You have found yourselves in the village of Vilnar, population 496, and near the northern border of the Empire. An Imperial Army fortress sits about half a day's march west of the village.
Your party of 10 has attracted surprisingly little attention, as Vilnar is a frequent waypoint for groups heading north out of the Empire.
Ulmarr awoke, and, being the morning person that he was, got ready for his day fairly quickly. They were nearly past the last outposts of civilization now, and it would not do to keep the wild north waiting. Figuring that he had best get something to eat, he grabbed his things and headed down to whatever common room this inn might have, to see if there was any breakfast to be had around here. After that, hopefully the rest of the party would be up and about, so that they could decide how to proceed.
Artemis awoke early, like many in her family early mornings where common. After getting dressed she drew her long golden hair up into a high ponytail only to look slightly annoyed at the few rebellious strands that hung down around her face. She tried once more, though when it happened again she just dealt with it like always and headed down to the common room.
"Good morning Ulmarr." Artemis said with a smile as she greeted her fellow party member. "Hope you slept well." She commented as she went about looking for breakfast.
"Like a rock," Ulmarr said with a chuckle. There were few things he found more beautiful than the Arician countryside, but travelling across it could be exhausting.
"Well, looks like we've finally reached the edge of the Empire. I suppose we'll be continuing north as soon as the others are up and ready?"
"Well, I can say we are in the north." Artemis seemingly joked as she offered Ulmarr a friendly smile. "You are far more at home here than I but I must say, it have been a lovely trip so far." She commented before answering his question. "That is the plan, and I do believe we should stick to that."
Ulmarr laughed, "Just wait till we reach the real north!" he said, "Now, that'll be some proper wilderness. Well, we should at least get some breakfast while we're here, I expect it'll be plenty of trail rations and not much else for the next couple weeks."
"Oh yes." Artemis said before she just gave up and headed to the kitchen. "Come on Ulmarr, I'll make us some breakfast." She told him.
Ulmarr proceeded to follow her to the kitchen. Though he'd never been particularly great when it came to making food, he supposed he could at least give her a hand. After all, it was just breakfast, how hard could it be?
"Is it always so cold in this north?" Izússavar grumbles. "I can see why you people are so hairy." He gathers his furs around him.
"I will do what I must to pay my debts, but if this is the edge of civilization, why the expedition at all? Surely if there was anything of value up there, civilization would extend further, would it not? "
Izússavar looks around the inn. "Look, this inn doesn't even have it's own cook! Clearly nobody bothers coming here, even less going beyond."
Izússavar looks at Ulmarr. "It sounds like you have been in those lands before. What should we expect there?"
"Good gods no, it gets much colder than this, we're not even in winter yet," a mildly amused Ulmarr said, "Asides, civilization did once extend here, and further too, if the ruins in this area are any indication. Though I've not ventured much beyond the northern border before, we can likely expect a week's travel to reach our destination. As to what we might find there, I couldn't say, though I'd not be surprised if we ran into any of the usual menagerie of northern wildlife and tribes."
The rest of the expedition slowly makes their way down the kitchen as they smell food cooking. The four guards and one of the handlers are all human, the other handler is a halfling, the cartographer is an elf.
One of the house guards looks at Izussavar, "Why do you care so much? You are getting paid just like the rest of us."
"Why do you care so much? You are getting paid just like the rest of us."
Izússavar looks at the guard with an eyebrow raised for a moment. The moment stretches uncomfortably longer... until he shrugs and looks away.
"If it were all the same I would have taken a job in the sun. But there weren't any expeditions heading to the south."
"Why do you care so much? You are getting paid just like the rest of us."Izússavar looks at the guard with an eyebrow raised for a moment. The moment stretches uncomfortably longer... until he shrugs and looks away.
"If it were all the same I would have taken a job in the sun. But there weren't any expeditions heading to the south."
"As would we all."
"Come on now, the South can be just as bad." Artemis said with a small laugh before to took in a deep breath of breakfast. "What's been cooked up? I'm starving and could eat a horse." She said with a small laugh as she moved to make a plate.
"I hope you all slept well?"
"We have fried bread, the last of that hard, green cheese, hardboiled eggs, some kind of mixed vegetable mash and goats milk to drink."
"Are we planning on leaving today?"
"I believe so, unless anyone has any pressing business here in Vilnar," Ulmarr stated.
"I do not." Artemis said as she took a seat with her plate. "Which means we can pack and leave once we are finished eating." She told the before she began to eat her food.
"I am already packed. And I find it hard to imagine having any business here."
"Excellent," Ulmarr said, as he started eating as well, eager to get back on the road.
