After the group was formed by the Council of Elders of the Crystal Cloister and being told to explore the rest of Athas to complete a mission with three goals. The first goal of this mission to identify the nature of an unknown threat that the Elders have foreseen will devastate the Crystal Cloister, and eventually all of Athas, if it is left unchecked. The second goal is to find a method to prevent this future threat from being able to attack the Crystal Cloister. The third goal is to find allies that can be trusted with the secret of the existence of the Crystal Cloister who can help in dealing with this threat. Additionally, the group has been told that the existence of the Crystal Cloister must be kept secret from the general population and the Sorcerer Kings for it is possible that one of the Sorcerer Kings is the unknown threat that will attack the Crystal Cloister.

Since leaving the Crystal Cloister and meeting up with a Caravan being guided by Corrin, a Halfling Dune Trader that has done business with the Crystal Cloister previously. The group is also aware that Corrin is well known among the Halfling tribes that have allied with the Crystal Cloister for being a skilled Caravan guide able to guide caravans to their destination quickly. Thus at the request of the Councel of Elders of the Crystal Cloister, Corrin has arranged for the group to act as guards for a Caravan that Corrin will be guiding to Altaruk from Tyr. With Corrin guiding the group and a few Halfling traders that will be joining the Caravan, traveling from the Forrest Ridge through secret paths in the Ringing Mountains, known only to the merchants of the Forrest Ridge, was uneventful. Currently the group and those it has been traveling with have just reached Tyr and Corrin and the Halfling traders have joined up with the Caravan to be heading to Altaruk.

The group sees the Caravan Master, a male human seemingly in his early thirties wearing desert garb approach Corrin saying with a smile on his face, "It is good to see you again Corrin. Every time I travel with you, we make excellent time, and have a most profitable trip."

Corrin replies "And it is good to see you to my friend. I have come with some of my brethren traders who will accompany the Caravan, as well as a group of guards who will protect the Caravan on our journey to Altarak," as Corrin motions towards the group.

The Caravan Master nods and looks over the group before adding, "Given your reputation for picking reputable guards, I have no doubt they will perform their job adequately. And with you able to guide the caravan to Altaruk in four days instead of the normal five it normally takes for an uneventful trip, your fee is a small price to pay compared to the extra profit we can make in Alturak by arriving a day earlier as it means we can carry more goods. The Caravan is composed of six wagons being pulled by Crodlu and two larger wagons being pulled by Mekillots. And there is room for everyone, even your guards to ride in the wagons."

Corrin smiles and says, "Excellent, that will conceal both our numbers from any raiders and keep our guards fresh so they can be more focused on keeping an eye out for raiders and not getting tired trying to keep up with the Crodlu and Mekillots."

For ten minutes while the Caravan prepares to depart, Corrin plays  his flute, while chanting an uplifting melody near the Crodlu and Mekillots. Afterwards, when everyone is on the wagons the Caravan sets out from Tyr. With the eight beasts making good progress. Since it is Highsun, the hottest and most oppressive time of the year, so the withering waves of heat lap at everyone despite the dusty desert breeze.

As the Caravan travels out you can see that there is a variety of cargo being carried by the merchants, ranging from ceramic wares to wood and even stores of food and water which will probably fetch a good price in Altaruk's market quarter. Given the speed at which the Crodlu and Mekillots are pulling the wagons, everyone expects a speedy journey over the next four days until reaching Altaruk.

<sub>[OOC: If it isn't obvious, Corrin is a Bard and will be using Traveller's Chant on the Cordlu and Mekillots each day to improve the speed at which they can pull the wagons to allow the Caravan to reach Alturak faster. It says that the caster and up to 8 allies are affected, and with the 8 mounts being used as the allies, the entire caravan benefits so long as everyone stays on a wagon.

I'll allow everyone to post something for their characters before beginning the first encounter, which will be a skill challenge. As long as the caravan reaches Alturak in 4 days, which it will unless something bad happens, no one will be charged survival days as they are being provided by the Caravan. Also each character will be paid 50 gp worth of Residuum and 10 gp in ceramic each, along with the 1gp entrance fee to enter Altaruk upon the Caravan reaching Alturak safely. As Corrin is an NPC and not part of the group, it doesn't matter what his fee is. :) Remember that everyone is onboard the wagons, but they are close enough that you can talk to anyone on any wagon, and in fact hopping from one wagon to an adjacent wagon only requires a DC 10 Athletics check (Which people can take ten on outside of an encounter, to auto succeed on) as those controlling the mounts are working to keep the wagons in formation and are well practiced at keeping each wagon within 10 feet of the 'adjacent' wagons. The wagon formation has the two Mekillots following in step in the middle of the formation with one infront of the other, while four of the Crodlu wagons are on each side. Anyone tracking the Caravan would have a difficult time telling the size of the Caravan and if not careful would only think it is a single Mekillot wagon with a pair of Crodlu wagons due to the formation the Caravan is using.]</sub>

Surya was distressed when she learned of the nature of her mission, but said little about her thoughts to give the appearance of being resolute.  Indeed, she was resolute to face the challenge, but had her doubts about how successful a tiny group of people whom most of the world would tear to pieces for their appearance alone would be.

