Treasures of the South

[Penblade the King's Wit]

   Nicholas edged in front of the wolverine and bowed to the ancient dormouse, shuffling his feet slightly as he realized he was surrounded on three sides. He focused on the dormouse, hoping they would think he was nervous about talking to him, and said, "Ah, good morning Brother, Father, Uncle? Uh, I was hoping you might be able to help me..." Reaching up his sleeve, Nick plucked the map out with a flourish, "...with this." He held the parchment out for the dormouse to take. "It's a map, I know that much, but I do not have the knowledge to read it, or find wherever it leads to." He glanced at both the fox and the wolverine as he waited for the friar to look at the map.

[Jake Whitepaw]

As Nicholas handed him the parchment, the doormouse produced a tiny pair of rock-crystal spectacles from his habit sleeve.  Placing them on the tip of his nose, he examined the worn map with interest. 

"...Interesting.  'Tis a map bearing the seal of the Kingdom of Hedgeworn.  If I am not greatly mistaken, it seems to lead from the capital of Hedgeworn (far to the East of here) to a point on the Southwestern shore of the Great Inland Sea.  What  that point could be is beyond me.  The coastline  of the Great Inland Sea has long been avoided by travelers,  and I know not of anything that would be of royal interest there.  The only particular landmark that I know of on that shoreline is an all but forgotten network of basalt caves which have an evil reputation in legend." 

Looking up at the wildcat, the fat little friar removed his spectacles and folded the map up again.

"That is all I am able to tell you, my friend.  It is strange, the map seems almost incomplete...  Are you a messenger of Hedgeworn, pray?"

                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


As he viewed the map that Brother Bolster was examining, Jake began to feel a quiet nagging in the back of his head.  That map was familiar!   Digging in his belt pouch, the wolverine produced the map he had found the evening before and unfolded it.     The heavy fur on the back of his neck bristled as he realized that the map that he held was nearly identical to the wildcat's, except for the fact that his bore a few lines of text in a script he did not know. 

[Danker]

 Danker walked over to the wolverine and did his best to see the map. "I've never heard of Hedgeworn. Is it far from here?" He asked curiosly. Ristol then took his attention to the fidgety wildcat.
 "Well what's wrong with you? Ya look like a dibbun who's been caught pilfering sweets from the kitchen." Danker was most curious about the cat. He just had to wonder why the feline had it. He most certainly did not look like a creature who could be intrusted with such an object,

[Penblade the King's Wit]

   Nicholas listened intently to the dormouse’s interpretation of the map. He was even a bit impressed when the friar was able to discern the place the map came from, even though there were clearly no labels to mark any sort of nationality, at least none that the wildcat could see. “Caves,” He muttered to himself so hopefully only he could hear when the friar mentioned landmarks, “It’s always caves.”

   After that the dormouse turned to him, "That is all I am able to tell you, my friend. It is strange, the map seems almost incomplete... Are you a messenger of Hedgeworn, pray?"

   Nicholas twitched at the question, caught off guard, but gave no other sign. He stood straight again, while before he’d been leaning forward to see the map, and shrugged, “Me? A messenger? I’m afraid not. It was my good friend,” Gotta-come-up-with-a-name, “Pentus,” Yes, that’ll do, “who was the messenger. He was making a delivery last night and was supposed to pass through our town further up the road. He never showed though, so I went looking for his company.” Quietly, the wildcat used one paw to cover his eyes and slipped the other behind his back. Secretively, he unsheathed his claws and dug them brutally into his lower back. His face twisted in pain as he twisted his claws and tears welled up beneath his paw, “What I found was... massacre. The entire company was dead, along with my friend.” He retracted his claws and wiped his eyes quickly, “But let’s not talk about that. Whomever, or whatever, killed them took everything valuable, but I managed to find this. I was hoping to complete his task, but I couldn’t read the map. I brought it here to find someone who could and, here we are.”

   All the while Nicholas was talking he felt a chill slowly entering his mind. He’d stolen a glance at the wolverine when he’d been pretending to have a momentary breakdown and glimpsed him holding another map that seemed exactly similar to Nick’s, except with a little writing on it. How on Earth had the lummox come by that!? Certainly not in the way he’d come by his map.

   ...

   Hopefully not that way, at any rate.

[Jake Whitepaw]

OOC:  WIP, I'll try and finish it later tonight. 


BIC:  The dormouse friar nodded his head gravely as the wildcat shared his story. 

“What I found was... massacre. The entire company was dead, along with my friend. But let’s not talk about that. Whomever, or whatever, killed them took everything valuable, but I managed to find this. I was hoping to complete his task, but I couldn’t read the map. I brought it here to find someone who could and, here we are.”

"Ah, my son, I see.  To do such a thing was honorable, but I advise that you consider the task which you have set yourself up for.  First off, do you know that the map is indeed what your friend Pentus was delivering?  Or was it merely a tool used to guide him to his destination?  The seal on this map is a royal one, and to be carrying such an item on one's person will excite comment and suspicion if you do not keep it to yourself.  Furthermore, whether or not the map is what Pentus aimed to deliver, the map's royal recipients may not respond benevolently were they to receive it from your person.  Once they see that the document is not delivered (as expected) by an official messenger, they may well suspect treachery, especially if some other item was originally expected in its stead."

Brother Bolster coughed lightly, and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his habit. 

"Of course, I cannot forbid nor keep you from carrying out the errand if you so desire.  I simply advise caution and a clean conscience.  Now, if you leave town by the Eastern gate, you will come upon a rough road that will lead over the highlands and to the frontier of the kingdom of Hedgeworn.  In the same not, the shores of the Great Inland Sea can be reached by taking the footpath which leads from the Western gate.  It heads due east through the treacherous marshes and bogs of Dorn.  After a journey of about three days you will arrive at the coast, from whence you will head south along the shoreline.  You will be near the caves once the rough stone and sand of the beaches gives way to smooth shelves of stone which run along the waves for miles and miles.  Almost like a sort of dyke, they are.  From there, you will be on your own, as I personally have never ventured to the area and know not the location of the caverns."

The little friar frowned thoughtfully. 

"I say, since we do not rightly know what the map's purpose was or where it was destined, perhaps it would be best if you left it with me.  I would be more than pleased to deliver it to the next messenger of Hedgeworn that passes through, who would doubtless know what to do with it.  What do you say, cat?"


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Jake listened in surprise as Nicholas described how he had come across his copy of the map.  Obviously, it had been before he had arrived on the scene, seeing as he had set fire to the bodies before he continued on his journey.  As the feline finished, he opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again.  Something told him that it would not be to his benefit to reveal that he had come by his copy of the map in the same way as the cat; indeed, to him the creature was acting increasingly shifty.  From the way he spoke to the older monk to the way that he moved, something did not seem quite right about the creature, and it intrigued the dormant adventurer within the wolverine.

As Brother Bolster expounded upon the directions contained in the wildcat's map, he refolded the map (trying not to rustle the parchment) and replaced it in his belt pouch.   

As he was replacing the map, the young fox sauntered over and eyed the document.    "I've never heard of Hedgeworn. Is it far from here?"

The big friar glared at the fox and nodded.  Blasted foxkit, tell the world about my map, why do you not?

"Aye, about a four day's journey by paw..." 

[Danker]

 "Four days? That's not so bad. If I had brought my scouting leader he might've been able to cut that trek in half. Too bad I didn't." Danker rambled. He walked over to the friar.
 "I gotta question, em... Why would some one of royalty be in a cave? Surely there has to be more than a few caves on that map, maybe a fortress or something?" The young fox began to reach for the map, wanting a look for himself. "May I?" Danker asked.