Rsss'tak says little for the moment, keeping his eyes and ears open for trouble, his protector instincts taking over...
The travel little trouble for them, Vess'Sothek simply allowed his senses to absorb the surroundings. The weather was fine, and the cloud formations made him a little excited at what uncharted (to them) territory they would discover in the coming days. A bit uncharacteristic for him, he did not seek to catch any prey near their path - he agreed with Yochtanl Djagu's skill was unmatched.
The lizardfolk was quite pleased to see the harmony among the children of the differing races in the farming community, the compatibility something he wished he would've had with his tribe. He mostly observes the conversations the group was with the farmers, but he does catch sight of those intimidated by their party and keeps a watchful eye and ear on them. He gets the impression they mean him no harm, and he does his best not to seem too imposing. Used to treks through the days to and from his quarries' areas, he was not overly tired as evening set in. The music from the flute was quite welcome, however, and he allowed himself to enjoy it - likely at the expense of his innate alertness.
As the group settled in, Benjamin tries to find some work he could do. He didn't like sitting around doing nothing much. He'd rather work a bit than relax. He decides on asking the farmers first if they had anything he could do.
"Excuse me gentlemen. I know my group and I have only arrived, but I would like to ask if I can be of any assistance? I won't ask for any payment, I just need something to do to pass the time."
You all find a communal rest spot, with wooden and stone benches adjacent to a stone well. The well is covered with a wooden-tiled roof, and there is a small flower garden nearby. The earth here is worn, and an elderly human farmhand is eating a supper of bread, carrots, and cheese, along with a tin mug full of well water. He tells Benjamin, "Aye, yeh can head down that path and talk with Jerland. He's a lad about 30 summers, an' has black hair with a streak o' gray. He can put you to work if ye'r about it. Save us the trouble, but don't be comin' round too often, or he'll be askin' us to work fer free to!"
While Benjamin heads down the trail to find Jerland, the old farmhand introduces himself as Gheth Brown, a Thaelese migrant. His four sons work in the orchards south of Riftview, and his wife makes cider; he seems a bit sad when he talks about his sons, as if he's distant in thought. He asks about your journey and the places you've seen, and what it's like to be cold-blooded and have scales. Old Gheth, while friendly, obviously has little tact when it comes to social situations, and asks many awkward questions about you all. What y'all shortlings wear maskd fer, anyhow? Do y'all breathe fire? Do y'all lay eggs or give live birth? What's Drakkengard like? Is it true traulls use hellfire to forge their armor? Does yer druid friend eat babies? And other equally superstitious blather. "Thing is," Gheth says, "I am a simple man, but I like to know tha truth from tha horse's mouth, so ta speak. I'm surround'd by fools an' fearfuls, an' I wanna know the truths of their speculatin's."
Rsss'tak grins at his bretheren then tells Gheth, Our women lay massive eggs, the size of your head!!!! Most of them die in egg laying, that is why there are only males here... he can't help but bellow out a great laugh and slaps the man on the back,
Gheth, I am only kidding. I like you, you speak your mind. We Lizard folk are the same, most of us are not good at what you call...politics.
Having scales is like having skin, it just is. I must say that it is probably easier though when laying around in the dirt to have our scales thaan soft skin. The bugs of the swamp don't bother us much either.
Do you have any provisions you can sell us? We should save ours as long as we can since we don't know what will be around to eat where we are going.
Palag is content with sightseeing as we walks. He goes to check out some of the ruins superficially but isn't particularly looking for anything since he's pretty sure that anything findable has been found already. He makes some short and idle conversation with the farmers and though he doesn't get too involved in talking with them, he tells them that the group won't be any trouble at all.
Toward the evening, Palag enjoys the sights of the plains since they remind him of home. He's used to Yochtanl's playing and appreciates it quietly. Benjamin's somewhat sudden departure seems odd to him. "Is it just me or is he acting a bit strangely?"
Palag looks at Gheth a little condescendingly as he asks his funny questions, glad that the mask hides nearly all of his facial expressions. Nevertheless, he feels that the man is honest and explains things to him curtly though not unkindly.
Djatrix smiles at the scenery, watching the garden with visible pleasure. His eyes follow Benjamin as he moves away, his head frills and tail raising slightly as he does not trust the human entirely. He does not remember seeing him in his visions, which makes him worried about the human's part in this journey.
As Gheth begins asking about his species, Djatrix turns his attention to the old man. He sits on one of the stone benches, eyeing curiously what Rss'tak says.
"My friend is right," he says as Rsss'tak stops laughing. "We are different, but still very similar. Just as you are different from the humans from other lands."
