IC - Mad King's Monkey II

Li Thuan, male human monk

doghead said:

Day Three, late afternoon, in the capitol of the Duchy of Hesse.

The carriage seats four inside and another one up front with the driver. The trip is uneventful, and late in the afternoon on the day after next, you find yourself passing through the gates of the capitol. It takes an hour to travel the distance from the gates to the residence. The streets of the city are crowded with people. After two days in the country, the smell of masses of humanity living in close confines is unmistakable. The mood in the city is somewhat tense. The young Duke is unwell, and has no heir but he has two elder sisters. It is no secret that the Duke does not want his sister to inherit. The factions manoeuvre. Everyone waits.

Eventually the carriage jerks to a stop for the last time in the yard of the of the residence of the Baron in the city. A number of household staff rush out to assist. The household Steward stands on the steps watching closely with a sour look on his face.

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[sblock=oocI take it you mean the carriage seats six inside since there are seven of us.[/sblock]

Thuan decides to ride up front with the driver. As the carriage comes to a stop he tumbles down off of his perch next to the driver and waits for the others to emerge from the carriage.

Day Three, late afternoon, in the Ducal seat of the Duchy of Hesse.

The Baron's city residence has only a skeleton staff at the moment, given that the Baron is not in residence. Steward has allocated a couple of the servants rooms to the party. For the menfolk, this means above the stables. For Ullara, there is a room in the house proper, as is proper for one of the fairer sex. Meals will provided as needed, downstairs with the household staff. All in all pretty conventional arrangements.

[sblock=OOC]The carriage seats 5 + driver. Thats why there were a couple of horses provided as well. That been said, all seven could have travelled on the coach assuming some were willing to travel on top, or at the back with the packs and so forth.[/sblock]

After their briefing, Bayar had to hurry to get ready. His armour was still at the smithy, though fortunately ready to go. They had even repaired the black lacquer - which made Bayar think that once again the Chancellor was a step ahead of him.

Once suitably encased in steel, with the jewelled sword at his side again, the giant bull of a man strode toward the stable. The latest recruits did not impress him - the midget woman was probably half-dwarf. The white haired young man couldn't speak Hessian it seemed, so no doubt he had been sick recently (which would explain the white hair) or he was a half wit. The other three that he knew weren't so bad. Enan he would probably never agree with on anything, though Bayar had a grudging respect for the man's talents. Jaan and Libros were both capable enough in their own way, though Jaan was still hopeless at archery.

----

Bayar immediately settled on riding over the carriage. Despite the decision he sat a horse like a brick on a wall.

The journey itself had so far been uneventful, and he had been spared days of small talk cooped up in the coach when they pulled through the gates of the Baron's house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary - cold and small rooms, filling if bland food. A steward who could hardly abide the thought of uncouth people residing in "his" house.

Bayar left the house after dinner to train in the yard with the handful of guardsmen in the place (old, fat or both to a man he noted with disgust). Truth be told he was keen to try and stretch out muscles aching from days of horse riding, but he was damned if he was going to give anyone else the satisfaction.

As various people are carrying out last minutes tasks prior to leaving, Libros goes to the library and pursues his mother to let him take a copy of "Secrets of the Neverworld" by J.R. Hartley. This is a pop guide to the Neverworld never the less they may be something in it he doesn't know.

Libros rides inside the carriage. He would like to get to know his new companions but he is not really much of a conversationalist and so spends the journey trying to read his book, with little success due to the carriage bouncing around.

By the time they arrive at the baron's house he aches in all the places that he doesn't want to. Its not so much that the carriage is uncomfortable, its just that he is not used to riding.

After settling in to his accommodation, Libros goes looking for a hot bath where he can soak his achingh body.

[sblock=Appearance]To say the Libros is not attractive is an understatement. He has coarse black hair which he keeps very close cropped. His face is plain, apart from his eyes which are icy blue and shine with intelligence and are by far his best feature. As for the rest: his nose is too long and hooked, his lips are so thin that they are almost non-existent and he has a weak double chin which he tries to hide with a beard. Unfortunately he is still too young to grow a proper beard and his current attempt can best be described as bum-fluff.

He usually hides his body beneath voluminous, iridescent robes. However, in the unlikely event he is not wearing his robes you would see that his arms and legs are thin, almost matchsticks, and a body where it is possible to count the ribs. [/sblock]

Ooc: good idea!!

