Re: The Godfathers

by **Helsing** Sat Dec 24, 2016 10:15 pm

Jaron jumped out of the building and aimed at any other hostiles while he reached into the river to help Krista out once she got close enough.

by **Flagmauth** Sat Dec 24, 2016 10:26 pm

The Finn very nearly took his hand then thought better of it before punching a hole in him...once her claws had returned to being normal hands she allowed the Israeli to help her out of the frigid water.

by **Helsing** Sat Dec 24, 2016 10:32 pm

At the touch, Jaron felt a level of cold that he never knew before. He know thanked his father below that it wasn't him in that water. The second that Krista was out, he took off his jacket and draped it over Krista and helping her to get to Raizo.

"Let's get you warmed up." He said.

by **Flagmauth** Sat Dec 24, 2016 11:07 pm

"Thank you," A hesitant, fleeting smile flashed across Krista's face as she was escorted over to the Japanese demigod currently moonlighting as a roaring campfire. She seemed a little bit shell-shocked.

by 99luftballons Sun Dec 25, 2016 12:15 pm

Just when Jaron turned his back to the river, he could sense that there was an unusual concentration of dead fish and other wildlife in the exact middle of the river. Also, Significantly less death closer to the Danube shoreline.

Emma was in no shape to continue on the quest, Robert concluded. The broken leg and possible broken ribs would take a while to mend even with magic. He was relieved when he saw Krista arrive in an alright condition "Krista! I'm glad you are alright. Emma is safe thanks to you - although I have some bad news..."

by **Helsing** Sun Dec 25, 2016 1:14 pm

Jaron blinked and then reached out for the middle of the river.

What was going on here?

by **Flagmauth** Sun Dec 25, 2016 1:17 pm

"What...sort of bad news, exactly?" Krista asked Robert, after a nod to acknowledge his thanks.

by BerrySayRoar Sun Dec 25, 2016 2:42 pm

Cayden slowly comes out from the shadow, glad that Emma was alright but hopes no one notices him.

by 99luftballons Sun Dec 25, 2016 4:00 pm

Jaron felt the dead zone - a narrow strip of river wildlife (all dead) in the middle of the river, stretching in either direction of the river without end. He wasn't sure, but it felt like the dead zone was growing wider, heading for the shores of the Danube.

Robert was silent for a moment and then responded with the shake of his head "Emma's leg is broken. That's an injury that takes at least a week to heal using magic. I know a healer in the next village, but after that me and Emma will be leaving. She can't continue on the quest...You need to decide whether the quest is worth continuing on. Vienna is certainly safer than anywhere in Serbia. If you want to continue, you can have the van when you drop us off."

With that encouraging talk Robert tossed the Keys to Cayden "Here you go."

by Sirius Lupin Tue Dec 27, 2016 12:02 pm

"Everyone else up for completing the quest?" Odysseus asks. "I'd feel guilty if we don't find those missing villagers."

by **Flagmauth** Wed Dec 28, 2016 10:26 pm

Krista was silent, looking down at her hands. Both of them were tinted red by blood, despite the river water washing most of it off. After a long moment, she lowered them and looked up, at Odysseus. "I'm in."

by 99luftballons Thu Dec 29, 2016 4:01 pm

“Then I wish you luck in completing the quest. I’ve seen your capabilities – you may just be able to pull it off” Robert nodded “At the next village, you can drop me and Emma off. I know a healer there who can tend to Emma. Like I said you can keep the van. Try to return it intact.”

-------------------------------------------------
[Seems like a good place to move on the plot]

The next village was 20 minutes from Belgrade. In that short distance, the road conditions got noticeably worse and driving a lot more difficult from flooding and fallen trees. Manrevega was a village of roughly 1,000 inhabitants close to the Danube. It was surrounded by a wall designed to fend off flooding and invaders. The wall was a beautiful brick structure complete with medieval watchtowers. It turned out, that most villages in the Balkans had a defensive wall around them since the Balkan Union wasn’t effective in protecting its citizens from monsters or internal [human] groups. Hence a sort of feudal system with local lords (offering protection) had developed. Local governments such as Serbia, Bosnia and Albania had tried to get villages in the country under federal control for centuries without avail.

The group entered Manrevega without much trouble. Unfortunately, the village hadn’t been planned with cars in mind, leading to some tricky navigating of narrow passageways. They did pass the local shopping district selling travel gear (particularly hiking gear), weapons (pistols, bows and swords), useless trinkets and local food/wines. Behind the shopping district was a small park containing a shrine. The shrine was on a hill giving it a pristine view of the Danube. The shrine had the same emblem of falcon and fish that Jaron’s medallion had.

