Bargaining Chip

Targa Wfol, Stubb, Malcolm, Amos, Sandy, Frigg, Soclose, Deathwatch

Location: Eastern Shore

(Sometimes Club)

The afternoon sun is harsh, and while the sky is still blue, the trees atop the hill cast their shadows across the beach and onto the travellers. One of those shadows isn't a tree, though, and it quickly passes over the group as it traverses the hill and blots out the oppressive sun. It disappears for a moment, but then, sometime later, the fox [Targa Wfol] is seen descending to the beach below, one of the skull-helmeted many in tow. He plants his bone spear into the ground at intervals, kicking up the sand and chattering loudly over to them.

Stubb stands further down the beach, on the side of the camp opposite the fox. He squints into the sky and scans the shoreline, ostensibly unaware of the activity in the camp.

Malcolm is actually near where Stubb is standing. He'd kind of just followed the weasel down the beach, having nothing else to do. His feet kick at some of the sand boredly as he stands there, doing nothing else.

A night on a warm bed would have been welcome to Sandy, but sitting in front of the fire was... pretty decent. Having slept near the fire, she was more or less sitting next to it's remains, humming to herself.

Amos stands watching the others, looking grim.

Frigg still looks like an absolute nervous wreck. She mumbles a lot lately, sharing more of the personality of the cat, and shivers slightly even when in close proximity to the fire. At the fox's approach she stares, and grabs for Sandy's arm.. "S-sandy... Sandy."

Soclose sits still in the small depression that he created in the sand, since it looked like Frigg and Sandy had gotten away from under his wings, the osprey is spending his time preening his wings and picking the sandy bits out from his feathers. He looks over at Frigg and croons, "You must be feeling better? --Yes?"

Amos eyes the bird, "So ya got a plan then eh Soclose is it?"

Sandy smiles softly at Frigg, and lets her arm be grabbed. "I'm here for you, Frigg. Don't you worry about a thing..."

Stubb turns his head to the side to glance over his shoulder at the young lizard. "Ain' go' nuffin' be'ta ta do but follow me, ma'e?" He swivels his shoulders slightly to land a more direct look on Malcolm. "Saw 'gus earlier. Can' say where 'e's go' to now, but 'e ain' far, oi'm sure." He looks out at the sea and breathes in deeply.

Soclose turns his head to look over his shoulder at Amos, "/Whoo-oo?/ Ah, You? Did we not have a plan already?" The osprey shakes his head and croons, "You know, if I wanted to fly here or there it is quite easy! Very easy! Taking everyone with me, that is the hard part." Standing up in the depression, the osprey shakes his wings and laments, "Sand everywhere, I will not miss the sand when we get some nice dirt."

The fox strides over, tooth armor ajangle, and sits opposite the bird and woodlanders, "It is nice to see the mousemaid again, alive. I hope that little incident has not put you off to this area - it truly is a beautiful place, local wildlife aside..." He looks over at Amos, "Plans?"

Malcolm looks towards Stubb and huhs. "I'm not following you." he pauses before shrugging. "I don't care where he is. Why would I care?" he asks, shrugging his shoulders and doing his best to act, as always, that he really couldn't care less.

Amos asks, "Yeah, ain't'cha got any plans?"

"Foine. Foine. Wish you'd a stayed lost, kid," Stubb says in an irritable growl. He turns back to the camp, brushing past the rebellious lizard and sitting down by Amos.

Soclose shakes his head quickly at Amos and admits, "/Hee!/ I've not been asked to deliver any such thing to the beach. I just traveling with the group, until otherwise needed!" Soclose ducks his head and spreads his wings a bit when Targa Wfol approaches crooning, "Afternoon, General! Those are some very nice teeth! Very bright!"

Frigg sees Stubb returning and loosens her grip on Sandy a moment, before gulping and answering the fox, "W-we aren't p-p-put off... but we'd like to g-g-get moving, I'm sure." She looks at the others sternly, as if to emphasize that she speaks for all of them, and if not, they know what they can do...

