A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 15: Interruption

Unlike Carlotta, Caleldir had holed himself up somewhere where he was not easily found. He had briefly forgotten that druids only scried using clear woodland pools, which was not exactly something that they sold in a shop. He did not have time to figure out how to scry that way, so he had cobbled together a series of items including a silver-ish mirror and some scrolls and was trying to get a scry spell going. He had been going at it for hours, and the most he had seen was Ashyr slipping out of the town just as the orc attacked. Well, it was a start, but anything from later than that was a series of random colors and blurry, disconnected images. Not useful.

He had about made up his mind to take a break and come at it from another angle, when he heard Bard barking through town. He slapped his head. He had forgotten the very obvious fact that, as a ranger, Ashyr had a semi-magical bond with her animal companion. If Ashyr was in trouble: Bard would know.

Leaping down from his isolated perch on the tallest building in town, he ran across the town to find the barking wolf. He almost immediately ran into both Bard and Carlotta. Bard certainly seemed to be worried... that probably was a sign that Ashyr had gotten herself into some sort of predicament. Giving the redheaded woman a quick nod in greeting, he knelt down by the wolf. "Bard? Is Ashyr in trouble?" This scene was somewhat familiar: although he doubted that Selene was behind it this time. Regardless, he was determined to follow Bard wherever he ran off to. He turned to Carlotta. "Ashyr has a mystic connection with Bard. If he is acting like this, she may need help."

The wolf whined at Caleldir. The beast still didn't seem to know what to do with himself. Carlotta knelt down next to the other person to inspect the animal. It looked like he had been digging, but there were also wooden splinters in his paw as if he had dug through wood and dirt to get to where he was now. "Bard. Where is Ashyr? Where is your mistress?" Carlotta asked.

The wolf let out a frustrated whine, shook off Caleldir's attempts to get some of the splinters out of his paws, then began sniffing along the ground as if he was trying to find her by tracking her scent. He followed his nose to a spot in the wall.

Caleldir and Carlotta ran behind the young wolf. The spot he led them to looked as if the animal had tried to burrow in that spot. The wall was set deep into the ground. She guessed that he'd tried for hours to get through and failed. "She left you here." Carlotta realized aloud.

Bard whined in what might have been affirmation but was more likely his continued scared, frustrated noises.

"So, my scry was true." He muttered. "This is where she slipped over the wall." He frowned. "I do not think that Ashyr, whatever the two of us may mean to her," wow that was an awkward thing to say... "would permanently abandon her companion here. Something is preventing her from returning, but she is at least still alive. Bard would know if she was not." And he would, for... other reasons that he really did not want to explain to Carlotta.

Caleldir looked towards the gate. It was rather overgrown. "I can get us over the wall." He said slowly. "I know a bit of magic that will allow us to fall like feathers to the ground. No need to dig under." He nudged the wolf up to the top, and began to cast his magic. He turned to Carlotta. "Do you wish to come as well?" He asked. "We could very well be walking into a very dangerous situation."

"Yeah. I'll come with you." Carlotta decided, though she was looking more past the wall than at Caleldir. It still felt... awkward. "I need to find more reagents for my potions anyway. Might as well come with." The redhead half shrugged. Now that there wouldn't be a whole army of skeletons, she figured that she could be a little more help than she was at the breach. Lotta didn't much like the idea of one of her friends being in trouble.

"Ah, good then." Caleldir replied. "Your specific talents may turn out to be quite useful." Casting the feather fall spell, he floated the three of them to the ground. Once they were securely anchored on solid earth, he turned up and looked at the town wall, shaking his head. "Easier out than in." He said. "Hopefully they will have fixed the gate by the time we get back."

Once on the other side, Bard's nose was to the ground again. He sniffed around almost frantically. Then he followed his nose down the hill slightly not even checking to see if the people were following him. The poor animal seemed focused on one thing, all other things be damned.

The small redhead and a pale Caleldir followed him to a spot that looked particularly beaten down. The first thing to be noticed was the swath of damage the forest had taken by what looked like a large beast that charged through here. The path seemed to lead all the way back to the front of the town where the gate had been broken. The next thing Carlotta noticed was an alarming amount of blood splattered across the flattened foliage. There were no bodies in sight - be that a good or bad thing. Bard nosed through the spot to uncover a large broken feather the was partially attached to a chain. Lotta recognized that feather...

