plunged into the sand.
"C'mon now, come over to the fire. You look cold and we won't bite" the fat man said, and then he laughed, making his whole body shake. The fat man looked like he had three chins and the several warts on his face certainly didn't make him seem any more attractive. He was much older than his comrade, a fact shown by the grey stubbly beard and the few strands of grey hair left on his balding head.

The fog obscured most of the rest of the beach, but the boy noticed there was a large cliff wall ahead, and the soil turned to solid rock to his left. He also noticed a big backpack lying by the overturned boat, most likely belonging to the two men. The thin man tapped the spot next to him on the overturned dinghy, wanting the boy to sit down there.

[Innis Cabal]

The boy gave a look to the two. Kindness surely was something that was forigen to him. And free anything at that. But the fire looked warm and inviting, and his clothing and body were well and truely frozen and soggy beyond repair.

He took a seat, his back well away from the two men, taking the bottle and taking a swig, not taking his eyes from the men, nodding only in thanks before handing the bottle back to the man.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The fat man smiled.
"Good lad. Does you well, eh? A drink of Dragon's Breath chases away the cold like, well, a dragon's breath!"
That it did. The liquid, which clearly wasn't wine, had warmed the boy's entire body with one drink. It had also made his throat burn and his eyes water. The thin mad slapped his knees laughing.
"Don't worry, you get used to it after few drinks"
The thin man handed the bottle back to the boy after taking a swill himself.
"I'm Slim, by the way" he said.
"And I'm Fats" the other man said, "What's your name, lad?"

[Innis Cabal]

The boys mouth tasted vile, but sure enough the cold was being almost melted away by the stuff. He leaned down, placing a finger into the sand and drew a single X, pointing at it.

[MrEdwardNigma]

"X?" Fats said, and burst out laughing. Slim saw the humour in this too and sniggered.
"That sure is a strange name. Where did you say you came from?"
Fats stopped laughing and looked at X.
"C'mon boy, quit hogging the bottle, have another swill and pass it on"

[Innis Cabal]

The boy handed the bottle off, pointing out to the sea

"There... I don' know the name"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Prison" Fats said grimly, and took a sip of the bottle. He then tossed the bottle back to the boy.
"Have another drink, you've barely had any at all. I promise, once you get through the early burning, it's like the sweetest nectar"
"Can't imagine why they'd put a wee kiddy like you in prison" Slim said.
"Yeah, curse the king!" Fats added, spitting in the sand.
"What were you in for?" Slim asked.

[Innis Cabal]

The boy takes another drink. The burning is still there. The men hadn't done anything to him yet, but he was surely starting to feel the effects of the drink. He handed it off again to who ever would take it and shrugs

"They sa'd cause I was born"

[MrEdwardNigma]

Slim took a drink and looked at X. The beach was dancing in X's eyes. He felt the effects of the booze, but the burning had indeed gone down. The drink was getting tastier.
"Harsh" Slim said, and then tossed the now empty bottle at the water. It landed with a splash.
"Take that, prison!" he said, laughing. Fats got up and pulled another bottle out of the backpack, uncorking it with his teeth. He took a drink.
"Prime Dragon's Breath. Here, try it, boy, better than the last one"
Fats handed over the bottle and sat down again.
"If there's one thing you should know about the main land, boy, it's that it's hard to find good friends out here, but your parents probably taught you that"
Slim raised an eyebrow.
"What were they like?" he asked.

[Innis Cabal]

X shakes his head and holds a hand up to the bottle.

"I don' know. Don' remember."

[MrEdwardNigma]

Fats leaned forward.
"Surely, your father must have left you some sort of message when you got out? Maybe that, ehrm, envelope over there?"
X remembered that he still had not tucked away the items from the jail again and had the compass, the bottle, the fork and the sealed envelope on his lap.

[Innis Cabal]

X shrugged again, keeping one eye on the men as he opens the letter. He couldn't read the words. And while the men seemed trust worthy...they had just admited to it being hard to make friends in this new world. He sat staring at the contents of the envelope for a good few moments.

"I don' know wat it says."

[MrEdwardNigma]

It wasn't a big surprise that X couldn't read what the piece of paper inside the envelope said, since it was completely blank. The only bit of the package that had held any lettering at all in fact was the candle wax seal he'd just broken. Slim peaked at the paper.
"Well, that's not much use, is it?"
"Do you remember any other kind of message your father gave you?" Fats asked.

[Innis Cabal]

X shook his head

"No....don' remember much..."

With what little alcohol he had had in his life, even if he had lived even a year with the man, the memories surely weren't swimming to mind.

[MrEdwardNigma]

"What about this other stuff?" Slim asked, grabbing the compass. He opened the little black box and stared at the needle as it spun round madly, finally stopping in one direction.
"It's a compass" he said blankly.
"Take another drink" Fats said, "Maybe it'll come to you then"

[Innis Cabal]

X holds his hand out for the compass, a standard item for these men perhaps but a new and strange thing for him. At the mention of the drink again he only shook his head

"Already tired....just wan' ta get warm. Thanks..."

The word thanks rolls off X's tongue strangly, almost as if unused to the word.

[MrEdwardNigma]

"No problem, you can get some sleep" Fats said.
"Yeah" Slim agreed, clumsily folding shut the compass and handing it to the boy. He got up and pulled a thick brown blanket out of the backpack, spreading it on the beach.
"There, that's suitable for sleeping on. It's getting dark anyways. We'll try not to make too much noise"
He took a swill of the bottle and then offered it to the boy one more time.

[Innis Cabal]

X takes the blanket, keeping his belongings close to his person as he wanders a slight ways off from the fire, laying down, letting the drink fully take hold as he pass's out.

[MrEdwardNigma]

X awoke from a feverish dream. He couldn't remember what it was about, but he was shivering and covered in sweat. It was night, and the campfire had died out, only a bunch of burning cinders now. X could see two figures moving away towards the cliff wall, one small and fat and the other thin. He also noticed he no longer had the compass, his hat, or the bottle. Instead of the fog obscuring everything, there was now the darkness of night, and the two figures were rapidly being covered by it's shroud.

[Innis Cabal]

X was not hurt by the mens theft. He didn't know the importance of the thing's taken from him. But he wanted them back. The hat and bottle....wern't the biggest concerns.

He staggered off after the men, taking what ever wood he could salvage from the fire.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The boy left the blanket behind, running after the men as best he could. He soon felt the chill of the night creep on his barely clothed body and found himself longing for another drink of the Dragon's Breath. The fire unfortunately proved nothing more than burnt cinder, so the boy had to move on without any kind of proper weapon. He finally caught up with the men at the cliff wall, where they were about to scale a thin set of stairs, hewn out in the rocks and swirling all the way to the top of the cliff. Fats, who was the latter of the two, turned around and drew his sabre.
"It's best you turn back now, boy. Your father owed us, and thus that debt is yours now. We have the right to take what we please, and you should be glad we didn't just kill you. We have too much respect for your old man to do that, but if you put us into a situation where we have no choice..."
"Back off" Slim said to the boy. He was already on the stairs, and on his back was the large backpack.

[Innis Cabal]

X just stood there glaring at the men. The first outside contact with people and they stole from him.

"What did 'e do."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Oh, nothing. He saved our lives once. But he never managed to pay our wages. When he went to prison, it turned out the bastard had hidden all the loot we'd gathered, together. We figure that with the interest that's gathered over the years, he owes us about the entire stash"
Fats backed up onto the stairs, still waving his sabre at X.
"C'mon, Croomey, stop stalling, we need to move" Slim said, running up.

