@Carbide - try this link. It's just an https version of the same site, which shouldn't be blockable by your proxy.
Did we figure out a final total for how much cash we have to spend per character? My equipment's still pretty...sparse.
Things have settled down after the initial burst of building activity, and it looks like you can tear yourselves away from the business of ruling for at least a few days while you return to exploring and mapping for a time--although with considerably better gear than when you started out at Oleg and Svetlana's, so long ago. Jacyn and Adam hasten to assure you that they'll keep things from falling apart while you're gone. Other townsfolk arise early to see you off--in fact, a small crowd has gathered, and if it weren't for your desire to be on the road by sunrise there would be more. Your horses end up festooned with local wildflowers on the way out of town.
This leaves you with only one choice to make: which way are you going? The areas to the southeast, south, southwest, and northwest have not been well-mapped. Southeast and northwest take you away from the Tuskwater, and southwest would include a rather difficult water crossing.
I suggest that we explore along the Tuskwater, directly south. We can then assess whether and where to cross to the west.
Vasily nods in agreement with the Doktor. "The fort is built on the lake, we should know who our neighbors are."
"Alright. We'd best make our way 'round the lake so we know its full extent though. I've had enough of surprises lately."
You ride out into the wilds again, a stiff breeze off the Tuskwater keeping the bugs off but making for a slightly humid day. You elect to start with the few miles immediately north of the Tuskwater and the Gudrin River and spend the first day mapping the area, ending on a bluff overlooking the river. The tops of the bluff are choked with thistles, making the approach quite difficult.
The night would have been extremely unpleasant but for Vasily's fortuitous detection of a ground wasp nest at your first choice for a camping spot. As it is, only the contrast between your normal accommodations in town and the wilds makes for a less restful night. Well, that and the storm that moves in around 430 in the morning.
The rain is heavy enough that you're having trouble seeing any great distances, and the muddy ground slows you up. You can try to ford the Gudrin further away from town, or try to find a way past the thistles and down the bluffs, then see if there's a good place to cross here.
Sloshing through the mud, Bea attempts several times to pull her soggy cape around her shoulders for warmth before giving up. She pauses instead and looks up at the clouds, squinting to keep the deluge out of her eyes. "A month's worth of sunny days, and it decides to open up on us the day after we set off. How long you imagine it'll last? We're getting nothing done out here like this. I'd suggest we stop to wait it out but our gear's already soaked from this morning and I'm not keen on letting my body cool down in the mud. Only thing keeping me from freezing up is plodding forward." She holds her hand over her eyes and tries to peer through the rain. "What I'd give for a nice dry cave..."
Having watched the wasps fly about in their inscrutable patterns for what appeared to be an arbitrary amount of time, Zlotii's attention suddenly returns to the present. A veteran of a lengthy military campaign in his cousin's Army, he sees the rain and mud as an inevitable inconvenience to slog through.
The Doktor nods in agreement. Let us keep moving, but remain on the bluffs. We should be on high ground if the river floods. He watches the rain slowly fill a footprint in the mud.
Vasily's broad-brimmed hat shows a secondary usage in the pouring rain, keeping the water out of his face and off his head so effectively that it might as well have been enchanted. The stag-horned helm sits tied to his saddlehorn within easy reach in case of trouble.
The young man looks perfectly at home sitting his horse in the downpour, and the well trained animal might as well have been a statue for all it seemed to care about the rain. His hunting cat is, as usual, nowhere to be seen.
He peers at the horizon in response to Bea's question.
"I'd say we could build a shelter against the rain, but everything's already soaked." He nods at the Doktor. "Up the river is a good idea, Doktor. Fording is going to be tricky with all this extra water, though."
Vasily, this looks like a stable system that's going to continue to rain for at least the next day or so, and may even intensify.
After considering the sky for a while, Vasily shakes his head in disgust. "Looks like it's going to rain for the next day or so. Might even get worse before it gets better." He nods at Bea. "I can scout around for a cave or something. That's the best we're going to do for shelter short of just going home until it passes."
Right now your biggest concern is that the most likely place you'll find a cave is at the bottom of the bluff...and any footpath down is likely to look like a creek at this point. It may take you a bit out of the way, but your recollection from what others have said about their travels in the area is that if you follow the river course for a few more miles it'll be easier to get down to water level.