Sandy gently pats Frigg on the shoulder, glad to see she was at least regaining her lost spine. Albeit with more studders than she gave when she had just encountered the group in a sewage system...

Malcolm looks at Stubb as he moves past. "Wish you stayed dead..." he mumbles before continuing down along the beach, away from the group.

Amos hmphs at the bird, turns to look at the weasel, "The brat giving ya some trouble eh?" He shakes his head, sighing though half turned to look at the bird and the fox as the converse.

Stubb shakes his head and twists his mouth into a disparaging gesture, but he says nothing in direct reply to the cat's question. Instead he addresses Targa. "An' wha' brings you among us dis afternoon? The army ge'tin' res'less? More mysterious holes to repor'? More creatures pokin' abou' what 'ave a moind ta drag us ta sea?"

Targa_Wfol regards Soclose with indifference to the compliment, "They are a tradition. Some of these were slain long before the earth rose to create our plateau. I dare not dishonor my ancestors by failing to keep them in good condition..." He looks to Stubb, "Those /things/, whatever they are, have nothing to do with me... my restlessness stems from your leader not feeling quite up to his old vigor - does he mean to just run away from his duties, then?"

Soclose croons, "I am sure you are doing them no discredit!" The osprey tilts his head to the side and makes a quiet whistle as he considers just how large the pile of fishbones is about the family nests. Looking back to Targa again the osprey says, "I have heard some stories about where they have travelled, and what they think!--still I do not know you or them well enough to answer your questions!"

Stubb grins at Soclose then leans to the side to draw shapes in the sand. "As for our so-called leader's du'ies..." The weasel sniffs, his words unhurried. "Oi can' say oi've tha sloightes' notion a what you mean. 'Is du'ies, as far as 'e's concerned, is to hisse'f an' to 'is frien's and nought else."

Amos yowls, "Aye!"

Frigg watches the confrontation with growing anxiety, and she clasps Sandy's paw, still trembling a bit, "Do you suppose he means Hactor? That he should go back to that abbey?" She remains quiet otherwise, but checks behind her at the spot in the sand... ugh.

Sandy looks over to Frigg, and frowns a little bit in thought at her question. "I have no honest idea, Frigg..." she replied with a frown - in any case, she held Frigg's paw tightly, to assure her she was with her the whole way.

"Well, that must be most convenient for the ex-commander. Do let me know when Anba Hor decides to make you all his concern as well, and I'm sure you will wish he were more concerned with putting himself within the safety of the abbey. I only aim to help you, and all the vermin brethren. I, unlike most, saw the bane of the Torturer's ill intentions while he was with us at Izmir. Also, I've come one last time, to ask for the orb. I'll have it, kindly." He looks to Malcolm.

Stubb follows the fox's gaze down the beach to where Malcolm is wandering, apparently in no hurry to rejoin them. He looks back at Targa. "Orb? You an' tha boy go' business a your own, eh?" He shrugs.

Soclose scrabbles a bit in the sand as he says, "I've been to this abbey several times," Soclose mentions, "To deliver messages and fish. /Hee!/ What else could I deliver? Once a small hare! It is a well-crafted place!" The osprey looks about the group, "It would also be a good destination--if safe is what you are looking for."

Targa grins, "Well, that must be most convenient for the ex-commander. Do let me know when Anba Hor decides to make you all his concern as well, and I'm sure you will wish he were more concerned with putting himself within the safety of the abbey. I only aim to help you, and all the vermin brethren. I, unlike most, saw the bane of the Torturer's ill intentions while he was with us at Izmir." He nods to his companion, who promptly goes after Malcolm. "Also, one small matter, he can see to it, I'm sure."

Frigg looks after Malcolm, concerned for his well being in the circumstances, "W-what do you need from Malcolm? W-what exactly were you both discussing back up the beach, w-when we were first wandering up the beach?" She narrows her eyes.

Sandy doesn't say a thing whatsoever, and just looks to the fox, seemingly glaring herself, from what he said the night before.

