Sailing Away RPG

[Encaitare]

Home! The word never sounded so enticing to him before. Only a few days ago Reggie had so badly wanted to leave, but now the thought of going back to the comfort of Brandy Hall was far more appealing. However...

"Gandalf said we shouldn't cross the river by night," he said. As much as he wanted to be back home, he trusted the wise old man, who had seemed to know so much more than he was telling. "I don't know about you all, but I think I can wait one more night to get home."

[Primrose Bolger]

She was dirty, and ragged, and scratched and bitten. All her things she’d brought along on this adventure were gone save for the sling and rocks she had jammed firmly in her breeches pocket.

Just across the dumb river lay home. Sassy could almost catch the scent of one of her ma’s stews dancing on the breeze. She imagined she could hear her Gammer rocking in her little chair, sighing as she waited for Sassy to come listen to a story. She simply couldn’t stand it any longer. She had had enough of adventuring!

As fast as her feet could carry her, she ran down to the edge of the Withywindle and waded into the water. She called to the others left gathered about Sondo.

‘Hey! Come on! I want to go home!’

[Kitanna]

“We don’t have to, but I think that we should try to cross the Withywindle tonight.” Sondo said.

Marroc cast a weary eye to Sondo. Hadn't Gandalf advised against crossing the Withywindle at night? Wouldn't they be safer trying to cross in the daylight. He looked to his other companions, but he could not tell what they thought of crossing now.

"Maybe we should wait," Marroc said, "We've had some bad luck this trip and I don't want to end it like this. Not when we're so close to home. We are all going to be in a lot of trouble as it is, so what's another day to our punishment?"

Marroc feel silent, hoping desperately Sondo would take that into consideration. He knew everyone just wanted to get home, but if they took the chance and crossed now they might never make it.

[Crystal Heart]

Sam had come to the end of his attention span. Yes, he wanted desperately to get back home. He couldn't exactly recall when he had had a decent meal last. Yet, the young hobbit knew that Gandalf was far more versed on subjects like rivers and crossing them at night and he tended to believe the man. He stood, listening to them as they bickered over going over.

"Hey!" Sam yelled, his bottled up frustrations finally taking over. The group stopped and looked at him.

"Listen you fools. We cross that river by ourselves in the dead of night and we will all die. Do you not remember what has already happened on this river? It is because this river that we did not get to the places that we wanted to see. Granted it all was one big adventure, but we can not navigate that blasted river. We are all tired, depleated of energy, and some are clearly not thinking straight. The brilliant thing to do is to camp. I know that you all want to get back home. I want to get back home too. Yet you have to think about the circumstances. It is dark. That river is winding. One misstep and we all will go down the river, possibly drown and die. Is that what you all want? To drown and die in the river right in front of our own homes? That thought is completely suicidial!" Sam yelled.

He threw a hand into his hair and turned away from them. He turned back, the fury building within him causing his body to shake with its full intensity.

"Gandalf is wise. He knows far more then any of us. And at the first sign of home you want to risk any chance of getting back alive. Do you want Gandalf to have to bring back our dead bodies to our parents? Do you? Do you want your parents to have to deal with that fact? I have known you all for quite some time. I have gone of this journey. I have had a change of heart, as all of you have noticed. I have tried to help. I have followed Sondo's lead, but if you, Sondo, are going to put all the lives of everyone here in danger then I am stepping up. What you propose is a death wish. Yes I will give it to you that there is a slight possibility that we will make it, but what about that bigger possibility that we will be wisked away and that we will have to travel any further?"

"If you all want to be fools and go ahead and kill yourselves, just go for it. I will not be the one that takes your bodies back."

Sam stood in front of them all, his fury finally dying down. He crossed his arms and gave them all a very hard stare.

"The choice is yours. Wait patiently and we cross in the daylight and get home alive or follow Sondo and get yourselves killed and come back home in a box. What is it going to be."

[Nurumaiel]

Firefoot's post:

Sondo was becoming increasingly annoyed with Sam as he went on. What did they all want of him?! They say they want to have input, so he gives it to them, and now Sam just explodes! He had asked for opinions; he hadn't said it was what they would do.

"The choice is yours. Wait patiently and we cross in the daylight and get home alive or follow Sondo and get yourselves killed and come back home in a box. What is it going to be."

"Are you done?" asked Sondo. "Because if you are, I have a few things to say to you, Sam. First of all, I never said that we were going to cross right now; I said that I thought we should try. It's not very wide, it's not quite dark yet, and we're all wet and will be chilled, so it seemed like a worthwhile suggestion. So excuse me for trying to cover all of our options! And also, if you want to argue with me, maybe you should get all of your facts straight first! This is not the Brandywine, which we were sailing down. This is the Withywindle, and it is less deep and swift than the Brandywine, even if it does come down out of the Old Forest.

"I don't mind hearing your opinion, Sam, but you know what? I'd appreciate it if you didn't treat me like an utter idiot. I've gotten us this far, and I'll admit I may have made some mistakes, but I'd say overall I've done a pretty decent job of it. If your fury is what I've earned for it all, so be it, but I don't want to hear it. Obviously you're not the only one who feels that we should camp here for another night, and that's fine! But, Sam, I have not come this far to hear you yelling at me." Never once had Sondo raised his voice, but his cold words were dripping with hot intesity and fury, and his eyes were blazing.

