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Sworn to the Scythe: A Peasant Quest

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[X] "I like you. And I like when you teach me about worms."
[X] You'll hold the egg.
​
 
Oh, hey. A thing. Guess I'll throw this in.
[X] "I like you. And I like when you teach me about worms."
[X] You'll hold the rods.
 
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Year Three: Lunch
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    • YEAR THREE: LUNCH​

    "I like you. And I like when you teach me about worms." Aisha blinks, and then blushes scarlet, dipping her head down sheepishly. "T-thanks. I suppose- okay." She tilts her head back up and straightens. "Let's get serious. Do you want to hold the egg or the rods?"

    You consider it for some time and then nod in decisive conclusion. "I'll hold the egg."

    "Alright. That's probably a better idea but I'll have to teach you the correct stance so you don't fall into moa pee." You cringe at the thought. If you hadn't seen it in action you might have giggled, but now it's a different story. Any pee that sizzles probably isn't a good idea to fall into. In fact…

    "Also I have a question." Aisha quirks a brow.

    "What is it? We need to catch a few more before lunch break." Oh yeah, lunch break! Yeah, lunch sounds great. You could go for some lunch right now, to be honest. Mhmm, lunch break. Your eyes glaze and you focus on a speck on the edge of your vision.

    "Vashti, what was the question?"

    "Buwah?" You snap out of it, and the speck is gone. Weird. "Is there something in the sky?"
    At that Aisha darts her head in the direction you're looking, but seeing nothing, she turns back with a shrug of relief. "No, Vash, I don't think so. You're probably seeing things, try not to look directly into the sun, okay?"

    "Okay." You say and then pause for a few seconds before almost jumping up. "Oh, oh, I remember the question! Why is the pee so…sizzly?"

    "Oh. Well…" Aisha puts her hand on her chin. "I think it's farm-ented. You know, when they bury grain into the cellar for a while and then Tata makes Tella from it for the village? It's kind of like that. They take the moa pee and they keep it in the cellar for a long time until it's like that." Wow. That makes sense.

    You look down at the farm-ented pee you're carrying. Time to get extremely serious. "I am ready to be trained!" You thunderously declare.

    Aisha rolls her eyes at the theatrics, but Yokan, taking over lookout from Boros, gives you thumbs up before Boros shouts at him to pay attention to the sky.

    Aisha puts her iron rods down and spreads her stance wide and you follow her, peering over the egg. "You want to get your stance as wide as possible without hurting yourself or getting
    unbalanced. Then you want to do this," she tips an imaginary egg over slightly. You copy, but you tip the egg too quickly and the liquid sloshes towards the cork, shifting the weight and making it almost slip out of your hands. You manage to get a grip, though.

    "You see, you're doing it too quickly." She breaks from her stance and looks down on you like a wise master, nose pointed upwards and hands behind her back. "Show me again, this time tip it more slowly." You do it right this time and she gives an imperious tilt of approval.

    "Excellent work, young jurist. Soon you will be able to handle confessions involving moa pee." The two of you break into a giggle at the thought, and then she puts a hand up. "Let's not waste too much time. Let's find another worm and go from there." She picks up her rods and basket and gestures for you to follow.

    You follow her up to another soft depression in the otherwise hard slope of the hill, interrupted here and there by some skulls. She pushes them away with a few apologetic whispers and then points to the depression.

    "Cork!" You pause as you're not sure how to handle the egg and uncork it. She gasps. "Oops, I kind of forgot to tell you about uncorking. Here, I'll do it for you since you're still kind of wea-" Your glare makes her correct her absolutely unjust assumptions. "…Kind of untrained, but we will soon rectify that." Better. She uncorks the egg, making you involuntarily scrunch your nose at the odor, even if you're ready for it this time.

    "You'll want to move back once you pour it. Don't jump back, but do it quickly." Taking all of her advice in stride, you spread your legs wide and pour it into the patch of soft earth. Aisha stands poised with two iron rods, and soon enough the worm bursts out, pale and squirming for life. Soon after, there's a second eruption, and you jump back, spilling some of the pee on the ground but otherwise surviving intact. The second worm is bigger and paler, and it thrashes vigorously. Aisha struggles to handle both, but in a fit of pique with worm handling cracks one so hard against a nearby rock that its internal juices leave a bloody stain.

    Putting down the first rod, she now fights against the second worm, using both hands. Finally, she bangs it against a rock several times and then stomps on the shell with her foot, stilling the beast. Both worms are put into the basket, making a handsome sight of three fat worms. You lick your lips and the usual gnawing of your stomach gets worse.

    Food can wait, though. You and your sister exchange grins and she helps you cork the egg and put it down, before she envelops you in a hug and spins you around, much to your delight. "That was…great! Three worms, and two out of the same hole! And the last one was huge! Did you see how I killed it, did you see Vash!"

