RP:Element of Surprise

From HollowWiki

Part of the Rise of Larket Arc


Summary:Josleen and Kelovath explore the building that Hildegarde has made into her war camp.

Hildegarde's War Camp

Josleen has taken up residence in a cot tucked against the north-eastern corner of the medical ward. She has the luxury of a screened partition to give her some semblance of privacy. Not all other patients, who are arranged by the several dozens in rows on the main floor, can boast such a luxury. Her back still gives her significant trouble and pain, but the healing process has accelerated somewhat thanks to the care of nurses who apply creams onto her back twice a day. Josleen helps in the small ways she can, such as brewing pain relievers and medicine, coordinating the logistics of care, and accounting for supplies, which are dwindling at an alarmingly quick clip. Still, you won’t find her resetting bones or bent over a patient. She has a lot of boring downtime, bedridden, listening to the coughing, sputtering, moaning, shouting, and mewling of the injured many. She escapes her reality in a book now. She sits up in bed propped on a thin, dingy pillow. She holds a small mass-printed popular novel whose cover and page are now worn from much use. She sprung for the pricey edition with the illustrated cover, only a few hundred of those in existence. The cover depicts a watercolor scene of two lovers, a brunette woman and a hunky man. The man wears shiny armor on his legs, but is inexplicably topless with pecs that can crush walnuts. His paladin’s helmet rests on a rock in the background near a waterfall that sprays the couple so that the woman’s sheer gown becomes translucent when wet. The interesting bits of her anatomy are covered by his strong, veined arms. Their eyes meet, their lips part by inches, the lust palpable. Josleen holds a handkerchief to her lips. Tears rim her eyes, but do not spill. Clearly she’s in the sad part of the book, and although she’s read it countless times before she still can’t help the feelings that the story stirs.


Kelovath wasn’t too far from Josleen. He couldn’t be, really. Her visions and hallucinations could come roaring back if he went too far. During their entire trip to the war-camp, his magic was in place. Protecting her. The paladin didn’t practice the usual type of healing, so there was little for him to do in that sense. What he was able to do, was take away the pain. Bringing bones together wasn’t something he could do, but closing small wounds and easing the pain was easy. Even while continuing his magic for Josleen, the man was able to make rounds, in a limited distance, healing those who needed it. And wanted it, of course. That was the trick to Kelovath’s holy magic. The person needed to accept the offer, but it would completely take hold. Sure, the paladin could heal whoever, but it wouldn’t be nearly as effective. Feeling exhaustion closing in, Kelo decided to find Josleen and check-in. Since arriving at the war-camp, if felt like the two were unable to spend much time together. Though, after walking all that way, it was understandable. Couldn’t spend all day every day together. At least, not with a war looming in the background. There was always something to do. Making his way to Josleen’s cot, armor clicking together as he walked, Kelovath stopped at the partition and asked, “Hey, Josleen. How are you feeling?” That was pretty much how the paladin always greeted the bard. And until she finally healed, that’s probably how it’ll always be.


Josleen ‘s bleary eyes lift from the page to Kelovath’s face and she smiles. She closes the book in her lap, illustration-side up without realizing it, and dries her eyes with the handkerchief while laughing lightly at herself. “I’m feeling a little better each day. Trying to find something to do with this forced idle time.” Her tone matches the mood of the hall: somber, quiet, reverent. An unspoken deference to the sacrifice of the soldiers arrests the hearts of most at the camp. “No visions, thanks to you.” Another smile and a softness in her gaze, a submission. Her reverence becomes more pointed towards him. She glances downwards a little bashfully and sees the novel’s cover in her lap. As nonchalantly as possible she flips it over, her embarrassed grin giving her away. Subject change! “And you? You look exhausted. Have you slept?”


Kelovath did notice the book as she casually turned it around. The paladin could really only blink a few times before responding. “Sleep? Oh. Um. No. Not really. I thought you’d…” Have horrible visions and be unable to sleep and then I’d feel really bad for not keeping you protected. That’s what he wanted to say, but instead, a shrug was given. He was tired, but sleep could come later. He needed and wanted to protect people. Heal people. Help however possible. It didn’t matter if he was being pulled in every direction and felt completely exhausted. It’s what was needed. And, to go along with that. “Are you in any pain? I can help with that, if you are.” Always looking for something to pass the time and lend a hand. Or two hands, which made the healing process more effective. He stepped into Josleen’s ‘room’, readying himself, should she want the healing or not. Obviously he’d not force his magic onto the woman, but he knew she didn’t want to bed cooped up here any longer.