[Innis Cabal]

X just scowls deeper. They were armed, he only had an empty hand cross bow...he was out numbered and out armed

"Were are there more people?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

((He doesn't in fact have an empty crossbow. He only has the items he got from the first post. Ernman did have a loaded handcrossbow, but that was to make sure X didn't try anything on him, as he was an old man and wanted to defend himself))

The men ignored his comment and ran up the stairs. Fats backed up for a while and when he was sure the boy wasn't following any more he turned around and ran too.

[Innis Cabal]

(Oh, opps disregard that. He's more out armed then before)

X sadly couldn't do much. He made his way back to the fire and his blanket. He could only wait for day break to get a better view of the land around him.

[MrEdwardNigma]

With the help of the blanket, X managed to get back to sleep, allowing him to wake up refreshed but hungry the next morning. The beach was fully visible now. There were the remains of the fire with the rock and the overturned dinghy, the cliff wall with the stairs up, which seemed to lead to a small white house, some driftwood and a bottle which had washed up on the beach and some pointy rocks nearer the water sticking out of the ground. The left side of the beach (regarded from the water) had smooth rocks as a floor with broad gaps in them, filled with water. To the right side the beach simply ended. It was a quite sunny day, but still reasonably chilly.

[Innis Cabal]

The house was the only sign of life...but the men had gone up that way. He walked slowly to the beach, looking through the dingy and the bottle that had washed up on the shore.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The bottle looked familiar. It was the one Slim had thrown out into the sea the previous night, or at least one exactly like it. X overturned the dinghy and looked through it, finding a net. He also found two corks lying around in the sand.

[Innis Cabal]

Nothing. Well, at the very least the bottle was "clean". He backed his things in the blanket and slung it over his shoulder, returning to the cliff he had been at the night before.

[MrEdwardNigma]

((His things being what exactly?))

X arrived at the stairs. They looked much less dangerous in daylight, and surely, there was a small white house at the top of them. It was still quite the walk up though.

[Innis Cabal]

((The bottle...and the blanket and the letter plus seal))

X sighed, climbing slowly up the stairs to the house. He scanned around the area, trying to listen for the two men...or anything.

[MrEdwardNigma]

After a long climb X reached the top of the stairs. The house was right there, but from close-up it looked abandoned. Most of the windows downstairs were boarded up, and those upstairs simply didn't have any glass in them at all. All of the walls were white, except where a now dead plant had crept up them. There was a barrel outside with a broken drainpipe leading up to it. The barrel was filled with a murky water.

Around the house there wasn't much to see. There was a dusty path leading to a forest further ahead, while a second path followed along the cliff to the left. All that was growing on these plains before the forest was long dry grass.

((This seems a good time to mention that you will have to eat and drink and sleep in this game, something which is forgotten way too often in RPGs. Also, I've compiled your inventory:
Green Pants
Belt
Thick Brown Blanket:
(Empty Bottle
Blank Piece of Paper
Empty Envelope with Broken Seal
Bent Fork) ))

[Innis Cabal]

X muttered softly, staring at the forest. It was either more water...or the woods. He chose the woods.

He followed the path as long as it would take him.


(Figured about the eating. Though it was an understood ;D)

[MrEdwardNigma]

As X arrived at the edge of the woods, a horse erupted from it, stopping next to him. It's rider tipped his hat at the young boy. He was dressed rather elegantly with a silken shirt with lots of frilly bits, a broad rimmed hat with a fuzzy white feather on it, long riding boots with golden bits of decoration and a long scarlet cape. His horse was as white as the foam on the waves and whinnied as it stopped.
"Hello there, young fellow, you wouldn't by any chance know where the prison is, would you? I've heard quite concerning news a friend of mine has died over there recently"

The man smiled charmingly. He had a thin curled up moustache and a small goatee and managed to be quite handsome despite his somewhat largish nose. The man's eyes were a delightful green, and his hair a deep black.

[Innis Cabal]

Some strange beast had lept from the forest, and another person on its back. Even if X had known what a hose is, the fact for the first time he had seen one was now. Hungry, cold and used...it did not bode well. X run back, crouching down as if expecting to be struck by the man or beast at any second. He stared intently at the man, waiting.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The white horse stood still as the man looked at the boy.
"What are you doing? I won't hurt you" he said, and then swung his leg across the horse, getting down. As he let go of the horse's reigns it walked off the path and started chewing the grass a few feet away.
"I just want to know where the prison is, kid" the man said, approaching.

[Innis Cabal]

X stayed in the crouching position as the man steps toward him

"Stay back."

He then points to the ocean

"There."

[MrEdwardNigma]

The man raised the rim of his hat somewhat and looked at the boy. His green eyes gleamed in the sunlight.
"Look, you don't look like your interested, but could you lend me a hand down there?"
He stroked his goatee, imagining it more of a beard than it was.
"To my experience it's money that makes the world go round. Tell you what, if you help me, I'll pay you five nice shiny copperpieces"

[Innis Cabal]

X raised an eyebrow, keeping distance from the man

"Told ya where it was...what moew do ya want.."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"I need to make a trip out there. Pick up some stuff"
He smiled, showing his gleaming white teeth.
"Don't worry, we won't go to the actual prison"

[Innis Cabal]

X stands slightly, dispite his distrust of the man, going to a place such as the prison perked his curiosity

"S'bad place...what do ya need there?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Oh, you'll see. I just hope you're not afraid to get wet"
The man walked back to his horse and mounted it.
"Show me the way, boy"

[Innis Cabal]

X stood his ground. The previous nights occurance was only to fresh in his mind. He was only limited by his imagination as to what this man could possibly want to do with him after he had no more reason to keep him around.

"No. Answer the question. Can' swim anyway."

[MrEdwardNigma]

The man sighed.
"Okay then, suit yourself"
He kicked his horse in the side gently, and the beast galloped off.

The boy was left alone at the edge of the forest, the path getting darker as soon as it passed the first trees.

[Innis Cabal]

X walked into the woods after the man left.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The woods soon got darker as X walked into them. The only sounds breaking the silence were his rumbling stomach and the sound of rustling leaves. The forest was alive. The trees were green and wherever X went something seemed to be scurrying away. He'd seen a small rat run across the path earlier.

Eventually he got to a fork in the road. The forest was getting dark here but it seemed to be getting lighter to the left side of the road, with shafts of light piercing through the foliage, while the right side simply continued in relative darkness. There was a signpost pointing both ways, but X couldn't read what it said.

[Innis Cabal]

X walked down the path towards the more lit region.

[MrEdwardNigma]

X arrived at a clearing. There was some spring green grass, and at the centre stood a large obelisk with mysterious drawings on it. There were also some bushes with purple berries nearby, somewhat off the path. X's stomach was really grumbling now. He wondered if he should risk it.

There were two ways out, one leading to the left and the other straight ahead.

[Innis Cabal]

X walked up to the obilisk, running hand over it. The drawings were strange, but in the fading light, he wanted to inspect them. His stomach growled louder as he eyed the berries. He took a few off the bush, sniffing at them

[MrEdwardNigma]

Most of the drawings on the obelisk seemed to be simple squiggly lines in complicated patterns, but on the side facing the darker part of the forest there was a crude drawing of a man holding a sword above his head with both hands in a heroic pose. X couldn't make out much more since a lot of the details had faded.

He picked some berries and smelled them, detecting that they smelled very sour.

[Innis Cabal]

X placed one of the berries in his mouth, chewing it for a moment before swallow

[MrEdwardNigma]

The berry popped open in his mouth, spreading a thick sour ooze over his tongue. Gulp. Not too bad. Only slightly worse than prison gruel.

[Innis Cabal]

X took several handfuls of the berries, placing them in the empty bottle. If they were posioned he'd not have to worry about anything after this. If not, he had at least something to fill his stomach.