    You put your hands on your hips and appreciate your catch. "Ya! We did good!" Aisha takes the basket and the rods and you pick up the egg with some effort. Aisha pats you on the back. "We'll fetch two or three more after lunch and then look for some wild breadroot to help flavor the wat. It'll be good eating."

    The thought of a good wat stew makes your mouth water and your knees weak, and before long you're racing ahead of Aisha on your stubby legs back to the wheelbarrow. Boros sits a few meters away chipping at a stone with a small hammer. The moa stands tethered, idly chewing on the rough grass of the hillside. As always, the only thing disturbing the calm scene is the looming pillar of dead men.

    For both you and Aisha though, that's not a concern. With the sun blazing, it's time for a well-needed break. Aisha opens up an under-compartment of the wheelbarrow after putting the stained iron rods and egg away and retrieves small packages wrapped in colorful linen cloth. She passes the lilac one to you and takes the red one for herself. A third, she carries to Boros and sits down beside him. Along with all this, of course, is a sealed leather pouch for water that she hangs on her left shoulder.

    The shadow of the pillar, though ominous, provides excellent shade as you and Aisha sit down, cross-legged, against a rock. Aisha unwraps her lunch- injera flatbread wrapped into a ball around boiled yellow yam, and a sharp-looking ironwood cone. The only utensil is a sharp shucking knife. She takes the knife and wedges it into the side of the ironwood cone; after some effort, there is a satisfying pop and the cone splits to reveal a nicely formed blob of white ironwood cheese. It oozes sap onto the hand holding the shucking knife, which Aisha licks up with a smile at the sweetness.

    You unpack your own lunch and it's similar- but you have no shucking knife. You look over to her, and after a second of noticing the ironwood sap more than you, she turns and pops your own cone. You scoop up the soft cheese with your fingers like cream and eat it- it's so sweet that you tear up. You haven't eaten like this since last autumn.

    Boros gets no delectable cone; it is substituted by a hard wild turnip tuber and a dried yam stem. He doesn't seem to mind, chewing quietly on the stem after finishing off his injera ball and the turnip.

    Lunch is eaten in silence, everyone simply enjoying what they have to eat. Only towards the end does Aisha speak up.

    "Where's Yokan? He should have done something stupid with the skulls by now." Her cone is hollowed out and she wraps it up along with your own to be used for fertilizer and seed storage. Both you and your sister are relaxed but Boros seems to have gone pale at Aisha's question.

    "…Boros?"

    "No. He wouldn't."

    "Boros, what-"
    There's a sudden frantic blowing of a whistle from the left. Almost at the same moment, the moa begins to shriek- a loud, mournful sound, not so much a cry for help as a self-eulogy. It vainly struggles against its leather blinders and the stake trapping it in place.

    Boros darts up but Aisha, eyes wide and aware, tugs at his sleeve. "Boros, we have to get DOWN!" Boros shrugs her off and Aisha just takes you and shoves you down as flat to the ground as possible. "I can still save Galata!" Boros yells frantically, his voice cracking.

    Even with your head down, you can hear Yokan's whistle getting louder. Finally he comes into view; he's waving his arms like a mad man and pointing to the sky.

    You can hear Boros crying and the moa screeching. Aisha puts arm over your entire body and pulls you a bit closer, huddled together and flat on the ground. You dip your chin towards your chest, eyes staring at the ground below you.

    For a few moments, the sky darkens. The wind seems to pick up in an unnatural pattern. The moa's screech rises to an almost unbearable pitch, and then there's a sickening crunch. Something large falls to the ground. There are two successive explosions, the second louder than the first. Something else, smaller this time, drops to the ground, and you can hear Yokan moaning faintly. The air smells of gunpowder and blood.

    The first thing you see when you peer up is a bleached skull grinning at you. Shoving the skull away as if it has done your personal offense, you get your first look at a Haakwai, something that seemed so amusing to say a few hours ago.

    The monster dwarfs the moa. Even without its wings outstretched, it is about two-thirds the size of your father standing up. Its wings are a brilliant shade of brown and gold, its head sports a colorful feathered crest of red and two massive golden eyes. A cruel beak ends in a tip curved downwards, stained with blood. The moa is immobile, dead, spine snapped on impact.

    Briefly, the bird seems to stare directly at you, but then it turns back to its meal, ripping out large chunks of the moa's flesh. Nearby, you can spot two figures; Yokan is writhing and moaning and Boros is beside him, but his attention is focused on the moa. His lip trembles and his eyes shine with tears.

    After a few minutes of this, Boros grows confident and stands up. The Haakwai briefly trains its gaze on him, but seeing no threat, goes back to its meal.

