"No one said you should be worried?" The soldier says, looking over his shoulder at Ralik as he approached the mouth of the cave. "Vanguard unit for the Ivory Infantry. They usually come out first when things are getting nasty looking. I hope they were looking for us."
He turns, watches Ralik apologize to Ghomkk, and then withdraws a bit when Ralik beheads the Bugbear. He opens his mouth, starts to say something, then stops and shakes his head before turning back toward the mouth of the cave and muttering something to his companion. He bristles a little bit when Ralik suggests something about seeing a badge or insignia or something.
"Friend, you and yours just rolled in here and murdered a bunch of people." The soldier says, obviously irritated with Ralik's suggestion. "Somehow I don't think your methods represent the will of the Empress."
The two soldiers turn their back and start out the entrance of the cave, eyeballing Shavaris and Johnathan as they go, and raising their hands to wave both arms in the eye and gain the attention of the approaching horse riders. There are four of them; one looks like the unit leader, one is a Goliath, and another seems to be a Dwarven mage of some sort, and a woman who might be a healer.
Aoe watches the clash of priorities, noting the lack of cohesion of purpose in his own group… he can’t expect the soldiers to know any more than they do… they are merely footsoldiers on the front line after all, and somewhere in auryn there was surely someone is a worse situation that this bugbear…
he walks out of the cave and fiddles about with his belongings and horses, feeding them a bit as well and stowing his cut of the loot.
“Ralik, wait!” Too late… Kerwyn holds his head down and then considers their words. “Well, it was a bugbear, and goblins are known to be evil creatures.” He motions to the prisoners to come out and join the main forces.
Kerwyn walks out and lets the Auryn necklace become visible. (see OOC chat) “Ho there. We found your vanguard waylaid by some goblins and a bugbear. A scary crew. All too happy to free them for you.” Kerwyn looks and winks at the former prisoners. “Where are you headed? Anything we should know? We are just gathering our horses and making ready to cross the ocean. By the way, there is amazing group of tunnels underground in there, you may wish to investigate them.”
Kerwyn walks up beside Old Ironsides and mounts him, rolling forward and considering the new arrivals on horseback.
Ralik gathers the food and water he had offered the soldiers and stows them. Then looks at them side long. "Listen as I speak. You are alive because of their kindness. They are dead because of your failure. Humble yourself. I have spoken." He says with a cold finality.
Ralik works on gathering the bodies of the fallen goblins to a place out side of the cave to be prepared for graves. He unties the bugbear and drags him to the same spot, along with its head. He finds a shovel inside the cave and brings it out and begins digging.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Drow enthusiast Lover of lore and magic. -The White Crow-
The soldier pauses for a moment as he sees the AURYN displayed on Kerwyn's chest, and then listens to the warrior. He is thoughtful as he listens, even if he was still angry. He points at Ghomkk's body.
"At the very least, that one is dead because you murdered him. He was defeated. He wasn't even trying to resist, Bugbear or not." He glanced at Kerwyn, and at the AURYN. "Listen as *I* speak. Maybe you should humble *yourself*, AURYN bearers."
There is venom in theseast few words, but the soldier turns and struts off, waving off the advances of the healer as she approached them. It's hard to tell what he's saying as he heads up to the formation halted on the road.
The Captain in charge of the Skullsplitters watched this exchange and then watched as the two released recon men walked away. He looks puzzled.
"I uh... Huh." He says, pausing his speech and looking to the Goliath horsed next to him. "Ecks, take Dabsin with you and see what that's all about."
The Goliath replies with a deep voice and a thick accent that's hard to decipher, then turns and rides back toward the freed spies.
"So uh... Who are you people?" The Captain says, ignoring Kerwyn's questions but staring headlong at the AURYN. "It seems I've heard something of this but the Empresses affairs only become my own when Atreyu says so."
He grins when Kerwyn mounts the Flail Snail.
