Vin can't help but smile in amusement as Elthana pulls out a pair of old underwear. What is even more amusing is how Gewyn manages to make a trade of a doll for the bag. Was it really worth more then 20 gold? Vin wasn't sure but he's seen some of those fancy porcelain dolls the upper class would often buy for their kids and figured the two knew something he didn't. Having thoroughly avoided the topic he wanted to avoid vin says "Thanks for talking with me Dennis. I hope you get a lot of success with your new spell." Vin then looks to Nef and the two make their way back to the carriage with the rest of the group once they are ready.
As you all find your way back to the carriage, you find everything ready and in order, Walker and Gara are at the driver seat chatting, the horses look refreshed and are secured properly and you also find Ebb sitting patiently in the back, deep in thought. "There you all are..." Gara pipes up with a wave, "c'mon we've not got all day, pile in. We've got a long haul ahead of us."
As each of you clamber up into the back, having done everything you needed to get done and made all the necessary preparations, you begin moving away from Trundlesten. The carriage's noise, a constant clunking and rolling as it continues along its path, the heavy smells of civilisation giving away to the crisp freshness of rolling fields and the natural earth around.
Once in the back of the carriage, Gewyn quickly goes into his pack for a change of shirt. He selects one just as bright but with fewer baubles and chains. Doffing and donning in rapid succession, he then settles low into the back of the carriage, tilts his head down, and looks to be trying to catch up on missed rest, though actual sleep does not come.
Sam does his best to get comfortable and to let time pass. He makes idle chit chat from time to time, mentioning this or that about the festival or noting things about the weather or the road. Easy, non-Intrusive stuff. He is a bit worried about the bag but Sam figures Elthana has made their choice already… It occurs to Sam to inquire with Ebb about that other clergy member and if Ebb had gotten any heat, but Sam decides that there too he should just let sleeping dogs lie.
And speaking of sleep, Sam is eager to get more of it…. And allows himself to drift off if he is able.
Vin seems incredibly tired when greeted and seems delighted to hop into the carriage and promptly falls asleep inside. They lean on Nef who sits next to them as they sleep. The dog remains vigilant though and watches each person inside the carriage with extreme intensity.
As Elthana boards the carriage she takes out the odd bag she purchased from the wizard's shop and offers everyone a go at it. "What intrigued me most about this bag is not the items retrieved from it, but the fact that when you reach in, you only feel one item. Anyone want to give it a go?" she holds it out...
"What intrigues me about the bag is that it is too good to be true and the Dennis was all too willing to let it go for nothing," Sam says, subtly shifting away from the bag. "I was interested when I thought it was a bit of trickery and such... Might as well toss your coin in the well and make a wish, eh? But if there's no end to the pulling out and it does sometimes dish out valuables... Why would the locals stop trying their luck? For that matter, why wouldn't Dennis just pull and pull and pull until he got enough valuables to be wealthy for life?"
Sam coughs and then shrugs. "I don't think I want to risk it know that I've thought on it a bit more. There's no way it's all junk or windfall... Something tells me there has to be a downside as well."
The carriage rumbles along and for two days straight there is nothing but verdant green fields and hills, the sea to the north cam be glimpsed every so often but it's cold winds are more noticeable, especially at night. Not a single carriage or merchant wagon is passed on the road up to Hokum, and as you travel the group sets a rolling watch, someone to go up to the drivers position and keep an eye out giving one guard a break at a time. During these watches there is always a guard at the reigns guiding the carriage along the well worn and mud rutted road.
The food that Dennis provided does indeed do as he says, throwing one marble into a mess tin of boiling water makes the marbles swell up, apparently the outer shell of the capsule is made up of two large dehydrated mushrooms, inside of which are steaming hot meats and vegetables, lacking in any strong flavour but sustenance all the same, the red ones provided for Nef swell up to be large balls of minced meat which turn an odd grey colour with the heat, they are pretty tough after their dehydration and rehydration but not an issue for the dogs powerful maw.