"Caleldir?" She said, and pointed to the former hair decoration in case he hadn't already seen it.

"I see it." He said grimly. "It seems that our good friend ran herself right into trouble. So much for an attempt at escape. We should be cautious from here on out: this is no longer a search, but a rescue."

Bard began ranging out to try to smell where everyone else had gone from there. He circled the place before going down the path of destruction. As there was only one path leading in to the trampled and bloody spot, the orc must have gone out the same way. Or they'd teleported somehow. Lotta hoped that that wasn't the case. At least she didn't need help following that trail. The damage to the forest was easy enough to follow. It was even somewhat flattened to make it easy to walk.

Carlotta couldn't help but notice the occasional spots of dried blood that splattered against the ground and nearby leaves. She hoped that it wasn't the drow's blood. That much gone from that small of a body - no matter how resilient that body was - could not be a good sign. "Are you sure weren't not just going to rescue a body?" Carlotta asked somberly. Even if it was just a body, she would still want it rescued from the orcs. There was no telling what a necromancer would do to her. The redhead couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine.

"I do not think so..." Caleldir said uneasily. "I think that Bard would know if she was dead." He looked towards the wolf again. Maybe she was dead... No, he could not feel her ghost released into the aether yet. Somehow he believed that if her spirit left her body, he would feel something unmistakable. He certainly had when Celeste had died and he was not nearly as emotionally close to the blond singer as he was to Ashyr. Either Ashyr was still alive, or she was some sort of undead with the soul chained to the corpse. Actually, that second but was entirely possibly and not at all comforting. "If she is not alive." He said shortly. "I will wreak a terrible vengeance on her killers. If that happens, you had better be far away."

The wolf then led them out of the path of destruction and onto a less visible trail. Carlotta knew that she wouldn't have been able to follow this one so fast. There was the random broken branch, but otherwise the trail was scent alone as far as she could tell. She was no ranger. Further evidence toward the fact that she was no ranger; she found it much more difficult to pick through this bit of land. It was all she could do to keep up with the wolf's relatively fast pace. There was no way she could engage in idle chatter through her concentration. The blood stains, at least, had stopped for the last hour or so. The redhead hadn't noticed blood, anyway. She could very well have missed it when she was too busy concentrating on following the wolf without tripping.

The pair of them kept following Bard for the rest of the day, only occasionally running into things that he would rather not have. But as the light dimmed, They slowed. Caleldir could see just fine in the dark, but Carlotta could not, and all three of them were getting very tired. "Steady, Bard," Caleldir tried to soothe the wolf. "We have to stop for the night. If you run until you drop dead, you will be useless to save Ashyr when we find her." Bard whined loudly. It almost sounded like an offended noise. The wolf did stop, however, with a soft, frustrated groan. He didn't try to continue down the path, but neither did he sit still. Bard clearly did not like be separated from Ashyr. He turned to Carlotta, shrugging. "Should we make camp for the night? We can hardly mount a rescue without any sleep." Or food. Fortunately, there was water nearby, but they needed to be at their best to take on the Orc necromancer and his horde. Because obviously that is who had her.

Carlotta pretty much sat where she stood. She was beginning to question the prudence of coming along with them. She had short legs compared to Cal. Nor was she used to going on long treks through the forest. The most she'd ever taken were short, leisurely day trips to get ingredients. Well, it was far too late to go back now. "Do you think we should make a fire?" She asked, looking toward the half-elf. "Or would that attract the attention of... whoever has her captive? Do we even have the stuff to make a fire?"

Caleldir thought for a moment. He closed his eyes and really, clearly though. "A fire should be fine." He said. "I can conceal it with an illusion. Unless they are specifically looking for us, they will not be able to find us."

Carlotta let out a long, tired sigh. It wasn't cold yet, not after all that time walking, but it would probably get cold soon. She groaned, and hunched over slightly while holding her stomach. "Oh, and food... Gods, I don't think we're very good at this whole rescue mission thing."

