Azis nods solemnly when Tural gives his response. "The motivations that move us are not always shared. It is not to say they didn't find your chosen path of importance. It simply means they had to follow other paths."
To Mavor and Quorthos, Azis gives another seemingly emotionless nod to acknowledge their words.
His work done Azis heads inside, leaving the door open for you to follow. Not much has changed inside the shack since the last time you paid a visit to the village.
On the ceiling hang many different kinds of herbs, some recognizable from the garden surrounding the shack. At the wall to your right there's a large table with a stool. On the table are a mortar and pestle, and a lot of pots and flasks containing a wide assortment of ointments, powders, and liquids in all colors. The far wall has a small hearth with a small kettle in front of it. At the wall to your left is a simple straw bed with another stool next to it.
Azis points at the kettle, which is suddenly filled with water. The logs in the hearth catch fire at the same moment. A little later, as the sun begins to set, tea is served to those who want it.
Quorthos takes solace in a warm cup of tea. He ruminates on Azis' words.
Baer is on another path. Am I on the right one? We've left Korvosa... what will we find when we return?
Before retiring, Quorthos will sit and examine Baer's pyre of the staff lord, using detect magic to make sure he has all of the command words, and using one of his spells to recharge it if needed .
"We should get some rest, we'll need to be leaving early tomorrow morning. Thank you again, Asiz, for your aid.
The next day, after you've had breakfast prepared by Azis, you set out again. You walk the entire day, camp when it's night, and press on again the next morning.
Two afternoons after you've left Azis's village, you see a small caravan at the side of the road ahead of you. It looks like it's headed in the same direction as you are, but the people are having a break. When you draw closer, you see the caravan's made up of three expensive carriages with crests on the sides, two supply wagons, and a single carriage with a small balista mounted on top.
"Look at those things. They even have a ballista mounted up on top of one of those carriages. Wonder where they're off to and why."
Mavor sees the crests and notifies the others.
"See? They're from minor nobility. Something has got them spooked."
Mavor sees the party's been spotted by a pair of watchmen, one of whom turns around and appears to be relaying your approach. No aggressive actions seem to be taken. The balista's not mounted.
"Helloooo!"
Tural calls after the watchmen.
"Seems we are headed the same way, may we approach?"
"Hmm... hopefully they aren't allies of the Queen," Quorthos mutters, eyeing the ballista. He stands by Tural, trying to look as friendly as a tiefling can to Korvosans.
He whispers to the Seneschal, "You'd best stay out of sight until we see what is what."
Out loud, he calls out after Tural's words. "Yes, perhaps there is gerater safety in numbers in these troubled times."
The watchman who turned around is shoved aside by a pompous and well-fed nobleman of middle age. The other watchman blinks and takes a step back, surprised by the nobleman's sudden hurry.
"Yes, do approach! Do approach!" the nobleman says, his hands and smile wide as he wobbles toward you. "My, my, my! The heroes of Korvosa! Splendid! Just splendid!"
Holding a hand out to shake Tural's: "I did not expect you here! Oh my, I forgot my manners! My name is Dick Lottinvale, delighted to make your acquaintance!"
Tural looks very surprised at the man bouldering towards them.
"Hello, I'm Tural."
The tree man says as he shakes the man's hand.
"Has the road been good to you?"
Mavor's is surprised and taken aback that a nobleman recognises them, even outside of Korvosa.
"Well met sir Lottinvale. May I inquire as to why you are on the road?" Mavor asks the round nobleman.
Mavor is a little suspicious and wary about most nobles and tries to discern any lies in the mans' words.
Quorthos smirks to himself. We do kind of stick out...
"Greetings, my lord. My name is Quorthos." He offers his hand to the noble, and to any of the guardsmen close enough. He waits warily to see what the noble does.
The nobleman takes a firm hold of Quorthos's hand and shakes it, after which he offers his hand to Mavor and Denario.
"The road's been a great bother, but you sure are a sight for sore eyes! And why, yes, you may indeed inquire! Korvosa's a great mess, it is! We just couldn't stay there with the current state of affairs."
"Why don't you join us for dinner? I bet you're hungry, seeing as you travel by foot. My gosh, just the thought of it! And here I was being disappointed we couldn't bring all the carriages!"
To Mavor, Lord Lottinvale seems like the respectable sort. For a noble, that is.