"We uh... We're headed north." He says, stating the obvious. "If you're heading north, maybe this affair is best discussed on the road. I don't know what happened here but my business lays on the borders of Nockmaar. Otherwise, the only thing I guess you should know is it sounds like there's trouble ahead... And uh... Plenty of it."
Shavaris waits to the side busying herself with getting everything back up and ready for travel. She continues this until the freed spies with others of their troop continue on, she has no interest in the petty squabble. She mounts her elk and joins Kerwyn and the captain, "Good day sir. As my friend here said, we're trying our fastest way to the ocean. If that makes our path join for a bit, we would appreciate the company and knowledge you can give us about Nockmaar as we go."she pauses, looks back at the cave, then back towards where the ungrateful soldiers stomped off and continued, "as for what happened here? We freed your soldiers. Might have been in an unorthodox way, but it's done."
She rides in silence for a moment and then her tone changes a bit lighter and in response to the captains question as to who they are, "my name is Shavaris."
Johnathan lets the others lead the conversation with these soldiers. He didn’t trust them yet and wanted to observe from a distance. The insults that the survivors made to Ralik was unjust. That’s what we get for playing the good guys. How ungrateful can they be, we DID save them from it. Johnathan considers bashing the soldiers on their way to their party. It would surely show them. But he looks to Kerwyn and the others. I can’t put them in trouble. They may be naive soldiers but they don’t deserve to die. Besides, Kerwyn seems to have it under control. It’s at this point that Johnathan pulls his hood up and walks into the sunlight. He immediately feels extremely itchy and tired and almost wished that he could lurk in the cave a little longer. He looks to Ralik. Ignore them, they’re not worth the effort. We should get moving anyway.
Johnathan finds his mule and gets ready to head out. He ignores the other soldiers and doesn’t say a word to them
”if we are here for others to be grateful, we might Nile misunderstanding the mission. I don’t expect many, if any, of us to survive this endeavor, even if we are successful. By the end of this, the best of us will be lost to save this world, a sacrifice for the good of the realm…“
Aoe messages Johnathan…
Aoe smiles at the newcomers, and is quite cordial in his external demeanor.
The Captain looks over his shoulder at the soldiers slinking off back toward the rest of the halted formation, then looks at Shavaris.
"Well, uh...things to do. You're on the fastest route to the ocean though, if you're heading north and then toward the port in Nockmaar. Anyway uh...thank you, all of you, for freeing them. I'll have to debrief them, see what happened, but thank you nonetheless. We'd be glad to maybe share some knowledge and some food and some drink along the way with anyone who would help the Skullsplitters, Ms..."
He hears her name.
"Shavaris. I'm Captain Dabbert Hahft. That..."
He points to the Dwarven mage.
"...is *******."
The Dwarf shouts something, laces it with colorful language, and then Dabbert waves him off.
"Uh...he's not a people person. I uh...and who are the rest of you? AURYN bearers, eh? I did hear something about this back at the Ivory Tower from Atreyu but...uh...things have been strained lately, as you may imagine. If you want to travel with us, mayhap we can help you in some small way."
******* is already riding back toward the formation, leaving Dabbert with the Dawn Guard at the entrance of the cave. He looks inviting enough, but they can tell by his body language that, if his offer for companionship isn't accepted, then he's going to be ready to ride on to his objective. There is something very 'business' oriented about him, at least in this regard, like he wants to do his job and go home.
Shavaris nods as she accepts his words. Then once the dwarf has gone on his way she says, "We are in a hurry to get passage across the ocean, and I see you are no dawdler yourself. If our path is the same and we are to move now, we would appreciate the shared knowledge as well as food and drink along our way. If we can assist you as well, we would be happy to since our objectives align, but as I'm sure you can imagine, we will not deviate from our route to the port. Thank you for your offer." Shavaris looks to her group to see if anyone has anything else to add.
