Campground - Camp Fire

Outside of the farmhouse, Garoll had already masterfully started kindling and a fire pit, creating a campfire for the group. Granted, this kindling was dried leaves and some firewood he saw at the side of the house, but it worked just the same. Primitive barbarian humans. He mused to himself and then went to the farm house's cellar to bring out a keg that was held down there. 30 year old wine. He wondered what human wine tasted like. According to Nygozy it tasted infinitely better than the stuff back home.

Placing the keg down and having several mugs beneath it, he readied himself for his eventual drinking partners. Pouring himself a mug he started to hum a shanty and then placed the cup to his lips and drained the wine down. The flavor was perfect and made everything back home taste like dirt in comparisson. Soon he was refilling and downing mug after mug. "Haha!! This stuff's great!!" He hooted as he drank.

Roy was already in the cellar when Garoll entered. He was shuffling through trying to find the best (and most potent). He was able to grab two kegs with relative ease, slinging one over his shoulder and holding the other under his arm.

"And this ain't even the best of our stuff. Back at my house we've got some real grand drinks. Tastes like your sippin at heaven." he mused with a smile as he watched his drinking partner getting started.

Royce put down his two kegs, one was beer, a good and simple choice. Always a crowd pleaser. And the other was a hard whisky, probably a good hundred years old (if Roy was an expert like his friends he could have probably pinned the exact year and farm it had come from) and very strong.

"If I end up stripping, just let me be." he laughed as he got himself a mug.

The dwarf chuckled as Royce joined him in the drinking with two kegs he picked out. And then came a man who was big for an elf, and a petite, dark skinned elf next to him. "Good evening, o stout, smelly Dwarf and pink-haired hoodlum! The almighty Durbans and his fair companion grace you with our presence at this fire!" Marcus said in his usual flair. Garoll snorted in disgust. This man sounded like one of them pompous Noble types. But he was obviously not by the smell of wood on him and the carving shavings clinging to his clothes. "Hrmph. Siddown ya soddin' hippie. Take a drink and relax." Garoll ordered and Marcus smiled at Jezarine and sat down on a rock by the fire, filling a mug with some of the wine Royce picked out and offering it to her.

"Stripping?" Jezarine blushed as she saw Royce and looked about again for Ianto.

Where had he gotten to? Had he been jesting with her that he would have a yammering fest with her? She hoped not but it wasn't unlike people to say things to her and not mean it. No it seemed that Ianto was truthful.

She looked to the Dwarf and smiled at him shyly as she sat down beside Royce and listened to the men dally, "Uhm ... I'm Jezarine."

The healer looked at the ale, "Ale? Where'd this come from? I don't think any was at the camp was there?"

Kai walked out with Nygozy, he lead her to place that was near the fire and sat there beside her. He watched everyone talk and drink, he was not very interested in their coversations, If at all. The assassin waited quietly, not for anything in particular though. He stared off, occasionally glancing to the hero.

Then Kai heard a faint sound, like the rustling of leaves on a tree. He looked just in time to see what looked like the dark outline of a person, hand on his daggers he stood and looked at the hero. "We're not alone." he whispered to her as he headed off following after the figure.

Nygozy sat down beside Garoll and was amused that Kai had made sure they were not close to Royce. This would make things easier for the assassin unless someone decided to joke with her flirtingly.

Then Kai was up, having whispered to her that they were not alone, "I'll come." She whispered back and stood, about to go off with him.

Kai turned to look at Nygozy as she stood and prepared to follow him. He put his hands on her shoulders, pressing on them lightly but firmly. "No I don't want you following me, it could be dangerous and while I know that you are more than capable of fending for yourself I don't want to risk you getting hurt."

He had her sit back in place before he again took up following the unknown person into the trees that surrounded the area. This person was a rouge like Kai, that much the elf was certain of. However this person was not as quick as the assassin was and soon Kai had caught up with him.

((Kai has gone here: https://dragonageafter.forumotion.com/dragon-tales-f2/multiply-kai-t76.htm#819))

Something felt strange but not like Darkspawn so Nygozy did sit back down. He'd be ok, right? Yes, he was an assassin and even though he was stubborn he was not about to get into trouble he could not handle without others.

