Rel
Liquid Awesome
Westward Into Danger
As the newly formed band of adventurers made their way out of Glynden and set their feet on the increasingly frequented road to Aquae Sulis, they were a quiet lot. This was typical for Speaks who usually kept his own council when traveling (and couldn’t talk in any event since he wore the form of an eagle at the present time) and the other party members all seemed lost in thoughts of their own as well.
For Lazarius, those thoughts were of his family, particularly his older sister, Solvaria. He came from a large family but seldom got a chance to see his siblings very often as his duties to the Imperial College had kept him busy for the last several years. His posting with the 2nd Cohort of the Coastal Auxilia Guard along the Sythian border had been boring but he had been a time to relax and enjoy the camaraderie with the other men and his most recent mission to the Northlands had certainly been interesting at times. But he worried about how the rest of his family was getting along, especially his older sister who had always been a bit of a “free spirit” to use a polite term. He hoped she was staying out of trouble. He felt there was plenty enough trouble on the horizon as it was.
Cathal was ahead of the rest of the group on point where he liked to be. It would have been difficult to travel as slow as the rest of them even if he had wanted to for he wore a pair of magical boots that had been purchased on his behalf by his Chieftain in thanks for his efforts during the Winter War. Those boots lent him incredible speed and he could outrun even the swift horses employed by the Almani scouts. If they also kept him somewhat distant from the others in his current party, so much the better. The folk of the Fodor may have made peace with the people of Glynden but traveling with so many men who hailed directly from the Empire made him nervous. It was hard to forget that just a few generations ago, their forefathers made slaves of many of his people. And the tribes east of the Fodor had been exterminated entirely. To these men who now journeyed west with him, he would offer his aid freely. His trust would have to be earned.
Marcus rode eagerly into the unknown ahead. He had been itching to come to these lands for over a year and he was finally getting his chance. Not only was he anxious to prove himself a devoted warrior to the cause of St. Cuthbert, but he had a personal stake in what lay ahead. Raised as an orphan in a monastery in Oar, he had only recently learned that his father, a Holy Warrior for St. Cuthbert himself, had been slain by Orcs in the Northlands. Further, his mother had fallen at his side and it had been revealed that she came from one of the Barbarian tribes of the Fodor. Somewhere up ahead was part of his past and those who had robbed him of it.
Marius tried unsuccessfully to spark some conversation with Lazarius and Marcus but neither seemed in a mood to talk. Just as well for he preferred to take in as much of his surroundings as possible to enter into his travelogue when time permitted. Already his journey north had shown him things he’d never seen before, though certainly nothing beyond what he’d imagined.
Behind him lay the city of Opal, where he’d begun his journey, sitting upon the southern edge of the Crescent Sea. It held the signs that the Empire was bootstrapping itself out of its long slide into decline. The western part of the Crescent Sea now nearly swarmed with ships from the Imperial Fleet, even boasting a few War Galleons as hadn’t been seen in years. It seemed that the Emperor’s son, Flavius was serious about trying to rid the Crescent Sea of the Corsairs that had so long plagued northern shipping.
In sharp contrast to Opal was his arrival in Oar, a city that was almost a caricature of the glory of the Old Empire. It still maintained a veneer of the Imperial ways, but the cracks in that veneer were not well hidden. Even a minor official such as himself, a representative of the Imperial Explorers Society received a handful of invitations to meet with various factions seeking advantage in the rat’s nest of intrigue that comprised the politics of Oar. He was thankfully able to beg off of these meetings, citing the urgency of his journey if he were to arrive at his destination before the winter snows set in.
And thus he found himself on a road seldom traveled, bound west through a town that once was the northwesternmost outpost ever established by his once great country. That in itself was a bit of a landmark, wasn’t it?
To Be Continued...
Sorry for the slightly truncated update. It seems I've come down with a bit of a cold so I didn't get much more writing done over the weekend like I'd hoped. But I'll keep pressing forward a bit at a time. Hope you enjoy some insights to the personalities of the new members of the group.
