(no subject)

[ruin_mania]

[Good evening, explorers! After departing from Cair Paradisa, the path was south at first, but turned west fairly early on. Skirting well south of Eldritch Forest, the travelers had camped near the edge of the Amber Steppe, not quite within sight of the forest that marks the Totem Coast. The grasses are parched brown by the heat, though greener patches mark the presence of water. It's near one of these - a small, bubbling stream leading west that Raine has chosen to follow as it will almost certainly run into the river marked on her map - that the travelers have made their camp.

The carts and wagons are arranged in a defensive circle, though the campers are free to set up their tents outside them as well as inside wher ethe rest of them are. There are small cooking fires scattered around as well as a large bonfire in the center for socializing.

Play music? Sing? Teach those poor non-Earth kids how to make s'mores? Or just sit around and socialize with others.

Or hide in your tent and ignore everyone, if you really want to.]

Comments

[persequor]

I don't know. The Wall is supposed to be impassable except through the tunnels the Night's Watch carved in the ice. Mayhaps she found an old, forgotten tunnel. And it's the Long Night not nights.

It's supposed to be a time when a terrible winter came. It lasted a generation. The Sun never rose. Entire families froze in their homes. Food ran out. People would kill each other for what was left. Some even ate each other. That's when the White Walkers came. Old Nan called them the Others. They're cold dead things that hate life. They wield swords of ice so cold they shattered steel. And they could raise the dead to fight for them. Anything, it didn't matter. People, animals, so long as they were dead.

[wilder]

Hmm...that does sound like a pretty scary story. I'd hate to run into guys like that.

1/2

[persequor]

[ She shrugs. ]

It's just an old wives' tale.

[persequor]

You're not scared, are you?

[wilder]

[He snickers, reaching over to lightly poke her in the side]

Alllmost, my darling. Almost.

But I went to school on the edges of the Gaoracchia Forest. Now that's a place you get lots of old wives' tales about so I'm used to stuff like that.

[persequor]

[ She bites her lip on a giggle and squirms away from the finger. She's grinning nonetheless. Arya turns on her side to face him. She curls her arm under her head. ]

Like what?

[wilder]

Well...

[He'll turn on his side to better face her, propping his own head up with his arm, elbow against the ground]

The Gaoracchia Forest is this very dark and dense forest. So little sunlight gets in there that if you shine a light on the plants? They'll cower away from it. It's full of monsters too. And to make it worse? It's like a labyrinth. If you don't know the exact path to take, you could be lost in there forever. The plants will move to block the path too, so you have to make sure your light source never runs out.

Anyway, they say that it used to be a normal forest - like the one around the castle? But one day, a thief hid a stolen treasure deep in the forest. He got so protective of the treasure, he slaughtered anyone who came after it. He killed so many people, that the blood tarnished and cursed the place into what it is today.

Even now, they say sometimes the spirit of the thief will come and slaughter travelers. And if he doesn't get you? The undead spirits of those he killed that seek to raise their numbers might.

[persequor]

Did you ever go in there?

[wilder]

A few times, yep. Even traveled the whole way through it once, on a journey.

[persequor]

How much of it was true?

[wilder]

Wellll, I didn't see the thief, but there was a lot of undead trying to add us to their numbers.

[persequor]

How did you get out?

[wilder]

We had a guide. A girl from Ozette named Presea, a village on the other side of the forest.

She's one of the few ever brave enough to cross the woods regularly, so she knew the path.

[persequor]

That was lucky.

[wilder]

It really was. It's definitely not a place you go through without a good reason.

[persequor]

Why did you cross it?

[wilder]

We needed to speak to Altessa the dwarf to help Presea because she was...sick. [To put it VERY lightly] He lived near Ozette, but I had to been branded a traitor by the Pope so we couldn't use a boat or anything. The forest was the only way to go!

[persequor]

[ Her voice is small. ] Are you still branded a traitor?

[wilder]

Me?

[he'll reach over and brush a couple of her stray hairs out of her face]

Nah. The Pope was trying to take the throne for himself, he branded me a traitor because he thought I was in the way. Buuuut they cleared my name when I uncovered that he was poisoning the current king so it'd look like he died of illness.

[persequor]

[ She relaxes a little under the touch; she hadn't even noticed when she tensed. The image that had unfurled of Baelor's sept fades as quickly as it came. Yet the taste of the choking, dusty air that had swirled into her eyes and nose and mouth remains.

The Hand before Father died of illness. The thought comes unbidden. ]

Mother says power and politics do terrible things to men.

[wilder]

[He sees that tensing and relaxing slightly, he'll brush back a bit more of her hair and rest his hand lightly on the side of her head for a moment. ]

She's not wrong, that's for sure.

The Pope's on the run now. Once he's found, I'll be making sure he gets his just rewards.

[persequor]

[ The warmth from his hand is a balm. She sighs, closing her eyes for a few seconds. She's cold by now. Moving kept her warm, but lying still with wet clothes has her wishing she hadn't tied Nymeria to a tree. The direwolf always radiates heat. Stubbornly, she ignores the discomfort. ]

Will you kill him?

[wilder]

[He frowns, thoughtfully. This is something he has been mulling over in his mind]

...I haven't decided yet.

Don't get me wrong, he's a despicable old man that doesn't deserve to live. His crimes and atrocities go far past just trying to take over the throne. And that's including things against my family. If I just had to worry about that stuff, I'd kill him and sleep soundly.

But...I know his daughter. He treats her like garbage, but she still loves him for whatever reason. [though really he gets it, he knows his own mother held just as much contempt for him, but he still can't help but love her] I'm not sure I'm ready to hurt her the same way he hurt my family.

So...[a shrug] I'm still thinking it through.

[persequor]

Is there anywhere you could exile him to? Somewhere he can work off his crimes and can't get involved in the affairs of the kingdom?

[wilder]

[...that gives him an idea; his lip curls in a smirk]

Heh.

I could have him locked up in the Southeast Abbey. Like he did to my sister.