((The following is a compilation of the RP done by the brilliant players of the characters involved in setting up Dazelia's epic encounter designed to progress her story. I did my best to use their words exactly as much as possible, only making what edits were necessary to facilitate the flow))
In a small copse of trees not far south and east of the South Gate of Bree, three young women set up a tidy campsite. Well into the night they laugh, tell stories, and speculate about what the next day would bring. At length, Daisy and Lowenna crawl into their tent and drift off to sleep. Rowena the tailor, however, stays out of the tent to settle the fire. Waiting until Daisy was asleep, she tries to rouse Lowenna.
The florist Lowenna lies still among the quiet of the tent, swaddled in the sturdy yet plush cotton blankets she'd gathered for the camp out for her friends. She breathes evenly, lying in a pleasant slumber until some movement pulls her from her dreams. She stirs, her eyelids fluttering slowly open, and as the world slowly grows into focus she blinks wearily at Rowena. “Rowena... is that- is that you?” she asks slowly, her voice slurred with sleep.
The crouching woman lifts a finger to her lips, hushing the other girl and slowly backing out of the tent beckoning her to follow. Lowenna blinks dazed for another moment and then, careful not to make too much sound, slips from the blankets and follows her to the other side of the fire, where Rowena murmurs in hushed tones, “It seems fishy doesn't it? I thought maybe we could take a look, without crushing Daisy's spirits too much....”
Lowenna stifles a yawn as she stands beside the fire. “Take a look...? You mean... you think we should act like spies?” she asks with wide doe-like eyes. “This whole event does seem quite, quite strange.”
Rowena pauses at that, an almost mischievous smile dawning, though she becomes serious just after with a slow nod. “Like spies, yes. We should go ahead quietly, without being seen, and make sure that nothing is amiss....” She keeps her voice low, quiet, avoiding waking Daisy in the tent across the camp. She seems both solemn, and a bit excited at the idea of such a daring venture.
“Spies...” Lowenna echoes with a twinkle in her eyes, and then turns to the other woman, giving her a firm nod and broader smile. “That sounds like a splendidly smart idea! And a thrilling one. Oh, indeed, it is just like a fairytale!” She nearly chuckles, but her hand flies to her mouth and after casting a glance towards the tent where Daisy lies peacefully, her voice lowers to a whisper, “Let's go before she wakes.”
Meanwhile, at the Villains' camp...
A fire burns brightly, around which are a few tents and a nearby wagon. From inside the largest and most lavish tent can be heard Marius snoring his head off very loudly. Occasionally he sounds like he's choking or drooling in his sleep. Parked outside his tent, his two henchwomen stand watch. The night is lazy and none of them are expecting trouble. As the firelight shines brightly, they can barely make out the wagon across the way, with some poor sod named Lugiri chained underneath.
Indeed, there is a man that is chained up to one of the wagon wheel spokes. He is dressed in dirtied rags, and the raggedness of his facial hair would suggest a depression beard, were it not beyond his own means to groom. Having little else to do while the camp dies down into sleep, he takes a few blessed moments for himself.
His eyes turn upward to take in the lovely visage of Elbereth in the sky. One of the few things that may not be taken from a man, even under the most dire of circumstance, are his memories. Long were the times spent in the vineyards at night, using the coolness of the air and the light of the moon to spend his time tending to the grapes in need. Even before this miserable trudge, the dappled starlight of the sky had ever been a kind friend to him in difficult times. It was many times only under their light that he could find the time to spend with his beloved Dazelia. Strolling under them with her at his side, he felt like he could live in that moment forever, just to catch the twinkle of their light in her wonder-filled eyes.
Whether or not he really could continue to live in that moment was truly being put to the test. His frame has thinned, and his once strong hands now scrunched slightly with gnarled and dirtied fingernails. Hope, he could hold onto. So long as Marius still searched after all, it meant one more day that Daisy must have escaped his grease-streaked clutches. That, for now, would be enough. That, and the stars.
As far as Borghildur, one of the henchladies, can pay attention to anything with Marius' disgusting sleep slavering and snorting going on, her focus is on Lugiri. She figures he's where trouble's going to come from if it comes from anywhere. Besides, if he starts to fuss she'll have someone to kick.
As the night progresses and Borghildur keeps a vigil upon him, Lugiri would lift a hand and wave to her with a little smile. She returns a little finger wave and a sarcastically sweet smile.