He then looked at the two paths, taking the one that lay straight ahead.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The forest got slightly darker along this path. Suddenly X heard something in the bushes to his far left. He froze. The bushes shook.

[Innis Cabal]

X stared at the bush, not moving...

"'ello?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

The bush shook again. No answer came except a low growl.

[Innis Cabal]

X took a step back, growling right back

[MrEdwardNigma]

The bushes parted and a grey wolf ran out, right up to the path and in front of X. He bared his teeth and growled. It was quite small for a wolf, but X had nothing to compare to.

[Innis Cabal]

X growed louder taking a step back from the animal, balling his fists togather and holding them in front of his chest

[MrEdwardNigma]

The creature growled back and leapt at X's throat.

[Innis Cabal]

X takes a swing at the beast, shouting loudly as he does so

[MrEdwardNigma]

X's punch landed on the creature's muzzle, right in his teeth, and managed to turn away his face so he couldn't tear X's throat out, but the creature still landed on him, and he fell backwards onto the path.

[Innis Cabal]

X attempts to roll on top of the creature as to pin it, striking it with his free hand continuing to shout

[MrEdwardNigma]

X rolled the creature over, and they both rolled off the road. He then swung his arm and tried to punch the creature, but it made a mad twist with it's head and bit X in the forearm, sinking it's teeth as deep in his flesh as he could (luckily, this wasn't extremely deep, due to the size of the wolf). The beast tightened it's grip, and wouldn't let go. It tried to growl, but was muffled by the meat in his mouth.

[Innis Cabal]

X shouted in pain, striking at the wolf with his other arm as it hung on his shoulder

"Get off!"

[MrEdwardNigma]

The punch tore the creature off his arm, taking bits of meat with it. It yelped.

[Innis Cabal]

X staggered back to the road backwards, keeping a watch on the wolf. When he reached the road, he placed the blanket and his goods on the road, tearing a few pieces off the blanket with his good hand and tying them around his shoulder. When he was done, he wrapped his goods back in the blanket.

[MrEdwardNigma]

As X opened the blanket he discovered the bottle had broken during the fight. The berries and glass shards were now sprawled out among his possessions.

Meanwhile, as he tied off his arm, the little wolf scrambled to it's feet and walked off into the woods.

[Innis Cabal]

X continued to stagger down the path

[MrEdwardNigma]

((Leaving the berries and glass shards behind, I assume?))

The forest got darker again. X was shaking. He didn't know it was from the blood loss or from the lack of food. Eventually the path joined up with another path. There was another signpost, one of the arrows this time pointing in the direction X came from, and the other to the path that made a sharp turn to the right. The other option was to the left, where the forest seemed to get thinner. X found himself hoping this forest would come to an end soon, as he had been walking for ages now.

[Innis Cabal]

((Ya))

The thinner forest looked promising. He was exhuasted. But he had to find some where out of this hellish place. Thieves, wild creatures and strange beast riding people...the outside world was looking less and less promising. Perhaps jail wasn't so bad. At least he got fed and had a place to sleep.

He continued to stagger onward to the thinning forest.

[MrEdwardNigma]

X continued walking, but he could feel his strength being sapped with every passing minute. He had cold sweat all over him. His legs were shaking and he was starting to see spots. He fell.

He got up again. He walked on but bumped into a wall. He groaned and wondered why he was trying to escape his cell. It was safe in there, and warm. His hand caressed the cold wall of his cell and he smiled as a chalk drawing appeared wherever his hand passed. He wiped along the wall faster and faster, grinning wider and wider. Squiggly lines, all over the place. On the floor, the walls and even the ceiling, and at the centre of it all a warrior holding a huge sword, the tip ending in a beam of light: the small prison room window. There was a flapping.
"No" X mumbled... "leave me alone"
He crawled back, hid beneath the brown blanket on his bed.
"Leave me alone!" he screamed as the slow flapping filled the room, resounding off the walls. There was a loud crash, finally interrupting the flapping. Light poured into the room, blinding X. All he could hear was the sound of rubble from the collapsed wall raining down. When finally his vision returned, he saw a huge red robin. And then he woke up.

X was in a bed, and it was terribly uncomfortable. He was wrapped in his own blanket, but he was lying on a hard wooden slab. The room he was in was small, smelly and shabby. None of the wooden walls were straight and most of them had holes in them, with moss near it showing where the water had seeped down. There was a table at the centre of the room, and on it two carved up carrots and a rusty knife. The ceiling in one corner of the room was completely missing and a firepit was set up in that corner, with a cauldron hanging from a stick jammed in the wall. Another corner of the room held a small tin tub, which reminded X of how he used to wash in his cell. This place was different in that it was draftier. Also, the door was open except for a raggedy, muddy curtain. X's things were on the earthen floor by the bed.

[Innis Cabal]

X makes a sound as he tries to struggle out of his blanket, resulting in him falling onto the floor, pain searing in his shoulder as he struck the ground hard, ilicting a sharp cry of pain, he tried to inch his way to the door, but his strength was all but used up

[MrEdwardNigma]

The curtain was pulled aside and an old man in rags entered. His hair was long and grey, and hung across his thin face in long streaks. The old man had blue eyes, a big nose and some sort of fungus on his lip.
"Oh, you're up" he said, and as he spoke X could see he only had a few teeth left.
"I found you at the edge of the forest. You were in pretty bad shape. My name is Gerhald, by the way, but everyone calls me Grut"
He extended a muddy hand towards his guest.

[Innis Cabal]

X looked at the hand, his body still trapped in the blankets

"Thing attacked me...sharp teeth...wher' am I?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"You're in Swan's Pont. Right across the river from Crossham. This is my cabin. I'm Grut, a woodbutcher, though I work out on the farms when they need an extra hand"
Grut gave a tug at the blanket, freeing X.
"You looked like you were stuck there"

(("Razade"? :smalltongue:))

[Innis Cabal]

((Ooops. Had just posted in another game >.>. Ignore that! <.<))

X stands to his feet, wobblnig slightly.

"Oh...I dom' know where i'm goin...but I hav'ta go..."

X wobbles for the door

[MrEdwardNigma]

X stumbled out of the curtain and collapsed again outside. He was feeling very weak, and he'd just realised he forgot all his stuff except his pants and belt inside.

X was on a patch of mud right outside the hut now. There was a chopping block with an axe stuck in it and some logs were piled up next to the house. The path coming from the forest to the right led right past the hut and downhill to what appeared to be a small village by a river. Before that the path split up, one end heading to the right past a huge field of wheat.

The old man stepped outside.
"You really don't look so good. Maybe you should rest some more? I'll make you some food"

[Innis Cabal]

X tried to drag out of the mud

"No..."

Dispire his words...word, his stomach grumbled louder.

Sadly, X was out of energy.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The old man shook his head and took hold of the boy by the shoulders, dragging him in slowly. He groaned as he did so. This was clearly quite the strain for him. He eventually managed to drag X onto the bed again. He clumsily tossed the blanket onto him again and then walked over to the table. Grut scooped up the slices of carrot and dropped them in the cauldron. He then began blowing on the mild fire that was burning.

[Innis Cabal]

X turned to his side, keeping his back to the wall, staring at the man.

"Wat's that mean?"

X points to his belongings, trying to indicate the envelope feebly.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Grut walked over from the fire and picked up the empty envelope and the sheet of paper. He looked at it for a while.
"Well, I can't read, but this letter is empty, and, well, the seal on the envelope is broken. I can still see a small drawing of a bird on it though..."

He tossed the envelope and the paper back in the pile.

"Well, that's as ready as your meal is going to get"
He walked back to the fire and poured some of the liquid from the cauldron into a small wooden bowl with a spoon. He walked back and handed this bowl to X. Inside was basically a sort of watery oatmeal with slices of carrot in it.