Johnathan observes Shavaris talking to the soldiers about where they should go. It’s too much of an inconvenience. They clearly have high moral standards and will just question every little thing we do. He sighs as he realises they are probably heading in the same direction, at least for a little bit. He gives a nod to Shavaris and will follow on his mount. He looks towards Aoe and whispers, I agree, I don’t think we will all survive this mission. But we must go on regardless. Because the alternative is allowing chaos and death to destroy all that we value. He pauses as he looks up to the sun. In a way he still finds comfort seeing that sun rise for it meant that there was still a chance that the unicorn lives. Even though it looks grim there is still hope. I’ll do what must be done Aoe. One way or the other this nightmare will end. While he is riding he will look at the ritual book he found in the cave and try to gain a understanding on how to use the spells inside (OOC I choose ritual caster as my level up feat and I’m explaining how Johnathan gained access to this in character).
"I uh...our path takes us north, then west on the Nockmaar Way. I believe we'll be making contact with a potentially hostile force in four, maybe five days. There uh...is a minor road that fords the Sorsha there, if our guess is correct on some of the activities we've heard of. WE can split there or, if we separate before then, just be looking for the little sign that says Timber's Place. Little coast town with a port. I guess that's what you're looking for."
Dabbert sees Johnathan look up and then mimics the action, looking at the position of the sun.
"Day light is burning. I uh...We're going, if you're going. Otherwise, good luck to you, AURYN bearers." Dabbert says, nodding as he wheels his horse and heads back to the formation.
Kerwyn pulls his snail up beside Dab and says "We are heading your way, please, let us travel together. Perhaps we can learn from one another. Do you have anyone that is really good with swords? I have this greatsword here (he pulls it out with a clang), but it needs a little fine tuning, some sharpening, some help I don't know... with the balance? I would love to really pick your brain and hear your tales of what you have seen. Just be care around Old Ironsides here, he is an acquired taste. Hah hah hah!" Kerwyn laughs a little too loud and busies himself with polishing the top of Ironsides shell as they snail along, whistling a little tune to himself.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Aoe follows everyone lead, occasionally finding himself in discourse with random people. He takes it all in and learns as much as possible about nockmaar, the region, as well as how to wield weapons, how to take out and put away his weapon faster, and other skills.
During the next 2 days of travel to the port Johnathan keeps a close eye on this platoon. On one hand he was quite used to travelling with a large army of soldiers, it reminded him of simpler times, but on the other hand he didn’t trust these strangers. He watches as the others make the most out the journey by asking more experienced warriors for tips and advice to help with their own training. He considers joining in on this training but decides to keep his distance. Johnathan particularly avoids the clerics and holy people of the platoon. They might be able to sense what I am. Johnathan makes it a point to memorise the appearance of one of the soldiers that were a similar height to himself for later use.
During the nights Johnathan practises his ritual casting away from the platoon in his own tent. He also decides to not feed for 2 days while travelling with this platoon. Better be on my best behaviour, don’t what to be caught again. I’m sure I’ll manage to go a few days. After the first day his flask is empty and Johnathan begins to get very irritable and moody. By the end of the second day he starts to get an involuntary shake in his arms and starts getting migraines.
Shavaris rides up with Kerwyn and the captain and thanks them for the escort. She asks about the trouble he has been referring to and if it is anywhere else as well. She also asks him about Timber's Place and any information he can give about that place as well.
During the evenings she asks the captain, "Is there someone within your troop that can assist me with my survival skills? I am trying to hone them so when we get to Eternia, I am hopeful they will help us find what we are looking for."
She is uncomfortable for the most part traveling with such a large number. She tries to hide it and does her best to make friends with the captain, figuring it wouldn't hurt. But at night, alone in her tent, she feels she can breath again. She abhors sleeping on the ground, but with no trees in the vicinity, she doesn't have much choice.
On the second evening, noticing Johnathan's shakes - hard not to - she asks him if he'd like to go hunting with her, work on the new skills she is learning. When they are alone, they hunt and he feeds. While she sits a bit away from him, giving him his space, she sees a woman in the distance, watching them. By the time Shavaris gets to her feet and draws her rapiers, she is gone.