Nygozy turned to the others and grinned, "So is the ale good enough for the mighty Garoll or do we need to find some combustable fire water?"

Garoll was pleased more people were coming to the fire and the dark skinned elf girl introduced herself along with the big elf. He nodded a greeting to the barbarian. "Mmph. Well met I guess, lass. Garoll Stonebrach, commander of the Stonebrach Sentinels of the Legion back in Orzammar." He paused after finishing that. "Or I was till I fell off that sodding bridge." He shrugged. He noticed Nygozy and her crotchety bodyguard from before had joined them at the fire. He nodded a greeting to Kai, but offered Nygozy a smile. Even though she was Casteless, she was still a fine specimen of a woman. He grunted and snapped out of it. She was far too young for him though. Eh. Never stopped the Noble caste from taking wives young enough to be their daughters. He mused to himself.


Marcus was having a blast, drinking and talking. He spoke mostly to Jezarine because she fascinated him. They spoke of medicines, Jezarine testing Marcus on his knowledge and he showed a surprising amount of knowledge on herbal lore and where to find certain species of plants. Marcus noted that Jez was nervous but chatty about such things and that made him smile a genuine smile on that handsomely oafish face of his.

"Not only am I a man of the earth, I am a man of art. I carve wood like you saw earlier. My work has been lauded as flesh in wood." He said, idly twirling his carving knife in his hand as he rested his chin on his other hand, looking at the exotic beauty. "I capture beauty in art, and I would love to carve a statuette of you someday, if you'll let me."

Roy laughed heartedly as the other joined them for their marry-making. He was already a bit tipsy from chugging the last couple of mugs, but he wasn't yet to the point he needed to be cut off. He looked to Jerazine who sat beside him. "Hello my far lass. We are blessed to have beauty such as yours join us this fine night." he said, giving her a dashing smile.

He held out a mug for the dark-skinned elf, hoping she would be a bit less shy when the alcohol reached her system. Not that he was trying to get her drunk, he would never take advantage of a woman like that. And this set him apart from all his noble friends back in Denerim, they would not have seen the sweet healer as just a woman, they would have seen her as an elf, and thus less than human. Why did Roy choose to associate with such people again?

The discussion was lively enough and she was enjoying discussing her trade. It was a pleasure to see that another person had a flair for herbology, making it easy to converse being not so stilted as it was something they both knew.

Royce then spoke to her and she looked at him, taking the mug of brew. Her dark eyes examined it as she brought it up to her face and sniffed before taking a delicate sip while blushing at such praise.

"This is good ale." She commented absently, "Thank you, Royce. You fell off a bridge? Ow. That must have hurt a lot if it was pretty high. I've fallen off one before but it wasn't very high at all."

She noticed Marcus' words and looked at him, "Oh no. I wouldn't want a statuette of myself but thanks. That's just too ... snotty I suppose, to think of myself so highly. But I do like bunnies." Jezarine blushed.

Nygozy got a mug, filled it with ale then slugged the whole thing back. After wiping her face she filled the mug again then sat back with it, listening to the herbalists speak for a while before looking about.

Royce and Durbans both seemed interested in Jezarine but the Dalish kept glancing about probably for Ianto since that is whom she and Durbans were looking for when they came to her room. Then there was Garoll who was looking at her in some fashion she was not quite sure of but was sure Kai would have threatened him if he saw it.

She drank a bit more before speaking, "I heard that your group was amalgamated with some woman's troop. Apparently she had been working with you at the time of your drop."

Jezarine had run off so fast to heal people that Ianto had simply been left behind to blink in wonder as to where the extra energy had come from. After that, though, he'd smiled, shaking his head. Of course she had extra energy- she was Jez, and besides, she seemed to be a very dedicated healer. He was only a novice when it came to tending to wounds (mostly bandaging cuts and temporarily setting broken bones- all skills one needed for battle in the field, anyway), but he had seen healers in action, and they were a force to be reckoned with. To get in the way of a healer trying to save their patients was about as smart as getting between a mother bear and her cub- you just didn't do it.

So, as it was, he smiled, fondly amused, as she ran off, and then simply stood still for a moment. He let the cool air waft over his skin as it carried the sound of the voices of the others towards him, and for the first time it really felt like a camp- a group of fellow warriors banded together, who, at the moment, had nothing to worry about except who was going to fall under drunk first.