"Well, i didn't expect to meet our supporters today. Refreshing, to say the least."
Tural accepts the invitation with a friendly nod.
"That sounds lovely."
He says as he makes his way towards the wagons, taking a good look around. If offered food Tural declines, not trusting complete strangers and having a ring that fills his belly just fine.
"Have you been on the road for long?"
"It's been a day since we left," Lord Lottinvale answers Tural, escorting you into an open circle made between the carriages. There's a crude attempt at a campfire in the middle of the open space, clearly made by someone who's never made a campfire before. There's a teenage boy with a striking resemblance to Lord Lottinvale sitting next to the campfire, trying to lit it. He's dressed in equally posh clothes as the Lord. Two noblewomen and a nobleman sit nearby on richly decorated wooden benches that were clearly not intended for outdoor use.
"Look who I found!" Lord Lottinvale declares proudly as he steps into the open space with you. There are a couple of blinks from the adults, who are clearly surprised and don't seem to know how to react.
The young boy's reaction's more vocal: "Oh my! The heroes of Korvosa!"
The boy jumps up, abandoning his task. "Wow! Oh my! WOW!"
Lord Lottinvale nods proudly. "I found them. I did."
Tural tries to put up a smile, but only manages to do so half-heartedly as he sighs on the inside.
"P-pleased to meet you."
He glances at the pitiful fire and moves over to help. His flint and steel in hand he tries to get the wood, though it isn't much, going.
Mavor sidles over towards the campfire as well, frowning as lord Lottinvale mentions him finding their group.
It's not like he did anything to find us, we approached them. Ah well, no use in making a fuss about that. I'll just be glad that we've found nice people along the road.
He sits down cross-legged at the opposite side of the fire and takes out a small strip of jerky from his rations.
"So? Where are you heading? Perhaps our roads will head in the same direction for a time. We're off to seek out some old acquaintances of ours several days of travel further on. After that, who knows."
Tell a little bit of the truth to hide the lie. They don't need to know all of our plans.
Quorthos nods to the new folks, and then walks over to the fire. "Getting the fire going?" he asks the boy. "Here, I'll give you a hand." He proceeds to give the kid a lesson in how to start a fire.
Denario wandered around a bit, to see if any nearby spots would be worth spying on the emcapment from, if night fell.
We're a good distance from Korvosa, but for all we know, the queen may have some underlings in rural areas like this.
"I'm trying to," replies the boy, watching you with wide eyes. His mouth drops open as he watches Tural make fire. Quickly, the boy hides the two regular stones he'd be banging together, assuming that would create fire.
"My my my!" says the other nobleman, who quickly gets up and approaches you and Lord Lottinvale. "Well I'll be! My my my!"
The other man offers his hand to you. "Lord Valinlot, pleased te make your acquaintance."
Quorthos looks up at the other noble's approach. "Greetings, Lord. My name is Quorthos," he says as he stands, nodding in the barest imitation of a bow. [b]"It's a cold night to be camping - not happy with the weather in Korvosa of late?" he asks, deadpan.
Both Lords' faces turn grave.
"It's the queen," Lord Lottinvale says.
Lord Valinlot nods. "She's not too keen on some of the minor noble houses, like ours. Would rather see them gone. We decided to leave before she decided to appoint 'resources' to us."
"We heard the rumors, about her inviting the plague doctors that spread the disease," the former Lord continues. "I lost my daughter to the plague. I will never forgive that tyrant."
Lottinvale clenches his fists, his pompous and cheerful attitude making way for not only sorrow and grief, but most of all anger. His fellow nobleman places a hand on his shoulder, showing silent support and sharing his grief. In the background, you see one of the noblewomen's crying silently. The other woman's wrapped an arm around her.
A moment of silent grief passes before you're invited to sit with everyone. As you sit in a circle around the, now burning, campfire, you talk more about what's transpired in Korvosa. It becomes more and more apparent that both Lords and their families are opposed to the crown, and would like to see the queen deposed. You subtly hint something along the same line.
Night falls and the two Lords take a moment to speak in private. When they return, they do so with a surprise.
"There is something we'd like to gift you, to aid you in the journey ahead of you," Lord Lottinvale says.
Lord Valinlot continues: "We'd like to sponsor your upcoming endeavors. For this, we will gift each of you with a sum of 2,000 platinum coins."
