As Nym rides closer to her home, she notes that everything looks nearly the same as it had when she had last seen it years before. She hops down from Nesme and stands quietly looking around for a moment. Suddenly she feels the hairs along the back of her neck stand on end. She was being watched. Carefully she looks around, and seeing nothing, she looks up to the canopy. Again, she sees nothing. Then something rustles at her feet, and she looks down, and gasps, surprised. A small fox pup is staring up at her from between her legs. "OH!" exclaims Nym, still recovering from this sudden arrival. The little fox lets out a small yap and runs off toward her father's cottage. Nym laughs, relieved she wasn't being watched by something more ferocious and pats Nesme. Nym can smell the smoke from the chimney, indicating her father is home. The grass and flowers in from of the cottage swish around her legs as she approaches. She hears the click of the front door opening, and her father, looking the same as she remembered him, steps out followed by the little white fox pup, which was still yipping. Her father smiled and held out his arms, recognizing Nym almost immediately despite the years that had passed. Nym ran to him, Nesme following, and hugged Ollin. She was crying. "Where have you been, little one?" he asked her. "No where I'd like to return." she said. Her father's wolf walked toward them from the fore
st, and she turned to him. "Vort!!" she squealed, hugging the wolf's big gray head. Vort woofed quietly, approving of Nym's affection. The old wolf had filmy eyes and a white muzzle. Vort was showing his age, unlike Nym's father. Ollin led Nesme to the small stables in the back of the house while Nym pet Vort. When he returned, he led his long lost daughter inside. Nym told her father all about her travels without reservation, and her father listened, happy to have his child back at last. After a time, the fox pup peeked in the room and hopped onto Nym's lap, where he promptly fell asleep. Nym asked "Who is this little fellow?" Ollin chuckled. "I have not named that little monster yet. He was being sold in Mirabar by some trappers who had killed his mother. I took pity on him and bought him for quite a bit." He raised a stern eyebrow at the sleeping fox and then smiled. "I suppose he's my pet now, although he seems to like you more than me." They laughed and Nym continued telling her father about her adventures in the great wide world.
As they talked, Ollin walked over and began chopping some carrots and celery at the counter in the small cabin, took down a rabbit he had hanging just outside the door, and began making a stew.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you don't have to take your time THAT much. I know they're behind you, but we can figure that out later. I was just saying you shouldn't post ALL of your exploits in one big post that was several days' worth of stuff. Thanks, though.
ReplyDeleteAs Ollin chops the vegetables and throws hunks of rabbit meat in the pot, Nym continues telling him about her adventures with a long story about the trial she had to go through. Ollin smiles as she carries on, glad that she still has that bubbliness in her demeanor. She takes a breath between stories, and he jumps in at the opportunity.
ReplyDelete"Have you made many friends in your journey, Nymbear?"
............"Nymbear?"
ReplyDeleteHe's a human dad who is a trapper for a living. Would you rather it just be "ducky" or some other random animal. I think Nymbear is a wonderful, endearing nickname. I can see it. It's how he sees her. After not seeing her at least since she was 12, he doesn't even ask about her running away and why she's returned. That is a loving father who must have some AMAZINGLY cute nicknames for his only daughter and the only thing he has to remind him of the wife that left him.
ReplyDeleteSomehow, Nymbear is better than Click and Clack. Our DM is improving...marginally!
ReplyDeleteI believe YOU GUYS came up with Click and Clack. I just couldn't come up with anything better, so we went with it.
ReplyDeleteA few corrections: Ollin's an herbalist and healer for a living, he's also half-elf, and he wasn't ever married to Nym's mother (also a half-elf) as she's rather wild and after having Nym, basically dropped her off at his doorstep.
ReplyDeleteAnd although horrifying, Nymbear's alright (but so not better than Click and Clack!). My dad has several horrifying nicknames for me of his own I don't share with the outside world. :P
I see your version of events and raise you Eelskin Jack, whose very name caused Nick and I to stare at you in disbelief.
ReplyDeleteI completely forgot about Eelskin Jack,the former pirate who lived in the mountains. Explain that one.
ReplyDeleteShe pauses, thinking. "Well, yes, I suppose... There's a bard in the south that I spent a good three months traveling with. I don't really know what happened to him after that, but I hope he's still playing his lute!" She laughed. "And I've recently met the absolute strangest group of people I've even known. There's a cleric named Beranhond who talks to his cat, there's an elf monk who is always rather drunk, oh, and there's the elf-monk's lady friend who was a barmaid, there's a human woman who was a sailor-turned guard-turned sailor again, there was a very sour half-elf and a rather fussy gnome...." She trailed off for a moment. "And there's Darvin." She blushed and petted the fox pup.
ReplyDelete........Eelskin Jack?! o_O
ReplyDeleteEelskin Jack. http://high-seas-adventure.blogspot.com/2009/10/10-talathel-and-darvin-meet.html
ReplyDeleteNymbear is fucking gold compared to Eelskin Jack.
Okay, Eelskin Jack was a very early warmup name, and I was still working on this whole DM'ing thing. That said, there is no excuse that works, other than that he certainly sounds like the type of horrible pirate who would be so embarassed about his career that he retires to a shack in the mountains instead of going out in manly pirate-like fashion.
ReplyDeleteLMAO! Click and Clack and Eelskin Jack! Click and Clack and Eelskin Jack! I feel a song coming on.
ReplyDeleteNym:
ReplyDeleteIf that's so, then again, your backstory as I have it is inconsistent with how you currently are telling it. It says he "made a living hunting and gathering goods in the High Forest in places humans dared not go to sell." I took that to mean trapper/gatherer of rare things. Herbalist works too, except for the hunter. Either go with it or correct the backstory I have. I'll send you my copy if you'd like, but I have to work from what I know.
You are correct. He is a half-elf. But he was raised by humans.
ReplyDelete"And? What about Darvin? How long have you known the rest of this strange lot of folk?"
ReplyDelete"His name is Eelskin Jack
ReplyDeleteHigh adventurer of the sea!
But his career never got on track
For no one took him seriously!
For with a name like Eelskin Jack
The Gods have surely doomed ye
So he headed to the mountains and there he hid his map
He waited and he waited as time passed silently
See, its a sad song, because his name sucks.
ReplyDeleteI'll update Nym's background
ReplyDeleteNym smiled as she stroked the fur on the soft little fox. She didn't really know what to say exactly about Darvin. She smiled thinking about him. "Darvin's a sailor from Secomber. He's the captain of my ship." She smiled wryly, knowing her father would find the 'my ship' hook interesting or at least amusing.
"And how long have you been on a ship? Wow. The last time I was on a ship, I was your age. How big is it?" while stirring the stew, he suddenly realized what she said. Turning and walking quickly over, he said, "Wait a second, you said YOUR ship? You must be pulling my leg. You OWN a ship?"
ReplyDeleteNym laughed, enjoying her father's surprise. "It's a Caravel, The Lady Narath. And yes, it is my own ship!" She launched into her story from getting aboard the Sea Star as a cabin boy to being found out, escaping, meeting her new friends, fighting wererats, and getting the ship of her own. After a bit, the little fox woke up and listened to Nym talk, cocking his fuzzy head from side to side.
ReplyDelete