Chapter 3 [Lets Camp Together!]
We go over to the cave. Everyone decides their respective roles just outside the cave.
Celegnir: I will collect some food for diner.
Bryner: I will go collect some firewood.
Neneth: I will join Celegnir in getting food.
Celegnir: no it’s best if you get some rest princess, you look fatigued.
Neneth: what!? I will be fine, I can help too you know!
Celegnir: hmmm
Celegnir is troubled. The whole reason why we decided to make camp early is because she looked exhausted. Getting her to help with the work load would defy the whole point.
Celegnir: Do you truly want to be of help princess.
Neneth: yeah!
Celegnir: I alone will suffice for collecting the food we need, so coming with me is not required.
Celegnir looks towards me.
Celegnir: The best thing you can do now is to help investigate the cave with Malvazar
Neneth: what!? That doesn’t sound useful at all!
Celegnir looks towards me for support. Seems he wants me to help convince her to stay in the cave.
Malvazar: It may seem trivial, but some caves can have connections to underground gas veins. They often go unnoticed at first but if the mistake would be made to sleep in a cave with such veins the party could be dead by morning.
This was a complete lie. I was put on the spot and this is the first thing that came to mind. Perhaps if I had more time I could’ve come up with a better excuse. In fact better excuses are already flooding to mind. The princess looks doubtfully at me, perhaps my excuse is unconvincing. She turns towards Celegnir.
Celegnir: it is true I have known many adventurers that have fallen prey to such negligence in the past.
Celegnir looks seriously into the princesses eyes. Perhaps it was a real risk? No that can’t be I just made it up on the spot there’s no way it could be real. At least I don’t think it’s real?
Neneth: ok, I understand.
Bryner comes over wondering what all the fuss was about.
Bryner: What’s up?
Malvazar: It is decided that the princess will help me in searching for underground gas veins in the cave.
Bryner: What there’s no s-?
Celegnir’s hand moves swiftly to cover Bryner’s mouth.
Seems it wasn’t a real thing. Nearly fell for my own lie there. I guess Celegnir is just that convincing…
Celegnir: we should make haste so that diner is not delayed.
Celegnir looks at Bryner deeply in the eyes. Bryner seems confused. Bryner looks towards me and the princess and then it seems something in his mind clicked. He appears to understand the situation. Bryner gives Celegnir and me a wink with the eye out of view of the princess. He removes Celegnir’s hand from his mouth.
The princess is looking confused.
Bryner: thanks Celegnir that poisonous bug almost got in my mouth, good thing you noticed it.
Neneth: poisonous bug?
Bryner: anyway so you’re going to help search for underground veins huh?
Bryner: are you sure you are up for such a tough and important task?
The princess’s eyes gleam at Bryner and Celegnir.
Neneth: You can count on me!
Seems her infusiasm was dramatically increased by the words “tough” and “important”. She appears to be easily persuaded.
Celegnir: then we will be on our way we will count on your success princess.
The elven princess waves them off with eyes gleaming; she is determined to search every crevice in the cave she can before they return.
Celegnir gives me a wink as he walks off. Seems I am entrusted with the duty of keeping the princess busy. I look towards the inspired princess; I can’t help but feel my workload has just been increased…
It’s been a little while since the others went off for supplies. The princess and I have been checking the cave for any kind of irregular air flow, and investigating to find the sources. So far no underground gas veins have been found.
Neneth: what do gas veins look like?
Neneth seems to be unsure whether she should be looking in a different way. She seems paranoid that she might have missed one by accident. Guess since she hasn’t done this before she’s not sure whether she’s doing it correctly.
Of course underground gas veins don’t exist in the first place…
Malvazar: don’t worry you will know one if you see it.
I say something ambiguous to give me time to think of more specifics. But I’m worried that if I gave specifications too detailed that she would find something that fit the specification. In that case she might convince herself the cave is unsafe. I would prefer to avoid such a scenario. Perhaps I should try and keep things as vague as possible for now.
Neneth: Can’t you give me more information than that? What if I miss one?
Malvazar: Don’t worry so far this cave looks safe. Even if you miss one I will double check your area later.