Josleen nods as she shrugs. “Anything that helps. Though really I could use the company, if you have the time. It’s been lonely here. Ironic, isn’t it? Surrounded by an entire war camp, but…” She trails off and shrugs again, this time winces; shrugged wrong. She doesn’t need to explain the irony. He’s likely already figured it out. She beckons towards a chair against the wall for Kelovath to take and sit a while. A golden aura continues to surround her, his aura, so faint it’s easy to miss in a passing glance. She turns her back towards the edge of the bed so he can do whatever he needs to alleviate the pain. Best believe she dons yet another floral dress. “I’ve been thinking about Larket,” she says. Her chin turns over her shoulder so she can look at him behind her. “I have some guilt keeping you here when your city needs you.”


Kelovath takes the chair from nearby and places it at edge of the bed. For normal healing practices, this would have required Josleen to lower or move the back part of her floral dress. The paladin wouldn’t need that to be done. Slight draw back, not that he would have even been thinking of that in the first place. Armored hands reach out and begin to glow the same color as the aura that surrounds the bard. “Larket…Yes…” He mumbled softly. His magic begin to take effect now, giving the aura itself a deeper flush of color along the woman’s entire back. “Larket has not left my mind.” A small smile formed as he could feel his own magic relieving some of his exhaustion as well. He nodded a single time, thanking Arkhen silently, which probably looked a bit odd. “Larket is also not going anywhere. By being here, I have the possibility to gain an ally in Hildegarde, which possibly leads to Frostmaw as well. What’s left of the council…” His eyes lifted to Josleen then, a hint of sadness still showing as the paladin continued to mourn the loss of his friend. “…They understand…” Again, the man nodded his head, this time to Josleen, hoping she understood.


Josleen has been around paladins long enough to understand their strange holy tics, such as the small interruptions to talk to their gods. She doesn’t mind them anymore, most of the time. Her eyes shut and she sighs audibly, a soft moan of relief. Shoulders sag, the tension gone from her back. “Thank you.” She rolls her shoulders a little to work through the mild soreness. “That feels so much better.” She stretches her back a little more as she settles back in against the pillow propped on the wall. “So long as I am not the only reason you’re here.” Not that it wouldn’t flatter her, it would/does, but still. Larket is more important. “We could try to break this curse in the meantime. The creature said he had to punish me for trying to break the curse. Perhaps if you antagonize the curse again, he’ll appear, this time with you there to… deal with it? I don’t know how powerful it is, or what the risk for that plan looks like.” She gestures towards a cabinet. “The rose is turning black again. It’s in there.”


Kelovath smiled to the woman and followed her thanks with a “You’re welcome.” and an “I’m glad it feels better.” As much as he wanted to tell the bard that she, right now, was a big reason he was still around, it felt like saying it aloud would be somewhat irresponsible. There were many reasons to be at the war-camp, but pulling himself away from Josleen and knowing where that would leave her did not settle well with the armored man. He remained seated until the mention of the flower was brought up. He strongly disliked the flower and what it was being controlled by. Who, more specifically. Standing now, he walked over to the cabinet and opened it. Harding telling what else was in the storage container, but his eyes set on the rose. The flower basically a half-black, half red color now. If it weren’t a curse item, it’d probably have some beauty in it. The cabinet was left open and Kelo sat back down in his chair. “How would I make it appear? I mean, last time we both thought I removed the curse completely and it didn’t show…” His gaze narrowed, the man obviously thinking of the best possible solution here.


The rest of the cabinet in split between potions, gauze, needle and thread, and jars of reagents for medicine on one side, and Josleen clothes and personal, but mundane, items on the other side. Josleen notices how weak and fragile the rose look in his armored hand. His natural size, and the armor on top of that, has a way of making toys out of everything around him. It’s a miracle the stool supports his weight. Surely Arkhen’s doing to save him embarrassment before a lady. She shrugs slowly at his question. “Trial and error. Maybe you can try different ways of removing the curse?” She pauses thoughtfully then adds, “Maybe it needs to believe I am alone? I doubt it would come here, to this camp. The first time it attacked me was in Governor Tristram’s estate in Gualon. Though the estate has service staff and a few guards, it was able to lock me in a room. It has isolated and trapped me both times. Maybe we can set up a situation where I appear alone, trappable, but you’re near, hidden, ready to turn the tables and spring the trap on it?”


