In the carriage...

Many scrunched himself comfortable around Meri, looking up with wide eyes. Samel sat back with polite interest, perhaps happy to allow the attention to be away from her. Similarly, Farren rested back again - though he went and placed Ee-Ee on his chest so the little rodent could see everything, while idly stretching out a hand for the other two to accasionally seek his attention. He himself had his eyes closed, his interest and attention hard to gauge.

Meri had noted the end of the journal seemed to be far more crammed with ocean voyages as the granduncle and sometimes the grandaunt took journeys along the island chains. [Secret to Meri: It also helped that a small ant, that must have wormed its way in to Meri's journal during the night, made a page flip open as it scurried away around the spine of the book.]

[Private to Meri: The portion opened to appears to be one of the voyages where they had gone further away from the smaller chains just off the south coast, through the Narrow Straight that leads to the larger clusters. It seemed that almost immediately they were set upon by a large ship playing the red and black of the pirates guild. It was a relief when it appeared that the ship was actually under the employ of the Southern Cities, paid to protect vessels from their less scrupulous neighbours. The voyage had been pleasant for a few days, and filled with interesting stories and tales, until the occasional missing crewmember was noticed. It was not long afterward that it was realised the pirates were also vampires, and were using their reputable position to sneakily feed and keep their food chain alive.

The granduncle's vessel was a mix of locals and some stout northerners, some clerics from the Three Shield's area. They called upon Merlora's grace to push away the vampire pirates, which worried the locals. As, co-incidentally to the previous conversation, they worshipped the Water Queen and feared for her reaction to Melora's interference in her own waters. The story comes to an abrupt halt around about this point, and it seems the next entries are regarding the granduncle being shipwrecked upon a large island for a while. There are some notes and loose pages where a clearly older granduncle kept coming back to this period in time, trying to pick up lost memories to recall exactly what had sunk the boat. The descriptions of sea creatures, pirates amd giant water women seems very vivid, and the stuff of dreams or nightmares. Clearly the granduncle never convincingly pulled truth from dreamand left the matter as a mystery to himself.

Lol, so there you go, put that in your own words and embellish it as you wish :D ]

Up on the roof...

Dott gave Nym a sideways look for a moment, but it seemed that her 'off-hand' comments regarding how she could not be a bear put him a little at ease. He considered the matter for a while. "Do you really think the bear stories might be... exagerrated? Do you think it might not mean any harm?" He seemed a little relieved at the possibility. "It would be strange, one being seen so close to the roads." He consider it. "I've been worried about my horses getting bit," he said simply.

He actually chuckled at Nym's mention of bears trying to hold things with their paws. "Maybe you can make then a magic item to pick up items?" he hazarded, perhaps uncertain as to what mages could and couldn't do.

Silly rabbit, bears maul you with claws! Well, claws aswell and maws...

Nym considers.

"Well, maybe Meri can..." she says thoughtfully. "That's her thing that she does. Making magical items. Or fixing them. Or changing them so they do different magical stuff. I just like to make pretty lights and things."

She holds out a furry hand (despite looking feline her hand is still shaped in a more "humanish" way, such that it looks rather odd with fingers rather than being a paw) and traces a pale blue line in the air, but because the wagon is moving as she does so she ends up moving through it. She looks surprised but then grins.

"Oooh..." she says, and sticks her hand out sideways, releasing a constant stream of colour as though she were trying to draw a line but keeping her arm still so that the movement of the wagon causes a line to be drawn anyway.

This occurred to me the other day as something that would happen if Nym tried to draw stuff in in the air whilst on a moving vehicle (or at least, while sitting on top of one - I'm not sure if the effect would be the same if she was inside but that's a pretty cool way to signal someone outside if it is :D). So now she's got all distracted with this new effect she's just discovered :D.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:19, Tue 05 Sept 2017.

