To Claim a Land (A Broken Company)

The latest dispatches from White's people lay on the table in front of Wolfe. He massaged his temples, trying to will the bad news in them into something resembling good news.

"it occurs to me that this resembles a story a soulstreamer once told, does it not?" Wolfe remarked to White and Markham, who were with him looking over the same reports. Markham looked confused, he had probably been to young to remember, but White nodded.

"Ten plagues inflicted upon a ruler who held a people in torment. though it looks like this person had combined some plagues, made a few new ones, and left out some others altogether."

Wolfe nodded, remembering the story, or at least the general details. "and what were the last plagues in that story?"

White ticked off his fingers as he spoke "Disease, complete darkness, and death of all the firstborn children."

"Bloody hells" Wolfe swore under his breath. "It seems this entity wants less to drive us out and more to have us all killed. The doors for us are shutting one by one. They give us pest Control, and give other people stuff that kills them and makes them hate us. " He looked up at Markham "how many children are there?"

A minute of thought, and then "Almost none. Maybe one or two children have been born, but most people have been too busy working to think about having children."

Wolfe nodded. "and eight hundred horses." He paused for a minute, then turned to White. "Take half the horses, the wounded, and anyone who is good at anything besides fighting. Take all the supplies, gold, and anything else you can take without leaving those of us who stay behind wanting." He sighed "and pray Catzi doesn't hate us after this"

White gave him a look "We're running again." It was a statement, not a question.

Wolfe nodded. "Perhaps. Depending on what the next plague is, the rest of us might follow you pretty soon. I'll send silver a note, telling her to expect you."

((Aura, Silver will want to meet with Catzi sometime soon))

Father Grannus was a little upset. The gods weren't supposed to rain down plagues of singular alligators and multiple Wyverns. It just wasn't done any more. The people were getting restless and worried. Something would have to be done.

So he wrote a letter to the applicable people in every effected city (including Wolfe's) asking them for their presence to discuss these plagues. Twelve heads were better than one, after all. ... Or maybe they could just get Wolfe to leave. After all, whether these plagues were godly or not, his presence was causing them.

After a moment of thought, he left that last bit out of the letters.

(( This Saturday after the banquet ))

Markham poked his head into the tent. "you sent for me, sir?"

Wolfe nodded, and held out a letter. "it seems there's a council being called. everyone important is asked to attend, myself included. I'm going to be leaving you in charge while I'm gone. you've proven yourself to be capable, and willing to take initiative on your own, so i know i'll be leaving those of us left here in good hands."

Markham nodded. "any specific instructions, sir?"

Wolfe shook his head. "just continue along with what i've been doing." Now, i must go and pack"

The group of Wolves was slowly winding its way down Maiz prairie. White, confident enough in his seating, had settled into a light doze, when suddenly he was awakened by a loud flapping in his ear. He shook his head to clear the last of the drowsiness, and turn to regard the raven perched on his shoulder. A glance down showed that there was a note tied to its leg. He pulled it off and read it, absently feeding the raven a piece of meat as he did so.

As he finished, he put his spurs to his horse and galloped to the head of the group, much more animated than he had been a few minutes before.

"Wheel the column around boys and girls! Wolfe says the Courcle natives have given us permission to settle between the tree mark and the bend in the Suytu river. We're to pick up Markham and his boys and meet Wolfe there. Now lets get moving, we've got some ground to cover!"

The column, more lively now than earlier, hurriedly moved to sort itself out. Soon enough, they were headed north, hugging the mountains that bordered Maiz.

The results of the vote were sent to Wolfe with a sealed envelope of the Aliech kingdom. It tells that it's been voted that his kingdom be moved, as well as the prophet would be arrested.



Catzi looked over her own letter with a shake of her head. Arresting the prophet could cause an outburst by his followers, and anyone who believed that it was a goddess causing these troubles. She certainly didn't want the trouble in her streets. Meeting with the captain of the guards in town, she explained that if the so-called prophet were to come in to casually escort him out of public sight. The actual arrest wouldn't happen by Bangor hands; rather she would call Dunbarton or Emain to send guards to arrest him.

The BonFire Man& TreeHugger:
"Hmm.... they are moving?"
"It appears so."
"Does that mean you'll stop now?"
"It depends, where are they headed?"
"I can follow them for a while."
"That would be appreciated."
"Now, remove the rocks, and let the river flow normally."
"Already on it." He sends an owl. After a while, the blockade that was stopping the river was removed, so the water flowed freely.
"One question.....Why didn't anyone just remove the dam?"
"I... don't know....I don't know."
"Alright, byebye" The elf disappears.

