A New Home

[Blackspear]

As Dale reaches his two companions he stops and gives them a wide eyed stare as if waiting for them to say something.   When nothing is said by either companion, he shakes his head as if to clear it and begins to walk in a wobbily fashion towards Ashe's house.  

"Ya know I'm so glad we're friends.   Its nice to know I can count on you two.   Hey where'd wolf go to anyway.  Its getting awfully cold out here.  I wouldn't want him to get lost and freeze over night.    A dog like that needs to stay warm near a good hearth."

Dale begins to walk a little faster calling "Here wolfy.  Here boy."   He even tries to whistle, but can't quite manage to do anything more than spit through his lips.   This of course causes him to try again and again, wondering why he can't whistle.

"Hey Maccabeusss.   Can you whisstle?   I can't.  My lips are broken.   I don't think we'll find wolfy unless  we whissstle.  I don't want him to get lossst.  He'll freessse to death."   Clearly the bronze saps that he had early in the meal combine with the triple shot at the end have taken their toll on the young adventurer.

[Wildfire]

"Yes Maccabeus, she's got quite a sense of humor. She has ever since she was born. That's a good thing to. It's helps Zarion relax and not take things so seriously."

Dale continued to stumble and fumble down the hilly trail.

[Johan]

Maccabeus laughed, entertained by the circumstance. "She's funny." He said simply and almost affectionately.

[Wildfire]

Ashe looks down at Maccabeus and Wolf, "I'm keeping pace with you two aren't I? That dizzysap must have hit him hard. Let's wait here for him."

Ashe looked back at a staggering Dale knowing full well what he felt like. "C'mon Dale, just down the hill here and a few steps to the Thornhedge and you'll be there." Ashe says to himself, "I can't believe Kym actually gave him a triple shot of dizzysap...It's amazing that he's even on two feet...."

[Blackspear]

Already feeling the effects of the spiked cider, Dale sways a liitle when he stands up from the table.  

In a silent tribute to Orion's litter, he waves to Kym and Zarion and follows the two druids out the door.   The crisp night air seems to help him walk a straight line (more or less) down the path.  

As he gets going, he realizes that he hasn't ever been this drunk before.  He usually prides himself on being able to hold his liquor, but this stuff truly has a kick!.

After a couple of dozen steps, his vision starts to waver a little and he begins to step rather heavily and slowly as he tries to keep up with the druids and the wolf.  Know matter how hard he tries to concentrate, the ground just seems to be too far way for each step.   Pretty soon he falls very far behind his companions.

"HEY GUYS!  WAIT UP!   WHY YOU WALKIN SO FAST!!"  He yells to the druids.  (Although  he thinks he 's speaking in a normal voice)  "YOU SHOULD SLOW DOWN.  ENJOY THE EVENIN!"

[Johan]

"Sounds like the thing to do." Maccabeus agreed as he rose with the elder. Wolf stretched and rose as well, yawning wide.

He weaved his way through the inn, making sure to pass close by both Zarion and Kym to thank them properly for their hospitality. "Mahiya's grace be upon you." He blessed them both in parting, and then stepped out into the cool night. Lights winked at him from below as he tapped the ash from his pipe and stowed it away again. "Lead on, kind sir." He said formally to Ashe as the elder emerged from the inn.

[Wildfire]

Kym brought the three their drinks and went back to her 'mundane' tasks. Other folks sitting in the inn kept to themselves in quiet conversations. Occasionaly Zarion could be seen going in and coming from the kitchen preparation area often times with blood all over his hands and arms. At length one of the hired hands sat down and began to play a pipe.

The sound of the pipe cut through the still, hushed demeanor of the common room. It was a sound that one could imagine being played around a tribal fire in a cool night. It spoke of the basic need to exercise a primal need to create. One could imagine cave dwellers celbrating the life and fire within their spirit and bringing forth through passionate, articulated pipe musings.

As Ashes pipe began to fade he said, "Well, I think it's time for me to go home. It's been a long day and I need to rest my bones. Maccabeus, I'd like to show you where I live in case you need to find me. Dale, that dizzysap is going to hit you quickly. I recommend that you try to get bed before it does."

[Blackspear]

"Cider sounds good Kym.  If you wouldn't mind I'll take the extra dizzy sap that they aren't drinking.  

You're right by the way.  I am from Kazbourne.  Some people figure that out, because I talk too fast for you country folk....

I guess that's just a symptom of the hustle and bustle of a big city like Kazbourne.

I tell ya though, I'm glad to be here.  Kazbourne is simply stifling or maybe stagnating is a better word.   There's no room to move around.  The air is foul.  The people are rude.   Compared to Kazbourne, Threshold is paradise!

Threshold may lack on some of the finer things that can be had in a big city, but there are so many other things that you can do here that you can't in a city.   For example, in Kazbourne you could never go hunting, unless its for sewer rats or people.  You can't search for herbs either...  

By the way Ashe, I'd be honored to search for herbs with you.   Well look at me, just letting my mouth run away with me again!  Old habits are hard to break!"

[Johan]

Maccabeus laughed at Ashe's joke and agreed with the elder. "This pouch has lasted me since mid-rynnyx." He said. "It's a blend of several hebs that Shankaria mingled for me. To be honest, I'm not much on herbs, so I'm not really sure what's in here." He poked his long nose into the small bag and shook his head. "You're right though: it's a shallow lot that I'm left with. I'd be glad to both take your weed and knowledge to learn me yet another craft. Likely be something I can use."