Meri flicked through the pages for a few seconds, at one point frowning slightly as a page seemed almost to flip itself over.
Reading over the words inside, she nodded to herself, fixing the story in her mind and thinking over the words to use.  While a skilled bard or story-teller might be able to improvise the story easily on the spot, her skills were more suited to a different kind of creativity.  Still, putting pieces together was something she knew well.

"Okay then.  Davius' Granduncle had been keeping a journal of his adventures for some time" she remarked.  "This one seems near the end of his record though, when he and Davius' Grandaunt made more ocean voyages, travelling among the island chains in the seas to the south of where we are now."
She flicked the page back to the start of the account and read over the words to herself once more before speaking up again.

"One time, only a day out from port, the lookout of the ship he was on reported a sighting of another ship, larger than theirs, closing in fast.  It was flying the red and black flag of the local Pirates' Guild.  The passengers and crew could only watch anxiously and prepare themselves as it approached."
She trailed off there, looking down at Many, drawing out the tension for a short time before continuing.
"As the pirate ship drew level however, its captain called over to the captain of the passenger galley.  It turned out that the Pirates' Guild was operating under the employ of the Southern Cities, hired to protect shipping against their less scrupulous neighbours.  So these particular pirates appeared to be on the side of the crew.  Surely all would be well then."

She turned over a page and continued.
"And so, the ship continued on its way, with the pirate ship as a watchful following presence.  However, the following day, there was whispered talk among the crew that some of the passengers had disappeared during the night.  Had they fallen overboard, or had something more sinister happened to them."
Her voice dropped to a whisper with the last sentence, glancing back at Many with a grin.

"The captain of the pirate ship claimed they had seen nothing unusual, and none of the crew had noticed them fall from the ship.  But surely the rest of the voyage would go well, right?
But the next night, some more people were gone, a couple more passengers, and this time some of the crew as well!
Davius' Granduncle became convinced that something wasn't quite right here.  And so, the following night, he hid himself away to keep watch over the deck during the night.  What he saw, was a sight he would not soon forget, much as he wished he could."

She trailed off there again, clearly enjoying herself now.
"Over the quiet deck, during the moonless night, lit only by the dim light of the deck lanterns.  He saw two of the pirate crew slip quietly aboard and attack with inhuman speed and power.  The truth was revealed.  The pirate crew were not human.  They were a crew of vampires, using their position in the Pirates' Guild to sneakily feed on the helpless crews of the ships they pretended to guard!
Calling out to wake the rest of the crew, he left his hiding place and attacked the nearest of the vampire pirates.  Realising that their secret was out, the pirates fled back to their own ship, and minutes later, it began to turn on a course to bring its guns to bear.  The only way the vampires could protect their secret food source was to kill everyone who knew of it.
The crew quickly went to battle stations, but they knew that the pirate ship was superior to theirs and that they had little chance of survival now."

Pausing, she flicked over another page before continuing.
"Among the passengers, were three clerics from Threeshields.  And they called upon Melora, Goddess of nature, wilderness and the sea, praying for her protection against these evil creatures.
However, this worried the crew, for the sailors of their homeland worshipped a chaotic ocean goddess they called the Water Queen.  And they were worried that she might resent Melora's interference in her domain.
And so, the passengers and crew of the ship menaced by a crew of vampires, were now also caught between two mighty powers, turning the ocean into a battleground..."

She trailed off there, looking down at Many before continuing.
"And the rest of the story remains uncertain.  Davius' Granduncle and Grandaunt escaped the wreck of the ship and eventually, after another series of adventures, returned to civilisation.  But even in later years, he could never completely remember what happened that fateful day.  Memories of other pirates, sea creatures, giant water women, and stuff of dreams and nightmares filled his mind.  But to determine reality from dream was an impossible task..."

She closed the book and shrugged, smiling down at the little beholder.
"Since we're headed in that direction, maybe we'll learn more about what happened then.  Who knows?"