Stubb slowly rises to his feet. "Oi 'ave li'tle intention a goin' back to that place," he says addressing Soclose primarily, but the others incidentally. "Never been insoide, an oi never mean to. Abbey." He spits. "Don' fink dey'd look koindly on dis lo', anyways. Ha'f a warlord, a mangy cat, a drunken hare..." He throws a hand back, indicating down the beach. "A insolen' li'tle brat."

Soclose steps back as the fox moves past. Never get in the way of anyone dressed in trinkets and their treasure! Looking about at the group which is left, the osprey says, "Indeed! I also think it would get stuffy. Eventually! Any one place is too small for a far-traveller!"

Targa_Wfol ignores the hostile looks and focuses on Stubb for a moment, "Well a clan of foxes wouldn't be too humble an addition, if you had wanted to attempt a more forceable stay inside the redstone fortress, but I suppose it did take the six clans previously..." He watches his underling approach the lizard, meanwhile answering the osprey, "I only offer my services to that end, but what I want is the orb, for personal reasons. You have somebeast following you, somebeast in league with our black friend."

Malcolm had actually started his way back. And he's reading something on a small piece of parchment. He doesn't notice any foxes on his way back to camp, but he does stop when he hears someone, looking up. "Argh." he falls over and quickly stuffs the parchment into a pocket. "Hello..."

Stubb grins derisively at Malcolm's mishap as he drifts around the charred skeleton of the campfire, scanning the surrounding beach.

The fox in question is towering over Malcolm, one paw on his hip, the other on a spear, which he presently sticks point downward into the sand. He removes the skullpiece from his face, uncovering a gnarled-looking, very unpleasant countenance, and says only a single word as his paw reaches out, "Orb."

Soclose crouches and jumps into the air with a bit of sand spray, the osprey taking this time to stretch his wings and scout the countryside. Circling upwards, Soclose rises up above the beach to hover with quick flaps in the breeze.

Stubb plants himself where he stands and scrutinizes the transaction. He barely starts at the osprey's takeoff.

Malcolm slowly stands up and hums. "Orb?" he ohs. "Oh? This orb?" he looks down and takes a single step back, taking the orb from his belt, staring at it. "Well...." he turns away. "Give me a second and then its all yours." he says. The lizard has had enough of this blasted spherical trouble maker and as he pretends to untie it, he lets his eyes drift towards the water once. "Alright, here." and as he turns around, he does something totally unthinkable. Instead of handing it to the fox, he hurls it right at the ocean, as hard as he can, watching it fly through the air before it makes a splash. "All yours now." he says before starting to walk back to camp again.

Frigg pipes up, still clinging to Sandy, "Is this orb so t-terribly rare that our Malcolm is the only one with it? Perhaps it /would/ only be a hassle to our peaceful group... I'm sure this a good example of that, right now..." She appeals to common sense, it seems.

Sandy rubs her head a little bit with her free hand, not too certain what to make of the situation - except for the obvious fact that Malcolm was a total [jerk], at least...

Stubb clasps his stomach and cackles. "Bloody kid's got 'imself some bloody nerve," he says. He wipes his nose with a forearm. "Dat's tha ticket, ma'e," he says quietly, apparently not wishing the kid to overhear him. "Make 'im work for it."

Targa_Wfol moans aloud as he watches the brat throw the thing into the ocean, and rises with a start, just as his inferior agent grips the youth by the arm and drags him bodily back up the beach. "What are you doing, you idiot - what do you suppose I want with that foul treasureless brat - go back into the sea, drown if you have to, and throw the orb ashore before you're swept too far out!" An order is an order, and so the brute goes at all speed to fetch the object...

"/Hee-a-k!/" Soclose cries! The osprey diving down towards the ocean to splash into the waves. Pausing just a moment to grab, the bird flaps away, circling into the air again.

Stubb takes a place by Sandy and raucously throws an arm over her shoulders. "We're foin'lly gettin' to tha' game we was meanin' ta play. Keep away from foxy!" He has the manner of a sailor in a nunnery, almost proud that his presence is abrasive.