As the newly formed band of adventurers made their way out of Glynden and set their feet on the increasingly frequented road to Aquae Sulis, they were a quiet lot. This was typical for Speaks who usually kept his own council when traveling (and couldn’t talk in any event since he wore the form of an eagle at the present time) and the other party members all seemed lost in thoughts of their own as well.
For Lazarius, those thoughts were of his family, particularly his older sister, Solvaria. He came from a large family but seldom got a chance to see his siblings very often as his duties to the Imperial College had kept him busy for the last several years. His posting with the 2nd Cohort of the Coastal Auxilia Guard along the Sythian border had been boring but he had been a time to relax and enjoy the camaraderie with the other men and his most recent mission to the Northlands had certainly been interesting at times. But he worried about how the rest of his family was getting along, especially his older sister who had always been a bit of a “free spirit” to use a polite term. He hoped she was staying out of trouble. He felt there was plenty enough trouble on the horizon as it was.
Cathal was ahead of the rest of the group on point where he liked to be. It would have been difficult to travel as slow as the rest of them even if he had wanted to for he wore a pair of magical boots that had been purchased on his behalf by his Chieftain in thanks for his efforts during the Winter War. Those boots lent him incredible speed and he could outrun even the swift horses employed by the Almani scouts. If they also kept him somewhat distant from the others in his current party, so much the better. The folk of the Fodor may have made peace with the people of Glynden but traveling with so many men who hailed directly from the Empire made him nervous. It was hard to forget that just a few generations ago, their forefathers made slaves of many of his people. And the tribes east of the Fodor had been exterminated entirely. To these men who now journeyed west with him, he would offer his aid freely. His trust would have to be earned.
Marcus rode eagerly into the unknown ahead. He had been itching to come to these lands for over a year and he was finally getting his chance. Not only was he anxious to prove himself a devoted warrior to the cause of St. Cuthbert, but he had a personal stake in what lay ahead. Raised as an orphan in a monastery in Oar, he had only recently learned that his father, a Holy Warrior for St. Cuthbert himself, had been slain by Orcs in the Northlands. Further, his mother had fallen at his side and it had been revealed that she came from one of the Barbarian tribes of the Fodor. Somewhere up ahead was part of his past and those who had robbed him of it.
Marius tried unsuccessfully to spark some conversation with Lazarius and Marcus but neither seemed in a mood to talk. Just as well for he preferred to take in as much of his surroundings as possible to enter into his travelogue when time permitted. Already his journey north had shown him things he’d never seen before, though certainly nothing beyond what he’d imagined.
Behind him lay the city of Opal, where he’d begun his journey, sitting upon the southern edge of the Crescent Sea. It held the signs that the Empire was bootstrapping itself out of its long slide into decline. The western part of the Crescent Sea now nearly swarmed with ships from the Imperial Fleet, even boasting a few War Galleons as hadn’t been seen in years. It seemed that the Emperor’s son, Flavius was serious about trying to rid the Crescent Sea of the Corsairs that had so long plagued northern shipping.
In sharp contrast to Opal was his arrival in Oar, a city that was almost a caricature of the glory of the Old Empire. It still maintained a veneer of the Imperial ways, but the cracks in that veneer were not well hidden. Even a minor official such as himself, a representative of the Imperial Explorers Society received a handful of invitations to meet with various factions seeking advantage in the rat’s nest of intrigue that comprised the politics of Oar. He was thankfully able to beg off of these meetings, citing the urgency of his journey if he were to arrive at his destination before the winter snows set in.
And thus he found himself on a road seldom traveled, bound west through a town that once was the northwesternmost outpost ever established by his once great country. That in itself was a bit of a landmark, wasn’t it?
To Be Continued...
Sorry for the slightly truncated update. It seems I've come down with a bit of a cold so I didn't get much more writing done over the weekend like I'd hoped. But I'll keep pressing forward a bit at a time. Hope you enjoy some insights to the personalities of the new members of the group.
