Union! Game Thread

Arc doesn't pay much mind to the people once they start talking about religion. While the gods interested him, he wasn't one to worship others simply because they held more power than him. With that being said, he inspected the cart to make sure his job was done then headed back to the party's wagon.

"May the light be with you! Yes, we've come on a mission to preach the gospel. In these trying times, the light needs to be lit wherever we can, if we want to keep the forces of the darkness at bay. The high priest has sent us to help out with the Duskrock church, and to preach the teachings of the flame. Degram Blacksundr has travelled with us, he is here as part of Thrane's delegation to the peace accords."

At the mention of his name, a barrel-chested dwarf with a scar across his face pulls back his hood: "Very nice to meet you. It was only through your steadfast alliance that Thrane withstood the Zhivar and Garonnian forces and stood to kindle the light anew in this Corphyra of tomorrow!"

Thia would blink a couple times. This interaction reminded her that she is a woman of science. Not that she didn’t believe in gods or religion. There’s a place and a balance for everything. But their exuberance takes a little adjusting too.

The artificer would bow her head in a respectful greeting to the group and to the dwarf, “Hello Sir.” At this point she had no reason not to introduce herself and no reason not to trust them. She’d take the chance and introduce herself and the Veiled Valour. “My name is Thia. I’ve recently become a member of the Veiled Valour, an organization that’s begun fixing up Duskrock’s dilapidated and abandoned Silver Flame  church. Their work revolves around taking care of the sick and offering refuge to those displaced. Currently there’s an epidemic outbreak which they are tasked with handling with limited resources. If you intend to lend a hand in this effort, I imagine it would be most helpful for our exhausted members.”

At that, she saw the faces of the delegation go through a whole range of emotions in quick succession. Excusing themselves for a quick moment, they gather to discuss the news quietly. Despite their efforts, Thia can't help but overhear them:

"Diseased refugees inside the church? That is sacrilege! It is to be a place of quite contemplation and the rituals of the kindling! We must expulse these interlopers immediately!" "A.are you sure we should even enter the city, if there is disease there? Maybe we should start our prolestysing in Wroat instead?" "Are you craven? We need to reclaim the church and do our holy work, as it was ordered!"

After a while, Blacksundr came forward: "We thank you for your information. We will have to speak to the authorities in Duskrock, as there clearly must have been a mistake with regards to the church. It belongs to the Flamekeepers. Anyway, thanks for your help, and we wish you a pleasant day!" With that and a warm smile, the adults and children return their possessions onto the cart, before loading up the children and making ready to head onwards to Duskrock.

As the delegate and his entourage loaded up their newly fixed cart, Tarian’s hidden smirk turned to a snicker, then to a laugh. “So if even a Thranish delegate can be a short-sighted idiot, maybe I am cut out to be a negotiator, after all!”

The dirty looks and cold stares did nothing to Tarian. “No, no, you go ahead. ‘Reclaim’ your ‘church.’ It’ll be empty again in a year, anyway.” She struggled to talk around her chuckles. When Degram Blacksundr stomped over toward the cart with an indignant look on his face, Tarian continued. “Think long term, and think about the people you’re going to be proselytizing to. Allies you may be, but you’re still outsiders. Only now you’ll be outsiders who both take things away from the needy and force ‘diseased refugees’ into their neighborhoods.” Tarian waved her hand dismissively. “Or do you really think they’ll just disappear once you’ve kicked them out of your church? They’ve got to go somewhere, and they won’t be going far.

Yeah, you’ll have your church back, and you’ll be the only ones in it. Duskrock is a city of newspapers. The moment you take your church back the whole city will know it. And I guarantee you that being the responsible party—namely, you—“ Tarian gestured not only to Blacksundr, but to his entourage as well, “will not look good.”

The woman who insisted that it was their holy work to reclaim the church sputtered. Tarian raised a hand to stop her. “If you don’t want this to be a public relations nightmare, I see a few options: one, wait until the refugee problem is over and done with, then reclaim the building. Two, let them be, and build another church. Three, reclaim the building, and use the Veiled Valor to formalize and integrate a hospital as part of your church services.” Tarian shrugged. “But if having the building is more important than spreading your message, go ahead and take it.”

