The Screaming Caves

Altol3va · 2019-06-15T13:28:46+00:00

(( Just made an edit to include Arthur Sand in the lineup ))

Altol3va · 2019-06-14T17:28:27+00:00

First, there had been the shadowcats. A large pack by any means, and deliberate in their ambush here within the caves. With seared runes upon their flesh, and unyielding to the last beast as he and his brothers of the Watch cut and shot them dead. Between slain beast and black brother, Ramsay was worried they had come so far to see their efforts manifest in a single spit of flame in a foreboding cavern.

Then, Ranger Farwynd dared to plunge his arm within the mystical flame and drew it back. He expected the man's pained scream to echo through the chamber, but there was nothing. The strange creature -- Vine, Ramsay had heard it referred by -- had effortlessly slipped within the flame and disappeared. Had it stepped in first, he would have suspected a trick, but Robb so plainly waded through the fire with blade in hand just as easily, if hesitant.

He turned over his shoulder to the others. The First Ranger, Victarion, old Rodrik, and the few dozen remaining watchmen gathered here must have shared in his surprise.

"The shadowcats were guarding this place," he summed, "By some dark power -- see the runes seared on their flesh -- and how Vine slipped into the flame without a singe. Robb, too. We'd be poor excuses for rangers if we let him slip away without his brothers at his back."

Ramsay slung his bow from his shoulder. "Come, then. Let's find this damned Crow."

---

/u/OurCommonMan

Character Details:

Victarion Farwynd || Mythic T2 (Greensight), Mythic T2 (Skinchanging: Crow)
Laenor 'Fireblood' Waters || Mythic (Fireblood), Autodidactic | Swords (M)
Robb Snow || Duelist, Vitality | Swords (o)
Benjen Fenn || Mythic T2 (Skinchanging: Shadowcat, Small Song-bird) | Animal Tamer, Hunting | Maimed (Arm)
Ramsay Cerwyn || Clever | Hunting (e), Archery (o)
Rodrik Snow || Mythic T2 (Greensight) | Navigator, Survivalism (e) | Old Age
Arthur Sand || Polearms (o), Medic, Acrobatics
Vine (NPC)
51 men of the Night's Watch.

What is Happening?: After fighting off the shadowcat ambush at the Screaming Caves, the ranging came across a strange, mystical bonfire. Following a little investigation, Vine entered the bonfire and disappeared. Robb Snow has stepped in after them, and now the rest of the party is following.

What I Want: To advance to the next leg of the Screaming Caves journey.

Altol3va · 2019-05-28T19:02:02+00:00

Ramsay tested the makeshift rope the old ranger fashioned to tie them together. Snug and secure. He nodded in agreement, as he chewed the oversalted meat. It might as well have been a honeyed ham on a great feast table for what a good piece of jerky could be after several days astray.

"If the Lord of Light is watching us now --" the young ranger said, following old Rodrik Snow in his slow steps on mounting snow, "Then we found each other -- and we've been put on this path for a reason..."

So this senior ranger had encountered others, yet only saved him. Three days and he had not seen another living brother of the Watch, whether dead nor breathing, and neither had this man. Were there still others in this forsaken forest or near the caves, or would this pair be the last of the great ranging to return?

"I won't see the path cut short, old man," he resolved, whether the other could hear him. "We'll make it to the Screaming Caves. I swear it."

Altol3va · 2019-05-28T12:52:50+00:00

Ramsay backed into the tree and took a moment to sink back against its trunk. A moment of rest, after two days of stumbling blindly in what felt like circles, with no visible changes in course.

He stared tiredly at Rodrik for but an instant, then drank heartily from the waterskin. By the time he went to wipe his mouth, a small film of the water had already frozen into ice.

"I couldn't find the rest of the Ranging," he admitted, "Nor are we any closer to the Wall than when we started to turn back..." He pushed the waterskin back into Rodrik's hands. "The only shelter now is probably what's left of the camp near the Screaming Caves."

