The tall dark haired woman gives the man a return hug, and watches him leave. Should he turn around, she touches her fingers to her lips and blows. Once he is fully out of sight, she sighs, and turns around.
She's easily over six feet tall, even before the boots add to her height. Pale skin, dark eyes, and midnight black hair down to her kidneys crowning her hair. Leather armor covers her body, and a hefty looking pistol rides one hip, and a rapier on the other.
A very well made pack sits on the ground next to her. Looking at the group, she shakes her head. "This is what you're hiring to guard me on the trip? Good sir merchant... I feel you've vastly over charged my good friend Magister Reynolds." She looks the group over critically. "I'll expect you to issue a refund if I have to save any of them from bandits." She tells him firmly. "Half of them look like bandits..." She says, her voice slightly mocking. "Still, I suppose numbers do count for something, and several of them look slow enough to serve as a rear guard distraction should the need arise." She lifts her pack up onto the wagon, and then hefts herself aboard.
Raze's generally bored expression lights up when he sees Rhun, his lips spreading into a grin as she casually disparages him and his fellows. Once she's on the wagon, he turns away and scratches his nose. "Well... This is going to be interesting."
Raze will then chuckle to himself for the rest of the morning. Of course, it probably just makes him look more like a bandit.
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Igdus does not react to this newcomer or her words other then a heavy breath through his nose. Another self important fool, doesn't even know of the merchants affiliation or what the wagons may hold. Well another slab of slow meat is another distraction for him should things take a bad turn. Not that it will keep him from watching.
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557 CY - 3rd Day of Coldeven - The Free City of Narwell -
The Merchant rolls his eyes at the passenger but does not respond.
Rhun steps into the wagon and finds it... cramped. Her former paramour did indeed overpay for the accommodations. Three other ladies and one man sit in the wagon, all well dressed. One of the woman smiles at you, "Morning. This trip should be exciting as I hear the road is fraught with danger. I'm Kate". She extends her hand. The two other women roll their eyes. The man simply looks forward out of the wagon he plays with a very expensive looking dagger.
Marya approaches the Merchant, "You are late!" She snarls. He responds calmly, "I own these wagons and your services, when I arrive it is on time. Now, let's get moving".
The Merchant and his two bodyguards step onto/into the first wagon.
Marya begins to give orders, it appears she is in charge of most of the mercenaries. The new female is seated in the second wagon.
Six of the men are clearly being paid to drive the wagons, likely they are in the employ of the Merchant.
Riding alongside either side of the wagon train are the other twelve mercenaries astride mounts.
She assigns the six of you to sit in the last two wagons as you will be the "night" shift. The wagons are cramped by supplies, no doubt as you get closer to Narwell and the provisions are utilized the seating will be a bit more comfortable.
The wagons move forward rumbling through the city of Narwell. Soon enough you its closed gates fade into the distance as the Gnarley Forest envelops the caravan.
Tobar holds his own counsel, listening to the others and the night breeze, wondering to himself what the future will hold for the Webspinner's plans...
"Jan, Jan Rune. Nice to meet you." She says, holding out her hand to the woman and shaking hers. "If anyone does attack, we'll probably need to rescue the guards... they are... underwhelming." She sighs. "I suspect they are more for show than effectiveness."
Oh here we go. Raze thinks.
"Well ma'am." he says in a parody of humility. "If'n you truly believe you can do my job better, why not we switch?" he grins at her with a snarky show of teeth. "Or are you afraid I'd look better in your clothes than you?"
Igdus keeps a look out at all times. Just as much at the wagons then for any external dangers. He wondered what precautions he should take come the night. He would rather not sleep on the ground, it was just not the way of his people after all. Not to mention his suspicions. He keeps an ear out for the others as well in case they said anything interesting.
Gerwyn is obviously uncomfortable in the cramped wagon--more psychologically than physically, truth be told.
"So... should we try to nap if we're the night guards?" Gerwyn says with a half-hearted grin, trying to at least throw something into the silence between them.
Upon seeing Rhun, Vaki nods in her direction, but as he's aware of his some time ally's penchant for altering appearances, he doesn't say much else.