OOC: Sorry for any numerous spelling/grammatical errors.  I typed this in a hurry on a fast-moving (and swaying around) train.  And now I'm adding this bit before doing a hard drive replacement and some maintenance (probably of the percussive variety) on the desktop PC.  So will fix any mistakes when there is less hassle in my day :)

EDIT: A note to any writers out there.  Writing something in a hurry and checking on it the next day is really not good for your self-esteem and faith in your own writing skills...  With any luck, the perpetual cringe I now have won't be permanent!
This message was last edited by the player at 09:01, Mon 04 Sept 2017.

I am the last person to be able to comment on grammer / spelling / writing in a hurry :p


Inside the wagon...

Many looked up at Meri, making little 'uh-huh, uh-huh' head bobs to start with, then little 'yay' noises when pirates were first mentioned. He seemed confused when the pirates seemed nice, until the story started getting scarier then his eyes widened and he retreated a little - though still firmly fixated with the story. His eyes widened and widened as it built up to it's finish...

And then he seemed at odds with himself. Clearly he wanted the story to continue, but also clearly he was a little afraid of the vampirates. "Wooow," was all he said, looking to everyone else in the wagon as if to see if they had been scared, or if they knew the (hopefully not scary) ending of the story.

Farren chuckled. "Well, I suppose that's a lesson to us all - let's not have debates about gods and spirits, unless we want to wake up in a the forest, wit hthe wagon destroyed, and no memory of how we got there..."

Farren's mind seemed to catch up with what he said, and his mood soured a little.

Samel was perhaps about to say something in response, but then her eyes widened. "We're slowing down!" she said.


One the roof...

As Nym contented herself with her new game, Dott seemed to take the opportunity to keep watching the wagon. He was checking the gap and body of the wagon with each jolt, though once he saw nothing was amiss, he did turn around to see what new undulating shape the motion had caused in Nym's trailing blue streamers.

Dott was distracted by this, in fact, when something odd happened and drew his attention to the wagon. "We're slowly down!" he said in surprise and worry, bracing himself and clearly expecting the two wagons to smash in to each other.

However, to his increasing surprise and puzzlement the wagon train appeared to be alright, slowly down in stages, and despite the bumps and jumps the two never collided with any force. Eventually, the two wagons ground to a halt. The wagon with the guards had apparently noticed the slowly down, and had managed to follow suit.

Eventually, the bulk of Geekaar was visible, as he stomped towards the wagon down one side. He was mopping his forehead with the sleeve of his elegant robe, but otherwise appeared in good spirits.

"Ah, Nym, there you are! I am so sorry you did not take me up on my offer, but I am glad you have seen the sights! And your friend, if I am not being mistaken? I tried to wave to her too, but I do not know if she saw me. Haha, I have never seen the forest move like that before. Almost as if it, too, was bowing down to greet you."

Geekaar then moved closer to look through the window. "Samel? Samel? Are you in there?" He gave a polite wrap on the side of the wagon. "Are you keeping our guests entertained in there? I do hope so!"


There appeared to be no reason for the train to have stopped, and Geekaar seemed to be in no hurry nor distress, simply awaiting a response from inside the wagon.

Inside the wagon, Samel was temporarily at a loss for words, clearly not understanding what was happeneing, and why they had stopped.

Meri grinned and reached over to return the book to her backpack.
As she did, she looked up at the mention that the wagon was slowing.

"Can't have arrived already" she muttered.  "Are we stopping for the night or something?"
She moved to look through the nearest window, trying to see whether it was getting dark or not.

Funny you should say that - I can only presume that the two instances of "slowly down" in the last post are supposed instead to say "slowing down" ;).

"Ahh, there we go, see? It's fine." says Nym to Dott as the wagon comes to a gentle stop. "They stopped slowly enough so the wagons didn't crash into each other."

She looks around at the surrounding countryside.

"Well, this doesn't look much like a town or a city or wherever it was we were going..." she comments in a slightly confused tone. "And that really didn't take very long anyway. We could've walked if it was this close..."

As Geekaar comes over to the wagon and starts knocking for Samel, Nym clambers along the roof to peer down at him.

"What happened?" she asks. "Is there something in the way? The horses didn't have an argument, did they?"