Malcolm blinks and growls himself as the fox grabs him. He reaches for the dagger on his belt but stops once he lets go. "Haha...have fun with it." he nods his head before smirking. "I poked about a dozen holes in it before I threw it. So why you'd want it now is a mystery." he smirks, starting to walk again. He's lying, of course, but he hopes the fox doesn't know that.

Sandy looks up at Stubb with a surprised expression on her face, but grins. She knew what was to come next, and she nodded with a little bit of a grin, even if the guy was a bit... well, not quite nice to be next to! At least he didn't seem intent on eating her now.

Targa_Wfol, meanwhile, walks around the campsite and behind Malcolm, chuckling deeply, "What is anybeast going to do with you, hm? What am /I/ going to do? You've severely injured my relations with your little party, do you know that?" He looks skyward, closing his eyes for a moment, as if to seek pardon for his thoughts, "I'll spare you because I know what kind of bait you'd be for me, that's all. Living, moving bait. Let your little group wander," he says, staring at Stubb, "Let them wander the earth! Moving bait is the best kind." He chuckles, and heads up the beach, the other fox sputtering and half-drowned, holding up an inflated pufferfish and running after... that is, until he's sucked underneath the sand with a wail, disappearing entirely.

Frigg wants to scream at the nasty surprise received by the other fox, but she just sucks in air and grabs at Sandy's arm again, "Fo---f...g...sw... in the sa...sa..." She starts hyperventilating, and stares at the spot.

Sandy glances nervously to Frigg at this, and quickly covers her eyes, patting her on the back softly. "Shh, shh... Easy, Frigg... That didn't happen... Heat's playing tricks on your eyes..." she said, doing her best to ease Frigg.

Malcolm chuckles. "Like you had any to begin with." he grins. The kid looks around for a moment. "How about this..." he says. "You go away...and I never see you again. And if I do, I'll kill you, hang you up by your tail, kill you again. AND THEN...feed you to the sharks." he nods. "Go away now." he's not short on guts. Or stupidity. And then he looks to the place where the fox just vanished. "Hm."

Soclose's curiosity gets the better of him after a while, and the osprey lands again, this time further up the high tide line. Hunching his back and mantling his wings, Soclose huddles to inspect the orb, "/Hee!/ What treas-u-re? A pearl, perhaps?" A pause and guess again, "Maybe a big fish eye?"

Targa_Wfol turns around with a start at the fox's disappearance, and is confused for a moment, head scanning the beach in quick, jerking movements, before he heads back down... "You, osprey... I'll be taking that, then - at the very least in exchange for one of your own being responsible indirectly for the murder of one of mine. You barely understand what it is; only I know what can be done with it."

Stubb is keeping track of Soclose. His hand, slung across Sandy's back, falls slack then drops off. The weasel rises once again--he can't seem to sit still this afternoon--and cranes to see the ridiculous fox confront the giant bird.

Malcolm coughs a little bit as he watches Soclose. "Don't give it to him, you idiot! Its not a fish!" he growls. "YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE BLOOMING THING IN THE FREAKING OCEAN!" he can't believe what that stupid bird has done. "YOU...YOU..."

Frigg starts really hyperventilating now that beasts are shouting. She can't breathe. "Ohno... oh...ohno... wh...what's g...ng t.... to h...." She clings, trying to breathe, desperately trying to calm herself and avoid panic. Internally, she berates herself for losing her head!

Sandy closes her eyes, still trying to calm down the poor mousemaid. It felt like a losing battle, and she wanted for everyone to just shut up... But, come on. A squirrelmaid, asking a group of vermin (and an osprey) to shut up was like telling dibbuns that there was going to be no snowfall this year...

Soclose shakes his head and grasps the orb again in one talon as he crouches making a few hops down the sand, "Too close! Too close! You are close enough!" The osprey shakes his head again and says, "Know or know not, I am no fool! /Hee!/ This is some-thing I found in the ocean!" The osprey croons generously, "At the very least we will talk of your friend. If you wish to find him, I can wait to bargain with you later."