Marius continues his accursed snarl-gurgle-wheeze-snoring like a grotesque breed of thunder for the loudness of it. Borg of course, finds herself in an annoying situation, Marius having instructed her firmly to stay put, and the fire is just in that sweet spot of obscuring line of sight between her and the wagon, yet Marius had also insisted it stays burning all night (for a prompt cooking of breakfast in the morning). Therefore she'd just been able to make out Lugiri's wave, through the heat vapors of the flames. And while the brigand is of course, being admirably alert and thorough in keeping a watch on Lugiri, the circumstances she'd been placed in are against her in being able to spot the two women as Lowenna and Rowena draw nearer to the camp. From the same side as the wagon, they would come, having been subtle enough not to come from the more prominent side of the camp with the large tent.
Lowenna treks through the brush with incredibly slow steps, following Rowena’s lead towards the camp. Her shoulders are arched as she steps over the grass on the balls of her feet, and though she seems very careful to avoid twigs that might snap or leaves that might rustle -for indeed her idealistic mind is captured by the romantic notion of being a spy- she appears to be sneaking about like some inexperienced burglar on their first robbery. Her wide, brown eyes dart about from beneath her messy yet cutely-curled blonde hair, making out whatever details they can in the darkness, but perhaps it is the orange glow of the flames that first catch her attention. She steadily approaches it, and although noting the wagon, for now she lingers close to the shadow of a nearby tree, her dainty hand brushing the bark as she peers towards the flames, squinting and trying to catch a glimpse of the surroundings.
Rowena stalks through the dark toward the camp, glancing back now and again to note if Lowenna is still with her. It might seem that she's done this before, at least the stalking through the dark part. But her legs bend a little, creeping almost stereotypical burglar fashion...her cheeks flushed with the excitement of it all. They move toward the fire, and she settles behind the tree with the other woman, her dark hair swept back in a neat utilitarian braid from which wisps of straight hair escape from, blown by the soft breeze. So she peeks cautiously around the other side of the tree, the two of them looking much like an almost comical set of little girls spying on their christmas presents instead of rogues trying to suss out a camp of possible suspects.
Upon looking around, Lowenna and Rowena soon enough make out the things around the camp. The wagon for one - the most obvious eyesore, nearest to them and probably the most promising looking cover. A few plain tents. And of course the unfortunate nigh-starved man chained, beneath the wagon slightly - but closer to the other side (nearest the fire) of it. The two guards, Borghildur and Audfrid, are stationed outside the largest tent on the opposite side... which audibly would seem to be the source of the awful snoring. In fact, ll any of them can hear at present, are the awful sounds of Marius's valar-forsaken snoring like someone dying in the largest tent. Even the local wildlife, insects, birds, seem horrified into silence by it.
Lowenna squints and peers in the darkness, her eyes flittering from the wagon to the tents to the chained prisoner lying still on the ground and to the flames as they flicker and crackle... and instantly fly towards the prisoner. Her glance widens in horror, and she shakes her head, thinking that maybe he’s just a man sleeping but... sleeping in chains. Her eyes dart back to Rowena, filled with horror as a shaky hand rises and points towards the man.
Lugiri indeed might appear to be asleep from afar, leaned against the wagon wheel to which he is chained, moving very little, only to breathe. His wistful gaze on the sky is turned away from the two bold young ladies.
It hasn't escaped Rowena's notice, and her own eyes, adjusting to the flickering light amid the darkness, have settled on what she can see of the chained man as well. There is dismay in them, but uncertainty as well. She looks toward Lowenna then, giving a little nod to show that she'd noticed, her mouth trembling just a touch before she looks over the rest of the camp and it's state, as if judging how well under watch the wagon was. Another look toward Low, and she gives a tilt of her head toward the wagon as if indicating they might duck behind it.. She watches what she can see across the fire...and when she judges that the heads are not turned directly toward them..she crouches and quickly but as quietly as possible tries to move from the cover of tree to the cover of the wagon.
It is at this time, when Lowenna and Rowena both make to move behind the wagon, that a tree nearby just so happens to drop a branch.... and for a heart-freezing moment, the two might think the game was up.... surely that sound, though unrelated to them, might bring attention....
Indeed, the tree branch dropping naturally off to one side of them, might draw the attention of Borg. One of the few things to be heard above Marius's accursed snoring. But upon looking that way, as yet, nothing seems amiss, and the rustly, leafy sound of it might make the noise dismissable for what it is. Especially in the ensuing... 'silence'. If one could consider Marius's horrid symphony of snortations a silence.
