Who is around
Cart 1
- Scrunchie
- Sal
- Yalana
- Khohros
- Northas
Cart 2
- Isaac
- Blaze
- Maddox
- Elissa
- Áinfean
- Sigfried
Where are we
On the path to lake Aurora.
Summary;
Met new people, like Maddox, Sigfried, Áinfean, plus this other party which consists of Blaze, Sal and Scrunchie.
Cart-chat!
We are (still) travelling on a highway in 2 carts, an idyllic landscape going by. It is not densely populated, but occasionally a lone rider passes by. Isaac and Maddox chat about their powers, and Isaac brags about their powers. They ends up summoning their sword, and Maddox is unimpressed.
Isaac says that Sai is already dead, and Elissa is outraged, saying she has a strong connection to her boyfriend and knows he is definitely okay. ...And if he isn't, that’s okay. The Raven Queen owes her a favour.
Northas and Yalana discuss serious things, including a grimoire having stayed at the Lich Isles for a few years. He says he thinks if anywhere will have secrets, it’s the Lich Isles.
Figures in the road
Maddox leaves her cart and joins the other one, intending to speak with the other group. By now it has started raining, and she controls water in order to not get wet. In the distance, she sees 4 humanoid shapes. She calls out “People, up ahead!” and jumps up through the door into the carriage. Scrunchie immediately dangerously leans off the front of the cart to greet her, and is told to be careful. Maddox informs the rest of the group properly of the forms ahead, and Yalana looks out too. She notices that they seem to be armed. Maddox wonders aloud if it could be the Order, and Yalana ponders that we tend to come upon them at quite inopportune moments. Due to this, we decided that it might be best for the W.A.R.D.S to hide. Siegfried lets the second cart know too, and thus everyone is ready for a possible kerfuffle.
As we get closer, all of them are wearing full leather armour, non-uniform clothing and worn weapons. They are a gnome, a dwarf, a human and a half-orc. As we get close the human holds their hand up, and Maddox exits, intending to do some diplomacy, but immediately Isaac and Elissa also get out. The human is old with a large sledgehammer for a weapon, a full unkept beard on his face and a wooden shield on his back.
He responds to Isaac’s friendly greeting, and says he wants to warn any travellers of groups of undead and ‘shifty’ individuals in the areas. There are no specific locations, since the groups are moving around. There have been people travelling in ruined carts, and people trying to do dark arcane arts. He has not seen any of the cult calling cards- the red cloaks and the white masks.
Maddox asks where the travellers are from, and they say they are from different places, but he himself is from Pinevein. He seems to be truthful in his tale. Isaac advises them to put up a torch, not to look quite so much like roadside bandits. He himself does not have a torch to lend, but Khohros reaches one out of the cart window. And then a tinderbox. The old man hands the torch to the dwarf, calling him Ogvin and for him to take the now lit torch. He does so, shielding it from the rain with his cloak. We are wished safe travels, and to look out for possibilities of hill giants. Isaac gets back in the second cart, and Maddox grabs Elissa and shoves her into that one too.
Ruffled feathers
She immediately demands why Isaac and Elissa went out despite the risk of being recognised, and then calls them idiots for their flimsy explanations. Elissa goes to call Maddox a prissy bitch, then faltering because that’s too rude. They have a huge argument about what’s safe and who is known by the order. Elissa says she does not appreciate Maddox’s tone, and that she takes back all she said about her combat abilities, and Maddox has no business knowing about her. Isaac takes her side, and Maddox wonders if they even want to save the world. They argue more, Maddox asks them not to leave the cart randomly, Elissa says that she is not the boss of her. Maddox goes to talk to Yalana, and Elissa bursts in, wanting to continue the argument. Yalana asks them to please stay civil. Elissa finally relents. Maddox says that for the world being in a state of near-ending, Elissa seems not to care. Elissa asks if she is meant to. The only reason she is is because of a series of wild events, and the Raven Queen’s faith in her. Maddox asks what Elissa thinks the end of the world would entail, and Elissa replies that it means she is reunited with her parents. Yalana pulls Elissa close, and Maddox points out everything else she cares about would be gone too. Elissa suddenly realises their enemy is a death god, and that she might not actually be reunited with her family upon death. She apologises to Maddox and heads back to cart 2. Maddox and Yalana sympathise with each other over the woes of babysitting. Yalana explains how the dark past of the members of the W.A.R.D.S means that sometimes they are reckless and dumb, and sometimes they need to be for some levity. They’re COPING.
