Pavel stretches towards the ceiling of the room after he gets out of bed.
Better start thinking of how I want my money. Upfront would allow me to prepare better for the trek, but it doesn't leave me any incentive. Half and half balances prep and incentive, and all at the end provides all reward and no prep.
Pavel continues his ruminations over a simple breakfast of fruit and meat.

He finishes, decides that the dice might tell him something so he pulls out his dice set.

22:36, Today: Pavel Marsk rolled 5 using 1d6.  Deciding on compensation.

He secrets the die back in a pouch with its fellows, picks up his handaxe and longbow, slings his quiver over his shoulder, and puts his dagger in his belt sheath.

He would take his money half and half. Catching sight of the cleric he waves.
"Great morning for a stroll through Nature eh? Sun on your skin, the earth beneath your boots, and wind in your hair." Pavel said as he walked closer.

He stowed his axe and his pack with rope, rations, a pole and medical supplies in the wagon.

Akyra nodded at Pavel as he came and spoke. “A good a morning as any. It looks like all the gear is here and ready....when the others arrive we will leave.”

She noted the weapons of the man. “You’re a ranged fighter from the look of your bow. Perhaps you should stay on the wagon with your bow handy....any attack you can attack from the wagon and use it as cover.”

Bharkel was still leery about the seeming ease of the job relative to the pay. She would opt, therefore, to take it all at the end. That way, if it proved to be more hazardous than advertised, she could push for a higher pay. It would also preclude any of these strangers from trying to rob her, or taking her cut should she fall.

She had not rested well, and so had been up and moving early. Having already had her breakfast, she was waiting at the corner of another shop, a woodcrafter, as she soaked in the warmth of the new day sun.

"You are Barkhal, yes?"

Without waiting for an answer, BonThot pushed on. "We have some common ground, I think. Would you like to talk with me as we walk? I promise to be a gentleman."

She smiled as she looked to the ground for a moment, gathering her thoughts.

"I should hope, not, actually. Gentlemen are nothing but useless, preening nobles who think their adherence to their own rules makes up for a deficit in anything that could be called a personality. If our journey is as pedestrian as is claimed, I will entertain conversation, with a warning."

There was an unsteadying smile on her face "The first utterances of family line, inheritance, legacy, or gods, and I will eat your tongue out of your mouth."

Akyra looked as Bonthot and Bharkel made there way to the wagon, catching the end of the conversation.

She smiled despite the threat aimed at him. "Limits conversation topics " she said, smiling at Bonthot but shrugs. "Despite my upbringing and obvious skills, I prefer to avoid talk of religion myself. Makes people uncomfortable and people's views are their own. Now talk of weapons and battles, that something I'll gladly talk on."

She crossed her arms. "Just waiting on tbe goblin, then we can go."

"As the Lady cleric suggested, I believe it might be advantageous if I were to be on the wagons as a ranged attacker. If someone has an alternate idea of where I should be positioned, please speak up." Pavel decides to talk shop and hopefully avoid bloodshed.

In reply to Akyra Clethtinthiallor (msg # 9):

"And now the prospects of a conversation have quickly devolved into a comittee, I see." She replied as she looked at Akyra. It would stand to reason that on this journey, everyone would probably be within earshot, but that didn't mean she had to like the idea of anyone shoving themselves into whatever topic they wanted.

BonThot laughed. "I suspect you would, too," he said. "No worries about any unscrupulous gentry. I'm more the 'kid whose parents brought him up right type of guy."

He then looked at Akyra and said, "I usually don't talk as much as listen."

Once the group had gathered their things and made their way outside, breakfast in their bellies, the reins of the wagon were handed over, and the party set out toward Phandalin in the wake of their employer some hours earlier. The wagon was well made, with two yoked oxen there to pull it for you. The beasts handled the load like it was nothing, but they moved no faster than a man on foot, so the lack of mounts for those not riding the wagon was no obstacle. (One person can drive the wagon, and another can ride up front with them. The rest will be on foot. For the sake of random encounters, let me know who's riding on the wagon and who's walking, or what the rotation is if you want to switch off.)

You can smell some moisture in the air as you leave the tavern, but there are no clouds above you to indicate why. As you reach the gates and pass through, however, you see a large storm quite some distance off to the southeast. Neverwinter rests on the top and side of an active volcano that constantly pours a stream of magma through the heart of the city (which is why it's Never-Winter), and the elevated view allows you to see for quite some distance even if you're too far away to make out details. One detail that it does not take a sharp eye to see, however, is that the storm system in the far distance is producing an incredible amount of lightning, with the worst of it seemingly drawn to the same spot. There's a large forest between it and you, so where the lighting is striking is anyone's guess, but from this great distance it looks like it's almost the same exact spot over and over.

Storm moves off to the east over the next hour before it drifts out of sight. The ground beneath you remains dry throughout the day, thankfully, and into the night as well. You pass a few travelers along the road, all headed toward Neverwinter or beyond, according to those who seem pleasant enough to share more than a nod or greeting. You spot some distant birds here and there, a couple of prairie dogs at one point, and a lone wild pig who stares at you for a moment from half a mile away before trotting off toward the woods.

As nighttime draws near and the moon shines brightly overhead, the time comes to decide what to do about camp. This particular stretch of land has no other cities or towns, or even lone inns along the road for you to have a comfortable rest, so the question is mostly one of (a) next to the road or (b) off in the nearby woods?

Pavel rides the wagon, bow strung and eyes scanning the road for danger to it or him.
His bow was his main weapon, though he had his hatchet and dagger if he needed to melee.