Maccabeus's tonuge slipped out of the corner of his mouth as he packed his pipe with most of what remained in his pipeweed pouch. "I tell you, it was a thin venric, this being all my stores I've often had to make do with half a pipe." He looked up from his work then. "I wonder what kinds of pipeweed grow at...um...home?" He asked rhetorically.

[Wildfire]

Ashe looks over to Maccabeus's pouch of smoking weed. "You seem to be getting a tad short there Maccabeus...on pipe weed that is. I have some fine tabac at my place if you'd like to restock before you head back to your new home."

Ashe opens his leather pouch and lets the fine fragrance of his pipe weed emanate out around the table. "This is Bimblesprig. A fine smoking plant if I do say so myself. Good for healing too. Speaking of which, I've been teaching Laren about herbs and how to find them. If either of you two are interested I'll let you know when we go out again. Laren is away right now but he'll be back in a day or two."

[Johan]

"And one for me as well." Maccabeus answered, producing a crude pipe and filling it from a near-empty bag of leaves. "But I've a bit of a walk home, so I'll have to fogoe additional sap as well."

"Thanks, kindly."

[Wildfire]

"You sure can light your pipe here. After all Ashe does it all the time without even asking!" she winked at the aging man. "Usually the night cap here is hot spiced cider with a touch of fermented bronzesap. It gives a kick worthy of the nine hells but it sure does make you sleep good. Sadly, after I get that for you I must take my leave of you and continue with my work. I'm behind already and I promised Mom that I'd help around here. Not that I don't normally mind you but I want to do other things besides prepare for the following day. I actually like to hunt at night! It's so much fun! There's this local pack of wolves that goes with me every now and then. I pretend that I'm Orion running with his wolf pack under the moons...howling...breathing. I feel so alive and free when I do that! I can feel the touch of Mahiya with every swift and silent step. I understand Orion in that way..." Kym seemed to get lost in her own thoughts and words. Her eyes stared out at...something.

"Oh, excuse me! I dazzle myself sometimes gettting caught in the moment. I'll be back with your...Oh, did you want hot cider?"

Ashe breaks his silence, "Ah, yes, I'll have one. Go easy on the dizzy sap though. I need to keep my head about me..."

[Johan]

Maccabeus blushed back at his new-found friend. "I apologize." He said simply. "I had been describing earlier this day to Ashe and Dale how the wolf is the most perfect of Mahiya's blessings upon this world. The wolf alone bears the embodyment of that which is best in each of the Divinities."

"The wolf hunts in collaboration, able to take the largest of prey; loyal, honorable, fearless, intelligent, intrepid, social yet independant, the wolf, at the time of creation, was granted Kossuth's fire, Akadi's swiftness, Grumbar's strength, Istisha's unity, Paladine's honor, Saridor's tenacity, Takhisis' will, and Mahiya's independance. The wolf is the embodiment of the strengths of each of the Divinities." Maccabeus repeated the cant that he had uttered earlier for Ashe and Dale. "I envy your family's great gift."

"You know," he continued, seeming to change the subject. "It seems to me that there's a story or two floating about my clans regarding when the Master came to the Dale. It is my misfortune that I've always been a bit of an impulsive sort, and so took the habit of not paying proper attention to many stories. Now I'm all but bereft of them, sadly." He seemed to reconsider himself quickly and said, "Well, not bereft exactly. They're in there." He poked the side of his temple as he winked at his table mates. "I'll just have to work at bringing them out."

"Gads, but this is a wonderful day. Would there be a warm beverage to be had and would it be alright for me to light a pipe here?" He asked, his round sky blue eyes wide with hope.

[Wildfire]

Kym blushes slightly, "That's a good question." She leans in close and whispers, "Orion, my great sire who you would call the Master Hunter, was the embodiment of the wolf spirit. It's rumored that after the Great Wars he wanted to retreat away from the pain that he had endured and inflicted that he became feral and ran with the wolf packs. For his passionate embrace of his wild nature Mahiya gave him the gift of the wolves. He could speak in Wolven and took on Wolven characteristics.
It was truly a gift of Mahiya. After he pulled out of his wild sabbatical he joined with The Antlered Giant whom he had met during his running. After that the two of them with their wolf packs executed Mahiya's justice. So, to answer your question, talking Wolven is Mahiya's gift to my lineage. Having wolven features, and don't think I haven't you noticed you looking at them, is also Mahiya's gift."

[Johan]

"This was indeed a hashly cold venric." Maccabeus answered "But Mahiya's shield [Endure Elements] kept both Wolf and myself comfortably thawed even though we might not have been able to really put any distance behind us. We did have an advantage though, and that is we weren't exactly on any particular time table, though I guess in retrospect we arrived right when we could do the most good. The Divinities certainly plan well." Maccabeus sat back comfortably in his tall chair as he answered Kym. He regarded her a moment, then ventured a question:

"Please forgive my forwardness, but I have a bit of an itch on my mind. In the Dale, many of my kindred find themselves gifted with the ability to communicate with animals of one sort or another. Over many years this can be developed towards frequency of use, but in raw talent it is a gift that is generally available of a lesser frequency. I wonder: you find yourself with such a gift, is this common in your lineage, or perhaps it is found unusually in yourself? Perhaps there's little Dale Gnome in you or are elves and their progeny thus gifted as well?"