"My apologies, Garavel, if I seemed to be ignoring you, but my experience with the Al Kareem clan is that it is best to deal with them immediately before they can cause further difficulties, and the camels were starting to get restless."
"Your way of handling Hazem is efficient. There is no need to apologise. When you have calmed the camels, join me by the gate. I desire your counsel."
Garavel walks about fifty feet away, to the open gates of Solku; he has unravelled the map and is gazing across the great desert plains. Alfred is left with seven camels, all seemingly impatient and uneasy. Hazem clearly left a mediocre impression on them.
You calm all the camels regardless of roll, but if you pass, you also manage to "train" one camel to tolerate Hazem - he has managed to leave a poor impression on them.
Sihdrin watches the exchange silently. Once the group starts to disperse, he says to Garavel. "Sir, I am at your disposal. If you require someone to care for the animals, or be an outrider to the caravan, I will happily oblige.
After, he will aside to Alfred. "You remember my family? As you said, I was little more than a toddler when I left Kelmarane. I remember very little... images and feelings."
Alfred takes some time to calm the camels, and even gets one to tolerate Hazem's smell after a minute or two, though tolerate is as far it goes. Talking to Sihdrin, "Yes, I remember your family, being one of the few non human families in town, it would be hard not to. While your family could be flighty at times, it was nothing compared to the crazy halfling that required constant watch and guidance to keep them from causing irreparable harm. I both look forward to and dread my return to Kelmarane. It has been a long hard road, and I fear that the town remains have not fared well. Neither the desert, nor its inhabitants, care much for the past." After calming the camels down, and giving their reins to Sihdrin, Alfred joins Garavel, "What is it you wish to ask of me?"
"Sihdrin," Garavel calls out. "Join us, I wish your counsel as well."
He hands the map to the gnome; it is a large parchment, and it is detailed with the Pale Mountains to the west, Solku to the south, and far north, Kelmarane. There is a small circle drawn on inbetween Kelmarane and Solku, and Garavel points to it when Sihdrin arrives. "The caravan should be here. However, when I arrived here in Solku, I may not have used the most efficient route. Do you have any suggestions?"
Sihdrin's eyebrows rise at the term flighty but he says nothing. He ties the camel's to their post and walks over to Garavel.
"Hmmm..."
"This country is not well known to me." He looks to Alfred.
"I've been around Solku too long, and can't remember all of the details of that area off the top of my head."
Yantur scurries away to get the food. He'll grab the exact amount asked for. When he returns, he will ask Garavel (waiting if he has to to avoid interrupting) rather hesitantly:
Sir...uhm, will one bag apiece be enough for the trip there and back? Or are we planning on staying in Kelmarane?"
"Very well." There's the faintest disappointment in his voice; he turns to the hesitant Yantur. "The supplies will be enough for the trip to the caravan. Distribute the bags. One for each of us."
He gestures to Sihdrin, Alfred and Khasul, before returning to the map. "We will depart shortly."
Khasul is more than patient. He has been doing nothing but gearing up the remainder of his supplies, ensuring he's missed nothing, though he does question the secretive meeting. He allows himself space from the caravan as they continue to finish up - and with his backpack off and marked as his, he drew his blade and began practicing blade forms.
His style is fast, and fluid, almost as though the winds themselves followed in his attacks. Marvelous spinning of blade and his body, enable him to kick up only so much sand from his rapid feet movements. It is after he is done warming up that he puts his blade away, and begins to pack a camel up, since it is what he will, indeed, be riding.
"We must hold strong, friends. The sands will not allow weakness from us this day - make sure you are prepared, or be aware of much suffering."
Garavel oversees the distribution of the bags of supplies, and checks that the waterskins have been evenly distributed across the camels. "Very well. Everybody, gather. You will each get a camel for the expedition. Within the hour we will get to the town's well, where we will fill the waterskins. Then we will travel north."
He mounts his camel, and waits for all of you to do the same; once done, he sets out of the gate, leading the way. The desert wind outside seems to grow harsher.
After taking some time to introduce his camel to Ruven, Alfred climbs up with Ruven's help, and takes a place near the front of the caravan, ready to serve as scout.
Sihdrin looks at the offered camel and shakes his head with a small grin. However, he does take the offered supplies and loads them into his own horse's saddlebags.
Whilst everyone is packing up for the day's travel, he watches Khasul at his practice, noting any new techniques and forms he might incorporate into his own blade fighting.