Aoe finds time on the first morning together to speak to the leader. “I must confess, as you know, in battle you work with what you are given. They all,” gesturing toward the group, “believe in saving the realm… for this I am grateful. My requirements are twofold …”
…
1)
“first I must ask you here In Private to be honest… would you be actually ‘request’ our help in your upcoming confrontation? You mentioned it… but what are speaking of? A change from possible casualties to possible surrender might be worth it. Our band believes in the good of humanoids. Even if some are rough around the edges.”
2)
”and second, perhaps you or one of your men, or women eh hem, can help me… I must confess I am not, shall we say… one with my sword… and have yet to perfect the art of mixing the artistry of the arcane and the artistry of war…”
…”would anyone here happen to be handy with blade as well as spell? I wish to learn how to hold my concentration on spells even in the heat of battle, and more quickly react when aggressed I’m close range combat… which heaven for bit, I fear is inevitable on this path we walk.” (Warcaster feat) Aoe leans into his own exceptional persuasiveness.
The travel with the platoon was enjoyable for Ralik. He spent the time getting to know the different types/races of people it held. He also takes time to get to know the animals of the platoon, their mounts and so on. He seeks out some who have the skills he is looking to hone, asking for tips and demonstrations, along with some exercises that would help continue his improvement. Running Bird got a bit of attention along with the other mounts and liked to follow Ralik around when permitted. The two would occasionally talk to each other when not occupied with other tasks or when traveling. Ralik would join in on the night hunt with Johnathan and Shavaris, but would leave once the animal is caught, leaving Johnathan to the bloody deed. He mostly just wanted to help in the exercise.
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Drow enthusiast Lover of lore and magic. -The White Crow-
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"No one said you should be worried?" The soldier says, looking over his shoulder at Ralik as he approached the mouth of the cave. "Vanguard unit for the Ivory Infantry. They usually come out first when things are getting nasty looking. I hope they were looking for us."
He turns, watches Ralik apologize to Ghomkk, and then withdraws a bit when Ralik beheads the Bugbear. He opens his mouth, starts to say something, then stops and shakes his head before turning back toward the mouth of the cave and muttering something to his companion. He bristles a little bit when Ralik suggests something about seeing a badge or insignia or something.
"Friend, you and yours just rolled in here and murdered a bunch of people." The soldier says, obviously irritated with Ralik's suggestion. "Somehow I don't think your methods represent the will of the Empress."
The two soldiers turn their back and start out the entrance of the cave, eyeballing Shavaris and Johnathan as they go, and raising their hands to wave both arms in the eye and gain the attention of the approaching horse riders. There are four of them; one looks like the unit leader, one is a Goliath, and another seems to be a Dwarven mage of some sort, and a woman who might be a healer.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Aoe watches the clash of priorities, noting the lack of cohesion of purpose in his own group… he can’t expect the soldiers to know any more than they do… they are merely footsoldiers on the front line after all, and somewhere in auryn there was surely someone is a worse situation that this bugbear…
he walks out of the cave and fiddles about with his belongings and horses, feeding them a bit as well and stowing his cut of the loot.
“Ralik, wait!” Too late… Kerwyn holds his head down and then considers their words. “Well, it was a bugbear, and goblins are known to be evil creatures.” He motions to the prisoners to come out and join the main forces.
Kerwyn walks out and lets the Auryn necklace become visible. (see OOC chat) “Ho there. We found your vanguard waylaid by some goblins and a bugbear. A scary crew. All too happy to free them for you.” Kerwyn looks and winks at the former prisoners. “Where are you headed? Anything we should know? We are just gathering our horses and making ready to cross the ocean. By the way, there is amazing group of tunnels underground in there, you may wish to investigate them.”
