The Center of Time

"I'll see you all in the morning. I want to get a good nights rest in a comfortable bed that I'll be missing for quite a while." Antor says as he looks around at the capable companions he's allied himself with.

"I'll see you all in the morning," Seregal says. He eyes Echo for a moment, considering asking for the map back, but decides that if anyone is going to unravel its secrets, it will be her. She has an innate knowledge of the numenera to a mysterious depth; he wonders how her knowledge was actually acquired. Despite their close working relationship, there's many things they've never learned about each other. He just hopes that Echo can keep the map safe.

Seregal bids his companions farewell and decides to sit in the tavern for a while, listening to the fire-side tales that Duncan is asking for. In a way, it reminds him of where he grew up in Qi, in a ramshackle old inn, desperate for the tales brought by each new traveller.

Isida Kep'Tukari said:

Duncan, you pause by the blind beggar and press the rations and shin into her hands. The tentacles reach down and feel them, then reach up to feel your face. "Thank you," she whispers. "For your kindness, thank you." She inscribes a faint sigil on your face, a sort of flower, maybe, or the sun, though when you touch it no color comes off on your fingers.

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Duncan smiles. "My thanks, my lady, I'll need all the help I can get. Find warmth and safety this night, the cold is no one's friend." Poor woman's mind has been broken. Blast this world and what it does to good people.

Back in the Inn he directs his companions to the woman and listens to her tale.

"How broken is the land within the sheer? Could we drive alongside the Sheer wall, avoid the sniping from one side at least, and have our backs to a wall when the hounds come? Or is it too broken? We'll need to find camp in places we can hold through the night, hunker down until dawn then press on. Being surrounded is one problem we'll find along the way if we march through the middle. If we follow roads, abhumans know where we'll be moving."

He perses his lips a moment. "This may seem cold, but if we're going to take the roads then we'll need to travel a league ahead of a larger caravan. One of the better-guarded ones. If we go behind, the bandits and beasts will attack them, use their strength, and then we can either see them coming and prepare or simply avoid the brunt of their attack entirely, sure, but: wise bandits may see us coming and go for us rather than for the larger caravan ahead. Like Hunting Beasts going after sickly or old herd animals that fall behind. Going ahead they'll see the larger caravan not far behind, and not want to waste their attack on us when reinforcements are not far away."

"Antor, Seregal, you're... both better with people. Do you think you could find out from one of the larger caravans when they're leaving? We could time our trip to then."

fireinthedust said:

"How broken is the land within the sheer? Could we drive alongside the Sheer wall, avoid the sniping from one side at least, and have our backs to a wall when the hounds come? Or is it too broken? We'll need to find camp in places we can hold through the night, hunker down until dawn then press on. Being surrounded is one problem we'll find along the way if we march through the middle. If we follow roads, abhumans know where we'll be moving."

He perses his lips a moment. "This may seem cold, but if we're going to take the roads then we'll need to travel a league ahead of a larger caravan. One of the better-guarded ones. If we go behind, the bandits and beasts will attack them, use their strength, and then we can either see them coming and prepare or simply avoid the brunt of their attack entirely, sure, but: wise bandits may see us coming and go for us rather than for the larger caravan ahead. Like Hunting Beasts going after sickly or old herd animals that fall behind. Going ahead they'll see the larger caravan not far behind, and not want to waste their attack on us when reinforcements are not far away."

"Antor, Seregal, you're... both better with people. Do you think you could find out from one of the larger caravans when they're leaving? We could time our trip to then."

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"The land in the Sheer is pretty good, pretty even. You can drive down the middle, down the side, wherever you want. There's a road going along both sides, and a half-dozen in the middle-ish. Thing is, putting your backs against a wall isn't all that easy. The walls are steep, no doubt, and you'd be a fool's fool to climb them, but every now and then there's something in the wall... I don't turn my back on anything in the Sheer."

The woman listens to Duncan's tactical theories and grimaces slightly. "Wise bandits would be a blessing. The worst part of the Sheer is thick with things that drink blood, not pause for tactics. Well, most of them; some of the scoundrels are taking advantage. But if you're looking to trail a bigger caravan, Kolos Githian's pulling out a four hundred aneen caravan at the crack of dawn, if not before."

(For those looking to spend a night, a shin will get you some bedspace - nothing fancy, and you'd have to share the room, but it's warm and they'll get you a light breakfast in the bargain.)

"Against predators, we're better off following a large one," Echo contributes, having overheard the conversation and come over. The puddle of silver goo gloops along after her, seeping into the cracks in the floorboards, then pulling back out as it passes.

"If nothing else, if they meet overwhelming opposition, it will give us time to decide whether to help or to flee."

"Then we should get ready to leave after Kolos, or at least find out which road he's taking. We follow behind and maybe we'll get warning of beasts coming at us. Keep our noise low to attract as little attention as we can, leave that for Kolos' caravan. Do we see any of his guards here? Maybe we can get them a drink, see if they'll tell us which way they mean to go?"

Wisco, the Tough Nano who Lives in the Wilderness

Isida Kep'Tukari said:

"No, no. It's just... the last trip was pretty bad, and Sevarr isn't going with any of the other merchants this time, so... We're sort of small." The scarred woman shakes her head. "Nerves, really. You have to learn to deal with that if you're going to trade through the Sheer, right?"

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"Small isn't always bad. We're less likely to draw the attention of large carnivores. We'll be able to keep an eye on everyone. Plus we're going to have a rather high number of guards compared to the size of the caravan.

"You know the animals and how to handle them. I know the wilderness and how to survive in it."

Wisco gives them a warm smile. "We'll be fine."

Seregal looks around the tap room of the inn. He wanders over to the bar keeper and smiles pleasantly. "Do know where Kolos Githain's caravan guards drink their fill?"

The guard you've been talking to shakes her head when asked about Kolos' guards, but when Seregal asks the bartender, he considers a moment, and nods at a muscular man with a shaved head, a peculiar circular scar or tattoo on his pate in deep purple ink, named Dross. When asked about the road his master intends to take (and plied with wine) Dross says, "Northernmost road, closest to the wall. And we're armed to the teeth with the guards riding fighting breen." It seems, upon further inquiry, that when the mercenary woman (whose name is Gallan) said Kolos Githian had a four hundred aneen caravan, she meant that quite literally - the man sells aneen. Dross is not just a mercenary, but an animal wrangler.

Seregal nods, listening with an impression of intense interest to the stories Kolos's guards tell of their caravan, and buys them a round of drinks. As he comes back from the bar with a heavily laden tray, he whispers to Duncan. "Anything else you want to ask them?"