Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=74910&page=234#2334 Author: Falconetti Time Posted: 12/26/2021 at 8:45 AM Morning -- The cheery street fills you with a sense of tranquility, despite the juxtaposition between the chilly festival and the volcanic surroundings down here in the southern territories. Now that you've hit the road, there's bound to be all sorts of things you can freely collect from here on out. The pair continue their heated debate without so much as a glance in your direction as you walk right past them, sparing you their ire. The orc turns round, scanning you with a judgemental expression while saying: "Ah, finally! You got the note down at the market square, right? I hope you like heights, because since my apprentice went and injured himself I've been short of a guy for putting lights on the eaves." Nearby, a few boxes lie open with hundreds of lights spilling from them. Up above, the three-storey building looms overhead with the two bare, unlit floors awaiting decoration. "It might take until midday or the afternoon depending on how good you are," she says cheerily. "But I split the cuts 50-50, and these folks around here are loaded."

Pike smiles up at the orc when she takes notice of him and nods when she inquires about him getting the note. Heights won't be a problem as long as he feels secure. Climbing or going up of his own free will was better than and different from being picked up. He looks up at the unlit floors above him and the orcs note about it possibly taking the rest of the morning and more. Seeing that he had little to no experience putting up lights, Pike guessed it would be the afternoon by the time he finished. He has seen others put up lights and it doesn't seem to be too hard of a task to put the little decorations up.
"Ok." Pike chirps as he accepts the terms and conditions. 50-50 doesn't sound too bad and putting up lights can't be that difficult. He waits for some time for any additional guidance that she can give him, "How do I put up the lights on the higher levels?" And a general lesson on how to put up lights wouldn't hurt, Pike thinks to himself as he looks around for a ladder or another way up to the two other floors. He hopes that he won't accidentally break any of the ornaments when he puts them up.

Evening
--
Instead of backing down like his norm, a fire enters his eyes as he becomes more aggressive. He stands, fists clenched.

"You really think I'm going to believe your little bleeding-heart story, traitor?!" he seethes. "You're ruined my whole life, and you expect me just to stand back and help you rub salt into the wound?"

He looks between the two of you, resolve wavering. "Because it's pretty clear I'm only still alive because you need my help. Right? Not... not because the Bloodthorns want to make me suffer?"

Felicia lunges forward, making him yelp and fall to the bench again. "Make this difficult, worm, and I will," she hisses, raising her fist threateningly.

Evening
--
"Well, if they can't climb, we'll just have to travel up or down the ravine until we find a safe place," Crimson suggests. "But that's no use if the orcs are right on our tail... so we'll have to make sure they can't follow, or slow them down somehow to give us enough time. Maybe block off the ravine somehow?"

"We don't have time to scout up and down the ravine for some kind of access point or shallower slope," Murva says. "So we'll need to take our chances. Worst case scenario we'll need to pull them up with ropes, but we can't have warriors on our tail while we're trying to do that.

"I say we get the prisoners to run upstream and we deal with the wartribe. Once we're finished we can catch up and help them back to our camp."

Evening
--
"Well, spend another evening at my bar and you'll hear all sorts!" she chuckles. "Alright, glad I could help! I look forward to hearing how you get on with your mystery box. But for now, I'll wish you a good night."

She trots off around the side of the inn, leaving you alone. But not for long - you hear a squawk, then a large shadow noisily flaps out of the sky and lands with a thump next to you.

"Bob is the craziest dwarf I have ever met," Skywhisper wheezes. "He didn't want me to leave until he made sure his barrow was exactly how he left it. Who cares that much about about a wheelbarrow?"

He gasps. "Oh, the egg! How is it? Did we leave it alone too long?"

Morning
--
"Just grab that ladder over there," she points, "the box of nails and the hammer. When you're ready, I'll feed the chain of decorations up to you and you can secure them on the eaves. Easy! Just don't fall and you'll be fine."

You can skip time until the job is finished if you wish.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=74910&page=235#2343 Author: Falconetti Time Posted: 1/29/2022 at 6:45 AM Evening -- Instead of backing down like his norm, a fire enters his eyes as he becomes more aggressive. He stands, fists clenched. "You really think I'm going to believe your little bleeding-heart story, traitor?!" he seethes. "You're ruined my whole life, and you expect me just to stand back and help you rub salt into the wound?" He looks between the two of you, resolve wavering. "Because it's pretty clear I'm only still alive because you need my help. Right? Not... not because the Bloodthorns want to make me suffer?" Felicia lunges forward, making him yelp and fall to the bench again. "Make this difficult, worm, and I will," she hisses, raising her fist threateningly.

"Okay, look, how about we not kill each other?" Nicote quickly stepped between them. Trurning to his brother, he glared down at him. "Listen up, idiot. I hardly want your position. And I can defintiely say neither of us see eye-to-eye on anything. But right now, even though technically I'm wanted for reverse kidnapping and petty theft, I have more allies then you do. And much as I hate to admit it, "He swallowed, eyes darting to the side. "I'd rather you alive and threatening to berate me for the amount of dirt I'm racking up on my record then dead in a ditch or locked up in some torture chamber. I can live with some mild crime, I don't think I can live with guilt."

He paused. "Actually, yeah. I can't live with guilt. I don't leave people behind and I don't think my conscience is going to let me do otherwise now that I've already gone through with undying my hair for the second time in a week. I'm wasting so much dye, good grief..."

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=74910&page=235#2344 Author: Falconetti Time Posted: 1/29/2022 at 7:23 AM Evening -- "Well, if they can't climb, we'll just have to travel up or down the ravine until we find a safe place," Crimson suggests. "But that's no use if the orcs are right on our tail... so we'll have to make sure they can't follow, or slow them down somehow to give us enough time. Maybe block off the ravine somehow?" "We don't have time to scout up and down the ravine for some kind of access point or shallower slope," Murva says. "So we'll need to take our chances. Worst case scenario we'll need to pull them up with ropes, but we can't have warriors on our tail while we're trying to do that. "I say we get the prisoners to run upstream and we deal with the wartribe. Once we're finished we can catch up and help them back to our camp."

"That's a good idea Aegis but how will we ensure the prisoners can get away," Asteria asks. She looks around the camp to see if there is any way to distract the warriors, "A bit of misdirection might do us a world of good. Make the warriors think we're in one place when truly we're in another."