Quick Patrol [Open]

[Treble Tiderunner]

It was a beautiful autumn day, the air just a tad chilly and the sun strong and warm, but only if you were out of the slight breeze that blew every now and again. Skipper and a few of his otters where out scouting around.

They checked the waystations for travelers looking for sanctuary from N'Tashi's hordes, and even foraged several haversacks worth of food. Dewfurr found some late berries, and the small group munched them as they picked, joking and chatting as they worked.

[Tirael]

Camp Moss' stock of valerian had been running low for a while. As there were no patients in immediate danger, Tirael grabbed his supply bag and struck off into Mossflower. Keeping an eye out for any vermin, he went to the places he normally got valerian from. There wasn't much at any of them; exasperated, he had to go to every single one he knew.

After a while, he only had one spot left. Looking disappointedly into his bag, which was less than half-full, he forgot to look where he was going. Emerging onto the path, he rammed straight into Skipper.

"Oof!" They fell over, and the bag spilled onto the dusty path. Tirael got up, and as he began to retrieve the herbs, he mumbled "Sorry, Skip. Wasn't watchin' where I was goin'."

[Treble Tiderunner]

At last they had picked all of the berries, and they steppedout onto the path to make one final loop before returning home. Skipper led the way, stepping out of the bushes, javelin at the ready.

Oof! The big otter landed on his tail, off-balance from his efforts not to run the young healer who had just appeared in front of him through.

"Sorry, Skip. Wasn't watchin' where I was goin'."

“ ‘Tis ok, Tirael.” Skipper got up and helped his young friend gather his herbs. “Wasn’t watchin’ where we were goin', now were we, mateys?” He addressed his otters, who didn’t answer, they seemed to find something extremely funny.

[Tirael]

Tirael wasn't sure what the laughter of the ottercrew meant either, but he decided to interpret it in the best possible light. Brushing dust off his fur, he eyed the javelin that had narrowly missed him. "Well, no harm done, I guess." Getting up, he asked the Skipper "So, are y' headed back to the Camp, or are y' still goin' round the woods?"

[Vrelt]

Wandering through the forest of Mossflower was not all it cracked up to be. Braylon had moved across the vast area since his arrival, and though there was plenty to eat and enough land to set himself up out there, he thought it was much to hard to gather up the wild growing food, or find a permanent place of dwelling. The ferret was used to giving orders to a crew who obeyed his commands exactly, and moving from having virtually anything you wanted to having to scrape up enough to eat day by day was tiresome. Braylon thought he could make it, if the crazy Woodlanders didn't get to him first. Over the two years that he lived here, he was attacked by many and driven off. Braylon had countless experiences when he had run across one beast or the other, and the results where the same; if it was a member of his kind, it would try to murder him to get his saber, and if it was one of the so called "Goodbeasts", they would warn every creature near them and try to remove the vermin from near their homes. Braylon had made it out of most of the attacks against him, but it still makes him furious that he can do nothing about it.

Now the ferret was approaching the otter crew, and he didn't now that he was, for this section of Mossflower was new to him and he was not paying attention to anything going on around him. Contrary to the wiser course of action, Braylon was singing with a strong voice an old song recited by corsairs and walking along with a paw full of the late berries, eating some of them as he went, blissfully unaware that he was about to run straight into the armed otter crew.

[Treble Tiderunner]

"So, are y' headed back to the Camp, or are y' still goin' round the woods?"

"We're still goin' 'round. Want to come with?" Skipper clapped Tir on the back, but suddenly the whole crew went quiet. "Hush now, matey. Somebeast's singin' a corsair ballad."

Some of the otters melted into the woodlands, leaving only three on the path with Skipper and Tir. Dewfurr walked ahead, then turned around and whisper-shouted a report. "They're coming this w--"

Oof. Now the irrepressible otter crew had something else to laugh about, as a ferret munching berries and singing bowled the young female otter over.

[Tirael]

"Hush now, matey. Somebeast's singin' a corsair ballad."

Tirael grew tense as most of the ottercrew melted into the woods. He was lucky that he had run into Skipper; he would have never realized that the song was a corsair song otherwise. Considering the disaster his ignorance would have led to, he was startled out of his thoughts as Braylon slammed into Dewfurr. One of the berries that fell from the ferret's grasp went flying, hitting Tirael full in the face. He didn't laugh with the other otters; he was too shocked to find the situation funny, though he probably would have otherwise. After a moment, he relaxed somewhat. Still looking at the otter and the ferret on the ground, he commented to Skipper, "Well, whoever he is, he doesn't seem like he'll be much of a problem to you."

[Vrelt]

With a startled grunt, Braylon ran straight into Dewfurr and knocked the otter over, in the process, he fell to the ground as well. Any other vermin in their right mind would turn tail and run like mad to escape the otters, but Braylon was not about to do so. He had every bit a right to be walking through this forest as the otter crew did. The ferret rolled over from next to Dewfurr and stood up, dusting himself off and staring at his stained paw where the berries just were. Braylon looked at the others and saw Tirael with a berry smeared on his face, he smiled at him briefly before turning to the other otters, Skipper stood out among them, so he guessed he was one of some higher position. He nodded to Skipper and spoke up to him,"Just passin' through the area." Then he extended a paw to Dewfurr, "Sorry 'bout that, mate." Braylon hoped to get out of this with his tongue, instead of using violence like most ferrets would have done.

[Treble Tiderunner]

"Well, whoever he is, he doesn't seem like he'll be much of a problem to you."

