Tales of Eberron: Aalic's Quest Part 1: A Crash and a Long Hike

Continued from here: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=98591

The dark-haired woman gives you a weary smile. "Thank you for your concern. I am tired, but there's not much you can do. I think we should be ready to go before too long."

Not long after the sun has crossed the midway point in the sky, you finally manage to get everyone moving. And by the time the sun has gone down, you have barely managed to make any progress, two miles, maybe. Between having to drag a dozen litters, old people, children, tired people, and grumbling, you almost feel lucky to have made that much progress. Emotions are running high and everyone is grateful when the order to stop has finally been given.

Burghis begins giving some orders. The crew members of the Cloud Dancer set about getting the camp situated. Most of the passengers collapse onto the ground.

Aalic will thank the gods at least we got this far. Maybe after a few days we will be able to make some more progress. Aalic will find Burghis.

"I need to speak to the men tonight. I don't think our pirate troubles have disappeared and I need them to stay strong. I am going to go scout around for a few hours. I'll be back soon." Aalic will stated to the First Mate.

Aalic will head off into the woods heading north towards the road first and then sweep around. He will try and see what the pirates are up to. He will only stay out about 2 hours.

You spend a couple of hours looking for the pirates, but fail to find any sign of them. [Survival roll = ?] You do notice on your way back to the camp that storm clouds seem to be coming in. The clouds are dark and you see the occassional flash of lightning. You also see a large flying creature wing overhead. It is high up and soon disappears into the mountains.

You come back to find most everyone passed out asleep. The night is warm and only one small fire has been started. A small pot sits over the fire, the smell of some meager broth drifting from it while someone stirs it. It takes you a minute to remeber his name-Kanamelk, a strange, quiet man that you talked to briefly on the Cloud Dancer. Burghis and Jaken are helping Phira set up a lean-to for the wounded.

"Kanamelk, right? Mind if I have a cup." Aalic will state pointing to the soup. "How are you holding up?"

Aalic will help Burghis, Jaken, and Phira set up the lean-to for the wounded.

Aalic will sit and ponder his thoughts, Aalic will start to have doubts. 'We are traveling to slow. These people will never make it. Maybe traveling north was the wrong direction. There has got to be some otherway.' Aalic will sit for a few minutes.

He will then try to find a spot that is going to be dry and catch some sleep.

The man nods. "Mmm, yes, help yourself." He hands you a small wooden bowl. Kanamelk is slender, almost frail, but he radiates an inner strength. He has dark hair and eyes and his face is all hard lines and edges. "Oh, I am fine. The Great Light shows me the path through the darkness." He pauses and takes a bite of the broth. It is simple but tastes decent enough for the lack of decent spices.

"And how are you, sir? You seem to have picked up quite a weight on our little voyage."

You get the lean-to up without too much trouble. Phira and a few of her helpers get the wounded under its meager shelter.

As you ponder the troubles of moving this many people all of the way to Fort Drum, a few thoughts occur to you. One, if you keep moving north, you should be able to find the House Orien trade road. It is traveled enough that you should be able to find someone who can assist you or take a message for assistance. Not to mention that even on the slim chance you found no assistance, you would still be traveling on a road which will make the going much more smooth. Two, the village of Shavalant is to the east and, while there is no Orien road to make the trip easier, it is closer than Fort Drum.

As you lay down to sleep, the wind picks up and you can soon easily smell rain in the air. After what you would guess to be a couple of hours, a few drops of rain splatter on your face and stir you from your sleep. You didn't manage to get one of the choice spots under one of the two trees near the camp, but Burghis provides you with a cracked waterproof blanket which, while needing to be recoated with oil, manages to keep you mostly dry.

The night passes uneventfully otherwise and you wake up to the predawn light of the morning. The only other person moving about is one of the watchmen. You notice that the other person on watch is sitting on a cart, his head in his hand, snoring softly.

"I am doing okay, for the time being. As you said I seemed to have picked up some weight. I am starting to have doubts that all of the people are going to make it." Aalic will state to the man. "The soup is good. It's nice to have something warm. It looks like the weather is going to turn sour."

Since morning is approaching might as well get up. Aalic will clean himself up as much as possible. He will also pack up his belongings and get ready for the day.

He will walk over to the sleeping guard and tell him to go lay down and get some sleep while he can.

Aalic will quietly walk the camp. Getting a overview of the situation and the coming day.

Kanamelk nods and wishes you well as you walk off.

The sleeping sentry stumbles off to find a place to lay down. The rain has stopped, but the sky is still overcast and the ground is quite wet. As you walk around people begin to stir and wake up. There is a lot of grumbling about the weather and the meager food supplies as people begin to gather around small cook fires.

Aalic will listen to the grumbling and think nothing of it. People are in a bad situation. You cannot stop them from complaining. He will get things organized and move on.

Aalic will scout ahead and try to keep things together. He will keep this up until he reaches the road or something major happens.

When: 4th hour, Third Wir, Dravago
Where: Somewhere in Breland

It's been eight days since the crash. Rain and bad weather came for two days after that, but it has since been very warm. Two of the dozen seriously wounded have died. Hurkin, who never woke up from his crushed skull stopped breathing three days ago. Another person died yesterday from an infection in a cut he received in the crash. No one knew his name. That makes the current count of the group sixty-four.

Travel continued to be slow during the two days of inclement weather. It picked up somewhat after that, but not very much. On top of moving a large group of people, some of who are wounded, the terrain is slowly moving uphill as you move closer to the Blackcaps. You estimate that you have covered about seventy miles in your six days of travel.

Food has been hard to come by and there has been grumbling about it. The meager stores you recovered from the ship are nearly exhausted. Foraging has produced some food. Hunting has been tough. Hunters have been forced to travel far off to find any large game making it difficult to get any amount necessary to feed everyone.

Tensions are running high. Arguments are becoming more frequent and several fights have broken out.

Three days ago, someone spotted tracks near the camp. You examined them and determined that they belonged to some two-legged creature probably about eleven to twelve feet tall. Similar tracks have been discovered around the camp since then, but despite an increase in watches no one has seen anything.

Yesterday, a large, black plume of smoke could be seen rising from the west. You estimated it was about ten to fifteen miles away.

Several people have reported seeing strange flashes of light around the peaks of the Blackcaps. There have also been several large things seen flying about the mountains.

On the eighth morning, you are woken very early. Nuranal, one of the sailors, is standing over you. His blue eyes hold a worried look. In one hand he holds a torch, the other grips a longsword. "We have a problem. Someone just got their throat slit."

Aalic will instantly wake up "Who? Never mind tell me as we go." Aalic will grab what gear is nearby and rush to the dead body.

"How many people know? Keep it quiet. And find me Burghis." Aalic will demand.

Dammit how could this happen, we put extra guards up.

When Aalic gets close he will stop as not to disturb the scene. He will try and figure out the tracks of all those involved and start elimanting people.