Danger and Diplomacy (closed)

[haremfaery]

INFORMATION POST

((This is for me (us) to keep track of names, etc. since it's easy for me to forget if they aren't mentioned a lot.))


Name: Princess Morwena Treliat Aranhil, Elven Princess, daughter of the king. Her name literally translated means, Maiden of the white seas (snow covered land), Fire dancer, King's heir. But the Elven language is subtle and each word carries many meanings.
Race: Elven
Skills: diplomacy, can sing and play the lute and dance, all the skills of a highborn (elven) woman. But being an elf means honoring the earth, so while she can live off the land--she's not too happy about it. She is an accomplished rider and has studied sword fighting and archery. Obviously has studied diplomacy, philosophy and other subjects that strike her fancy.
Age: 150(?) in Elven years, looks early 20s to a human
Height: 5'2
Weight: 105 lbs
Hair: Black
Eye Color: Blue.
Skin Color: Very pale
General appearance: Petite. Has very little body hair, like all elves.

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Cynadel: Elven kingdom bordering on the human kingdom of Highland. Snow covered mountains to the north, rolling hills, trees and meadows.

King Dayen Ingata Divendel, King of Cynadel. Father of Morwena. Elf.

King Arnold, human.

 

[haremfaery]

Morwena went to her father's private chamber. He was always informal in this room. It was where he went to think or have private discussions. She wondered why he had asked for her to join him. She straightened her dress and tucked a stray strand of hair back into twist at the nape of her neck. She knocked and walked in. She was surprised to find two of her father's advisers inside. "Father? You sent for me." She dropped him a graceful curtsy.

King Dayen took her hands and lifted her up. "My daughter." He smiled at her. "You know we have been in trade negotiations with the Kingdom of Highland to make peace and cease the border skirmishes. We have completed all but the final signing of the treaty. It has been decided, that you, my beloved daughter, shall journey to Highland as my emissary and sign the treaty. You shall bring gifts to the King and receive gifts in return. All told, you should be for little more than a fortnight. It depends how much King Arnold plans to fete you while you are there. You will be my representative and as such, I know you will deport yourself with dignity."

"Father, I am honored that you think so highly of me, but would it not be better to send one of your advisers?"

"But me no buts. Do you presume to know more than your father? To know more than your king?"

Morwen looked down at her hands. "No, my lord." She said formally.

"It would be unseemly for me to travel to meet this human king, but an ambassador is necessary. Therefore the task falls to you. It is well that you should see something of the world. Spending some little time with the humans may give you insight into their ways and thinking. Especially since we will be having closer dealings with them. Not all are happy with this treaty--on both sides. But all will benefit. Each has something the other lacks in food and art. You will have an escort of Elven warriors and at the border will be joined by human guards who will escort you to the capitol. Your leave in two days. Go and pack your things."

It was a dismissal. She could tell her father was not happy. She knew the negotiations had gone well in the beginning but things bogged down as egos became chafed. The humans thought the elves were using delaying tactics, the elves thought the humans were riding roughshod over important points of contention. Humans and elves thought so differently about things. They had finally come to an agreement and a treaty was drawn up. Then it was three more weeks at the table to argue over how the pact would be sealed. And now she knew.

Morwen would represent the Elven lands as Ambassador of Cynadel and travel to the human kingdom. She felt some excitement at the prospect of leaving Cynadel. She also felt trepidation at having such responsibility. Along with that she felt some--not actually disgust, but something like it. Humans were coarse and loud and they smelled bad. And the males had hair on their bodies and faces. She ran a hand over her face wondering what that must be like.

Morwen turned her mind to more important matters: how many dresses she should pack. Should she bring her harp and play for King Arnold?

She walked across the high arching bridge to her rooms still lost in thought.


((Check out this link http://www.ansereg.com/what_tolkien_...y_said_abo.htm what Tolkien officially said abt elf sex. I'm thinking Morwen must have a "strange Fate"))

 

[Lordmikel]

Markus "Ark" Loyaler

Name: Markus "Ark" Loyaler
Race: Human
Skills: Forestry, survival, swimming
Age: 25
Height: 6'2
Weight: 220 lbs
Hair: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Skin Color: White
General appearance: Muscular, tall. He is generally seen in a dark green cloak. Armed with a bow and a sword.

For years Markus, Ark called by the children of his village, had studied to be a ranger. A Man of the forest, to protect the wild life, and live among the peaceful of the forest. But to live out there, he knew he needed to be able to know more about wild life than any other man could know. He first had studied the bow and later the sword. But he also knew he truly know the forest, he would have to study with the elves.

