RW Abbey: Infirmary Recovery ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This comfortable but spartan room has several small alcoves lining the wall. Infirmary bunks with resting and recovering patients lie in these alcoves, each cordoned off with a gossamer drapery of linen for privacy. The room is lit with oil lamps and the pleasing warmth of a small hearth fire. This room is kept quiet, except for the occasional snore, hacking cough or sniffle of its sleeping infirmary occupants.

<> Please remember to read the Redwall Abbey Motd by typing +motd $redwall <> You can also find out new and interesting things by going to the MUCK web page at: http://redwall.muck.limitless.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Exits: [Back] to the Main Infirmary

Finished! Lassik holds up the completed staff triumphantly. Grinning, she picks up the heavy cloth she laid out to catch the wood carvings and, pulling it together, ties it so it forms a loose bag. Then she hefts the pole up, standing and collects the rest of her stuff from the bed. "Here," the shrewmaid says, tossing the pouch, less one spearpoint back at Shadowbow lightly. Lassik compares the spear point and staff, thinking of the best way to attach it... she comes up with an idea, although it requires going out to the forest. Humming to herself, she puts her things away, holding the newly finished pole in paw as she glances absently towards Darklett.

Lalala...the squirrelmaid, Snowflower, is -still- knocked out thanks to her cold medicine.

Darklett notices Lassik's glance... "...What? What did I do?"

Err. Lassik chuckles nervously. Right, just keep staring. "Err, I s'pose I 'ave a favor to ask of you."

"Oh, Lassik? And what favor would that be?"

Lassik erms and coughs a little. Funny how she always seems to lose all her confidence when asking for a favor. "Err, well, I was going to, ah, go lookin' fer the Blackstone, y'know, and I don't think I should go alone..." Trailing off.

Shadowbow looks up having heard of the stone.

Well, apparently Darklett -was- reading up on all he could find about the Guosim, because he's knowledgable on the subject. "Ahh, the blackstone. The possession that marks unquestioned leadership of the Guerilla Union of Shrews in Mossflower." Showoff. "Yes, I've heard of it." Oh, yeah, the favor. "You... Want me to go with you?" Darklett bites his lip, looking at Snowflower... Then thinking of the Patrol, and the officers...

Snowflower sighs and curls up underneath her blanket. Her nose twitches slightly but no sneeze comes. Apparently the medicine was working.

Lassik is a bit taken aback, to say the least. She raises a brow, waiting for Darklett's reply.

Shadowbow looks her in the eyes, "Did you want my help?"

Lassik shrugs. "Well, it's yer choice. I'm not draggin' ya along, but anyone who wants to can come. The more the merrier, aye?"

Shadowbow nods knowing what sort of danger could come of this, "I'll be coming then."

Darklett nods slowly, not even looking at Lassik, or anybeast at the moment, as he's already devising his scheme to . "Yes... I'll be right back." But at the door, he looks longingly towards Lassik, then Shadowbow... Oh well. Scurry!

----

Darklett returns to the recovery room, giving an affirmative nod to Lassik. "I'm ready." Nothing else.

Shadowbow finishes putting his armor on and starts to sheath his sword and twin dirks, then shouldering his bow.

Yup...Snowflower is still out of it quite unaware of the going ons around her. Not fun to be sick.

Hmm. Well, this is going pretty quick. Lassik glances around once, an unreadable expression on her face. "... Anythin' else?"

Shadowbow straps his two canteens on a belt under his sash and a ration pack on his back from preporation for leaving early that week.

Lassik glances at Shadowbow's injured paw, "Are yew sure y'should be coming with us?"

Darklett glances down at the paw as well. "Aye." Already taking on his "adventurer" demanor. "You shouldn't travel with us if you're injured. Sit this one out."

Shadowbow nods, "I've had worse and I wont let a friend down because of a silly bird."

Darklett bites his lip. "I don't think you understand... If you're injured, you'll slow us down... No offense meant, really. It's just this is going to be dangerous, and we can't have a beast already injured before we even start off."

