What's in a Hut?
Evil in Mossflower (Reavers)
- Otto, Timeon, Kevi, Bafaloukos, Ferilla, Adyna
- Guosim Camp: Mid Camp
Otto stumbles into camp, exhausted and breathing hard before tripping over his footpaws and sliding into the dirt, "Bloody hell, " He just lays there, ehausted and not seeming to care that he's invaded someone's camp. At least for the moment.
It has been a quiet night so far, save for the occasional strum of a bullfrog or the changing of shifts. Summer sits heavily upon the camp. The guards have settled in at their sleepy posts; they peer into the darkness. It has been a quiet night. Until--an explosion. The roof of a ramshackle hut, near the edge of camp, erupts, burping a gout of flame that frenzies in midair for a moment before evaporating. Light pours out through the newly formed hole, and little sparks of fire begin to gnaw at the thatch. Smoke begins to rise. The door of the hut opens, discharging a panting Timeon onto the ground. He lies prone, glancing back over his shoulder to survey the damage.
Kevi grins, squatting just beyond the corner of the infirmary looking onto the firepit. The front half of her illuminated in the warm, orange glow of firelight, her back and tail cast in blue moonlight. She'll observe for the time being. That is, until there's an explosion which she doesn't see, just beyond the infirmary in another hut. The vixen, startled, scampers behind the building to see what the commotion is, and spots Timeon. A glowing smile grows on her face, and she watches him for a moment.
Night once again finds our antiheroes milling about the dilapidated shrew outpost. The central fire burns hot in the east, making an already stagnant summer night even more miserable. To avoid this wretched heat, Bafaloukos has moved away from the pit, into the interior of the camp. He reclines in the dirt, one ankle hitched on the opposite knee, nursing a wineskin and staring into the star-stippled sky. "What th' hell!" he barks when the roof of the hut loudly bursts into flames, having not expected guard duty to entail actual work. Thoroughly baffled, the fox is on his feet and headed for the blaze, wine abandoned and hand on the hilt of his sword.
Ferilla starts awake at the sudden crack and whoosh of the explosion, hitting her head on the low canvas ceiling of the shelter she's fashioned from the remains of one of the abandoned Guosim huts. Her ears flatten back against her skull instinctively to prevent being crushed up against the roof as her neck tilts forwards. A low curse escapes from her lips as she shoves her head out one end of the shelter, able to see the glow of the growing flames against the night sky. Grabbing up her sword, she wriggles out of her bed, getting to her feet and looking around. "Jaksor? Bindi?" she calls, keeping her tone relatively low. She whips the sheath off of her sword and onto the ground, leaving the bare blade in her paw as she advances across the clearing towards the flames. She's neglected to don her jacket, one side of her blouse dropping a bit to expose white-furred shoulder.
Its quiet, peaceful even as Otto lays in the dirt. He having moved onto his back so he could look up at the night sky. The shattering noise of the explosion gets his attention and the cat exhausted or not gets to his feet and reaches for his dagger. It isn't there though of course and he hisses, "Just my luck, " He mutters, hearing beasts nearby approaching the location of the explosion he approaches as well cautiously.
Timeon pushes himself to his feet and tears off through the camp, darting among the huts. He flings himself past the infirmary and nearly runs into Kevi. "For toad's sake, sis! Get some water!" He lags in her vicinity for a moment, held back by a biological need to taunt her. "Don't just bloody gawk! An' get that bloody smirk off your face," he snarls through his own less-than-pretty muzzle, then whips around the bend, heading for a gap in the fence to the north--heading toward the River Moss.
Kevi ignores Timeon for now, taking advantage, as she always does, of a diversion. It might be decent wine, after all! She slips along the wall of the infirmary, making sure to navigate and use the mound of dirt to her advantage, keeping it between the scene of the action and said antiheroes and herself, and quickly nabbing the wineskin and slipping back to her place of concealment north of what's going on with her brother and the others. She relaxes her back against the building, opening the wineskin and taking her fill, stretching her neck around and feeling the coolness of the mud on her bare, furless left cheek. The vixen gives a sigh--it isn't bad wine, but it could be better. Hearing the further commotion, she crawls on paws and knees to spy again, "Damnit, brother..." she whispers to herself, "Don't give me away you dumb brute."