Neneth: if you say so…
The atmosphere is a bit too eerie and tense. I can see the princess feels uncomfortable. Perhaps I should try and lighten the mood with some conversation.
Malvazar: So you say you are from Lakewood Forest. I didn’t know that area was inhabited by elves?
Neneth: We normally keep to ourselves so I can understand. Though I thought it was reasonably well known.
Malvazar: I thought all elves came from the high springs of Estelduin?
Neneth: You must be thinking of the high elves.
Malvazar: There are different types of elves?
Neneth: why do you act surprised? I thought that this was widely known?
Malvazar: Sorry there seems to be much I don’t know.
Neneth looks troubled. Perhaps she is now under the impression that all humans are unaware of this. That is likely not true though, I’m just new to this world that’s all. I feel guilty, almost like I have failed at representing the humans.
Neneth: The high elves reside within Estelduin like you said. However there are other types of elves such as wood elves and dark elves.
Malvazar: wood elves and dark elves?
Neneth: Celegnir and I are both wood elves. I am the daughter of the wood elf king Rirospen.
Malvazar: so you are not the daughter of the elf lord?
Neneth: of course not! The elf lord is regarded as something like a holy being. His presence is said to radiate with saint like power.
Malvazar: What are elf kings then?
Neneth: they are the rulers of the various elf races. There is one designated for each race.
Malvazar: so 2 kings in all?
Neneth: no there are 3 kings.
Malvazar: so there is a king for the high elves too?
Neneth: correct.
Malvazar: Why is the elf lord not the king of the high elves?
Neneth: it’s so he can be unbiased towards any of the 3 races in case of dispute between the elf races.
Malvazar: but doesn’t he live in Estelduin with the high elves?
Neneth’s expression has become irritated; perhaps it was a bad topic to touch upon.
Neneth: it is sadly the case. Because of this the high elves are always so up themselves. They look down on the other races as if they’re special. Because they are constantly spoilt with the elf lord’s presence they act like spoilt brats. Those arrogant-
Malvazar: -ok I get it.
I interjected before she could finish, seems it was quite the volatile topic.
Neneth: during the last council of kings it was suggested that the elf lord takes turns in his residence, to prevent further prejudice.
Malvazar: and what happened?
Neneth: it was instantly refused by the elf lord himself, the debate ended there.
It may seem like the elven lord favours the high elves, but it is more likely that he couldn’t abandon his duty to watch over the fountain of youth. I guess because of this though there seems to be problems between the different elf race relations. I’m surprised the elves don’t know about the fountain, perhaps the elf lord feels it’s best to keep it a secret.
Malvazar: He probably has his reasons I’m sure he remains unbiased.
Neneth: hmmmm…
Malvazar: I mean if he was biased there wouldn’t be a king system in the first place.
Neneth: Yeah I guess so.
I feel like asking any more questions would be bothersome for her so I stop for now. We continue searching the cave in silence.
After a while Bryner returns with both arms full of wood.
It would’ve been awkward picking up extra firewood with his arms so full. Personally I would’ve made multiple journeys. I guess it worked out for him in the end though.
Bryner: Hey guys! I’ve come back with a heap of wood!
Bryner enters the cave and plonks the wood down in a pile just to the side of the cave. He is breathing quite heavily, seems all that wood was hard to carry.
Bryner: What do you think of the wood, quite impressive isn’t it?
Neneth: It took you awhile to come back didn’t it?
Bryner: Well as you could imagine it was quite hard to carry all this wood around with me everywhere.
Neneth: wouldn’t it have been faster and easier to make multiple journeys?
Malvazar: It would have been…
Bryner is looking towards the ground in a displeased manner. Seems he realised that he didn’t do things efficiently and worst of all he couldn’t brag about it…
Bryner suddenly changes his expression to one of pride and looks directly towards us, seems he’s thought of something.
Bryner: It may seem that way to you but good fire wood is rarer than you would imagine, it seems it’s a good walk away until any good firewood can be found.
Bryner: That’s why it was more efficient to make one big journey than lots of little ones.
Bryner seems satisfied with his excuse and started to resume his bragging about his genius. However Neneth cuts him off early, it seems she has thoughts on the matter.