    He waves over to you and Aisha. After a few moments hesitation, both you and Aisha scramble up towards him, and he takes you to Yokan. Aisha puts her hands over her mouth and almost retches, and you sniffle.
    Yokan smells of burned flesh, and there is a good reason why. The right side of his face is charred, and his right ear is a bleeding stump. His moaning is soft and pitiable. Aisha kneels down, and then Boros' attention turns to her.

    "Your firecracker." He points out. "It's ripped." Indeed, it looks like Aisha accidentally ruptured it. She takes it out of the pouch and gunpowder just falls to the ground. Boros groans.

    "Useless. This is all...all useless. Stupid, stupid Yokan. I should have just…no. My father would say that. Vashti, you still have your firecracker?"

    You break your eyes from Yokan's ruined face and nod slowly, producing it in your hand.
    "Give me it. I know how to use it. I'll chase off the haakwai-" The bird seems to rear up at the name before returning to its meal. More quietly this time, Boros continues, "I'll chase it off and then we'll cut up what we can from Galata." At the name, his lip trembles but he bites it steady. "She's still of a use to us dead."

    Aisha shakes her head vigorously as she takes off her scarf and wraps it around Yokan's face.

    "No. My Brother is no use to us dead and- we need to get him back. Now."

    "Why-why don't I and Aisha bring him back and you can-"

    Boros stamps his foot. "No. Either we save this idiot now, or we cut up the moa. It'll take too long otherwise, even if we get help, and the Haakwai will remember this kill and come back for more. We've already lost the biggest moa, let's not lose the meat too. Yokan will survive."He thrusts his arm brusquely towards you.

    "Give me the firecracker."

    You take a step back and look at Aisha, she's glaring daggers at Boros.

    [] Give him the firecracker.
    [] Refuse.
     
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    • Ford Prefect said:
    Blood is thicker than ... moa meat or something.

    [X] Refuse.
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    The original as I recall is that the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb :V

    Admiral Skippy said:
    [X] FIRECRACKER THAT FUCKING EAGLE YOURSELF LIKE A BOSS, RIGHT IN THE EYE
    [X] BEAT IT SO HARD WITH YOUR IRON ROD WHILE ITS DISTRACTED THAT ITS GRANDCHICKS WILL BE SORRY
    [X] ALL SHALL FEAR QUEEN VASHTI
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    the eagle kills you

    re-roll as eagle
     
    Could we maybe lure the bird into ground that hosts the worms? Then they'd attack it.
     
    NeverDies said:
    Could we maybe lure the bird into ground that hosts the worms? Then they'd attack it.
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    Probably not, given that you can walk safely over worm-infested ground as long as you're not pouring acid on them. Razorworms don't seem to attack people above ground, they just lash out when you force them out of their den.

    Also we are three years old.
     
    NeverDies said:
    Could we maybe lure the bird into ground that hosts the worms? Then they'd attack it.
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    *Facepalm* That's not the problem here; we already have a way to scare off the bird with the firecracker.

    The choice here is between staying here to cut up the moa carcass so we can take its meat back to the village before any other birds come around to scavenge it, or leaving the body for scavengers while we bring Yokan back for immediate medical attention.

    [X] Refuse

    I mean come on, are we going to listen to Boros (how well do we even know him?), or our sister? The answer is obvious. Also that's our brother there.
     
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    [X] Give him the firecracker.

    Looking over it, his injuries aren't anything immediate. His face is burnt and his ear blown up. We take him back, they'll just wrap it up in herbs and hope it doesn't get infected, but otherwise the damage is done.

    The Moa meat is still valuable, and our brother will survive, so I think this is the best thing to do.
     
    redzonejoe said:
    [X] Give him the firecracker.

    Looking over it, his injuries aren't anything immediate. His face is burnt and his ear blown up. We take him back, they'll just wrap it up in herbs and hope it doesn't get infected, but otherwise the damage is done.
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    I'm sure as a 3 year old we are an expert on medicine and injuries, and thus well positioned to make an accurate diagnosis of our brother's condition.
     
    Looks to be Haast's Eagle, or very strongly inspred by it. A creature of New Zealand in our world, along with the Moa. Described in the legends of the Māori under the names of Pouakai, Hokioi, or Hakawai. Interesting.

    [X] Refuse.

    In addition to the concerns others have already bought up, a single firecracker against a monster prehistoric eagle doesn't seem like good odds to me. Particularly when the ones wielding it are five or six at the most. Picking one's battles is a virtue - if if will come back, we can meet it better prepared. Multiple grenades would be nice.
     
    Note, also, that Yokan was apparently hurt by his own firecracker (unless there are bandits/something out here in which case we absolutely need to get out of here).

    These things are not exactly safe.
     
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