After a few minutes, Emma steps back a few paces to get a better look at Smoke, "Wow, he looks so....regal and handsome. When we have some extra time I'll need to do his mane and tail. What do you think love?" She asks, looking over to where Aiden stood with Clyde and Rosie.
"He looks amazing!" Aiden says with a grin, and more importantly, safer.
Emma nods, "Okay, we better hurry up and get him hooked back up to the wagon and get going."
With a smile, Aiden leads Smoke back to the wagon, hooking him up to it, and getting them ready to head out.
Emma and Rosie recall the next village along the road is the village of Millsworth, about a two hour ride away. There is also a historic church there. Rosie seems to remember that it was a church to an older faith in olden days.
"We should go to Millsworth," Rosie says. "They may need our help too since they're along the road. They have an old church too. Maybe their vicar might know something helpful."
Emma flashes her a smile as they get ready to head out, "That's a really great idea. Alright, Millsworth it is then. Hey, would you and Clyde like to ride in the back or walk on the way there? I fixed up a spot in the back with some pillows and blankets so it would be more comfortable." She replies, impressed by Rosie's knowledge of the area and the history of the village.
"If we're not going too fast, I'll walk," Clyde answers. "The exercise helps me feel better."
Rosie climbs onto the wagon. "I could use a little more rest..."
She yawns and fluffs up a pillow.
Emma nods, "Sure, whatever makes you both the most comfortable. If there comes a time that we need to go faster, we'll let you know. There's extra blankets back there in the corner Rosie, if you'd like one to throw over ya." She says, wishing that they were going on a trip for a different sort of reason and not because of what had happened.
Climbing up onto the padded bench seat with a little help from Aiden, she sits down and looks up at her beloved, "Well, I guess we're all set to go then. You ready love?" She says, feelings of excitement, nervousness, and a kind of curious wonder at what might lie ahead for them all colliding at once inside of her.
"Ready as we'll ever be I suppose." Aiden says, checking the hitch to the wagon before getting them underway.
Your journey along the road is quiet, almost unnervingly so. After a couple of hours, you spy the steeple of Millsworth's church, poking over the horizon.
Aiden keeps an eye on the road and surrounding area, while driving the wagon, directing Smoke along the road.
Running alongside the road, Shadow keeps a wary eye on his surroundings.
"It's kind of spooky out here." Emma remarks while they travel through the much too quiet area, "Look, there's Millsworth's church steeple, so at least we're almost there. You know, this is the first time I've left the village. It feels very...weird." She says, keeping an eye out for danger as they continue to travel.
Clyde glances at the sleeping Rosie. "Most people never leave the place they were born...so it is weird."
You see nothing out of the ordinary as you approach Millsworth. The bell in the steeple clangs five times to signal the hour. As the village comes into view, you see open doors and the husks of villagers lying on the ground. A lone man wearing cleric's vestments tries to shoulder one of the villagers, but struggles with the dead weight.
Leading the wagon in, Aiden avoids the fallen villagers, pulling up before the town's vicar, before hopping down from the cart and helping Emma down.
"So it rolled through here too." he says, a statement, not a question, as he nods to the vicar, approaching to help the man with the burden.
While Aiden goes to help the man with his burden, Emma looks over at Clyde, "Why don't you see what you can do to help them, while I wake up Rosie and let her know we're here." She suggests, before climbing up into the back of the cart to rouse Rosie from her slumber.
Emma reaches out to gently shake Rosie's shoulder, "Hey, we're in Millsworth, are you ready to get up?"
Rosie slowly opens her eyes. "Yeah."
Clyde approaches the cleric and waits to see how he can help.
"Thank you, friend," the man says. "The townspeople fear a plague has stricken us and have hidden in the church. I see no sickness in these bodies so I thought I would not leave them to be food for the wolves."
The man grunts. "I underestimated the...er, weight of this task."
Emma sits back to give Rosie room to sit up, "Just take your time, it would seem that the carriage did pass through here as well."
"A dark carriage, carrying some old supernatural threat rolled through our village, and apparently did the same here." Aiden says as he begins moving the unconscious bodies, signaling Clyde to help.
"As it did, it seemed to take the life essence of some of those as it passed, leaving them just like this. We've been following its past, which led us here."
The man gestures toward a large tavern. "Let's take them there. It has enough room to accommodate these poor folk."
Clyde nods and carries one of the bodies on his back.
With a nod, Aiden begins the task of carrying the unconscious villagers to the tavern, laying them down somewhere relatively safe, before going to gather the next.
Emma waits for Rosie to get up, before climbing down from the cart with some help from Rosie. She does what she can to help, which isn't much considering her size, but she does her best.
After about an hour of hard labor, you clear the village of bodies. The cleric leans against the tavern. "Thank you for your help. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"
Emma shakes her head, "No thank you. We didn't help in order to get paid, we did it because it was the right thing to do. I do have a question though if that's alright? Are you the Vicar here at Millsworth, or do you know them?"
"Also, do you have a general idea around when this happened?" Aiden asks, trying to piece together a timeline of the dark carriage's passing.
The man shakes his head. "I am no Vicar. I have no superior to report to. But I suppose I am the religious leader for the village."
He turns to Aiden. "T'was the middle of the night when I heard the screaming and then silence. Found bodies all around...those who weren't taken...I gathered up and took to the church. Been at this all day. Mostly making sure no vandals had come in and looted these peoples' homes."
At this point Emma speaks up, "We came from Rosewood, I'm the Vicar there. I'm sorry if we forgot to introduce ourselves earlier, but I'm Emma, this is my husband Aiden Northwood, and these are Clyde Beetle, and Rosie Figg. We intend to hunt down this carriage, and by one way or another, free the souls in it's clutches before it's too late. We thought that since this is one of the oldest Churches in the area, and of one of the older faiths that's been around for a long time, that maybe there would be some records of similar occurrences that we could learn from, so we better know how to fight this particular evil. Do you happen to know of any records that might be kept in the Church that could help us?" She asks, the words just tumbling out of her before she can even think about stopping them.
"I am Ewen," the man says. "While the church used to be a temple to Pharasma once upon a time, the temple was mostly destroyed in an earthquake. What stands now was built over the remnants of those ruins. There is a passage to what fell into the earth, but there's no telling what you may find or how safe it is."
Not wanting to make any decisions that would affect all of them, Emma looks to her beloved, Rosie, and Clyde, "What do you all think? It could be a little dangerous, but we might get lucky and find some helpful information. Of course it's okay if you think we shouldn't risk it, and we can keep going after the carriage. "
"If we can find something, it's better than rushing in unawares," Clyde answers.
"A temple to the goddess of Death might well have something that would help us with retrieving list souls or life energy." Aiden says with a shrug. " Its worth looking into."
Emma nods, but looks up at Rosie and waits to hear what the young woman thinks about it.