Sondo deliberately turned his back on Sam and, without giving the other lad a chance to respond, spoke to the others, his voice sounding strangely pleasant. "I'll be honest; I'd really like to be home tonight, with a warm meal and bed and clean clothes. The river can't be more than 25 feet across and not too deep, and Gandalf left us that rope - it's pretty long. But most of you seem to want to camp here another night, so if you're all against me then we can do so. But, unless you want wood from the Old Forest, both the night and the food will be chilly and wet. If we are going to stay here, though, I suppose we'd best get away from this river and unpack." This last was said with a mournful look at the river. There was home. He was certain that they would be able to cross the river, but he couldn't, nor would he, do it alone. He looked around expectantly, hoping for some support from at least one of the lads, since Sassy's vote didn't exactly count. If he didn't want the popular choice, though, at least he would follow the popular concensus.

*********************************

Nurumaiel's post:

Did I seem like that to the others?

Falco could not help but wonder. It was a humiliating thought. He agreed with what Sam said, but he did not agree with how Sam said it. There was no need to lose tempers. But he had done the same thing. It became even clearer to him that he was in the wrong, and that he would have to make it up with Sondo.

"Thank you, Sam," he said, patting the lad on the shoulder. Perhaps it was an odd thing to say, but he was grateful. He realised now that he had erred before, and it would not be so hard to apologise to Sondo now. He believed he should apologise... it took only humility now. "And," he added to the angry young hobbit, "calm down.

"I agree with the others, Sondo," he said, and thought rather miserably that he wouldn't look better in Sondo's eyes for teaming up against him. "I'm very anxious to get home, but I think it would be safer to wait." Sondo would be feeling overwhelmed with all this opposition, as he had been at the mutiny. He cringed at the word, and then lifted his chin a little. It was true... but he'd make up for it. He moved closer to Sondo and spoke in very friendly tones. "I can't agree with Sam that we'd be fools to try," he said. "I don't think you're a fool, you know. Maybe you're right, and we could make it all right. But we're all rather exhausted from this adventure, and perhaps it would be better to wait until morning, when both the sky and our minds are a bit lighter." He hesitated for a half a moment, and then put a hand on Sondo's shoulder and smiled the most confident and comradely smile he knew.

[Firefoot]

So be it, thought Sondo wearily. They would spend another night here, since it seemed that at least half if not all the others were against him. He wondered where he stood in their eyes. He doubted that he was the same high-ranking leader that he had been at the beginning. Maybe you're losing it, thought Sondo to himself. He was the leader, not the dictator. It was a nice niche, so long as the leader status was maintained.

He was slightly startled at Falco's hand on his shoulder. He met Falco's eyes and saw only friendship. He smiled back. "If you don't mind... I'd like to talk with you tonight," he murmured. Falco nodded, and Sondo addressed the rest of the group.

"Come on, then," he said. "Let's get camp set up before it is utterly dark." He caught the relief on several faces as he turned to lead them away from the Withywindle's bank. He stopped about half way between the marshes and the river, figuring about an eighth of a mile to be far enough distant. He was only too happy to put down his pack; after carrying it all day, it seemed much heavier than it actually was. The others set up their bedrolls as well, and then they started to unpack some dinner.

As he had expected, the bread was soggy and had to be thrown out. The meat was wet and cold since there was no fire to heat it, but otherwise edible. The fruit seemed little the worse for the wear. After the food had been doled out, Sondo waved Falco over. Falco fell into step beside him, and after a few moments of uneasy silence, Sondo said, "I guess we were both acting kind of stubborn, back when the raft crashed." Pride told him that Falco had been more wrong than he, and the mutiny still hurt. But in the end, his friendships were worth more to him than grudges, and Falco had been a good friend. And maybe he shouldn't have lost his temper like he had... He gave Falco a jaunty smile. "Friends?"

[Nurumaiel]

Falco swallowed hard. He hadn't expected it so soon. He had hoped for some time to grow used to the idea of casting away his pride, and at the moment his pride was still heavily upon him. But he would not, could not, reject Sondo's friendship. He took a deep breath.

"I'm awful sorry for the way I acted earlier," he said, very hurriedly. "I shouldn't have disagreed with you in the first place, but if I really had to disagree, I ought to have done it in a way that was more respectful to your position as leader. As it was, I not only disagreed with you myself, but did my best to make the others think the same way as I. Thank goodness they all had the good sense to either stay with you or abandon me later.

"I'd like to say, Sondo, that you've just proved what a good leader you are. If you'd been such a bad leader as I've been implying throughout this whole trip, you wouldn't have taken everything as graciously as you did. You gave in to us when you saw you were out-voted. If you were a bad leader you would have insisted on having your own way, against majorities and even against common sense. You've done a wonderful job, and I'm sorry for making things so hard on you."

He drew another deep breath, and smiled rather shakily. "There! That was rather hard to say, but I'm glad I did." He reached over and grasped Sondo's hand in his own, shaking it heartily. "Friends."