Once we are underway, Sihdrin rides ahead with the vanguard, and keeps his eyes peeled for trouble - ambush chokepoints, movement on the horizon, anything that seems out of place or unnatural.
As we are both at the head of the caravan, Sihdrin takes a quiet moment to speak with Alfred. "I know nothing of Kelmarane, as I was too young when I left, to remember anything. What was the place like? What of its people - were they warriors, farmers, traders?"
As we are both at the head of the caravan, Sihdrin takes a quiet moment to speak with Alfred. "I know nothing of Kelmarane, as I was too young when I left, to remember anything. What was the place like? What of its people - were they warriors, farmers, traders?"
"Merchants mostly, though with the river right there, some attempts at farming were made. Warriors were to be had as well, such Khasul's father, to protect the town."
Marketus simply rides along, doing his best to keep his animal under control. He stays close to Yantur, his limited sight making travel hard.
Hazem follows closely behind Mark and Yantur, yapping all the while. He's still visibly struggling with the camel that Alfred paired him up with, ironically the one that spit in his mouth, "I.. hey, hold still, no, not that way, THAT way! You're going the wrong way! The caravan is going tha.. no, you stupid animal.. Ugh, why are you stopping?!"
Half smiling, Marketus looks back at Hazem. "Try being more friendly with it. It seems to help with mine at least."
Hazem looks clearly flustered, "I AM friendly! I'm ALWAYS friendly! This thing is just doing it to annoy me! Why did I get the RUDE one, anyway?!
Marketus drops back slightly and comes alongside Hazem. "You are friendly to me, and the other people yes, but to the animal you are showing yourself as being nervous and not pleased with it. I know its hard, and there is nothing wrong with being nervous!" Reaching out, Marketus pats Hazem's arm. "Just relax Hazem. You are safe here and we are here to help you just like you are here to help us!"
Hazem clams up as if pondering Mark's words, "....this thing smells bad, too. "
Marketus laughs. "See, thats not a nice thing to say to the camel. They have feelings too ya know? I am pretty sure Alfred could explain that part better." Marketus strokes his camels neck, which seems to be calming down slowly, getting used to him.
Hazem clearly tries to emulate Mark's motions and attitude towards his own camel, and reaches out and attempts to stroke his camel's neck, the camel promptly turns its head and attempts to bite Hazem, "See?! SEEE?!?! This thing is evil!!!!"
Upon seeing this, Marketus starts to laugh. Eventually he just can't stop laughing and his voice carries out over the caravan. After a minute of laughing, he finally calms down. "Just stay near me and Yantur. We can keep an eye on you and your...unruly friend there."
Hazem's mood lightens, "OK!"
"so ermm.. what's up with your eyes?"
Marketus rides up a bit further into the group so everyone can hear. He motions for Hazem to follow, and when he comes up, he starts.
"I really only want to tell this story once, as its a bit of a long one. So here goes. I am not from around here, if you couldn't tell. I am from a city called Augustana, in Andora. I am part of a family of fairly wealthy merchant traders, and my mother is from this region. When I was younger she used to tell me all sorts of stories about this area, and claimed that my family had the blood of Marids, water genie's, in it."
Pausing for a breath, Marketus takes a small drink of water before continuing.
"As I grew older I realized that the stories about the marid blood were probably just that. But I wanted to visit this land. It seemed so different! You know, I grew up around the ocean and forests, so a land of nothing but sand was something wild. Anyway, one day, about 4 years ago now, my father and I were unloading some dangerous chemicals for a shipment off one of our ships. My dad slipped, and the chemicals spilled out starting a fire on the docks. At that instant, I guess the stress of it called out to something, and the next thing I know I said some strange word, and apparently caused a giant wave of water to cover the docks, saving my dad. At the same moment, I went partially blind. I guess it was a backlash."
Taking another drink of water, Marketus puts his waterskin away and holds out a hand, and summons a burst of water out of thin air.
"Now I have these strange powers, and from what I was told during my training, they will continue to grow. I have no idea where I got them from, but they seem handy enough. At the same time, I was also able to get into the Pathfinders, and got assigned out here to help research Kelemarne and the surrounding area. And, well, here I am."
Glancing back over at Hazem, Marketus smiles broadly. "So, now you know whats up with my eyes, and a little extra!"