Shadowbow razes his brow, "And who in the abbey is better with a bow?"

Darklett, shaking his head, pulls some parchment from a cabinet, as well as a pen and ink well... He makes his way over to a table and starts scribbling down a note. After a few seconds, he motions over to Lassik. "Care to leave a note?"

Lassik nods and walks over slowly. She bites her lip, looking guiltily towards Snowflower, before taking the quill and scribbling in her messy paw a quick note to the squirrelmaid.

Snowflower is still snoozing away on her cot. Blah.

Darklett looks over to Lassik. "...I was about to go get some provisions..." A glance to Shadowbow again. "If your injury slows us down, don't expect me to slow down to help you." Scowl. I mean, Darklett and Shadowbow were never really on good terms, but jeeze.

Lassik glances at Shadowbow. "Well, is everyone ready?"

Shadowbow nods, "Ready." He stands up, not letting the hurt paw be favored at all.

Lassik glances from Shadowbow to Darklett, raising a brow slightly, then asks, "So, we all ready?"

"I'm set to go..." Darklett steals another glance to Snowflower, then he turns around so he doesn't change his mind. Aww, how Hollywood.

-------:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::-------

/[][]=============== Mossflower - Before Old Stone Bridge ===============[][]\

You stand before the old stone bridge that starts off the North Path. Willows stand like lazy sentinels by its sides as the waters of the River Moss flow lazily under it. It was said that this bridge was created by the beasts of Mossflower to stand forever and allow those beasts from the north to come and visit the south. In the distance you can see the tall peaks of the northern mountains and almost feel the chill northern air. Stepping onto this bridge means leaving the safety of Mossflower behind and confronting the wonders of the Northlands

\[][]====================================================================[][]/ Exits: [W]est to Ferravale, [S]outh, [E]ast, [N]orth onto bridge

Lassik pauses before the bridge and checks a rather scrawly note she wrote, not paying a whole lot of attention to the others. She turns, to face the east. "Eh, my notes say it should be down by the river, err, under the bridge," she mutters absently. Just, you know, keeping them informed.

Shadowbow walks, silent and unlimping. Wow. Stubborn otter.

Lassik glances back at them, again. "Hope y'don't mind gettin' yer feet a bit wet." Heh. She isn't really waiting for or expecting an answer.

Darklett smirks, raising a brow to the shrewmaid. "Hah! Don't mind a bit." He jumps in, then his eyes widen. "COLD!" He rushes out, quickly.

Lassik chuckles slightly, looking back. She's becoming more and more distant as they seem to be getting closer to the spot she's headed. "Y'get used to it, when y'live with it after a while," she remarks absently.

Shadowbow follows not minding the water. Otters are well adapted for it, and besides... it's good for the paw. Still stubborn.

Lassik wades into the water near the bank where it's shallower, not seeming to mind the cold or wet in the least. Or that it's soaking her clothes through so that they'd take half a season to dry. XD

Darklett eventually adjusts to the cold, a little. Shivering, he follows Lassik stolidly.

Shadowbow follows, at home in the water, and ever stubborn.

Lassik makes her way back up to the bank, having spotted something. She doesn't really say anything to the others, wading towards whatever's caught her eye.

Darklett looks around him as he follows Lassik under the bridge... "Hey, don't mind me or anything... But what exactly are we doing in the river?"

Shadowbow follows quickly as possible, getting closer to Lassik.

The thing that's caught her eye is... a mound of dirt. Actually, it can hardly be called a mound, as it's hardly noticeable unless one looks very, very closely. The soil's been worn almost flat through weathering and erosion. And it would take an even closer look to spot the thing that stirs almost invisibly in the shadows of the bridge.

Lassik glances over her shoulder at Dark, grinning crookedly. "Well, the closest lead I've got is that some crazybeast buried the 'stone under the bridge, so, we're lookin'."

Darklett looks cynically at Lassik. "Under the bridge? Why would anybeast in his right mind bury the stone here?" Nonetheless, he starts looking on the opposite bank.