[Innis Cabal]

X takes the bowl weakly.

"Were...coul' I go ta find out..."

X slowly lets the..."oatmeal" cool, not wishing to burn himself on the first warm meal he has had since he left the prison.

[MrEdwardNigma]

"To find out what?" the old man asked.

[Innis Cabal]

X takes a tenitive sip from the bowl, the food at the very least better then a single berry.

"There...was...a...."

X struggles for the word. Even at his best his vocabulary was limited

"A...picture...clos'n it."

[MrEdwardNigma]

The food didn't have much taste at all, which indeed made it much better than the berries.

"I can't quite understand what you're saying. You mean the bird? Well, it's a sigil, I think. I suppose if it's a well-known one anyone could tell you about it. People of nobility tend to know their seals. Literate people may be able to help too. Maybe the university in Crossham will have someone who can help? That's where all the smart ones go... Still, it's broken. If it's not a common one, it'll be hard to find out who it belongs to"

Grut walked over to X and had a look at his shoulder as he ate.
"Before you go running off though, you should have Ol' Miriam look at you"

[Innis Cabal]

X just stares at the man

"I don' need it."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Don't need what, boy? For Miriam to take a look at you? You can barely stand! You need someone to patch you up. Look, if you just wait here, I can go get her. I'll be back by nightfall or so. Me old legs take quite a while to get down to the village"

[Innis Cabal]

X shakes his head.

"No...don want anyone lookin at me."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"It's a nasty wound..." the old man said, scratching his head.
"Then again, I can't pay Miriam... And I'll lose the rest of the day walking there and back. I took you in... Did my share... You can stay until nightfall, I'll need the bed after that..."

He thought about this for a while.
"You can still sleep on the floor though" he said.
"Is there anything you need?"

[Innis Cabal]

Medical attention, but he was loather to let anyone near him, for all he knew the man was going to go and get the guards, or worse, wait for him to sleep and beat his head into a mushy pulp.

"Where is she? I'll go.."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Oh. Alright, if you think you can walk. You need to take the path down to the village, that's to the left at the T-Split. Then go into the small road by the butcher's and continue straight ahead by the lake until you reach a small cabin. She lives there, but she may not be home. Oh, and be polite to Ol' Miriam... A sheepfarmer near here once called her a hag and spat at her, and when the fire in his bowels made him scream in pain and he came to her for help, she simply told him to leave..."

[Innis Cabal]

X nodded once, taking some time to finish the bowl of "oatmeal". He rose silently and gathered his things heading for the door.

"Thank's....fer savin me"

With that, he walked through the door, hobbling through the mans directions untill he got to the small cabin.

[MrEdwardNigma]

X walked out. There was a road that led to the forest on one end and down the hill on the other. X started walking down, and from the hill he had a great view of the village below. It was basically just a square with some houses by the river. There was also a castle at the far end of the square with some mossy stairs leading up to the drawing bridge. At the centre of the square was a well and by the riverside there was a pier. There was sort of a ghetto with huts nearer the castle.

The path continued in the direction of the river until X came to the T-Split, where one end led off between the fields of wheat to his right and the river. He walked down the other end and arrived in the village. There was an inn with some stables, a baker and a butcher. There was also a man with a cart and several geese running around it who seemed to be selling various trinkets. X ignored all this and took the small alley behind the butcher's, which led him past a vegetable patch, some pigs and ended at a house. Since the lake was still ahead of him, X continued. The lake to his left seemed to be home to some ducks, but not as many as one would expect in a lake of that size. Finally, X arrived at the cabin which he assumed to be Old Miriam's.

The cabin itself was quite as tiny as the one Gurt lived in but looked a lot sturdier. It had a small roof at the front by the door, keeping a small stool out of the rain. Several bits of string were hanging from the roof, with tiny bones and shells hanging from them. The forest was just ahead, and a muddy path began here, leading in.

[Innis Cabal]

X staggered to the door, giving it a loud knock with is good hand

[MrEdwardNigma]

There was no answer.

[Innis Cabal]

X takes a seat on the stool. It was here under the roof, or out in the wild.

[MrEdwardNigma]

After a while an old woman appeared on the path. She was dragging a small deer out of the forest by it's antlers. The thing was still struggling, but only faintly. It's side was bleeding quite badly. Since she was having so much trouble dragging the creature through the mud, the woman didn't notice X.

[Innis Cabal]

X stands shakely, stumbling over to the woman and deer, grabbing one of the antlers, and though weak as he was, still made an attempt to help her. So far no one in this village had harmed him, and the man did save him...maybe the woman wouldn't be so bad

[MrEdwardNigma]

The woman looked up at him as he helped her. Her eyes were startlingly white and blank. She didn't have any retinas at all. The darkred swervy drawings on her face made her look even more alien and creepy. She smiled though, as X lent her a hand, showing a row of white teeth. This didn't seem to suit her otherwise quite raggedy look well, but it was still better than staring at a mouth full of rotten teeth.

They dragged the little deer to the house, where the woman went inside for a minute and then returned with a sickle. She walked up to the shivering creature on the ground and started cutting ribbons of meat out of it's stomach.

[Innis Cabal]

X simply sat back down on the stool, watching the woman work. Shw was armed at least. Not something that sat well on his shoulders. But the eyes...something was strange about them. He'd never seen the like in prsion..not that he'd seen a whole lot.

[MrEdwardNigma]

"So", she said, the creature vainly kicking at her as she slowly sliced bits off it's gut, "What do you want with Old Miriam?"

[Innis Cabal]

X started as the woman's voice pierced the rainy calm of the world.

"I..uh...was tol' to come here...fer my....sholder..."

[MrEdwardNigma]

She got up, both her hands filled with long, thin slices of meat. X could see the creature's whole gut bared behind her. It whimpered in pain. She walked past X, and returned from the hut with empty hands. Her sickle was now hanging from a rope she used as a belt. She put one hand on X's shoulder, and with the other she touched the wound. Her fingers glid through the holes in X's arm, hurting him.
"Oh, yes, that looks pretty bad" she said.
"A wolf?"

[Innis Cabal]

X bit back the pain, trying his best not to jerk back, and thus make it worse

"Um...I donno....ya?"

X frowns, not really understanding the word she used.

[MrEdwardNigma]

"You're a strange one" the old woman said. She let go of X's shoulder and returned to the deer.
"I must finish this before it dies. Your shoulder can wait"

X watched as she slowly took the whole beast apart, eventually cutting out it's still beating heart. She drank the blood raw. With blood all over her face, she looked up at X.
"Throw the bones in the pit behind the house, I will prepare your medicine while you do"
She picked up the large wooden bowl she'd been putting the meat in and took it inside with her. X obeyed and dragged the skeleton to the back of the house, throwing it in the pit. The whole pit was full of animal skeletons already. X even spotted some of the bigger brothers of the beast that bit him.

When he returned to the front of the house the woman was outside with some kind of white paste in a bowl and some rags. She ahd cleaned the blood off her face and had refreshed the red paint. She ushered X to sit down and rubbed the ointment on his wounds, then binding them with the rags.
"So, what are you doing in Swan's Pont?" she asked as she was taking care of his wounds.

[Innis Cabal]

X simply sat, not moving an inch

"I don' know...can ya read?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Read?" she said, surprised and seemingly slightly offended, "No, does it look like I can read?"
She finished up his wounds.
"Don't take off the bandages for two weeks. You should be mended after that"
She took a few steps back.
"You do not talk a lot. I don't know what to make of you"

[Innis Cabal]

X looked at the ground

"Sorry...I won' take the bandages off...why can' ya read? Yer eyes?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Because reading is a gift of noblemen and librarians, priests and monks. No-one with any true knowledge can read. They waste all their time with letters and books instead of looking outside, at the real world"

It started raining.
The old woman groaned.
"Damned weather"

[Innis Cabal]

"The...real world?"

