Helgar sighed bitterly as she went back to the carts. Ivar had come back but Ewan didn't. She hoped that the stuttering man was alright, but in her heart she felt that naught but danger would come from chasing so far. What happened to him now was in the hands of the Gods.
Moving towards the bridge, Ivar cautiously jumps over the chasm. Nearing Helgar he asks, "So vhat did ve do vit der one climbing der bank?"
He then begins to count bodies, asking. "Did ve verify if der bandits vere alive or dead?"
As he asks, he moves to Nash's body, and searches the man for anything of value while he attempts to see if the leader is alive or dead.
Merion cleans his blade and checks the cut in his side to ensure it's not deep. He then extends his empathetic sense to see if Robin is in range (1 mile), and if he's still on the trail of whichever bandit he had decided to follow.
If the planks are accessible, he asks Ivar Can you move those? I am willing but I'm afraid I would be only a little help.
Ewan continues his duel with the now swordfighting archer.
"I didn't figure it was," she jokes and is glad the mage is up off the cliff. Seeing her target is gone by now, as are the others, she will help dust off Arren while talking with Hank.
"Don't worry about it, my friend. If you want to get your licks in..." she nears him and his crossbow, "I think the gang leader there is faking it. Feel free to finish him." She will point at Nash for Hank to watch. When the proned villain takes in a deep breath, she nods to Hank to mutually agree he was not dead. Once Hank finishes him, she will do what she can for the horse and will bind its hide in wet cloth.
With Ivar returning, she replies:
"I was trying to shoot my guy, but he was too cagey and I wanted to help get Arren up."
Regarding the one who climbed up the bank, she didn't even see him. "That guy snuck off somewhere. I can't be sure. I was trying to help get this wagon to stop careening over the edge. When that guy got up, I think was when I was helping up Arren. Dammit!" she curses her lack of efficiency. "Did you get yours? Have you seen Ewan? Wasn't he chasing one?" she asks, curious if they should run that way.
Looking to Merion, she shakes her head.
"We can sort the bridge out later. Let's worry about our companions."
Merion looks down into the water below for the planks. He can see two wedged in the rocks directly below, the others have been washed down stream due to the current. Being the only one of the party that has had a dip in this stream, he knows it would be a workout to retrieve the two planks from below.
You reach out to Robin and is quickly overwhelmed with the feeling of distress and worry. You aren’t sure what is causing this but it couldn’t be anything good.
Holding his crossbow, Hank looks disgusted at Nempura; “I will not murder that man. You can do that if you’d like, or tie him up and turn him in once we reach Wellswood.” He turns from Nempura and Nash, and finishes tending to the horse.
You look over Nash and see that he is down but stable. You aren’t sure how, but his wounds have clotted and he is no longer bleeding out.
Looking over Nash, you find several items that are useful. First thing are his weapons. He has a Masterworked Longsword and a Masterworked Kukri. He also has Banded Mail and a Buckler that was helping him deflect your attacks. And a scroll case with a piece of paper rolled up within it. And it says “Follow the river north west to the South Road, use the sticks from the mines to rid yourselves of the bridge. Don’t come back until you have a full wagon. – Grigs”
Nash’s men have the same items on them. 3 Short Swords, 3 Studded Leathers, 3 Bucklers, 3 Daggers, 3 Slings, 60 Bullets.
Not listening to the bowman’s plee, Ewan lands a serious blow to is dueling partner. But, it leaves himself open of a slash along the leg. “Listen, let’s just end this. Please… my wife and kids won’t survive without me.”
"Murder? Don't you dare call me a murderer. First of all, this a++~!$~ started this. If you want no hand in the righteous defense of this land, this caravan, and its people, fine."
She then takes out an arrow and finishes the rogue with a shot to his ribs.
Looking Hank straight in the eye, she replies, "Now I'm going to go help my friend, and if I have to take out another of these bandits, I will." As quickly as she can, she then rushes off to head after Ewan. If she intercepts Ivar returning along the way, she will wave him to follow her.
If she intercepts Ivar returning along the way, she will wave him to follow her.
Seeing the direction Merion was pointing at, Ivar gestured towards the dilapidated wagon the bandits had been getting the boards from. "Vhen it comes time, ve vill get boards from der vagon."
Stripping the body of the leader of anything of value Ivar finds the note. After reading it, he heads towards Helgar, holding the note out. "I t'ink you should read dis."