Kelovath nodded a few times as Josleen came up with her ideas. “Well, I suppose I could try removing it a few different ways, but…Like you said, I’m not sure that would even work here. But, that was the point of coming to the war camp. Surrounded by people.” He kept silent and glanced over to the cabinet. “I don’t think I could hide in there, either.” He laughed a bit, his smile returning for only a moment before looking back to the rose. “I also would not want to get too far from the camp itself. Frostmaw may have sent scouts…I wonder if there is a room here…” He lifted his head and looked around like he was just going to spot a secret door. “This place is rather large. Surely there could be an unused room or something.” Kelovath was probably playing this whole situation a little too safe, but the lack of sleep and being this exhausted made his thinking clouded. Looking back to the bard now, “What do you think?”


Josleen straightens and blinks when Kelovath refers to the enemy as Frostmaw. He is technically, on paper, correct, but Josleen considers this camp, the people who support Hildegarde, as Frostmaw. Or so she does in her mind. Balgruuf and his ilk are nothing more than interlopers to her. She laughs at his joke, a little longer than the joke is funny. “Worth a look.” She scoots towards the edge of the cot and slips on her shoes. “I haven’t seen most of this building. Let’s go exploring.” She grins up at him, quite a ways up as she is only 5’ 2”. “See what we find.” She nods towards the rest of the hall. “After you. I don’t want the nurses to fuss at me. You can be my shield.” Her enthusiasm outpaces her ability; she still moves slowly, although Kelovath’s pain relief has helped and he’ll notice an improvement since their first trek up to the camp. Once they’re free of the hall she whispers conspiratorially as if what they’re doing is against some unspoken rule [it isn’t], “I think everything inch of space on this floor is occupied. Is there a cellar?” She shudders at a thought related to cellars, then tries again, “No. Maybe an attic would be better?”


Kelovath shrugged and decided it would be best to have a look around. So, he stood, held out his hand, should Josleen need help getting out of her cot, and then lead the way. He smiled at the shield remark, liking that idea and wondered if he should start carrying around a shield again. A quick answer was no. His armor was enough. “I’d rather not get involved with a creature down in a cellar…Dark and all that.” The paladin shuddered not long after the bard did. The attic idea though, he liked. “As big as this building is, I’d have to guess an attic of some sort exists.” Not really knowing where to go, the armored man just kept walking, looking around as he went. Occasionally looking back to Josleen, making sure she was able to keep going. Finally, he asked, “Where would the entrance to an attic be in a place like this?” He laughed at his own question. “Up, I suppose.” His laughter continued at his own answer. He wasn’t nearly as funny as he thought.


Josleen takes Kelovath’s hand and can’t help but notice the distance the armor creates between him and everyone else. She’s a social creature, a healer, a bard, she’s accustomed to touch--direct touch, person to person. She doesn’t comment on it, however, and simply smiles when he enjoys the shield comment. Also, no, he isn’t a great comic genius, but Josleen still laughs more than he has earned by any reasonable measure. She doesn’t even realize she is doing it, some unexamined motive prompting her to sneak looks at him and laugh with him at every opportunity. She’s too distracted by war and injury and Hildegarde’s troubles to stop and take stock of what is happening here, but she’s no less affected and arrested by whatever it is, nascent as it may be. (Downside: Now Kelovath will think he is funny and she’ll unwittingly create a terrible joke monster.) “Oh I haven’t a clue. I doubt it’s an obvious entrance. Most attics open over hallways or in closets.” They cross through the mess hall, then a depressing laundry room where linens are the soapy pink of recently washed blood. At one point they turn down a hall then make another turn through a room serving as barracks and somehow end up back in the mess hall. “What…” It’s easy to get lost in this place, and Josleen has a very poor sense of direction. She smiles sheepishly at Kelovath and says “Maybe you can ask someone for directions?” She winks playfully, knowingly playing on the trope that men don’t like to ask for directions. “In all seriousness, I am stumped and defer to you.” How are they going to defeat an evil curse when they can’t find an attic? This does not bode well. Kelovath, may, however, feel a weak but distinctly evil presence coming from above, beyond the ceiling immediately above his helmet.