Elissa sends a note forward to Yalana, asking her to hand it to Khohros. It is a really heartfelt apology note, asking for forgiveness for the cannibal comment. He is genuinely touched!
Yalana and Maddox keep discussing the pros & cons of recklessness, and Yalana asks Maddox to leave watching over the Children to her and Khohros, or there will be friction.
Setting up camp
The day comes to a close, and the drivers slow the carts down, having exited the forest. As the sun is starting to set, we get to a major road crossing. We can either take a longer path which is safer, or we can take a smaller but faster road. The longer road would take an extra half-day of travel. We opted for the smaller road, wanting to be faster, and making sure fewer people see us and are able to report about us being there.
We make camp, and Khohros thanks Elissa for the note. Isaac and Elissa decide to sleep together, Elissa not wanting to sleep all alone. Siegfried comes up to Yalana, referring to her as ‘Gauntlet Hathwood’. She asks him to call him Yalana, and he talks to her about how it might be safer to camp further into the forest. They move the carts further in, and Khohros casts Plant Growth in order to conceal them from sight.
They set up shifts, Khohros offering to lend his shield and horn to anyone on watch.
Everyone goes the fuck to sleep. Khohros & Yalana’s shift passes uneventfully, but at the end of it, they hear what sounds like hooves on the road. Yalana casts Sending for Sai, says that they are halfway to the lake, and then asks Sai and Fang are alright.
Nightshifts
- Khohros & Yalana
- Áinfean & Blaze
- Isaac & Elissa
- Maddox & Sigfried
- Scrunchie & Sal
Sai says“They are, but that the worst has yet to come. Message back in an hour, no reply, I’m dead.” Yalana decides to stay up with the next shift in order to message back later. The next shift passes fine, and Yalana messages Sai again. He does not reply for a while, then says that he was keeping silent to be a jerk. The order sent someone to check about the sword, and asks Yalana if she can ask Isaac about Peyton. Yalana stays up to ask Isaac, who freaks out about Peyton being a ‘mean motherfucker’, having completely misremembered who Peyton is. Yalana messages Sai about staying away from Peyton, and that Elissa misses Fang. Sai says that he doubts Peyton will harm him, Fang is okay, and he will pass on the well wishes. Also, they’re on their way. Yalana goes the fuck to sleep.
Isaac casts Dream on the Grimoire, a higher up of the ?Order? Turns out she is an elf, and thus it does not work. As they try, a voice in their head hisses “Unfortunately not…”
Isaac uses a spell to gain darkvision, a beauty mark on their face fading away. Their shift is calm, cool winds with fog, when out of nowhere the wind picks up, then calms down.
Out of nowhere, loud hoof thuds sound on the road, joyous shouting and red light breaking the calm. Elissa wakes Yalana up, and when she wakes, the sound and light goes away. Yalana asks where the shield and horn are, and they freak out at having forgotten it. Yalana goes back to sleep.
Isaac and Elissa talk about being hated and traumatised. They really should get therapy. Isaac is gonna try not to confront people who hate them. Elissa says she believes in them, and Isaac is very bashful & also cry a little bit. The hooves pass by again, and this time they just ignore it.
Maddox and Siegfried talk about the disappointment of meeting your heroes. The hooves pass by again, and since Isaac and Elissa did not mention this Maddox and Siegfried freeze until the group passes by. The rest of their shift passes uneventfully. Maddox apologises to Siegfried for dragging him into this, and he says that he does not mind, though his hook-up tagging along is quite the surprise. Isaac farts peacefully in the background. Elissa calls them a whore-child in her sleep.
An awkward silence settles.
Time for Scrunchie and Sal! Sal takes the horn & shield. The shift passes uneventfully, and the sun rises.
A new day!
We head out again in the carts just in time for the rain to pick up, and this time Khohros takes the reins, these being smaller roads with a lower chance of discovery. Khohros offers to teach Isaac how to drive. Maddox lends Isaac her cloak of many fashions.
Eventually Isaac gets bored of driving, and asks what Khohros thinks of the W.A.R.D.S. experience so far. He says it has been eventful, and they’re all really wild, but nice enough. Eventually a huge herd of sheep block our way. Sal transforms into a wolf and tries to scare them, failing horribly. Áinfean tries to fake an earthquake, and they move a little bit, and then some fall over. Elissa talks to them nicely, and they leave, like polite little sheep.
A couple of hours later, the road reconnects to the high road, but it takes barely 20 minutes until we face yet another split in the road. Either we go through the forest, or around the forest. We decide to camp out here, and then in the morning leave the carriages and turn into horses to seem less suspicious.