X struggles with the worlds. Just a few days ago the real world to him was a small cold stone cell and guards.

"It's......awful."

[MrEdwardNigma]

She laughed, the red paint on her face dripping down with the rain.
"Awful as it may be, it's real" she said, "And there's no way to make it any other way than it is, so you may as well learn to accept it".

((OOC: Oh, yes, and your current inventory:
Belt
Green Pants
Brown Blanket:
(Bent Fork
Sheet of Parchment
Envelope with Broken Seal)
Bandages))

[Innis Cabal]

X shrugged

"Better'in prison...no...wulves. Or liars..."

X gave his shoulder a small spin, wincing.

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Prison? Oh, so that's where your from. Explains a lot, it does"
She shrugged.
"I'm going inside, unless you need anything else"

[Innis Cabal]

X shook his head

"Jus'...need someone who can read..Thank's...fer the arm..."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Don't mention it"
She raised an eyebrow.
"If you happen to pass through Crossham, check up on my niece. Her name's Hazel. Last I heard from her she was seeing some tailor's son"

[Innis Cabal]

X cracked a slight smile, probably the first in his whole life

"How...do I get there?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"You take the ferry. It's only one silverpiece to cross and it comes once every two days. Tomorrow in the morning there's a ferry, I think"

[Innis Cabal]

X gave another blank stare

"Wat's that?"

It was an open question...really refering to just about everything.

[MrEdwardNigma]

"A ferry's a boat that takes you across the water, to the city, and a silverpiece... Well, it's money"

[Innis Cabal]

X shrugged. Strqnge concepts...money....

"How do ya get it?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"People give it to you if you do stuff for them, or give them stuff. Like the ferryman, he gets money for taking people across the river"

[Innis Cabal]

X frowned slightly

"Can' do much...ya need anythin done?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"I don't have money myself, nor need it" the old woman said.
"I live off the forest, and whatever else I need people give me, and in trade I help them like I helped you"

[Innis Cabal]

X nods slight

"Thanks...."

X then wanders his way back to the edge of the forest, sitting under a tree deep in thought. After a little while, he stood up and walked to one of the houses, knocking on its door

[MrEdwardNigma]

The first house X reached was the one adjacent to the pig pen. He knocked on the door and after waiting a while, rumbling sounds coming from within the house, the door opened. There was a fat, rosy cheeked woman in the doorway with her hands at her hips.
"Well, what do you want?" she snapped.

[Innis Cabal]

X scratched the back of his head and shifted the feet, his voice low

"Sorry....I nee' silver fer the ferri...nee' anythin done?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

She looked down at X.

"A silverpiece? You're asking for a silverpiece? Not a copperpiece, but a silverpiece? Strange beggar you are" she said disapprovingly. Then her eye caught the pig pen at the side of the house. She got an idea.
"Wait, I think I might have something... One of our pigs went missing last week. If you bring it back, I'll pay you a silverpiece, okay?"

[Innis Cabal]

X looked at the creatures

"Ok......"

X trugged off, having no clue really what a pig was or how one would go about looking for it.

[MrEdwardNigma]

((Anywhere specific you're heading? To the lake, the forest, the village square, the inn, the baker, the butcher, Ol' Miriam's, Grut's, the castle, the peer? Anywhere?))

[Innis Cabal]

((He'd really not think like that, I mean...no schooling save some english...illiterate and forcefully isolated up untill...three days ago? The boy's got problems. Probably just aimless wanderings))

[MrEdwardNigma]

((Well, he's not stupid. And even if he doesn't know where he's going, you might))

[Innis Cabal]

((No...but he'd uneducated, very. He'd not understand social concepts nor have any true survival skills which in where he is is a death sentence really. And I try not to think like myself when playing a character. This is a challange not to do the thing I want to do. Its not that i'm not having fun, on the contrary, its just I prefer to play it straight))

[MrEdwardNigma]

((Sure, but he does know about the social lives of the guards, since he heard them talk so often, and he's not totally estranged due to being with his mother for quite some time. Anyways, you do still need to pick a direction to go in, even if it's you choosing, and not the character))

[Innis Cabal]

((The Butcher seems the most likley place))

[MrEdwardNigma]

X sauntered out of the alley in the rain, his bare feet getting covered in mud. He walked back onto the village square, with the butcher's to his left. He turned round and stared at the building, and what should he see but a pig's head hanging above the butcher's door.

[Innis Cabal]

X knocked on the door, staring at the head of the beast

[MrEdwardNigma]

The door swung open and a little bell attached to the ceiling jingled. Inside were several bloody tables, a man with a big chopping knife and lots of lumps of meat hanging from the ceiling. The man looked up. He was big and butchy. His ears were huge, but one of them had a chunk missing.

The man planted his knife in the table, where he'd been chopping up some meat. Blood was all over his leather apron. He stroked one hand through what little hair he had left, leaving chunks of meat on his balding head.

"What do you want, you bum?" he asked. He was the kind of man that spit as he talked.

[Innis Cabal]

"Ladies lookin fer a lost pig....you seen it?"

X scratched the back of his head again, continuing to stare at the head

[MrEdwardNigma]

"You're talking about my wife. She told you to find the pig? Well, I dunno were it went. It must have escaped the pen somehow and ran off. I'm pretty sure it wasn't stolen. Now beat it, I've got some work to do"

[Innis Cabal]

X shrugged and wandered off to the docks

[MrEdwardNigma]

As X exited the butcher's, he noticed it was becoming dark, and the baker was closing up his shop as X walked out into the village square. It wasn't raining as much as before now, the downpour having slowed down to a dribble, but the square had still been reduced to a huge pool of mud. X crossed it, passing the well and arriving at the pier.

Next to the peer the salesman he'd seen earlier was sheltering himself from the rain in his stall, and his geese seemed to be doing the same thing. The pier itself looked long, thin and slippery, while the river looked turbulent. Anyways, the ferry wasn't there yet.

[Innis Cabal]

X joined the salesman under the stall, hugging his body close to stave off the cold wet air

[MrEdwardNigma]

((OOC: The salesman is not under the pier (there's only water under the pier) but rather next to it, in his stall. I apologise about misspelling pier earlier))

X managed to squeeze himself in under the faded purple canvas that shielded the stall from the rain. The salesman had already packed up most of his goods and was apparently only waiting for the rain to end to leave. There were still some items stalled out though: a small compass on a necklace, a set of wooden dice with a small felt bag to hold them in, some hooks for fishing, a coil of string and a wooden carving of a boat.

The salesman was dressed in white linnen, most of it soiled through the rain and despite several attempts to tie the bit near his neck shut with a strap of leather his red chesthair still popped out. The salesman had long, straight red hair ending in a straight cut near his neck. His eyebrows were similarly red and thick. He had a quite noticable but not ugly birthmark just next to his mouth and a constant expression on his face as if he was appraising you.
"Come here to buy, or just to shelter yourself from the rain, young man?" he asked.

[Innis Cabal]

((I meant stall, sorry))

X looked at the man for a moment

"Outta the rain"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Ha, I see..." the man said, "But while you're here you're welcome to have a look at my goods, off course. One of these lovely, plump geese, for example, is only a silverpiece a piece"

[Innis Cabal]

X frowned. That "silver piece" again.

"No silver...sorry..."