Finishing the apple that was the other part of his breakfast, he ignores the back and forth tween the merchant and Marya. He enters the crowded wagon, but seems to easily fit among his fellow guards. "I don't know about you all, but I'm more of a night person. Wake me when something exiting happens."
557 CY - 3rd Day of Coldeven into 3rd Night - Gnarley Forest
"Jan, Jan Rune. Nice to meet you." She says, holding out her hand to the woman and shaking hers. "If anyone does attack, we'll probably need to rescue the guards... they are... underwhelming." She sighs. "I suspect they are more for show than effectiveness."
The man turns to Rhun, "We may well have to if the road is as dangerous as they say".
The seriousness of the man's tone sets a dark mood in Rhun's wagon. Quieting everyone as the wagons rumble on.
The Lycan's rest by day and guard by night. Camp is set up in a clearing off of the road north.
The night is as uneventful as the daytime was.
557 CY - 4th Day of Coldeven - Gnarley Forest
The next morning the pallor of the man's comments seems to fade from Kate. She speaks to Rhun over the breaking of fast, "Tell me, why do you travel to Dyvers when the road is so dangerous?"
Marya wakes as the sun rises.
She nods to you all. "This close to the city I believe it unlikely that we will see trouble. Perhaps the third or fourth night trouble may find us".
Gerwyn nods back, face and voice serious. "We'll keep our eyes out even this close, though."
Raze will walk along the caravan wagons, keeping pace and occasionally changing sides He'll hitch up to sit on a wagon for short breaks, and then get back to walking alongside them again. Mostly, he has his face turned to the woods, feeling (quite guiltily in fact) more relaxed and at home here than he cared to admit. It was dangerous, sure, but nothing he couldn't handle. And for the other threats... there was always silver.
"Oh, business, of course. I drew the short straw to represent my faction to deal with a business prospect in Dyvers." She shrugs. "Sorry, can't give you more details than that, you know how it is. People are always trying to find out your opportunities, can't be too careful, never know who is listening."
557 CY - 4th Day of Coldeven - Gnarley Forest - 2nd Day of the Trip
Kate nods, "Indeed I do know what you mean. I came to Narwell to wed and well I am leaving so..."
One of the women rolls her eyes at Kate, "The man who left you at the altar that no one could ever find again? Indeed, a likely story..."
Kate purses her lips and looks away from the rude woman quite angry.
The mood alters once again with silence reigning after the rude comment.
Night passes by once again uneventfully. So far this deadly trip has led only to the horror of boredom.
-------
557 CY - 5th Day of Coldeven - Gnarley Forest - 3rd Day of the Trip
The next morning the wagon train once again rolls on. The mercenaries begin to become less tense and more jovial cracking jokes and generally starting to relax.
At mid-day the lead rider calls out for a, "HALT! Who are you?!"
The sun rises and the train begins to rumble forward again. You are all barely awake from the second night shift in a row.
Rhun draws her gun and checks her pistol when she hears the 'HALT'. "Better be prepared." She checks from the window of the wagon to see what's up.
Gerwyn wakes from his half-sleep with a start. He looks at the others with him. "That sounds like trouble," he comments, grabbing his ax as he speaks.
Raze was having trouble sleeping anyways, so he was just lightly dozing when the call came out. He hops out the wagon and trots to the front. "Hey 'sup?" he asks.
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Igdus is seated yet it is hard to tell if he is sleeping or not. Apparently a bit of an odd sleeper he does not sit back, slump, or lays down. Rather he seems to have the ability to sleep upright while seated with his legs under him. As the call goes out he gets up before the word is finished being said. If he had been asleep his alertness did not seem to suffer at all.
"Best take a look and keep spread out."
He offers the advice even as he takes it himself. He feels out the magical energy with in himself. If this was an enemy he would not let it make a move without paying for it.
Tobar readies himself quietly, content to let the burlier of the group go first.
557 CY - 5th Day of Coldeven - Gnarley Forest - 3rd Day of the Trip
The first action of the day has all of the Lycan faction on edge and up out of their wagon heading towards the front of the wagon train...
-------
From her vantage point, Rhun can see a man walking a horse down the road, a body appears slumped over the horse. Perhaps stumbling down the road would be a more apt description, he is certainly worse for wear. He stops when given a command to do so.