Cor was a wonderful place. The area between the tree mark and the bend in the Suytu river was about the same size as crossings was too have been. sadly, there was not much room to build without cutting down trees. And Wolfe didn't think the Courcle natives would take kindly to having trees cut down.

Wolfe sighed. he knew there had to be a way to make it work, if he could just pin it down. He leaned back against one of the gaint trees, and tilted his head back to think.

Then he looked up. A vast network of branches stretches above him, spreading from the huge crowns of the surrounding trees. Wolfe lowered his head, then looked back up again.

And he smiled. True, it would take a lot of rope to do it, but there would be space aplenty. He went over to his horse and mounted to begin the ride to Cor village.

Wolfe set the last stone gently on top of the other three. There were four other small piles like it, places to form a rectangle on the plain below the la Terra Highlands. The rectangle was close to 700 feet north to south and 400 feet east to west.

Satisfied with his work, Wolfe moved to mount up, but then turned around and looked again. He shrugged, thinking it couldn't hurt and instead dug into the saddlebag and pulled out a length of cloth. Looking around, he found a long piece of deadwood that would serve his purpose, and tied the cloth to it. digging a small hole, he set the stick upright, and watched the flag flap in the breeze. Nodding in satisfaction, he went back to his horse, mounted up, and headed east. Wolfe figured he would arrive at Crossings around the same time White did. Now, all he needed for the town was a name

Behind him, the flag continued to wave. A black flag with a white border, its center was a white wolf head upon a pair of crossed red roses.

Wolfe Reached crossings a little ahead of White and the rest of his group. Upon entering the palisade, he looked around, spotted a man who didn't seem to have anything to do, and beckoned to him. Dismounting, Wolfe handed the man the reins.

"I want him fed and watered, and make sure you also give him a good scrub-down. After you do that, fetch Markham and tell him to meet me in the inn."

That taken care of, Wolfe headed towards the inn. with the state the camp was currently in, not many people were stopping by. most were on watch or on patrol. So he sat down, poured himself a flagon of beer, and waited for Markham.

It took a while longer than he expected, after he had finished his drink and started pouring a second, Markham came in, sweating and smelling, even more than Wolfe himself, of horse.

"Sorry I'm late sir. one of the small herds broke loose and scattered, and we had a hell of a time rounding them up again. a few even strayed south deeper towards the dragons ground. Those we simply wrote off as lost."
Here he paused for breath as he sat down. Wolf regarded the drink in his hand, then slid it across the table. Markham grabbed it up and gulped it down, nodding in appreciation.

"I'm guessing this is about the new location up north?"

Wolfe nodded. "It's a better location than we have here. There's open areas for our horses, less animals we can disturb. Plus it holds an additional bonus. When we settle there, we'll have an industry to support ourselves. we won't need to rely on people coming through for our livelihoods."

Markham nodded, taking another swig from the drink as he did so. "Might i ask what this industry will be?"

Wolfe gave a little smile "Metal Refining. Kanai has given us permission to take the ores that wash up with such frequency on the beaches and use that to support ourselves. I'm thinking of going to the giants and the elves as well. both have tunnels with ore deposits in them. Maybe we could convince them to allow us to mine the ores there for a share of the metals we refine. No one in Iria really devotes much time to refining. Yes, the elves and the giant's refine some ore, but what they refine is mostly for local use."

Markham nodded again. "So what are we going to do about this?" he asked, gesturing around to Crossings."

"we're going to need to take it down. I promised that we'd leave maiz as close as possible to how it was when we got here. Take the wood from the walls and fashion it into sledges. we'll hitch those to the horses and use them to carry all the excess materials. then once we've used them to transport the stuff, we'll use them as a base for the new town."

Setting down the now empty drink, markham got up and stretched a little. "well then, i suppose we had better start issuing the orders."

"Indeed" Wolfe said as he got up. the went out the door and headed to opposite ends of the camp, shouting instructions as they went.

(( can you put a new map with the exact place of the Camp?))

Your wish is my command!



the thin line is a rough outline of the area we've been allowed to settle in.

(( Since it wasn't posted before, THe prophet has been arrested in Emain, it was yesterday))

A few men were grabbing their swords. They were smiling as they joked about getting crushed by the dragon.
Thorn interrupted their chat. "A Desert Dragon is coming?"
"One?" One of the men asked.
His partner continued. "Try a lot! They've been coming since morning, about every 4 hours."
"The Desert Dragons?" Thorn looked puzzled.
"Yeah, they keep raging on and on. Man.....I hope it has a lot of treasure." The men headed off to Port Ceann, to catch the first ship.
Thorn thought. "Is this a trick too? THe day after he was arrested.... Desert Dragons go beseker? Can that be a coincidence?" He wrote letters to the Father, Eli, Filia, and Catzi, asking them if they too thought it was funny.