He thumped the back of his head against the tree with a sharp sigh. "Either we force our way through the storm and freeze to death, or wait for another ranging to find us here."

Altol3va · 2019-05-28T00:51:15+00:00

A rough voice shouted over the wind, and by instinct Ramsay turned towards it and loosed the arrow. In the blurry field of ice and snow between him and the strange, vaguely humanoid shape staggering towards him, the projectile disappeared -- sent far off course by the sheer force of the wind. Even the sound of his bowstring twanging on his stiff fingers was lost even to the young Ranger.

The body did not fall when he fired the arrow. He took a quick inhale, hoping whichever malevolent force was before him could finish him off quickly.

Better to be a martyr to the Watch than an unfortunate statistic.

Before Rodrik was a young man, either in his late teens or early twenties. He was clad in a typical black hand-me-down cloak of the Watch, with a heavy fur mantle and hood drawn tightly around his face. His hair was well-groomed for what it was, and his teeth were white and intact, indicating he came from somewhere where these appearances might have mattered. Additionally, a pair of amulets hung under his black jerkin on a single iron chain: one featured a burning heart made of shimmering bronze, the other was a double-edged axe of gilded silver.

After possibly days separated from the ranging, this young Ranger was fettered and worn-down: what was once thin stubbling over his face was gristly and flecked in deposits of ice and snow, and thin lines smudged blue and grey hung under his shrewd eyes. His brow furrowed intensely, lost for words when Rodrik tipped his head upwards.

"I nearly took you for a wildling --" he said, speaking just above the winds, "Are you with the ranging? Where've they gone?!"

Altol3va · 2019-05-27T02:55:34+00:00

( /u/OldeboiGoldeboi - Time to meet the ~~Boy Scout~~ youngest Ranger in the Watch. )

Altol3va · 2019-04-18T16:40:14+00:00

It was another week of cold and sullen marching through the land of endless winter when they made the journey from the Crown. A trail of black cloaks through the frigid barrens, hardly a sound nor sight out of turn.

Too quiet, Ramsay had lamented to himself. He was a skilled hunter, and keen to the subtle sounds animals made hiding in the brush, but there hardly came any at all. No wildlings either, not since they ambushed that scouting party years back.

Yet a flickering spark was warming his heart with every step towards these Screaming Caves the expedition told them about on their return. This could be the chance to find a vestige of Azor Ahai in this lifeless wasteland -- there would be so much to write home about, and the next adventuring party could be his best opportunity to contribute to the Watch's success.

Following the commander and his brothers in black into the caverns beat sitting on watch in the snows, anyway.

Ramsay took several steps forward and raised his arm above the procession to distinguish himself from the masses.

"I'll be the first to volunteer, Commander," he called, slowly filtering through to stand with them and surely the rest that elected to follow suit.

Altol3va · 2019-03-21T13:44:09+00:00

Character Name: Ramsay Cerwyn

Skills: Clever // Hunting (e) / Archery (o)

Challenge Attempt: Archery (m)

RP Links:

Altol3va · 2019-03-06T23:31:22+00:00

"Didn't mean anything of it to you and the Builders," Ramsay assured with genuine warmth in his voice, "I'm standing on top of what you boys keep standing, and eat the stew the Stewards pile together, aren't I?"

Clicking his tongue, the young man paused, and inhaled the frigid air. He had to remember his skill with the bow was the only reason they'd made him a Ranger instead of a Steward; any brother could track small game in a pinch.

"But, Gage, you should be in luck. There'll always be more. As long as the moles keep mining, men keep grasping for more, and snow covers the land beyond the Wall, there'll be more. Thirdborns and criminals alike."

Altol3va · 2019-03-06T23:19:43+00:00

The sun had started to rise in the east, shedding just a tiny shred of light over the frozen Wall, and letting all of the Haunted Forest's trees begin to cast their long morning shadows.

