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Post by Shinko on Nov 17, 2014 22:07:17 GMT -5
It drizzled most of the rest of that day, though fortunately the winds stayed mostly calm. The rain stopped close to sunset, and the following day dawned mostly clear. A few drifting white clouds were all that remained of the previous day's dismal weather. However, thought the sky had changed, the landscape was much the same. wide, rolling expanses of green grass reaching towards the heavens, with rocks and the rocky faces of cliffs occasionally breaking up the carpet of emerald. Periodically a small stand of pine trees could be seen, but for the most part the landscape was devoid of much besides rocks and grass. In short, for all the knights could tell they were traveling over the same valleys they'd traveled the previous day. Everything looked the same, and there were no obvious landmarks on the map to tell them when they were getting close to Lake Moran, or if they were even traveling in the right direction. "I hate to be the one to say it," Sieg said when the two stopped for lunch, looking up from the map he'd been inspecting and waving his compass in the air helplessly. "But someone has to- I think we're lost." He sighed rubbing the back of his head, taking a bite of a cold sausage. Once he'd swallowed he said, "I was worried this would happen after we reached the end of the road at that village two days ago, but I was hoping we might find some sort of trail eventually. I mean someone has to live up here for the horse monster- kelpie, is that what Stephen called it?- for it to be killing people. But we've seen hide nor hair of anyone except each other. They weren't kidding when they said the mountains in Bern were undeveloped wilderness." The half-elf glanced around. "I'd settle for a goat track at this point- at least that might indicate the presence of a shepherd who could give us directions. Or better landmarks to follow then 'big rocks and endless green hills.'" Oops, looks like the boys dun did got lost in the Bernian mountains. This can only end well!
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Post by Omni on Nov 18, 2014 16:45:55 GMT -5
Orrin glanced up at the sky. "Well, we can wait for the sun to move to get a better idea of which way is north, but that still doesn't tell us which way the lake is." He took a bite of bread, chewing as he mulled over the situation. He could try climbing one of the trees to get a better look at the surrounding area, but the tallest trees seemed to have a lot of needles and dense branches, and he wasn't sure how well he'd be able to make his way up one. He figured he could climb one of them. With the way things were looking, it might be their best shot to... Something drew the half-dwarf from his thoughts, and he paused. He took a moment to figure out what it was, and he realized that he heard something. He turned his head to try and determine where it was coming him, and to listen to it better. It had a familiar sound and pattern to it, not exactly like, but similar to a sound he'd heard an awful lot since Stallion welcomed their newest addition to the family: Nutmeg. Barking. It was barking. They'd seen any signs of wolves in the mountains, but most of what they'd noticed was howling, and that was at night. This sounded like a single canine. He didn't think a lone wolf would be barking at something unless it was trying to scare something away, and this didn't sound aggressive. As it grew closer, he noticed that it didn't sound like a wolf, either, and he'd heard a wolf's barking up close and personal. "Do ya hear that?" he asked his fellow knight, continuing to listen. He noticed the call of one of the nearby birds seemed odd, with strange patterns to it. Then he realized it wasn't a bird's call at all: someone was whistling commands to their dog. Orrin tries to figure out how to get them un-lost, then he hears someone whistling to their dog.
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Post by Shinko on Nov 18, 2014 17:07:16 GMT -5
Sieg, who'd been preoccupied with the map, lifted his head at Orrin's words and listened. Then he heard it too; a dog barking, and the sound of someone whistling. "Oh thank Woo," he said, folding up the map. "There must be someone nearby. Maybe a shepherd, they keep dogs to herd and chase wolves away from the sheep, and all this open grass would be fantastic for grazing." He approached Freya and swung back into her saddle. "Let's see if we can track them down. If we can find someone we might be able to ask them for directions. At the very least if they can point us the right way we'll have a heading." The mare snorted, and began picking her way over the rocky terrain daintily. This wasn't very good ground for a horse to travel over, and she had to be careful not to tread on a sharp stone or twist her ankle in a pothole or burrow. Following the sounds of the whistling, eventually the two knights topped a rise and saw what they were looking for- a man holding a length of cloth- a sling perhaps?- and looking out over a herd of sheep. The barking was coming from two large wolfhounds that were darting around the flock, however as soon as the knights came into view one of the dogs jerked it's head up and began growling in their direction. "Well they're good at guarding the sheep at least," Sieg remarked in an undertone to Orrin, tipping up his kettle helm so he could glance sideways at the half dwarf. Clearing his throat, he waved at the man with a smile. "Hello, good sir. My friend and I are knights, passing through the area. Might we have a moment of your time?" Sieg and Orrin go towards the sound of barking, and find the shepherd. Sieg says hello, and asks if the shepherd will talk to them for a second so they can ask him for directions.