Insight for Geekaar's everything...20.

Geekaar just seems to be geeking around geekily, no obvious pretence, etc.

Geekaar looks up at Nym, even as inside Samel bustled out of the door in a hurry. The day is still light, it can't be more than a few hours of travel having passed. Certainly it is barely passed noon.

"Oh, nothing like that. I have another friend who sometimes meets me on the road. Usually he either appears, or not, I think to put me in my place. I know he always comes to this area when I am due. But I think today I shall give him some extra time to appear. I imagine he would very much like to speak with me today."

Samel has smoothed down her clothes, and drifted over to her master. "Master?"

"You seem not yourself," Geekaar said lightly to her, much to her discomfort. "The fact i can tell shows the fact if nothing else did. Please, perhaps you need a break. Go to the front wagon and fetch the green wine for my friend. I have a feeling he may not be in the best of moods when he appears."

Samel for some reason shot Meri a look through the window, before nodding to Samel and taking off towards the front of the wagons.

Geekaar stood admiring the scenery, fanning himself and breathing in the air. It seemed as if the Blackwood, and even the hint of it in the new trees, was coming to an end. There was what seemed to be a road up ahead breaking in to the forest going westwards, in to what would presumably be the fey lands.

Farren apparently took the opportunity to divest himself of his heavier leather coat, and walked outside to catch some air. [Secret to Meri: Meri realised the scent of the herb was not as strong as Farren went passed out of the door. Whatever scent he had been masking appeared to have stayed with his coat, and was nothing to do with him.]

Farren moved around as far from Geekaar as he could, even though he clearly wanted to look passed the man towards that road.

Meri pulled back from the window, leaning back to relax again.
Drawing a loose piece of parchment and some writing implements from her pack, she began to sketch out something, pausing at one point to take out the scrapbook containing some of her alchemical research and look something up.

At one point, she glanced over at Farren's coat, sniffing the air with a curious look, but then shrugged and went back to what she was doing.
A minute later, she paused again as Timur ambled up and tugged on her sleeve.

With a slight shake of her head, she picked up him and reached down to place him on the floor of the wagon before returning to her work, as Timur moved towards the door, peering outside at the scenery with what seems to be a curious look...


OOC: Meri is all: "Meh, let me know when something interesting happens!" :)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:41, Wed 06 Sept 2017.

"Ooh, is he the bear thingy that people keep talking about?" asks Nym, peering down at Geekar with her somewhat ridiculously-patterned furred face. "Oh, but maybe he's not. Otherwise Dott wouldn't have been so worried, right?"

She turns away and from her vantage point starts peering around and ahead in the hopes of seeing this mysterious "friend".

Perception for the above looky-findy...23

"A bear?" Geekaar seemed genuinely surprised and confused, in a very avuncular way. "No, I don't think anyone is a bear, except the bears. And they will be staying deep i nthe woodsand forests. Please, have no concerns over these stories. I have yet to see any shred of practical proof. The confused tales and tales of tales is intersting, certainly, and humourous, definitely. But worry not on them for one moment."

The last was said in the direction of Dott, and it was said with a pleasant, reassuring voice. Dott jerked at the sudden attention as if he had been shot, and looked downwards without another word.

"I wanted to the take the chance to apologise. My friend is not quite so gragarious as I am, and he is an old, dear friend. I am afraid I will not be able to give you all much attention once he arrives. I do hope you understand. Still, perhaps we can speak more tomorrow night in Thirdgate, the roads willing. Still, I will leave you to yourselves, I have no wish to intrude."


Geekaar took to walking around casually, admiring the various trees and taking the opportunity to shelter from the sun. Quietly two of his guards have peeled off from where they were to flank him, as if to ensure no danger from the forest can harm him. The village guards and his othe retainers stay put, slowly baking in the unusual spring heat.


Farren manages to look over to the road, then when Geekaar appears far enough away, moves close to the wagon door to speak with Meri, but gestures for Nym to listen in too.

