#[ Eliwood Int: 1 ]

[fangedjustice]

@pheraean  x

There is no need to apologize.

Eliwood’s voice is gentle, much as he remembered, but his words sit like a heavy weight in Lloyd’s chest. How could someone be so forgiving, so open hearted? A small part of him wanted to call it foolish; why would someone be so kind to the person that had almost taken their life right in front of their friends? But this was not foolish optimism, it was a soft but determined sort of hope.

A heart and mind that had been tempered through a fire that Lloyd could not entirely put a name to.

Lloyd made a noise of uncertainty at that. “You all did what you had to. I’m...not sure I fall into the same category. You suffered your own losses, but you continued forward because it was the right thing to do -- not just for yourself, but for all. I knew something was wrong, and I chose the lesser and easier path of simply doing as I was told. Kind of you to offer me a way out, but I made my mistakes and I'm...not going to avoid trying to make up for them,” he sighed out, smiling despite the topic. 

“...Mercy shouldn’t have a price. You put things in perspective, and if we did not not follow what was right, that was our failure alone.”

Alive and well. Yes, he supposed so. He’d been luckier than others.

“For the time being, at least. It seemed...a better thing to do than simply wandering from job to job. And you? I doubt you came all the way out here for a change in scenery. I know you’ve friends here, but I’m sure you have your duties back in Pherae as well.”

[inserviceto]

Harken wasn't entirely sure who had thought up this seminar, but they'd asked for volunteers for chasers. Two students to a chaser was more than one person could do on their own, after all. It wasn't something he'd done often, this sort of intense pursuit -- and he'd never dealt in anything like traps at all. Someone else had set up the traps, but Harken knew where they were in order to incorporate them as needed for this seminar.

It was a rare occasion on which Harken actually used his helmet outside of a proper battle, but he figured it might be suitably intimidating. It wouldn't completely conceal his face, but it would do enough to likely avoid the small chance that he would be recognized whilst giving chase.

It did, however, narrow his vision as a result.

As instructed, as soon as the students he was to be chasing through the trap infested forest reached the agreed upon spot, Harken initiated the hunt. He could see one of the students clearly, but the other he couldn't get a clear look at.

They stayed together for some time; Harken kept them moving, making sure to get close but not corner them yet. They were doing pretty good at evading him without the need for him to really hold back too much, but then they split up, forcing him to focus his attention on only one of them at a time.

Taking quick stock of the area they were in, he realized there was a trap close by that he could utilize to catch his current target before going after the other.

And then he saw the fiery red hair, the gentle but determined features--

Lord Elb--

No, not him, but...Lord Eliwood?

Intense panic hit him suddenly like running top speed into a brick wall he'd not seen, and the very thought of causing any sort of harm or distress to Elbert's son spurred him to pick up the pace and cut ahead of the young lord.

"Wait--!" was all he had time to get out in warning before the world abruptly flipped on him.

It was a simple but effective trap. A foot snare hidden in the underbrush, leveraged to pull its victim up off the ground and just far enough away from anything else that they'd really have to struggle to get loose from the tree limb they were hung from.

It certainly worked well.

Harken wheezed at the sudden shift in perspective, grunting in dazed pain as his head connected none too kindly with the ground as his caught foot was hauled upwards into mess of tree limbs above. Luckily, his helmet protected him from any real damage, but it was disorienting all the same and gravity robbed him of his helm as he hung there like a limp fish.

@pheraed

Let Me Get That Trap For You, M'lord

[sparkyfumes]

Pathfinder Character Sheet

Elsbeth the Half-Elf Druid

Name: Elsbeth Eliwood

Alignment: Neutral Good

Starting Level: 5

Current Level: 5

Race: Half Elf

Class: Wild-Shape Druid

Deity: Yuelral

Home: ???