Finally, after standing around for so long that he actually had to snap himself out of his revere, Ianto turned his head and turned back away from the house to where he and Jez had seen Roy and the dwarf earlier on, by the campfire.

He blinked in mild surprise when he saw that Jez was already there- with Nygozy, Roy, an elf he didn't remember the name of (or perhaps he'd never learned it), and a dwarf he didn't know- and wondered how he'd missed her coming out of the house- perhaps by way of a back door. Then, he smiled, and worked his way over to where they were all sitting, picking a seat next to Jez (putting him somewhere between her and Roy, and across from Nygozy).

"Well, there," he said, looking around at all of them, "it seems I'm late to the party.What have I missed, then?" He asked around, looking mostly to Jez as he wondered where he could get a drink.

Kristoff snuck around the campground, it was warmer and safer here then anywhere else. Just a quick nap, then your off, do you hear me, Kris, you have to leave before you arise suspicions, he thought to himself. So he layed down in cover, but close enough to the campfire, he fell asleep with his dagger in hand, just incase and theives try to steal the money he stole and killed for fair and square.

"Ianto!" Jezarine called happily as he sat down beside her. She smiled excitedly when he asked what he missed, "I healed Drake and Marcus and I have been speaking about herbs. It's all rather interesting but I don't know if you like that kind of thing or not. I can teach you if you like."

She grabbed a mug and gave him some ale, "Here. You promised to show me that you can outdrink a Dwarf."

She was extremely happy that he was there, knowing she'd gotten caught up in her field and hoped he was fine with that.

As I woke up, something was staring at me, as my vision got better I saw what islt was, a mabari. "Shoo dog, shoo," I said then it snapped at me causing me to stumble out into plane sight.

Torture was rather happy with himself for flushing out this person who had been lying in the bush. He was called "Torture" for a reason: the mabari enjoyed terrorizing if he could get away with it and this was a time he could get away with it. His mistress did not like him hurting anyone unless they were attacking but he was able to sniff out and flush them. Usually with a big bark which he now demonstrated as he moved forward to make this human get closer to the others.

Nygozy looked up at the bark and grinned, "More company?" She got up and moved towards the man, keeping herself a couple of feet away just in case, "Are you a thief or a wraith? You are very thin."

The Dwarven woman, even though much shorter than the young man, was a commanding force but she wore a smile with a twitch at the left edge of her lips as if amused and not upset. She did not seem worried at all, and why should she be with others around her but she also had the air of one for whom would not be concerned even without others for backup.

I gave her my most evil look, "I believe thats none of your consern."

The dog growled behind the young man and Nygozy grinned at the evil look the youth gave her.

"Well, aren't you a ball of spitfire?" She chuckled, "I am the leader of this group you have tripped upon. Torture found you which means you were close. It would be helpful for you to answer me before any number of my team decides you are a threat."

"Don't cross me," I saw very angerly, the seem of death radiates of my skin.

Nygozy could see the others ready to move but motioned for them to stay still. She stepped forward and put out her hand, speaking in a calming voice, "Come with me. Let's speak alone."

"Okay."

"I will be back shortly." She said to the others, knowing that Kai would be able to find her, "Have an extra drink for me, Garoll."

((Kristoff and Nygozy have gone here: https://dragonageafter.forumotion.com/dragon-rest-f8/campground-assasins-everywhere-t81.htm#860))

while wearing Kai's eyepatch the bard walked into the camp trying as hard as he could to act like his older brother, then he saw a dark skinned elf he walked up to her and in the kindest tone he could muster while still sounding like Kai said " hello my lady, How are you on this wonderful night? May I have a drink?" while he waited for her response he was constantly looking out for his mean older brother hoping he wouldn't catch him

Roy leaned forward, grinning like mad, when Ianto returned to the group. "What a pleasant surprise chantry boy," he laughed. Slinging an arm around the other man's shoulders he offered up a mug of ale. "Out-drink a dwarf? Now this I've gotta see. I bet ya can't even out drink little Jez here. Let alone that old man. And if yer really good, you'll be able to out drink me." he smiled handsomely. Of course he already in the lead, with four drinks down, and these mugs were rather big.