He journeyed then to their kingdom. At first they laughed at him, for they did not think any man could care enough about the forest. Eventually though he won them over, but it was a long hard fight. But it wasn't even lore they taught him, but also more of the sword and bow.

After a few years, He decided it was time to return to the human lands. Hearing of a caravan journeying close to his own village, he signed on as a guard on it. He figured it would be a simple enough escort duty.

The first leg of the journey was simple enough. As they crossed the border, the human escort arrived. It was shortly after that when everything went bad.

The first wave of the attack were the flame arrows. They struck the carriage and the riders. The next wave was the fireball which struck the side of the carriage. Markus was on the other side of the carriage and avoided the blast. But it did knock the carriage over. Ark looked inside and saw the diplomat. He heard the screams of men dying around him. He reached into the carriage and grabbed the diplomat. Another volley of arrows took out more guards, a few landing close to them.

Markus tossed the diplomat over his shoulder and ran into the forest, away from the directions the arrows were coming in. Once they hit the forest wall, they all but vanished as the men behind them pursued them.

But the forest was Markus's domain and within a few short minutes and they were hidden at least for the moment as he finally checked on the diplomat for injuries.

 

[haremfaery]

Morwena had enough wits about her to grab her pouch and her sword belt. While she was manhandled out of the carriage. She was still processing the fact that they had been attacked. The envoy was on a mission of good will. She knew there were some who did not approve, but to commit such a murderous act? The trade agreement and treaty would be beneficial to all.

At first she thought she had been captured but the guard who tossed her over his shoulder was running away from the carnage to the shelter of the forest.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." she said in Elven swatting his hand away. Her ears were stiff with agitation. "Did you see who attacked us? Are they following?" She looked around then looked at him more carefully. He was the human who had been studying in Cynadel and was now returning home by joining the envoy. She had wanted to know who she would be traveling with.

 

[Lordmikel]

Markus put one finger to his face to indicate she should be quiet as he listened for any pursuers. He could faintly hear them in the distance from for the moment but he thought they were fine for the moment. "We can whisper, but they are still out there." He tries to recall the men who attacked them, but sadly he doesn't actually recall ever seeing anyone. It was the arrows and the fireball, and men screaming, and he knew people were out there, but he had not actually seen one.

"I didn't see who did the attack." He withdraws his hands from checking her out. "Wait right here." He withdraws from their hiding place, and is only gone for thirty seconds before returning. "We need to head south, are you good to walk then?"

 

[haremfaery]

"Yes, I am fine. Truly." She stood up and dusted off her dress and tucked it up into her belt so she could move better. She buckled on her sword and slung her bag across her chest. It contained a few of her necessities. Her clothes were in trunks back at the carriage. She sighed. She knew she should have worn her leathers to travel in. Dresses were lovely but not practical for hiking through the forest.

"I only have a few bruises from the carriage overturning. Let's get going. But first, I am Morwena." She put out her hand to him.

 

[Lordmikel]

"Marcus" he says as he begins to shake her hand. "But most people call me Ark." He takes a look at what she is wearing, only briefly noticing her dress and her supple legs. He was more interested in what she was carrying. He had his own sword and bow, but any provisions were back at the caravan. "No bag of holding I take it?" He considers options, "we could try to sneak back to gather supplies, but I suspect they might be waiting for us to do just that."

"I know vaguely where we are, and I know if we head south we can avoid the main roads, find a deer path and get to where we are going. Unfortunately we will need to avoid the roads." Ark thinks about it, "There might be a traders post we can get to, and from there get some better provisions."

It was then the heard the howls. Ark shook his head, "Or we may need to go find a river first, I think that was a warg howl, they are hunting us." He looks at Morwena, "Any idea why they are so bad to stop this mission?"

 

[haremfaery]

"Ark. Thank you for your quick thinking." Morwena nodded. "Actually, there is a bag of holding in here. But it doesn't have much. My bow and arrows, a few rations if I got peckish, a cloak, documents for King Arnold. My harp. A few books... I hadn't planned on being attacked and having to run for my life. It's a shame we couldn't have taken horses."

Her blood ran cold hearing the howls. "I know some humans aren't happy to settle things peacefully. They would rather invade Elven lands and take what they want rather than trade and receive bounty freely given." she looked around. "We should get moving."

 

[Lordmikel]

Ark had to think about where they were. He was somewhat familiar with the area, but not entirely, and it had been a few years. "Horses wouldn't help us in the forest, they would only slow us."