With both fires roiling, camp soon feels like an inferno. If the denizens of Camp Willow were oblivious to the squatters' presence before, they will be well aware of it after tonight. The GUOSIM built their makeshift village on the bank opposite the otter stronghold. Once, the pugnacious cliques may have traded labor and arms, but the camp has been empty for umpteen seasons. These ragtag vermin are not the first to make use it, so recent smoke from the fire pit would not be reason for alarm, but *this* is new. First the boom, then the barks. As the pyro novices almost collide, so too do Bafaloukos and Ferilla. He meets the ermine with wide, confused eyes.
"You!" Ferilla says, still unclear on how to pronounce the fox's name, "What the hell is going on?" she asks, then the firelight lights his face and it's clear he's as clueless and scared as she is. She steps a few paces away, sword held down as she surveys the area. "Nothin' of ours over there." she points out. "But this fire'll spread." she says with apparent annoyance as she surveys the dry kindling of the camp after a slew of hot summer days. Now, the question is: Find the perpetrators, or squelch the flames. "Let's get over there." she growls, gesturing towards the apparent epicenter of the fire with her free paw. Her idea is to make sure there's not going to be any more booms.
A flaming roof flies up to meet Otto, and he falls back to watch the thatch roof, mostly burnt and still a little flaming landing nearby, "What hell have I stumbled into?" Quickly though he's back on his feet, and hears the approaching footpaws moving towards him.
Adyna arrives in long order, rubbing her eyes, squinting at the blazing hut and smelling of strong drink, and falls unsteadily into the strangest formation ever conceived. She picks her way carefully over the ground with rapier in paw and flanks Bafaloukos, for a /very/ vague definition of 'flanks', keeping enough distance that no one's getting stuck by accident.
Timeon slips back into camp the way he came. He's still puffing along, but his jog is rendered somewhat less effective by the burden of a full water bucket. (He must have pilfered it from somewhere near the shore--there's usually a stray lying about.) The remaining fringe of thatch roof on the hut is nearly burnt away now, and the fire has begun to gnaw at the walls, growing brighter and hotter. Timeon's about to step out into the light thrown off by the burning hut, when he sees Ferilla, Bafaloukos, and Adyna approaching. The fox curses quietly and slips back into the pocket of shadow behind the infirmary. "Toads! Toads /damn/ it!" The water sloshes.
Kevi watches after her brother, leaning around the corner to make sure nobeast saw him slip out--can't that dull tod stay still for a single second? She /bitterly/ resents being left with him, though his usefulness somewhat sustains the both of them. He's a great deal more knowledgeable in the art of gunpowdering, but she has her own tricks. "C'mere, you fool! What did you leave in the hut? Anything of use to us? Otherwise, it's no longer our problem. I need to handle this very carefully--you. Stay here." She tosses the winesack up onto the roof of the infirmary. Propping herself up, she takes the bucket and runs out, tossing it from enough distance that there's a wide arc of water to douse the entire roof. She stands, in full view of the others.
Slowing his sprint to a canter, Bafaloukos gives Ferilla a goofy nod, as if to say, "But of course!" This is no time for machismo, though. As the pair continues for the blaze, they catch a good view of the hut as it starts to collapse. The fox glances over a shoulder when he hears Adyna's crunchy footfalls behind them, and by the time he looks forward again, Kevi is there. Steam billows from the smothered hut fire, but sparks have ignited leaf litter in the area--most are still weak enough to stomp. He stops a distance from the vixen, too aghast to notice Timeon or Otto just yet, and brings his boot down upon a smoldering patch of earth. "You!" Now it's his turn. An exasperated hand combs back his auburn hair, before the fox begins to berate Kevi: "Ye' trying to reveal us to th' whole damn forest? Since when has 'secret rendezvous' meant torch th' local huts?"