Lassik shrugs and chuckles slightly, before beginning to poke and prod at the almost-mound. Satisfied, she begins to upturn the dirt with her paws.

Shadowbow unshoulders his bow to cover the pair of beasts as they search.

Lurk. Something's still there. After viewing its options, the silent figure decides a nice little shrewmaid might go well as an appetizer. The thing, whatever it is, creeps closer to Lassik, keeping in the shadows.

Darklett occupies himself with digging into the other bank... Nowhere in particular. "Under the bridge... Hah."

Shadowbow notches an arrow to the bow and readies it out of intuition.

Lassik blinks in surprise as her paw hits something solid. She digs around a bit more into the bank until she has a good view of it... -not- stone. "'Ey, I think I may 'ave found something..." She's quite unaware that she might be in danger, excited by a possible find.

Bleh. Two small, glittering eyes glare irritably at the otter who stands between the creature and its prey. First things first, something had to be done about him. The creature in the shadows changes course, towards Shadowbow.

Shadowbow looks over, still ready to fire at any moment.

Darklett digs some, then shouts victoriously. "Ahaha! I found it!" He holds up a small, jagged rock, then chucks it to Lassik. Grinning like a fool. Hey, he doesn't take into consideration that the stone isn't black in the least.

Shadowbow ignores the comment.

Bap. "Ey, watch where yer throwin that!" She glances, once, at the offending stone. "It's not even black, y'silly 'are."

Darklett smirks. "Mm. Good point, there. Sorry." He continues to search.

Grump. Whatever happened to easy prey? This wouldn't be easy at all. The shadow-creature stalks ever closer towards the otter.

Lassik continues to toil away at the earth. She's managed to uncover what looks like part of a small wooden box, but she can't realyl tell. The shrewmaid keeps digging.

Shadowbow listens intently for anything that would be a danger not liking the darkness under the bridge.

At last the creature strikes. Not wanting to take a chance, the ermine- for that is indeed what it is- appears out of seemingly nowhere, sailing through the air and attempting to latch onto the otter's wrist, near the paw. It would be hard to get it with an arrow like that. The creature is silent until the last moment, only allowing a very brief growl as it attacks like lightning.

Darklett continues digging... "I'm not a bloody mole, you know... You should have told me this would have constituted so much digging, I would have stayed at the abbey." He doesn't even notice the attack.

Shadowbow jumps to the side with a cringe because of the paw and swings the stout bow like a staff.

Lassik chuckles dryly and pauses in her digging to collect the jagged rock thrown at her earlier, and turns, planning on throwing it at Darklett. Err. "Wha' in 'ellgates is that thing?"

Darklett turns his head quizzically. "What thing?" Oh, that thing. Darklett instinctively draws his twin rapiers, advancing quickly upon Shadowbow and his assailant.

Smack. Shadowbow lands a good solid strike on the bloodstained stoat, but it merely growls angrily and attacks again, this time attacking one of Shadowbow's legs savagely with tooth and claw.

Shadowbow seems glad to have his armor on and swings at its side.

The foebeast is again knocked aside, sent a considerable distance, as it has a light build compared to the otter, but it recovers quickly, backing off as now both Shadowbow and Darklett are advancing on it. It snarls viciously.

Um. Lassik scrambles to her feet, and, well, does the first thing that comes to mind; she chunks the jagged rock still in one paw right at the creature's head.

Shadowbow draws his bow, ready to fire.

Darklett reaches the stoat, and thrusts fiercely with the rapier in his right paw.

The ermine screeches in pain, as, despite its efforts to evade, Darklett cuts a heavy gash in its side. The good news: The fearsome rock throw missed. Without warning the stoat leaps back several paces and screeches loudly, as if calling for assistance.

Shadowbow looses the arrow, notching a second quickly.

The stoat takes the arrow in the shoulder, screeching in agony. Well, it's definitely making enough noise to bring some more attention to itself.