Kerwyn walks up beside Old Ironsides and mounts him, rolling forward and considering the new arrivals on horseback.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Ralik gathers the food and water he had offered the soldiers and stows them. Then looks at them side long. "Listen as I speak. You are alive because of their kindness. They are dead because of your failure. Humble yourself. I have spoken." He says with a cold finality.
Ralik works on gathering the bodies of the fallen goblins to a place out side of the cave to be prepared for graves. He unties the bugbear and drags him to the same spot, along with its head. He finds a shovel inside the cave and brings it out and begins digging.
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-
The soldier pauses for a moment as he sees the AURYN displayed on Kerwyn's chest, and then listens to the warrior. He is thoughtful as he listens, even if he was still angry. He points at Ghomkk's body.
"At the very least, that one is dead because you murdered him. He was defeated. He wasn't even trying to resist, Bugbear or not." He glanced at Kerwyn, and at the AURYN. "Listen as *I* speak. Maybe you should humble *yourself*, AURYN bearers."
There is venom in theseast few words, but the soldier turns and struts off, waving off the advances of the healer as she approached them. It's hard to tell what he's saying as he heads up to the formation halted on the road.
The Captain in charge of the Skullsplitters watched this exchange and then watched as the two released recon men walked away. He looks puzzled.
"I uh... Huh." He says, pausing his speech and looking to the Goliath horsed next to him. "Ecks, take Dabsin with you and see what that's all about."
The Goliath replies with a deep voice and a thick accent that's hard to decipher, then turns and rides back toward the freed spies.
"So uh... Who are you people?" The Captain says, ignoring Kerwyn's questions but staring headlong at the AURYN. "It seems I've heard something of this but the Empresses affairs only become my own when Atreyu says so."
He grins when Kerwyn mounts the Flail Snail.
"We uh... We're headed north." He says, stating the obvious. "If you're heading north, maybe this affair is best discussed on the road. I don't know what happened here but my business lays on the borders of Nockmaar. Otherwise, the only thing I guess you should know is it sounds like there's trouble ahead... And uh... Plenty of it."
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Shavaris waits to the side busying herself with getting everything back up and ready for travel. She continues this until the freed spies with others of their troop continue on, she has no interest in the petty squabble. She mounts her elk and joins Kerwyn and the captain, "Good day sir. As my friend here said, we're trying our fastest way to the ocean. If that makes our path join for a bit, we would appreciate the company and knowledge you can give us about Nockmaar as we go." she pauses, looks back at the cave, then back towards where the ungrateful soldiers stomped off and continued, "as for what happened here? We freed your soldiers. Might have been in an unorthodox way, but it's done."
She rides in silence for a moment and then her tone changes a bit lighter and in response to the captains question as to who they are, "my name is Shavaris."
“they wouldn’t keep up with our crew. Inviting them might be a death sentence”
.
Aoe messages shavaris :
he shoots his eyes towards the more dangerous of the group, implying a normal person with too much of an opinion wouldn’t last long in this group.
Johnathan lets the others lead the conversation with these soldiers. He didn’t trust them yet and wanted to observe from a distance. The insults that the survivors made to Ralik was unjust. That’s what we get for playing the good guys. How ungrateful can they be, we DID save them from it. Johnathan considers bashing the soldiers on their way to their party. It would surely show them. But he looks to Kerwyn and the others. I can’t put them in trouble. They may be naive soldiers but they don’t deserve to die. Besides, Kerwyn seems to have it under control. It’s at this point that Johnathan pulls his hood up and walks into the sunlight. He immediately feels extremely itchy and tired and almost wished that he could lurk in the cave a little longer. He looks to Ralik. Ignore them, they’re not worth the effort. We should get moving anyway.
Johnathan finds his mule and gets ready to head out. He ignores the other soldiers and doesn’t say a word to them
”if we are here for others to be grateful, we might Nile misunderstanding the mission. I don’t expect many, if any, of us to survive this endeavor, even if we are successful. By the end of this, the best of us will be lost to save this world, a sacrifice for the good of the realm…“
Aoe messages Johnathan…
Aoe smiles at the newcomers, and is quite cordial in his external demeanor.