"A worthy march," BonThot said. "I will sleep well tonight. This is the first time I've really stretched out in quite some time. What is the watch rotation among out group?"

Akyra walks beside the wagon on the left, cloak and hood drawn up to hide her heritage, and the only thing in hand her shield as she walked. Any greeting she mirrored with a serious tone, but never removed her hood.

As they pulled up for the night, she removed her hood. “Let us g a little away from the road, find a defensible spot. My eyes are not too good at night, so I suggest someone who can see in the darkness take the middle watch. I am happy to take first or last. Let’s seperate it into 4 hour watches..,one or two per watch”

"Unless someone objects, I'll take the last watch. My eyes are pretty keen. And yes, moving off the beaten path makes good sense."

"I rode for most of the day so, I'll gladly take first watch." Pavel said as he started looking around for a good campsite for his companions.

The cleric nodded. "OK. Pavel....you take watch for the first few hours. Wake me when your done and i'll take the middle....the fire will need to be stoked so i can see, but theres nothing we can do about that. Bonthot, your last shift.  Any sounds and wake the others. Be ready."

The dragonborn then sets to making an evening meal and arranging her bedroll just under the back of the wagon. She ate her meal, and when she lay down, her shield and ae within reach

BonThot spends part of Pavel's watch in deep meditation before whispering a good night to Pavel. Once down, he stays down (Unless of course, somebody rousts him).

A campsite is picked, the watch order is set, and the group heads off to their respective places for sleep or watch.

Pavel takes the first watch alone for two hours, then is joined by Bharkel. The time passes by uneventfully before Pavel wakes Akyra. Occasional flashes of lightning shed the barest bit of light from the storm still firing off in the distance, but it definitely weakening and moving off.

Two more hours pass before Bharkel turns in and wakes Rosalyn. The dragonborn and goblin sit watch together, and spot two pairs of blue-green eyes catch and reflect the orange-yellow light of the fire. The eyes are far off, no threat when they are first spotted. They blink a few times, move back and forth for a few moment, but eventually go turn away and go dark.

Akyra swaps with BonThot, who then joins the goblin girl. They share a bit of conversation through their otherwise uneventful watch, until Rosalyn goes to wake the quiet young gentleman, Sakamoto. There's a...sound, far off in the distance. It's like a short bout of thunder, but the sound is wrong. It's off, but you're not sure how or why, only that it sounded wrong. You know it's far away, you just don't know what it was or why it sounded the way that it did.

The rest of the night goes by the same as the rest, and sunrise greets you. More birds welcome the morning sun with song as well as flight. The storm has moved off as far as any can tell, and another day of travel awaits you.

Sakamoto greets the sun as he has every morning since joining the Senken no mei no Shinden, and every day since coming to this strange and distant land. He was thankful for the gaining the attention of Gundren, who'd taken the quiet young hin under his wing for a time. When the letter reached his simple domicile, he was overjoyed at not only the potential for a reunion with his Dwarven benefactor, but also for the opportunity for both a job and travel.

He'd arrived late at the inn, long after the other party members had gone to bed, but arose early and was awake to greet them simply before they departed for the day. He'd answered what questions they asked, but mostly kept to himself, and the shadows.

Now that day had broken again, he finished his morning rituals, stretches and excercises as the others began to stir...

"You, newcomer, I haven't introduced myself. I am BonThot. Did you hear the thunder that was not thunder early this morning?"

ooc: BonThot is addressing Sakamoto.

Akyra woke at dawn, stretching and before putting on her Armor, sat crossed legged and held a medallion of silver and onyx as she closed her eyes. She sat still for minutes as she internally prayed to bahamut, lord of dragons. She then stood and dined her Armor without word, and grabbing her shield and axe, went a way from the others and went through a practice motion, almost like a martial dance.

....this was her usual morning ritual to her god.

She returned to hear bonthot speaking to the halfling. “Unusual thunder?” She looks in the distance. “Be that as it may, we have a long way to go. Rosalyn, pavel....ride the cart again. I will take the left, Bharkel the right. Sakamoto watch the back, bonthot, your backup.”

The military minded cleric was almost on autopilot as she allocated people,to places that suited their skills. “...any questions?”

"No questions, but I wonder what could cause that thunderous sound? Mayhap a battle?"

Newcomer? Sakamoto wondered. He wasn't particularly new, more a latecomer. He chalked it up to the vagaries of his relative unfamiliarity with the dialect of this region. A common language still vastly different than the one practiced in his homeland. "Indeed, I did, BonThot-san." Sakamoto said, accent strong but voice sure and certain. He bowed respectfully. "But, I could not - nor cannot now - identify the origin. It was unusual to say the least."

He offers the man speaking to him yet another, deeper bow. "Also, I must apologize. I appear to have overlooked you during my introductions as we travelled. I am Sakamoto. It is a pleasure to be traveling with you."

Introductions semi-interrupted by Akyra's arrival, he then turns to address her, tipping his head respectfully at her orders. "I understand, and concur. A light morning run sounds exquisite."

"Don't get too far ahead of yourselves.." Bharkel gives a loud warning to the group "Let's not go looking for a battle that doesn't need to happen. I'm sure that will happen all on its own in good time."

The Dragonborn nods at bharkel’s words, mirroring her thoughts. “Right now, this caravan is our priority...not some weird thunder. If it’s a battle ahead, I’m sure we will face it soon enough, and trust me when I say, any that stand between us will wish themselves that they didn’t right up until their dying breath.”

She looked at the cart. “Let’s get moving. Pack up and keep on.”

<OOC: was the thunderous sound towards our direction or behind us?>