There are whispers and questions among the people of Cambete:  Why are they leaving now?

Now?  People don't travel in the dark, they just don't.

Speculations seems to revolve around the reliable excuse the entertainers have for many a strange thing:  "Performers are weird".  It appears to be the consensus.

Humans don't travel at night because the world, most of it, with the exception of moonlit nights, tends to be very dark.  Traveling in the dark isn't safe- it's not just the monsters, it's all the little things one can miss- the deep rut that can catch a wheel or twist an ankle, for example.  Tonight, the clouds hide the half moon.  Away from the lights of the town it will be very dark.

The Rhine at this point is 150 yards across.  This is a relatively narrow stretch, and it is one of the reasons for the existence of Cambete.  The narrower the river, the easier to bridge, all else being equal.  The bridge of Cambete is a strong old bridge, battered and weathered and mossy in places, but held together by that amazing Roman magic of "concrete", and illuminated by the faded glow of centuries-old magical lanterns on posts.  Beyond the double row of pale amber lights, the far side of the bridge is in utter darkness.

The Argentos's do know a few things about what they might expect, and they have passed this on to their troupe:  Orcs held the strip of land along the river, the Elves stayed in the forested highlands, and raided them.  But the Orcs were relatively few- just enough to remind the local Humans of who was boss.  When the Orcs at Cambete were defeated, many of the Humans there flooded into Cambete to live in the safety and relative comfort of the town.  The Elves were left with the control, but still haven't been seen often along the river.  For all they know the land has been left empty.

Lindon followed the wagon in front of him as he tried to direct his team through the darkness.  The lantern swinging beside him wasn't all that much help as it just threw everything into dancing shadows.  He really hoped they didn't have far to go.

Well aware of Og's warning, Alayna only rode a little ahead. Just enough so the lamplight would give her a bit of a view, and her own native part-blood vision a bit more. She didn't want her horse to trip nor for her to become Orc-bait. A thin cloak covered her even more thin body, and she shivered slightly. But she was proud to lead, even in unknown lands. And she would do so as long as needed.

Tahra rides, half-dozing, trusting to Klimmin, who is having a buffet lunch.

Nwofia lies still in the wagon, half sleeping and half listening except she's not used to sleeping in wagons so pretty soon she is half listening and the other half listening too.

Og continued to cast lights as far as his magic could take them. He prayed. He wasn't sure what he was praying for, either that they would be safe or that the orcs were indeed waiting, so he trusted God would pick one.

They are soon across the bridge, and into the dark wilderness beyond.  Wilderness, but still with a stone road- the Roman paving has held up long after the Empire itself faded away.  But there have been no farms, no villages on the far side in this area for a long time.

With few exceptions among the cast, visibility is almost nil past the limits of lights, and the lights are few.  Behind, the lights of the bridge and the town could as well be stars in the sky, just little spots against the darkness.  And then, one by one, these too vanish.

In the dark everyone stays alert as they plod on.  In the distance, north along the river, they see the silhouette in the sky: a dragon.  It's impossible to make out important details, like "what color is it?"  but it is certainly a dragon, perhaps a mile away.

And then, while the dragon is still flitting in and out of view as its flight seems to zig zag along the river, they come to a fork in the road.  The old roads might not have been maintained in many years, but the markers are stone and long lasting.

One branch leads north, keeping closer to the river (and the dragon.  The other takes a more eastern course, and according to the sign, leads to a place named Aquae Villae.

As the darkness comes, Alayna pulls back. Her dark vision is only part, so she still needs some. And the sight of the dragon makes her both shiver with a thrill and with fright. Oh, to see one close up! But it would eat her, would it not?

At the fork, she pulls her horse back to report to the Family. A water village sounds inviting, but... there is that dragon. And she is curious, as she always is.

Tahra looks around when her hose stops. Nothing seems stirring, though the party has halted. She relaxes again while her hose takes the opportunity to crop some grass.

Nwofia wakes up rubbing her eyes and looks at the darkness around and the silhouette of the dragon. "Ooh a dragon!" she says, then, realising that the wagon has stopped, asks the nearest person, "Where are we?"

The party is in the darkness, somewhere over the bridge on the East bank of the Rhine.

The troupe's owner and manager surveys the situation.

"A Dragon can be a bad omen, or a good omen.  Depending on what sort of Dragon..."

"Which, obviously, none of us would know, here in the dark at such a distance," his wife notes.

Phileas nods thoughtfully.  "True, true, just a flash of Dragon wings in moonlight.  Nothing to be known from that."

He has an old map, curled and wrinkled with lots of notes and corrections scribbled onto it.

"What's north?" Hylensia asks.