It might have startled Lugiri, if he had the energy to care about what may or may not be coming their way at this juncture. He remains almost deathly still.
Although frozen in fright, Lowenna catches Rowena’s tilt of her head, and upon seeing her dart to the wagon she follows with hurried and uneven steps. The sound of the tree branch startles and freezes her in place, but after what seems to be quiet -or perhaps the surroundings merely seem quiet compared to the deafening beating of her heart in her ears- she scurries besides Rowena and ducks behind the cover of the wagon. She instantly kneels on the ground, her knees making indentations in the dirt as she looks over the man with horror and deep pity in her glance, and on instinct she reaches out to gently touch his shoulder as if to ascertain if he was alive.
Rowena goes still for a moment as well as the branch falls, the catch of her breath fortunately covered by the crashing and rustle of the branch as it meets the ground. She moves quickly after the brief pause though, crouching behind one of the wheels and waiting a moment, as if she half-expects to hear the approach of someone from the camp beyond...or to be snatched from behind. She looks over, but seeing that Low is checking on the man she decides it's best for her to keep watch instead..her own eyes wide and hands shaking a little bit..perhaps wondering if she'd signed up for more excitement than she'd bargained for.
She does creep closer, though after a moment, slowly so as to be as quiet as possible still, so that she's next to Low, her voice as quiet as she can make it as she inquires with a quick glance over the rag-adorned, dirty man chained there..trying to ascertain if he's chained -to- the wagon or just chained himself. “Is he ...dead?”
Lowenna seems so shaken, so unsettled by the sight of the poor, poor mistreated man, that with tears bordering her wide eyes she shakes her head in answer to Rowena’s question, her mouth agape in shock as she speaks in a high-pitched, shaky whisper, “I don’t- I don’t know, Rowena, I don-“ And Instantly when he stirs she freezes, watching him speechless as if watching some corpse stirring to life.
Lugiri is chained with manacles on either wrist and a chain between them, with the chain itself threaded around one of the spokes in the wagon wheel. At the sound of the voices nearby, though unrecognized, he stirs. Though, he does so with as much subtlety as possible, moving with the sort of stiff stretch of wearied bones that might often come from a bound prisoner. He waits, and listens patiently for a moment to see what might be happening...
Rowena goes quiet as well when he stirs, trying to contain the fear of their discovery. It's quite obvious that their mission hadn't been in vain. After all, what sort of well-meaning person kept a man chained in such a state? These concerns whirl behind her eyes and in her expression, aghast at the mans condition and out of her depth in the discovery of the deviousness of the lure of her friend. Still, she pulls herself together, placing a finger over her lips for the benefit of the already quiet man and her nearby friend before she leans to check the chains. Noting they are locked, she gives her head a shake, another pause to listen as if she expects they might be found at any moment before she whispers softly again, “They're locked...”
“Indeed they are...” He responds in a hoarse voice, but still soft and polite. “Unfortunate for me. I certainly hope that I am fortunate enough to be finding my rescuers among two young ladies.” He shifts himself enough to face away from the fire and more toward the darkness, trying to keep the movement as casual as possible so as not to draw attention. “I am Lugiri, and I am being held wrongfully here against my will.”
Lowenna is so shaken, that she seems frozen as stone as Rowena investigates the chains, and even more when the man... speaks. His words meld in her mind but slowly she whispers... “Lugiri... held wrongfully... against your will.” The words slowly sink in and with horror in her glance she turns to Rowena, “We must warn Daisy.” She says, almost in a daze, but her words are urgent, and her manner slowly grows urgent as well.
At that point in time, several things happen: First, Marius's snoring stops... The ensuing silence is almost startling for how abrupt and obvious (peaceful at last??) it is.... But that also means that, with Lowenna's urgent tone and Rowena and Lugiri's murmurs, the sounds may now cut through to the keen ears of Borghildur and Audfrid across from the fire depending how closely they're paying attention at this juncture in time, given the relaxing, easy night it had been so far......
The girls abruptly make their exit, the snoring having stopped would have alarmed them into the sudden 'loudness' of their own voices and breathing, each rustle of their feet - being no experts at stealth... and they make a hasty departure not a moment too soon, they would make it back to Daisy's camp. Reluctant though it may have been, leaving poor Lugiri to his fate with no key to show for it..... but the thought of that key and freeing that poor prisoner may now be burning in their thoughts.
((Thus ends the RP session, which I transcribed as faithfully as I could. Most narration aside from the first paragraph was done by the player of Marius, with each other player emoting for their own characters))