The Captain looks over his shoulder at the soldiers slinking off back toward the rest of the halted formation, then looks at Shavaris.
"Well, uh...things to do. You're on the fastest route to the ocean though, if you're heading north and then toward the port in Nockmaar. Anyway uh...thank you, all of you, for freeing them. I'll have to debrief them, see what happened, but thank you nonetheless. We'd be glad to maybe share some knowledge and some food and some drink along the way with anyone who would help the Skullsplitters, Ms..."
He hears her name.
"Shavaris. I'm Captain Dabbert Hahft. That..."
He points to the Dwarven mage.
"...is *******."
The Dwarf shouts something, laces it with colorful language, and then Dabbert waves him off.
"Uh...he's not a people person. I uh...and who are the rest of you? AURYN bearers, eh? I did hear something about this back at the Ivory Tower from Atreyu but...uh...things have been strained lately, as you may imagine. If you want to travel with us, mayhap we can help you in some small way."
******* is already riding back toward the formation, leaving Dabbert with the Dawn Guard at the entrance of the cave. He looks inviting enough, but they can tell by his body language that, if his offer for companionship isn't accepted, then he's going to be ready to ride on to his objective. There is something very 'business' oriented about him, at least in this regard, like he wants to do his job and go home.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Kerwyn keeps listening from the back of Old Ironsides and observes the behavior of the *******.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Shavaris nods as she accepts his words. Then once the dwarf has gone on his way she says, "We are in a hurry to get passage across the ocean, and I see you are no dawdler yourself. If our path is the same and we are to move now, we would appreciate the shared knowledge as well as food and drink along our way. If we can assist you as well, we would be happy to since our objectives align, but as I'm sure you can imagine, we will not deviate from our route to the port. Thank you for your offer." Shavaris looks to her group to see if anyone has anything else to add.
Johnathan observes Shavaris talking to the soldiers about where they should go. It’s too much of an inconvenience. They clearly have high moral standards and will just question every little thing we do. He sighs as he realises they are probably heading in the same direction, at least for a little bit. He gives a nod to Shavaris and will follow on his mount. He looks towards Aoe and whispers, I agree, I don’t think we will all survive this mission. But we must go on regardless. Because the alternative is allowing chaos and death to destroy all that we value. He pauses as he looks up to the sun. In a way he still finds comfort seeing that sun rise for it meant that there was still a chance that the unicorn lives. Even though it looks grim there is still hope. I’ll do what must be done Aoe. One way or the other this nightmare will end. While he is riding he will look at the ritual book he found in the cave and try to gain a understanding on how to use the spells inside (OOC I choose ritual caster as my level up feat and I’m explaining how Johnathan gained access to this in character).
"I uh...our path takes us north, then west on the Nockmaar Way. I believe we'll be making contact with a potentially hostile force in four, maybe five days. There uh...is a minor road that fords the Sorsha there, if our guess is correct on some of the activities we've heard of. WE can split there or, if we separate before then, just be looking for the little sign that says Timber's Place. Little coast town with a port. I guess that's what you're looking for."
Dabbert sees Johnathan look up and then mimics the action, looking at the position of the sun.
"Day light is burning. I uh...We're going, if you're going. Otherwise, good luck to you, AURYN bearers." Dabbert says, nodding as he wheels his horse and heads back to the formation.
It's in motion within minutes.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
Kerwyn pulls his snail up beside Dab and says "We are heading your way, please, let us travel together. Perhaps we can learn from one another. Do you have anyone that is really good with swords? I have this greatsword here (he pulls it out with a clang), but it needs a little fine tuning, some sharpening, some help I don't know... with the balance? I would love to really pick your brain and hear your tales of what you have seen. Just be care around Old Ironsides here, he is an acquired taste. Hah hah hah!" Kerwyn laughs a little too loud and busies himself with polishing the top of Ironsides shell as they snail along, whistling a little tune to himself.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Aoe follows everyone lead, occasionally finding himself in discourse with random people. He takes it all in and learns as much as possible about nockmaar, the region, as well as how to wield weapons, how to take out and put away his weapon faster, and other skills.