Another howl which was even closer could be heard. "The Wargs can run quickly even in the forest." He motioned in a direction and started running. "I think there is a river this way. We need to get there to help them lose our scent."

Ark runs fast, the trees and branches zipping by them, he makes sure to not swing any branches back towards Morwena, as that would prove costly.

Finally they broke through some trees to find the river. Ark looks upstream and down stream. "Hop in and let's swim down stream."

 

[haremfaery]

Morwena followed Ark moving swiftly and silently. They covered ground quickly even though she had to take two or three steps to his one.

She pulled out her dagger and began cutting her skirt off above her knees. "If I swim in this dress, the weight will drag me down. She stuffed the excess fabric into her bag. "In we go then." Morwena had had more excitement in four((?)) days that she had her entire life.

She made her way down the bank and into the water.

 

[Lordmikel]

Ark took a quick glance at her legs, as they were quite difficult to miss. He was glad she put her discarded clothes into the bag. Having them here would very much identify where they were.

He slowly made his own way into the water, which was cold, winter thaw. He current was fast, but not unmanageable. After perhaps a mile, he knew they needed to get out of the water, and he finally saw an place where they could get out easily. "Over here."

Ark drug himself out of the water, and while he simply wanted to collapse, he knew they couldn't yet. "We need to keep moving. I know you're tired, but we need to keep going."

 

[haremfaery]

"How much farther do you think?" Morwena chafed her arms. "We need to get out of these wet things. And eat. How long do you think they'll try and track us?" Now that she was out of the water she could think again about the attack and what might have motivated it. Perhaps someone wished to start a war between the humans and the elves. This would be the way to do it. But why? Things were beginning to go well and both had much to gain from a trade agreement. She shook her head and wrung out what was now a sort of tunic after cutting her dress.

"Which way to someplace where we can send word about our predicament? Preferably with a hot bath and good food." She tried to think positively.

 

[Lordmikel]

Ark really did want to get someplace warm and out of these wet clothes. The temperature would be dropping and he wasn't sure if a fire would be safe out here. But then he saw it, the cottage up ahead. He looked back, "Shelter." As they approached, he didn't see any sign of life. "It must be a hunter's cottage, used by someone when they are out hunting. We can stay here for the night."

He makes his way to the front door, as long as it wasn't magically locked, he should be able to get in easily enough. For once luck was on their side as he got the door open. He didn't wait long before he started to remove his wet clothing, "perhaps there will be some spare clothing in here."

 

[haremfaery]

Morwena was relieved to be in the cottage, someplace, she hoped, that would provide safety at least long enough for them to get dry and get some sleep.

"Dare we make a fire?" She looked at the neat hearth with kindling and firewood stacked off to the side. Whoever used this place was a good housekeeper.

She saw Ark taking his clothes off and went to the far side of the room. She sat on a rough chair and took off her boots and stockings. She hung her stockings. She wanted to remove the rest of her wet things, but decided a quick look around for spare clothes might be in order first.

There was a rough wooden featherbed in the corner with a curtain on the side of it. She pulled the curtain aside to find a set of man's clothing. She took the clothes. "Breeches for you and tunic for me until our clothes dry?" She cocked her head at him. Her ears tilted too. She tossed him the breeches and turned her back to get out of the rest of her wet clothes.

Nudity was not a taboo for elves, per se, it was natural and nothing to be ashamed of. But Morwena knew that humans had all sorts of taboos, she did not want to make Ark uncomfortable. She could not afford to alienate her protector. She pulled the dry tunic over her head then draped her wet clothes around the room to dry faster.

 

[Lordmikel]

Ark took the offered trousers and slides them on. He was glad to no longer be in wet clothing. He hung his own clothes out to dry. He was lucky and able to find a few blankets. "We should probably hold off on any fire tonight. The blankets should keep us warm."

Ark then wandered into what resembled a kitchen. "There is some food here, so we will be able to provision ourselves tomorrow."

He looked at Morwena, dressed as she was in only a shirt, he did admire the way the shirt fit upon her. "Perhaps we should try for some sleep?"

 

[haremfaery]

((Just how hairy is Ark? beard? Moustache? Chest hair?))

"Sleep would be most welcome." She took a blanket from him and put it on the bed. She was feeling better since getting out of the wet clothes, but the exertion of the day was catching up to her.