Targa_Wfol leans on his spear, other paw reaching out for the orb, until he's taken aback by the osprey's last statements. "What do you know, bird? Tell me and you should keep the orb, fine, it would be all yours." He looks past Soclose at Malcolm, scowling at the young lizard for all his refusal to make things go smoothly for him.

Stubb has followed the fox and osprey pair down the beach, without exerting much effort at keeping himself hidden. He slides a dirk from within his vest.

"THAT FOX CAN'T HAVE IT!" Malcolm shouts as he approaches the two, stopping nearby Targa, standing just behind him. "Tell him whatever, but if you give that orb to him I swear by the seasons, I'll kill you...slowly." he growls, a hand resting on his dagger.

Soclose turns his head to the side and gives Targa a one-eyed look, as his 'friend' seems to have been ignored. "A fine general indeed!" Soclose croons, not without some respect. "You seem to think I have information that I do not. Let us talk about what I do know." The osprey scrabbles at the sand and says, "The ocean is where you go to be forgotten, and what is salvaged from it is your own. I may not know who laid this, but I do know you do not give a treasure away unless you get one in exchange." The osprey's topknot bristles in a distracting show of brown and white. "If you want it from me, we will trade."

Frigg looks with frightened anticipation at the horrible situation farther down the beach, and looks up at Sandy, "I know that fox is horrible, bu... but I d... don't think I c... could travel around w-w-with m-m-murderers..." She whispers this last word, almost to the point of tears.

Sandy gently hugs Frigg at her statement. "Frigg... It's the only way we're getting you back home, and... Well, you do what you have to do to survive." she said, not really sure how to convince her.

Targa_Wfol narrows his eyes at the bird, "What do I have that you want? A trade is fair, if I can manage your request; if not, then perhaps this will not end so well..." At that moment, the fox lets out an abrupt, ascending whoop, and from farther inland, in the grass, comes that same dreadful, slow drumming. "You may be able to take flight, my friend, but then yours would be the worst kind of guilt."

Malcolm sighs a little and just shrugs. "Whatever. Do what you want. Just don't be surprised if you wake up dead tomorrow, bird." he grumbles as he turns and starts away.

Stubb holds his ground, still a few paces shy of Targa's back. His limbs are taut, at the ready.

Further down the beach, a big black figure appears as it makes its way up the shore. A canteen can be seen, lifted to the figure's mouth as it takes a sip and then corks the canteen and lets it hang from his hips again. Deathwatch has finally made it to the eastern shore once again since his seemingly unending trek, a lone figure on the sands of the shores.

"Guilt!" Soclose tsks and ruffles his feathers as he looks over at Malcolm, "Do you think it would keep me awake at night if some of them did not follow me? /Hee!/ Kill the rest of them here, and you'd lose your sport. You've already threatened them with an eternity where they would be in your shadow." The bird shakes his head again, "Perhaps we can have less threats and more offers. /Ah?/ You wear some nice teeth, do they mean much to you?"

Targa_Wfol is insulted beyond measure. "Let me understand correctly - you would have me give you an heirloom beyond price, measured in the generations my clan has possessed and carried it into battle, for a ball of nectar and insects that you had 'just found' in the ocean." He shakes his head, "You winged beasts are far stranger than I could have imagined... enjoy your orb." The fox grins at Stubb as he makes his way back to the grasses upon the hill, the drumbeat getting louder still.

Soclose calls out quite clearly, "You misunderstand me, fox!" Soclose croons, "What would I do with a tooth? Or even a hundred of them?"

The fox turns around, "Then be plain, bird! What do you want? Or waste no more of my time stalling your friends' miserable lives..."

Deathwatch takes in deep breaths as he pauses his trek, seeing the sight of an osprey speaking with a couple of beasts, apparently negotiating. His ears perk, listening to the odd, insistent drumming. He murmurs softly in his native tongue, "Was fur ein seltsamer anblick..."

