Dreams Into Journey

"Fair 'nough!" Cree shrugs and leaves the tavern to get ready. "Meetcha here when I'm ready!"

A little over an hour passes...

Just outside the tavern door a strange series of clicks and screeches are heard approaching from outside. However, neither the bartender nor any of the patrons are reacting in any significant way.

"Best see what that is..." Lia says, more curious than concerned.

Following the strange sounds outside, sees a large creature approaching from a couple of blocks away. While the streets are currently a bit more heavily trafficked, nobody pays the creature any mind. It has purple scales running down its entire back with a pinkish-red underbelly. The end of four of its legs ends with a sharp point, while its two forelimbs seems to have a scythe-like blade at the end of each. Its head is somewhat horse-like, but with tusk-like projections at the end of its lower jaw. Lia can easily tell that it is source of the sounds she heard.

Behind the sounds of the creature and the crowd, she hears the rumbling and squeaking of wooden axels. In fact, as the creature gets closer, she begins to see it has a bit and bridle in its maw and is drafting a small covered wagon, driven by their newly-hired guide.

"Sorry to run a lil' late!" Cree waves from the seat. "Had ta do a bit more hagglin' than usual."

"No problem." Lia says with a wave.  "What is that thing?" She asks nodding to the beast pulling the wagon.

"Don't see many kruthik where ya come from, eh?" Cree hops off the cart and gives the creature a couple of pats. "Up 'til a couple decades ago, they had a colony in the nearby badlands. One day, they just left, nobody knows why."

"I was part of an expedition ta study why the kruthik vacated their. Far as we could tell, it seemed as if they all had abandoned their caves after gnolls killed off most o' them in their own tunnels. The only thing they left behind were a few eggs in their hatchery."

"Scath, here, was in one of that last clutch."

Better look at what a kruthik looks like:

"Long story, short... Took his egg with me and it hatched a tenday later. Then, this fella imprinted on me. Far as I know, he's the only one that survived."

"'Nuff 'bout sad stuff!" She says with a clap. "If yer good an' ready, it's time ta get goin'! That goes those of ya inside!"

(I was waiting for someone else to start posting... Where did all of the other players run off to?)

Lia nods and moves over to see if the creature will let her touch it.  If it does she pats it's body, then steps back.  "Seems like a good thing to have along." She says as she moves a few steps back from it again.  "Are we ready to head out then?"

(I'm still here, just been waiting on anything that needs interaction beyond "We gear up for the desert and go".)

(I presume that Cree also got appropriate clothing for us, etc.?)

Shaking his head in wonder, Jororic nods in answer to the question, indicating his intention to keep going.

Cree starts showing the party what she has inside of the wagon. Despite all of the stuff she has there does seem to be some room to move around inside

"Right, then! Supplies're in in the wagon. Got some blankets ta block the sun so y'all don't get burned."

"Gonna hafta do some tricky jugglin' in terms of keepin' cool. I can use a cantrip to have yer clothes be cool for a time, but only three at a time. Th' last of ya may wanna consider eatin' one o' the peppers I have here. They'll make ya sweat, so it's more the 'vapoation coolin' ya off more than anything. Downside is, you'll get dehydrated more quickly, so y'all probably need ta take turns with th' spell. We have a couple barrels full of water (80 gallons worth), kinda overdoin' it, but at least we don' hafta worry about runnin' out."

"Got an ample supply of dried meats, fruits and vegetables."

"If ya feel if yer legs are gonna give out on ya, just hop in. Scath is more than able pull the wagon with all y'all in there. He even pulled a bunch of drunken Goliaths one time. He was not happy for a while after that..."

"By my reckonin', we have about six hours of sunlight left in th' day. We can go a ways into th' night, but Scath will get more sluggish from th' cold and we'll attract more noct'rnal creeps. But we may make it ta th' butte 'round mid-mornin'. If we camp out at sundown, we'll get to there in mid-afternoon, but with less trouble."

She notices Oswin's automaton.

"Gotta confess my curiosity, what is that construct ya have there?"

Oswin pauses from looking through the gear, trying to get an idea of what they had and if they'd need anything else, "It's just something I'd been tinkering with. Came across an old schematic during some research and training, think it was called a 'Steel Defender', something of that nature. I think it'd be safer to just camp the night in the desert and arrive later rather than travel through the night and arrive tired, thoughts?"

"Ready when you are." lia says moving to stand next to the wagon.

"Ok, den we sleep in tha night so's we kin get some rest. Soun's good ta me!" Jororic adds his 2 cents.

" 'Kay then! Let's move out!" Cree says as she climbs back on to the wagon's seat and signal Scath to move.

The group moves out of town. Almost immediately after the clay buildings end, the sea of tents begin.

 As they pass the tent, they see a number of exotic textiles, pottery, and other crafts. Some of them certainly seem to have more business than others. As quickly as the tents began, they slowly peter out as the party and wagon venture out into the desert.

Numerous patches of low-laying succulents, cacti and desert-tolerant trees are seen from this outer edge of the desert. Stones of varying sizes are scattered about. Every once a while, a small lizard scampers from under one rock to another.

"We call this part, The Garden. Take a good look, it'll be the last plant life y'all will see for a spell!" Cree says. "After we get past this, I'll start offerin' to use prestidigitation and the peppers will be opened."

(OOC: Who is going to eat a pepper for this first leg of the journey?)

Oswin will offer to experiment with the pepper first.

Lia will let others try the peppers for now.

Jororic will take one, he likes to try new foods.

Jororic and Oswin, roll a general constitution check (not a save, to avoid confusion).

Oswin: 10

Jororic Con Check: 10 Advantage in case it counts as "poison" (dwarf ability): 20