"That road. That's the road. The sun position and so on. I think that's the road I was on, where Blace abandoned me."

[Secret to Nym: As if on cue, Nym then noticed somehting out of the corner of her eye - it seemed that a lone rider on a horse appeared while Geekaar was distracted. They are standing straight in the saddle, and for some reason would remind you of the watch commander from back in the village. They are still a small distance away.

And your 23 will let you see more details first when they come closer!  ]

Nym nods and smiles at Geekaar, but as soon as he turns away her face shows the expression of someone who wasn't really paying attention to what was being said. She glances over at Dott.

"Well, maybe we'll meet the bear anyway." she says in a tone that is conveniently low enough not to carry over to wherever Geekaar has wandered off to.

She then leans over the wagon to hear what Farren is saying and seems about to comment but then pauses and looks up, glancing around to see what Geekaar is doing but then looking back again.

Can't tell if the thing I noticed was described in Secret text or not, but where is it? Down the road back the way we came?

Me, put things in secret so you casually mention it and Meri would have no clue what you were speaking about? Never! :p

[Private to Nym: No, forwards to the new road where Geekaar says his friend will be appearing. And wouldn't you know it, someone has now appeared.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:54, Fri 08 Sept 2017.

OOC: *peers suspiciously...*


Meri looked up at Farren's mention of the road.
Tossing the parchment she was scribbling on onto the bed, she picked up her staff and moved to stand in the doorway, looking out at the road.

She glanced towards Geekaar, then looked to Farren.
"Bring back any memories?" she asked in a low voice.

"That doesn't seem to be how it works," said Farren, "and this is not an exact measure. But judging from the position of the sun, how far we've travelled, and assuming the road goes roughly in the same direction as it finishes - I believe that's where Blace left me. Somewhere down that road. That's where my memories except for the one of the Raven Queen start. And I presume not too far down the road, given I could get back to Celindara's home in a reasonable time. So perhaps we should have been asking some of the travellers on the road about Blace. And... well, it makes you wonder who this friend of Geekaar's is?"

Farren's hand dropped to the hilt of his sword.

Clearly Farren now worries it's Blace - which would be a huge concern, as it would mean Geekaar might well know exactly who Farren is. Of course, that's just hos worry. Who knows who the actual friend is. (Yes, yes, it's me.... always me!)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:09, Fri 08 Sept 2017.

"I think Geekaar referred to this friend as a 'he' though.  While Blace seems to be able to disguise her true self, I'm not sure if that power extends that far.  I'm not sure if even Nym can appear to change gender" replied Meri thoughtfully.

Although given the way she shifted her staff to the front of her body, as if preparing to take up a defensive stance, it was clear she also had her suspicions...


OOC: Not too sure about that, can Shades disguise themselves as the opposite gender?  Also, not sure if Meri will ever have seen Nym in a male form either, assuming such a thing is possible...

Can of worms: Opened!  :D
This message was last edited by the player at 11:25, Fri 08 Sept 2017.

Yes, Changelings can take on the form of any Medium-sized humanoid, the sex/gender of that humanoid being irrelevant. Nym just likes being female :). Don't know about Shades, though. They're undead, not shapeshifters. Unless one is the Shade of a Changeling, in which case...maybe? I don't know if they'd retain that ability after their death-and-being-brought-back-by-Shadow-magic...

Nym leans down toward Meri and Farren, clearly wanting to stay on top of the wagon where she can see things but not wanting anyone but those two to hear her. She makes a little beckoning motion with one furry hand and then raises it to cup around the side of her mouth.

"There's a person on a horsey." she says quietly. "It looks a bit like the commander...erm...what was his name? Molsove?"

She moves her hand to point in the direction in which she can see the figure.

Wuffy didn't yet clarify which direction that is so pretend Nym is pointing in whichever direction he says (it's implied that it's back the way we just came) :D.

Sorry, I did write an explicit PM, but it was apparently to myself :( I've corrected it, but I'll move us onwards anyway. The new person is in front of the train, not behind.