During the next 2 days of travel to the port Johnathan keeps a close eye on this platoon. On one hand he was quite used to travelling with a large army of soldiers, it reminded him of simpler times, but on the other hand he didn’t trust these strangers. He watches as the others make the most out the journey by asking more experienced warriors for tips and advice to help with their own training. He considers joining in on this training but decides to keep his distance. Johnathan particularly avoids the clerics and holy people of the platoon. They might be able to sense what I am. Johnathan makes it a point to memorise the appearance of one of the soldiers that were a similar height to himself for later use.
During the nights Johnathan practises his ritual casting away from the platoon in his own tent. He also decides to not feed for 2 days while travelling with this platoon. Better be on my best behaviour, don’t what to be caught again. I’m sure I’ll manage to go a few days. After the first day his flask is empty and Johnathan begins to get very irritable and moody. By the end of the second day he starts to get an involuntary shake in his arms and starts getting migraines.
Shavaris rides up with Kerwyn and the captain and thanks them for the escort. She asks about the trouble he has been referring to and if it is anywhere else as well. She also asks him about Timber's Place and any information he can give about that place as well.
During the evenings she asks the captain, "Is there someone within your troop that can assist me with my survival skills? I am trying to hone them so when we get to Eternia, I am hopeful they will help us find what we are looking for."
She is uncomfortable for the most part traveling with such a large number. She tries to hide it and does her best to make friends with the captain, figuring it wouldn't hurt. But at night, alone in her tent, she feels she can breath again. She abhors sleeping on the ground, but with no trees in the vicinity, she doesn't have much choice.
On the second evening, noticing Johnathan's shakes - hard not to - she asks him if he'd like to go hunting with her, work on the new skills she is learning. When they are alone, they hunt and he feeds. While she sits a bit away from him, giving him his space, she sees a woman in the distance, watching them. By the time Shavaris gets to her feet and draws her rapiers, she is gone.
Aoe finds time on the first morning together to speak to the leader. “I must confess, as you know, in battle you work with what you are given. They all,” gesturing toward the group, “believe in saving the realm… for this I am grateful. My requirements are twofold …”
…
1)
“first I must ask you here In Private to be honest… would you be actually ‘request’ our help in your upcoming confrontation? You mentioned it… but what are speaking of? A change from possible casualties to possible surrender might be worth it. Our band believes in the good of humanoids. Even if some are rough around the edges.”
2)
”and second, perhaps you or one of your men, or women eh hem, can help me… I must confess I am not, shall we say… one with my sword… and have yet to perfect the art of mixing the artistry of the arcane and the artistry of war…”
…”would anyone here happen to be handy with blade as well as spell? I wish to learn how to hold my concentration on spells even in the heat of battle, and more quickly react when aggressed I’m close range combat… which heaven for bit, I fear is inevitable on this path we walk.” (Warcaster feat) Aoe leans into his own exceptional persuasiveness.
The travel with the platoon was enjoyable for Ralik. He spent the time getting to know the different types/races of people it held. He also takes time to get to know the animals of the platoon, their mounts and so on. He seeks out some who have the skills he is looking to hone, asking for tips and demonstrations, along with some exercises that would help continue his improvement. Running Bird got a bit of attention along with the other mounts and liked to follow Ralik around when permitted. The two would occasionally talk to each other when not occupied with other tasks or when traveling. Ralik would join in on the night hunt with Johnathan and Shavaris, but would leave once the animal is caught, leaving Johnathan to the bloody deed. He mostly just wanted to help in the exercise.
Drow enthusiast
Lover of lore and magic.
-The White Crow-