"Good sirs, perhaps you can spare some food and drink. The caravan I traveled with was attacked along the road, several times in fact. Just myself, my horse and my employer are what is left of us. I am hoping to get him to Narwell for assistance can you help me?"
The Merchant steps down off of his wagon and turns to one of his bodyguards, "Get the man a waterskin and some rations". He turns around and bellows, "Who of you is handy stitching wounds!?"
Vaki sits up on top of the wagon, startled awake by the shouts of halting. Seeing the man with a horse, and a body, he eyes him warily. This was a good setup for a potential ambush. He releases his daggers from their sheathes, just in case.
"Everyone watch the tree line, in case the fellow up front is a distraction..." She mentions to the other passengers, and then does so herself.
Igdus focuses on the rider. Observing to see if his tale is true and any signs of it. The guards should already be on guard and someone had to discern the truth. After all knowledge could be gained by a survivor while knowledge could still be gained by a deceiver. Rather it was better to see which was which before going about extracting it.
Gerwyn gets out with the others, warily looking around. To the Merchant's question he replies, "I'm afraid not me."
557 CY - 5th Day of Coldeven - Gnarley Forest - 3rd Day of the Trip
One of the women who has yet to introduce herself hops out of the second wagon and steps forward next to the Merchant, "I have some skill at healing Sir".
The stranger leading the horse grins, "Thank the Gods for you!" He walks his horse near her as the daytime guards step forward on their mounts".[/b]
She lays her hands upon the man draped over the horse. The an stirs a bit but does not wake. She turns to the stranger on foot, "He is very weak. I believe some sort of infection has set in, you are three days from Narwell I am not sure even with my care he will make it..."
The Merchant huffs, "It seems we have done what we can stranger. We shall sit idle but for a few minutes while you eat and drink then we must continue on our journey".
The Stranger shakes his head, "I had an equal amount of guards with my caravan when we left Dyvers ah.. Sir".
"But thanks to you we can travel forewarned and prepared," Gerwyn speaks up. "What attacked you so many times?"
Igdus goes back into the now empty wagon. He didn't need anyone to see his ability, not that they would outside of him using it. His eyes glow yellow for a moment as he sends his senses out high above their wagon train. Looking down from above and with his eyes he would see anything coming. Just in case whatever attacked the other merchant had followed. He walked back out to join the others and listen in on anything of interest.
Valar found himself having to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Not just how the newest guest made a point to complain rather loudly about the guards that had been hired and how they looked more like bandits. But how Maya approached the merchant to rather aggressively complain about him being late... and to be honest, Valar actually found the merchant’s logic about him being on time was rather sound.
Still... watching sparks fly between the Merchant and Maya, or the new gal and the other Lycan’s would've actually made the trip entertaining. As the first few days passed by rather peacefully, and whilst he was trying not to... Valar was starting to relax, wondering if they were going to run into any trouble at all...
At least until someone rode up to them, bleeding and nearly dead. That definitely got Valar’s attention... once he woke up several minutes after the others at least and managed to pull himself out of the waggon to join them.
557 CY - 5th Day of Coldeven - Gnarley Forest - 3rd Day of the Trip
The man sits down on a nearby tree stump to eat his meal, such as it was, and looks over to Gerwyn. The Merchant and his persona bodyguards hover near clearly interested in what the man has to say. "Well right out o' Dyvers we encountered fey. At first they were just a nuisance. Soon enough though they started getting aggressive, real aggressive.
My employer refused to give in to the demands that we received about sharing a potion of the goods we had for sale. I don't know if it would have mattered. We tried to push through for a few days hoping to be out of their territory. Two days later the men and the horses needed rest.
At night they attacked. Swarms of 'em. Kobolds, more Kobolds than I knew existed in the Heavens and the Hells. Course we could not see so it was not a fair fight, even against those little creatures.
Several of us hopped on a wagon, the one we knew had the lion's share of gold and horses, abandoning the rest who were either dead or good as dead.
Since then our numbers had been whittled down. Predators of the forest, an Orc band, and lack of supplies. I was lucky to get us this far on my meager hunting skills. Its damn near forty days from Dyvers to here. Something has to be done about these threats or soon enough there won't be a trade route..."