Morwena sat on the bed. There was no doubt in her mind that she would sleep on the bed and Ark would sleep ... somewhere else. She stifled a yawn. "We can put the food in my bag in the morning. And anything else worth taking for our journey."

She looked at him standing there naked to the waist. She could almost hear her father sniff in disdain at her current circumstances.

The silence began to get awkward, but she couldn't think of anything to say until, "I don't believe I thanked you for saving me. Your quick thinking saved us both."

 

[Lordmikel]

(No beard or mustache, light on the chest hair)

"Just doing my duty as a guard. I'm not sure if anyone else survived, but I felt it was most important to get you out there. Hopefully if they did survive, they were able to escape." He shuddered to think what they might do for information.

He takes another of the blankets and moves over to the rug on the floor. He has limited options for sleep, but the fur should be comfortable enough. "Morning then and perhaps we can determine where to go from here."

OOC> Something will happen before morning, so no need to fast forward to there

 

[haremfaery]

"You could have left me and saved yourself." She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer for the safety of any others who may have survived.

Morwena watched Ark get settled. He wasn't bad looking for a human. At least he was not so hairy as some.

"Yes. A good night's sleep will bring clarity in the morning." She snuggled down into the blanket with her back to the wall.

 

[Lordmikel]

It was during the night that the heat started. Ark at first appreciated the heat being how cold he was. But then his clothes dried and even the blanket become too much from the heat. The heat was also heating Ark up, and not only the temperature. His dreams became erotic, filled with women and sex, and everything else.

Ark finally woke, his body covered in a bit of sweat as he made his way to find something to drink. He was hot and thirsty, and he hoped something would be able to quench his thirst. He had looked through the cupboards for food, but now he was looking for drink. Mead would keep if he could find it.

As he opened one cupboard, indeed there was mead, and water, and even wine.

 

[haremfaery]

((Hmm what do you have in mind?))

Morwena moaned in her sleep and kicked at her blankets feeling too warm but not awake enough to do much to remedy the situation. She tossed and turned trying to find a cooler spot on the bed. Finally, she sat up with a groan and pushed the blankets aside. She looked around.

"Ark? You made the fire too hot." She complained. She stood up and stretched. The feel of the rough tunic sliding across her breasts gave her a sensual shiver.

 

[Lordmikel]

Ark grabbed the containers of liquid as he heard Morwena call out to him. "No fire from me," he said. He brought the liquids over, plopping them onto bed with Morwena, drinking down some of the mead. "It wasn't me, I didn't start any fire." In fact looking around there wasn't any heat source at all. "It is this house making it be so hot." He hated to throw out he magic word, he was no peasant afraid of any spell or magical creature.

He offered any of the drinks to Morwena, "But this blasted heat is terrible it woke me up as well, has made me parched." He eyed Morwena, seeing how lovely the woman was looking, the way the shirt seemed to be clinging to her.

 

[haremfaery]

Morwena pushed a damp tress from her forehead. She took what looked like emad and sniffed at it. It seemed safe. Mead did keep for a long time.

"And you don't find it odd that the house is suddenly hot to the point where it is so uncomfortable?" Now that she was more awake she looked around room. "Did you look outside?" She frowned. "Fire elementals? Why would they do this? A spell? If we were found, they could have burst in while we were sleeping. This makes no sense." She tugged her shirts away from her body.

 

[Lordmikel]

Ark took another swig of his drink. He shook his head, "I woke up parched and couldn't think of anything else really." He made his way to the window and looked outside, it was dark and he didn't spot anyone or anything. He doubted whoever was pursuing him would bother with that much stealth. "I don't see anyone out there and a fire elemental would be pretty difficult to hide."

He looked around the room, his pants a bit tighter from the blood coursing through his body. "Do you know any magic?" He asked. "There may be a magical trap of some kind."

(OOC there is)

 

[haremfaery]

"I know magic." Morwena looked around the room. "I suppose it was too much to ask that we find a safe haven for the night. She was particularly angry at herself for not checking for traps or magic earlier, and for not setting wards of protection. She was not accustomed to thinking that way. Not accustomed to having people try to kill her. It sent a chill through her, even in the heat.

She took a breath and centered herself then used the words to cast a dispel magic.

 

[Lordmikel]

The general display seemed to do the trick. It was still hot, but that was simply because the temperature slow to rise was also going to be slow to lower. But they could tell the increase was no more. Ark let out a deep breath. He was still hot, but at least they were no longer going to be cooked.

He couldn't help but admire Morwena's cute legs as she stood there working her magic. "Good job." He said.