Neneth: What are you talking about? We are in the middle of a forest and the cave is positioned right next to a large collection of Ash trees, the wood from the branches of ash trees would burn much better than the spruce wood you seems to have collected a large amount of.
Wow I guess wood elves really know their wood. Seems Bryner tried to act knowledgeable about the wrong topic this time. I can’t help but find it quite fun to watch him get corned like this, Perhaps I have also grown tired of his bragging.
Bryner: umm urr that’s ummm because urr anyway it should burn well enough, I think?
It seems Bryner has conceded this time. It’s a good thing Neneth was here otherwise I would have fallen victim to another barrage of prideful bragging from Bryner. When you get stuck in a Bryner brag session your perception of time dramatically increases it seem. Perhaps this could be considered by some as a form of time perception magic.
I chuckle to myself slightly out loud.
Celegnir: What’s so funny?
I raise my head up to see that Celegnir had returned not long after Bryner. He seems to be carrying a basket of varies fruits under one arm and holding skewers of various rabbits and snakes in his other hand. Seems he got to work.
Bryner: Wow that’s awesome Celegnir! Looks like we will be feasting tonight!
Bryner’s eyes seem to be sparkling while looking at the assortment of meats and fruits brought back by Celegnir.
Celegnir: What’s up with the spruce wood?
Bryner: well umm you see…
Neneth: seems Bryner should not be left with the task of wood gathering in the future.
Malvazar and Celegnir: Agreed.
Bryner seems depressed from our evaluation of his wood collecting skills.
Malvazar: where did you get the basket from Celegnir?
Celegnir: I weaved it using some vines I found amongst the forest while hunting.
He weaved it? That’s some first rate weaving skills, the basket looked better than the ones I saw in the market of Sunshire.
Bryner: That’s amazing! I didn’t think such a well woven basket could be made in such a small time period, from some vines in the wild no less!
Neneth: That’s Celegnir for you.
Neneth seems to take pride in the ability of her guardian. Celegnir seems to be slightly happy to receive the praise too.
It seems both Bryner and Neneth are prideful, though Bryner seems to be a bit more open about his pride…
Celegnir starts the fire effortlessly using one of the few ash branches Bryner collected; He then carefully nurtured the fire adding some of the spruce wood on last.
Celegnir: That should do it. We should start cooking the meat now.
The skewers of meat were placed around the fire. The fruit basket was then passed around to each of us.
Celegnir: It’s starting to get dark. I will collect some more ash wood using the remaining light
Bryner: should I help?
Celegnir smiles at Bryner while putting his hand on his shoulder
Celegnir: I don’t think that’s a good idea.
Neneth and I let out a slight laugh while trying not to spit out the fruit in our mouths
Bryner: Even Celegnir is making jabs at my wood collecting skills…
After Celegnir collected some more ash wood he came back and made sure the fire was well stocked to last us the night. We talked for a little while eating.
Neneth: Bryner how much do you know about the elves?
Bryner: I know that there are 3 different races dark elves, wood elves and high elves. The biggest community of wood elves is Lakewood forest, the biggest community of dark elves come from the corrupted forest, and that the high elves reside within Estelduin. I also know of the existence of the elf kings but no details part that.
Neneth: Wow so you know quite a bit for a human.
Bryner: I would love to brag about it, but I thought this knowledge was known by everyone?
Neneth: It seems not everyone…
Bryner: who doesn’t know this?
I shyly put my hand up after listening to their conversation.
Bryner: Malvazar did you really not know this?
Malvazar: I’m afraid so…
Malvazar: I was under the impression that all elves are from Estelduin. I knew of the elf lord but not of the kings and races and such.
Celegnir’s attention shifts giving me a deep look, I will try and ignore it. I feel it would be awkward if I just stared back at him…
Bryner: Elf lord?
Neneth: Do you not know about the elf lord Bryner?
Celegnir: I don’t believe the elf lords’ existence was publicised…
Bryner: where did you learn about the elf lord Malvazar?
This is bad it seems I have said things I shouldn’t of. I wonder If I should tell them about myself or not. I think it’s best to keep my reply as close to the truth as possible while not mentioning anything of my origin.
Malvazar: I think I read about it in a book somewhere.
Celegnir: It should be forbidden to document such things, where did you find this book?
