Destiny of the Valenar

[ShaggySpellsword]

Nialan, [sblock]based on both Knowledge History and Bardic Knowledge checks: you know very little of Eliseri's patron other than her name, Silverleaf the True. Well'Xix's patron, Gala' the horselord bred the first, greatest horses that later became the Valenar Riding Horse. Kindric's ancestor, Rejar Grimbane, had a wife who was a powerful Seer who was captured and killed by the giants. Rejar went on a crusade of vengeance against the Giants, killing a heroic number of giants in ambushes and surprise assaults.[/sblock]

 

[Shieldhaven]

"Then we shall watch for treachery and, knowing the trap, cut its wire. I speak their tongue more than passably well," Kindric says. With a sketched bow to Shyr Cydi, he steps away.

Kindric returns to his tent and crams his pack with whatever is handy. In an undertone he recites some of the standard greetings and questions. "Greetings, neighbor-dwelling-one. This one is a peace-bearing warrior. Please to enter the camp, with hearth-promises. The sword of my brother is on the table. The horse of my father is with the herd. Fill the bowl with kumiss, neighbor-dwelling-one." He grunts as he shoulders his heavy pack and heads for the tent Shyr Cydi mentioned. Maybe not the best - packing, speaking, whatever - but it will have to do for now.

 

[Primus]

Well’Xix had only one preparation to make. After the festivities have completed the warlock sought out the Shy Cydi.

”Honored Shy Cydi, there is a question that I must ask. Who are these ancestors who have been lost to our memory? How can such a thing come to pass?”

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

Shyr looks at Well'Xix very carefully before speaking.

"Just after the exoduc from Xen'Drik, the most powerful of what would become the Keepers gained the ability to scourge the most vile traitors to our race from the memory of our people. It was powerful magic that we do not still posess today. I suppose, if the first Keeper has asked us to seek a lost ancestor, then some enemey of the Valenar has obtained the magic to obliterate our heroes. This worries me greatly. When we meet with other warbands, I will bring this problem to light. I hope that your expedition will aid the Keepers in deciding what this ill omen means. Have I answered your question?"

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

After finishing your business in the camp, the four of you find a rather large tent waiting for you. Inside there are four sturdy cots, bedrolls laid out on them. there is plenty of space to stowe any equipment you may have. The entrance points east, and a series of ties hold the door-flap open.

OOC: [sblock]Finish up anything you are doing before bed, any conversations that you have together this evening. You will be setting out tomorrow afternoon Real Time.[/sblock]

 

[Shieldhaven]

Significantly encumbered with gear, Kindric shoulders his way inside the tent and drops his pack by an open bed. As no one else is immediately in evidence, he sits and unstraps his boots. He sits in silence awhile, considering the course that the tiny band must take and the internal tension that has already shown itself. If it's this bloody important to you, I suppose my pride can be bundled away for later, he thinks, as if speaking to the Grimbane directly.

 

[Mista Collins]

Eliseri enters the tent wearing leather armor and carrying her longbow, buckler, and arrows with a backpack strapped over her shoulders. Setting the quiver and bow next to one of the beds, she eases the backpack off of her shoulder and sets it down next to her other belongings. She removes a scabbard that seems to be holding a longsword and sets it down next to the longbow. Pulling a dagger out from her boot, she lays it next to everything else. Sitting down on the cot she nods to everyone else and lies down and stares at the top of the tent with her arms behind her head.

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

The four of you rest uneasily for the night, anticipating the upcoming day. At sunrise, light begins to stream into the tent, waking you up. As you quickly gather together your gear and break your fast you hear movement just outside your tent.

"Greeting young ones. I have your mounts prepared for your journey ahead. May they speed you on your way."

An elderly elf, still powerfully built, approaches leading four horses, fully saddled and ready to go.

 

[Mista Collins]

Mounting the fine animal, Eliseri pulls a piece of parchment from a scroll case and looks at it for a few moment. Her eyes then lift to look at the landscape ahead. Turning to her companions she address them all. "I will make sure our path is a safe one. We are going to be traveling through the halfling lands. Many of their warriors might not enjoy our presence. I will travel a half a mile forward to make sure all is safe. If you hear a blast from this whistle," Eliseri states as she holds up a signal whistle that is hanging from a leather cord around her neck, "ride fast as I have come across danger. Understood?"

Eliseri waits for the rest of her companions’ nods or acknowledgements of understanding before she starts riding in the direction they must travel.

 

[ShaggySpellsword]

As the four of you set off, Eliseri well in the lead, you find yourselves travelling through a rocky wasteland stewn with boulders and rubble. The road on which you travel is not very well kept, and there are no House Deneith guards to provide safety to caravans. Your horses move painfully slow through the rubble. After a few hours on the journey, you realise that these are clearly not of highest Valenar stock.

Nialan: [sblock]You beleive that this road was likely constructed thousands of years ago, in the time of the Dhaakani Empire by the goblins.[/sblock]

Eliseri: [sblock]You see nothing of note. There are a number of large boulders on either side of the crumbled road, but the most dangerous thing you find in your travels are some very tiny scorpions and snakes who scitter away at your approach. Night begins to fall. You estimate you have a little less than half a day's travel before the badlands give way to the Talenta plains.[/sblock]

The sun is starting to get low in the sky. There are a number of large boulders and rubble that provide some cover from travelers on the road. The road itself, while in disrepair, is the smoothest section of badlands you can immediately see.