Paths of Legend - Tragedy at Silvergard

[Yttermayn]

Aohdan took his opportunity to sleep and went with it with a fervor. He dozed heavily until the previous watch approached his standing, sleeping form to wake him. He took his watch seriously, he removed some dried hot peppers from his trail rations to chew on and keep him alert. As the night wore on, he took some time studying each of his new companions, some of them as strange to him as he must be to them: Alaric, the city bred man and mage. Aohdan couldn't imagine what type of person it would take to live almost entirely in the confines of the city, much less what it must be like to wield mysterious arcane powers. Estelle was a bit of a mystery as well. She also came from the city, but he wasn't at all sure what she even did that made her a viable part of the team. The brief flash of feral rage she exhibited in the tavern might be a clue, he thought. Johen and Valen were familiar, in the sense that Aohdan had encountered rangers and druids before. William's equipment marked him as a warrior, though he seemed a little naive - a trait enhanced when he was around Estelle, Aohdan mused. Corath was just plain odd. She had a kind of cold confidence about her, but no passion. He gathered that she must be some type of warrior as well, to be guarding Alaric. Still, he wondered just what kind of warrior bore no weapons? Aohdan quietly walked around the outer perimeter of the camp to help keep himself awake and the circulation in his legs flowing. He paused near Corath, taking the opportunity to scrutinize her equipment unfettered. "Nope, not even tiny ones..." he muttered to himself. "Huhhmm."

Sense Motive: Corath awake? (1d20-1=4)

 

[ethandrew]

Estelle had a fitful sleep, waking up time after time. Perhaps it was sleeping under the stars, but she had been doing that since she was a child. Maybe it was the cold, hard ground underneath her body. For whatever reason, it was effective. She had always liked the night, for some reason, and had never been one for a full night's rest. Now that they set up camp so early, it makes perfect sense to her why she cannot make it until dawn.

Seeing Aohdan pace around the camp while the other's rested prompted her to rise. She left her bedroll laid out, in case a bout of sleep finally overcame her. She approached him slowly, not wanting to startle him. "I have never seen one of your kind before," she states in a low whisper, "Obviously I have seen horses, and we have our mule, but you are much different than those; much more unique. Do you have a family where you come from?"

Sense Motive 4

 

[Yttermayn]

"I did..." Aohdan started. "But they are dead, now." he added. "It still weighs heavily upon me." A small forest sound gave Aohdan an excuse to be distracted from the gaze of his companion a moment, and he snapped his head in its direction. He already knew it was just a small night creature, but he continued to look in its direction for several moments before turning back to Estelle. "And what of your family?" he asked, ignoring the question of where he came from for now. It's not like he was really clear on that subject himself or he'd be there now.

 

[ethandrew]

At his insistence at looking at some inconsequential noise, Estelle furrows her eyebrows and looks at Aohdan oddly. With a small shrug she answers the question in her soft voice, "I never had a family. I'm sure one day I did, but my mother died giving birth, and no one knows who my father is. I was raised not too far from here actually," she pauses and looks down slightly, her head tilted, "Good people, the lot of them."

 

[Yttermayn]

"If you know where your family is - or rather the extended one that raised you, why are you not with them? I'm not very familiar with human growth, but I get the impression you are still very young yet, to be leaving home." Aohdan's voice and expression carried genuine candor. "I would understand if you chose not to speak of it, Estelle." he offered.

 

[ethandrew]

Estelle hand-waves Aohdan's concern, and shakes her head slowly, "No, it makes sense. I suppose I am young, naïve in a sense to the world, I had only been in the city for about a month I guess. I didn't really have one family to call my own, not one ma and pa to hold me close when I got scared, just a bunch of aunts and uncles who, while they cared, never stuck their necks out. So I guess when the going got tough, no one fought for me. Leaving was the best option," she moves slightly away and kicks at nothing on the ground, "And it's best I don't go back."

 

[Yttermayn]

Aohdan stayed quiet several moments and pondered Estelle's words. At the same time, he took advantage of the silence to listen for signs of any unwelcome guests. "So I guess you burnt some bridges, then?" he finally asked. Working on a hunch, Aohdan continued before Estelle could answer his first, largely rhetorical question. "I guess further that that is why you are with us now, not just because you've no home, but because someone with your talents tends to become less welcome in certain kinds of places?" His eyes met Estelles.

 

[ethandrew]

She stifles a yawn and arcs her back in a majestic stretch, "Some people just take themselves too seriously, that's all, getting afraid of their own shadows."

The first beam of light crests the horizon as dawn approaches. Estelle watches intently as it creates soft streaks into the sky. She spots movement from some of the others, as if they are rousing. Looking up at Aohdan, Estelle smiles, "I like how we start talking about you and end up only talking about me. How very much like me."

 

[Yttermayn]

Aohdan smiles at Estelle's remark. "You may find, however, it is often better to know, than to be known."

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

On the Road...

As the group breaks camp that morning, they note that the owner of the nearby manor, his family and servants are out and about tending to chores. Of particular note is the manor's dog, the same one that barked at them yesterday, watching them from behind the wooden fence. It starts barking again as they start down the road, seemingly at Corath in particular.

More farms and homesteads, none as elaborate as that first one, dot the road as the group travels on toward Vedlund. Most of the farms are grazing lands for cattle and sheep. There are also several orchards, all of which appear to be regrown over the past few years. Alaric recalls that this entire area was trampled underfoot and razed by the orcish army as they advanced on the capital during the Shadow War.

A week's travel finds the group passing out of the farmlands and into Vedlund's stone quarries dominating either side of the road. Workers are busy hauling stone out on large pulley systems, loading two or three blocks on sturdy wagons pulled by immense (Clydesdale) draft horses. A dozen or so of these wagons are lined up, apparently waiting until a full shipment is ready before setting out for the capital.

As the group is passing by one of the pulleys, one of the draft horses starts and rears, as if reacting to something unnatural. The wagon it is attached to backs into the pulley system and the stone block dangling precariously in the ropes starts to sway. The wagon driver appears unable to control the horse and is on the verge of panic himself as the ton of stone sways over his head.