Tharrek talks to a few of the farmers, with no real interests, just to be nice, and throws the slingstone back at the kids in good sport. When they meet the old man Tharrek plays along with the tall tales and says Not hellfire, no, but we bind elementals from underground volcanos to our forges which grants all our weapons their spirit. Drakkengard is full of warriors, smiths, and politics. Grand architecture and huge machines powered by fire spirits and gold streets and baby dragons kept as pets. That sort of thing. Tharrek smiles a big telling smile at the man.
I agree, Palag, Benjamin does seem a little out there...
Gheth reels forward a bit from the lizardfolk's powerful slap, but takes it in stride. He seems a bit unsettled at your ambiguous reference to your destination, and glances northward. He has the same look on his face as when he talked of his sons. He lets you know he has a handful of carrots left you're welcome to, but otherwise has no rations; he had planned to grab the communal breakfast in the morning before heading home.
Gheth starts to set up his palette on the ground, with an oil-treated canvas tarp for cover as Tharrek chimes in.
After Rsss'tak and Djatrix expound their wisdom, he says, "So I takes it ye'r all pretty much the same as the rest o' us, jus' with variations an' the likes. As I fig'red. Lizard-man, troll-blood, pinkskin, an' monkey-bird... we all live, love, breathe, sleep, and die. We're all jus' tryin' to make somethin' of this life..." He trails off a bit and looks north.
"Don' let this old man bother y'all too much over what's likely a trifle to others, but I had me another boy once 'pon a time. He was filled wit' wanderlust an' the need to seek his own fate. I reckon he found it, too. Haven't seen him in nigh on a decade. He was always on an' on 'bout an island in the Rift Sea, someplace far north, that ne'er sank like the other lands did into the waters. Said 'twas filled with a strange people an' riches beyond measure. He wanted to go there an' bring a bit home in hopes that we all mayn't need work so hard any longer. Poor boy was always a dreamer he was." Gheth's eyes seem a little watery, but he recovers quickly and begins talking about his guesses for the next day's weather.
Yochtanl stays quiet about the subject of the man's sons, as they obviously aren't around and he seems sensitive about the subject. He also doesn't press the man about this island that his son wished to discover. Instead, he changes the subject to something else.
"So what do you do on this here farm? Do you get to watch the livestock? What kinda livestock do you keep in these parts?" He cares more to move the conversation along than about the man's answers.
Gheth looks to Yochtanl and says, "I s'pose they're just an old man's folly. His stories're too fantastical to believe, anyhows, an' the likes of y'all wouldn't care none for 'em." He starts to wash his arms and face with some well water, and continues, "I don't work wit' livestock, nah. I help with tillin' an' turnin' the soil. Then I do a bit o' everything else when needed. We mostly grow wheat an' barley, but we got some corn further east a few miles." As he washes his shirt he adds, "Not thinkin' o' becomin' a farmer, are ye?"
Yohctanl gives a little smile, and says, "No, I think my place lies with this group for now. Besides, I don't think I'd do you much good on the farm. We vesh aren't too good with human-sized farming tools, you know." He jokes lightly. He'd like to be on his way, but he's still waiting for Benjamin.
Palag listens quietly to what Gheth says. Losing family is a familiar subject to him and he'd like to tell the man that they could spend a day or two trying to find out what happened to his son, but Palag doesn't have a clue about traveling to an island even if it was close to the place where they were heading to.
He too then changes the topic. "Do you think I could teach the mule to stay in place in case we're attacked? I'd hate to see our stuff running into the wild because of some silly scary goblins!" he says to no one in particular. He picks up some plants from nearby that mules prefer more to eat. "All right then, um... Blacksock, I'll call you Blacksock. I'll give you some treat and then if you wait for me here, I'll give you more, okay?" He then does as he said and tells the mule to stay – and of course the mule first follows him when he moves away, to get the treat. "No no, Blacksock! You stay."
Yochtanl gives a little sigh and smiles behind his mask, wondering if Palag has ever trained an animal. Truth be told, he'd never done it, so he wouldn't know how to help with training the mule. He says, "Well, good luck to you with teaching him that. I hear these mules are stubborn animals." He takes out his waterskin and drinks a healthy gulp from it. "So, this place looks like a good spot to rest for the night, unless you would rather continue?" He sits and rubs his feet a bit. Yochtanl isn't used to walking long distances; he'd always had an axe beak to ride before. Thinking of the axe beaks makes him think of Clan Torufo, and Yochtanl's thoughts wander off into nostalgia.
Rsss'tak has a little toothy chuckle to himself, A mule is much like a Marsh Drake, stubborn to the core until they become your friend. I would suggest using treats vs. the stick.
He will assist Palag in training the mule.
As the evening progresses, a few kobolds and older humans show up to make camp with you, and Benjamin returns after helping the farmers out with a stubborn ox and giving advice on alternative tilling methods. A large number of kobolds start showing up to work in the fields, and you learn that they are the night-crew. They and a few traulls work the fields at night for greater efficiency, and is one of the reasons Riftview's agricultural economy does so well.