On the evening of the second day as the sun dips low to the east, Sam happens to be on watch, sat up at the front of the carriage with Walker who happens to be driving at this particular time, when Sam spots something shiny off to one side of the road, hailing Walker to slow he peers into the green fields to the north, the shiny object a stark difference to its surroundings and the first thing to break the monotony in the two days travelled. Walker fully stops the carriage "now is as good a time as any to stretch our legs, but there's still a few more hours travel before we need to set up camp if we're to keep on schedule." He looks toward the setting sun before eyeing the odd shiny object, it's too far away to fully make out, he then glances to Sam and jumps down off the driver's seat.
Over the course of the first two days, Gewyn gets more and more fidgety. Sometimes he cracks jokes tells tall tales, and plays little pieces of music. Other times, on smooth patches of road, he sits quietly and writes in his book of "Very Secret Notes," and on occasion he will pull out his bird pipes and play a song to entertain, or work on putting together a melody for a new piece.
But as the days drag on and they get closer and closer to Hokum, his jokes grow quieter and less frequent. By the latter half of the second day, he only plays his pipes when a strong wind picks up to carry the notes quickly away, lending them a haunting quality.
When the carriage stops at Sam's behest, Gewyn comes up behind him, places a foot on the side of the carriage to put himself in an exaggerated lunge, and holds both hands up to his eye as if looking through an imaginary looking glass. "What see you on yon horizon, Captain Sam? Getting distracted by something shiny are we?"
As the days pass Sam spent them idly whittling and passing whatever small talk may have arisen, otherwise most keeping his eyes shut and enjoying the need to not do anything too pressing. The rumbling of the carriage, the lazy view, the lack of very many chores was all a welcome break from the hard work he is used to.
After pointing out the object and waiting for the carriage to stop, Sam jumps down and waits a bit for the others. “Just what is our schedule, Walker? If we are late will whatever is wrong with Hokum resolve itself?” Sam asks curiously. “Wanting to get there quickly I understand, a schedule I do not…”
Sam listens to whatever reply Walker offers and likely just grunts or growls in response. (Just trying to keep things moving…)
“If I’m a Captain then I want a pay raise,” Sam responds to Gewyn with a bit of a smirk. “Not sure what the shiny is but it’s an excuse to stop a short bit, stretch and relieve ourselves if nothing else, eh?”
“Prolly a few of us can go check it out and the others wait near the carriage… just in case?”
Walker fidgets abit, "oh um... schedule is the wrong word maybe, but we were told to get you there as fast as possible, hence the... Well schedule. Also you apparently need to be back in Marblestead before the winter solstice, which is just over three weeks away. For travel time that means a couple more days to Hokum from here, then two weeks there to sort whatever is going on and then a week's travel back... um sorry if that's an inconvenience, it's just orders, sir", descends from the back of the carriage and merely rolls his eyes at Walkers overly explanatory nervousness, "we'll stay with the carriage if you all wanna go check on whatever that is" he grumbles as he stretches down trying to reach his toes, he doesn't make it, but it's a good try considering the armour.
Gewyn hops down beside Sam and nods at Gara. "A noble attempt. You know, considering the armour. Just to make communication a bit smoother this time, assume we don't need back up unless you hear me playing a loud tune that starts with one note playing three times in a row. Oh and Walker," he pats Sam's chest. "Captain Sam here wants a pay raise. Gara's busy bending over forwards, so if you wouldn't mind bending over backwards, I look forward to hearing your creative solutions to that little problem of his." Gewyn winks and prepares to set out.
Elthana spends most of her time in the carriage keeping to herself. She isn't good at small talk, and just watches the countryside as it flows on by.
As they stop to check out the shiny, she jumps nimbly out of the carriage next to Gewyn and smiles at his comments to Walker. Hoping it sinks in this time as they don't need another bite to his leg. She spins her pole around a bit and looks out in the distance to see what Sam is talking about.
Peering over to the object, glinting in the distance Element figures it can't be more than a couple inches across and likely metallic, poking up from the ground.