After handing the note to his companion, he continued stripping the bodies of anything of value. As he worked, he announced his intention, "Ven ve have stripped der bodies of anyt'ing of value I vill toss dem into der river."
Ewan hears the bandit archer's plea and immediately thinks back to his own family. On the other hand, he wants to believe the man is now honest enough near the end of his life.
I do hope he is sincere, if he is not, then letting him go would be be a bad idea. Otherwise, if he is sincere... I hope he betters his life.
Arren seems somewhat shocked by Nempura's almost casual dismissal of the bandit's life, but doesn't say anything about it. There's not much more she can do to help at this point anyway, her magics are quite limited in scope. Perhaps one of these bandits will have a crossbow that I can use? she thinks to herself hopefully.
Hank shakes his head as he sees Nempura plunge the arrow tip into Nash’s ribs. From the pool of blood forming beneath him, Nash isn’t long of this world. His breaths become labored then bloodied.
“It is not our duty to be judge and executioner. When we lose those we are no better than bandits.” Climbing back atop the wagon; “He was defeated. We should have taken him to town for the guards to take care of. You have seen to that yourself.”
Ivar moves to the wagon and sees that there are four planks that could be used. Two more in the water that Merion spied would give the group six in total.
Seeing Ewan’s pause, no matter how brief, gives the man the freedom to drop his blade turns and runs. Ewan has the opportunity to strike down the man as he turns to flee.
You get the sense that he is telling the truth about his family and their ability to surive without him.
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Ewan sees that the man drops his sword to turn tail and run. He breathes out a sigh of relief, not wanting to kill a man who is only desperate enough to resort to banditry for his family.
Ewan calls out after the man.
"I hope if you do p-pick up a s-sword again, you will s-stay away f-from b-ban-ditry!"
Perhaps most of Ewan's message gets lost in his stutter, but in his mind it is the thought that counts.
Arren tries to look away from the dying man, but something about it keeps pulling her gaze to it, the moment when the soul leaves the body, the beauty of the last breath, the change between living and death, it captivates her. She catches herself.
These aren't my thoughts, this isn't me. How long have I been staring? Have the others noticed?
Hastily, she starts after Nepura, abandoning her search for a crossbow. This had shaken her.
"You are naive," she replies simply. The man had lied about everything else. He lay there breathing. Wounded, yes. Dying, who knows? Certainly not her. It would be just in his character to lay there in wait to strike. Now, now she is certain. As she runs off, she don't waste time arguing with anyone or noticing their looks of disdain. This is an active event and she is in a hurry to make sure Ewan and Ivar are safe. As she crossed the river, she now fully runs to play catch up.
As she comes upon him eventually, she will slow down.
"You're alright? Are you hurt?"
After handing the note to his companion,
While Helgar reads the note, Ivar heads to the wagon and fetches two of the four boards there and lays them across the gap in the bridge. Returning to Helgar he pointed to the note. "Vat do you t'ink? Should ve find dis Grigs und cut off der head of der snake?"
Hank doesn’t respond to Nempura’s You are naïve comment. He leaves his horses and cart to go and retrieve the rest of the caravan. “I’ll be back with the rest of the team.”
Ewan sees the short sword at his feet, and a little further back towards the bridge he finds the bow that the bowman tossed in a last effort to flee.
The three of you meet up just south of the bridge off the trail. Ewan heads your way with a slight limp. It is clear that he has been slashed across his leg.
Ivar easily removed the two planks as they have already been loosened. Laying the planks down, Ivar thinks that he will need to secure them for the horses and carts to cross safely.
Merion emotionally calls Robin back.
This takes a minute until he's sure the bird has responded to his call. Turning back, he sees Nempura walking away from having executed Nash and rushing after Ewan, and Ivar wrestling with the planks. He moves to help, but then thinks better of it.
Let me go to fetch Ewan, he'll be better at this than me. At that, he hustles after Nempura, also bringing himself closer to Robin.
Arren would be able to catch up as well, and as they move he asks her People seem upset--are all of ours alive?
"A blessing. We lived. They didn't." Helgar said. It was an odd feeling to realize that she didn't feel much looking at the dead. But as far as problems went, it wasn't a bad one to have.
"Let's get to work crossing over. It will take some time. Oh, and we should loot their dead, lest the survivors come back and use the weapons and coin to continue their banditry."
Then, seeing the note, Helgar paused. This wasn't their fight. But...if it wasn't theirs, then whose? And how much coin could they make from this? She thought to herself, What Would the Forgefather Do? With a sigh, she said "Nevermind. We should see this task done. Whomever is behind this will keep killing if we don't stop him."