Skipper nodded in acknowledgment, his eyes on the ferret. "I'm Skipper. Who are you? Are you with N'tashi?" He asked, holding his javelin loosely. Skipper didn't want to start anything with somebeast who was innocent. Besides, most of his otter crew was leaning against various shrubbery laughing their heads off. It was that kind of day.

"Just passin' through the area." Then he extended a paw to Dewfurr, "Sorry 'bout that, mate."

Dewfurr accepted the ferret's paw, levering herself up somewhat more gracefully than she had fallen down. "No problem." She glared at her friends. "It wasn't that funny!"

[Rocky]

"Sorry, missy. It was pretty funny." A certain otter called from behind the ranks of the otter crew. That otter soon revealed himself to be none other than Rocky. "Hows it goin', Skip?" He asked, patting him on the back. Letting the response that Skipper would soon say go unheeded, Rocky turned sharply at the site of Braylon and started to walk towards him. Walkin' through here, eh? Are ye sure ye werent planning an ambush? Where's the rest of your crew?" Rocky somewhat growled.

The black furred otter than looked past Braylon and nodded so slightly that only Braylon could see if he was truly concentrating.

A large, brawny beast cloaked in a cloak and a hood walked up behind Braylon and stood there, staring down at the ferret. The hooded creature revealed himself to be Meko, Rocky's lifelong friend. If Rocky wasnt standing there, Meko probably would've throttled the ferret right now, because... Well... Meko hated ferrets (Check his history for the reason).By now, Meko was breathing heavily, and growling lightly. It took a lot to keep Meko from attacking right now. Luckily for Braylon, Rocky noticed this. "Calm down Meko. Sure, he's a ferret, and you dont like ferrets, but there is a very small chance that he may be good. So why dont you calm down, eh, mate?" Meko didn't stir, and the low growling soon became louder. Rocky sighed and walked past Braylon and placed himself between the large otter.

"Go stay by Skip, ferret." Rocky warned.

Right now, Rocky had his hand on Meko's shoulder, and was trying to calm him down, "Look. We got them ferrets back for what they did. 'E's not one o' them. Remember what we did to 'em? We killed 'em all." Meko looked down at him, "Ferrets took Tor. Killed mom." Was all he said before baring his teeth at Braylon.

"Skip... You better protect that ferret. Meko's acting strange today." Rocky said, before turning to try and calm down his friend. "C'mon, mate. Calm down. It's alright."

[Tirael]

"Walkin' through here, eh? Are ye sure ye weren't planning an ambush? Where's the rest of your crew?"

Tirael wasn't sure if he was just being naive, but it didn't seem fair to him that Rocky had immediately treated the ferret this way. He had been told several times that vermin were vermin, nothing more, nothing less, and to treat them as such. However, Braylon hadn't done anything notably suspicious; he had actually been rather civil with the otters. Though he felt odd doing it, he jumped to the ferret's defense.

"Come on now, is that really the way to talk to another beast? After all, it's not like he's threatened to kill us or anything."

[Vrelt]

"N'tashi, eh? I think I heard a bit 'bout 'em. But I'm not from this area. And I go by the name Braylon." The ferret was convinced that he would not have to fight to get away, in fact, it seemed like this particular crew of otters were much more civil than the simpleminded groups he had run across in the past.

Braylon turned his gaze away from Skipper and looked over at the next otter to step up, and this one looked threatening. "I'll tell you where my crew is; laying somewhere at the bottom of the sea!" Braylon's temper was heating up at that point, but he fought to control it. His concentration was blown when Meko came from behind him. The big otter was much larger than Braylon, who was very short next to most here. Meko towered over him, that was enough to scare him, not to mention the fact Meko was growling and looking like he was going to go into a mad rage after him at any moment.

Braylon heeded the advice of Rocky, taking several steps away from Meko. Any sort of distance from him was good, giving the ferret some breathing room. Braylon got up the courage to speak again, staring hard first at Skipper then at Rocky. "It's my turn to ask some questions; what right do you otters have over this land, eh? I don't know why I'm gettin' interrogated and threatened at the same time. Explain it to me Skipper." This move was considerably more fueled by his temper than his anger at prejudice against vermin. Though woodlanders did have good reason to hate his kind, he himself experienced that. But still, he felt he had as much a right to travel through these parts as the otter crew did, and he stated his opinion boldly in front of them.

[Treble Tiderunner]

"Skip... You better protect that ferret. Meko's acting strange today." Rocky said, before turning to try and calm down his friend. "C'mon, mate. Calm down. It's alright."

“Meko…” Skipper warned, motioning several of his otters over to help Rocky restrain the angry otter. The crew weren’t as light-hearted at the present, everyone tensing, some of the otters leaving the forest to their former positions on the road.

"Come on now, is that really the way to talk to another beast? After all, it's not like he's threatened to kill us or anything."

Dewfurr patted Tir heartily on the back. “Don’t ye worry, Tir matey, Skipp’ll take care of it.”

"N'tashi, eh? I think I heard a bit 'bout 'em. But I'm not from this area. And I go by the name Braylon."

Skipper nodded, watching both Meko and the ferret. “Sorry ‘bout him matey, ferrets slaughtered ‘is entire ‘olt when ‘e was younger.”

"It's my turn to ask some questions; what right do you otters have over this land, eh? I don't know why I'm gettin' interrogated and threatened at the same time. Explain it to me Skipper."

Skipper planted his javelin firmly in the ground. “Its simple, Braylon. Mossflower Country is occupied by a vermin horde led by N’tashi. We’re ‘ere to liberate it an’ see no innocent creature is ‘armed.”