Okay! We're back in action!
Do any of you have anything to buy?
[ooc]Vorik? Anything? We'll be moving on tomorrow./ooc]
In the evening you are met by a man outside of the gates of the city. He is your contact from the church.
As Bastion sees the figure, he advances towards it, extending his hand for a handshake. You must be from the church?
The short blonde man wearing a heavy cream and silver brocaded doublet and trousers turns his head as the party approaches. His features display a flicker of impatience and distaste that, upon seeing the company has arrived, immediately vanishes into an eager smile and air of excitement. He straightens his lapels, swiftly runs his hand through his hair (causing more disarray than anything) and clasps both his hands around the warfoged's extended one, enthusiastically pumping his arms up and down while having little actual effect on Bastion's much more solid limb.
"Oh, yes, yes, yes, very pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm to be the church's liaison in this..." He pauses, coughs lowly, and raised his eyebrows emphatically, lowering his tone to a whisper for the next word. "Affair." He nods, clearly pleased at his discretion. "As well as advisor in matters spiritual to our ah... newest convert, mm?" He flashes a puppylike smile towards Kaiuss. "So, ah... has your group acquired everything needed? Can we be of any further support before we begin? And.." He pauses again, this time a look of confusion crossing his features before it occurs to him what he'd forgotten to say. "Oh! I'm Hugh. Hughein Reynald, to be precise, of the Sigilstar Reynalds, but 'Hugh' is more than sufficient."
Darius frowned softly, staring at the new man for a moment, before shaking his head. 'Holy rollers...'
Vorik stares daggers at the man, who is apparently from the Church of the Silver Flame. "Well met Hugh, I must admit, I am very much against this business deal and members of the Silver Flame are among my least favorite people. I promise I won't run you through, at least not until we leave your city" You can't tell if he's joking or serious.
Hugh's mouth falls open and what might be an attempt at either giggling or suppressing a high pitched scream comes out of his mouth, his lips making a heroic effort to continue smiling.
Awkward silence.
"You'll have to excuse mr Vorik he's not really a people person."
Darius chuckles softly, before bursting in to outright laughter, bending double and slapping his thigh in mirth as he fights for breath.
"From the mouth of Paladins..."
Ancian exits the city, and can't help but give a small laugh as he walks past the obvious tension and stops past the others. Glad to be out of the city, his voice is relaxed, but his tone is still serious, "Vorik, this will be a long journey indeed if hostilities begin here. A liaison is part of the agreement Kaius made and you must, at the very least, tolerate him."
Ancian turns to Hugh, "Hugh it is a pleasure to meet you, it is always good to begin a journey with a stranger... It keeps it interesting." He laughs again and continues walking, not caring if they follow or not.
"I am most pleased to meet your acquaintance, Sir Reynald. To preserve my country, I will indeed learn to appreciate the heart of the Church, but I will still remain loyal to those who have guided me from birth," this last part is aimed at the still stewing paladin of the Nine, Six, and One, "I believe we have everything we need for our current plan of action."
At that moment, Hugh remembers that he has the paper work from the Cardinal.
Silver Wizard Reynald,
It is my desire that this group be led to the military camp along the eastern border, there, you will meet up with a military unit - to be determined at this point - you will know the unit by my seal on their banner. Until then keep everyone alive, and keep an eye on the paladin. It is two day's travel from the city to the South-East. May the spirit of the Flame be with you.
The somewhat warmer welcome from the rest of the group seems to calm Hugh's obvious nerves a tad. "Ahh... yes, a pleasure to meet you as well," he says, nodding to Tika, Darius, Ancian and Kaiuss in turn. "And I'm sure once we all settle into ah... a routine with each other, things will be much more... smooth." He undoes the straps on a leather satchel embossed with a flamic seal, extracting a few sheafs of papers. "I have the required traveling papers for everyone. The Cardinal has arranged for us to be received at a military encampment on the border, two days travel to the southeast. So... if we all have everything needed, we should get moving."
I have need of nothing else. I'm ready to get going.
Darius shrugs, before nodding. "Indeed. Let us head off!"
Heading away from the city and to the South East, you travel along a road that has obviously seen more use in the past few weeks. Deep ruts make travel difficult, and the ground muddy from the recent rain. As you make your way down the road it occurs to you that Karrnath is to the North East, across the river. You are headed the opposite direction!