"The only thing we ask of you in return, is to invest it in Korvosa's future," Lord Lottinvale resumes. "One without her."
Tural looks in awe at the amount of money being offered him.
"Tha... Thank you."
He looks at lord Valinlot and holds up his drink.
"To a better future, for a better Korvosa."
Safe for Tural, everyone is so incredibly surprised they don't seem to know how to react to the massive amount of money offered to them. After everyone's recovered from the surprise, they all thank the Lords for their generosity. Some time later, you set up camp next to the wagons and go to sleep.
The following two days you travel together toward Harse. You come across multiple ranches and farms on your way there, and Harse itself eventually pops up on the horizon. Harse is a narrow village located on a strip of land at the point where Sarwin River empties into Falcon River. The village itself consists of only a few dozen buildings, including a church dedicated to Erastil, two groceries, two taverns (the Spotted Pony and the somewhat dingier Nag Bag), a large inn, and a bustling ferry service — this has been a traditional river-crossing site since as far back as Shoanti times. The northeastern edge of Harse features a large collection of stables and other buildings around an open field — the Harse Market, one of the most popular places to buy and trade livestock in the region, and the site of a yearly rodeo designed to single out the best animals and riders. The majority of Harse’s citizens don’t live in the village proper, but on one of the dozens of ranches and farms that dot the surrounding countryside.
It's at this point that you tell the Lords and Ladies you've traveled with that you're going to stay in Harse for a bit, before you'll move on elsewhere.
"We're going to head on and make some more miles before we rest," Lord Lottinvale says once you reach Harse. "We wish you the best of luck. May our paths cross again!"
"My friends, the ones who took in Trinia, live on one of the ranches nearby," Vencarlo says when the nobles have left. "Would you like to head straight there, or should we look for Allyph's place? I don't suppose she bought a ranch, didn't seem the type, so she should be living in one of the town's houses."
"It's nearly evening," Neolandus says. "We'll need to decide where we're going to spend the night."
Denario wasn't too talkative during the trek, his mind more occupied with the safety of his family and crush.
At the arrival though, the contrast of city life and rural life becomes so clear. He'd heard of rural towns being spread, but this far stretched was new to him.
At Vencarlo's question, he nods.
"I'm up for seeing Allyph first. Girl's had her hands full since she parted company. Our visit may be a welcome relief."
The Ferry down the Sarwin river had been a pleasant enough ride, and Corven had bartered his healing magic in exchange for passage. There were a pair of other adventurers also acting as guards, and between their blades and his magic, nothing untowards happened to the ferry. Upon arrival, Corven knew exactly where he needed to be to meet the heroes he had seen in his vision, and so he began walking there. Arriving shortly, he found a good spot to wait, and then...did exactly that.
Time passed at it's leisurely pace, and so Corven waited. and waited. There were several near misses, but no actual fated heroes.
The masked girl waited, watching Corven watch others. It had seemed odd that someone so powerful would leave Korvosa for no reason, even with the souring atmosphere back there. And now, he was... waiting?
For what?
Every instinct she had was telling her this was worth looking into, and as he'd waited for days, so too had she kept silent watch over him--never revealing herself, but never letting him out of her sight range either. Today, too, she keeps an ever-vigilant eye on Corven, letting him go about his waiting without issue as she waited to find out what he was waiting for.
"I'll go and talk to the innkeeper, will some of you search out Allyph?"
Tural says, taking a look at the different buildings.
"I don't think she will have enough room for all of us."
He heads over to the inn and walks up to the innkeeper with a friendly smile on his face.
"Do you have two large rooms, sleeping spots for 6..."
He trails off for a moment, adding with a sad voice.
"I mean 5..."
Mavor whistles as the Lords put a bag full of coins into every one of their hands.
"My my.. Good lord, this is a seriously generous gift. We will spend it well when we get the chance to get some new supplies. You have our sincerest thanks."
As Tural orders rooms at the innkeeper, Mavor stands behind him checking out the other patrons at the inn. He hears Tural's words and lays a hand on his shoulder as he is reminded of Baer.
You have no idea in which of the two dozen buildings Allyph lives. Figuring you'd ask the innkeeper while making reservations, you all head over to the inn.
Harse's inn is rather small compared to what you're used to seeing in Korvosa, but the rural interior has a cozy feel to it. The innkeeper's a woman in her late forties, named Hilda. Not reading the mood, she seems confused when Tural corrects himself. "One of you sleeping outside?"