[MrEdwardNigma]

The salesman snorted and packed up the last of his things. He then folded the canvas on his cart down and pushed it across the square, leaving X in the cold. The salesman drudged his cart through the mud and started making his way up the road to the forest, the geese following in his wake.

X noticed it was getting dark. The only place where there were still lights on was the inn.

[Innis Cabal]

X trugged to the house with the light, knocking on the door

[MrEdwardNigma]

No-one answered. It was an inn, after all. A rather large man exited after a while though, gave a friendly nod to X and then puked next to the house. He gave another nod to X and then wandered off to the slums on the left side of the castle.

He left the door open, giving X a chance to look inside. There was a bar, with a rather fat bartender who seemed to spend all his time moving around the dirt on the glasses with a teatowel. There was a table in the corner where an old man was seated and was telling some younger, largely drunk men tales very enthusiastically. Finally there were two more men, sitting quite isolated. Both wore reasonably fancy clothes, in that they weren't made for noblemen but did look expensive. They were playing dice.

There were also some stairs leading up, quite possibly to the rooms, and a door behind the bar, most likely to the kitchen.

[Innis Cabal]

The dice he knew. A game the guards used to play outside his cell when they got bored. X crept into the room, staring around him making sure no one was eying him before standing next to the men

"Can I play?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

One of the men looked up at him from under his hat. He had a white moustache, blue eyes and a sort of leathery skin. There was a pipe in the corner of his mouth, spreading slightly greenish smoke.

"Sure. We're playing low bets. One copperpiece a game, son. Pay-out at the end of the night"

X noticed the bottle on the table. The men were drinking beer, and the bottle was still corked, but it seemed awfully familiar to him: Dragon's Breath.

The second man drained his mug of ale and looked up at X as well. He was a lot younger than the first man and had thick, blonde hair as well as blue eyes.

"I see you looking at that bottle. You can bet stuff too, if you don't have any money, or even if you'd rather lose a bottle than some coin. Some fellows came in earlier and bought themselves three games with this. It's good stuff too, you can't get that in these little villages, but we still prefer ale. Anyways, you only have to put money on the table once the game is over, but if you're going to bet stuff we'd like to know what it is in advance, so you don't try to pawn off any rubbish on us"

[Innis Cabal]

X frowned, scratching his head

"An't got notin ta bet...sorry"

(Ya ya lame for all the wait, but its been long enough that I haven't posted)

[MrEdwardNigma]

The men shrugged.
"Good thing you decided to pull out then, because we'd cream you, and not paying up can have dire consequences"
The two laughed and then continued their game.

Seeing the bartender stare at him X moved over to the table where the old man was telling tales. It seemed a good place to get a better look at the bar, and he wouldn't have to worry about getting kicked out for a while.

"That night" the old man said, "Something dark and horrid crept out of the forest and snuck into the village. The next morning the villagers woke and found that one of their children was missing, but they decided the kid must have run off or gotten lost while picking berries, and all but it's parents worried no more. The next full moon, however, the same thing happened and this time two kids had gone missing. The village was outraged! This wasn't a coincidence any longer. Someone was stealing their children!"

"They decided to set a trap. Four children in the village square during the next full moon, guarded only by the town crier, who would alert everyone when the thief appeared. However, he fell asleep, and the next morning all four children were gone! Several days later, one of them returned, bruised and beaten and bewildered, his clothes torn by brambles and his skin scathed by vicious claws, and all he could say were two words: Dark Woods"

"Now, the forest at this time wasn't called Dark Wood yet, but rather The Duke's Crown, as this tavern is still called. This kid and the monsters that lurk in the forest's shadows were in fact the reason they started calling the woods that way, and soon the old name was forgotten, in all but the name of this inn"

"Now something would have to be done about these children's thieves, but none dared venture into the woods no more, so they sent the town crier in, who was pardoned for his previous crimes, if, and only if, he would return with the children. However, he did not return, the forest was sealed off with magical stones by the druids to prevent the beasts from ever returning and it was decreed Swan's Pont would never have a town crier again. What happened to the old one is unsure. Perhaps he fled, or perhaps he was eaten by the ghouls. Many people still disappear when passing through Dark Wood to this day, so who knows?"

The old man grabbed a pint off the table and drained it. It didn't seem the pint had belonged to him, but the younger men either didn't mind or were too drunk to say anything about it.
"' 'Nother tale, Father William?" one of the men asked.
"Oh, sure" said Father William, "What would you lads like to hear about?"

[Innis Cabal]

X takes a seat at the bar, stories and the like were really the only way he learned anything, and if this man was giving them out, all he could do was listen. He sat silent sitting, trying to disappear from the sights of so many people. Clearly out of his comfort zone. So many people in once place, and clearly enjoying themselves. He almost envied them, though he'd not be able to tell you the word he was actually feeling, a pit of...unnamed and partially formed emotions sitting in his stomach like a weight of iron

[MrEdwardNigma]

The bartender put down the mug he was "cleaning" and leaned over the bar with his impressive bulk.
"I suppose you'd want a mug of ale, lad?"

[Innis Cabal]

X shakes his head

"Jus listenen..."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Oh, just listening, are you?" the bartender said, pulling up his sleeves. He stepped from behind the counter.
"If you're not gonna buy anything, you need to leave, vagrant"

[Innis Cabal]

X frowned. This place....if you didn't have what ever they wanted they threw you out. He wasn't hurting anyone, or even bothering them. He rose from the seat and did as the guards did when they were mad, spitting on the floor

"Was'n hurtin noune."

X then trugged out the door.

[MrEdwardNigma]

As X opened the door he came face to face with a bald man who was just about to enter. Apparently it was raining again outside, and raining bad, because this man's brown garbs were soaked. He wore a thick brown robe that was heavy with rain and clung to his flesh. He had a string of frayed rope for a belt and from it hung a heavy mace and an equally heavy purse. There was a faded tattoo of a spider on his skull and a swollen scar running through it. It looked badly stitched, but not recent.
"Isiah watch over thee" he said with a grunt and shoved X aside.
"Something to drink, Gambal?"
The man who had just entered, Gambal, walked over to the bar.
"No alcohol. You know that, barkeep"
The barkeep nodded silently and poured the man a drink from a skin that was hanging from a hook. Gambal took a drink and his face twisted.
"Yugh, what is this?"
"Turnip juice" the barkeep answered.
Gambal shook his head and poured the liquid onto the floor.
"Leave it. Just give me the donations for this month, innkeep"
The bartender grumbled, and took out a small chest from under the bar. He then took off his boot, pulled out a key and opened the chest.
"Here, Gambal" he said and slid a purse across the bar, "Isiah watch over us".
Gambal shook his head, took out his own purse and started to count the money.

[Innis Cabal]

Having no where else to go, X simply sat outside the inn.

[MrEdwardNigma]

X sat down in the mud and let the rain soak him. He was getting very hungry now, and thirsty. He realised all he'd had to eat in the past few days was what the old man in the hut gave him.

[Innis Cabal]

Though he hadn't eaten, X was boggled by the actions of the people outside the prison. They were rude, cold and only a handful outwordly helpful though he was certain it was all a plot, not that he could put his thoughts in words. He had no money, and he dared not go back into the inn, he didn't even dare look at the forest as his arm burned for the pervious attempt.

The only hope he really had was with that old man, but X couldn't shake the feeling the man wouldn't beat him or take what little he did actually own in the world.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Contemplating how cruel life was, X just sat around in the mud, getting wetter and wetter. He was quite cold, and shivered. It seemed it wouldn't stop raining, and it was getting darker and darker as well. Some man in a uniform that looked vaguely like that of the guards back in prison was passing from house to house, putting out various candles. His chainmail jingled as he walked, and the stick he used to put out the candles dragged through the mud. Inside the tavern there was loud laughing, and X found himself wanting for it's warmth.