Starting Stats (Stat / Modifier)

Str: 16 (+3)

Dex: 16 (+3)

Con: 16 (+3)

Int: 16 (+3)

Wis: 20 (+5)

*Cha: 15 (+2)

HP: 39 (+5f)

Skill Ranks per lv: 4+IntMod

Hit Die: d8

Current Stats

Str: 16 (+3)

Dex: 16 (+3)

Con: 16 (+3)

Int: 16 (+3)

Wis: 20 (+5)

Cha: 15 (+2)

HP: 44

Skills (Total points/ skill name /modifier /rank) (0 unused rank points)

03 Acrobatics (dex) +3

03 Appraise (int)+3

02 Bluff (cha)+2

08 Climb (str)+3 +2r +3b

08 Craft (int)+3 +2r +3b

02 Diplomacy (cha)+2

06 Disable Device (dex)+3 +3r

04 Disguise (cha) +2 +2r

03 Escape Artist (dex)+3

09 Fly (dex)+3 +3r +3b

07 Handle Animal (cha)+2 +2r +3b

13 Heal (wis)+5 +5r +3b

02 Intimidate (cha)+2

06 Knowledge: Arcana (int)+3 +3r

03 Knowledge: Dungeoneering (int)+3

03 Knowledge: Engineering (int)+3

09 Knowledge: Geography (int) +3 +3r +3b

03 Knowledge: History (int)+3

03 Knowledge: Local (int) +3

09 Knowledge: Nature (int)+3 +3r +3b

03 Knowledge: Nobility (int)+3

03 Knowledge: Planes (int)+3

03 Knowledge: Religion (int)+3

06 Linguistics (int)+3 +3r

11 Perception (wis)+5 +3r +3b

02 Perform (cha)+2

08 Profession (wis)+5 +3b

06 Ride (dex)+3 +3b

05 Sense Motive (wis)+5

03 Sleight of Hand (dex)+3

06 Spellcraft (dex)+3 +3b

06 Stealth (dex)+3 +3r

13 Survival (wis)+5 +5r +3b

09 Swim (str) +3 +3r +3b

02 Use Magic Device (cha)+2

Traits

Elven Reflexes (+2 trait bonus to initiative checks)

Nomadic (+1 to Knowledge (Geography) checks and +1 to Survival checks)

Feats

Expert Explorer (+2 bonus on skill checks using exploration skills)

Voice of Beasts (speak with any animal while in wild shape)

Weapon Shift (Any weapon held and proficient with meld with wild shape)

Additional notes

Bonus Point Key:

Xr = Rank Points

Yb = Class Bonus

Zf = Class Favor

[inserviceto]

There were quite a number of emotions waging for control of Harken's expression as he heard Lord Eliwood's gentle laugh, the approach of his footsteps. Shame, embarrassment, guilt -- no small amount of horror of having to so suddenly face the son of the man he'd failed so soundly.

As Eliwood spoke and worked on getting him free of the trap, Harken was frozen. How should he act? What should he say-- what could he even say?

Snap.

With a muffled clank and thud of him and his armor hitting the ground, Harken numbly lays there for a moment -- eyes wide and mouth slightly parted, as if he were about to say something but unable to form the words or sounds. Eliwood looked much as he recalled since last he saw the young man, but as he gazed at his young master, he started to pick out slight changes. A sureness, a quiet strength, something in his eyes that had grown up.

Harken breathes in, closing his eyes with the hesitancy of a man unsure if he wants what he sees to still be there in front of him when he opens them again. With the scrape of dirt, he rights himself, getting back up to his feet and brushing himself off so as to be as presentable as he may.

When he opens his eyes again, Eliwood is still there, and he feels his tenuous grip on composure crack like glass beneath the crushing pressure of the ocean's depths.

"My Lord Eliwood, there is...you have no reason to apologize to me. It is...It is I who should be apologizing to you," he speaks haltingly at first, voice strained and soft, before the dam breaks. He bends harshly at the waist in a stiff bow, arms at his sides and eyes trained on the ground just before Eliwood's boots -- he cannot bring himself to meet any part of his lord, as if just his gaze would sully the other man.

"I submit myself to whatever punishment you deem fitting for a failure such as I, Lord Eliwood. I was...I was unable to carry out my sole duty of protecting your lord father, nor did I have the decency to die on the battlefield for his glory."

And he should have. So many of his comrades, his lord, all had died and he had remained. Why? He should have died in their place -- any of them, all of them, he would trade his life in an instant for they would surely make better use of the breaths he still took.

"I have dishonored myself and your house...I will die if you ask it-- it is well within your rights to seek blood for blood. I will not resist, my lord. Please, I just...I wish for you to know that I would give anything to fix my failure to you and your father..."

Let Me Get That Trap For You, M'lord