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Post by Celestial on Nov 18, 2014 18:07:49 GMT -5
As soon as his hound began growling, the shepherd immediately gripped his sling tighter and grabbed one of the stones from the ground. He whistled to the other dog to keep the sheep close together, which it gladly obeyed, running around the flock in order to bunch them together in a herd. If it was wolves he could fight them off. If it was robbers, well, he would give them a good fight. Ualan spun on his heel, holding his weapon at the ready. The sight that greeted him, however, did nothing to ease his fears. A lesser man would have dropped his weapon but not Ualan. He whistled to his dogs and they both ran to his side, their teeth bared at the strangers, as he examined the two men. If they could charitably be called men. One of them, at least, was definitely no man. Did he have four arms?! Men did not have four arms, unless things really were so different down in the Lowlands. Ualan narrowed his eyes at the stranger. The colours looked familiar...House Stallion? He might have been a highland man but he knew the colours of the high lords of the land. Well, at least it meant he was not a robber, probably. The other man, who was thankfully more normal, but he was not dressed in any colours Ualan knew. They appeared to be together, however, and in armour. Knights? What would knights be doing up in the mountains, this far from any known town? He frowned a little as the second man he noticed spoke, not recognising the accent at all. It still did not answer his question about why knights would be up in the mountains, up here where so few people came. "Doon, Ruairi, Aislinn, doon," he told the two dogs beside him. They obeyed they master and at least stopped growling but their ears remained high and their tails up, ready to attack the two strangers at any moment to protect their master and their flock. Once the two dogs had relaxed, Ualan looked back at his sheep, which were nervously clustered together. One occassionally stooped down to pluck some grass from the ground. Satisfied that they were not going to scatter and were safe, the shepherd turned back to the two strangers. "Wha urr ye 'n' whit dae yi'll waant? Ah ken ye'r knights bit whit urr ye daein' wandering up in th' heich land?" he asked. Ualant the shepherd is wary and speaks in a thick accent which is probably hard to understand.
(Translation: Who are you and what do you want? I know you're knights but what are you doing wandering up in the high land?)
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Post by Omni on Nov 18, 2014 18:46:04 GMT -5
When the knights approached the man, he readied his sling and called over his dogs. That didn't bode well; this might end up worse than Haflinger. When he spoke, his accent was enough that Orrin blinked in reaction. He'd heard some of the accents in Bern, but this was something else. He thought he could probably understand it, but he would have to listen carefully. In the meantime, he took his best guess. He figured they should state their business anyway. "He heard rumors of a horse-monster in the area, around a lake. We came to stop it, but I'm afraid we got lost. Can ya point us in the right direction?" Orrin has some trouble understanding, but asks for directions anyway.