[Innis Cabal]

X sat in place, he couldn't go back into the inn, the man had already thrown him out, and now a guard was walking the streets, he tried to sink down further into the mud, praying the guard would not see him and beat him

[MrEdwardNigma]

The guard stopped right in front of X and looked at him strangely.
"Evenin' " he said.
He took out his stick and put out the candle above X's head. He then gave the boy another nod and walked off. X was feeling really faint now.

[Innis Cabal]

X simply stayed sitting, he had no where to go, and he dared not attempt to go back into the bar he had just been kicked out of. The fact the guard hadn't hit him was only slightly surprising, but X would be damned if he had to deal with any of these selfish bastards.

[MrEdwardNigma]

After a while of sitting there and being terribly miserable, the door to the inn swung open again and a bunch of people filed out. X recognised them as the ones who had been listening to Father William's tales. Father William soon limped out after them. Only now did X notice the man only had one leg. He slipped and fell down in the mud, but the other men were too drunk to notice. The lights in the tavern were extinguished and X heard the door being bolted from the inside.

[Innis Cabal]

X stands slowly, the man had been similar to the guards, telling stories and such, though he didn't have the look of a guard to him, X's voice is shaky as the cold sets into his muscles

"Nee' help?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Thanks, kid" father William said, leaning on his crutch.
"You look cold, kid. You'd better wrap that blanket around you tight, eh?"
He gave X a wink.
"You know, good things come to good people, kid" he said, tossing something small and shiny to X's feet, in the mud. Then he hopped off slowly, following the other men to the slums next to the castle.

[Innis Cabal]

X takes the blanket and swiftly wraps it around him, leaning down only to pick the object off the ground, keeping his eyes on the man as he walks away.

[MrEdwardNigma]

X found a copperpiece in the mud. The blanket meanwhile helped ward off some of the cold, but he still felt like he was freezing.

The darkness soon made the man impossible to see. It was just X and what little light the moon gave now. He was reminded of father William's tale, where the children were taken from the village square on a night with a full moon. Luckily, it was just a crescent moon. Besides, that was just a story.

[Innis Cabal]

X had no real idea what the thing was that had been thrown at him, but tucked it under his blanket. He couldn't see where the man went, but he struggled to follow him into the gloom

[MrEdwardNigma]

The road the old man followed off the square led to the slums, and seemed to lead into the woods further on. However, the old man stopped at the slums and walked up to the smallest shack that was there, hardly larger than an outhouse. He untied the rope keeping the door shut and entered.

Further along the road several of the drunks from the inn had settled round a campfire. A lot of them seemed to have fallen asleep, and the few that were still awake were singing a song, the lyrics hardly understandable but the refrain all the clearer.

"The Swan, she swam,
peddled in the pond,
splashed by the pont,
and the younglings had fun!"

What X did catch of the other lyrics to the song was quite obscene and frequently seemed to involve people's daughters. Especially the innkeeper's daughter seemed a quite popular subject.

[Innis Cabal]

X knocked on the old man's door

[MrEdwardNigma]

Father William, having only just stepped inside, opened the door. He was leaning into the doorframe, because his crutch was on the bed behind him. The room was so small though that he could probably reach for the crutch from where he was standing.
"Ah, the little vagrant. Yes, son, what is it?"

((OOC: Thine inventory:
Belt
Green Pants
Brown Blanket:
(Bent Fork
Sheet of Parchment
Envelope with Broken Seal
Copperpiece)
Bandages))

[Innis Cabal]

X scratched the back of his head

"Canna stay the night?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

Father William looked at the boy, and then at his small cabin. It was just about big enough to contain his bed. He shook his head.
"I don't know, son. I don't really have the space"

[Innis Cabal]

X frowned

"Jus' fer tonit? Nee' ta getta the citi tommora."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"I think you'd be better off staying by the campfire"
The old man looked at the shack again.
"I really don't have the space, son"

The drunk men in the background were singing something about a "bonnie lass" now, and luckily for them it had stopped raining, because none of them could actually be bothered to get up and keep the fire going.

[MrEdwardNigma]

I've updated the first post to keep track of some of the information, such as things that have happened, places that you've been and people that you've met.

[Innis Cabal]

X scoweled slightly

"I'll get robbed again, ju's fer tonight"

[MrEdwardNigma]

The old man almost laughed.
"It doesn't look like you've got much to rob, son, except maybe that coin I tossed you earlier. And as I said, I really don't have the room. There's just space for me and my bed in this cabin here. Just try the campfire. It's fairly warm and it seems to have stopped raining. Besides, you've got your own blanket, it's not as if it's any warmer inside my house than outside"

"Look, kid, I don't know quite how you got to Swan's Pont looking as poor as you do, but I wager you're running away from home. That's a bad idea, son. Crossham is a very bad place to be alone and homeless in. If you want my advice, you need to head back home and give your folks a dear old hug. You won't get far without someone showing you the ropes"

[Innis Cabal]

"Can' go home....nothin ta go home to...parent's er dead..."

[MrEdwardNigma]

The old man nodded sadly. It seemed to be getting difficult for him not to fall down, but he kept clenched to the door.
"That tends to happen to lots of people these days. Was it the plague? Bandits? Monsters?"
The old man grimaced.
"Ah, it doesn't matter, it's all the same muck. Find some family to go to. They could take care of you"

[Innis Cabal]

"Wher'? No one want's ta help. All th' same. Can' go anywere. Everywere turn's me away. Can' go ta the tree's. Big thin's live there. Can' go to town, get kicked outta everywere. Can' go back ta jail...don' wanna go back ta jail. So wher'? No-one want's ta help only push."

[MrEdwardNigma]

The old man sighed loudly.
"Look, you can sleep on my floor if you like, but I'm telling you, I've got no heating and the boards are wicked hard where-ever they're not rotten. The campfire is a more cosy place to sit by far as long as it doesn't rain..."

Having gotten tired of holding himself up by the doorpost the old man sagged back onto his bed and took hold of his crutch with one hand.
"Stay or leave, you're going to have to close that door, son, it's getting mighty draughty in here"

[Innis Cabal]

X steps through the door, shutting it. Wrapping himself in the blanket and falling asleep.

[MrEdwardNigma]

X fell asleep quite rapidly, but he didn't have the hard wooden floor or the cold draught in the shack to blame for that. He'd just been very, very tired. He woke up the next morning, his stomach rumbling and his throat parched.

Father William had accidentally woken him by trying to pass over him to the door. He had then found out that since the door opened to the inside and X was lying in front of it, he could only open it to a crack. He seemed sort of glad X woke up, because now he could ask him to get up so he could pass through the door. Father William opened the door and revealed what would be a beautiful morning, if they weren't in the middle of the slums.

Three drunks were still passed out by the campfire from last night, and a woman was trying to wake one of them by dumping a bucketload of water on his face. Other than that there seemed to be laundry everywhere on clotheslines with bunches of women busily running around. Lots of them seemed to be carrying baskets in various states of disrepair filled with laundry and were either coming from or going to the left side of the slums. The road to the left seemed to lead to Dark Wood. The women returning then immediately took their laundry to the nearest empty clothesline and started hanging it to dry as best they could. Honestly the washed clothes seemed hardly cleaner than the filthy ones other women exited their houses with, just wetter.

A lot of the men seemed to be leaving to the right side of the slums, which led back to the village square and the castle. Some women were heading there too. Altogether the slums were a bustle of activity.

Father William hopped out into the chaos.
"If you still want to go to Crossham you'll need to hurry along to the ferry. It won't be long until it leaves, and it'll be two days to the next one. I think it leaves in an hour or two"

[Innis Cabal]

"Don' have enough..."