After resting in a small hamlet a days travel south of the capital, you are equipped with horses and more travelling gear on the Cardinal's coin. After resting and refreshing in the rural community, you travel another day to the border of Thrane and the Mournland. A wall of gray-mist hangs like a curtain, separating you from what was once the Crown Jewel of Galifar.
"You're pulling one on us Cardinal..." mutters a nervous Kaius.
On the edge of your vision, a large company of silver-plated soldiers appears. Banners whip in the wind...
Darius crouches in the saddle of the, sleek lithe black colt he had been given, making himself appear less threatening, as he takes in the men who come in to view.
'By the Six I hope I did not do anything to bother one of them in the past!'
Who are these, now? Unless he can tell whether they are friendly or not, Bastion will draw his death ray.
"Why are we not traveling to my sister? This is pointless. We should turn around now, before these over-important, self righteous morons does something overly stupid. Like come to close to me." Clearly Vorik is incredibly unhappy with the current situation.
Sighing softly, Darius shakes his head before looking back at Vorik. "Cheer up Big Guy!" He slides his coat open, to reveal the crossbow aimed at Reynalds back. The crossbow is loaded and the tip of the bolt glistens with a faint greenish ooze.
Darius winks and slides the coat closed once more, before facing forward again.
Vorik smiles sadly "I just miss my twin sister. It's been well over a year since I've last since her. This is the longest we've been apart." Upon seeing what Darius is up to, he can't but crack a genuine grin "I knew there was a reason I liked you" He says softly.
Darius nods softly, scanning left and right, keeping his eyes open. "We will see her soon, I am sure!"
He looked back at Vorik and grinned. "Always good to have a backup plan if things go wrong, hey?"
Since the start of the journey, Hugh has, very studiously, made sure not to spend more time walking directly next to Vorik than absolutely necessary, always adjusting his position to make sure one or more other persons are between himself and the paladin. In spite of his best efforts to do so subtly, he is anything but, alternately dropping items and making excuses to scuttle around to the other side of the group to retrieve them, suddenly noticing some landmark in the distance and conspicuously moving up to point it out, or, at least once, suddenly declaring his bootlaces untied and needing to immediately halt and relace them, bringing him to the rear. This last while on horseback.
Aside from his clear discomfort at the proximity of Sir Vorik, he spends much of the rest of the time idly chatting about his homeland to anyone who bothers to listen or engage him. Additionally, he makes time to educate Kaius in the finer points of the Silver Flame. Towards the end of the second day, he quiets down a bit, showing visible nerves at the wall of mist separating Thrane from the Mournlands.
Upon sight of the mounted troops, his face brightens considerably. "Well, that's excellent timing!" he says. He rides up to the front of the party, seeming utterly ignorant of any activity behind himself, and speaks reassuringly to his companions. "No, no, nothing to worry about, these must be the troops we are supposed to rendezvous with. This is all going according to plan!" He rummages in his pouch for his identification and traveling papers, smiling reassuringly but still casting a wary eye to the mounted unit to be sure they are who he assumes. Just to be on the safe side, he slips his wand of mage armor out of his bag as well and slips it up a sleeve. "I'll just ride up and have a word, shall I?" he says, preparing to do just that.
Perception:
Knowledge:
Tika spends most of the journey placing herself between Vorik/Darius and Reynold best she can. She also asks him questions like where he is from any family etc.
Laughing softly at the young Shifters guard duty on the Wizard, Darius sighs. He drops back to ride beside Vorik, leaning in with a smirk. "I think the young miss is worried we will attempt to snuff out the Flame!"
Ancian is rather quiet, as he likes to think and mediate while he's traveling. He takes in the landscapes and details around him. Otherwise, he makes idle conversation with his compatriots, looking to learn about who they are and where they came from.
He is most interested in Hugh, for he has never had a true conversation with anyone from Thrane. He tries to learn as much as priest is willing to teach him about his homeland. He is riding near Hugh when the soldiers appear and follows him to the front.
He leans to Hugh, "Do you know them?", but is practically cut off by the answer. "Well let us rendezvous then"
The Cardinal's seal is indeed among the banners that snap in the wind. Everyone who looks for it can identify it as such. As you approach, you are stopped, and brought into the camp. These are indeed the troops you are to meet with.
