"Not a problem," Myarra tells Twiggy.  "I'll be happy to have you along.  At least I'll have someone intelligent to talk to other than my horse.  She's a worshipper of Epona.  I know she's very persuasive, but don't believe her. Centaurs are not half horse/half human in the traditional sense."

Byron teases both Myarra and Twiggy as he hears them talking.

Just make sure you don't have any money he can reach easily.  And, if you think Twiggy is intelligent then you might have been out in the sun too long today.

Twiggy climbs onto Myrra's horse and pats the beast on the side, he didn't know who Epona "Is Epona the cenataur god? I have never met a cenataur but would like to."  As Byron teases the halfling chuckles "Don't worry Myarra, your purse is safe. Although I may have to steal Byron's sword and replace it with an parasol."

"I trust all of you with my money," Myarra tells Byron.  "Just as you all trust me not to wrap my loving arms around you and take you on a magical midnight flight to see the moons close up, followed by an extremely rapid return to the ground.  It's this kind of trust that makes us such an incredibly effective team."

She looks back at Twiggy.  "Epona is the goddess of horses, at least according the a small tribe of folks I ran away from once.  I use to have a small gold statue of her hence the running. But it and I were parted as soon as I got to a civilized marketplace."

With new horses and food bought, the group decides to not waste any time staying in town and decides to hit the road. It's around 1pm-ish when you leave, but with it being close to early Summer, the light will stay out longer, so you figure you have at least 5 hours of travel you can do today before setting up camp. Traveling S/E along the road, you pass farms for a couple hours and pass by all sorts of traffic coming to town: farmers, traders, groups of riders, etc..

By the end of the day, you start looking for a place to rest for the night and spot an old abandoned farm South of the road. The place might have water and a roof over your head, but there is what appears to be a trader there with his wagon and 4 guards. They look to be caravan guards. They spot the group and talk to themselves. The farm is perhaps 50 yards from the road....

Byron looks over at the guards.

OOC:  Looking to see if the guards have any markings on their armor that we would recognize.

Byron turns to Kali and Aliana.

Shall we go say hi to them?

Roen was on foot as he walked to the front of the group to take a look at the guards at the farm,

"I could go over to them and ask if we could share the space with them for the night? I look a lot less threatening than you do, Byron. They're probably worried that we might rob them."

As soon as they come in sight of the other group, Myarra morphs into a less intimidating form, a young human woman with bright red hair.

"As long as they're not cult, it's always best to be polite," she agrees.

Myrra feels Twiggy behind her wiggling a bit "I wonder if they have fresh milk. Nothing better than fresh milk with some cookies. Let's go say hi and see if we can sleep in his barn."

In reply to Byron Rockhead (msg # 32):

Byron doesn't see anything special that he could identify, but the guards are wearing the same type of armor: Chain Shirt with Bucklers that are painted purple. They are also carrying Longswords. The wagon doesn't have any distinguishing marks of ownership either, but the wagon looks pretty new and the 2 horses are Heavy War Horses like Charger that are being taken into the barn, so the party's hopes for the barn are looking grim, unless Roenthelm is a good talker...

I don't see anything would identify them with the Dragon Cult so go on ahead Roen.  Just yell if you get into trouble and we come to your rescue.

Amara would like a roof over her head, but knows that most people do not take kindly to her race - and with good reason, in general. "Why don't we just press on?" They've no reason to trust the caravan, and they have reason not to trust the party.

As Roenthelm starts to walk down the old road to the abandoned farm, one of the guards walks towards him and holds up his hand at around the 50 foot mark. He takes note of Roenthelm's ragged attire, but he isn't rude about it,

"Can I help you?" the guard asked

The guard looks to be human, brown hair and probably in his mid-20's.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:07, Fri 26 July 2019.

Kali walked beside Byron in silence, contemplating the world, and only came out of it when she noticed Roenthelm movements towards the soldiers. The woman sighed, shaking her head. "Haven't we had enough excitement without people looking for some?" She muttered.

She none the less stayed close to Byron, ready for whatever came

He's not looking for trouble, rather to see if we can share the area with them for the night.

Byron replies quietly to Kali.

It is a shame that most everyone assumes that some are evil, just because of their looks or features.  While I thought the troll in the other tower was evil, I didn't go out of my way to kill it first then ask questions.  Now a group of orcs would probably be different.

Byron continues on quietly as he glaces over at Amara.

When the guard held up his hand, Roen stopped and smiled,

"We're just weary travelers looking for a place to spend the night that has some shelter and maybe some water. But, we totally understand if you want your privacy."

08:19, Today: Roenthelm rolled 31 using 1d20+16.  Diplomacy.

Twiggy sighs behind Myrra, letting the thought of milk and cookies go, as he hears Byron and Kali talk. He frowns because he knows they are right "I noticed awhile back that the adventuring life makes you a little cynical of the world. The longer you travel the more you have to have your gaurd up all the time. Not everyone is out to get you but enough are to make you nervious."

Amara just shrugged. She was used to being judged based on her looks - it had ceased to bother her.

The guard smiles,

"Yes, we would like our privacy, but you are more than welcome to get some water from the well to water your horses and fill your stores."

Roen smiled and thanked the guard,

"Yes, that would be great. Thank you. We'll use the well, then be on our way."

Walking back to the group, Roen repeated the guard's request to his friends.

"With the horses watered and everyone's skins topped off, I'm sure we can find a suitable location for us up the road."

So, the party is directed to the well to water their horses, while the guards stand near their wagon, watching the party. They don't speak to the party, which is usual for caravan guards, but once you're finished and headed off up the road, they do wave to you. Myarra made a mental note that she could have easily taken those guards and the wagon, but figured that she's probably carrying more money than that whole wagon and its contents was worth. You all find an old campsite about an hour later and make camp.

Standard watch list from Thread is set up. Does anyone want to do anything special?

I will spend some time training and practicing with Lorrik

Kali, with raieylan at her side, will scout the perimeter of camp. Raieylan will take up a hidden spot on the outskirts (maybe in a tree, etc) and watch over the team.

Kali will then sit down, crossed legged and close her eyes, meditating

Twiggy walks around the surrounding area to make sure nothing is about.  He then walks the edge of the road from the way they came just to make sure the merchants didn't decide to follow them. While walking around Twiggy has his sling ready in case he jumps a rabbit.

 If nothing is about then Twiggy goes back and helps make a meal.

Myarra nods to the guards as they head up the road to find a new campsite.  Once there, she unpacks the few things she's going to need for the night and prepares her bedroll.  Then, with nothing more specific to do (although if anybody has an chores that need doing, they only need to ask) she moves over and watches Byron and Lorrik training.