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Post by Shinko on Nov 18, 2014 19:31:51 GMT -5
Sieg was every bit as perplexed by what the man was saying as Orrin. He was able to glean something along the lines of "What do you want" he managed to snatch the word "knights" as well as the phrase "wandering up in" but beyond that it was all guesswork. Thankfully Orrin spared Sieg the need to try answering the not-really-understood question. The half-elf sincerely hoped that not all of the northern Bernians were going to be this hard to understand. He was distracted from his musings when he saw Freya pin her ears back and stiffen her neck. A second later she snorted, shifting so that her hindquarters where turned just slightly closer to the man, and peeled her upper lip back to show her teeth- all extremely aggressive, dominant posturing in a horse. " Freya, stop that!" he chided, yanking the reigns to pull her back into a straight-on posture and drag her arched neck up. He followed the direction of her eyes and realized what had set her off- the man's herd dogs. Turning to the shepherd he called, "I'm very sorry sir, my horse has always been very temperamental. I think she got spooked by your dogs." Spooked wasn't entirely accurate- she wasn't displaying fear behaviors, she was displaying challenge behaviors. She recognized the predators and was calling them out, telling them she wasn't afraid. But it amounted to the same thing. The dogs were upsetting her, and he didn't want the shepherd thinking the horse's aggression was a sign the knights were about to attack him. Sieg has nothing really to add to Orrin's request for directions, but Freya decides to cop an attitude at the man's dogs. Sieg immediately stops her and apologizes.
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Post by Celestial on Nov 18, 2014 19:59:12 GMT -5
Ualan raised his eyebrow, scrunching up his face into a look of confusion. The kelpie? Were the two lowlanders wandering around the mountains looking for the kelpie? They had come to stop it, apparently, but still, two strange-looking lowland knights wandering around looking for a man-eating monster...that was definitely one of the most unusual things he had heard this month. At least they weren't aggressive. He almost immediately retracted his words as one of the horses, the one belonging to the less odd-looking knight, began displaying aggressive motions. The shepherd lifted up his sling and was about to signal to his dogs when the horse's rider noticed and immediately pulled it back. He had spoken to the creature in a strange language which was completely alien to Ualan's ears but he dismissed it. If they were from the low country, it figured they would say things he could not understand. "Och, dinna fash yirsel," he gestured with his hand, indiciating he did not mind. Immediately, the shepherd lowered his sling and whistled to his dogs, making them retreat just a little bit so the horses would not spook. "Tis th' sam wi' th' shaep, thay git scared. Horses ur juist muckle shaep." Folding his arms, the shepherd regarded the two knights again with a slight grin. "Na wonder ye twa git lost, thae bens win`'n' bend, bound tae confuse even us heich land men. Bit ah ken th' wey tae th' loch ye'r keekin," he lifted up a hand, outstretching one thumb. "Ye follow th' glen 'til th' Cloven Ben, then caw towards th' setting sun 'til ye reach th' Cairn o' th' Corbies. Fae thare, heid fur th' Horns 'til ye git tae th' loch wi' th' beastie ye're wantin'." More brogue, enjoy. 8D
Translations: "Oh don't worry." "It's the same with the sheep, they get scared. Horses are just big sheep." "No wonder you two got lost, these mountains wind and bend, bound to confuse even us high land men. But I know the way to the lake you're looking for." "You follow the valley until the Cloven Mountain, then turn towards the setting sun until you reach the Cairn of the Crows. From there, head for the Horns until you get to the lake with the monster you want."
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Post by Omni on Nov 18, 2014 20:39:15 GMT -5
Try as he might, Orrin couldn't make out enough of what the shepherd was saying to make heads or tails of the directions. The concentration and confusion showed on his face, and after the man finished, he realized he was gaping. Closing his mouth, he shook off some of the confusion and looked back at the man. "Right, thank ya," he said, raising one hand open-palm in thanks, then giving the man a thumbs up. "Have a good day, and ah, may ya find good pastures." He turned Freddie around. At least the shepherd had pointed, and it looked like he wanted them to continue up the valley. He thought he heard Sieg toss a something to the man, and once he was sure the half-elf was following - and they were sufficiently out of sight and earshot - he leaned over to his fellow knight and spoke quietly. "I'm guessin' ya didn't understand him any better than I did." Orrin didn't understand the directions, but heads off in the direction the shepherd pointed.