Filia received the note from Thorn. After scanning it, she quickly replied.

I'm not familair with Muyu too much, so I can't really answer that. Where are they coming from, to begin with? Aren't they a rare, endagered species like all the others? Is their habitat somewhere else being threatened by something?

F.L. Connous

(( Btw, for those not aware, Dragon summoning event is on))

Catzi didn't think it was funny at all. Unless by funny, Thorn meant ironic. Not familiar with Iria, she had to look over a map to see where it was in relation to where Wolfe first was, and where he was going.

"Now do you believe that stuff about Irinid?" Asked Gunne, who snagged the letter up and read it for himself.

"Nah.. I'd be quicker to believe that all of the dragons are in this together. Maybe the Prairie dragon asked for help making a ruckus? It IS pretty close to where Wolfe was originally."

"So who's Thorn?" He asked and began to write a letter.

"He heads Dunbarton. A little bit oppressed, but he's a nice person."

"He single?"

"Why? You interested? I don't think he's in to guys.. But I can ask for you." She snickered at him playfully.

"Me? No. But you are. How's this sound? 'It would be easier to talk about this in person. How about we discuss it over dinner? We can go dutch.'"

"Wh-what?! No. Don't send that to him! Give that to me right now Gunne! Or... OR!"

"Or what?" The giant let out a laugh and waved the letter around in the air, above Catzi's head. "Although it doesn't sound like you. Maybe I should change it to you'll buy it. Emain has that nice restaurant by the lake. How about there?"

Catzi turned red and huffed. "Don't you dare send that to him! I'll.. have you thrown in jail or something."

"Awh.. no you won't. You'll need me to look after the place while you're out making kissy face with lover boy here. And you can think of it as.. becoming familiar with your neighbor. But don't get too familiar, it's just a first date." He playfully pushed the woman away and stamped the letter with Bangor's seal. Racing outside for an owl to take it away before Catzi could stop him.

"Why did you do that?" Dx She pouted at him, face as bright as fire.

"It's not like it'll hurt anything will it?"

"Mehhh.... Just for that.. You're on mine clearing duty."

Gunne shrugged with a laugh, "I like fighting them anyways~" And off he went in to the mines. Leaving Catzi to sulk.

Dear Thorn;

It's ironic, but it might not have anything to do with Irinid at all. I think the dragons of Iria may be conspiring. It would be easier to talk about this in person. Over dinner? We can go dutch I'll buy. How about that restaurant in emain, that's near the lake? Let me know if you're free.

Catzi Reighinalt

<<I was bored, and needed a giggle.>>

Eliade was doing a bit of investigating of his own--well, trying. Things just weren't going well. And that isn't referring to semi-frequent suppression of fomor attack attempts from the shadow realm. No, it was his men. Namely his annoying confidante and head of his group when he's attending to larger matters (city-related issues and leader meetings).

"So...I...uh...noticed you took a few days getting back here, sir." stated the said confidante, Carmen.

Eliade was seated across from her on one of the fallen pillars at the altar, sharpening his blades, "...Yes? I fail to see what you are getting at, Carmen. I called you so that I may ask your opinion on this prophet matter, not for you to pry into my personal life."

"Personal life? That's bull and you know it. You tell me just. About. Everything...except..." Her eyes lit up, "You didn't!"

Eliade sighed and rubbed his temples, "I did...alright? I did. Can we move on?"

"No, no," Carmen objected, "We can't drop this, it is progress! I mean, it has been what...? Three years, now? Come on!!"

Eliade angled his blade so that the light shone in her eyes. Not only did it irritate her poor eyes, it also gave the blade a much more menacing look. "Drop it, or you'll soon find yourself taking yet another trip to the infirmary, Miss Carmen."

Carmen got the hint...but didn't quite let up, she just changed it around, "...Was it a leader? If it was...this may be a good thing. Get close to them."

"I will not manipulate another's feelings to get what I want, miss Carmen." He flashed her eyes with light again.

This was annoying to Carmen, he was so dense sometimes! "No, Eli. But if you are close, she," or he, who am I to say how he's swinging after what happened? "will open up to you. This will provide deeper insight. A world beyond the walls of Tail and the arguments of that room. It would allow you to make more educated decisions, as well as have somebody to work with. To throw ideas at, and have ideas thrown back to you. This is not only good for you, but for Tail and possibly for Erinn as a whole. Now go out there, and BE A MAN!"