"I'm sensitive to the elements," would be her answer to anyone who would ask why she wears a filter mask under normal conditions.

Her answer is partly true because she's sensitive to unpredictable elements of society such as prejudice, and her melodic voice would give her away as being far from the norm of accepted races if she didn't disguise it some.  She's also sensitive to friendship, and has kept interaction with her allies to a minimum.  A foreboding sense that none of them would survive is making it difficult for her to allow herself to become attached to any of them.

But this caravan is a welcome oasis of company.  They're not so likely to die on a trip they've made dozens of times before, so Surya begins to open up some to them, asking about their profession, stories of any bandit raids they've lived through, history of the area, and so forth.

Surya's shyness has come as both not surprising and even quite a welcome personality trait to Shardon as he could care less how friendly his allies are to him. As long as they remain allies. As for how he's dealt with it? Well he usually teases her about it. But today, she is all the sudden not shy. Shardon chuckles knowingly as he watches her. He believes she is sucking everything out of them while she can. But why them in particular? He listens in on the stories and when he gets the chance, tells Corrin, "You play that flute beautifully. It sure is a pleasant cruise with you heading it."

Of course, he would include his allies in conversation as possible. Especially Trace, who had felt alienated back home. Though Fletch could use some attention due to not really calling the Crystal Cloyster "home". Surya, he left to her own devices since she continued to believe her allies are doomed. Which, frankly, he wouldn't fault her for thinking such. He himself knows all too well how quickly death comes. Still, the rest of the allies DID get attention from him, one way or another. He even made sure to give Surya an endearing smile so she knew she was on his mind.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:05, Mon 29 Nov 2010.

Tread is being quite social also. Her own voice doesn't need disguising, but she still wears a cloth mask and sunglasses. Her eyes glow and she knows how paranoid people are of such. But that doesn't stop her from having a bright attitude. She does have to be a little careful about her voice as she tends to be a good 85 db if she gets going. So she winds up speaking softly (60 db), which just makes her sound, frankly, kinda sexy. Which is a little surprising coming from her very tall stature. Most giant females have deeper voices.

Still, Tread is very attentive to her surroundings, worried for her allies in the back of her mind. She drops a kind word or two for Corrin and the human caravan master. And then anyone who seems to need one, for that matter.


(OOC: Was thinking of going with 7' 2" which is the smallest size for Goliath since I was aiming for her actual construction to involve the skeleton of a Goliath being used as her own skeleton. Didn't think Seth would have a problem with that, but thought I'd check anyway. As a side note, Chris described to me that Surya's voice would be similar to the Protoss Mothership in Starcraft II. And YAY FOR DARK SUN NARRATOR!!! Also: http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html )

  Fletch's outlook on the situation has been covered both in his own cast listing and the narrative of other characters.  How convenient.  Though that was more Fletch's outlook regarding himself in all this.  His outlook on his traveling companions from the cloister... Well, he's suspecting expendability over capability would be why they are here.  Not so much 'we're all doomed' as 'no big loss for the cloister if we are'.

   Fortunately if anybody asks about their qualifications Fletch can truthfully claim 'This isn't the first guard detail taken care of', so long as he doesn't specify he's only talking about himself.  Unlike some of the others his build and voice were generic, and even his obscured eyes didn't glow or anything crazy like that.  "Seluku, let me know if you notice anything off." Fletch was often annoyed by the oddity of having fine accuracy with a bow to it's long distance, but not being the best at noticing such things that far in the first place.

  Just because you're a Warlord class doesn't mean you can't have other people tell you who to attack.

  "If you need anything, let me know Shardon." never mind the equality of HP mechanics, technically Shardon was till more squishy than the rest of them.  Undead revenge murder machine or not.  As for the others, Fletch's player is sadly drawing a blank for exact conversation topics so also resorts to the same vague 'and they had conversation' angle previous posts have used.

Although Seluku's appearance is masked by his desert garb with the filter mask and slitted goggles concealing his glowing eyes, the Shardmind Animist Shaman seems rather at ease, although only semi-social as while he replies to those who start conversations with him, he is clearly focused on looking out for any dangers that the Caravan could face.

When Fletch speaks to Seluku, the Shaman replies, “I'll make sure to alert you as well as everything else if I spot any sign of trouble.”

Like the rest of the group, Trace's clothing conceals his appearance, but beyond that he remains rather secluded, although occasionally he looks off into the distance as if he sees something that seems to occupy his attention, despite Trace clearly viewing the object of his attention as benign.

Anyone glancing at what Trace is looking at during one of the periods when he is staring off into the distance would see what appears to be a mirage of a small floating lantern that most would obviously recognize as just a trick of the light and heat of the desert that Trace seems to find slightly amusing and possibly comforting.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:34, Tue 30 Nov 2010.

Corrin spends the time as the Caravan travels overseeing that the wagons remain in formation, although when there is a lull in the need to issue orders, he softly plays the flute so those in the caravan can hear it, but that those from farther away would not believe it to be anything more than the wind, even if they did hear it.

When Shardon comments on Corrin's music, the Dune Trader replies,"Thank you. With how harsh the lands are, some people often overlook what simple things such as musical instruments can bring to a situation when used properly."