[M] Tales of the Highland [IC]

[Highland Sniper]

Finley continued to help out with the wounded, turning to see Morgan go with his sister, likely to see the kids and get comfy.

There was more work to be done. There was now crying for loved ones, and lost possessions as the final counts started to come in.
Most of the heavily injured were taken care of, but still needed to be checked on.

As Finley moved onto another person in need of care, a call for help rose near by.
Finley got up and rushed over, seeing the wounded man splutter up blood. The other man tending to him was gripping his hand and looking around frantically.
She lifted his shirt a little and found the largest bruise she'd seen, his chest a little deformed.
"No," she said, her nervous getting the better of her for a moment. Without even thinking, she put her hands to the man's injured chest. Ignoring the man's strangled cry of pain, she pored her her energy into healing the man of what must have been a broken bone puncturing something internal.
The redness was taken away slightly, and his chest inflated slightly as the bone moved. But the man was still spluttering blood. She put her lips to his to suck out his blood and spit it out, and repeated until the man could breath. He gasped for breath as his airways cleared, but he seemed close enough to pass out and not at all conscious enough to do more than breath.

With that small crises out of the way, she sat back in a daze, exhausted even more from the events of the day.

=======================================

As Morgan limped inside, the children got up and hugged him.
"Did you beat them? Were they routed?" Isla asked him hopefully as Conor just looked up at him in concern.

[Rothwell]

Morgan, somehow, managed to hold it together as he hugged the kids. He replied to Isla in a voice he hardly recognised as his own.

"Aye lass. The bad men are gone. You're all safe now."

He took the glass Molly handed him with a shaking hand and took a deep draught, grimacing as the warmth hit his belly.

"Mayor'll be calling a meeting soon I expect. The day might not be done yet."


OOC Ill get back posting more regularly soon. Been really busy lately./OOC

[Rothwell]

Sure enough messengers were sent around once it had been confirmed that the threat had been repulsed.

"All those of warrior stock should assemble in the Lord's Longhouse within the hour. There be a reckoning to plan."


OOC Just a short one to kick this forward./OOC

[Highland Sniper]

All the men that were of any good condition, for most meaning they were able to stand under their own power, had moved to the longhouse.
As the men gathered, there were murmers.

"Why had they attacked now?"
"What did they want?"
"They wanted our land. They always have."
"We're gonna make them pay."
These and more did they murmur.

"Alright. Quiet now." The chief tried. And has some stopped to listen, some still murmured.
"Shut it!" The chief bellowed, and the longhouse went silent.
He continued after he gazed over the crowed of men.

"So... what is it you all wish to do about this?" He asked simply and looked over the men.
"We can sit here and repair, and live as normal. Or we can strike the Connollys, and make then pay for every drop of blood spilt" he said, slaming a meaty fist into the table for emphasis. "Now I'm as bloody mad as any man at the utter gall! But... what happens if we attack? How much more blood shed? How many more... will we lose?"

Several murmured at this before a man shouted.
"They started it, they should pay!"
And an uproar filled the room with men split between staying defensive and wiping out the Connollys.

[Rothwell]

"They killed my brother." One of the men declared in a slurring voice as Morgan entered the longhouse. The blacksmith recognised him as Lundy Aitken. The man's unfortunate claim to fame being the town drunk. He was a harmless soul who'd taken to wallowing in the gutter ever since his wife had passed away from lung problems some five years earlier, and his brother had been the one who'd taken him in. A murmur went through the crowd.

"He went down getting me to safety." Lundy continued, tears in his voice. "Bar the door, he said, don't come out til it's over. So I did, to my shame. I found him after..."

Lundy dissolved into sobs. The Chief allowed a few moments of respectful silence before picking up the thread.

"We have more men than the Connolly clan, and I have no right to tell ye not to seek revenge for the family you've lost." He said. "I would council ye to wait until the morrow before taking action. Take the day to shore up our defences in case of a further attack. Any who wish to march on the Connoly's is to report to the north east gate at sunrise. Take time to take stock, get ye affairs in order, and remember an angry mind is a stupid one."

[Highland Sniper]

As the room settles on the decision, the Chief speaks up.
"Is there anything else that we need to address?" He asks, looking around the room. "Alright. Get some rest. Those who stay behind will help rebuild. Everyone else wanting to go to war, best be ready for it by morning."

At this, everyone leaves, slowly, thinking on what the tomorrow would bring as they mutter to one another about what to bring, and what they'll do when they see a Connolly.

The Chief sighs, and hits down in a chair in the long house as the last few people leave the building.
"I worry," he says.
"We all do," Another says, still standing by him, "But I'm not sure what else we can do."
"Let's just hope that we've not doomed ourselves." The Chief says.

[Rothwell]

Morgan got up from his seat and headed back home. All thoughts of revenge being trumped for a desire for food and rest. The blacksmith resolved to find his new friend and bring her up to date with the situation. It had been a tough morning for her too, and he wouldn't have blamed her for wanting to put the town to her back as soon as possible.

[Rothwell]

OOC Do you want to fast forward until morning?/OOC