Hazem steps back to 20 ft. "Can you see me here?"
Smirking, Marketus nods. "Yes, but you are a bit fuzzy."
Hazem moves his camel another 10 feet away, "Can you see me now?"
Marketus stares, hard. Finally he nods. "Thats about the extent of my vision. Oh, I can also see clearly in the dark to about where you are standing as well."
Hazem ponders what Mark just said, throws a hood over his head, and takes another 5 foot step back, "CAN YOU SEE ME NOOOOW??"
Seeing a commotion behind him, Alfred leaves the front long enough to get Hazem's camel to at least pretend to behave and make sure that Hazem isn't being too much of a headache for his fellow travelers.
Hazem moves his camel another 10 feet away, "Can you see me now?"
To Hazem: "See! You're controlling your camel just fine now. It works best when your casual and don't overthink it too much."
Hazem looks down at his camel, "HEY! You're right!! Camel, go there! ... ... ... GO. THERE. THIS WAY.. RRRRGHH.. i hate you."
"No Hazem, I cannot see you. It does mean, however, that I don't have a general idea of where you are." Marketus turns back and continues forward, grinning slightly.
As Mark and the caravan move further and further away, Hazem's camel turns slowly in a circle, and promptly plops down in a heap and goes to sleep..
"Umm.. AAAAAAAALLLLFFFFFFREEEEEED!!"
Alfred sighs as he calls Ruven and going back to Hazem, "Ride Ruven. It may be a bit more uncorfortable, but until we can get you and your camel fully acquainted, it will be better for everyone." With that, Alfred takes the camel's reins, and will help Hazem get acquainted with his camel at every break and a few hours every evening until he and the camel can learn to tolerate each other. Until then, Hazem will be riding Ruven, who will give him plenty of reason to learn how to handle the camel properly, though nothing that a good night's sleep doesn't heal.
Hazem looks at Ruven, "Umm. On second thought.. I'm ok.. I'll just.. uhh.. catch up with you guys later.. I mean.. camels don't need THAT much sleep.. right?"
Upon hearing Hazem shout and watching Alfred ride back, Marketus will tag along. "Well Hazem, get on the scorpion then. She, it is a she right Alfred?, will carry you along. Don't argue either."
"Yes, Ruven is named after my mother, and has been a mother herself once or twice. If you don't care to ride Ruven, than I suggest you learn how to ride a camel quickly, or plan on walking really fast to keep up." If Hazem wants to try to the camel again, Alfred will lead it up front where he can show Hazem what to do.
"I KNOW how to ride a camel! The problem is that THIS camel is defective."
The camel glances annoyingly at the amount of noise going on, and lets out a long breath before getting back up, and rejoining the caravan.
"See?!"
"Would you like to switch Camel's then Hazem?"
"Would you like to switch Camel's then Hazem?"
"umm.. do you have anything else to offer?"
Marketus just shakes his head, and chuckles. "Sadly you are going to be stuck riding a camel for this journey."
"It's the choice of a camel or running with Ruven behind you giving you the necessary motivation to keep moving, I'm afraid."
The entire show is worth his attention, if merely to note how they act in a crisis, no matter how small. He does wear a smile underneath his protection, and his body seems less burdened than it had before - mostly because the camel held his bag now, and he had some experience with camels - but nothing of the likes Hazem was going through.
"I think it'd be entertaining to watch him run across the sands - though in the end it would be far inefficient, and he'd be prone to not running the same direction. Hazem, you must learn to calm your camel, and make it respect you. Perhaps you should seek an inner peace, and come to terms with it?"
The swordsman laughed at their predicament, and pointed onwards.
"Kelmarane was my home when I was a child. I remember nothing more of it than I could - only the few, good times I had there. I grew up behind us, in Katapesh, but something bid me to come. It must be destiny that I have joined this caravan."
Garavel sighs at Hazem's inability to ride a camel, riding up to him and Alfred. "We will be arriving at the well shortly. Mr. Windbottom, you have a way with animals. How long would you need to make one of the camels tolerate Hazem?"
He points the way you're heading, and in the distance, you can see what seems to be a couple of palm trees, with great green leaves fluttering in the sky.
Upon catching glimpse of the oasis, Hazem's camel takes off towards it in a gallop, "uuhh.. I.. wait.. for the.. others..!"
Shaking his head, Marketus follows the Hazem, hoping to keep him out of trouble.