The ermine is a little surprised by Adyna's arrival, but after a moment of hesitation behind a raised sword, she recognizes the stoat, though Ferilla doesn't know her name either, yet. Nevertheless, there are more pressing matters. Advancing across the clearing with Baf, she spots Kevi about the same time as the others do, her lip curling in a contemptuous snarl. She lets the todd next to her get his words in, before adding. " 'Less, of course, she plans ta draw attention ta us, so she kin better make off with her bigger share." she says coldly. It's unlikely that Kevi can hear that particular accusation over the crackling of the small fires, but if she can, the jill doesn't seem to mind. It was directed at Bafaloukos anyways. Her eyes dart about, still expecting some sort of further trap.
Timeon has no prepared response--at least no polite one--so it's just as well for him that Kevi steps out to extinguish the fire. He uses the time to slink away. None of the others seems to have noticed the burning roof, which, lofted by the force of the explosion, landed a short distance to the east. Timeon cuts a beeline for it--a few well-aimed kicks should suffice to quell the sparks. On the way, he spots Otto. "Oy, stranger. What you doing slinking about where you ain't wanted?" That's actually one of his more polite greetings.
Kevi holds the bucket to her hip, leaning her form into it as her gaze follows the sword up the down feather and hide sleeve of Bafaloukos, to a pair of not-so-friendly eyes glaring back at her, "What, my sweet; I thought it might be a nice idea to test our wits with a drill in case of real sabotage. Preparedness is key." She looks at Ferilla, bringing the bucket up to midriff level with the open end toward the ermine's weapon, "We've been here before, I think, yes?" She winks, before turning back to Bafaloukos, "Look, it wasn't me. I've brought somebeast who might be a bit more useful than a potential liability--the truth is that we come as a team, okay? He's good with..." She points, unsure of what at, "...this stuff. I guess. I'll make sure his future experiments don't endanger the group, if you don't immediately kill us." She turns to watch her brother stamping out the roof. "See, he's... helping."
In the middle distance, Timeon stamps out the roof. Little clouds of sparks flutter up around him, but they fade in midair to an unmenacing black.
Bafaloukos ceases to accost the vixen when another unknown voice takes his attention, but not before threatening to turn Kevi into a stole. "Oh, aye. Ye' will make a lovely ornament on th' neck of a fat mousewife." He has already begun to trot for the strangers when she speaks again. "Ye' *brought* another? That ain't how this works, doll." The blade of his weapon glints in the sparks that fly up around Timeon. "Oi! Hands up, cousin." He leaves Kevi to the lady mustelids.
"What the hell, you lot are trouble I've just met you!" Otto suddenly shouts and makes himself known, he has also started to help smother the remaining fires/stomping out what he can.
What is it with this crazy vixen and her buckets? "Oh, give me that!" Ferilla hisses, stepping in close, grabbing at the bucket to throw it aside, drawing her sword back close to her body, fist closed around the hilt and apparently poised to strike at Kevi if the vixen gets too mouthy for the ermine's tastes. "You git your paws up too!" she yells at Otto as he speaks, pointing at him with her free paw, whether her attempt to knock the bucket away was successful or not.
Adyna pricks her ears up to the exchange but keeps her mouth shut - only casting uneasy glances towards the camp across the river. She's lowered the rapier at this point and keeps pace with Bafaloukos, still flanking him by a few yards.
"Aye, where I can see 'em! Both of ye'." Bafaloukos barks at the cat, echoing Ferilla's demand. The remaining brush fires have the fox less concerned than the chance that there other unknown creatures here. He halts his approach on the firefighting interlopers. "Over here," he instructs, motioning for them to exit the shadows. The fox wants Timeon and Otto away from the forest line, lest they escape into the thick summer foliage. "Slowly, slowly..." comes his coax. "Good. Now plant your rumps in the dirt right there. Move to fast an' I'll gut ye'."
In a quick motion, the vixen swings the bucket out and behind her and switching paws behind her back, brings it up with the other paw to her head, securing the bucket there with the handle dangling just under her chin. "Buckets are useful. I learned from my last encounter with explosions, as you might have noticed." She looks in the direction of her brother and Otto again, a split second of concern before rolling her eyes in disgust, "He's harmless, don't worry. Unless there's something in his paws." She squints. He couldn't have obtained any explosives /THAT/ quickly, surely?