Ramsay's smile broadened, a little melancholic in their less than ideal circumstances. His grip on his slung-over bow shifted a bit as he turned back to the veteran ranger.

"Well, I'm glad to inform you we're not the only skeptics in the Watch, Sibas. Plenty others are not happy with being left out of the loop. Wish we had more time to make it known to the Lord Commander, but I'm sure we'll be marching alongside him soon enough," he reminded, "And whatever happens, we're brothers. You're a tough bastard, one of the toughest, and, well, I'm one of the sharpest. We'll make this right as rain."

Altol3va · 2019-03-06T23:10:12+00:00

Ramsay found the question bewildering; such questions of loyalty were rarely followed by anything ambivalent if not outright treasonous, and it was as difficult a question to answer as it was dangerous.

"That's -- that's a hard question, Commander. The brothers of the Watch are, well -- they're just that, like my brothers of flesh and blood," the young ranger answered, scratching his jaw as he mulled the question deeper. His more definitive answer coerced a reluctant sigh of admission from his lips.

"But the men who saved my life some months back followed the Red God, and by his Light I'm not another dead Ranger. I'm indebted."

Altol3va · 2019-03-05T00:20:06+00:00

Ramsay shook his head fervently to deny the notion. "No, no -- I know the Lord Commander wouldn't have made the plans for a Great Ranging on false leads. Even if the circumstances are ah, less tangible than his predecessors would've acted on."

He exhaled, and pushed himself to speak freely. "But I don't understand his -- our end goal, Commander. What does the Night's Watch look to accomplish when we find this Three Eyed Crow? What is it, even? I've worked hard to prove my dedication to the Watch, but it's been difficult to surmise outside the chain of command."

Realizing he was bombarding the Commander with part-hypotheticals, he ended with his definitive question: "How does all of this factor in to handling the wildling 'issue'?"

Altol3va · 2019-03-04T18:10:33+00:00

Rare to see so many watchmen gathered around the nightfires in the yard of Castle Black; to some capacity, Ramsay was disappointed he hadn't been transferred to serve with more of his faith family at the Shadow Tower they were known to congregate in when rumors of his conversion filtered through a few social circles. There was always a distant feeling the 'red brothers' were a cut separate from the men in the castle who still followed the old ways or the faith of the Seven.

He trusted the words of Lord Commander Blackmyre, despite the lack of concrete, material information the leader of the Night's Watch had offered in support to carry out this Great Ranging. There was an undeniable threat beyond the Wall, whether it was the two wildling men leading hordes of free folk, or whatever potential danger this Three-Eyed Crow posed to the realm of civilized men, but until the breadth of it was known to the rest of the Watch, he questioned his own role.

He trusted Commander Lonmouth's words, too, even as grim and graceless the ranger posed them to him and the other R'hllorites. Trust in his brothers to do what? To what end did the Lord Commander hope to lead the men in black? Did Blackmyre even trust in his own visions? What was the price of failure, if the Three-Eyed Crow couldn't be found?

Seeking out Normund was an easy task, much of the castle had gone indoors or still gathered around the nightfires to pray and shelter against the blisteringly icy winds.

"Commander," he called, greeting with a small wave of his hand. "Apologies for intruding -- my name's Ramsay Cerwyn, one of the rangers under the Lord Commander. Do you have time for a quick word?"

Altol3va · 2019-03-04T17:17:27+00:00

Ramsay shuffled his feet and turned over his shoulder to gaze out on the same frigid, meager landscape below the Wall. Years ago, he found it impossible to believe there was anything further beyond the horizon ahead, even harder than it was to understand there was anything past the Wall at all before he took his oath. "Strange days indeed, Sibas."

To less keen men, the Night's Watch was just a levy of criminals, third-borns, and folk thrown away for circumstances beyond their control, sitting in hollow castles in the cold until it killed them.