Vasily nods upriver. "Let's keep moving up the river. We might have better luck finding cover a few miles that way."
"Works for me." Bea gives a quick whistle to urge her horse onward.
Zlotii seems satisfied to be led around, distracted by his usual introspection.
The party slogs south and east along the river course. Sure enough, over the next few miles the land slopes down slightly and the river valley widens, turning what had been steep bluffs to a much shallower basin. There along the shore you find a hollow that promises some shelter from the pounding rain--the boat pulled onto the narrow beach and the smell of smoke and cooking fish suggests, though, that the hollow is presently occupied.
Bea leans close to Zlotii and speaks softly, not looking away from the hollow. "Did we know anyone lived out here?"
Vasily hops down off his horse and pulls out a whistle. When he blows on it, none of the humans hear anything, but after a few minutes the young man's big hunting cat comes bounding up, looking bedraggled but alert. He kneels in the mud and ruffles the cat's wet fur in between its ears. "Do you want us to go around to the other side of the camp, just in case they're not friendly?"
Vasily, there is a single set of tracks from the boat towards the hollow. Humanoid (and probably human, as they're not walking like an elf or half-elf). The track from the boat doesn't look like it's been trodden down a lot, although with the rain it's hard to tell. It definitely doesn't look like a permanent path of the sort you'd see if someone lived in the hollow all the time.
After considering the muddy ground for a while, Vasily turns back to the others. "This looks like a temporary shelter. I see a set of tracks from the boat to the hollow, but it isn't a trail, like it's a path that's been used a lot. If I had to guess, they pulled up out of the river as soon as they got past the bluffs to wait out the surge from the storm."
"Sure, come round over there, just in case. Maybe they'll let us share a bit of shelter."
Dismounting, you walk towards the hollow. As you approach you can hear quiet, somewhat off-key singing. The flickering firelight illuminates an old man with a wide-brimmed straw hat. He hasn't noticed you yet, seemingly engrossed in making sure a couple of fish roasting on sticks don't burn. There's another few fish in a basket off to the side.
ETA: Close to hand is a trident with a line attached to it.
Vasily nods at Bea and circles around the hollow, Strelka stalking close to Sev's hooves. He dismounts when he gets closer and just watches the man for a few moments before he clears his throat. "Hello. You have room for a couple more to come in out of the rain?"
The old man starts violently, almost dropping one of the fish in the fire. He grabs the trident and turns. "Erastil's ba--" Then he registers who's just showed up. "--I mean, please don't startle a body like that. Your, uh, majesty. And your...high ministers...of state. Oh!" He doffs his hat and bows. "What can I do for you? Uh, want some fish? Fresh caught this morning before the weather got too bad."
Bea lets out a bit of a surprised laugh. "Thank you, we'd love some. We've got some bread to share, might as well make a meal of it." As she wrings some of the water out of her hair, she adds, "Your majesty is a bit much, though. I may lead the town but I'm hardly royalty. If you must address me formally....'my lady' would do."
Vasily nods at Bea. "I've got coffee and a coffee pot, too. We could have a pretty decent meal tonight." The young man looks back at the old fisherman. "You mind if I help with the cooking, sir?" Vasily wasn't much use in a kitchen, but cooking over an open flame in camp was something he could do.
The man introduces himself as Arven, and he gladly accepts Vasily's help (even though he's still a bit ill at ease with all of you). Once he unbends a bit he proves to be an engaging storyteller, full of tales about fishing on the Tuskwater and surrounding rivers. (Most of them are, well, fish stories, but entertaining ones.)
Zlotii's eyes suddenly come into focus when food is mentioned. Ah. Hmm. Arven. Wonderful. Do I smell fish? Lovely.
The Doktor stares disconcertingly at the fisherman, focus fading in and out as he tells his stories. After a reasonable amount of time "chatting", he adds Fascinating, as ever,my good man...Say, how well do you know the Tuskwater? I'd wager you know it pretty well, hmm? We're doing a bit of exploring, surveying, actually, and I don't think we've fully mapped this area, yet. He looks around to his companions for confirmation.
Katya stays close to the fire as she tries to dry off the worst of the rain from her clothes. Katya nods towards Zlotii saying, "Yes, any information you have would be useful Arven."
