He is one of the first awake, finding a space to study his spells for the day. Alone and in a corner he pulls out a ring on the silver chain around his neck and holds it for a few seconds before shoving it back down the front of his armor. He then began a spell and was busy casting it for a minute before he touched his own forehead and released the magic in a flash of black and purple power that settled slowly into his skin.

He went about waking the others softly. "Good morning, its time to rise. We will be at our destination soon."

Lyndra was one of the first aboard tbe rail, finding a quiet spot near Alto by sheet chance. She reached into her pack and produced a dark grey, leather bound tome and opened it up and began reading. After a while, she looked at Alto with a smile. "You are welcome to look over my spells and we can discuss trades when time permits." even though a genuine offer, her tone (as always) was neutral. "But, like I said, my spells tend to be more offensive in nature."

During the night,she rested quietly in tbe corner. Alto, in his waking time, noticed the woman had a few ticks of her eyes and head, before starting awake before dawn. She looked around to see if anyone noticed, then closed her eyes.

When Alto came around, she opened her eyes quickly,clearly awake already.

He smiled at her as she awoke holding out a midnight blue leather bound tome. "You will find i have a few offensive spells myself. I also have a few other tricks to keep me alive." He sat down beside her as she gathered her things. And whispered something softly to her.

Greddark's tales kept Edward entertained and engaged through the first leg of their trip. Inconsistencies, repetitiveness and going against (to Edward) know facts notwithstanding, the dwarf was a great storyteller, so Edward managed to keep any objections to himself. It was more fun to imagine himself in the romantic view of the world that was painted. Eyes half closed, Edward cheered and grieved, "Oooh"ed and "Aaah"ed for the characters as the tales went through their ups and downs.

Taking the fact about bananas with a bit more skepticism, Edward still accepted a fruit. "Isn't the dwarven word for human beer something similar? Yellow poison drink?" he frowned "Or does it translate as weak, not weakening..."

The drive among the stored goods was an opportunity to do some training. Edward spent the time he was awake on his feet, practicing advances and retreats without drawing his blade. But the movements of the rail gave him something new to work with and he was satisfied when he fell asleep. After the wakeup call, he did a short exercise routine to wake up. "Not the worse place to sleep." he shared as he rolled up his sleeping bag "But I didn't miss not having a bed."

Lyndra looked at Alto with a neutral gaze, and managed a slight smile with the corner of her mouth, whispering to him.

She holds out the book of hers for him to inspect.

Sebastian spent the first part of the journey observing the rest, and listening to the re-written history told by Greddark.  As he had been around the longest, he knew things as they once were, but he wasn't going to burst the man's bubble, the truth would always get buried by the convenient.  As one philosopher put it, the winner writes the history.

On the second part of the journey, he found a corner furthest from everyone else and tranced.  When he came alert, 4 hours later, he quietly played his lute, working on a ballad he had started years before but never finished.  The words, they were in his head, but he needed the notes to carry the message.  Maybe the sad tune would even reach the heart of Lyndra, be time would tell, if he ever got to play it for them.

Before they arrived, he said his prayers to his deity.  It would be a long day and he wanted to be ready to face it.

He chuckled at her response as he took her tome and started flipping through it his eyebrows raised a few times as things caught his gaze. He took a glance around at group. "It seems I will need to purchase some inks soon, there are some interesting options here that I would love to add to my bag of tricks."

Loner happily spent the first leg of their journey listening to Greddark’s stories. After some dangerous creaking from the seats as he put his Weight on them, he had opted to sit on the floor instead, his hands around his knees as he was enraptured by the storytelling like an eager child. He even has the opprotunity to spend some of the time in rest mode, his body unmoving as it rested, but his mind still awake and able to listen to the others.

As they boarded the second rail, and were the only ones aboard, He set about takling out various pieces of artifice from his bag of holding, going through each item systematically, taking them apart, cleaning them, and carefully putting them together again. Sometimes the same way they were before, and sometimes in new configurations.
Once done with that, He eventually went on to work on his body, taking of, cleaning and readjusting various parts of his armor. The most time was taken up check-ins the runes carved onto his body and armor, making sure there were no scratches or dents ruining them.
Through out all his work, however, Loner always seemed to listen to the conversations around him. Seemingly happy with the hustle and bustle.

Cassia would interrupt her step-father every few minutes, interjecting the historical facts much to Greddarks annoyance. This was her vocation and she would not allow even family to sully her note keeping. There was a small squabble half way through and by the time they were done with the story they ad made up.

"Did you know, ba-na-na is a goblin swear word? The early human settelers from Sarlona kept on questioning goblins what the fruit was. Goblins kept trying to tell them but they ould not get it through their heads" the gnome snickered. "And now Ba-na-na means 'not mine, go away' in goblin. The Old Dakani empire had such a rich history. Quite an interesting read if you want to do a lore dive. Did you know they were Atheists? They used bards for their healers. Quite a shame that they were mostly run off when humans colonized the land.... Not that humans are bad!" She had gone on a tangent.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:50, Fri 18 June 2021.

