Nat moves his horse to ride next to Gimble, attempting to get a read on the man.  Your people came from nearby?  So your family wasn't always in Sul na Mara, then?  He shrugs, trying to keep the mood light.  You might have guessed that I'm not originally from Triskele, though it's where my parents ended up, right enough.

"Elves aren't allowed to roam freely anymore as we did," Gimble replies. "Sul Na Mara's slums welcomed many of us regardless if there was room to survive their or not," the half-elf adds with a sneer. "I'm lucky. I'm rare enough that I don't really belong to the humans or the elves. Just that gray area like you and Duc exist were the Empire hasn't quite figured out how to get rid of us yet..." he trails off his tone bitter but also weirdly comic. Gimble doesn't seem like a man who dwells on dark moods but today running into the Bedouins has made him retrospective which is not a feeling he regularly entertains. "We all should be careful," he then calls out loudly to the group. "Soon it'll be nothing but humans with no magic but the divine that can move freely in the Empire," he speculates aloud but it's a general sentiment that all non-humans and magic-users alike carry within the Empire which all of you have heard about or at least suffered from this growing open discrimination!

Nat nods, scowling now.  Yeah.  Bards can go anywhere, in theory, but I learned pretty quick which taverns will welcome someone like me, and which to avoid.  Not that I'd want to perform for a bunch of loyalists, even if they'd have me.  Miserable sods, most of them.  You'd think their bloody empire would make them happier.  For the first time that morning, a smile returns to his face.  But we've much better company here, no?  He sweeps his arm to indicate the following group.

Alici has been craning her neck to look behind, her gaze sweeping over the open savanna. She turns to look forward just in time to see Nat's sweeping motion. She waves back puzzled, then goes back to keeping a lookout.

     The anger rises again within the barbarian hearing Gimble's speculation. "You are right. The empire did not like that my clan are able to call on the spirits of our ancestors or the animals." The leather reins he holds creak as he twists them in frustration. "They need to be stopped before more innocents die!"

Moving as lightly as always Duc vaults into the saddle, seemingly weightless despite the mail and the weaponry.  Looking over at Gimble she smiles and offers "Well, let us be on our guard and we will hopefully find something of value to the Order.  I'm sorry for the way your people have been treated, you are right, I am one of the fringe too, but my kind are not a tribe, we are manifestations and we do not share anything so I am just a wanderer, a free spirit if you will."

"I can't say I've had more interesting company, no," Gimble replies his smile returning. "The Empire is being....handle by the Order. It's chipping away at the foundations of this tyranny and soon it will crumble," Gimble adds slightly gleeful. "Duc you don't claim others like you," he then asks reigning his horse nearer to hers with a curious expression. "You have no clan or kin," he asks.

The road is wider now but still virtually deserted. Much like traveling yesterday you passed a half dozen travelers but oddly it's not busy at the height of late summer season.

"I understand there are others like me, they are not my family, my mother told me I was a child of her and the wild spirits of the northern winds, which is clearly not exactly true but possibly not exactly false either."  She looks squarely at Gimble, holding his gaze for a few seconds. "Let us see what life brings, maybe one day I will find my place in this world."

Alici is so focused on watching the rear that she has to struggle to pull the reigns back as she almost runs her steed into Retiog's. "My apologies." She tries to focus on the ride and keeping a safe distance, but keeps checking over her shoulder once in a while.

With Gimble pulling back to speak with Duc, Nat takes the lead and keeps an eye out in front.  As he does so, he hums quietly to himself, a new tune that he is composing.  From time to time his lips move as he tries out lyrics, though judging by his expression he's not happy with the results.  After a while, he also pulls back and lets another, probably Gimble, go in front.  

"Nat, do you know any songs about heroes?" Duc asks as the triton moves closer "Growing up they used to love those type of songs in Caorthann, tales of Sir Hrain the Bold and his servant Flozzie the daring halfling always used to make me laugh." She smiles to herself remembering "Good times, good songs."

Of course, says Nat, grinning.  And what could be better, for a merry band of heroes such as ourselves?  He launches into one of the better known songs of Sir Hrain, which tells the story of his bold quest to save the village of Fareia from destruction at the hands of a young blue dragon (or green dragon - versions differ), and also how Flozzie acquired her signature Singing Shortbow.  It's a good travelling song and much of it recounts several fast-paced chases across the countryside as the hero relentlessly pursues his quarry.  

Duc thoroughly enjoys the song joining in with the chorus as they ride "Retiog, you like the song?  Alici, how about you?" The genasi seems a different person, carefree and happy for the first time since anyone has known her.  The parts about Flozzie making her laugh out loud from time to time.

     Reitog relaxes as he listens to the tune, a smile almost coming to his face. "Sounds like that Flozzie is sometimes up to no good... I think I might like her." 

Alici replies with a hurried "Huh? Yeah, sure, sure it's great..." looking over her shoulder once again.

OOC: This is pre-SoT my lovely people but HA! That's hilarious! This is leading up to the Dragon cult much like Dumat's! P.s. those are the two other games I am running with Talamh as the world!

Gimble nods at Duc with a smile and moves back to the lead. The party takes another day chatting and keeping watch as they move along the road northeast. Then abruptly stops with sand now as far as the eye can see ahead. The stark contrast of environments is eerily and seems a tell-tale sign of some outside force dramatically altering the landscape!

"Welcome to the lawless north my friends, "Gimble exclaims his grin returning finally before urging his horse ahead into the sand.

The mountain in the morning now is clearly defined by one large craggy gray snow-capped peak. The lonely mountain and rough terrain on either side were apart of a former range but those mountains seem to have become the sand now that moves like a sea in the wind around the party. The horses move deftly over the sand and by early evening the mountain now looms ahead nearly 1000ft across and thousands of feet high!

Note: The party was on the road that traveled northeast out of Sul Na Mara that just disappeared from the savannah into sand.

Alici removes her helm as the mountain comes into view. She holds it in the crook of her right arm and stares up at it. "Magnificent." Some her hair has started to come loose and the strands whip about in the wind. She looks around, then back at Gimble, expectantly. 

    Retiog rips of a sleeve of his shirt, then puts his head through the circle of fabric, pulling it down over his nose and mouth. "Our clan stayed clear of this mountain... A good reason it seems." He scans the hard landscape and shakes his head. "Is what we are after in there?" he asks Gimble as he points to the lone mountain.

Nat eyes the lone mountain with suspicion, but keeps his thoughts to himself.  If the triton feels uncomfortable in a desert, he does his best not to show it.

"We go in," Gimble replies.

The party follows Gimble another 30ft to a jagged pile of rocks that offers some shelter for their horses who seem annoyed but not unuse to such terrain.

"We'll tie them up here and leave water," Gimble explains pointing out a stone trough.

Gimble then walks up to it muttering a few words before water rises in the trough. Gimble having cast create or destroy water