One day, as she walked alone and passed the spot where you were waiting, Allyph suddenly turned to face you. Her violet eyes looked straight into yours, curiously. "I've seen you before. Aren't you a friend of Hilda's?"
The woman, while alone and passing the spot where Corven had been waiting up till now, had suddenly turned around and spoken to him. Her eyes curious, she seemed to be waiting for a reply.
"I am not. I am waiting to meet someone. Would you like to join me for religious services?" says Corven as he holds up a flask and shakes it.
It'd be bad to let a good person get beaten up, after all, particularly since then she wouldn't know who he was waiting for in the first place.
Tural absent-mindedly answers the question.
"Yes... I mean no... Something like that."
The tree man gives a tired smile. To try and dodge the topic he switches to a different topic.
"Do you perhaps know where Allyph lives? She moved in a while back, friend of ours. Maybe we can visit before the hour gets late."
He rummages in his pouch and fishes out a couple of coins.
"How much per bed did you say?"
Quorthos snaps himself out of his reverie when the nobles offer such a generous gift. "I promise you, sir... we shall do this. And when Korvosa is again free, I hope you will return to our fair city, in peace."
He spends the rest of the trip in silence, thinking of friends who are no longer with them. The anger within him smolders, and he looks forward to the time when it can be released.
"Oh, who are you waiting for?" Allyph asks in a friendly manner. "I know everyone around here, I could certainly help you. Or are you waiting for someone out of town?"
She smiles a most angelic smile. "My name's Allyph, by the way. What's yours?"
"Girl's purchased a home at the edge of town. Old farm, it was. It's been entirely renovated to house all those kids. I've never seen so much gold exchange hands in such a short amount of time."
Hilda sizes you up. "Yeah... I get a sense where the money's coming from. You're adventurers, aren't you?"
"Anyway, that'd be a gold piece for each of you. You've each got your own room for that price. Unless you want to share rooms, then it'd be a gold piece per couple. Breakfast's included, dinner will be charged separately."
Tural fishes out a gold piece among the coins and hands it to her.
"We are indeed. I'll take a room for myself. Thank you."
After a moment he adds.
"I don't need breakfast, only water if you please."
Giving his tree like figure credibility.
"Shall we head over to Allyph, or is it running too late?"
Not dejected by her declining his offer, he takes a swing from his flask and then returns it to his pocket.
"They are not from around here, but I have it on good authority that they will be passing through shortly."
Removing his hat and bowing with a flourish, Corven says "Corven Songfall, itinerant priest of Cayden Cailean, at your service."
She puts a hand silently to her mouth, thinking this over. This. Is. A. Huge. Find!
Just like that, her target slides from Corven to Allyph. She hasn't heard of them breaking up, so she assumes they all are still traveling together. That puts them all in this town, doesn't it? She'd wanted to find them in the first place, and Corven was more of a side-plan... so...
She nods to herself.
Hopefully, Corven would go with her and she could follow them both at once. If not, however, Yssal is her new priority. Corven's waiting for someone, which explains his just waiting there for a couple days, but whoever it could be couldn't possibly be better for helping out Korvosa than the heroes themselves, could they?
No. They couldn't. The thief makes sure to silently thank Desna for her luck.
Tural takes a quick look outside and decides there's still some time left.
"I'll head off to Allyph, seeing there is still some time. See you in a bit!"
He flexes some muscles and tries a new spell he learned recently. His body writhes into a smaller form, making weird creaking sounds as it does. Suddenly there is a large bird (small size) on the ground, an eagle. It quickly takes off, following the directions of the innkeeper towards Allyph's house.
After scanning the village the eagle heads straight for an old farm at the edge of town. It lands on one of the windowsills and peers inside, seeing Allyph inside it ticks on the window a few times before hopping down to the ground.
The eagle form writhes and creaks, forming into a towering humanoid form. Tural is quite a sight. He towers above all other people and with his forest green hair, jewel toned golden eyes and barklike skin he looks like the offspring of a forest god. He waves and moves over to the front door to greet everyone.
"Long time no see! You did a good number on this place, looks a lot better than you'd expect!"
The towering tree man says in his loud booming voice as he steps inside.
Allyph nods politely at Corven. "Pleased to meet you, Corven."