"See! You are injured..." Nempura rushes to Ewan's aid and helps him by looping under his arm and being a support back to the bridge.
"Did yours get away?"
Ewan limps into view, his leg hurts a little but he isn't that slowed down by it.
He looks towards the bridge and waves at Nempura and Merion coming into view. As Nempura tries support him to the bridge, he nods to her question if the bandit got away.
He reveals the composite longbow and the short sword.
"In-deed. If he w-wanted to f-fight on, he w-would h-have died. He ch-chose to run. Af-ter r-rea-li-sing his f-family n-needed him more."
Ewan smiles faintly, then looks at the rest working at the bridge.
"H-how f-fares the re-pairs?"
Nodding in agreement with Helgar, "I am concerned dat der vones who escaped may return vit others. Ve should find dem before dey find us."
As he returns towards the wagon to fetch the other two boards there, Ivar sees Nempura, Merion and Ewan returning. He calls out to Helgar, "Ve should show der letter to de ot'ers."
Shaking his 'no' at Nempura's question, he answered simply, "No der bandit escaped." He nods his head towards Helgar, "But ve did find somet'ing of interest."
Looking up at Ewan as he lays the third board down, Ivar smiles. "Too much like vork for my tastes."
Looking towards the others he see's the lovely necromancer staring off into space. Placing the fourth board in place he walks across. "Arren are you all right?"
"The one I was shooting got away too. I'm not sure how Ivar is fairing, but once I get you back, I'm going after him next. I'm glad you are alright...bunch of lying jerks..." she growls, obviously irritated by the words of Nash trying to throw them off, and as result, making them get hit far more than they needed to.
-------------------------
Once she gets back, she sees Ivar and chuckles in delight that he's alright. Ewan can hear a sigh of relief come from her.
"You stay here until we get you healed. We'll work on this bridge," she directs Ewan.
Nempura answers Ivar's call out with a huff.
"Ewan's and mine both ran off too." Pausing, she grins slightly at them having found something. "What is it?" she asks and helps Ivar place down the boards from this side so they can rejoin. Upon seeing the note, she is assured of her stance.
"Ahh...see? That lying jerk. Grigs huh?"
Wondering about this, she looks to the wagons in the distance and shakes her head at the thought of Hank.
"We still need to protect the caravan...but I want to deal with this. I say, on our way back, we make a little detour to our good friend Grigs, mmm? Maybe with the help of some town guards?"
"Hmm?" Arren's voice is unnaturally shrill, and her eyes look guilty. "Oh yes, I'm fine! Just drained, spellcasting takes a lot out of me, and it didn't even do very much. Fell down a ravine, and had to be pulled out." She laughs, humorlessly.
"Still, I'm glad you're alright, and won't be hung for attacking an officer of the law."
Believing the fall in the Ravine must be what has her so discombobulated Ivar smiles politely when Arren laughs. When she reminds him of the bandits threat, he visibly shudders. "I'll not be hanged." He had seen the death dance the end of a rope caused. He'd not die that way. Looking back toward Arren trying to console her, assuming it's her first real fight he tells her the same lie he keeps telling himself. "For vat it is vorth, it get's easier."
---------------------------
Raising an eyebrow as Nempura excuses Ewan from helping due to his wounds, Ivar answers her grin with one of his own. Telling her "I vill need to vork on my tracking skills. Maybe someday become a ranger." as she helps him place the next two boards across the chasm. Thinking aloud, "Ve vill need to brace dem somehow to get der vagon over."
Still relieved that the man was truly a bandit, Ivar nods, "Most bandits are liars, yah." Looking towards Helgar, "Vat do you t'ink Helgar. Get der vagons to safety und deal vit der bandits on der vay back?"
----------------------------
As the conversation continues, he looks from the wagon towards the two boards that had fallen in the ravine. Going to the back of the wagon he removes this rucksack and finds his rope. Taking the rope back he ties it off to a tree and begins tying knots in it to make it easier to climb.
Merion reaches out to Robin and the sense of panic and worry is no longer there, but all is made clear when Ewan is reconnected with the rest of you, and he is back in one piece. Mostly intact. Robin flutters back and with rest on you or find safety in the branches of a nearby tree.
Sometime goes by as the party regroups, starts working on the bridge, and begins to decide what to do next. Eventually Hank and the rest of the caravan make their way to the group. Stopping them a little way off you see Hank jump down from his seat with a blanket. He moves and covers up the closest in view body.