Somewhat disgruntled, the Thran caravan heads off, and once a few hundred yards away, Njalgas calls you all back to the cart, and within minutes, the journey continues. 

The rest of the morning is uneventful, as you drive along the silver straight. To anyone looking at the surrounding countryside however, you can see the marks of the war, not necessarily in any obvious destruction of infrastructure or the land, but through a bunch of details: The cornfields that are slowly being retaken by weeds and grass, the windmill in disrepair, the hamlet with only a third of the stoves burning. While once the silver straight served as a major trade route, the villages along its route are now mostly abandoned, and the few faces you see are almost all old Brelish farmers or artisans, too rooted or frail to make the move to the city and start anew.

Towards noon, the surrounding country begins to get rougher, with hills and rock formations bursting out from the ground and breaking up the previous plains. You see less farms and more shepherds now, with small mountain and hillside villages dotting the landscape in the distance. Increasingly, you also see small brooks and rivers, previously led in canals to irrigate the fields, now running wild. A couple of forests are emitting smoke, indicating the industrious colliers producing charcoal for the Cannith forgeries in the city. Njalgas hals the cart near a logging and collier camp, and calls to you all: "Right, time for lunch! We'll head on in an hour or so." With that, he leapt from his seat, and headed towards some of the tradesmen, greeting them warmly and starting to share his lunch with some of the lumberjacks.

Corti remained near the back of the group during the rest of the interactions with the church members, not sure where exactly the conversation was leading. When the group returns to the wagon she is still quiet, but when they begin to unload for lunch she heads over to Tarian and Thia. "I think you handled those people really well. You both did! I'm sorry though, they really seemed alright... Hopefully they won't cause any trouble."

"I hope they don't cause trouble either." Thia was genuinely worried, but honestly, Tarian stepped in and did her thing and it was fantastic. The student definitely had no idea how to respond to them and was obviously taken aback by their ignorance.

She'd look to Tarian, "Thank you. As I said before, you are cut out to be the negotiator, I never doubted it." She'd take a deep breath, "And I absolutely apologize for my childish behaviour last night. I could give you many reasons for my actions, but they'd just be excuses." Thia was being sincere. She prefers to fess up and take responsibilities for her sensitivities than to blame them on other things. It was easier to process. She'd feel awkward, but this time she would put her hand out to Tarian for a shake.

Tarian took the handshake readily. “I wasn’t really worried about it. I figured you had your reasons, and usually I walk away with bruises and bloody knuckles whenever someone has a problem with me. This was a nice change, actually. Apology accepted, though, and I’ll listen to your ‘excuses’ if you want to talk about them.”

Tarian hopped down from the driver’s bench and started looking after the wagon-pulling horses that Njalgas had unceremoniously abandoned. “I don’t know what those… ah… zealots are going to do. They might still go after your hospital. People with strong beliefs are capable of a lot of things. By that same reasoning, though, I think the Veiled Valor will be fine. If they’re anything like you, their belief in helping people will get them through being without a building for a while, if it comes to that.”

Tarian’s hands fumbled a moment, then stopped. “And… about that other thing… About Spudsder…” She spoke softly, such that no one beyond the wagon could hear. “I can’t say that you’re wrong. And in a lot of ways, it could make sense. He does have a lot of resources that would make it possible: a big farm, a distillery, cattle—not that having cattle would help, exactly, but it’s proof of wealth and gives any number of ways to get that into the city unnoticed if it’s coming from outside.” Tarian frowned. “He’s also got criminal connections and aspirations to power. He could benefit greatly if he’s seen as the one to solve the problem. We can’t rule him out.” Tarian’s knotted brow and the way she slowly continued to unfasten the horses made it clear she didn’t like this possibility she couldn’t dismiss.