Lyndra took the book from Alto and started reading. Starting off she read, and nodded slightly. The most basics of spells, his book contained spells she either already had, or spells she had no use of. But as she read, there was a change. Her eyes shon with an inner light unseen by all since her arrival, and even had a small soft smile. Lyndra, for all of her composure, showed emotion.

Emotion in magic.

She flipped the pages again. “I too will need to save for ink…some of your spells have great potential. To dispel magic is handy, but to counter it as it’s cast is something I’ve searched for a while….and while I had the chance to choose, I gave up the fireball spell fir lightning bolt - limited ink.”

She closed the book and handed it back. “When the time is right.” She said.

She looked as the gnome spoke about banana’s and the goblin word, her light gone from the excitement of magic. “That is very interesting lady Cassia.”

In reply to Cassia (msg # 80):

"That can't be right Cassia . . ."

Greddark stroked his beard thoughtfully, and from the tone of his voice he was genuinely perplexed.

"If the goblins were atheists, then why do they worship the Dark Six now? And how could they build such wonders, to stand a dozen thousand years, without Onatar's hand and hammer, without Aureon's laws and judgement, without Boldrei's grace and Olladra's fortune?"

There it was, he felt like he knew Lyndra better now. He too felt as she seemed to about magic, his eyes grew a bit wistful as his mind traveled back to the first time he had encountered magic. The wonder he had then was reflected in Lyndra's eyes now."When the time is right then. If we are to travel together for awhile it might be prudent to collaborate every once in awhile as to our individual research goes towards spells, as to not overlap research and to better synergize our selections." He took his tome back when she was done and secured it back into his backpack. As he stood he offered her a hand. "I think once we get to town we should ascertain the normal route these shipments take and set ourselves to trying to find this missing shipment as soon as possible.  I would hate to think what could have befallen the group and only pray that they are still alive somewhere."

Something Greddark says piques Sebastian's interest, but it seems an offhand comment and he holds his peace.  To bring attention is not his aim.

As the group begins to rouse, the door to the car swings open. A woman wearing a blue ankle length skirt decorated with ornate stitching and buttons. Her shirt is white with long sleeves  and is covered by a long work apron. She has a clipboard in her hand that she briefly consults. "Oh good. I am glad you are up. According to my schedule, you should have arrived at your destination." She is matter of fact and businesslike in her demeanor.

"So it seems.  And you are?"

He stands to face her.

Greddark nudged Cassia awake and grabbed both their packs, handing her's over

"Thank you, much appreciated. We'll be out  of your way momentarily"

Both the Londurak and his stepdaughter knew the profession well enough, working with the houses as they had

Lyndra looked at the bladed spellcaster and another dlash of emotion came across her face for a brief instant....bemusement.  "Though our styles are very different, yoyr words show insight. I usually keep the ability to raise memorised, as well as the ability to dispel magic. Most others of my spell are personalised or offensive."

As the car came to a halt, the mage stood up, her spellbook tucked away and her rat on her shoulder, looking around curiously. She makes her way beside Sebastian. "You look rested."

"I am Quissic d'Orien, station masster of Ardev." Her eyebrows raise mildly as she takes stock of the group and with a finger does a quick count.

He moved towards the open door and gave a low whistle as he held out his hand, his hawk Elta coming to land. "Well it was a pleasure and thank you for your services. We will gather our gear and be going soon. Though quick question if you do not mind, could you possibly point us in the direction of the mines, or at least the route their shipments take or somebody here who would know these things."

The gnome was out like a light. She'd always slept well."*Snore* Mom! Oh hello. " she wiped her eyes, she always teared up while she was sleeping. "Thank you so much for seeing us off Quissic d'Orien" she got up showing the woman her papers "Cassia d'avandi of house Svis" She moved her hair out of the way, producing her dragonmark "we are here on some business, men going missing. Thank you for welcoming us into your lovely city"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:09, Sun 20 June 2021.

Talking to the station master, Sebastian says, "Pardon, me, do you have information or instructions for us?"


Turning to Lyndra, as an aside, he whispers, "Thank you, Lyndra, I like my rest, and I thought of you."

Edward pack up his possessions and hefted the backpack, shield still strapped to it and not his arm. He joined the others but didn't want to pile more questions, or greetings, onto the station mistress. He did incline his head when she counted him off and then gazed out through the door, curios what they will find as they near their goal.

When the lady entered and told them it was time to get of the train, Loner immediately got to packing together his supplies. The Ground around him was littered with tools and parts, and as the others talked he meticulously put them all back in his bag in the same order he had pulled them out to begin with. Sure a bag of Holding didn’t need to be packed for efficiency, what with you just needing to Think of the thing you wanted while reaching into it, but Loner liked his routines. He wasn’t sure whether it was a quirk of his race, or a result of his militaristic upbringing. All he knew was that when his routines fell into disorder, he fell into anxiousness and tended to Shake in frustration. And that was just noisy, bothering everyone. Very inefficient.

When his things were packed, He simply joined the others and tried to Peer outside, curious to see what this new place was like.

She nods, "Of course. Once we head out of this Rail, I can take you to the Greywall loop. Now, you do understand that this is where you'll need to go on foot to try to track down where that Rail stopped. Two days overdue, but it is good that the Mine has private security to handle this exploration."

"Then maybe you should lead on, we will follow."