Hopetoun rangers build a lodge doo-dah doo-dah

[Vega]

34th Ymiden, 721

Vega let out a slight, irritated, sigh.

How did she get herself into these situations, she wondered. Why, oh why, could she not just stay in the camp and learn to sew or knit or fold paper into beautiful shapes? Nope. Nope, she couldn't. Because then, she'd be someone quite else, and she wasn't. So, she watched what happened and she saw Glem slap away Lars' hand and she looked at him. "Glem, that's rude an' it's not alright. This is Lars. Lars. You know who he is an' how much he can be trusted." She looked at Glem and, as she spoke, Vega seemed to be literally bathed in light Once per trial, the Blessed can call upon their inner light and shroud themselves in an aura of light. The aura draws those around the Blessed to them and holds them in awe. Those bathed in its light are more willing to listen to what the Blessed says and are willing to follow the Blessed in actions that are only slightly against their nature .

"You don't behave this way, Glem, an' we want to help you. Now, I want to know what's goin' on here, an' you're goin' to tell me. It's downright rude of you to hit Lars like that, even if it were a noncy smack that seemed more out of fear than anythin' else." Vega's way of speaking was direct, to the point, and very much a case of Bottom Line, Up FrontDweebs Stupid Moments II- BLUF "Bottom Line Up Front" is an expression which more or less sums up Vega's way of being. She is not a trained therapist, nor is she a learned academic - far from it. However, time and again Vega has simply broken through to the heart of the matter and spoken the truth. She would hate - truly hate - to be a therapist, but she doesn't need to be one. With her innate understanding of people - and her unique means of talking - if Vega is presented with a problem, then she cuts straight to the chase and says it how it is. Somehow, she manages to give advice in such an obstreperous manner that it works. The mechanical impact of this is that a PC or NPC who is experiencing a trauma or a situation where they would usually seek a therapist can, after a chat with Vega, somehow feel like their problem has been worked through with to the point of having a much greater insight. Fundamentally, one "BLUF" conversation with Vega is equivalent to intensive therapy or soul-searching. here . But it was honest - brutally so - and that was what Vega did best.

"You're not bein' rational, an' if we're goin' to help you, you need to tell us everythin' what's goin' on. An' I promise you, if you explain it all to me, an' I think it's worth it, I'll call my star dragon to help with the diggin'. You saw that, right, the dragon that Xiur lets me form from stars?" Glem nodded. He looked at Vega with an expression of uncertainty and he sat down. He was considering it, she knew, and so she pushed the advantage. "An' I promise you, we are here to help you, but we need to know what's happenin' so that we can help properly. You've seen what I do when I put my mind to helpin', but I'm tellin' you now that if you try an' slap my hand like that, I'm goin' to get testy an' you'll find out that I hit back. So, tell me exactly what's happenin', Glem, an' I'll help you the best way I can. You know I will. We will. You know that." She looked at him, levelly. "But you gotta stop actin' like a dipstick, an' tell us everythin'"

He looked at her, still cradling the shard in his hand and he looked between Vega and Darius and Lars. Vega was right, of course, he knew these people, he trusted these people. But his mind was searching for a reason, for a loophole. So, he looked at Oram, who he didn't know, and his eyes narrowed. "Who are you," he asked, "and why should I trust you?"

[Oram Mednix]

Of course you can trust me. Look at this scowl!

Something was clearly wrong with this Glem character. His appearance was unkempt and his demeanor rude and mistrustful. And judging by everybody else’s reactions to his behavior, this was not normal for him. Oram disliked using uncanny abilities on unsuspecting people, but this seemed like a good time to use his Ziell granted Touch of Greatness, to get a feel for what sorts of things Glem was capable of, at least in a practical sense. The man smelled strongly of earth and compost. He had strength. Yet, despite his currently unfriendly demeanor, he was not a man of violence and mayhem, at least not one with notable skills for such. Still, any able-bodied man might pick up a rock and strike another man with it, so it seemed wise to be wary around this odd farmer.

When Glem challenged him, demanding to know who he was and why he should be trusted, Oram could only sigh sadly. It had been a couple arcs since townies and farmers had eyed the traveler with such open hostility and suspicion, but it was nothing new. It was, in a way, depressingly familiar. And, since the circumstances were much-changed, so, too, would Oram need to handle this confrontation differently. He still needed to be as polite and diplomatic as he could manage; however, nowadays, he was a person with standing and respect, and was expected to act like it.