With the reins to both horses in hand, Tarian thumbed the trough near where Njalgas, the lumberjacks, and miners were eating. “For now I think I’m going to practice some of those negotiating skills convincing these horses to drink.”

Thia would smile followed by a bit of a chuckle to Tarian's relaxed and nonchalant acceptance of her apology. She loved her attitude and believed just that, that Tarian wasn't worried. Whereas on the other hand, it was Thia who worried deeply and filled herself with anxieties. The student would hope Tarian would rub off on her. "There will be plenty of time for story telling on this assignment. We'll be spending a lot of time around eachother."

Her cheeks would blush with Tarian's words, "Thank you." Thia did feel some reassurance. "I'm only a new addition to the Veiled Valour. They achieved so much before I even heard about them. They will be just fine." She agreed with Tarian.

"The thought popped into my head when you said: ...give it to someone who would administer it unknowingly… Food lines, and the like..." The student would speak softly as well. "I believe Milo was genuine in his efforts for the greater good. Of course it wouldn't go without his desire for fame and fortune... but knowingly commit genocide via poison?" Thia would make sure to whisper the last bit. "I mean I could be completely overly optimistic here, but... I want to give Milo the benefit of the doubt and that the reason why he had to leave was that perhaps tampering was discovered?" Hearing her own words out loud, she could hear her own naivete. "But I also can't deny the fact that it could be him." He always did put on a good facade.

Brandt looks at Thia and Tarian as they discuss the possibility of Milo being behind this. "I never liked him. Too willing to do anything if it furthered his goal. Sure," He says, throwing up his hands, "I've done some things that I'm not proud of. Everyone has since the minute the war kicked off. But I know where to draw the line. You've got to have a point where you say no or else you're the same as those psychos who made the war as shitty as it was."

After about an hour or so, Njalgas returns. "Do we wanna get back on the road? I'd suggest we try and find some wooded area before making shelter and reporting in, so the sooner we get going the more of the surrounding lands we can inspect before nightfall. Or do you have any further business with the lumberjacks and colliers here?"

Tarian looked to the sky for a moment to gather her thoughts. Lumberjacks and colliers likely wouldn’t have much information on the current status of Marshall Arceneaux, even if they served in the war. There was, however, the matter of their other mission: in order to maintain their cover story, perhaps they should do some actual surveying work.

Tarian nodded. “Mister Njalgas, during your meal, did you learn who the foremen are—or better yet, if anyone here does surveying for their teams? From either the logging or mining operations will do. Both viewpoints would be useful for rail planning.” Tarian shaded her eyes and looked back in the direction of Duskrock, which would have been too far to see on the horizon even without the rolling landscape. “On a road like this we might still be a bit too close to Duskrock to be past the survey records in town, but it couldn’t hurt to do a little legwork ourselves.” She shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe the terrain has changed a bit since last it was checked.”

Tarian thought for a moment about each of their roles assigned to them by Sparks and Corsyr, then nodded to Thia. “Miss Thia, the geology and mapping was your field, and Mister Cannith,” she turned to him, “the engineering was yours. Mister Njalgas,” Tarian bent down a bit to address the gnome, “find them someone useful. And Miss Corti, keep these three out of trouble. Mister Brandt and I will get the horses hitched back up to the wagon. We won’t be long until we’re ready to move out, so get what information you can quickly.”

Corti had eventually wandered over to Tarian and the horses during the course of their lunch break, and had helped out where Tarian directed her to. When it seemed the horses were settled down, Corti began to work small, clumsy braids into their manes, turning over what Thia, Tarian, and Brandt had said, I can't believe that Milo would knowingly do this. He was so enthusiastic about helping the workers, and he seems smart enough to avoid drawing attention to himself if he would truly do something that horrible. 

As she notices Tarian speaking, she pats the horses one more time, and then moves to pay attention. After roles are assigned she gives Tarian a grin and a nod, "Will do, ma'am," With that, Corti meets up with Thia, Arc, and Njalgas.

Brandt walks over and aids Tarian in getting the horses hitched back up.