Darius sighs, pulling the bolt out of the crossbow, before storing it in a seperate quiver at his waist, one filled with ten other similarly poisoned quarrels.
Un-cocking the crossbow, he hangs it from his belt, before pulling off his gloves and hanging them beside the crossbow.
"Yay... We found them..." Sighing dramatically, he pulls a flask from his pocket, before downing a long swig and offering the flask to Vorik. "Dwarven Firewater. Good stuff. Might get a giggle out of being surrounded by the enemy!"
After (apparently) somehow looking in the completely wrong direction, Hugh happily nods when he finally does see the Cardinal's personal seal flapping in the breeze. He nods smartly and rides forward confidently (though inexpertly) to meet the soldiers, speaking over his shoulder as he does. "Excellent! Just as I'd thought. Really, I don't see where the alarm came from; after all, we're still in Thrane, most civilized of nations! Save your distress for when we're crossing through Cyre's ruins, my friends." Once within the camp, he dismounts and waits for an appropriately ranking individual to approach the group.
"Atleast in Cyre I know I wont be burned for a heretic!" Darius whispers to Vorik as they await a greeting.
After some tedious affairs and greetings, you are ushered into a large circular tent. At the heart of the tent lies a large oak table with a map of the Mournland and Karrnath pinned to it. A red-headed man wearing a crisp military uniform of navy blue leans over it as if staring at it will somehow make the nations fall before his blade. As you enter, he looks up.
"Ah! Sir Reynald! Good to see you."
The man is an old friend of Reynald - Silver Pyromancer Marcus Braysen - actually, a former student of the same school of arcane magic.
"They talked you into this suicide mission I see!" Braysen laughs, his voice sharp. His laughter shakes his small frame, and for a second it looks like he may fall over.
"Suicide mission?"
Hugh's face lights up at the familiar face. "Sir Braysen! Well met! The Cardinal failed to mention exactly who my contact here was." He clasps the officer's hands warmly. At the other's words, his face goes momentarily grave and he gives a very subtle flicker of an eyelid to Marcus- calling it a wink would be an overstatement. Then he lets his jaw drop and echoes Tika's exclamation, albeit in a rather higher pitched tone of voice, his voice going from baritone to countertenor in a hearbeat. "Suicide Mission?" Then he gives a feeble though still high pitched laugh in response. "Oh, your jests... always so... humorous..."
That's not very promising talk, now is it?
That's not very promising talk, now is it?
Sir Braysen indeed believes the mission to be insane, and you have a hunch that he knows more than he is revealing.
"Ah, yes, well, it's not everyday that the Cardinal finds a group of people that have no actual connection to the Keeper that can go in and topple an evil kingdom, my dear Reynald!" he pauses and smiles for a second, a sadness behind his eyes, "Now, if you follow the orders set out for you from the Cardinal, which I have here -" he flashes a scroll tube in front of you, "You would all be dead by sundown tomorrow. Luckily for you, I have no interest in having you all die so quickly. The Cardinal wants you to ride into the Mournland, and head North into Karrnath, to the city of Karrlakton. The journey there would be suicide. To cut through that much of the Mournland is insane. Therefore, I suggest you cross here," he indicates the ruins of Shadukar, "And run along the border, crossing into the Karrnath at Vurgenslye, which will be easier to penetrate. The city is also having problems of its own which will allow you to get in easier..."
Vorik does his best to keep himself under control. All he wants to do his snap this man's neck and run the mage through with his blade. Instead, he says "Vurgenslye is suffering from problems of its own? What kind? I'd rather not ride into a town that might turn on each other as well as strangers"
"Sounds good to me." Tika responds although part of her is reeling at the thought that they had been planning to send them on a suicide run.
Hugh bites his lip looking at the map. "You're probably correct. The Mournland crossing was not the part of this mission I was most looking forward to." Though he does frown at the indicated crossing via the Shadukar peninsula. "Of course, there are those who'd say that particular area is little better than the Mournland..." One hand touches the silver flame icon he wears about his neck while the other makes a warding sign against evil. He nods when Vorik speaks. "I was wondering the same thing. What transpires in Vurgenslye?"