”I am Oram Mednix,” he declared quietly, meeting Glem’s gaze levelly. ”I am a Ranger, as well as a friend of Darius, your governor. I accompanied him here because he asked me to. As to why you should trust me, that is not for me to say. Whom you trust is your choice. But know that I mean you no ill, nor wish such to befall you.”

Glem glared at the stranger through unkempt bangs for a few trills before muttering: ”I’ll believe that when you grab a spade and start helping me recover my shards.” There was something odd about how he inflected the word “my”.

Oram’s mouth tightened slightly, but then he responded: ”As Vega here said, we’d be happy to help. But we need to know more first. Please tell us what you can about these shards you’re finding.”

[Darius Baer]

There was a noticeable change in Glem's demeanour as Vega spoke. Something about the redhead's manner of speaking seemed to take the edge off the farmer's unsettled nature.

Darius and Lars both watched on in silence, impressed by how quickly the situation had turned around. It was even effective enough to have Glem offer Lars a sullen apology.

And then, just like that, it almost unravelled again as the farmer questioned why he should trust Oram. The wilderness man answered well, Darius decided. It was impossible to earn trust with words alone, but the Ranger had done all that could be asked of him.

Glem looked between each of his four visitors for a few silent trills, before eventually letting out a frustrated sigh.

"Alright, I'll tell you."

The farmer was doing as Vega requested, but he still didn't seem too happy about it.

"Three trials back, I was sitting here after a tough trial's work when a strong wind came through. I thought nothing of it, being Ymiden and all, but after it passed, I heard a noise coming from outside. Like a hum."

Glem furrowed his brow as he tried to make sense of his own words.

"I went to the field, and the hum got louder. Only...I couldn't just hear it - I could feel it. And then I saw a glow..."

The farmer clutched the shard in his hands tighter, as if it might try to escape his grasp.

"When I got closer," he dropped his voice to a conspiratorial level, and Darius found himself leaning closer, "the humming only increased. It felt like there were tremors in the soil. And I began digging towards the glow, and that's where I found this."

Glem held up the shard, which was neither humming nor glowing.

"I found a few others and brought them into the house. But they don't hum any more, and they've stopped glowing. I tried to find the part of the field where I dug them out from these last few trials, but I can't remember where I found them."

Darius nodded, and cast a gaze towards Vega.

"Aye, we saw a few ditches," Darius responded quietly, recalling the trellis with spoilt fruit. "But what about your crops, Glem?"

"Hm?" the farmer returned an empty gaze.

"Your crops. Isn't Ymiden when you harvest?"

Glem held the shard close to his body, his knuckles whitening as he tightened his grip. His eyes widened in shock and he almost recoiled at the thought.

"Oh, I can't waste time on those - not while there might be other shards out there!"

[Vega]

34th Ymiden, 721

That there was something odd going on really didn't need saying and Vega listened and watched as Oram answered Glem, and then as Glem spoke and told his story. Humming shards of glowing stuff which grew in the ground? "Right, Glem, so this stuff isn't natural, an' the first thing we need to do," she said firmly, "is find out what it is. I'm thinkin' that, if we can find out what this stuff is, then we can maybe get some magical means of detectin' it?" She shrugged slightly. "I can do a bit of alchemy, I'm not bad with it in fact, but that's above my skill level. It could be done, though, I reckon." Glem looked torn between the idea of making some sort of detection device (which was a great idea in his mind) and the idea of putting the shards up for examination of some kind which was, very much so, a Bad Plan.

After a short silence where he thought about it, Glem looked at Vega with a frown. "You can't have my shards," he said. Vega nodded her understanding of that, resisting her urge to thump the irritating dweeb. "But there are others? Others who have shards?" Glem nodded, somewhat reluctantly. "What if they try and steal my shards?" Vega sighed. "I won't let anyone be stealin' nothin' off anyone, a'right?" He nodded, looking at her with an earnest expression on his face. Vega regarded him for a moment and then she came to a realisation. "You look real tired, Glem. Have you been havin' trouble sleepin'?" Again, his response was a nod. "I worry that someone will steal my shards, while I'm sleeping."