Bayar is almost a man's man. Talk, muscular, tattooed and as thick as a 4x2 (just don't tell him he's stupid!). He does well enough with the ladies and likes to draw attention to himself. Tendency to sulk and argue about things he (thinks) he knows about.

Ullara knows these others are a curious collection, some hired more for the strength of their arms, others clearly more for their minds, and probably at least one for a winning smile. The delicate navigation required to work with human customs required the strength of a bear, the cunning of a raven, and the slyness of a fox each in their own turn. This task they'd been asked would likely require all of them.

At least there were a few perks of civilization, such as it was, that Ullara could appreciate. Like being able to bathe without worrying about the current in the stream, if there were leeches, or if ones parts were going to get frostbitten. It seemed she wasn't the only one that luxury, as she found the fellow in the overlarge robes, Libros, asking for the same from a servant.

"Let me go first," Ullara said from somewhere in the vicinity of Libros' hip. "I don't take much more than a soup pot to get clean, and by the time I'm done, Sara here will have had enough time to get water heated for your bath. You're Libros, right? The scholar?" The bridle mastiff at Ullara's side, sniffs at Libros with a disinterested air, and then sits down at her side. They're nearly the same height like that.

Li Thuan, male human monk

Thuan spends much of his time observing. He is still trying to learn the intricacies of the common tougue. So he tries to keep conversations short for his part.

Day Four, morning, in the city of the Duke of Hesse

With a puff of smoke you find yourself standing outside the house of Herr Borne.

The house set in an area of the city favoured by merchants and courtiers of reasonable, but not extravagant, means. In this part of town the streets are not particularly busy. The people are mostly well dressed, merchants or gentlemen and their retinues - sometimes just a clerk or footman, sometimes a attendant small group of men. The exceptions are usually working folk of some sort - hawkers , delivery men, builders or the city watch. The city watch wear dark leather armour with a white cross on the front and carry either man-catchers or spears and some form of melee weapon. At night they carry lanterns. But its not night at the moment, so they aren't.

The house itself is sizeable, but a little old fashioned and somewhat run down. Like many of the others in the area, the house fronts directly onto the street. The windows facing the street are all shuttered, despite the fine weather. The main entrance (a pair of sturdy wooden doors) is large enough to allow passage of a man on horseback, suggesting perhaps a court yard of some sort beyond. Set in the left door is a smaller door, and set into that is a tiny door at about head height. All four doors are shut. There is a bell pull to one side.

[sblock=OOC]
1. I hijacked the thread.
2. There wasn't really a puff of smoke. The characters walked.
3. In your next post, let me know any changes to your usual appearance.
4. Let me know who has the letter and scoll case.
5. ghostcat - I will try and gather the Netherworld information so far (it essentially what would be in the book) into a page in the campaign manager wiki[/sblock]

To try and reduce travel weariness, Jan does what his mentor would do on untold numbers of trips in and out of the netherworld. He sings or plays his flute, providing a welcome distraction, although his songs may drift on subjects such as the netherworld.

Eban had kept quiet, as was his custom. His ability to read lips was limited to having to see them. With the constant movements and new people, he wasn't doing too well with keeping up with the information. When the group had ridden on the carriage, he had decided that he would take the rear seat, facing their road from where they came. It gave him time to continue inspecting the Wayfinder, which had appeared to be more than he had initially thought. Something was tugging at him, but he couldn't quite grasp it.

When they arrived at their destination, Eban hopped down and stretched. His hair was still lengthy, but not long. His dark grey cloak clanked a little, but those that knew of his tendencies knew it was an armored coat. His single dagger at his side was the only weapon he carried, and even that was something that didn't even deserve a second glance. Yet, Eban walked with a confidence of his abilities. His good looks and bright eyes helped, but he still had something else that he seemed to be a little wary of at all times.

Luckily, nothing overly haunting had occurred on their trip. He had first thought this a good sign, but easily remembered that this usually meant his bad luck was coming soon enough. His waterproof bag at his side, he moves along with the others, inspecting the new town and their charges. When Bayar heads out to spar, Eban tags along. He knew that he had to get used to working with the brute, if only to keep him alive long enough for Bayar to learn.

He doesn't bother talking, and instead opts to use his chalk board for the time being. "Spar?" he writes, wondering what the warrior would reply...

OOC - I had a freaking nice post, and then ENWorld ate it. This is the result, short and to the point...