He snorted. "Nonsense! We have plenty of supplies. All we need is our wits and courage. And weapons." He thought back to the last time he had been out in the forest. He had been somewhat of a ninny. In retrospect there were hundreds of things that he could have done but did not. "And clothing. I have trouble thinking straight while naked." Suddenly realizing what he had just said, he blushed a deep crimson, which he saw that Carlotta echoed before they both looked the other way in embarrassment. "Errr... forget that last detail."

Hefting a rusted javelin, he shook off the blush and smiled. "If you can use alchemy to get a fire going, I will kill something that moves. A quick charm spell, and they won't even run away!" His smile showed his fangs more than strictly necessary. "But first, let me put a small illusion on this area..." After doing so, he crept off into the woods.

A little over half an hour later, he returned with a rabbit and a fat partridge to see that Carlotta had cleared a space and got a coxy little fire started. "See? We are good at this rescue mission thing!"

Carlotta looked over to Caleldir and smiled brightly. The redhead had an extremely innocent smile, the polar opposite of Ashyr's. It didn't help that Lotta had a slightly childlike face to go with her small stature. Carlotta stood and took the bird from Cal's hand. At least she knew how to prepare that beast as long as it was similar to preparing a chicken. She supposed she'd find out. Soon Carlotta managed to get the plucked, beheaded, and gutted partridge onto a stick over the fire.

While Carlotta worked on the partridge, Caledir cleaned the rabbit. As clean as he could with a slightly rusty blade. "Fortified with iron!" He cheerfully stated when Carlotta gave the knife a dubious look. He set the rabbit next to the partridge and reached into his pockets. "Could use some herbs." He muttered as he sprinkled bits of grassy something over the cooking animals and stuffed other plants into their mouths. He had picked up some wild spices on his trip to kill the animals.

"So how did you two meet? Or - I guess I mean how did she come to join the caravan?" She asked as they worked. Lotta wasn't fond of silence.

Caleldir looked over at Carlotta. Despite the awkwardness of their relationship thus far, there was something about her innocent face and nearly child-like appearance that put him at ease. He returned her smile with one of his own very literally charming ones. "Well, normally this would be the place where I spin an utterly improbable tale of how we met, but, frankly, I do not really remember. I was out with Gurzan at the time on some mundane supply run, and returned to find her as a coworker. It was a bit odd, really, to have a drow show up like that, but I figured I would let Gurzan do the worrying and paid her no heed. I remember thinking that she was beautiful, but too cold and distant. It was not until Port Afron that we really began to know each other. She was the one to rescue me from the dungeons, after all, and afterwards I asked her to train me to be less useless in a fight. Things just sort of happened from there."

"Cold and distant, eh?" Carlotta said with a smile mostly directed inward. Her freckled face colored brightly again with her own memories of the drow. Hot and intimate were the only things Lotta got from her. It probably helped that drunk Carlotta had started their acquaintance. Drunk Carlotta was very... forward. "I can't picture her cold and distant." She commented. Her light eyes reflected the firelight, not quite looking at Caleldir. The redhead felt kind of... melty when he smiled at her. She wasn't used to have that kind of a reaction to a man's smile.

"She must be doing a good job of training you, then. You didn't seem at all useless back at town." Not compared to how she felt, anyway. She hid most of the time.

Carlotta prodded the bird on a stick, twisted her full lips in contemplation, then turned the whole thing slightly on the stick. She seemed satisfied when a new side of it faced the fire. Bard came up to the warmth of the campfire and plopped down next to it with a worried whine. Lotta absently reached over to run her fingers through his blond and white fur in a hopefully conciliatory motion.

Brows furrowing, Caleldir noted that Carlotta was not looking directly at him, almost as if she was avoiding meeting his gaze. Ah, she was still feeling rather awkward. "Well, I was never useless in a fight. I just had a tendency to die a lot." He paused when Carlotta gave him a confused look. "Wait, don't take that last statement literally. But yes, she has helped be improve immeasurably. I had the essentials down, but she did a fine job helping me put them into practice."