They finally reached the healers house. The healer was an elderly woman wearing green robes [Odysseus would recognize them as druid robes]. She greeted the group warmly and helped carry Emma inside. Once Emma was inside, the healer led the group towards a table set up with salmon and rice asking the group members to eat. She then left to tend to Emma’s wounds. Robert and the group were left inside the dining room. Robert awkwardly turned to the group holding up a glass of water “I want to thank you all for helping save Emma. A toast."

by **Flagmauth** Sat Dec 31, 2016 6:10 pm

Krista looked up from where she was trying to scrub the blood from her hands, blinking. It took her a moment to process what Robert had said before she held up her own glass.

by **Helsing** Sat Dec 31, 2016 6:50 pm

Jaron held up his glass and bowed his head in thanks.

by 99luftballons Sun Jan 01, 2017 1:51 pm

After the toast Robert put his glass down sitting silently in front of his food. It was then that the healer came back and assured Robert that Emma would be fine. She introduced herself a Laura, a local druid. The druids were the arcane world sort-of equivalent of the red cross and oftentimes in charge of maintaining the shrines of various nature related deities.

Laura sat down slowly (due to age) at the table "Emma will be fine, though she won't be doing any running for at least two weeks. Now, I'm curious: what brings you all down to Serbia?"

by Sirius Lupin Sun Jan 01, 2017 6:15 pm

Odysseus pauses, wondering how much he should tell.'

After a small, internal debate, he says, "There have been some problems in some villages here in Serbia and we're here to help."

by 99luftballons Sun Jan 01, 2017 7:07 pm

Laura's eyes narrowed, as if she knew that Odysseus wasn't telling her everything. She stood up from the table and slowly traversed to the living room, returning with a newspaper "It reads 'Belgrade under Siege' in Serbian. It also has pictures of them [points at Jaron, Cayden, Robert and Raizo]. So what exactly do you mean by helping?"

by Sirius Lupin Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:17 am

Seeing the newspaper, Odysseus says, "Emma was in the process of being kidnapped. What the hell were we supposed to do? Sit back and watch it happen?"

by 99luftballons Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:37 pm

"I would expect you to save her. Anything less would be betraying her. Just know that now the Serbian government and Prime Minister Jovanna have made you scapegoats to justify grabbing further executive powers. I would recommend not staying here very long" Laura replied "If you are interested, there is a village half a day's walk inland from which we've had no communication. Perhaps that would be a good start to your journey?"

by **Flagmauth** Thu Jan 05, 2017 7:14 pm

Krista wondered how long it would take for that news to get back to the university - it struck her as something they would disapprove of. In response to Laura's suggestion she nodded. "We'll go there first then. Thank you for the help."

by 99luftballons Wed Jan 11, 2017 5:11 pm

"Then you best get going before it gets dark. I have some food and water prepared for your trip, but you need to choose how you'll get to the village" Laura replied, pulling up a map of the local area. She explained that due to flooding and negligible road maintenance funding (due to corruption) from the Serbian government that the van wouldn't be able to travel much further. Instead Laura suggested two paths:
(1) Following the along the Danube River. The advantage of this path (more of a sidewalk) would leave no chance of getting lost, possibilities running across occasional druid shrines (which provide shelter, food, clean water, etc) and less run-ins with monsters. However, the path would be slower and more cumbersome to travel along with portions flooded.
(2) The other suggestion was cutting across the the landscape in a nearly direct path towards the village along a forest path. This path would be less safe and definitely faster, but also incredibly dangerous if the group got stuck in the forest after nightfall (monsters and all that). Also, this path wasn't an actual road, but a faint track between the two villages.

by **Flagmauth** Wed Jan 11, 2017 6:30 pm

Krista voted for the path along the river, given its relative safety. Better they get there slower than get ambushed by monsters and never get there at all.

by Sirius Lupin Wed Jan 11, 2017 9:44 pm

Odysseus also voted for travel along the river. After all, if they did encounter any monsters, he could just summon manipulate the water to just take care of the problem.

by **Helsing** Thu Jan 12, 2017 10:12 pm

Jaron voted to go along the river. With Odysseus and Kirsta's abilities, they'd have some advantage over anything trying to kill them. Plus, with a wide open space, Jaron could gun them down. Or at least shoot them out right.

by 99luftballons Thu Jan 12, 2017 11:12 pm

Shortly after the meal the group was on their way following the Danube River downstream. Laura had provided the group members with some basic supplies (food, map, fresh water, etc.) for their travels.
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The first few hours of the walk were uneventful. When the group had left, the sun was barely covered, but by mid-afternoon the clouds were covering the sun completely foreshadowing a possible downpour. Furthermore, the wind had started to pick up. Tall grasses covered the landscape, disguising the muddy ground beneath them. Thankfully the path was (although poorly maintained) cement.

Off in the distance the group saw a small brick house surrounded by a tall hedge, sitting lonely at the bank of the river. The path led straight past the house (passing within a few feet). Peering closer at the landscape in front of the group, there appeared to be a wide-ish swath of grass that was trampled to the ground forging a path between the distant trees and the brick house. The trampled grass crossed the path (perpendicularly) about 200 m in front of the group.

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