Darklett gets ANGRY. "Bloody little bugger... shut UP!" With the last word, he thrusts both rapiers towards the stoats chest.

The ermine dies without flourish, but not without one final, pained cry. And in comes an enormous lizard, wielding heavy staff and dagger. And it has friends.

It's a very large, muscular, brutish and obviously male lizard. Standing almost as tall as a fully grown hare, the lizard's species is hard to determine as, through a painstaking and probably painful process, its scales have been dyed coal black with intricate bloodred patterns etched around its face and large snout. The lizard's heavy arms show obvious muscle, though it appears more rough than toned. Serpintinely slitted pupils glare out through pools of amber-gold, specked with the color of dried blood. The savage lizard is garbed in little more than a strip of cloth wrapped around its waist, with a second strip concealing its sensitive parts.

Armed with a staff with a knobby end, the pole is decorated with strips of gaudy cloth tied around it near the top, as well as small skulls, feathers, withered plants and a few hollow nut shells that ratte when moved even slightly. Additionally, it carries a simple dagger- simple, but deadly, and with an edge that is obviously well-maintained. The reptilian is, finally, garbed with a necklace of woven dry grasses, with shells, nuts, and any other small objects imagineable strung onto the weedy thong. The focal point of the jewelry, however, is a mouselike mammal's skull dangling over the creature's broad chest by its earholes.

Darklett watches the stoat fall dead to the ground, and kneels down, wiping blood off of his weapons, oblivious to the lizard.

Shadowbow shoulders the bow taking out two chain bolas one in each paw spinning them faster and faster, "Look out Dark!"

"Right, that was interes..." Lassik starts to comment, but decides now's -really- not the time for that. She draws her dirk and readies the staff she still has yet to attach a point to, facing the lizard and its advancing cronies. "Um, don't look now, but we've got more."

There's nearly half a score of the lizards, counting the leader, each armed with something or another. The leader advances on the shrewmaid, accompanied by two others, and three each close on Darklett and Shadowbow.

Darklett turns around slowly to face the lizards. "Shadowbow... I'm not just saying this 'cause I don't like you, but... I think you need to leave, and tend to your injuries..." As he says this, he sheaths his rapiers and draws two throwing knives, and quickly a third, starting to juggle them. "We can take care of these lizards."

Derr. Lassik's rather poorly equipped, as usual. She keeps the three lizards all in sight, and just out of their range while she tries to devise a strategy. She can probably take one out with a well aimed throw using the dirk, but that leaves her unequipped excluding the staff, which is really no good.

Shadowbow looses the bolasses into the group after him, and starts to back away slowly but unshouderring and drawing his bow.

Darklett wastes no time in tossing the knives, grunting as he throws all three of them at one of the lizards' throat and chest.

One of the lizards Shadowbow targets is quite unfortunate, as the bola wraps around both its legs. A sickening crack ensues, and the creature falls to the ground, totally crippled and writhing in agony. The other sidesteps and recieves only a weighty thwack from one of the weights attached to the bola. Darklett's target has no such luck, either, taking the knives in full and gurgling as it looses its last breath.

Lassik glances over her shoulder to see how the others are dealing, then shrugs.... aw, what the heck. She's not going to get anywhere playing ring-around-the-rosie with the lizards, anyway. The shrewmaid aims carefully and flings the dirk at the unprotected throat of the armorless lizards.

Shadowbow aims his best at the lead lizzard following him, fires one arrow and then several quickly as he can still backing away.

Darklett smiles... One down. Rage filling the buck's face, he unsheaths two more knives and hurls himself into the two remaining lizards, stabbing at the stomach of one of them and kicking at the face of the other.

The arrow takes the lizard heavily in the shoulder, but it and its partner charge wildly at Shadowbow, one swinging wildly with an axe, the other with a halberd. The one with the axe takes one of the wildly flung arrows in the eye, and dies without a sound. Darklett catches the one in the stomach, causing it to screech and double over, but amazingly enough it seems to have some fight left in it. It reels back and swings a short sword at Darklett savagely, while the one backing it recovers from the blow to its face and pulls out a sling, decided it would rather not get close. It loads in a rock and begins swinging it wildly. Lassik also takes one down, but is immediately charged by the other two, one swinging wide with the staff, the other with a chipped scimitar.