Vega considered this. "What if I guarded them, so you could get some shut-eye?" She figured that, once he went to sleep he'd sleep well, but if they could just get him to go that would be ideal. "An' I swear to you, by Xiur an' this sprout what's growin' in me, I won't let no one steal your shards. I'll guard them, but I won't touch them, an' I won't let anyone come in here an' steal them either." Vega was careful - very careful - with her words. She wouldn't touch them, she wouldn't let anyone come in here. She was hoping that Glem didn't notice what that meant. He frowned and she could see that he wanted to argue, but before he did, Vega held out the small fiddle which she wore strapped to her belt like a sword, on the opposite hip to her actual sword. "You know how much I love this fiddle, Glem. I play it every night, an' I tell you the story of how it's hope's fiddle, how Xiur blessed it. You can have it while you sleep. That way, you've got somethin' of mine, as a sort of guarantee that I'm good for my word."

That did it, he seemed happy with that and he took the fiddle. "I'll just have a break, maybe less."

Vega smiled and nodded. "Good plan, Glem. Get your strength back for goin' huntin' for more shards, yeah?" He nodded and walked away, although he looked back at the shards and considered them for a moment then, he turned and headed to his bed. Once he was gone, Vega went to the doorway to check that he was gone and then, she turned back to Oram and Darius with a shrug and a half-smile. "Well, I can't touch them, but you two can. We need to find out what the snardlin' schizzle is goin' on here. " With a slight shrug, she sat back down. "I can't touch those shards, because I promised. But, you know, if someone gave me some, I dunno, powder or ground up substance, I could do some real basic alchemy tests, see if there's anythin' I can find out. Ideally, though, we'd want someone with more knowledge than me." Looking at the shards and then out of the window where Glem's untended fields were, Vega sighed. "A lot more."

[Oram Mednix]

Maybe shard doo doo doo-doo doo-doo

Oram watched and listened as his two companions interacted with Glem. Unsurprisingly, they made more headway than he had.

First Darius got the farmer to tell his story of how he first came to find his shards. And thereby hung a strange tale. Humming? Glowing? Unwittingly the hunter’s eyes went to the shard the farmer clutched, even though he knew full well it was not currently humming or glowing at all. Glem soon explained further that the shards, all of them, had stopped behaving that way after a while. So, something that happened only occasionally? Or on just one particular occasion? Or maybe Glem was just making the whole thing up, although Oram had a hunch somehow that that was not the case.

Next, Vega spoke to the farmer, and to Oram’s astonishment, cajoled him into agreeing to take a nap. He did not bother to hide how surprised and impressed he was after Glem withdrew.

”I can’t believe you pulled that off!” he whispered, wondering briefly if Vega new Common Sign, which would give them a way to communicate silently. Well done!”

After pausing a trill to listen to the silence descending on the farmhouse, Oram turned to his companions. He drew them to the front door before speaking in a hushed voice. ”We probably ought not take one of the shards in the house,” he pointed out. ”I suspect Glem counts those every trial. Several times. He would miss one right away, and who knows what he would do then? I propose we try digging up one of our own. Grab a spade and start digging, just like Glem asked. Only we keep the shard we find, take it with us.”

The Ranger thought some more. ”I don’t like this magic stuff. I don’t like the effect these shards seem to be having on Glem, and we can’t be sure they wouldn’t affect us the same way, nor how quickly. So if we do find one, we should be careful not to touch it, and keep any sort of proximity with it to a minimum until we have a better understanding of what’s going on.”

Oram glanced around at the tools Glem had assembled for his excavations, and also looked for a pair of cooking tongs. Those should enable them to retrieve a shard without touching it with their skin. He also fished out his work gloves. ”I have a bag that insulates somewhat from magical effects.” He glanced meaningfully at Darius. ”It’s the same bag I used to carry that stone we found under Faldrass,” he reminded the man. ”It might help here.

“As to actually finding a shard, well, I imagine we could figure out where Glem’s most recent and successful excavations have been on our own.” Oram flashed a grin at Vega. ”There’s a couple of us here pretty good at tracking and noticing things, yes?” Then he turned back to Darius and Lars to hear what they thought.