“I told them we ran into some trouble, but they don’t need to see the dead. Bury, burn, or leave out of sight for the scavengers. Doesn’t bother me none, but let’s get them cleared out. Most of the walkers are just common folk seeking a safe walk to visit family. They know of the dangers, but seeing a dead man like this changes you…” Hank begins to drag the blanket covered body towards the rest of them.
Ivar’s work continues. Tying the knotted rope off makes it easy to climb up and down the bank into the river. Tying the ends of the rope to the two boards at the bottom is also easy work. Ivar’s experience on the sea gives him the knowledge to tie a wet rope on wet boards without causing them to slip free. It takes two trips, but without any rush of time Ivar is able to retrieve the two boards.
Laying and placing the boards is simple, but as Ivar has stated there will need to be some way to brace them to get the horses and wagons over.
Looking at the placement of the sun, you know that this encounter with the men at the bridge, and doing a makeshift patch job on it, will cause your arrival at Wellswood much later than the caravan originally planned.
Even though Ewan is injured, he helps Ivar in retrieving the wet boards and shoring the bridge up with them. He is not a great climber, but knows how to keeps his balance up top and is careful enough to haul up the boards if Ivar ties the rope to them.
When the first carts and wagons come to the bridge, Ewan realizes that there needs to be something done to make it relatively safe for them to cross. The weight of a cart or wagon, together with a horse might be too much for a simple rope and wooden bridge. Something needed to brace it.
"I may have to join you," she comments to Ivar regarding him becoming a Ranger. "Maybe a stake on either side and some rope?"
She shrugs. She's no engineer. Hank certainly will be putting his wagons at risk going across anything she's made. As Ivar makes his way down for the other boards, she is ready to help if they are handed up to her. She is no climber, but she is strong enough to lift up a large board on a ledge. Ivar may get a little dirt in his face from her dragging it though, which would only provoke her laughing at his misery and doing it a tiny bit more in a flirty manner.
When Hank and his wagons show, they'll have already searched the dead men, but have yet to move the bodies. It's not that it hadn't occurred to her. It's that she's exhausted and sweaty. If the river wasn't so far down, she'd go take a dip.
At his suggestion, she nods and will help drag them into the nearby bushes for the bugs and keen-eyed vultures to find. Should she have the strength and energy, she'd like to bury them, but as it is, they have little time to spare. The concern now is getting the wagons across.
"Are you sure that's going to hold, Ewan?" There is doubt in her eyes, as she thinks perhaps her ideals could be better--mistakenly so.
Now that Robin is back in person, Merion asks him in common, What did you find, that scared you so?
With the bird on his shoulder, he also attempts to assist with the boards:
Though he's not much physical help, he knows enough about bridgework to help put them in place.
... he continued stripping the bodies of anything of value. As he worked, he announced his intention. "Ven ve have stripped der bodies of anyt'ing of value I vill toss dem into der river."
Chuckling at Nempura's comment, he nods, "Yah, der two of us, moving silently t'rough der voods, like draugar, how you say phantoms."
Seeing Hank moving towards the bodies while giving his explanation, Ivar holds up a finger, "Save der blankets, I vill toss dem into der water. Dey vill vash down stream." While the others figure out making the bridge safe, Ivar drags the nearest body to the edge and then pushes it over the precipice. He continues doing the same with the rest of them until the corpses gone.
After having tossed all the bodies into the river, Ivar fetches his pack and shield from the wagon, and joins Helgar heading back to theirs. Touching where he was hit by one arrow, he asks, "Helgar, vould you be able to heal der wounds de rest of de vay?"
Helgar shook her head. "While the Forgefather has the power, I do not. I'm nay strong enough to channel anything more today. The best I can do is, well...temporarily make a rope animate. But I don't think that's very useful." She said, feeling somewhat embarrassed at her lack of usefulness.
"That's what worries me."
Merion checks the planks for steadiness by jumping on one, then winces and looks again at his side.
I was only grazed, a night's sleep will do most of the way for me. My shirt, though...glad it's not my good one. I'll have a breeze until I can find a needle and thread.
As Ivar reminds Hank of tossing the bodies into the river Hank nods; “Looks like you have your hands full with the bridge, I can drag them over to the edge and toss them in while you finish up. Gods know we are already behind.” He says as starts taking care of the bodies.