"Villages along the Rhine, and Brisiaca.  Brisiaca was under the rule of Orcs until Cambete was liberated.  After that... they have no bridge themselves, so... I don't know.  Just not enough recent information.  And Vilae Aquae... a water village, as our young star notes... well that's just a note on the map.  Nothing more.... but... it is to the east, and the Black Forest Elves are that way.  If we are in the dark, I would rather be headed towards Elves than towards a... an unknown dragon."

"Agreed," Hylensia says.

The Caravan turns east.  The land changes as they go further from the river- it rises, gently and then more steeply.  More and more trees.

They have been traveling for hours, now, and it is well past midnight.  Clearly, they are going to be very tired the next day.  It isn't easy to get any real sleep in a wagon over rough ground.  But the group in front stays alert, and as the trees become more and more dense, they spot an Elven symbol on a large tree in front of them.

Anyone good with the Elven language?

Tahra says Not I. However, we could call out...or sing as we travel. If we come to a clear place, I'm for stopping.

Alayna looks at the symbol. "I know Elvish. As a half-breed, it seemed I should know that as well as your tongue."

She stares at it, trying to read it.

Nwofia shrugs. "No clue, sorry.  The only elves I knew of growing up were Garamantes who are Drow."

Further back in the caravan atop the wagon he was driving, Lindon wondered what the holdup was.  Did they get lost in the dark already?

Alayna can read it, although the style is a little strange for her- the Black Forest Elves are remote even by Elven standards.  It's a simple thing, nothing more than a territorial marker.  It has no words of welcome, just a notice that this is the territory of the Black Forest Elves- the Schwarzwald Elves.

"And yet the name of the village ahead is clearly not Elven," Phileas observes.  "I suppose borders have shifted.  Time being what it is, and all.  Elves, as far as I know, don't set out to conquer."

"They don't expand their numbers quickly," Hylensia says.  "So they never have a need.  They'd rather hold what they have."

"But whatever the case, they have an old Roman... Water-Village.  Well, the answer to that little riddle is ahead, isn't it?  There might be some risk in entering Elven territory at night.  I should take the lead.  But.."  he turns to address everyone before continuing.  "Even if there is some... over reaction.. on somebody's part... we come in peace and only peace.  Don't even look threatening. Unless, you know, monster or something like that."

They begin to move again, tired, in the dark... and in the front, the occasional rustling in nearby trees seems to get more and more real and less like a mere illusion of the dark.  Finally, they can confirm it in the movement of shadows- the group is being watched from above.

Despite herself, Alayna begins to sing softly. It is an old Elvin song she learned as a girl. It is a song of woods and leaves and the warmth of the green. She doesn't know all the words, but she knows the melody, and sings softly, her voice soft but strong, her heart in the song as she rides.

PM

Nwofia rides in silence, her hood pulled over her head, gazing at the road behind while she listens very carefully to everything that goes on around her.

Og snickered. “Don’t even look threatening.” He pulled his jacket’s hood over his mask  and kept his torches floating around the caravan.

To any Elf, the different styles of the different Elven kingdoms are immediately recognizable.

There is a blur of motion, and there is an Elf standing in the path.  It was so fast he might have just teleported there, but for the shaking leaves in his wake.

He speaks in Elven.

"A song like those of the Savoy Elves, yes?  You...they... Savoy Elves are here, from time to time.  I think they find our forest dismal.  But you are not... all... Savoy Elves."

The Elf is clad in a gray cloak with random jagged stripes of dark green and brown.  It's hard to tell anything about his features in the darkness, but he doesn't seem very old.

He switches to Latin, the Common Tongue here.  It's clearly not his native language.

"No, the rest of you are not Elves.  Why are you come?  Why are you in the night?  What are you?  Are there danger?"

Nwofia smiles a white toothed smile and holds her hands palm forward to show that they contain no weapons.  "We are here to entertain you." she says, "And we hope you will enjoy us, but as for why we are travelling at night and yet with no subterfuge... because we hope that you will see us first, before any of the forest's other denizens."

Og rolled his eyes. This time the truth would have been more useful. The elves did not fancy orc, despite how the humans were trying to get along. But to say anything now would only make them all seem foolish.

He cast prestidigitations on the ground in front of her to create blasts of bright green, pink and blue smoke to make Nofia's promises of entertainment even more alluring.

The elf surely had his own magic. But did he have style?
This message was last edited by the player at 16:48, Thu 26 Sept 2019.

Alayna blushed with the Elf's comments. "I am not fully Elf, no, but I know my people," she replied in Elvish.

She shifted on her horse, her legs hanging over one side. "As my friend said, we come to entertain. No one is more nimble on a horse than I," she stated in her accented Latin, leaning to grip her horse's neck, then slipping around it to rest on the other side, her feet touching the ground only long enough to leap. "We travel by night, to arrive by day, good sir," she added, once again sitting on the horse normally.

Tahra is at the back, waiting.