As for Blace, while she may have had a mechanical feat, power or racial thingie to back it up, I suspect that was just Blace specific to highlight her sheer force of will. She wasn't shapeshifting, more able to project how she used to look, or more correctly how she assumed she used to look. So it wasn't shapeshifting as such, just a glamour that stopped people noticing her darker shade features.

And lol about Nym being sneaking - do you actually want me to give that one to you and not be overheard, or is Nym sort of botching being sneaky, in which case you can roll Bluff to see if she gets away with it :p

I'll wait to find out about Nym's roll or no roll - Meri, feel free to react to Nym's comments either way.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:00, Fri 08 Sept 2017.

Meri squinted in the direction Nym pointed in, turning to position herself into a better defensive posture towards that direction as she did.
"This could be the one we're waiting for, though I suppose it could also just be a passing traveller" she murmured quietly.


OOC: Rolling Perception to see if I can spot much detail from here...
30 (16 + 14) - The dice are being suspiciously nice to me lately.  Most likely going to roll nothing but 1s in the next battle!

Oh okay, the figure is ahead of us, not behind. Maybe it's Geekaar's friend/"friend". Hopefully he's not about to try and sell us out to some horrible gribbly monster or something. And I wouldn't be surprised if the mysterious "bear" thingy has anything to do with this.

As for Nym trying to be quiet, yeah she was legit trying to be quiet. I just figured Geekaar had wandered far enough away that he wouldn't notice. Okay, Bluff roll then...28 :).

Ah, I didn't want to inflict you with a roll if you (the player) just wanted Nym to be funny in her hiding of her speech, but luckily it seems to have worked out...

Despite Nym's theatrics in covering her speech, Geekaar's bodyguards were shifting around him to protect him front and rear, also blocking the wagon from sight more often than not. Combined with him looking ot the forest for the moment, it seemed he neither noticed the discussion nor the rider coming forwards.

The rider did seem to have something of the Molsove about him, something about his ramrod straight posture, and after a glint or two, the guard like armour. [Private to Meri: However, Meri's experience and elvish eyes spotted something chilling. Something that stirred a memory or two perhaps long since buried. The armour appeared to be elvish in nature, but alien in its way. Meri just recollected, occasionally, elves that passed throug hthe village called the 'Far Guard'. Just like the humans came from further south, the Far Guard had come from further north, visitors and really interlopers, but somehow to be respected despite the superiority of the elves. They seemed like monsters, for everyone feared them, though in reality they were probabaly just respected as grime judiciaries riding between the various elvish lands. Still, the monster part was highlighted by their unusual features, they did not quite seem 'elvish'. Only now that the memory was resurfaced, could Meri compare the Far Guard she had seem to the fey elvish countenance of The Phystal and his compaions. It was like a stop gap between the two, more elvish than the phystal but less elvish than the other elves. If the true wilder fey elves were in the region beyond the Blackwood, did that mean that the Far Guard lived somewhere between here and the elves closer to the human lands around the Thirgate region? And if that was true... if that was true, did that mean Meri's home was somewhere in this direction, still far away but by no means far enough away. She had fled through forests and taken passage on a ship and moved through hills and mountains and settled as fr away as it felt possible, near dwarves and far enough away but with different elves in the region. Could it be true she had somehow circled and had been perhaps only a few weeks away from her original home?

Could this Far Guard coming close - perhaps a higher ranked one, if the Molsolve comparison help - have even once been through her village.

Heh, unpleasant revelations and thoughts time! Yay!]

Farren squinted in the direction, and didn't seem happier even though the figure looked less like Blace than might be feared. "I have no idea what Blace's powers were," he said neutrally, "for the moment you know far better than I." He gave a small bitter laugh.

He looked to Geekaar, and perhaps thought better of attracting the man's attention. Speaking quietly to Nym without looking to her, he asked, "So, what did you find out from the man of the wagon roof? I could hear you speaking, but not what you said to each other."