Kelovath stayed at whatever pace Josleen needed while they unsuccessfully traverse through the building. The mess hall was nice, but not nice enough to see it a second time. The laundry room, well, the paladin didn’t wish to find it yet again. The feeling of being inside that room make him uneasy. He knew battle and blood and everything that went with it. But it’s the unknown or unseen that he was not familiar with. Never before had he needed to wash the blood from his own clothing. It was just…Thrown away. Replaced with something else when it happened. No big deal. Not wanting to re-enter that room, and ignoring the ‘ask for directions’ comment, it was thankfully then that the evil feeling made itself known. He stopped rather suddenly and his head shifted to the left. “Something…” He looked up, toward the ceiling. There was no door above him, but something else was. Keeping his attention upward, the paladin began walking forward again, completely obvious to anything that may be in front of him. “There!” He kindasorta yelled, taking notice of a metal cord coming from the ceiling. Without looking forward, the paladin went forward and landed face first onto a loveseat pushed against the wall. Humpty-Dumpty took a mediocre fall. Onto a couch. Needless to say, Kelovath was embarrassed. So embarrassed, he stayed still, on the couch, not entirely sure as to his next move. Then, like an intelligent person, he shifted his weight and was now in a seated position, face strawberry red with flush. “Erm…I think the…Oh…” With a shrug, he pointed up, at the cord, unable to say anything else.


Josleen covers her mouth with both hands as Kelovath trips over himself and a couch. She stifles a laugh and presses her lips against her palm to keep the sound from leaking. She really doesn’t want to embarrass him further, but if he looked he’d see the laughter in her eyes. Thankfully he doesn’t look, and by the time he’s figured himself out and learned how to sofa again, she’s regained control of herself. She crosses over to him and in a graceful act says nothing about his fall, though the corners of her lips keep twitching in and out of an impish grin despite her kind-hearted intentions. To hide this from him she looks straight up at the cord and says, “Well done.” She steps onto the couch and reaches for the cord but is too short. Her back is weak and wobbly and she quickly loses her a balance on the uneven cushions. She braces herself for balance against his metal shoulder then slowly lowers herself to sit beside him. She looks back up at the cord and waits for him to handle it, whenever he’s found his nerve again. No need for comment.


Kelovath doesn’t look at Josleen at all. Not even when she made her way over and attempted to reach the cord. He did brace himself though, in case she happened to fall during his attempt. He hoped she did and hoped she didn’t. Did, because it’d take the embarrassment from him and place it on her. Didn’t, because there was the possibility of her getting injured further. Thankfully, though, she didn’t fall. He’d deal with the embarrassment for the time being. A deep breath was inhaled, held for a second or two, and then released. After that Kelovath stood from the couch, waited for Josleen to scoot herself over to the other cushion so he could also stand on it, then grabbed the cord. The entire time, he did not speak or even really look toward the bard. The feeling of her held back laughter could be felt. Again, the paladin took in a breath and exhaled, and then pulled the cord. Upon pulling the cord, a small door actually opened up on the opposite wall from where the couch, Josleen, and Kelovath were sitting and standing. The doorway was obviously hidden and is big enough for Josleen to walk through without needing to duck down at all. The evil presence could still be felt, possibly even stronger now than before. Stepping down from the couch, Kelo finally looked at Josleen and motioned toward the door. “Hopefully it leads somewhere.”


Josleen can feel that Kelovath is still embarrassed, and she feels for him. Although she can get up without his help, she still reaches for his hand, defers to him in an attempt to make him feel big again. It’s a small gesture, but it’s all she’s got for now. Through the doorway is a servant’s hallway that is part of a larger network of rooms and even more hallways, all existing in the spaces between the other rooms where the wealthy once lived ages ago. Hildegarde’s army hasn’t discovered or used this space, preferring instead to fill the stately halls and bedrooms. Josleen walks through some of the labyrinthine corridors until arriving at what used to be a dormitory for six maids. “This may be good enough for our purposes. We can find a spot to trick and trap the creature back here.” Up above, in the attic, the weak evil still lurks. Josleen cannot detect it and has no idea that Kelovath did.