Ewan, Nempura, and Merion put their heads together as they begin working on the bridge. Using the existing broken pieces of the bridge, rope, cloth from the wagon, and a bit of ingenuity, they seem to get the planks in a safe enough state for their caravan to cross. Though they are unsure about anyone who comes across it afterwards.
“Woah ho, my friends!” the three of them hear from behind them. Turning to see who the voice came from, you see a familiar gnomish man from the caravan. “I always love to see people at work, especially when they are using their minds.” he says with a tap of his finger to his temple. “I believe I have seen you, guards of the caravan. I don’t believe I have met you all, the name is Findal Dinfizzle Findazzle, but you can just call me Fin.” with a laugh to a joke only in his head “That is the name you get when you have two court bards as parents.”
Almost ignoring that you are all on the ground working, he walks up to the bridge tapping it with his staff, crossing it at he goes. With each tap, you see a slight change in the materials. Pieces of the rope that was tatters begin to thread back together. Rips in the cloth seem to be made whole. Even knicks, dings and cuts in the planks seem to reverse in time, becoming new again. “Fine work you did there, fine work indeed.”
You get a aura of Transmutation from locations where Fin tapped his staff.
Seeing Merion’s Thrush the gnomish man smile; “Oh who do we have here? My my my, such remarkable creatures. Is this yours my good friend?” He says looking to Merion.
While this is all happening, Hank returns from disposing the bodies; “I’ll bring forward the caravan so we can cross when ready.”
”Many thanks for the assistance.” Helgar said. ”Be ye not worried, though? A bandit attack was just repulsed, but they may return.”
This is Robin, Merion says. He followed the bandits you mentioned when they fled, but seems to have run into a scare.
"I might be able to rustle up enough power to heal you if Helgar can't. It is not my speciality though..."
She beckons the large Ulfen to her and draws close. While usually flirty in his presence, this time she is actually quite focused on not screwing anything up. She waves her hands over his wound and then touches it.
When that is finished, the person who, in her eyes seems the most hurt out of them, will get the other spell. After that, she seems a smidge more exhausted than previously seen.
"Who else?"
As Fin comes out, she looks around to where the voice comes from and sees the gnome. A smile spreads over her face at an apparent joke within her own mind at the announcement of his name and she audibly chuckles as he produces the fact he is the son of two bards.
"I'm sorry." she offers humorously. She then watches with curiosity as he ignores everyone and moves to the bridge.
"Mending spells. Useful. I never got the hang of them nor saw much use for them until now. I may have to change my outlook. Things are wrapped up here. I hope we can get you to your destination on time. Perhaps the road ahead will be more favorable and well-maintained than normally due to the lack of traffic this way given the bandit issue."
As Hank returns, she offers him soap and some water from her canteen to wash his hands, then indicates that Ivar do the same.
Nodding that he understood, Ivar answers Helgar, "I understand, der magic is not a bottomless pool, t'ank you anyvay."
Turning to Nempura, Ivar moves her direction. Noticing her serious manor, he stands quietly. trying not to distract her. When she is finished he moves his arm a little, smiling, "T'ank you Nempura."
As the pleasant gnomish fellow introduces himself and 'Mends' the different elements of the bridge, Ivar looks down at his arrow pierced armor. Walking over to the Gnome, he introduces himself. "Greetings Fin, I am Ivar Theodinson, called 'Goldilocks' by some." He gestures toward where the arrows had pierced his armor, "Vould you mind usink der mend spell on my armor." He smiles, "It seems to have sprung a leak."
Ewan moves up towards Nempura since she is offering healing spells to soften his hurt leg.
"Th-thank you N-nem-pura. It is r-r-really ap-pre-cia-ted."
As the gnome finally introduces himself, a large smile spreads out on Ewan's face. That is a nice name, fitting for a gnome and a bard. I would have never guessed anything like that.
Ewan walks up to the gnome after his magics, to inspect the bridge, then nods in appreciation to his magical arts.
"I k-know how the s-spell w-works, th-though I have f-for-gotten h-how to cast it. The m-move-m-ments look f-familiar enough."
He extends his hand towards Fin and confers his greeting to him.
"G-good to m-meet you Fin. My n-name is Ewan. Are y-you also a t-tra-velling m-merchant?"
Turning from the Thrush, he smiles at Helgar seeing they are the same height. Looking around; “My dear, it seems that Aina did a perfectly fine job lining up our guards. If they return, I have full confidence in you.”
You believe that he has full confidence in the group. But also that he isn’t bothered by the idea of bandits in general.