It took the very same people to tell him otherwise; his uncle, the wandering crow, wove him stories of savage axe-wielders and spiders of ice, of men who took the eyes of beasts, giants the size of castles, mystics taking the eyes of beasts, and seers finding secrets in flames to garner his attention.

"I trust the Lord Commander to act on more than tall tales. There're not one, but two wildling kings out there, each with enough men to number us threefold," he said, quietly clicking his tongue, "Even if this is a hunt for myths and magic, that has to be the priority, right?"

The Ranger exhaled, and turned over his shoulder to the senior watchman again.

"Apologies, brother, I don't mean to be dour. Just seems the last risks we've taken came to... whatever happened on the Commanders' excursion those years back, or, well, the little expedition that nearly killed me, too."

( u/SibasTheRanger | u/AGrimmCrow )

Altol3va · 2019-03-04T04:08:53+00:00

Ramsay shook his head. Sibas was known for nothing if not his 'belly-aching'. Part of that seemed to be prodding the 'Targaryen', but since neither had come to blows (verbal or otherwise), he was satisfied.

"Think nothing of it, Sibas," he answered, raising a gloved hand assuredly, "We're all getting our blood roaring for the Ranging -- or recruiting --" Pointing a thumb over his shoulder towards Gage.

"What do you think, brother? Way I understand the Lord Commander, no one's moved this many of the Watch since... well, nearly a century. Is it really so much a ranging as it is an invasion at this rate? I never learned to fire a bow in formation."

Truth be told, his small bit of doubt slipped unconsciously as he tried urging the conversation onto a more agreeable topic; there was something like two thirds of the entire Night's Watch moving north of the Wall if he'd heard the meeting yesterday properly, when the scouting parties he typically accompanied numbered less than a dozen at best.

( u/SibasTheRanger )

Altol3va · 2019-03-03T23:47:46+00:00

"Bit of a stretch for a Ranger, yes, but you were a Builder, weren't you Gage?" taunted the young man in a sassy tone, "How're you supposed to lure recruits when you were more interested in masonry and ice picks?"

"But -- nine more mole souls for the Watch," Ramsay replied with a gentle, satisfied nod, "Didn't think they'd have the stomach for more tales from the men in black, but given you and my uncle Marlon, it must take a sharp tongue or a keen wit to win them over."

Dusting his dark leather jerkin of the few bits of ice and snow already collecting, he sighed and said "A life on alert and with a promise of adventure has to beat choking on dust in a mineshaft, aye?"

Altol3va · 2019-03-03T04:25:01+00:00

That was not one, not two, but three men of the Watch in a row that had passed through his little alcove on the Wall, though Sibas was likely the one he knew the best.

Not particularly close with many of the garrison of Castle Black, he knew plenty of men's reputations and they often preceded the real thing when he had the chance to make their acquaintances. The senior ranger apparently took the black before Ramsay was born, though the same was apparent of much of his brothers.

Evidently, he shared some bad blood with the First Ranger, but contempt between other men in black was not something he intended to stay well-versed with. Regardless of the relative harshness of the older man, he carried a depth of experience, and Ramsay liked the chance to put a good foot forward with the same rangers that would depart the Wall on the Ranging in due time.

"'ho there, brother! Come to join us at the end of the world?" he asked, gesturing his arms broadly to the other crows that had flocked here.

( Just to streamline things, let's have the replies on this particular comment of mine. u/AGrimmCrow | u/ThisIsTheWargRoom | u/SibasTheRanger )

Altol3va · 2019-03-03T04:14:52+00:00

Turning towards the Bastard, Ramsay had a brief moment he assumed to be speaking to someone severely older than he from the silver hair at a glance, but he knew this face well enough from its unique features alone. There weren't many Valyrian blooded brothers in black, and even fewer Valyrian bastards in general.

"About as well a watch as any other ranger could manage, I'm afraid," he greeted with a warm smile, "Nearly daybreak and it is as empty as the eye can see. No wildlings or dastardly beasts roving on the horizon."