"Well we stopped, may as well go look," Sam says with a shrug and starts walking towards whatever it is he say. "Probably nothing but after so long of nothing even that is worth investigating, huh?" Sam moves steadily across the land, not rushing to whatever the object may be but he's also not being particularly wary either. He's mostly just talking a bit of a leg stretch using the shiny as an excuse.
As you all stroll over to the shiny object Sam pointed out, you find a sword sticking i to the ground blade down, it looks fairly ornate, the make of it is nothing anyone has seen before and the most remarkable thing about it is that it seems to be only a few inches long, a miniature sword.
Elthana looks at the sword and the way it is embedded in the ground, she then looks around and looks up to the sky for a second. Doing some quick calculations in her head, she begins walking away from the sword and starts searching a nearby patch of long grass.
"If only we still had that Gewyn doll," Sam thinks aloud. He walks around a bit kicking at the dirt and wondering if this is really what glinted in the sun and caught his attention but he supposes he sees nothing else around. With a shrug he turns towards the wandering Elthana and asks "You seen something?"
As Elthana starts walking away, she hears Sam's smart comment and looks back giving him an unimpressed glare. She turns back to what she is following and about 10 feet away from the sword she squats down in the grass to get a better look. Before her in the long grass there is a ten inch tall humanoid, limp and lifeless. She reaches her hand out to touch it, checking to see if it is alive or not.
Looking closer she sees that it is male, clad in a shiny blue accented tunic of some kind, and it wears a pack made from a leaf sewn together with gold string. But the first thing of note are the iridescent insectoid wings sprouting from its back. Looking again at the tiny winged human and the sword, "Looks like he has come directly from Hokum."
No one has ever seen a humanoid this small, it's race, it's origin, a mystery, that has only ever been spoken of in rumour, fairytale and children's story...
The sudden appearance of something so odd and rare, stirs the memory of a few party members as they look upon this delicate and deceased creature.
Vin can't help but smile in amusement as Elthana pulls out a pair of old underwear. What is even more amusing is how Gewyn manages to make a trade of a doll for the bag. Was it really worth more then 20 gold? Vin wasn't sure but he's seen some of those fancy porcelain dolls the upper class would often buy for their kids and figured the two knew something he didn't. Having thoroughly avoided the topic he wanted to avoid vin says "Thanks for talking with me Dennis. I hope you get a lot of success with your new spell." Vin then looks to Nef and the two make their way back to the carriage with the rest of the group once they are ready.
As you all find your way back to the carriage, you find everything ready and in order, Walker and Gara are at the driver seat chatting, the horses look refreshed and are secured properly and you also find Ebb sitting patiently in the back, deep in thought. "There you all are..." Gara pipes up with a wave, "c'mon we've not got all day, pile in. We've got a long haul ahead of us."
As each of you clamber up into the back, having done everything you needed to get done and made all the necessary preparations, you begin moving away from Trundlesten. The carriage's noise, a constant clunking and rolling as it continues along its path, the heavy smells of civilisation giving away to the crisp freshness of rolling fields and the natural earth around.
Once in the back of the carriage, Gewyn quickly goes into his pack for a change of shirt. He selects one just as bright but with fewer baubles and chains. Doffing and donning in rapid succession, he then settles low into the back of the carriage, tilts his head down, and looks to be trying to catch up on missed rest, though actual sleep does not come.
Sam does his best to get comfortable and to let time pass. He makes idle chit chat from time to time, mentioning this or that about the festival or noting things about the weather or the road. Easy, non-Intrusive stuff. He is a bit worried about the bag but Sam figures Elthana has made their choice already… It occurs to Sam to inquire with Ebb about that other clergy member and if Ebb had gotten any heat, but Sam decides that there too he should just let sleeping dogs lie.
And speaking of sleep, Sam is eager to get more of it…. And allows himself to drift off if he is able.
Vin seems incredibly tired when greeted and seems delighted to hop into the carriage and promptly falls asleep inside. They lean on Nef who sits next to them as they sleep. The dog remains vigilant though and watches each person inside the carriage with extreme intensity.