Robin relays what happened between the bandit and Ewan, all the while flying and fluttering around. You know that this is what was causing it distress.
Clicking and chirping, Fin holds a handout offering Robin a place to land. Not landing, Fin turns to Merion. “I once had a familiar. Shadow was her name. Such a sweet and beautiful cat. There are blessings and curses to long life. Seeing those you love die is one of them.”
Snaping out of a daze of his memories, Fin turns to Nempura; “Your voice is from the heavens. Naturally rings of a melody.” with a bow and a kiss to on Nempura’s hand; “I after long years of study, I have learned that even the most mundane spells have the most exceptional uses when the right time comes by. Like this one”
Kneeling down, Fin picks up a small pinch of dirt and sprinkles it on the boards. Spreading his hands he says an arcane word and you see slight tendrils of dirt come up from the ground and almost bore into the boards. “I came across this one visiting the mountain folk. It’s a transmutation spell called Root. Though it won’t fully prevent the boards from moving, it will aid long enough from being moved as we cross.”
Hearing the stuttering man Fin looks to Ewan; “Ewan, the pleasure is mine!” chuckling to himself; “Oh no dear boy, I am sure from the looks of my colorful wagon that one might think that I was a merchant. I am actually an apprentice of the Sagacious Masters of the Eldritch Nexus. Currently on a mission directly from the Master of Tomes. But none of that for now.” He says with a smile; “Ewan, I would try practicing poetry. Not only is it thought provokingly beautiful, but it could lend aid to the curse of your tongue.”
Seeing the large blond man come forward; “From your tongue it is easy to tell you are from the north, but from which village?” Taking his armor in his hands, Fin begins casting a spell on it; “I have heard tales of northerners taking the shapes of polar bears in battles. Ferocious creatures they are, to be strengthened by them in battle would be a sight to see. I specialize in transmutation magics. I surely would be honored to meet such a warrior.” looking over the large man; “You aren’t such a warrior are you?”
'Curious, little man.' Raising an eyebrow at the loquacious gnome, Ivar shrugs. "I am from der village of Skaalhaft." He watches as the mage touches the breastplate, casting a spell. "I to have heard of der formbreytingar. But I do not change into der great vhite bear. " He looks down at his hand, noticeably not looking the mage in the eye. "But ven I am angry I do change. My hands take on a monstrous appearance. I believe it is poison from der runoff of de arcane vaste in der bay vhere I spent my yout' fishing und hunting." He looks the little mage in the eye his concern clear. "Und I believe it is getting vorse."
Nempura knew that the wound on Ewan was not so bad if he was walking on it, but when she bent down in front of it and revealed the wound, she was shocked. He had almost lost his leg and would need many days of serious care to fully manage to counter the damage done with such a wound.
"He's tougher than he comes off. I'll have to remember that. And he made a hardened bandit run for his life. Interesting."
She then heals his leg and watches as the wound only partly closes.
"Damn...almost. We'll keep it clean tonight and then maybe tomorrow after I can rest up a bit I can attend to it some more."
When she gets up, she swats him playfully on the back as if to tell him to walk off whatever was wrong. Then she goes to deal with this gnome.
--------------------
A slight blush comes over her face at the sudden kindness of the gnome, though at the same time there is a look of pity on her face at the loss of his dear sweet cat.
"Your kind words are gracious, and my heart breaks for your loss. In my experience with wizards, witches, and druids of all kinds, I know reattuning a creature is possible. You must have loved Shadow with some great depth to not have one now. If you don't mind, in honor and thanks for your kindness here, I will write an operatic tale, giving honor and love in song to your beloved shadow."
Her eyes traverse to Goldilocks as he explains his worry. It too is a tragedy that such a man, valiant and strong should succumb to a curse. "Perhaps Arren, in her studies of her own curse, has found something that can help him? If not stop it, then focus its change?"
Arren watches the gnome curiously. It is strange to see a mage so much the antithesis of what she knows magic to be. Where she is tall and thin, he is short and hearty. Where she knows only monochrome, he moves in a wagon of many colors.
"My name is Arren. A leatherworker by trade. And this," she says, as the scorpion tattooed on her body crawls it's way off, and into her hand, "Is Hope." Hope waves a tiny claw at the gnome in a surprisingly friendly fashion for an arachnid.
