Re: The Start of a New Adventure
As Terri finishes the last of her bandaging, she comes to Rondald and returns his kiss, though the gesture seems more automatic than intimate. ”I know,” She responds to his remark about Odelia, her hands crossing over her chest as she moves her weight back to one leg in a half slouch. ”She just ran up there. I would have been horrified... I was horrified.” she corrects herself after a moment, a statement that contrasts wildly with her nonchalant attitude to the smears of Odelia’s and Gustav’s drying blood splotched up and down her forearms and stained upon her shirt… Though Rondald must admit she does look rather peaked…
”Bullshit!” Rudyard mutters as he picks off the tunic from the chain undershirt the lead villain had been wearing. As the others in the group look at him, he displays a single hand with a smear of black on it as the other hand holds the tunic. ”Knew he weren’t a toll man, this ensign’s been painted on recent enough to be still damp, and it’s a rotten job to boot. Weren’t nothing but a bunch of ruffians looking for a handout when they pointed a few weapons at us!”
After a discussion on the placement of their small bounty, the group loads their new possessions on the cart along with Odelia (who Rudyard ushers into the small driving seat) and Gustav, who has just enough room to lay back in the cart when the rest of the supplies and gear are pushed to the side. Rondald and Rudyard team together to move the barricades to the side of the road and Rudyard takes a lead rope alongside Sally as the group continues to walk.
Rudyard makes no secret of the fact that the fort is not close and though the going is slow with Magnus wincing in pain as he moves and Sally burdened with extra unplanned weight, the road proves to be smooth enough and no further obstacles present themselves. They make camp for the night early with the thought that any additional time spent towards rest and recuperation will only pay dividends the next day. Terri changes the bandages on each of the injured, and only Gustav’s largest injury on his side starts to bleed again in the process which is stemmed quickly and without ado.
The evening withers away to night, the night to dawn and the small party sets off again in an early morning gloom of overcast skies and a brisk and chilly wind. The party continues on, morning turns into afternoon, afternoon into evening. Somewhere around midday a pelting of drizzle begins to be caught in the wind that splashes against the skin like stinging ants. Still, the group moves on, those with food share with the ones without to keep the pace as forward leaning as possible.
For three days the conditions continue the wind brisk with stinging rain which is just enough to soften the path and slow their pace. Despite the miserable weather, the five keep their spirits up, chatting with each other at interval and telling stories to spend the time. Even Odelia, who remains silent, has plenty of company, for Terri walks alongside the driver’s seat, telling stories of her time at sea, storms that had caught them by surprise in Keyhole Bay and ports they had to pull anchor and run from in a trice when an overzealous first mate had barely escaped an altercation with city guards. By the third afternoon, even Gustav feels well enough to walk for a short way, though he has to exert himself to keep up with the group and tires after an hour before returning to the cart.
”That’s enough for today.” Rudyard grunts as he removes the harness from Sally to let her wander and eat. ”The Fort is probably another half day but we won’t be able to get there by nightfall and we may as well make up camp a slight bit early to rest up and prepare. Mayhap Terri could even rustle up some fish you were saying would be in the river?”
”Glad to!” Terri responds with exuberance, grabbing a few items from her bag and walking briskly southward towards the river Makarem. The river had serviced both as their source of water and their navigational guide for several days, being the southern border of Megalos and Al Wazif. The rest of the crew work to set up camp the same as they had for several days, setting up their own equipment quickly as the cart is positioned for the night and the possibility of heavier rain. After an hour or so Terri returns, a line of two fat trout hung over her shoulder as she beams a smile at the others. ”Weren’t nothing to it!” She shouts, anticipating an overwhelming positive response to her work.
It is perhaps an hour before dawn when the first signs of trouble stir. The wind, which had been stiff for days, begins to howl, slapping violently at the cloth of the three small tents that each of Odelia, Magnus and Rudyard had set for themselves. Sally brays in the darkness, even the animal’s calm is beginning to crumble.
”We can’t stay here any longer!” Though Rudyard is shouting at the top of his lungs the sound barely carries the short distance to the rest of the group. ”We have to move on and try to get to the fort!” Though the words are disheartening, there is little doubt that anyone would have gotten even a small dose of sleep before the sun had risen. The small group again gathers together their things and sets off into the howling wind.
The going is torturous. The sound of the wind is piercing and each step feels like rolling a stone up a mountain. The pace drops significantly though stopping for breaks seems to give them little relief. Finally, at long last the road curves northward and Rudyard shouts over his shoulder ”We are almost there!”
The fort is not much to look at, a two story stone structure that is perhaps a hundred feet wide with stone battlements at the top and meager fortifications of a ditch and outer wall it still stands as a beacon to the weary travelers. With little ado, apart from a wave from Rudyard, the group is led through the outer walls and into the fort and on unto their destiny.
OOC: Congrats all for finishing the intro thread. Privates are below regarding character points and gear that is added to your sheet. Despite the awful weather you guys rolled up no further encounters came and I decided not to add extra posts just for the purpose of role play but feel free to respond as much or as little as desired in your last post here. Please feel free to take questions to the OOC thread, sometimes I forget that no matter how much information about my game is jumbling up in my head the players won't get any of it unless I write it down for them. For transparency Terri took the large knife, medium bow and arrows, piton and $15, and Rudyard took 15 bolts, $15, and leather armor.