| To Find a Sister |
| Summary: | Rafferdy and Riordan work together to help find their sister, cousin, and the rest of the ladies. No arguing involved! |
| Date: | 03/06/2012 |
| Related Logs: | A Wonderful Day For a Picnic and search and rescue logs. |
| Players: |
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| Riordan's Suite — Tordane Tower |
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| The Tower residence of the Regent of Stonebridge, with lots of maps, reports, and other lady-finding things. |
| Sun Jun 03, 289 |
It's sometime after midday, and Riordan, as he often is since the noble ladies were captured, can be found in his quarters. A steady stream of people have been in and out all today, and all yesterday. But, for once, Riordan is alone, and rather then hovering over the large table that has been set up with maps, reports, and other important documents, he stands by the window, looking out it. The weariness and tiredness and other things that have him strained to the breaking is, somehow, slightly lessened then previously - though it likely has to do with having finally grabbed a few hours sleep for the first time in a couple days earlier. But still, the tension and the lack of sleep still take their toll, in the way he holds himself, and the shadows under his eyes.
Rafferdy steps into the room, without knocking or announcement. He's wearing muddy, dirty peasant clothing, and his hair has been unwashed for several days. He looks tired, and hardly appears to look even remotely like the noble he is. As he walks to the table, he calls, "Here." He's carrying a large, rolled sheet of peasant-grade, common parchment.
Riordan turns at the entrance of his brother. He stares at him for a moment, but not in a way that holds anger or… anything else, really, except perhaps confusion. "Rafferdy," he finally says, by way of greeting, before looking to what the other Nayland has in his hand. Moving towards him, and the table, he prompts, "What is it?"
Rafferdy begins to unroll the parchment. Upon it, is a map. It, like the parchment, is not the fine work of a noble, but rather, the simple cartography of a peasant. Trails are marked. Landmarks are noted. But it's not a fancy map of a ruler. It's a hunter's map. As it fully unrolls, Stonebridge and the lands around it are fully revealed. On the map, there are about a bunch of 'X's drawn, in fresh ink that is clearly not the same as the map was created in. "These are all of the places large enough to hide at least a dozen people made up of women and bandits and their horses." He looks at Riordan finally, flatly, "I understand they've covered their trail too well to track. This will at least save us the time of trying to discover WHERE to look. It's still a shitload of ground to cover, though."
Riordan's eyes go hungrily to the map, taking in the marks silently. Without a word, he pulls out another, larger map. Much more detailed, and likewise, it too bears marks, and notations, describing a cave here, a glen there, and the like. Riordan begins copying the marks and notations from Rafferdy's map to his, as the one his brother brought him clearly has more of such places outlined. "I've sent patrols to these locations so far. I'll concentrate the next ones to these," he murmurs, while he works, indicating the ones that are newly added to his map. "Thank you, Rafferdy," and whatever weariness he holds, whatever anger previously existed between them, is utterly forgot now. All that he holds in his voice, right now, is grattitude.
Rafferdy steps back so Riordan can better get to the table and maps. "No one has brought any of their jewelry or horses into Stonebridge to sell. Whatever their motives, it doesn't seem to be the simple profits of low level thieves. The good news there, is it means it's more likely they were kidnapped because the girls themselves were where the value lied, which means, mistreated or not, they're likely alive." He smirks a little, "It also means, they're hiding a LOT of horses. Which will make noise when you're close."
"We've men on the lookout for any of that sort of activity, just in case, both here, and the other nearby settlements," Riordan murmurs distractedly, not pausing in his work. Even so, he musters up a wry smile as he adds, "I doubt there has been any of this level of cooperation between all the local Houses since… well, ever. Thank the Seven that at least in this, everyone can pull head from ass and work together." And, truly, Rafferdy would have seen examples of that coming in through the main hall. Mallister and Terrick and Groves working alongside Frey and Nayland and Charlton and everyone else who has a relation, friend, or compatriot among those captured. "We've also descriptions of the bandits that our cousin Jocelyn's maid saw, before she was sent with the ransom demand. And one of the men was called Rolf. I've a copy you can take, if you want to see if any of your contacts know anything." And, for the first time, he stops his copying long enough to pull over a parchment with the descriptions written down, exactly as they were given by Iulia. This is then offered up to Rafferdy.
Rafferdy takes the paper and simply nods, turning quietly and heading to the door to go.
Riordan looks after his brother as Rafferdy departs. But only for the space of a heartbeat, before he finishes copying over the map that Rafferdy provided. Shortly, down the hall rings out the sound of Riordan summoning his manservant, to send him on another errand. "Stanley!!!"