Fin pulls out a small pocket journal, exceptionally small for someone larger than a gnome. “Monstrous appearance you say? When you’re angry?” He takes notes and even begins to sketch what your hands look like. He looks up at you and kicks your shin then studies your hands; “A physical kick doesn’t evoke enough anger to force a transformation. Well then, I think that I would like to survey this while you guard the caravan. If you feel the urge swelling up please seek me out.” He finishes writing in his pocket journal and puts it back in his breast pocket.
At hearing that there could be an operatic tale written about his cat a smile splits his face; “I would love to hear that tale one day. Maybe I could share stories of her to help build that tale. I have a love for the oral skills bards and performers have to continue history and the legacy of ages past.” chuckling to himself; “Maybe if the story becomes an epic Shadow turns into a Cat Sith.”
Seeing the tattoo come to life draws his attention away from the tale about Shadow; “Oh my, yes, yes. I have seen this before. Though I don’t think I could sit through the process and pain that is involved with a tattoo.”
Looking to the dwarf; “See, I knew I would have no doubt in this groups ability to protect us. You have skilled healers, arcane users, and warriors. If I am needed, feel free to knock on my wagon door.” Fin says as he starts to head towards his wagon.
Hank looks at the bridge and opens his eyes wide; “Probably will lead them across by hand after the people cross.” kneeling down to gauge the width; “Might be tight but we will see what we can do.”
He heads to the group of walkers that is with the caravan and begns rounding them up to cross first.
A humorous smile comes over her face as the gnome kicks and studies Ivar. For some reason, it makes her think he'd make a good father in temperament at least.
In reply to the gnome, she will state, "I wouldn't dream of making her any larger than she already was. It would subtract from how you felt from her. The listeners need to feel your adoration in the words, not sensationalism. Despite this, I'm sure I can find entertaining enough topics in your telling of her. Perhaps when we camp tonight I'll pick your mind and see what we have to work with."
Nempura will then proceed to assist the driver in getting people across the bridge and lightening the loads with some of their supplies so that it would be less of a burden on the wagons. Then, she will rig the harnesses on the horses so they are able to pull, but if they need to cut them loose, it's easy to do so for someone with a blade before they fall into the river.
If everyone gets across, she will help rerig things up, place the items they found from Nash and his band of merry men, and will return to her horse for the continued journey; one that would likely be going at a faster pace after this.
Chuckling at the gnomes response, Ivar shakes his head, "No, kicking me in der leg vould not get a reaction, not if der vas no immediate t'reat or undue frustration." Adding, as he turned to go to the wagon he was driving. "Hopefully if I have reason to be enrage you vill be safe in your vagon."
Realizing Numpura was watching him, he gives a light nod and smile. Still not sure exactly what to think of the popular bard. Hearing Hank recommend they lead the horses across the bridge, he looks towards Helgar, asking, "Vich vone of us should lead der horses across de bridge?" He looks to the rest of the group. hoping one of the beautiful people would help he and the dwarf out. "Unless somevone vould be able to help us?"
As Fin suggests to Ewan he should recite poetry, Ewan is visibly a bit taken aback by that implication.
I have no idea how to write a poem, let alone recite it. And even if I could write it, I would not even dare recite it...
"I'm s-sorry M-master Fin, I do not th-think p-poet-ry and I are a good m-match. B-being the cen-centre of at-ten-tion has n-never b-been my s-strong suit. I w-will k-keep your advice in m-mind."
Ewan gives a bow to Fin and then waits for the healing from Nempura to be distributed to him. Ewan lifts part of the right leg of his pants and displays the wound he has sustained. As Nempura heals him, he sees the wounds close and offers wry smile.
"Th-thank you Nempura. Th-this w-will suf-fice. I've s-sus-tained in-ju-ries b-before, so pl-please, do not w-worry."
Ewan puts a little pressure on his leg to see how it feels, satisfied that it holds he walks up a bit up and down, the limp has almost gone, but is still there.
Fin listens to Ewan as he explains fear of being the center of attention. Placing a hand on Ewan’s arm, Fin smiles as he shakes his hand; “No no my boy. I mean this as an exercise in private. Find a book of poems and practice it. Focusing on the syllables and phrasing. You might just find that it could loosen up that tongue of yours.” Beginning to walk away Fin pauses and turns; “Worse case, knowing a good poem or two never hurt my chances of finding someone to help keep the bed warm on a cool night.” he chuckles to himself as he walks away lost in his memories.
It takes a little bit of time and ingenuity, but everyone can get across the makeshift bridge. Looking back at it, you are still unsure of how well it will hold for those in the future, but right now that is not your top priority. You have lost a fair amount of time with the bandits and dealing with the bridge.