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Post by Shinko on Nov 19, 2014 7:40:46 GMT -5
As Orrin thanked the man, Sieg quickly fished around in his belt pouch until he found a precious gem- most of his money was in runestones, but given how far into the mountains they were he worried the man wouldn't recognize the Corvid currency as even being money. "Here, for your trouble," he called, flicking it in the man's direction so that it glinted as it sailed through the air. "Thank you again kind sir. Woo be with you." As soon as they were out of earshot, Orrin asked Sieg how much he'd understood, and the half-elf winced. "Well when he was accepting the apology about Freya I understood most of that; something along the lines of 'the sheep get scared to.' But the directions? Uhhhh... Follow the glen until the Cloven Ben, I think was the first, but I'm not sure what a glen is or a ben. He seemed to be gesturing along the valley so maybe he meant to keep heading along the valley. But Cloven Ben? Cloven is what you call the hoof of a sheep or a goat, one that's split in the middle instead of solid like a horse. So maybe something split that comes to two points at the top? But what's a Ben? And 'caw towards the setting sun' I dunno, the setting sun is in the west... But I have no idea what a Cairn of the Corbies is, and then something about horns and a loch? I don't know, that's the best I could make out." He laughed a little, "And here I've always fancied myself fluent in Kythian. Guess I was more fluent in Corvid Kythian then anything else." Sieg gives the shepherd a gem to thank him for his attempt to help, and then takes a stab at translating the directions. He does okay-ish but a lot of it gets lost in the general garble of brogue and the yammering off of local landmarks the boys can't possibly know. XD
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Post by Omni on Nov 19, 2014 10:37:22 GMT -5
The half-dwarf gave a nod. "Yeh, that's about what I got, too, though I thought he said 'clover'? I don't get the cawin' at the sunset part, either - I'm guessin' he didn't actually say anythin' to do with crows. He said somethin' about fairies...? I know a loch is a lake, and I think he said we should be able to get there, assumin' we understood the rest of it." Orrin glanced up at a nearby coniferous, then gestured toward it. "I could climb the trees once in awhile to try and get a good look. If I can see the lake, it should be easier to get to it." He paused, another thought occurring to him. "Of course, I don't know how much that'll help with gettin' back." So between the two knight, the directions get even more confusing! =D Orrin offers to climb the trees to try and find the lake, then realizes it's going to be a pain getting back to Haflinger.
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Post by Shinko on Nov 19, 2014 11:05:41 GMT -5
The Nid'aigle knight stared at his friend, confusion writ plain on his face. "'Loch' is a lake? Given what my mother does for a living I grew up with a very different definition of that word!" He shook his head, bewildered. "I suppose it's probably going to be largely pointless to try and interview anyone who might live closer to Moran about the kelpie like we did with in Haflinger; I mean if we can't figure out what they're even saying it's just going to frustrate them and us." He laughed suddenly, his expression becoming amused. "Though I notice the shepherd seemed to have no issues understanding what we were saying. That's totally not fair, whatever happened to equal opportunity accent confusion?" Dismissing the joke, he listened as Orrin went on. "I could climb the trees once in awhile to try and get a good look. If I can see the lake, it should be easier to get to it." He paused, another thought occurring to him. "Of course, I don't know how much that'll help with gettin' back.""You can climb? Well that's one thing you have up on me," Sieg remarked with a lopsided smile. Then he shrugged, "You can try if you think it'll help, but given how long and involved his directions were I don't know if you'll find a tree tall enough to see over the mountains to the lake any time soon. I get the impression we're still a day or two from it at least. I'm pretty sure he said 'cloven' not 'clover' so at the very least perhaps you can see if you spot anything that fits that description. Would give us a heading anyway." The half-elf glanced around with a scowl. "In Corvus if we're worried about getting lost we'd normally mark the trees with a dagger- something simple, usually an X or a circle. That way we can follow the marked trees on our way back. But the corvid woods and swamps have a lot more trees then these mountains. There's just... so much open space, and it all looks the same. It's beautiful, picturesque even, but that gets hard to appreciate when you feel like you're trapped in the tapestry." Sieg jokes about accents and dialect words, weighs in his opinion about tree climbing, and then complains that Bern may be pretty but it sucks to travel in.