Darklett takes a pretty deep slash from the short sword across the chest. "Aagh!" Howling in pain, he releases the knives from the stomach of the lizard, and starts swiftly stabbing the lizard over and over again. Satisfied, he turns to Lassik's assailants, noting that she's not exactly... dressed for the occasion. Ignoring the pain from his wound, he throws the knives at the back of one of the lizards moving on Lassik.

Shadowbow tosses the bow to the side drawing his sword rapier, 48" ready.

Lassik shields herself from the incoming attacks by holding up the staff, since there's not a whole lot else she can do.

Shadowbow waits for the lizzard to come to him trying to cut the head off the weapon with his sword.

The one left facing Darklett suddenly seems to lose its valor and runs away unceremoniously (:P), so now there's two to Shadow and Lassik both. The one Darklett hits with his knife goes down, but not before catching one of the unprotected paws gripping the staff with the chipped scimitar. And the two on Shadowbow attack viciously with axe and rapier, one of them losing an axe head, so it improvises by trying to beat the otter with the pole. :P

Lassik swears up a storm as she drops the staff, still left facing the leader lizard. Great. The shrewmaid backs up steadily, looking for a way to get back to her dagger, and ignoring the pain from the large gash on one paw.

The big lizard takes another wide swing with its staff.

Darklett looks back and forth between the one remaining lizard on Lassik, and the two on Shadowbow... Hmm. A glance down to his belt. Plenty. He makes his decision, not knowing that Lassik is unarmed. He unsheaths two more throwing knives, and rushes towards the two on Shadow.

Shadowbow stumbles back a little from the onslought but quickly strikes back at them not letting them have time to strike between three strikes.

Lassik sees her chance. She dives underneath the blow, but not without recieving a painful bruise from the staff. Okay, so her timing was off... the shrewmaid rolls underneath the lizard's feet, where she at last has access to the dirk... she turns quickly to face it.

The one with the halberd turns on Darklett and decides it doesn't want to let him get close. Using the range of its polearm, it strikes out. The other one is left alone facing Shadowbow and parries swings wildly with its axe pole, but does rather poorly. The otter scores several gashes on the lizard, who is losing the fight. The leader swings with the staff, again.

Lassik is ready, this time. She ducks in and under the swing neatly, and goes for a killing strike with the dirk, using it paw-to-paw rather than throwing it. She'd rather not lose it again.

Darklett reaches the two lizards on Shadowbow, and is about to strike, when the polebeast turns and thrusts. The buck glares down at his stomach; the polearm went right into his side... Another scream of painful rage as the buck falls to his knees and drives both throwing knives into the lizard's stomach... He lets go and grips his side, writhing.

Shadowbow starts into a heavy style swing with less towards defence and more force to a blow, three more strikes.

The halberd-wielding lizard is slain by the two knives it takes in its stomach, gurgling hoarsely. Shadowbow's target, with nothing more than a headless axe to defend itself with, stands no chance. Three solid cuts drain the life out of the lizard. The leader stares in surprise at the dirk protruding from its chest.

Shadowbow sheaths the sword rapier and unsheaths two large throwing knifes throwing them at the last lizzard, and rushing to dark.

Darklett looks up to see his adversary slain, and brings himself to be able to smile... The pain is starting to wear off as the natural painkiller chemicals in his body kick in. He staggers to his feet, still bent over a little, holding his side.

Lassik rips the dirk out of the dying creature's chest, curling her lip in disgust. She turns, about to say something, when she sees Darklett, and his injuries. Ignoring her paw, she heads in his direction. She came out pretty well, after all. "Dark?"

Darklett turns around and grins at Lassik, about to say something... then his eyes go blank and he passes out.