09-05-2020, 01:45 PM
"Stop shouting, Skandahar... people's sleeping!"
"Two mistruths in one breath. You are neither asleep, nor am I shouting," Jan growls coldly but honestly, correcting the bard. "Stay here and sleep, and risk being killed by bandits who won't hold their blades as readily as we do, or walk with my colleagues and take the same risks we do. But decide now. I'll waste no more time on this."
He returns to the bridge leaving the others to discuss matters without him.
OOC: just to be clear, Jan is not a heartless man - he just didn't take to the bard very well and views him as crooked and deceitful, and nothing that has been said has disproven this opinion.
"I already decided... now stop growling and barking like a dog and let me sleep!"
Jan ignored the insult and continued walking. The urge to fill the crooked smiled man with arrows then take the rag and deliver it himself was strong, and made him smile - after all they could easily have stumbled upon him dying from a bandit attack and his last words were to detail his story with the blood stained rag nearby... Hell, that would be a fitting end to the man's own story...
...but despite the tingle in his veins that came before a fight, Jan was no longer in the North where insults would always lead to bloodshed. The man might be a greedy villain in his eyes but his attempts at insults were weak and Jan was not offended by them and felt his honour had not been impinged.
He left his two companions to deal with the bard how they would.
Storm curses the hard and leaves
You leave the bard behind and keep walking north.
As you are travelling, high pitched screams reach your ears from up ahead!
To your right two small figures move towards you, running pell-mell across a meadow and as they get closer you realize they are children screaming in terror!
You see shapes that look like large wolves loping after the children, clearly confident in their ability to run their prey to ground. They see you and howl, speeding towards their prey obviously trying to get to them before the children can get to you!
With a swift, practised action Jan pulls an arrow from his quiver and lifts up his bow. He adopts a natural bowman's stance and draws the string back, gauging first the distance between himself and the wolves, and then between the wolves and the children.
"Over here, run this way towards us!!" he calls to the children, ready to fire.
Jan adjusts for basic environmental factors; distance of about 130 paces, wind speed and direction. It was at long range for his longbow but if it hit or caused the wolves a moment's distraction it was worth it.
He draws in a deep breath, holds it for a moment to steady himself, then releases it slowly and controlled before releasing the first of his arrows.
"Run to the kids, close the distance. I'll do my best from here." Jan says to Feanor and Storm, knowing the two would already be reacting as he readied a fresh arrow from his quiver.
Jan's arrow lands just in front of the wolves, that are not directly injured, but they are surprised and suddenly stop, giving the kids some breathing space.
Storm runs towards the wolves with his weapons drawn. He urges his dog to also run along with hin.
Being a professional hunter, Jan has had to deal with quite a few wolves in his time. He is aware that they hunt when hungry, but that they are a threat to the local population and their livestock. Aware that the wolves have paused, but this might be a temporary situation, he draws his bowstring back again and releases a second arrow. His hope is that by injuring the wolves they will flee without a fight, but he is well aware that injured animals can become more aggressive.
At least this time the wolves are stationary.
The arrow still misses, but the wolves retreat further way. They are still visible, but barely.
Feanor runs towards the wolves along with Storm, hopeful of coming into range of the animals before they change their minds and attack the children.
The animals seem to retreat a few steps while you approach in haste.
Storm continue to advnce towards the children
Jan readies his bow again and advances, to reduce the range between himself and the wolves. He jogged forward rather than ran so he could watch how things developed, ready to stop, draw and loose another arrow should circumstances change.
A boy and a girl, overwhelmed by fear and tears, hug Stormrider.
Storm hugs them and puts them down. He has to defend thm.
Feanor keeps his eyes on the wolves, a spell ready to go, to give Storm a chance to comfort the children.
Jan continues his advance, covering the small group and ready to shoot if needed.
He also keeps an eye on where his arrows fell so he could retrieve them.later.
Catching up to the others, finally, with the wolves still waiting, Jan takes in a deep breath to steady his racing heart.
"How are the children?? Are they OK??" He asks of Storm.
"They're either desperately hungry, or mad," He says watching the wolves closely, his bow ready. "There's not enough of them to attack, yet they aren't leaving. That suggests desperation, and potentially a willingness to track us and strike at us later.
We could try to walk on, keep an eye on them and see if they leave. But I'd rather not have a pair of hungry wolves tracking us for long. Or we can put them out their misery now and end this here and now."
The children are crying and calling mammy and daddy.