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Post by Omni on Nov 19, 2014 13:11:35 GMT -5
"I notice the shepherd seemed to have no issues understanding what we were saying," said Sieg. "That's totally not fair, whatever happened to equal opportunity accent confusion?"Sieg's words gave Orrin pause. "Hey... Yer right! Ya know, if they know what our speech sounds like and understand it, and we don't understand them, why don't they make themselves understandable?" Then the half-dwarf realized something, and his palm met his face. "Except we didn't say that we didn't understand. Talk about stupid..." The half-dwarf held his chin before turning to his fellow knight. "What dya say? Should we go back and ask before we get too far? I'd worry more about gettin' lost here forever than savin' face. Maybe we can bring a pen and paper and say we forgot some of it. It's sort of true..." Sieg expressed some doubts about Orrin's climbing suggestion, saying that at best he might be able to spot one of the landmarks, namely the one said to be cloven. "Well I think he said to keep goin' until we saw it? Or was that the cairn of the... somethin'... Yeh, I think we're gonna have to go back." Orrin realizes that since the shepherd seemed to understand them, they should have asked to clarify. He's in favor of going back and asking for more-clear directions, and writing them down this time.
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Post by Shinko on Nov 19, 2014 21:14:13 GMT -5
Sieg looked uncertain. "I... I don't know Orrin, I was only joking. Just because you can understand someone doesn't necessarily mean you can emulate how they talk. I mean my mother understands Elvish and speaks it fluently, but her accent is atrocious even after twenty years of living in Nid'aigle and speaking almost exclusively to elves." He shifted uneasily, "And I wouldn't want to offend the man..." He sighed, "But... alright I suppose. I guess we have to weigh risk and reward, and we really don't have enough to go on to try and get there on our own like this. I just..." In a very small voice he said, "I really hope he doesn't get offended. I hate accidentally insulting people, and with my foot-in-mouth problems I do it rather more then I would like to." Sieg dithers, 'cause socially awkward half-elf doesn't want to offend the guy by telling him his accent is incomprehensible. XD But he reluctantly agrees.
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Post by Omni on Nov 20, 2014 1:41:48 GMT -5
Orrin quirked an eyebrow when Sieg expressed uncertainty that the man could speak more clearly... then understood more-clearly when he compared it to his mother speaking Elvish. "Oh, I didn't mean his accent. I meant the words. I mean, we have no idea what a cairn is, so how are we supposed to know it when we see it? I think we could understand if we just ask him to explain things more." The half-dwarf noticed Sieg shrinking in his seat, expressing discomfort at telling the man that they couldn't understand his directions. "I really hope he doesn't get offended. I hate accidentally insulting people, and with my foot-in-mouth problems I do it rather more then I would like to."Orrin couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Sieg. He wasn't sure how to help with a problem like that, and instead he found himself focussing on the current situation. "Hey," he said, his voice softer than usual. "It probably won't be that bad. But if ya'd like, I could go just talk to him on my own." Orrin clarifies that he mostly wants the shepherd to clarify his words, rather than his accent. He suggests going to talk to the shepherd alone if Sieg feels too uncomfortable.
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Post by Shinko on Nov 20, 2014 8:54:49 GMT -5
Sieg shook his head, "Nah, I don't think splitting up is necessarily a great idea in this environment. We're already having issues telling places apart. Last thing we need is to lose each other on top of losing our way." He turned Freya around and began riding her back towards the shepherd. "But given how this temperamental lady was reacting to his dogs, it's probably better if I hang back a bit and you do the talking- especially since you're in Stallion colors and you understand at least some of the dialect. I'll write down what I can make out and then we can perhaps finally get a move on." Sieg could see the white, cloudy shapes of the sheep coming around a hill again, and hoped the shepherd wouldn't be made suspicious again with them coming back after they'd already left. Sieg vetoes staying behind, citing the fact that they don't want to lose track of each other on top of being lost. But he does agree maybe Orrin should do most of the talking, especially since he's a Stallion knight and can understand some of the dialect. They arrive back at where the shepherd is.
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