Speaking in Draconic with the kobolds is a bit of a mixed-blessing, as it's easier to talk to them, but difficult to understand their cobbled-Draconic speech. It seems that the diversity of regional dialects is more pronounced in smaller areas and from generation to generation than with lizardfolk. From what the kithlings tell you, the eastern and southern farms tend to treat them well enough, but the western hog farms and orchards often bully them around, and only the poorest kobolds tend to work there. The kobolds tend to view Calistari humans as bullies and tyrants.
Aside from a few bawdy tavern songs, local gossip, and the occasional boast, the only tidbit of information you hear that could be of interest is about a ruin about 5 hours north that appears to be some sort of dilapidated garden, with a crumbling grand water fountain at its center, and was a roost for ravens with blue-tipped wings. Two of the humans say they used to go there a few years back with lady-friends, as a romantic getaway where they would hunt for old coins and tidbits while enjoying the enchanted scenery. But when a local couple were attacked by the ravens, people started keeping away. Eventually, a young lad was killed, and a party of farmers retrieved his body, picked nearly to the bones, after he was missing for a week. The farmers had to fend off attacks by the malign birds, and sear that one of them was larger than the others, with glowing eyes. Regardless, people in the area now leave the place alone, if they remember it at all.
In the middle of the night you wake up to scare off a couple of raccoons, and Gheth tells you to tie your rations up to posts, like the farmers had.
You wake up with the dawn and prepare to head out. Most of the kobolds have already left, and Gheth is awake cooking some eggs he foraged over the communal fire.
Maybe we should check out this ruin with the Ravens. If we can help out some of the locals we can make some friends around here that could be helpful when traveling through these lands? A half days travel is not too far out of the way.
What do the spirits say Djat?
The reptile nods in assent to Rsss'tak. Animals heed meat before malice.
Though not overly interested in Geth, the nighttime turnover with the nocturnal kobolds tending to the fields was an insightful process Vess'sothek hadn't thought of - and much respected. He spoke to a few of their kind, and though he didn't mind them at all, their dialect proved difficult for him to understand, and he soon grew frustrated. He did, however, consider the ruins to be of some interest, as he wanted to see the exotic raven-like birds there.
As the spirits are consulted, Vess'sothek ponders aloud: I wonder if the farmer's son was the one they found ... maybe that's why he's so afraid of that area.
Djatrix is storing his belongings when his companions speak. He eyes Rsss'tak and sights. "I do not believe there is much they could tell us right now. What I have last seen were a skeletal king and his army marching in a field of ashes, though I do not think this is related to this ruins."
Making sure all his belongings are safely stored, Djatrix hangs his backpack over his shoulders and stretchs from head frills to tail top. "But I do not mind investigating this place, if you so wish. It is probably not such a great detour from our journey and it might as well prove to have some interesting clue about the Rift."
"We shall see!" says Palag in an upbeat tone to Yochtanl and Rsss'tak, concerning the mule training.
Palag talks with the kobolds and tries to catch up with their dialect, asking how life goes for them.
He too finds the tale of odd ravens in the ruins interesting. "We'd probably pass it not too far anyway, so we could just as well check them out." He nods to Rsss'tak as well and eats some breakfast rations. He raises an invisible eyebrow at Djatrix's dream and hopes that he is right about it.
Survival and/or Knowledge (geography), please...
Benjamin quietly prepares his things by himself. He didn't have much to prepare anyways. He kept a close eye out on their surroundings while they did, it was too early in the morning to start it off with an ambush.
Survival:
Know. Geography:
Survival roll:
Yochtanl agrees to visit the ruins with the ravens, as it is not so far out of the way from their current destination. He is interested in what would cause even the birds of this area to be so hostile. Is it possible that the Rift had corrupted the fauna in the region? Maybe some creature from the Rift is controlling them? Only time and investigation could solve this riddle.
Knowledge (Engineering)
Survival
As you trek along northward, the farms give way completely to wild fields, dotted with a few wind-gnarled trees. Eventually, the farms fade from sight, and Riftview's plateau is the only visible sign of civilization nearby. A handful of gnarled wild apple trees are along the way, and you enjoy munching on the tart fruit en route.
As you get closer to where the locals told you the ruins are, you notice the grass tends to have a bluish tint to the leaves, with some wildflowers showing blue splotches on the petals. When you approach the edge of the woods that the ruined fountain is in, you see a large statue of a woman, worn by the ages, and carved with strange whorls similar to those on the stone trinket you saw at Garrow's. There is a large, blue-winged raven perched on the statue's head eyeing your approach. It flies off when you get within a few dozen yards of it, cawing loudly.
The locals told you to head west about 100 paces, and then walk straight north into the woods until you find the ruins, about 30 minutes in. Many of the wildflowers are blue here, even those that would normally be other colors, and the trees and plants have a bluish tint to the leaves and roots.