Tural, meanwhile, has reached the old farm Allyph purchased. Looking through the window, he sees only children. They're playing, with the older kids looking after the younger ones. There's no sign of Allyph, so Tural turns around and scans the streets. It doesn't take him long to spot her: she's a couple hundred yards away from the farm, talking to a halfling.
Noticing something in the sky headed straight for her position, Allyph turns to her right. "What is...? An eagle?"
A wary glance is cast at Corven. "Is it yours?"
The eagle then lands in front of the duo, its form writhing and creaking as a dagger slips into Allyph's hand, and turns into Tural.
Allyph blinks at Tural. "By the gods! Tural!"
The dagger's quickly put away, and Allyph gives Tural a hug. "It's so good to see you!"
Denario was kind of waiting for Mavor to join him, before walking toward Allyph's new place.
Once there, he waves.
"Hey there! How've you been?"
Tural smiles.
"It's good to see you too."
He turns to the halfling she was talking to, towering above him.
"Who is your new friend?"
Mavor thanks the innkeeper for the the rooms and takes any keys to the rooms from him as Tural forgot to take them after hearing Allyph's whereabouts.
Putting the keys away, he jogs away after Denario to catch up with him and walk alongside to Allyph's house.
"Hold on up there Denario, still needed to stow away those keys."
The two walk along chatting a bit before eventually seeing the Tural eagle flying back and swooping down somewhere along the road.
"Bet he's found Allyph there." Mavor says to Denario.
A moment later the two of them see Allyph and Mavor waves to Allyph as well.
"Oy Allyph! What've you been up to? How're the kids?"
Bowing, Corven says "I am Corven Songfall, priest of Cayden Cailean." recovering from his bow at the end of his sentence, he offers up a battered metal flask to Tural.
Regardless of whether Tural takes it or not, Corven then asks "Where are the Human swordmage, the Half-Orc scout, and the Tiefling and Half-Elf mages?"
Turning to Allyph, Corven says "These are the people I have been waiting for."
She'd know Tural anywhere, and Denario followed by Mavor a few seconds later? Okay, her assumption about Allyph being with them was wrong since clearly she was as surprised as the thief felt... but everything's worked out for the best.
This is where she should present herself, right? But... appearing as a god would be a little much... She puts her hand to her mask, taking it off and hooking it onto her belt. This is a job for Weiss, not Eon.
Emerging from her hiding spot to take the long way 'round the path to approach 'randomly' from the street, she strolls right up to Tural and looks up at him.
"Tural? And you are the other saviors of Korvosa as well, yes? How fortunate!" Her common is good, but she speaks with a distinctly out-of-town accent.
She gives them all a bright, warm smile.
"What brings you out this way?"
"Denario, Mavor!" Allyph exclaims excitedly. "Are you all here?"
"I'm doing great! The kids as well!" She tries to look past the duo, to see if Baer and Quorthos are following behind.
"Wait, you were waiting for them?" She shoots Corven a confused look.
Weiss then appears out of the blue, her accent distinct and acting like an old acquaintance. Allyph watches the unfamiliar girl, her eyes quickly darting to the others to see if they do recognize the girl. She sure doesn't, and she doesn't quite know how to react after the previous surprises.
I'm doing great! The kids as well!
"Good. Great."
With the two new people standing near, "Friends of yours?"
Mavor looks confused as the new arrival of Weiss appears to join in the conversation.
"I'm sorry miss, but who are you?" Evidently Mavor is somewhat annoyed with the woman barging into the conversation. He holds out his hand to Corven for him to shake it.
"The name's Mavor, but apparently you've got one up on us. What's your name good man?
Mavor then adresses Allyph.
[b]"We've got alot to talk about and catch up on stories. There's alot that has happened since you left Korvosa." And Mavor's face turns a little grim for a second, then flashes back to a quick grin.
"Now we have time for you miss." Mavor looking back finally at Weiss.
"What business do you have with us that is so fortunate?"
Tural takes the flask and takes a good mouthful. Turning back to Allyph he shakes his head solemnly as she tries to look past the duo.
"We'd best take the rest of our conversation inside, or at least not in the middle of the street. A lot has indeed happened while..."
Weiss suddenly butts into the conversation. Tural looks down at her, anger flashing across his face for a moment before turning back into the friendly tree-man again.
"Shall we head inside?"