Malvazar I’m unsure…
Celegnir: It could be a problem if others find such a book.
Malvazar: I think the book was destroyed.
Celegnir: In which case it should not be a problem, what was written in the book anyway?
Malvazar: not much it didn’t go into details.
Celegnir: understood, I believe it’s about time for us to get some rest.
Bryner: I agree I’m tired.
Neneth: (Yawn)
That was close I wandering what would happen for a while there. Fortunately it seems the matter was resolved peacefully. It seems Neneth and Bryner fell fast asleep straight away so I agreed to take a shift with Celegnir to look after the fire and keep lookout over the night. I then followed suit and fell asleep like Neneth and Bryner.
Celegnir wakes me up a while later for my shift. Before going to sleep Celegnir has a conversation with me.
Celegnir: I’m in your debt really.
Malvazar: What are you talking about?
Celegnir: Back when I was fighting that Giant Hound.
Celegnir: You saved both me and the princess and for that I cannot express my gratitude enough.
I guess there’s no use playing dumb now, sigh it’s a pity I was hoping he wouldn’t bring it up.
Malvazar: You noticed?
Celegnir: It was hard not to notice the attacks of the hounds becoming useless against me…
He must be talking about my barrier; I guess it was more effective than I thought.
Celegnir: I mean really it was like there was some kind of impenetrable wall around me…
Malvazar: Is that so…
Celegnir: The slowing of the hound I’ve never seen magic like that before…
Malvazar: Really? I thought since it was a first tier time manipulation magic it would’ve been well known?
Celegnir: I heard of such a magic from some of the elders, but even they’ve never seen it for themselves. It was only something they themselves heard from their elders.
Malvazar: really?
I guess I better not use any time manipulation magic from now. It seems to be quite the irregular magic. I thought spells like haste and slow was reasonably well known since it was mentioned so in the texts. I guess that information was dated…
Celegnir: You also seemed to have knowledge of the elf lord, even the elves know very little about the elven lord. To think his existence is known outside of elven society. I wonder how many others know of such things…
Malvazar: The book I read was rare and no longer accessible so I find that unlikely.
Celegnir: That is good to hear. Anyway I shouldn’t pry too much into the man who saved us. After all I hear your past does not hold fond memories.
Malvazar: How did you?
Celegnir: I asked Bryner.
Malvazar: When?
Celegnir: Hunting
Malvazar: I see
He must have met up with Bryner in the forest. To think Bryner would share such information so freely. I guess it was with Celegnir and I didn’t exactly say it was a secret, I should still be careful to not delve out such thoughts so easily even though.
Celegnir: Anyway are you sure you don’t mind taking up guard duty for a little?
Malvazar: of course I noticed you waited the majority of the night to wake me up. So I should be good guarding the rest, besides you should get some rest after that battle and all the gathering you did.
Celegnir: I am glad to have you as a friend.
Celegnir goes to sleep practically instantly. It seems he was very tired, I imagined he would be.
It’s surprising to think that Celegnir was the type to snore so loudly while sleeping. I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover…
I noticed the sounds of people on horseback from a little while away so I used earth magic to hide the cave. Afterwards I heard the sounds drawing closer, it stopped outside the cave.
Person1: I thought I saw light coming from over here somewhere?
Person2: We don’t have time to play around; we need to find him before he gets to the city of beginnings.
Person1: Wait I think I can hear a sound…
They seem to be able to hear Celegnir snoring. I try to quite his snoring but to no avail…
Person2: That’s just the wind you idiot, we can’t waste time here we need to hurry!
Person1: right my bad!
I hear the sounds of the two of them Going away in the direction of the city. After about 10 minutes I decide to erase the earth wall using my magic again.
I wonder what that was about. Could the person they be talking about be one of us? Well it’s impossible to be me; I mean I just came into this world. It’s possible it could’ve been the elven princess but from what I’ve gathered their presence in the kingdom should be unknown Also from the conversation it seems like they’re searching for a man. Then Perhaps Bryner was the one they were after? He was alone when we first met and seems to be hiding something. Though this is all speculation it’s highly likely the one they were after were none of us. I will bring it up with Celegnir later.
malvazar 