Ronan rides hard and pushes somewhat to speed up the group. He seems excited and hopeful that he will find something to bring back to his father.

Mardax Kaldor did not come as he was asked by the lord to preform a different duty, but in his place he did send two of his huntsmen. One leads the way ahead as a scout and the other far behind to insure that no one sneaks up on the group.

Along the way the group passes some farm lands off the banks and traveling merchants - none of importance. As they pass these areas the farmers and commoners are happy to see the banners of their liege, they often offer water and even fruit jewels (dates & dried plums).

The time passes with idea conversation, when the horses are slowed down to rest Ronan interrupts "If we press on we can reach the valley before night fall".

1 Hour before night fall, .....

This part of Dorne has several small valleys and a graben that is the result of blocks of land that have come down producing some of the valley. The group slows as they cross, they approach a distinct scarp on one side - Make there way through, ....
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:52, Thu 08 May 2014.

After some time, Jadis catches up with the outing, scarf wrapped neatly around her head and transformed into a combination of sun hat and face mask. Brutus follows in her wake.

Giving a merry wave with her bow, she calls out. "Well, thanks for taking it slow. Gave me enough time to catch up."

As Jadis arrives, Makarios, who had been mostly silent and contemplative on the ride thus-far, seems to rouse from his thoughts.

He slows his pace enough to fall in beside Jadis on the road. He lowers his voice and whispers to her.


He seems somewhat relieved at Jadis' presence in the party, though not enough to remove the perpetual frown he has bore throughout the journey.

Jadis tugs her shemagh* and nods, whispering back to him.


Looking around, she nods at the scarp and says idly "You know, if I were planning an ambush, I'd have people up there ready to roll rocks down as we pass. Rocks and bushels of burning hay." Sitting up in her saddle, she yells at up at the scarp "Hey! Hey up there!" She points at Godfrey "That guy says you're a bunch of flower kissing catamites! Are you? And do you have any pickles? I'd kill for a pickle about now!" Her voice echoes along the scarp as she looks up expectantly. 4

*It's a real word! Look it up.

Ronan pull back on the horse to slow down and waits for a clear to turn about. "Jadis, What possessed you to come? .... Makarios why would you bring her?"

Ronan reaches down to his wine skin and takes a few gulps. "Makarios she came with you so she's now your responsibility."

Ignoring whatever response either gives feeling that whatever thoughts their was, it was not an excuse for her being here, as boyish as she thinks she is she is still family and a lady for the house.

"Jadis don't upset the men or provoke them, .... its bad enough you come,... regardless father will not be pleased this you I will let his wrath deal with this later."

Loudly so the group can hear "We are a still several hours away once we clear this area we should set camp for the night and head out first light." 

Makarios grins at Jadis' response and replies under his voice.

At Ronan's admonishment Makarios adopts an apologetic look. "Following orders m'lord. Her ladyship needed an escort and Brutus was not deemed to be enough, intimidating though he may be. I shall do my best to keep her out of harm's way and from underfoot."

He then grins and takes out his myrish eyeglass to survey ahead, "Besides, now that I'm here I can help you follow any tracks we might find."

OOC: 18:08, Today: Makarios Lestat rolled 13 using 4d6 with rolls of 4,2,1,6. Survival: Spot suitable camping place.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:10, Tue 13 May 2014.

In reply to Makarios Lestat (msg # 10):


Once the group has cleared the graben, Makarios has found a good spot to camp with a natural water spring in a small cavern just passed a large rock formation.

The location offers good coverage from the weather, but poor advantage if no one takes look-out on the ridge.



Role Call

OOC:
Ronan Kolwyn
Archibald Sand w/Prisoner
Jadis Sand
Makarios Lestat w/x2 Huntsmen
Ser Godfrey Ravenhowe
Ser Hassan Ravenhowe
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:04, Tue 13 May 2014.

Jadis snorts and rolls her eyes at Ronan. "You're really asking why I came?" She shakes her head and says, voice dryer than the desert "The voices in my head took a vote and it was unanimous. Coming along would be more exciting than staying home." She looks up at the cliff, eyebrow lifted jauntily. The smirk hidden beneath the shemagh is fully present in her voice "And it has been a fantastic opportunity to collect empiric data for my theory that the world is susceptible to reverse headology. Yelling at the obvious ambush point causes the universe to retroactively move the ambush. I'm proving it. With science."