Geekaar will most likely spot the rider after your next posts, so if you want to do anything else regarding the rider, now wpould be the time. You know, magic missle, hide, hide then fire a magic missile, that sort of thing :p

Meri squinted again at the approaching rider, then reached up and pulled the goggles down over her eyes, flicking one of the smaller sets of lenses down to apparently magnify the view somewhat.

For a moment, she seemed to be concentrating intently, but then her eyes widened and a shocked gasp escaped her.  She seemed to instinctively take a step back, as if to retreat back inside the wagon, but stopped herself.  Her hand tightened on the staff in what seemed to be a defensive reaction.

"Far Guard..." she murmured in a low voice, clearly not addressing the comment to anyone.  In fact it was as though she had forgotten the others were there at all, her world narrowing down to only her and the approaching rider.
"That can't...  How is that possible...?"


OOC:  Meri's usually-cool exterior seems to be cracking somewhat...  Ominous sign? ;)

[Private to The Altweaver: Keeping the Gadgeteer's Goggles down over her eyes for now, not sure if that + any changes due to her age will make her face a little harder to recognise to anyone who might have seen her as the much younger Nalu :)  Seems she thinks it worth a try at least]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:22, Sat 09 Sept 2017.

"Oh, he was worried about the horses not liking each other and that the wagons might crash because they're not normally linked up like this, and then he was worried about the bear-thingy but I don't think he's quite so worried about any of those things just now." rattles off Nym in response to Farren's question about Dott.

She then notices Meri's reaction to seeing the figure on the horse and leans over with evident concern but as yet manages not to fall off the wagon and faceplant into the ground.

"Hey, um, Meri? What's the matter? Do you know who that is? Is it a bad person? Should we maybe pretend we're not here, or something?"

Note that Nym is still speaking quietly so that Geekaar doesn't hear. He's dodgy - he's not allowed to hear our private conversations. So there.

I can't recall why Nym is so suspicious of Geekaar, he's been nothing but friendly to you all, and Nym failed her Insight check. Honest question, usually Nym doens't spot subtle stuff if she's distracted, so wondered what stopped her being so friendly and talkative to the friendly talkative NPC?

Farren looked forwards and back to the arrangement of the wagons. Clearly he hadn't thought too much about it to start with, and so gave it a cursory glance now. Nym's highlighting Meri's odd behaviour though broght his attention back to her.

Geekaar had not noticed the group behind him, but that was because he had finally noticed the rider slowly approaching. He clapped his hands, said something quietly to his own bodyguards, and moved forwards, waving his hands enthusiastically as if a small child spotting his mother, back from buying confections.


[Private to Meri: So noted, but I'm sure that Meri's age, her harder lifestyle after her youth, the fact she was young, and the fact she also goes out of her way to not look elvish would mean even someone who actually knew her may not recognise her now. It would be a million to one chance for a Far Guard to know Meri... :p

Oh, unless you think she was such a problem child that stories of her would have circulated around the village.]

Meri remained staring at the approaching figure for a few more seconds before looking back at the others, as if their words had only just registered.
"Uh, no.  I, I don't think he means you any harm."

She looked back at the rider then back Farren, glancing up at Nym.
"He looks like a member of the Far Guard.  They're...  Hard to explain.  They're elves, but, an old kind, like the Phystal, but closer to normal elves than his kind.  In between maybe.  Some feared them, but also respected them."

Stepping back inside the doorway of the wagon, she seemed to think something over, muttering to herself.
"But how can a member of the Far Guard be here, in this land?  I don't understand..."

She reached up to adjust the goggles, flipping the smaller lenses back, but leaving them down over her eyes.  At the same time, she lifted her hands to the sides of her head, as if checking her hair was keeping her ears covered...

Well, even if Nym failed an Insight check to read the guy, everyone else has been telling her not to tell him anything and stuff. And she trusts them so even if she's a bit confused as to why, she'll follow along and try not to drop any info that she thinks she shouldn't ;).

"Oh." says Nym, a somewhat confused expression on her face. "So...it's okay to go and say hello, then? Is it someone you know?"