After you finish eating, your animal handlers load the expedition's pack animals and prepare to head on the road north. Calling it a road is probably insulting to roads found south of here in the core of the empire, this is more of a track mostly traveled by clan/tribesmen coming to trade. It winds and twists through the rough terrain. There is more evidence of humanoid inhabitants than you thought there would be "beyond civilization".
After several hours of travel, you reach a large creek and find the track washed out. With the spring melt the creek is roaring past and 20ft wide.
"Hm..." grunts Izússavar. "I'm not much of a swimmer. Do we look for a crossing along the river? Or try to get across here?"
"I can't say I'm particularly eager to go for a swim either," Ulmarr stated, taking out his map of the area to see if any easier points of crossing were marked.
"I think the problem is more of the roaring waters." Artemis pointed out as she looked around the area. "A clam river can be passed with ease, this is more problematic... If we cannot find a way to cross here we will have to go up or down river."
There are trees in the area, but I would not call it heavily forested. the area has everything from lone trees to large clusters a quarter mile in diameter. The nearest large trees are about 100ft from the creek.
Not for many miles, you would lose at least half a day going to the nearest one marked on the map. And there is no guarantee that it isn't equally overflowing.
Artemis gave a small smile as she turned fully to the troop. "Let us see if we can find a tree that will reach across. If we cannot we can cut down logs and make a raft." She suggested. "There isn't much else I can thing of. Outside of braving the torrent."
"What about a rope?" asks Izússavar.
"If we can anchor a rope to something on the other side, we could pull ourselves across, and hang on to the rope if we at risk of being washed away."
"I got a rope, but no grappling hook, unfortunately," Ulmarr stated.
"One could get pulled away by the current if they can't hold on. Though with enough rope they can tie it to that and move along." Artemis suggested. "Does anyone have a cross bow? If not I can tie the rope to a javelin and throw it across."
"Well, I got no crossbow," Ulmarr stated, looking to the others to see if they had any such thing, "I suppose we'd need to ditch the donkey as well."
One of the animal handlers speaks up, "Sir if we don't bring the pack animals it will make the journey much more difficult."
about 4 feet deep.
"All right, let's start by throwing the spear across with the rope and hope we can get it caught on something. Then I'll go across and you can hang on to this end of the rope; if it comes free then at least you can pull me back to this side."
"Once I'm across, then I can anchor the rope and we can begin pulling things across using the rope."
"Sound good?"
Izússavar hurls a spear across the river over and over until he can get it to catch on something, and then he pulls on it hard to see if it will come free. Once he is satisfied, he begins to cross (unless the plan is vetoed by someone else).
"That was pretty much my plan but with a javelin. So no complains here." Artemis said with a shrug. Once he was satisfied it wouldn't come free, Artemis offered to hold the other end of the rope so he could cross and if it went wrong she could pull him back.
"And the pack animals?" Ulmarr inquired.
"We tie another rope to them and attach it to this one. Then someone leads them across." Artemis said, though in truth it was a suggestion.
"Fair 'nuff, lets do it, then," Ulmarr said.
By the time the entire team has crossed you only have a couple hours to travel before nightfall. As you start to think about where to stop for the night you see the ruins of a wooden palisade with several old buildings inside on a hill about half a mile ahead.
"Hm. Looks like some ruins up ahead," Ulmarr commented, "I suppose we may as well check them out. If there are no unpleasant inhabitants already there, they would be as good a place as any to spend the night," he stated.
"It is much better than having nothing but open area all around." Artemis agreed. "Lead the way Ulmarr. This is more your lands than anyone elses." She said.
And so, Ulmarr started towards the ruins, keeping an eye out for any unpleasantness that might appear.
Izússavar nods, and readies his weapons as he heads towards the fort with the others.
As you approach you the ruins all three of you notice clear signs of orc activity. It is clear that they don't stay here all the time, but they frequently stay here.
All 4 of the guards have their shields and spears out looking nervously around. The other 3 members of the caravan all have light crossbows ready.
Artemis knelt down and looked through the tracks trying to tell how old they where.
"Ulmarr, can you tell how old these are?" Artemis asked.
"Orcs, this near to Imperial borders? Ulmarr said, sounding rather troubled as he examined the tracks.
Survival:
Izússavar frowns. "Orcs... is that bad? Who are they?"
“A rather unpleasant race full of rather unpleasant humanoids. Think big, green skinned, with tusks and a tendency to raid anything that isn’t behind thick stone walls. There are tribes of them, up north and elsewhere, not the sort of people we want to be running into,” Ulmarr said, his distaste for the orcs who often raided Aricia obvious.
"Ulmarr is correct." Artemis said with a nod. "and if they are in the area we need to be on our guard even more than we first thought." She added.