Nodding at Makarios as he explains, she adds "And Brutus can track better than any three of your soldiers or knights put together. Which will be helpful if there is an ambush site." She pauses and tugs her scarf. "An old ambush site, rather than the inevitable new one that we'll be experiencing."

OOC: Jadis is a firm believe in Resistentialism, applying to the universe as a whole

"Makarios Well done, this is a fine spot for the night." Ronan makes himself comfortable on the side of a large rock and begins to drink heavy, "So Jadis do you ever feel that you would have been better off as a son?" ... Ronan is getting drunk and his rudeness is starting to show like always. "I mean its hard enough as a Sand but then maybe it was lucky being a women, .... ??"


One of the huntsmen starts a small fire, Ronan moves over closer in between Jadis and the fire "the red priestess she looked at you last night and feel ill, she witness something, did she not?

pausing only to speak before the question could be answered,....

These very same flames that keep us warm this night she holds dear without fear, but yet you, you stood her a bay, how sister, ... how did you tame her and the fire in her?"

Makarios moves over to his huntsmen and gives some orders, speaking loud enough for any in the party to hear.

"We should take shifts watching the camp through the night, probably one of us paired with a knight so that we have a ranged and an armoured combatant ready to call out. Up on that ridge will give us a good vantage point to see any who would approach."

He eyes the fire. "The fires will draw attention and ruin our night eyes. We should extinguish them after we finish cooking. I'll take my rest now and take a watch during the darkest part of the night, rouse me when it's time."

Assuming no-one stops him he heads into the cavern to catch some shut eye, gnawing on some dried food he had in his pack.

OOC: I have the Night Eyes quality so I'll be best used during the night time for watches. Unless anyone needs to chat with Makarios, time passes.

Unable, or unwilling, to maneuver the wagon and it's horses into the cave Maester Archibald settles it opposite the fire from the cave entrance, close but not dangerously so.   Locking the Wagon into position by the simple expedient of sliding a thick wooden dowel through the hole clearly designed for just this purpose in the side of the driver's foot rest and through the spokes of the wheel.  Once settled in he disconnects the attached horses and adds them to the long tether of the back the other horses are already on, giving all four of them plenty of room to move and forage without allowing them to run away easily.

”Your concern is noted, but we are hardly a small or subtle group, our only source of reliable information is still injured and will need to stay warm tonight, for this we will need the fire.”  As if that was answer enough the Maester goes about the business of setting out large flat stones by the fire to warm, each very nearly the same size as the inside of one of the clam shell like metal pans he also retrieves from the wagon along with their specially designed blanket pockets, clearly intended to warm up beds without harming their occupants.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:13, Wed 14 May 2014.

Makarios shakes his head at the maester.

"I don't think looking after the health of this so-called 'reliable' prisoner is worth the disadvantage of a night fire, we will need to see any potential attack coming. We may be uncomfortable but the cavern should keep us warm enough and we have blankets aplenty. If there really is a malicious party out there then the last thing we want is to scare them off or draw a surprise attack. Even a party as large as ours is best hidden under the cover of darkness."

He turns his head to look at Ser Hassan.
"I am sure Lord Ravenhowe will decide as he feels fit."

Jadis looks at Ronan and sighs "You know, someday you're going to get so drunk you drown in your own chamberpot. Its happened, you know. About 200 years ago, one of your own ancestors managed it." She shakes her head and moves slightly away from him. "As for my gender, I suggest you take it up with the Gods. They might see fit to give the oppurtunity to compare for yourself." She rolls her eyes. "As for why she fell ill? Its a mystery. I was merely discussing your interest in her when she felt so stricken." Jadis shrugs. "Amazing coincidence. You enjoy that wine now." She rises and walks over to Makarios and Archibald.

"Might I suggest a compromise?" Jadis asked. "Its actually fairly easy to hide a fire at night." She gives Makarios an apologetic smile. "We just need to dig a pit, approximately 14 inches in diameter, then a secondary tunnel angled down at a 45 degree angle, connecting to the primary pit. The pit is the fire place, the secondary tunnel provides air flow. Apparently it causes the fire to burn very hot, with less smoke."

She gives Archibald a small smirk "I found the plans in your library, by the way. Small Unit Tactics by someone with entirely too long of a name." She looks around at the collected soldiers "Happily, we have a bunch of big, burly soldiers to do the grunt work."