As you walk through the woods, it gives way to a copse of old-growth forest, obviously the heart of the woods. You notice pieces of stone covered by the roots of ancient trees, earth, and moss. It seems there was a road that went through this area at one time, as well as a number of buildings, now long-buried after the cataclysm. Nature's ability to reclaim what once as built leaves you all in a bit of awe. The occasional raven in the trees above leaves you certain that this is the right place.
Ahead, you can hear the cacophonous din of ravens cawing, and you see the ruins of a low wall with broken arches, covered in trees, vines, and moss.
Yochtanl enters the copse, both nervous of these crows and excited to be seeing these ruins. He suspects that these ruins must have something to do with the blue tint on the flora and fauna, as the occurrence of the shift in hue was likely not a coincidence. He stores the thought in the back of his head, wondering whether the flora and fauna near the seaside ruins will also be tinted. Yochtanl tentatively steps around the ruins, getting close to admire the carvings but not touching anything. Yochtanl's snake becomes more alert than it has been, because it senses his nervousness. It stays poised on his shoulder, watching patiently for danger. Yochtanl says to the group quietly, "Well, it seems our destination is clear. Shall we head into the ruins?"
We should proceed with caution, Vess'Sothek and myself will take the lead...and leave the pack animals here, out of harms way...
Approaching the environment before them, Vess'sothek compares what he sees and hears to his memory of what should probably be the case in an area like this, attempting to recollect any worry of such flora of fauna as the area exhibits. He paid special attention to the birds, seeming something unusual to him - at least in coloring, like the rest of the surroundings with the blue tinge.
Rsss'tak seemed to have good instincts. Keep your eyes and ears open! the lizard said to the rest of the group. Fanning a bit from his partner, he attempted to move as he would as a hunter, concealing his position, though it may well have not been necessary with the noise their friends in the trees were making.
Benjamin gladly allowed the warriors ahead of him. He was a druid after all. The spells he had prepared were more for support casting than offensive. He would make due with being in the back of the pack for now.
Palag eyes the bluish vegetation suspiciously – blue is a pleasant color but this is taking it a bit far. He nevertheless picks some of the more blue plants and puts them between a pair of parchments to dry. He shows yet another one to Benjamin. "There isn't anything disctinctly magical about these oddly colored plants, is there?" he asks from the druid.
Not too worried about the ravens since they don't seem violent (at least yet), Palag seems rather confident for the moment. When Rsss'tak suggests they leave the mule and donkey, Palag agrees and looks for a suitable place to leave them. "Maybe we shouldn't let them eat too much of this blue stuff... Or maybe we should, that could have interesting effects." His last statement was mostly in jest and Palag rather picks a spot with less edible plants. He ties Blacksock's leash to a tree but not so tight that the animal couldn't pull free if it was truly panicked. "Now Blacksock, stay here and I'll give out more treat when I get back, huh?" He gives the mule a non-blue snack and then heads in with the others.
Though noisy, the birds seem relatively calm enough now. If the farmers' tales had some truth, they might attack if they went further, so Palag takes out his crossbow and loads it. Nodding to the others, he walks behind Rsss'tak and Vess'Sothek. He plans to go through any visible holes in the wall (or over it if there are no more sheltered spots) and tries to keep away from the sight of most of the ravens.
Rsss'tak and VISSSILA pad forward towards the clearing, not being one for stealth, he has his longspear (Lance) at the ready, watching for potential enemies.
VISSSILA large eyes look at the Ravens, almost sensing that something might be wrong with them, snorting a warning to Rsss'tak...
I know V, this place is odd, like there is something wrong here...
He says to her in a reassuring voice.
Vess'sothek approaches a low point in one of the walls, one which he could look over, and stays slightly hunched beneath it. Waiting until the other members approach, he then peeks his head above the stone - if he can manage it - or around the corner to see what lurks beyond.
Benjamin eyes the flowers and then Palag. "Sorry. I haven't the spell ready to tell if they are magical or not. Hold on to them and I can later."
He continued to follow behind the group. He eyed the ravens and frowned. Animals, even more annoying than the regular kind. He wouldn't hesitate to attack them if they flew even close to the group.
Tharrek helps tether the horses, then he arms himself w/sword and sheild.
Yochtanl follows stealthily behind Tharrek, his spear at the ready. He gets flat against the wall Vess'Sothek approaches, but is much too short to see above it. He keeps low and in the shadow of the wall, alert for danger.
Djatrix looses his morningstar and walks behind his two kin, watching the plants and the birds with caution. His talons scrap the surface of the wooden shaft nervously.
Overhearing the human's comment, Djatrix closes his eyes and whispers to the spirits, asking them to show him magic in this place.
Rsss’tak:
VISSSILA: