Xander found........ish (Long Patrol log)
Read dis first, please: http://rwmuck.limitless.org/rwmuck/content/riches-share-jedrick-log
Western Shore
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The hot golden sand stretches north beyond the horizon. It seems as if you are walking on an endless beach, except that the tip of a mountain peeks over the southern horizon. The fresh, salty air stings as the ocean winds challenge you. There is nowhere to go to the west, for the sea merges with the sand. If you look carefully out over the water, you might just spot a ship.
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Exits: [S]hack, [Sh]allows, [U]pshore, [D]ownshore
Hares: Felicity 'Lissie', female.
Foxes: Rioko, female.
Felicity is on her way to Halyard to continue her search for Xander. The haremaid is oblivious to the beauties of the afternoon, and to the storm clouds building on the Western horizon. Ignoring the scuttling crabs, the soothing breeze, and the sea gently lapping at the sand, she walks on, loaded sling in paw and brow furrowed as she tries to think about what she could do now to help further her search....
Little does the hare know that help was on the way. Whether she wanted it or not. "FELICITY!" Comes a loud cry from behind the hare. A fox, a grey furred vixen to be exact, covered in jewelry comes bounding over the sand dune. "Felicity! I need to-yipe!" The fox tumbles down the hill head over tail, practically launching her self in an unexpected flying tackle towards the hare. [The ever esteem-able Rioko]
To say that the hare is startled would be an understatement. Lissie whips around and, before she can even think, launches her rock with deadly accuracy at the vixen's head. Fortunately for the vulpine, her trip saved her from getting clobbered, but Felicity realizes what's happening too late. She turns to run as the fox rolls towards her....will she get landed on??? "OH, FER THE LOVE--!!!" She's suddenly not having the best of days, what with having a chubby fox suddenly barreling towards her....
The hare doesn't run fast enough and the fox lands on top of Felicity. Stunned [Rioko] rolls onto her own back, absolutely refusing to get up. "Do you...know...how hard you are to FIND?!" The fox finally gasps.
"OH MY WORD, GET OFF OF ME!!!" Lissie starts feebly hitting at whatever she can reach, since she's on her stomach and can't see where she's flailing. "I've been in the mountain for a week on a forced break. GERROFF!!" the haremaid grabs an innocent crab, shakes it to make it mad, and drops it on the vixen's foot.
Even after the vixen already got off of her! The fox yowls leaping back to her feet, hopping about on one foot. "Of all the...Do you know what I've had to go through for you and your blimy hares!" The fox growls. Crossing her arms, giving the hare the cold shoulder she says, "I guess you don't want to know where that badger is after all. You know, I only had to risk me own life and tail and put in all the hard work, and to think, all this time you were taking it easy in the mountain..."
Felicity is mad, too. Standing and brushing sand off of herself, she growls, "I didn't 'take it easy', you little.....grrr...../sigh/..." The hares rubs her eyes tiredly and sits down criss-cross-applesauce, suddenly looking very tired. "I'm sorry. I guess being dragged into a trap and almost mauled to death by a wolverine, on top of the stress of not being able to find Xandah.....wait, did you say you found him??" her voice, which was sarcastic and self-pitying and also truly apologetic, is suddenly excited-sounding.
Arms still crossed the jewelry clinks together as the fox turns her back on the hare. "What do you care? Rioko just did all the work for you! Rioko found the badger and his captor! Rioko risked her hide and tail, probably for /free/ too." She is not getting out of this with out her just desserts. This was hard work! Finding all that gold...and...well, stumbling upon their quarry by pure accident.
Felicity slowly, quietly, gets her feet under her, then pounces! She goes to knock the vixen over, or at least cling to her with all 4 limbs around the chubby vulpine. "Whereishewhere'dyougetallthisjewelryisheokayTELL ME EVERYTHING!!!!!" Clingy, this one. She is trying her best to cling to the fox's back while making high-pitched demands as fast as she can before taking a deep breath and simply asking, "Well????"
The fox waits for the eventually apology the hare will make, then maybe even try to bribe her with a reward. So what if she has a horde of treasure now to- "GAK!"
Rioko manages to take a step as the hare bounds on top of her before the vixen falls flat into the sand. "GAH! Why are you trying to kill me! WhYyyYYyYYyYYy! Get off! Get off!"
Felicity just sits on top of the vixen and coolly checks her nails. "I'm not tryin' to kill you. Good grief. No. Aftah that whole Trader and the Wolverine fiasco you dragged us into, I've been really hesitant to trust you, so I'm just gonna sit on you until I feel satisfied that you've told me all I want to 'ear. Where on this beautiful Earth did you get all that jewelry? Y'didn't 'ave it before, and I'm pretty sure tha' y'don't make enough money to buy all o' that. So where'd you get it?" She shifts slightly, making it harder for the vixen to buck her off, or to stand up with the hare still clinging to her.
The fox wriggles slightly but only succeeds in digging herself deeper into the sand. "Uh..." The fox gulps, "That's not important. What is important is that I found your long lost badger. That Jedrick fellow? Yeah, he's a right old piece of work. He is training your badger to be a pit fighter. He also apparently has himself a boat, he plans to leave soon. Like, to /SEA/. I...think the badger escaped but, I'm not sure if he caught him again..."
Felicity is struggling to keep her excitement down, but her muscles are all tightening, anyway, like they do when she's about to start bouncing around like a bunny ballerina. /Focus, Lissie, focus.../ "Curses, I was afraid o' that. Poor Xandah.....it must be /awful/ on the poor fellow...." Her paw curls into a fist as tears form in her eyes, but then she puts aside her welling feelings and pokes at the vixen's head. "Y'didn't answer m'question about the jewelry, though. I think it'll be alright if we wait a few more minutes; I doubt that stupid cat 'as gotten all o' 'his supplies yet. Where'd y'get your pretty costume baubles, love?" Poke, poke, pokey poke poke.
The fox whines. "After all the...(poke) hardship I (poke) went through to(poke poke poke) this is the thanks(pokey pokey poke) OK FINE! I got it from Jedrick." The fox wails. "He thinks I'm his side. Don't ask why, he said he found some smuggler den or something. He left me a...small share of loot."
Felicity leeeaaaaans on the vixen's head and goes to turn it sideways so the fox doesn't suffocate. "Define 'small', love." Grabbing a handful of sand, she idly watches it trickle fom her paw onto the ground right in front of the vixen's face. Look at the sand. Look at it. LOOK AT IT. "And since y'told me to not ask why, that's a pretty good indication that you actually want me to ask why, so why does he think that you're on his side, hmmm??"
Rioko is regretting her decision to leave her loot behind. Why was she helping this crazy hare? WHY? Curse you conscience! Curse you! "Ok, so, I may have met him in a tavern a...while ago. I tried to chum up to him, to get know where he was. I guess I had more impact than I thought. When I saw him again he was bragging about all this treasure he found. He...kind of led me out onto the beach. Took everything he wanted and left the rest to me. You know, a few coins, some jewels." Rio quickly adds, "But I came straight to the mountain to warn you! Honest!"
Felicity goes to drum her fingers on the vixen's arm. After a few minutes of thinking, she leaps up and off of Rioko (probably winding her in the process) and starts to pace energetically. "How to find him now...." she mumbles, keeping an eye on the sly fox as she paces.
The sly fox only continues to lay there. Laying face first in the sand. Slowly Rioko begins to sit up on her haunches. "Badgers. You hares and your badgers. What in the blazes is so important about badgers anyway? They are big, smelly and generally horrible company." The fox looks to Felicity, "So can I go now? I have...things to move...back at my camp site..."
"I know this badgah /personally/, and if it had been a mouse or even a goose that was bein' treated the same way, i would do all in my powah to save 'em." Looking sharply at the vixen, she adds, "Absoballylutely /not/. I still require your assistence, and if y'still want as much immunity from the Long Patrol as I can give you" which is not very much "you will 'elp me until I send 'im off safely back to Mossflowah and Redwall Abbey. Alrighty?" The vixen has almost no choice. The 'alrighty' was fake politeness. The haremaid has no shame.
Felicity smiles.
The vixen feels her shoulders slump. Here she was worried some beast would come stealing her treasure, now she has to worry about her life. "Im-immunity? Why would I need immunity?" The fox clutches at the chains about her chest. "I didn't do anything wrong. I helped! I helped!" She could see it now. The hares parading the fox up to the mountain. 'Rioko! For your bravery and courage we have decided to reward you with a quick mercifull death.' and they stab her in the gut with spears. And after they stuff and mount the fox over the fire place, beasts come to raid her loot and she never gets to spend a coin of it.
Felicity rolls her eyes at the vixen's melodramatics. "Because the vast majority of Long Patrol 'ares, and the Badgah Lord himself, 'ate, detest, and loathe all vermin and would kill you on sight. /If/ you 'elp me actually get Xandah back /safely/ and maybe even 'elp me get 'im back 'ome to Redwall safely, I'll do all I can to let everybeast know that you actually /'elped/ and that you should be given mercy if 'is Lordship Ciocan or any o' those vermin-'ating 'ares evah see you." Seriously, girl. It's obvious. "Or y'can run away and risk them not knowing that you 'elped...a little." A lot. Whatever. "What's it gonna be, love?"
The fox takes a moment to think on this. She grabs her tail, wringing it out nervously and biting her lip. In the end she bows her head, taking a deep breath and saying, "What do you want me to do?"
Felicity pads over and sits in front of the fox, her legs crossed as she says gently, "Y'know 'Alyard better than i do. Do you 'ave any idea where the cat's boat would be? Would 'e keep it in the docks, or somewhere else?" Her voice is gentle now, no longer demanding and angry. "I need you to do the searching that y'do best. I believe in you. Y'can do it. Y've already 'elped a ton; I'd still 'ave no clues if it weren't for you. We need to find where the cat is keeping 'is boat. ....I wonder if there are any otters or seals in the area who could 'elp us...." She muses to herself as she remembers that she met a seal, once. Is she still around? If so, could she help them scuttle Jedrick's boat?"
Rioko has to think on this. "Depends on the boat. I don't think it's a very big one. He mostly is trying to keep his 'pet' from escaping." The vixen shakes her head. "Felicity. You be careful around him. Jedrick is crazy. It makes him dangerous." Standing up the fox dusts dirt out of her fur. "But I think we can find him. Hey, we know he's at the docks now, how hard will it be to find him?"
Felicity stands and strikes a pose. "Oh, pish posh. I'm sure I c'n round up a few friends to 'elp me whup 'im. Aye, let's go see if we can find 'im; I 'ave my cloak in my 'aversack." What haversack? The haremaid looks around, then covers her face with her paws. The stress is making it hard for her to sleep, which in turn is makign it hard to remember things. In short, she forgot her haversack back at Salamandastron. Ooops.
"You know how to inspire confidence." The fox replies. "Come on. Don't worry about it. Hares are so plentiful in Halyard no one is going to notice one more." Rioko begins to walk forward but then twists suddenly to waggle a claw under the hares nose. "You owe me big, hare. You have no idea what I'm sacrificing here to help you and your badger lord in training or what ever he is. I am NOT doing this because I hope to get a slap on the back and a 'oh for a fox, you ain't half bad' reception somewhere. I expect this to pay off. You got it?" And with that Rioko turns for the city, "Now come on. We are burning day light..."
"But I'm the only one who'll be there what has auburn fur, wot!" Lissie groans, then takes a step back as a finger seemingly appears under her nose. After letting the vixen say her piece, the haremaid replies sweetly, "You 'ave a cave with treasure. If you survive, what more could y'want?" She follows after the vixen, loading her sling as they go along...
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