He sat in silent for a little while, watching her prod the roasting animals. "Do not cook them too long." He observed. "It burns away the flavor." He turned the rabbit.

"Where's Fucking when you need him?" Carlotta asked the forest in general. The goblin would have cooked the things to perfection. Carlotta... well, she was pretty good at brewing potions and booze. She could pluck and gut a chicken (and apparently partridges) but her expertise ended there. That goblin with an unfortunate name seem to revel in the task. Saying his name caused a slight smirk to flash across her face.

Caleldir rolled his eyes. "Personally I think that Fucking should change his name." He muttered. "I feel really odd every time I have to call or mention him. After all, his name is a vulgar term for coitus." He removed the rabbit and chicken from the fire. "But though I may not have quite his skills, I am still a relatively decent cook." He handed Carlotta the partridge. "Here, since you cleaned this one, enjoy it!" He took a bite of the rabbit. It tasted as good as food after a day of running usually did.

"I am not normally not one for small talk..." He shrugged. "And we have already covered the basics at that dance last night..." He thought for a moment. "So, do you have anything you would like to discuss, or should I just start telling a wild story?"

The smirk still on Carlotta's face turned into a full smile. "Ashyr told me about your tall tales." She giggled, "She seemed to really like them. Seems. Seems to like them." The smile faded a bit to worry. Carlotta wasn't entirely convinced that the drow still lived. Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt that there was no way Ashyr could still be alive. Not after all that blood. Not after fighting that monstrosity of an orc. "I could use a story to take my mind off things." She said somberly.

"So... a story. Well, a dark or tragic tale would probably not be appropriate..." He furrowed his brow a bit, then brightened. "Ah! I know! Let me tell you how I got myself kicked out of the mages' guild..." Caleldir launched into what amounted to a 'greatest hits' version of this particular tale, throwing in everything from the pretty half-nymph archmage with weed-green hair who kept creepily hitting on him to the hero's statue that came alive to try to murder everyone to him finally dousing the entire tower with water transformed into wine in order to flush out the infestation of paper ogres, with him using the same water-to-wine illusion on her water as he had used on Gurzan's so many times. It finally ended with him riding off into the sunset chased by half a dozen angry old folks in long robes while the young-seeming archmage gave him a meaningful wink. It was a very silly story, quite over-the-top with cheesy action and imaginative imagery.

Carlotta listened with amused silence as her companion told his fascinating story. She ate enthusiastically, though even when just around a campfire the redhead was far more delicate and polite than the drow. The redhead was pretty sure she'd never had such a delicious meal. It was not quite that good of course, but she felt like she had been starving before. She made sure to give some meat to Bard, though she could have easily eaten it all herself. The poor wolf practically inhaled anything that was given to him.

"And that is why, to this day, I hide when I see a girl with a green hat." He finished.

"I can see why she likes your stories." The human said in appreciation.

Having been finished with her meal a while back, the small woman slowly got closer to the fire as the night cooled. She stupidly didn't bring any sort of heavy cloak or anything that would keep her warm enough in the wilderness. For some reason she assumed that Ashyr wouldn't get as far as she seemed to have. Carlotta expected to be back in her bed (or perhaps Ashyr's again) long before night fell. The fire helped, thankfully, but the small woman still shivered slightly.

Seeing as he had been talking more than eating, Caleldir finished up the last few bits of his food (being sure to give a little to Bard too...). He folded his arms and leaned back, closing his eyes for a moment. Carlotta shuffling towards the fire roused him from his rest. He looked up at the diminutive woman. She was shivering a little. He looked down at his own hands, and fancied that he could see the firelight filtering through them more than was strictly proper. He sighed. He really needed to learn how to effectively cast that 'protection from the elements' spell.

"The night is rather cold." He finally said. "If you are not too opposed to it, we should probably huddle together for warmth." He began removing his armor, setting the rusty old bits of metal to the side. Finishing up, he looked away from her, blushing. This entire situation was uncomfortably familiar. "It would probably be for the best if we removed our outer garments to use as blankets." He was definitely not suggesting that the two of them get naked just so that he could feel her nude skin against his... No! This was pure practicality so that Carlotta did not catch cold in the night. No other motive.