"Two mistruths in one breath. You are neither asleep, nor am I shouting," Jan growls coldly but honestly, correcting the bard. "Stay here and sleep, and risk being killed by bandits who won't hold their blades as readily as we do, or walk with my colleagues and take the same risks we do. But decide now. I'll waste no more time on this."
He returns to the bridge leaving the others to discuss matters without him.
OOC: just to be clear, Jan is not a heartless man - he just didn't take to the bard very well and views him as crooked and deceitful, and nothing that has been said has disproven this opinion.
"I already decided... now stop growling and barking like a dog and let me sleep!"
Jan ignored the insult and continued walking. The urge to fill the crooked smiled man with arrows then take the rag and deliver it himself was strong, and made him smile - after all they could easily have stumbled upon him dying from a bandit attack and his last words were to detail his story with the blood stained rag nearby... Hell, that would be a fitting end to the man's own story...
...but despite the tingle in his veins that came before a fight, Jan was no longer in the North where insults would always lead to bloodshed. The man might be a greedy villain in his eyes but his attempts at insults were weak and Jan was not offended by them and felt his honour had not been impinged.
He left his two companions to deal with the bard how they would.
Storm curses the hard and leaves
You leave the bard behind and keep walking north.
As you are travelling, high pitched screams reach your ears from up ahead!
To your right two small figures move towards you, running pell-mell across a meadow and as they get closer you realize they are children screaming in terror!
You see shapes that look like large wolves loping after the children, clearly confident in their ability to run their prey to ground. They see you and howl, speeding towards their prey obviously trying to get to them before the children can get to you!
With a swift, practised action Jan pulls an arrow from his quiver and lifts up his bow. He adopts a natural bowman's stance and draws the string back, gauging first the distance between himself and the wolves, and then between the wolves and the children.
"Over here, run this way towards us!!" he calls to the children, ready to fire.
Jan adjusts for basic environmental factors; distance of about 130 paces, wind speed and direction. It was at long range for his longbow but if it hit or caused the wolves a moment's distraction it was worth it.
He draws in a deep breath, holds it for a moment to steady himself, then releases it slowly and controlled before releasing the first of his arrows.
"Run to the kids, close the distance. I'll do my best from here." Jan says to Feanor and Storm, knowing the two would already be reacting as he readied a fresh arrow from his quiver.
Jan's arrow lands just in front of the wolves, that are not directly injured, but they are surprised and suddenly stop, giving the kids some breathing space.
Storm runs towards the wolves with his weapons drawn. He urges his dog to also run along with hin.
Being a professional hunter, Jan has had to deal with quite a few wolves in his time. He is aware that they hunt when hungry, but that they are a threat to the local population and their livestock. Aware that the wolves have paused, but this might be a temporary situation, he draws his bowstring back again and releases a second arrow. His hope is that by injuring the wolves they will flee without a fight, but he is well aware that injured animals can become more aggressive.
At least this time the wolves are stationary.
The arrow still misses, but the wolves retreat further way. They are still visible, but barely.
Feanor runs towards the wolves along with Storm, hopeful of coming into range of the animals before they change their minds and attack the children.
The animals seem to retreat a few steps while you approach in haste.
Storm continue to advnce towards the children
Jan readies his bow again and advances, to reduce the range between himself and the wolves. He jogged forward rather than ran so he could watch how things developed, ready to stop, draw and loose another arrow should circumstances change.
A boy and a girl, overwhelmed by fear and tears, hug Stormrider.
Storm hugs them and puts them down. He has to defend thm.
Feanor keeps his eyes on the wolves, a spell ready to go, to give Storm a chance to comfort the children.
Jan continues his advance, covering the small group and ready to shoot if needed.
He also keeps an eye on where his arrows fell so he could retrieve them.later.
Catching up to the others, finally, with the wolves still waiting, Jan takes in a deep breath to steady his racing heart.
"How are the children?? Are they OK??" He asks of Storm.
"They're either desperately hungry, or mad," He says watching the wolves closely, his bow ready. "There's not enough of them to attack, yet they aren't leaving. That suggests desperation, and potentially a willingness to track us and strike at us later.
We could try to walk on, keep an eye on them and see if they leave. But I'd rather not have a pair of hungry wolves tracking us for long. Or we can put them out their misery now and end this here and now."
The children are crying and calling mammy and daddy.
He's a real Nowhere man, sitting in his Nowhere land,
making all his Nowhere plans for Nobody.
making all his Nowhere plans for Nobody.