The fisherman nods. "Oh, sure. Anything I can do to help out. Though there's something you could do for me, if you're interested--best fishing spot I ever found's a nice little sheltered pool, a mite closer to town, on this side of the river. And right now, something else's found it, too. Big old hookjaw turtle, been around these parts for years. He's a maneater, so as soon as I saw him there I just turned the boat around and left. Lost a few good friends to that beast--comes up under boats, tips them over, and--well. Hereabouts we call him Old Crackjaw, and he's decided that's where he wants to stay. If you could take care of him, you'd have a much better chance of getting more than just a few crazy folks out fishing here. And I might have something useful for you, too."
Vasily's eyebrows go up and he whistles appreciatively. He had pulled out a leather-bound notebook to jot down notes and sketch additions to make to the group's and his own maps but now he looks up. "That sounds like one monster hookjaw." He looks over at Bea. "With this rain, we're not going anywhere for a while. Do we have time to take care of this belligerent turtle?"
Vasily, you know they can get pretty good-sized--up to the mass of a large human--and although you're not familiar with this one in particular you've seen them approach that size. Its aggressiveness is likewise not extraordinary, though you haven't seen one that big be that prone to attack anything in its vicinity.
Humph! Zlotii laughs out loud at Vasily's last comment, though it isn't clear why. Setting aside the concept of "having time", this turtle appears to be a threat. It also sounds likely to be tasty.
Beatrix nods. "Threats must be dealt with. I'm not keen on looking for a fight in this rain, but when it lets up we'll find it."
The next day is, as promised, wetter than the first. The ranger thinks the storm should break late in the day, though, and it does. Nothing disturbs the party through the wet day and the following night.
Vasily, you're able to make sure that none of your horses catch anything for being out in the rain this long. One of them wasn't sounding very good, but you spotted it early enough to get the horse warmed up and recovered.
The next day dawns cold and damp, with dense ground fog, and the terrain is still wet and slippery as you make your way back to where Arven said the trail down to his fishing hole was. The old fisherman himself rowed out early in the morning. "You can leave word in town for me...I get in there every week or two."
As the sun gets higher in the sky, the clouds part and the fog burns off. It's still oppressively humid, though Vasily is sure that if the wind keeps up it'll improve through the day and be dry and pleasant tomorrow.
You reach the head of the trail without incident. Arven's directions enable you to find it easily. Vasily isn't sure how he managed to miss it, though the weather probably contributed.
What now? It's not really possible to get the horses down the trail.
The Doktor turns to Bea and says, Hrm. No, I didn't know anyone lived out here. I suppose it isn't too surprising, we hardly know anything about this territory.
He stares at the long grass waving in the wind for a long minute, then says, I suppose we hobble the horses here and take the trail. If we're hunting giant turtles, we don't have any manpower to spare to set a guard.
Mmm. Turtle.
"Works for me," Bea replies as she dismounts, then adds with a grin, "Tonight we dine on turtle soup."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Katya gives a short laugh towards Bea, "Well... I guess I can add one more new experience to my list."
Vasily chuckles and nods. "That's good eating." He pats his horse on the neck and whispers into its ear, removing its bridle and reins. The young man doesn't hobble his mount. "Sev here can watch the other horses. You're just as good as any guard, aren't you, boy?" Vasily pulls a treat out of his pocket to give to the horse and turns back to the others.
"So, me and Strelka first?" With the group's permission, he and his big cat head down the trail in front, on the lookout for danger.
The fur on Strelka's back stands up, her tail begins to bottle, and she gives a low sort of yowl. This alerts Vasily, so he easily notices the fresh bear scat near the head of the trail. Vasily, it's from a big bear--probably a grizzly*.
Vasily stops and looks back at the others. "This is a bear's territory. Big one, probably a grizzly. Keep your eyes open."
Bea makes to draw her sword, but after looking down at the path thinks better of it and simply pulls out her dagger instead.
At the mention of bears, Bea's thoughts suddenly return to the temple of the elk, and Sabrina. I hope she's alright out there, she thinks with a slight pang of guilt. She clears her throat. "We've dealt with bears before...I can't imagine any being worse than what we've faced, actually. Still, you're right, no reason to be caught off-guard."
You make your way carefully down the trail...although Vasily's encounter with a slick stretch of slope does not make for a quiet descent.