As Elthana boards the carriage she takes out the odd bag she purchased from the wizard's shop and offers everyone a go at it. "What intrigued me most about this bag is not the items retrieved from it, but the fact that when you reach in, you only feel one item. Anyone want to give it a go?" she holds it out...
"What intrigues me about the bag is that it is too good to be true and the Dennis was all too willing to let it go for nothing," Sam says, subtly shifting away from the bag. "I was interested when I thought it was a bit of trickery and such... Might as well toss your coin in the well and make a wish, eh? But if there's no end to the pulling out and it does sometimes dish out valuables... Why would the locals stop trying their luck? For that matter, why wouldn't Dennis just pull and pull and pull until he got enough valuables to be wealthy for life?"
Sam coughs and then shrugs. "I don't think I want to risk it know that I've thought on it a bit more. There's no way it's all junk or windfall... Something tells me there has to be a downside as well."
The carriage rumbles along and for two days straight there is nothing but verdant green fields and hills, the sea to the north cam be glimpsed every so often but it's cold winds are more noticeable, especially at night. Not a single carriage or merchant wagon is passed on the road up to Hokum, and as you travel the group sets a rolling watch, someone to go up to the drivers position and keep an eye out giving one guard a break at a time. During these watches there is always a guard at the reigns guiding the carriage along the well worn and mud rutted road.
The food that Dennis provided does indeed do as he says, throwing one marble into a mess tin of boiling water makes the marbles swell up, apparently the outer shell of the capsule is made up of two large dehydrated mushrooms, inside of which are steaming hot meats and vegetables, lacking in any strong flavour but sustenance all the same, the red ones provided for Nef swell up to be large balls of minced meat which turn an odd grey colour with the heat, they are pretty tough after their dehydration and rehydration but not an issue for the dogs powerful maw.
On the evening of the second day as the sun dips low to the east, Sam happens to be on watch, sat up at the front of the carriage with Walker who happens to be driving at this particular time, when Sam spots something shiny off to one side of the road, hailing Walker to slow he peers into the green fields to the north, the shiny object a stark difference to its surroundings and the first thing to break the monotony in the two days travelled. Walker fully stops the carriage "now is as good a time as any to stretch our legs, but there's still a few more hours travel before we need to set up camp if we're to keep on schedule." He looks toward the setting sun before eyeing the odd shiny object, it's too far away to fully make out, he then glances to Sam and jumps down off the driver's seat.
Over the course of the first two days, Gewyn gets more and more fidgety. Sometimes he cracks jokes tells tall tales, and plays little pieces of music. Other times, on smooth patches of road, he sits quietly and writes in his book of "Very Secret Notes," and on occasion he will pull out his bird pipes and play a song to entertain, or work on putting together a melody for a new piece.
But as the days drag on and they get closer and closer to Hokum, his jokes grow quieter and less frequent. By the latter half of the second day, he only plays his pipes when a strong wind picks up to carry the notes quickly away, lending them a haunting quality.
When the carriage stops at Sam's behest, Gewyn comes up behind him, places a foot on the side of the carriage to put himself in an exaggerated lunge, and holds both hands up to his eye as if looking through an imaginary looking glass. "What see you on yon horizon, Captain Sam? Getting distracted by something shiny are we?"
As the days pass Sam spent them idly whittling and passing whatever small talk may have arisen, otherwise most keeping his eyes shut and enjoying the need to not do anything too pressing. The rumbling of the carriage, the lazy view, the lack of very many chores was all a welcome break from the hard work he is used to.
After pointing out the object and waiting for the carriage to stop, Sam jumps down and waits a bit for the others. “Just what is our schedule, Walker? If we are late will whatever is wrong with Hokum resolve itself?” Sam asks curiously. “Wanting to get there quickly I understand, a schedule I do not…”
Sam listens to whatever reply Walker offers and likely just grunts or growls in response. (Just trying to keep things moving…)
“If I’m a Captain then I want a pay raise,” Sam responds to Gewyn with a bit of a smirk. “Not sure what the shiny is but it’s an excuse to stop a short bit, stretch and relieve ourselves if nothing else, eh?”