"I mean to do just that!" Soclose calls, shifting about. "We will make a pact on your teeth. The lives of my friends--and their freedom, for this stone." He looks back at Stubb, "I'll have to ask them where they want to go first though."

Stubb turns so that he can address both the fox and Soclose. "Our loives, ay... an ower /peace/," he says, jabbing his dirk in Targa's direction. "You c'n 'ave your bloody rock when me an moine is clear a dis beach. No funny business. No pu'tin' scou's on our traiws."

Sandy continues to hold Frigg close, hoping things went smoothly. She wasn't in the mood to die.

Targa_Wfol has no intention whatsoever of letting the group out of his sight, at least of the sight of several of his trackers, but the fox agrees, "Very well, then. It is sworn, on each of my ancestors' trophies, that I will let you go without further fear of solicitation. I have no need with the orb in my possession, no need whatever. Now, the orb." He reaches for it in the same eager fashion as before. He looks about him, motioning for the transfer. "You have my word."

Stubb screws up his face. "Oh, 'is /word/. Ain' tha' lovely. 'is /word/."

Deathwatch perks up his ears, his yellow eyes glancing between each beast respectively as they speak, hmming softly and strokes his chin as he examines the scene. Right now, he remains quiet, his hammer hefted onto his shoulder.

Neither was Frigg, as she just seemed to quit panicking and accept whatever happens; since she regained her breath, she was determined not to lose it again, and is poking at the embers of the fire with a stick. "I hope we /are/ able to f-find some m-more normal folks wherever we're going..."

Sandy smiles softly, and pats Frigg on the shoulder gently. "We'll get you somewhere... Maybe even Redwall, hm?"

Soclose has eyes only for the fox at the moment, first one must pass those eyes, possibly an easy challenge for Targa, but the curved beak is still poised and the sharp still talons still clutch at the stone. Making no motion to reciprocate the transfer of the stone--possibly amber?-to the fox the osprey tilts his head and croons, "Not that *I* would dream of doubting your word, General, but our agreement spoke of freedom and peace, both of which can hardly be said to have been provided on this spit of sand. We will travel together to a place of comfort for us all and then I will be happy to give this to you."

Targa_Wfol shouts, "Fine! Very well. Just keep that thing in close quarters whilst we are on the move - don't let anybeast see that you have it." Great. Just at that very moment, a wildcat makes his appearance. The fox stares.

Deathwatch stands still, an eyebrow perked as he hears the shout from the fox. The wildcat doesn't seem to mind being stared at. He merely begins to walk, slowly striding across the sands. Though his hammer is still poised on his shoulder, his forearm is against the haft rather than his hand wrapped around it, so it doesn't seem aggressive. As he walks, he positions himself to where he will go around the band of beasts, behind the fox preferably. He's been in a fight with an eagle once, and it all started with him trying to get behind them. He doesn't want to fight another raptor again.

Soclose places the stone in a small message bag which has been tied to his leg up near where his feathers drape about it. The osprey secures the message bag and croons, "I won't shout it about the beach." The osprey's head darts to the side for a moment, eyes locking on Deathwatch for a moment, then back to Targa again. "Ah... no friend of yours, /hee?/"

Targa_Wfol turns around, "He is not one of yours, then?" He addresses Deathwatch, "Stranger, you may be on your way, and may luck have it that you don't stumble into dangerous matters on that way." He shifts his spear to the other paw, giving it a swift yet casual half-revolution and planting it back into the sand.

Deathwatch pauses a moment as he hears the two find out he is not either of theirs. The wildcat speaks plainly, "I belong to nobeast. Not yet. But zhank you for you vell-vishes. I vould hope zhe same for you..." he replies in his deep voice.

Stubb stifles a chuckle. "Oi'm surproised yore 'army' didn' stop 'im as he wandered up tha beach, fox. S'ppose they was too busy poundin' on deir drums, eh?"