Right. I have a job to do. Thia snaps back to reality from Tarian's reminder and begins pulling out notes and tools. She'd begin wondering around the immediate area to investigate the local flora while Njalgas is ordered to find someone useful for them to speak too. Truth be told, the artificer was looking for hints of whether the medicinal ingredients she'd need to gather for the antitoxin would be available here. If she had no luck, she wouldn't go without completing the tasks requested of her for this journey. She'd take the required notes, rough sketches, measurements, recordings and observations about the area in the time allotted.

If she was done before Njalgas' was able to fetch someone, Thia would head towards the lumberjacks he was sharing his lunch with earlier. She'd smile her famous dimpled smiled as she approached the group of tradesmen, giving a slight bow of her head in a respectful greeting. "Good afternoon gentlemen, my name is Thia. I'm a researcher passing through and I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time to gain some insight on the area. I'm working on a project that involves mapping and cataloguing geological data."

Arc went about getting his job started, pulling out a small measuring tool then proceeding to eyeball and jot down numbers and figures regarding what he'd need for such an operation. He stands away from the workers, letting Thia and the rest do the job of motivating them.

Corti moves to stand next to Thia before remembering her cover and catching herself, settling a few feet behind her and waiting for an answer from the workers.

Arc had noticed one thing in particular. Though the road had been solid up until now, he saw the colliers use bricks of earth to heat up their kiln, which pointed to the earth here being peaty. In winter, they'd have an easy time traversing the land here, but come spring, the rainfall would likely turn much of the landscape into a moor, meaning that the tracks would likely sink, unless built on a solid foundation. This was certainly going to complicate their project, but the abundance of fuel could provide a hidden opportunity. Also, with the lumber and coal nearby, they would move parts of the smelting operation with them, forging the steel and repairing tools as they went along. 

Thia sketches some of the local flora, and selects some specimens to press and take with her. Apart from a beautiful example of a Belladonna, some pipeweed, some Aaron's Rod, and Adder's Tongue, she finds a bright blue flower growing in a cluster, with oblong leaves, which she takes with her. Maybe Wilfred or Alexis, or Tarian could help her identify the herb. 

 After approaching the workmen, one of the larger ones, who looks like he must be part giantkin, starts with a bemused tone: "No gen'lemen here, if I see correctly. But yeah, I knoes the land 'ere. So, ye fine cityfolk wanna pass through 'ere? Yer best bet is ta stick ta the valley floor, unles ya wanna head further east, in which case, ye's need ta cross the Pan. As for th' rocks here, Mulch can tell y'all more 'bout them than I." With that, the old duergar in front of Thia folds his face into a thousand wrinkles, as he gives her his most charming toothless grin. " Big Olaf 'ere's right… Mulch knoes 'em stones better than any others this side of the Neck. Good solid granite, most o' it, tho thar's a rich vein o' coal, deep black an' as large as Olaf 'ere in it's widest places, runnin' right through 'em mountains. Me pop was 'mong tha first ta find it all, but tha Cannith's came pretty soon after, an' the surroundin' towns started ta crop up, all jus' to dig up the coal fer Duskrock an all tha Cannith steel. 'Course, all the coal on the surface is gone now, an' we mine tha hills fer it these days. Thanks to these mountains 'ere, Breland dinnae need Thrane anymore… we got more coal than we'll ever need."

In the meantime, Brandt helps Tarian hitch up the horses and make their waggon ready for departure.

Realizing that they'd need a solid foundation, Arc starts drawing up calculations and plans for digging out a foundation and filling it with lime/cement. He also debated using a gravel based foundation. The most efficient version would be to craft a hybrid foundation, mixing the gravel into the settling cement.

The large quantities of lumber and coal nearby would make supplying the tracks easier, but it'd also draw manpower away from the tracks, though he wasn't sure how much man power would be required for the project, efficiently speaking, this wasn't something a single fireteam would be assigned. More sensibly a platoon would be the ones in charge of such a thing, and even then, they'd be supplemented by a supply group.