X muttered blearly, though walked out into the morning

[MrEdwardNigma]

((Any specific direction?))

[Innis Cabal]

((Not really no. Not much he can really do))

[MrEdwardNigma]

((Well, he needs nutrition, and there is plenty he can do. He needs to earn a silverpiece if he wants to get to Crossham. He could still go look for that pig, or find another way to earn that money. Anyways, as I've said earlier even if X doesn't know where he is going you should))

[Innis Cabal]

((I...can't play that way. If my character dosn't know it, then even if I do, I won't take that action. I'm not playing myself, i'm playing X. I simply can't do that. So, he's wandering))

[MrEdwardNigma]

((But he does know where he is going. He too would have to pick a direction, even if he didn't know which one was best))

[Innis Cabal]

((:smallsigh: North then.))

[MrEdwardNigma]

((You don't have a compass, but I'm going to suppose you mean "straight ahead" by north, which is pretty silly since that would have him going down neither side of the street, but whatever))

X shambled straight ahead, into the hubbub of the slums. Instead of following the road he just walked straight ahead, vaguely in the direction of the castle, until he was shoved aside by one of the washing women quite rudely. He stood still for a while, staring at the stark contrast between the wooden shacks in front of him and the huge castle on the hill behind them. There seemed to be a moat behind the houses, but no-one seemed to be using it to wash their clothes. This was quite logical actually, as X saw a woman come out of the back of one of the shacks and empty a bedpan in the moat.

In the background on of the drunks by the campfire was woken by his wife and started singing a shanty about a frivolous mermaid. His two passed out buddies woke up just to join in on the chorus, but then the whole song was stopped short by the woman whacking him across the head and dragging him to their cabin by his ear. The two other drunks got up, dusted off their clothing and wandered off to their respective homes.

[Innis Cabal]

X simply contiuned down (or up or sideways) the path to the castle. He had wanted to strike the woman, but had held back.

[MrEdwardNigma]

X stopped going straight ahead (because, you know, he didn't want to walk into that moat) and returned to the village square.

The ferry was there already, and several men were pushing a carriage onto it. Among them X recognised the two men who had been playing dice in the inn and... Fats and Slim. There was only one other man pushing, who X assumed to be the ferryman. Three other men were there too, but they didn't seem to be interested in pushing and were just talking to each other. Two of them were dressed in very fancy clothes and the third X recognised as Gambal.

X also noticed the drawbridge to the castle was down and wondered whether he should continue up the mossy stairs that led there.

[Innis Cabal]

X shot a glare to the two men, and continued further near the castle

[MrEdwardNigma]

X shot Fats and Slim an angry glare, but the two men didn't seem to notice. they were too busy pushing the carriage onto the ferry.

X climbed up the stairs, which were surprisingly badly maintained. At the top of them (which was quite high, actually) began the drawbridge. Here he noticed that there was a dirt path leading down as well, which seemed to circle around to the back of the castle. There were horsetracks on the path, which made sense as the steep, narrow slippery stairs were hardly any way to get a horse down to the village.

The drawbridge had two guards on it at the far end. One of them got up from the table they were sitting at and walked over to X. He was chewing on a straw and had huge teeth and tired-looking eyes. His uniform seemed altogether too big for the thin man and sagged from his shoulders.
"Yes?" he asked.

[Innis Cabal]

"Jus' lookin round..."

[MrEdwardNigma]

The guard looked at X oddly.
"What, you lost? The servants' entrance is way down there" he said, pointing down the dirt path.
"You're not supposed to come across the gate unless the Duke has invited you. Hell, if he wouldn't be out right now the drawbridge wouldn't even be down"

[Innis Cabal]

"Not a servant...just walkin 'round. No'ere ta go."

[MrEdwardNigma]

"Well, not to the castle either, kid, not unless you're invited. You should know, the Duke does not like vagrants hanging around town. You had best either clear out or clean up. If you can't find a job there's always some chores around the castle, but I wouldn't take it if I were you. They work you to death and barely pay you enough to feed yourself"

[Innis Cabal]

"I's better'n nothin."

[MrEdwardNigma]

The guards looked at him doubtfully and sucked on the straw, thinking about what he was going to say.
"I'm not sure that is true, son, but if you think so head to the back entrance and ask around. They'll have stuff for you to do. But again, I don't recommend it"
The guard shook his head and walked back to the table, clearly deeming the boy lost.

[Innis Cabal]

"Were do I go?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

"I just showed you!" the guard yelled at X from the table, "Down the dirt path!"

The other guard laughed and started shuffling the deck of cards they were playing with.

[Innis Cabal]

X walks down the path indicated

[MrEdwardNigma]

X walked on until he was on the other side of the castle, the side that wasn't facing the village. Behind the castle seemed to be more woods, though they were much thinner than the rest of Dark Wood. Down the slope X could see a dog kennel with many a vicious hunting hound in it. There were metal bars around the kennel, which sort of reminded X of home.

On the other side of the path, the side he could actually reach from up here, was a small door sunken in the castle wall. You'd have to stoop to be able to pass through it. The door was closed, more than likely locked, and had a small hatch in it through which visitors could be inspected from the inside.

There wasn't much else on the path, besides some thorny bushes on the slopes, and further downward it seemed the path would curve right back into the village, having made a full circle.

[Innis Cabal]

X walked up to the door, knocking on it loudly and waited, trying to keep his distance from the dogs in the kennel

[MrEdwardNigma]

The hatch snapped open and two hazel eyes could be seen through it, set in a fairly fat face.
"Hello there, littlun, what do ya want?"

[Innis Cabal]

X takes a step back

"Work...if there's any?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

The hatch closed and the door opened. There was a small fattish woman in the doorway.
"You want work, littlun? All right, Mrs. Goodums will take you in. Come in, come in, don't stand there in the doorway, we don't have all day"
She grabbed X by the arm tightly and dragged him in, slamming the door shut behind her. She was surprisingly strong.

Mrs. Goodums pushed X into one of the many doorways, into a sea of hot vapour. The splishing and splashing and the occasional glimpse of what was going on when the vapours parted told X that this was the laundryroom. In the castle too, it was laundry day. She pushed X on into the next room, where X almost bumped into the doorway because of those damn vapours. Each and every door down here seemed to be too small for him.

The next room seemed to be a storage room of some kind. The woman shoved a mop into X's hand and took a bucket and a morcel of soap, which she cut from a large block of the stuff. She dragged him back into the laundry room, filled the bucket with hot water, threw in the soap and gave it to him as well.

Mrs. Goodums pushed X out into the hallway and took him to another door. These were the kitchens. The most delicious smell he'd ever experienced washed over X. The smell of pastries, vegetable stew, roast, soup and pie. The kitchen was hot as well, and bustling with activity. There were women everywhere, chopping up vegetables and kneading dough. There was also a rather fat man who was walking around with a bunch of ladles and tasting everything.
"This needs more pepper" he'd say, or "Didn't I tell you to make a broth out of that chicken?" or "Well done, Millifred!". He waggled over as soon as he saw Mrs. Goodums.
"Ah, you've found someone to sweep the chimney! Thank you, my dearest"
Mrs. Goodums gave him a nod and then walked off without saying anything. The large man showed X a chimney, caked with soot. Both the opening upwards and the one downwards were almost entirely blocked with soot.
"I need to be able to use this fireplace again" the man said.
"See that it's clean by tonight"

[Innis Cabal]

X looks at the fireplace and then at the man

"How?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

The fat man slapped X in the back of the head.
"You clean it! With your mop! What are you, stupid? Just see that it's clean by tonight, or there'll be hell to pay!"
The fat man shook his head and walked off to check on the cooking some more.