Kelovath looked around as they made their way through the hallways. They were narrow, enough room for two people to walk side by walk. It smelled strange, but that’s no surprise for the condition of the building itself. Entering the dormitory, the paladin nodded in agreement, “Yes. This should do. It is away from any sick or injured, which is also a plus.” There was still the evil lurking in the back of Kelovath’s mind and apparently lurking in the attic as well. He wanted to tell Josleen about it, but figured they had been through enough today and didn’t want to worry her. Dealing with the creature was already going to be difficult. “Killing it, is more my goal. Getting it here, may be tricky…” He knew nothing of the creature, but if it couldn’t pass through walls or teleport in some way…Well, something to think about when it’s time to put whatever plan they come up with into action. “I suppose now, we need to get it here, huh?”


Josleen paces around the room looking for the best place for Kelovath to spring his trap from. “I think he can teleport, or move through shadows. He can melt into the ground then reappear somewhere else immediately. I suspect he would find a way in here no problem. I think this bathroom would be a good place for you to be. What do you think?” She glances at him and is suddenly struck by his handsomeness and stature, both of build and character, in a way that she hadn’t been struck before. She’s momentarily stunned, her reaction obvious to any who look at her. Rose tints her cheek. She feels hot suddenly and forces her gaze away from him. She rummages through a small armoire, curious about the things of the past, and finds beneath a woman’s small clothes a pocket-size guide to abortifacients. Gasp! She drops the book back in the drawer and slams it shut, completely scandalized by what she found.


Kelovath doesn’t actually notice the suddenly stunned Josleen. His attention is all over the room at this point, trying to figure out how to go about getting the creature here and how to deal with it. At least they could possibly have the element of surprise. That’s something. He looked over toward the bathroom and shrugged. “It’s a good a place as any, I guess.” Not that there was much choice, really. The room, aside from rustic looking furniture, was rather open. Again though, that feeling of evil nearby. He just had to say something now. “Hey, Jos. There is something here.” He paced around the room, looking up most of the time, but definitely making sure he wasn’t going to trip over something again. “It’s above. In the attic, I think. I mean, I’m guessing there is one. It’s…Something…Not good. Evil. Dark.” His hand instinctively grabbed onto his sword hilt. Whatever was up there, truly was evil. He just couldn’t tell how powerful yet. Really, with the bard here, he didn’t want to find out. He needed to keep her safe.


Josleen is glad Kelovath didn’t notice her strong reaction to him, and explains to herself that whatever that was probably has to do with the fact he reminds her of Collin. He explains they’re not alone, and glances upwards when he does. “Oh. Should we head back? Or should I?” She unthinkingly backs towards a wall, close to him but without keeping her back exposed.


Kelovath said to Josleen, "We should go."


Josleen leaves the room more quickly than when she came in. Each step rattles her sore back, but she ignores the pain. She roughly remembers the route they took, but takes a single wrong turn. She recognizes her mistake when they enter a shoe-buffing room they had not seen before. In the ceiling of this room is a door with a twist-and-pull handle that presumably leads to the attic. Josleen, having no idea that Kelovath actually wants to go to the attic, turns around quickly and bumps into the paladin, her arms lifting to buffer against his chest. “Wrong way. Should have kept walking until the next left. Sorry.” She slips past him and continues.


Kelovath followed the bard and easily kept her pace. It was faster than they should have been going, but leaving now was best. Walking into the shoe-buffing was not on their way back, which caught the paladin off-guard. What caught him even more off-guard was Josleen turning and running right into him. Right away, his arms lifted and wrapped around the woman, which also caused him to take a single step backwards, but still hold his ground. His eyes lowered to the woman and he smiled to her. “Careful, now.” He lifted his gaze and caught sight of the handle, but knew now wasn’t the time. Maybe when Josleen went to sleep! Of course, remembering how to get back to this room, alone, might be difficult. Though, there could be someone to ask that may know the layout of the building better. Figuring out his plan, the paladin did forget one thing. Letting go of the bard. His eyes widened and he looked down to her yet again and dropped her arms. He stepped to the side and waited for her to continue, before following.