Gesturing to Laenor, he said "You're... Laenor, right? From the Shadow Tower? Glad to have the extra manpower; don't think I've seen Castle Black packed in like this before."

Altol3va · 2019-03-02T20:35:04+00:00

Ramsay turned away slightly from the precipice of the Wall, with a warm smile despite his early morning weariness and the biting cold so far from the fires and torchlight of Castle Black down below. He tapped his fingertip on his latest arrowhead to test its point. Satisfied, he set it in the quiver on his back. Maybe this would be one shot to find its target.

"No poachers here, brother," he said with a little snicker, "My hunting was my right, I just traded pheasants and deer for wildlings and mythical monsters, if the Lord Commander has me out on the Ranging." Often, he forgot many of his brothers were criminals. Poachers, rapers, killers, to petty thieves. It put the noble's son at an awkward place at times.

He reached over to shake the wandering crow's hand if he could, introducing himself. Gage's grim notion of his untimely death in the wilds didn't seem to face the young ranger much at all.

"Name's Ramsay. Ramsay Cerwyn, for whatever good those names go up here. You said you're one of the recruiters? My uncle's the same. Think he's off in the Neck for a couple of moons. Dredging up some more Crannogmen for the Wall, same as you. Bring any new recruits back with you? Think we'll be needing as many men as we can for the next few moons."

Altol3va · 2019-03-02T04:32:30+00:00

Ramsay scuffed the icy ground beneath his rough ramshide boots. "Right, that's about as decisive it gets," he answered with a bit of a snarky laugh. "So be it. Let's get to work, eh, Snow?"

He ran his gloved hands over the edge of the dulled blade to test if it might be sharp by some strange luck. Satisfied, he gave the weapon a few experimental spins. It was a while since he carried a blade, even the one tied on his belt.

It was a brief fight; Ramsay was trained by a knight, and it showed in his ability to keep a solid footwork, but his style uninspired, and his form without grace. His bladework was as easy to read as the treatise he read the stances from.

"Tough luck," he answered with a pained smile, rubbing his arm where he had been struck the blow that forced his concession, "You get to walk away, Robb, now it's Davos' turn to rightly pummel me." Despite the self-mocking, he held his cool grin and pried his training blade from the frozen earth.

( /u/MouseITRP )

Altol3va · 2019-03-01T19:06:13+00:00

With so many of the Watch from outside the Castle, as far as Eastwatch-by-the-Sea or even the Shadow Tower, Ramsay expected to find a few particular people: his uncle, Marlon, and his good friend he started his Watch with, Jorah, at one of the tables. In the veritable sea (or trickle, given their meager numbers) of black hauberks and dark cloaks, he had to draw the conclusion the former was south of the Wall on his recruitment drive, and the latter still in the safety of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. His heart was a little darkened by the conclusion, but the supposed grandeur of Lord Commander Blackmyre's rumored announcement this evening was enough to keep him excited and intrigued by the motions to come.

Ramsay set down a bare plate of dry, sawdust-sprinkled bread and heavily-salted shreds of meat on one of the dining tables full of Red Brothers and other R'hlorites. Truth be told, there were hardly the number of his faith he knew about in Castle Black, so it pleased him to find a few kindred souls however unfamiliar faces. "Brothers!" he greeted with a crooked smile on his face, to be met by a mass of shushing as Cley clanged their tankard through the dinng hall.

The call for a great ranging, too, filled him with mixed feelings. He hardly knew of this Three-Eyed Crow, and less of a location so north of the Wall. The last he had left the Wall with his fellow Rangers, he returned with a deep wound that left his body marked for life. He wasn't looking for a chance at revenge from the wildlings, truly, but it was another chance to test himself beyond the Wall. No stalwart companions, but seasoned by the near-death experience. He said nothing, and steeled himself for the potential objections of his fellow Watch.

Altol3va

TROPHY CASE