Timeon looks at Kevi, hoping for some directions, but she's in as grim a situation as he is, and she's ... got a bucket... on her head? Maybe it's the daft act again? Not that that's ever worked for them. Timeon snarls but complies with Bafa's order, showing his empty paws. "Brave a ya," he spits, "Threatening an unarmed tod."
In a foul mood the cat finished putting out one last fire before putting up his paws, "Aye, ya the one with the sword so I guess I should eh? Crazed beasts the lot of you, " Otto for the first time takes in and looks over his captors and his fellow prisoner. As Bafaloukos barks an order he complies a bit faster and with more seriousness. His paws above his head, he does as he's told.
The ermine's blade drops as she watches the vixen don the bucket like a helmet. Whatever. Ferilla can't be bothered at this point. "He blew this here hut sky high, did he not?" she asks Kevi, violet eyes meeting the vixen's own irises sternly, her sword point indicating the todd. Without waiting for a clear answer that she feels certain she won't get, she calls to Bafaloukos. "Tie them both, at the wrists, 'hind the back." she instructs him. "We'll deal wit' 'em in light of day, provided those otters don't come snooping." she decides, her sword point swinging back to face Kevi, hovering at about knee height.
"Yes--well I'm sure he wasn't able to get the perhaps quarter gallon of powder far from his paws before doing so, from the smolder still rising from him. As I said--if he's not near it or it's not in his paws, he's otherwise quite a docile creature.." Kevi shoves a paw into a pocket of the loin cloth, other paw hanging from the bucket's handle, looking at Adyna, nodding. "Exciting evening so far, hm?"
Wondering how he'll be dealt with, the cat for a moment at least thinks he should flee. He's still exhausted and worn out from his previous adventures before getting himself into this mess and for the moment at least he lets himself be subduded. He does say at least, "I ain't had anything do with no explosion, was all him." He points towards bucket head.
The science of combustion is, of course, lost on Bafaloukos. "Who are ye'? Some kind of warlock?" he asks Timeon, having heard of their kind. Stories pour from sailors and drunkards, featuring every manner of monster and magic; even creatures who summon great fires at whim, leveling villages and obliterating ships. Annoyance calls his lip to curl when the ermine directs him to tie the pair. "Sorry, love. Didn't think to take th' rope when I went running to check the demon clap that turned into *fire*." He sloughs the responsibility off on Adyna. "Fetch us some twine, Ady?"
The drunkard isn't the best support for the sloughed-off responsibility - but with a shake of her head and without a word she recedes into the gloom. The gleam of her rapier follows her for a while, twinkling.
The brother, meanwhile, juts his chin out at his sister, seeing the execution of her 'careful' dealings of the situation failing him miserably for the moment. Timeon turns to Otto, "Ey... y' didn' answer me, cat. From what side o' the Moss did y' wander in--ey what's 'at?" He tilts his head at Bafaloukos, turning to his sister again with a confused expression and back up at the bigger fox. "I ain't no warlock, you. 'Aven't ye ever seen an explosion afore? Truth is I wanted to be a magician, but this be the next best thing, I'm sure." There's definitely a resemblance there--just a mirror one. The brother has similar scarring on his right side to Kevi's left. He stares up at Baf defiantly. "Want a repeat performance, per'aps?" He grins.
Ferilla rubs her head a little at Kevi's long-winded and casual answer. "Y'know, you talk smooth, but those streamdogs over there?" she indicates across the river, "They won't fall fer it. They only like one type a' vixen, an' thas a dead one. Understand?" she asks, the jill's slim white head jutting forwards to ensure she's making eye contact with the bucket-headed vixen. She realizes the slight risk you took at trying to order Bafa around sort of backfired, but not spectacularly, and the job is still being done, so she considers it a net success. She doesn't bother with the warlock talk, though she has heard tales..
With his captors not responding to him, the gray cat goes quiet and simply stands there looking exhausted as he feels. He's wearing a simple green tunic, a brown belt around his hips, and brown slacks. Both dirtied, his face and the rest of him covered in dirt as well. He doesn't have anything but the clothes on his back. At Timeon's question Otto glares, "Just shut up, its your fault I'm in this mess. Ain't got nutin' to say to you."