“Prolly a few of us can go check it out and the others wait near the carriage… just in case?”
Walker fidgets abit, "oh um... schedule is the wrong word maybe, but we were told to get you there as fast as possible, hence the... Well schedule. Also you apparently need to be back in Marblestead before the winter solstice, which is just over three weeks away. For travel time that means a couple more days to Hokum from here, then two weeks there to sort whatever is going on and then a week's travel back... um sorry if that's an inconvenience, it's just orders, sir", descends from the back of the carriage and merely rolls his eyes at Walkers overly explanatory nervousness, "we'll stay with the carriage if you all wanna go check on whatever that is" he grumbles as he stretches down trying to reach his toes, he doesn't make it, but it's a good try considering the armour.
Gewyn hops down beside Sam and nods at Gara. "A noble attempt. You know, considering the armour. Just to make communication a bit smoother this time, assume we don't need back up unless you hear me playing a loud tune that starts with one note playing three times in a row. Oh and Walker," he pats Sam's chest. "Captain Sam here wants a pay raise. Gara's busy bending over forwards, so if you wouldn't mind bending over backwards, I look forward to hearing your creative solutions to that little problem of his." Gewyn winks and prepares to set out.
Elthana spends most of her time in the carriage keeping to herself. She isn't good at small talk, and just watches the countryside as it flows on by.
As they stop to check out the shiny, she jumps nimbly out of the carriage next to Gewyn and smiles at his comments to Walker. Hoping it sinks in this time as they don't need another bite to his leg. She spins her pole around a bit and looks out in the distance to see what Sam is talking about.
Perception 17
Peering over to the object, glinting in the distance Element figures it can't be more than a couple inches across and likely metallic, poking up from the ground.
"Well we stopped, may as well go look," Sam says with a shrug and starts walking towards whatever it is he say. "Probably nothing but after so long of nothing even that is worth investigating, huh?" Sam moves steadily across the land, not rushing to whatever the object may be but he's also not being particularly wary either. He's mostly just talking a bit of a leg stretch using the shiny as an excuse.
Elthana shrugs and joins Sam as he starts heading in that direction. She also enjoys stretching her legs after such a long time in the carriage.
As you all stroll over to the shiny object Sam pointed out, you find a sword sticking i to the ground blade down, it looks fairly ornate, the make of it is nothing anyone has seen before and the most remarkable thing about it is that it seems to be only a few inches long, a miniature sword.
Elthana looks at the sword and the way it is embedded in the ground, she then looks around and looks up to the sky for a second. Doing some quick calculations in her head, she begins walking away from the sword and starts searching a nearby patch of long grass.
"If only we still had that Gewyn doll," Sam thinks aloud. He walks around a bit kicking at the dirt and wondering if this is really what glinted in the sun and caught his attention but he supposes he sees nothing else around. With a shrug he turns towards the wandering Elthana and asks "You seen something?"
As Elthana starts walking away, she hears Sam's smart comment and looks back giving him an unimpressed glare. She turns back to what she is following and about 10 feet away from the sword she squats down in the grass to get a better look. Before her in the long grass there is a ten inch tall humanoid, limp and lifeless. She reaches her hand out to touch it, checking to see if it is alive or not.
Looking closer she sees that it is male, clad in a shiny blue accented tunic of some kind, and it wears a pack made from a leaf sewn together with gold string. But the first thing of note are the iridescent insectoid wings sprouting from its back. Looking again at the tiny winged human and the sword, "Looks like he has come directly from Hokum."
No one has ever seen a humanoid this small, it's race, it's origin, a mystery, that has only ever been spoken of in rumour, fairytale and children's story...
The sudden appearance of something so odd and rare, stirs the memory of a few party members as they look upon this delicate and deceased creature.