The moon is bright this evening and sheds its glow over the rocks and stumps of this very lightly wooded area. The trees provide no cover as they are easily 10 or 20 feet apart from one another and no more then a dozen line this rock formation.

Once camp is set most of the men fall asleep......

Mid-through the night, Jadis screams in her sleep awakening everyone.


Jadis awakens looking up at her brother, .... Ronan "sister, Sister, SISTER WAKE UP, ... YOUR DREAMING" as he shakes her.

This message was last edited by the GM at 14:01, Wed 14 May 2014.

Archibald awakens from the screams and first looks over at the prisoner. He notices that his prisoner is now feverish and not sleeping easily. In fact his condition has worsen on the road.

Long accustom to the constant interruptions of sleep cycle even more common for a healer than for soldiers Archibald wakes quickly and easily, setting himself to the task of putting the prisoner's healing back on track.  With all his many tools close at hand and the prisoner tied securely to the rudimentary but functional sleeping pallet the task is not quite as simple as it would be in the castle, but it is a very near thing.

In reply to Archibald Sand (msg # 20):

As Archibald tends to his prisoner he takes note that his tongue is infected. He also notices that something is lodged in his throat - a foreign item. He's disappointed that he missed this before.

Makarios sticks his head inside the cave to see what all the commotion is about. Seeing Ronan trying to rouse Jadis, he returns to his post, straining hard to see any movement that might indicate the screaming alerted anyone to their presence.

OOC: 21:29, Today: Makarios Lestat rolled 17 using 4d6 with rolls of 5,6,1,5. Awareness: Spot movement.

In reply to Makarios Lestat (msg # 22):

The area is secure and there is nothing unusual at this time.

You take it on yourself during your watch to climb to the highest point to get an advantage on the view ahead. With only the moon light several miles a head perhaps 4 or 5 hours away a flicker of light, a fire of sorts. It must be a big fire as you can notice it from here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:18, Mon 19 May 2014.

Makarios takes a note of the direction and passes on the information to the next watchman. At that distance there is no need to rouse anyone.

Jadis shakes her head and snorts. "Gah!" She coughs, clearing her throat and grabs her waterskin. After a long drink, she sighs "Yeah. A dream. Its amazing how annoying Red Priests can be even when they aren't even here." She runs a hand through her wild hair and yanks it back into place, tying it back into a ponytail.

"Are you ok Jadis?" Ronan has never really fully accepted Jadis and offen very critical of her. But he does value family and is alway looking out for ever member.

"Did she invade your mind or, ... was it your imagination running wild?"

Jadis shrugged, arm curling around Brutus. "Be damned if I know. A red priest with a grudge? Prophecy? Just a nightmare brought on by whatever was in tonight's soup?" She shook her head "Do I look like a soothsayer to you? The dream, or whatever, was just really vivid, really clear." She sighs uncomfortably, looking out at the darkness.

"Two knights in a field green and red flowers. Bit of a Martel theme, there. Anyways.. One was our father, one was Ariel. He killed Father, then his sister started babbling about how death by fire was the purest and then something about shadows." Jadis shrugged, then hooked Ronan's wine skin with her foot and flipped it up. Catching it, she took a long drink and then grimaced "What the hell? Did you learn how to ferment cat piss?"

In reply to Jadis Sand (msg # 27):

"Bwah-hah-hah," Ronan starts laughing as he takes the skin for Jadis, "I've poisoned you sister," he begins to chug down the harsh wine when, ...  "it's my poison sister you should really stick to that sweet stuff."

"Everyone back to your posts, the rest of you get some sleep we head out early tomorrow."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 19:47, Sat 24 May 2014.

Things begin to settle down as the camp fire becomes a light fire,  ....  the fire starts dwindling out as the sun breaks the horizon. The huntsmen, scouts have already gone out ahead. Ronan has started early with his wine skin in hand, as one of the huntsmen returns, .... Ronan gets his attention "over here, what do you have to report?"

"M'Lord we have picked up a trail but not, a small band of bandits more like a small army of men." The scout walks to Makarios, "I can lead us back to were I found them, ... It was hard to count the trail but I'm sure it was no less the 40 or 50 men. No small band and they seem to have tried to double back to hind which direct they come from and went to."