“We press on and won’t be stopping until we get to Wellswood.” Hank says; “gods willing we don’t run into anything else.” he says under his breath.
The day lingers on for a while as the sun begins to set over the Hard Bay. From this distance it really is beautiful, if it wasn’t for the fact of the creatures that lurk below.
Well into the evening, just as the first hints of the glow from windows in Wellswood begin to appear, Hank shouts out; “Toll booth with be here before we enter town. If you aren’t paying, depart now.” And at this a good number of the travelers on food, and even a few who have joined on horseback, branch off heading south west. From their heading it seems as if they might try to sneak in without paying the toll. Hank shouts out again; “One bit per traveler, one penny per horse, and a crown per wagon.”
And with that the town of Wellswood begins to slowly grow before you. You will be entering from the main road through the toll booth
It bothers Nempura that her team is still wounded. Even more so that she is so exhausted. There is a drained look on the spellcaster's face as she continues her patrol along the side of the wagon train. As this gets toward evening she really struggles in her saddle. Her hips are sore and she has been riding improperly for far too long due to the lack of focus.
"Ugh...I need sleep." she voices in concern to herself. As she does, the city's glow comes into view.
"Now there is a happy sight."
With Hank's announcement, she has no intention of evading the toll. She prepares a copper, a silver and a gold before she rides closer to the wagon with her team in it.
"I am going to pay the toll for the wagon. Just pay for yourselves." "I expect a little bribery is going to be occurring here..." she considers, pulling out a few other coppers for those who evaded the toll booth, just in case.
"Ughh...I need to sing tonight too, if we are stopped. Can't pass up the opportunity. I hope I can wake up a bit. Maybe some fruit and nuts will do me well--give me a bit of a boost."
After finding out what her party is going to do, she will ride up toward the front of the train and see to Hank and the toll booth, to ensure they are safe.
"Are you planning on stopping in the city for the night, or pushing on Hank?" Nempura asks with a yawn.
'A toll booth, curious.' Ivar had heard of toll booths for use of the road, but he had never seen one. Standing up on the wagon he tries to get a better view of the town as some of those around him leaves.
Hearing Nempura's happy outburst at seeing the town, Ivar chuckles sitting back down. Leaning over to Helgar and asks, "I take it dat Nempura is not much for sleeping in der voods?" He raises an eyebrow as she announces her intent to pay for the wagon. Fishing out his own purse he points from himself to Helgar, "I vill pay for der two of us. No need ve both go digging in our pockets."
Hearing Nempura proclaim her need to sing peaks Ivar's curiosity. When she rides near he asks, "Vhy do you need to sing tonight, Ve can sell der equipment we acquired, und use dat money for der expenses."
Curious to learn more about the town, he waits until Hank answers Nempura's question about his intent then asks. "So tell us about der town Hank, vhere vould you recommend ve stop at?"
As Wellswood continues to grow larger in view, Hank speaks up; “No pushing through for us. We have some supplies to sell and pick up here. This next leg of our journey will need to be critical to have no hiccups or delays. Wellswood is known for their fish. Their lake contain fish that can only be found in Wellswood. Good money to be made.”
Running a hand through his hair as he stretches, Hank answers Ivar; “Sleep does sound good. Where you stay all depends on how much coin you are looking to spend. Many of those walking with us will stay at the Traveller’s Rest. It’s a temple to Behron. They don’t charge for people to stay, but unless you want to use your bedroll on stone floor I would pass. The Boot & Wheel is a step up. You can pitch a tent on their grounds for a penny , or use one of their lodges for 2 pennies a night. Then you have The Footsore Wanderer. Nicest of the all, but a standard room cost 8 pennies a night.”
Hearing Ivar talk about selling off the equipment they took from the bandits; “I would take all of that to Tuomi’s Outfitters. They are kind of neat freaks so I would clean them off before you take them in. They will lower the price if there is blood or dirt.”
Behron is the Neutral god of Travel.
Epithets: The Farwanderer
Symbol: The open road running to the horizon.
Favoured Weapon: Mace
Domains: Knowledge, Nature
Raiment: Plain brown robes
Teachings: Only by wandering do we find ourselves. Those that settle down deny the boundless beauty and wonder of the world.
Holy Texts: The faithful obsessively make and gather maps and write journals of their journeys. These are stored in the sect’s various roadside shrines and often contain amazing tales of far-off lands and places. Some contain details of legendary places and are sought out by adventurers keen to learn more about such locales.