Eliade stood, walked the few feet to where she sat, rapped her with the hilt, and promptly walked off. However, what she said stuck in his mind. It did make sense to forge bonds with those around him, why not start with his strongest links? He wrote a rather simple note, and sent it off on an owl.

Filia, hello. It is Eliade. I was wondering if you would like to get together sometime. Perhaps grab a bite to eat, or take a hiking trip through Nubes. Or something. Let me know if you are interested.

--Eliade Gunje

Filia received the note, rather surprised. Didn't he know about the rampaging dragons? There were more important things than hiking trips through extremely beautifu-

Can I bring my daughter?

No! She knew she must focus!

Hello, Eli. While that sounds lovely, I am a bit concerned about the rampaging dragons trampling down droves of hunters trying to exterminate them. Just a tad, though. Hadn't you heard? Did you not receive a note as well? I assumed Thorn sent them to us all.

To be honest.. I'd like to see a desert dragon up close. It's not fair that Muyu gets them but Longa doesn't! If we... were to go to Nubes... do you think we could looking into the dragons first? >:

~Filia

P.S.
I can't go anywhere for long periods of time without my little girl. She'd have to come along.

The elf princess summoned her owl and sent the note off with a sigh. Going into the next room, she sat beside her daughter Errans as she slept, gazing into her adorable... quiet face.

((Yes, she puts smilies in her casual letters. ))

Eliade recieved the letter, smiled, and sent a reply back promptly.

Of course your daughter can come, I absolutely love children. And of course we'll look into dragons. This isn't all play, we have much to discuss. I'd like to speak of the dragons, among other things. I have not lost sight of my duty--I never do. I failed to get back to Thorn, I was a bit busy at the moment with some issues in Tail, so I assume it is in my mess of papers. I read it, yes. Do not worry. I shall see you soon.

He also took this time to get back to Thorn...after his nap. :l

(( Thorn: You don't reply to important business but you do a love letter? DX))

They kissed and went their separate ways. He wore his Pumpkin robe. The same one used as cannon. She wore a black lava cat robe with teal flames. They went their separate ways, and checked the way was clear. They searched their areas, to make sure nobody was around. Least, nobody visible. They set the main fires at the sides. (the darker ones) And headed to the middle one. Dropping little matches as they passed. (Small dots) She rode her Carpet, so she arrived first, while he was a speedy fellow, he was slower than her. They got together, smiling and laughing. They headed off, dropping a few more matches.

http://tinypic.com/r/98uc5t/7

(( where they set the fires and dropped the matches))

((Sorry! I was in a rush, chores and such.))

That was a nice nap, but back to business. Eliade wrote to Thorn, his mind on work. Why, oh why was work always so grim these days? I mean, aside from the fact that he has to clean blood off himself on a regular basis.

Indeed it is. I smell something rotten. There is foul play involved, and it is too much of a coincidence that dragons start coming just after we took action. Bear in mind, however, that it is possible--though unlikely--that it is nothing more than an oversized brood. I hightly doubt it, but keep it in mine nonetheless. If you need to talk, we can. Else I'll see you at the meeting on Samhain.

Xeek wrote:They kissed and went their separate ways. He wore his Pumpkin robe. The same one used as cannon. She wore a black lava cat robe with teal flames. They went their separate ways, and checked the way was clear. They searched their areas, to make sure nobody was around. Least, nobody visible. They set the main fires at the sides. (the darker ones) And headed to the middle one. Dropping little matches as they passed. (Small dots) She rode her Carpet, so she arrived first, while he was a speedy fellow, he was slower than her. They got together, smiling and laughing. They headed off, dropping a few more matches.

http://tinypic.com/r/98uc5t/7

(( where they set the fires and dropped the matches))

((You didn't set the fires -in- the jungle, right? Just dropped matches, right? -glares at with murderfying glare of redundancy-))

<<No they set fires in there too. On the map it shows the large red lines where the actual fires were started. The smaller lines were the matches.>>

((Yes, but matches wouldn't start a fire in the damp jungle... I was talking about the actual fires... if they were in the jungle or just around Wolfe's area >>; ))

(( --EDIT--

Nevermind, I'm just being silly. Of course you lit up the jungle. >_> What I want to know is how many trees are gone, or I should say... Which part of the forest burned down?))

<<No, the matches were just lit and left They actually started fire-fires not with the matches, too.>>