The guards mill about on horseback or foot and do not seem overly daunted by the story the man is telling. The paid passengers do look a bit grim at the prospect of moving through this territory.
The Merchant crosses his arms, "We are thankful for the warning Stranger. I'll give you an hour or so to get some shut eye so you can get on your way. We encountered no troubles so you too should be safe, only a handful of days from Narwell comes between you and a bed in an Inn".
The female passenger who has some skill at healing looks to the Merchant, "Perhaps we should go back and recruit more mercenaries?"
The Merchant dismisses the notion with a wave of his hand.
Marya watches with interest from the sixth wagon but does not come near, you know with her senses despite the distance to the from of the caravan, she heard everything.
Rhun listens to the tale, and then nods and leans back in her seat, taking out a scarf and putting it over her eyes. "Think I'll start sleeping in the wagon by day, maybe in one of the cargo wagons going forward. That way I can stay up and watch, make sure the guards do their jobs..." She yawns and begins to try to take a nap.
Gerwyn looks at his companions. Well... if it came to fighting at night, they might have a surprise for any attackers... if they dared reveal themselves.
"Sounds like we'll have to take extra care with night camps," Gerwyn says.
"Perhaps sleeping by day is wisest. And at night... we set a perimeter some distance into the forest. Away from the wagon." He looks at the less-perceptive or dimmer-seeming lycans pointedly. "We conceal ourselves there, so any attacker might rush in and find themselves being ambushed."
557 CY - 5th Day of Coldeven - Gnarley Forest - 3rd Night of the Trip
The Merchant orders Marya to force the night guards into one wagon, the last wagon, when sleeping by day as a "paying customer" has requested the sixth to herself by day.
With Vaki sleeping up top, to the amusement of many of the other guards, there is just enough room to be comfortable, well for everyone but Raze!
Once the Stranger and his barely alive employer set off towards Narwell, the caravan to Dyvers gets underway again.
-------
Night arrives soon enough and the group is awoken by Marya who brings you all into the woods for a chat.
As you all get far enough out Marya pauses and turns to you all, "It seems that soon enough we will have our hands full if that traveler is to be believed. Do you wish assistance from some of the other guards at night or can the six of you handle this?
Meanwhile, the Merchant approaches Rhun, "Did you sleep well?"
Rhun yawns and nods. "Indeed, I think perhaps this is a good course of action. It gives the rest of the customers more room by day, and I've always been something of a night owl." She grins. "Plus, I feel safer watching for my own safety at night. Not that your guards aren't guards, just that they are not me..."
Gerwyn frowns in thought, looking at his companions. "That depends," he says. "How quick can the rest of you get ready for battle if we're attacked? If you just need to grab your weapons and charge out, I think we'd be fine, but if you need to put on some armor and such before being ready, maybe some of you should watch with us."
"I was thinking the opposite. That they could just remain content in their capmfire dreams, no need to see the horrors that will supposedly attack us."
One might be relatively sure the horrors to which he truly refers would come from the group.
The question of how difficult it was to get ready seemed to amuse Valar greatly, though he didn’t speak about that directly. Instead, he raised an eyebrow at the comment... or at least tried to. He ended up raising both, muttered a curse under his breath, and then just bluntly said. “Who the heck does rounds as a Guard, without putting their armour on? Answer: Idiots, and I doubt anyone here is that dumb.”
557 CY - 5th Day of Coldeven - Gnarley Forest - 3rd Night of the Trip
Marya shrugs at Gerwyn, "I would force them to take night shifts in rotations so they would certainly be armored".
She grins at Valar's comments, "You've not spoken to some of these dolts, I am surprised some of them put their armor on the right way".
She grimaces at Tobar's comment, "Horrors indeed. The rest of you are content to follow as I wish? It seems that two of your ilk would favor fodder while the other is afraid to upset the mundanes sensibilities..."
-------
The Merchant shrugs, "If you believe that a wiser course of action who am I to prevent you otherwise. As always, wagons three, four, and five are off limits to all, even you as a paying customer. Enjoy your evening, I am going to get some sleep".
"Oh. Right." Gerwyn hadn't really thought about that part.
"Well... if we weren't worried about them waking up, it would be better if they didn't see," he admits. "I'm just not sure we could risk that."