"Well, then, perhaps this isn't exactly the best place to be lighting fires, either the kind of warlocks /or/ of the normal." Kevi places her paws on hips, "Well, what is it now, anyway--if they heard us, they heard us." She gives up talking her way out of this and leaves their fate as it lands. The vixen got a decent swill of the cute one's drink, at least.
Adyna returns with whatever rope she scrounge up thrown up on one shoulder, and tosses it in a heap beside Bafaloukos. There - now it's his problem again.
No, Bafaloukos decides. This whelp could never wield that sort of magic--nor could his obnoxious sister. "If they heard us, our hides'll be decorating their camp by sunrise." His looks warily toward the river, although not much is visible beyond the trunks of the closest oaks. When the stoat unceremoniously plops the rope beside him, he gives her a look of resignation, then starts to roughly tie Otto and Timeon.
Otto wordlessly lets himself be tied, avoiding looking at any beast.
The ermine looks over at Baf. "Might want to tie the cat's ankles too, he seemed to wanna run." she suggests, stooping to pick up a length of rope. She's going to try this once, she thinks, circling behind Kevi and grabbing at her paws, attempting to hold them behind her back and tie her at the wrists. Kevi won't know this, but just about any resistance she puts up at this point will dissuade Ferilla from taking the effort to finish the job. "I'll go on watch." she offers to Bafaloukos.
Timeon doubles over, putting his muzzle to his knees and rocking back and forth. "Yah but.. I mean, we 'ave a decent number, right? I don' even have a full good hide, meself..." The tod lets the thought of his outer parts being used for decoration sink in, regretting /somewhat/ his earlier mishap. "It was her idea to see what was in th'hut, though! I jus... sorta.. found what I liked--didn' expect it t'be so volatile!"
"Just my luck, I'd run into bandits running away from your lot, " Otto mutters, still he doesn't offer any resistance.
Adyna folds her arms across her chest and stands back, letting Baf do the work. The otter camp gets another uneasy glance. She's not entirely convinced they shouldn't be moving - but doesn't look ready to blaze her own trail any time soon.
And Kevi most certainly isn't about being tied up by the ermine without prior arrangement. She spins around and takes the bucket off her head, "What.. are. You..." She backs away from the mustelid duo back toward the foxes and cat. "And I thought I could trust you ladies, hmmph!" She pads deliberately toward her brother, crowning his head with the bucket.
The vixen gives her brother a wink as she goes over to Bafaloukos. "You gonna tie me up too, love?"
Bafaloukos responds to Ferilla with an appreciative nod. As the young tod begins to tremble, something like pity alights in Bafaloukos. He promptly crushes it, though; confining it to wherever old crooks put their feelings. "Tell her it's the rope or the sword," the fox frankly tells Timeon. Not a sword for Kevi, though. In a heartbeat, Bafaloukos' blade hovers over Timeon. Cold yellow eyes ask the vixen to choose.
Ferilla shrugs, draping the unused rope over one shoulder, getting her sword back to paw. She had something to say, but this was interesting, far more so than picking her way back to camp and a long watch.
The tod feels something land on the top of his head other than a bucket, and instantly knows what his sister has placed inside for him. He gulps, though, immediately putting it in the back of his mind as he's held at swordpoint and made to be persuasive. Not his strong suit, really. "Uh.. sis, I like me life--I know you tend t'be indiff'rent, but. FOR TOAD'S SAKE, WUD YE DO SOMMIT FER ME ONCE!" His chest heaves, he gulps again and tries to avoid the other fox's glare.
Kevi rolls her eyes, holding her paws out. "So whiny. Well as long as you're doing it, handsome, go right ahead." She sort of throws herself at Baf, really. It wouldn't have even taken the sword, and honestly that might have discouraged her just a bit.
When the vixen is finally detained, Bafaloukos marches all three closer to the fire pit. The songs of frogs and insects have replaced shouting, and the fox seems content to end all talk there. Jaksor can sort this one out. As they wend through camp, he remembers his wine, but a short search finds it gone. He blames it on a thirsty ghost.
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