In the Meeting Room
Subject The Adventure Begins
Bel-Ril looked quietly at his new companions, sitting next to his friend Fal from the school. His trip to the wizards school had been fairly useless to him from a magic standpoint, but at least he had made a friend there.
He just hoped that his skill with a bow was all they would need if trouble began...as powerful as his magic could be it was too new to him to trust it yet.
From: Mark
Subject In the Meeting Room
As the Knight/Captain leaves the room by a side door, the young half elf he had indicated jumps to his feet, his blue eyes blazing. He follows after Angelwing into the adjacent room. Corporal Harp, looking a little unsure of himself follows the man he was told he would be second in command to. Seeing Ran-Ell's face, Quarion motions for the others to stay put and follows the other three out of the room and shuts the door behind him. The 5 people here a short heated conversation in the other room but are unable to make out the words. A few minutes later Ran-Ell, Harp and Quarion re-enter the room. Ran and Harp take a seat and Quarion starts to talk.
?Maybe I should have done this before, but I neglected it in my haste. This young man here? gesturing to the half-elf Ran-Ell, ?is a personal friend of the Knight/Captain. He will be in charge of this mission, only because he is doing this as a favor for the Captain. He has no rank with the Order, and this mission is not an official one. An official armed group going into Bhyo at this time would cause too many problems. His second on this ?trip? will be Corporal Harp. Do not be mislead by his looks. His fighting spirit is tempered by his gentle soul.? Moving around the room, Quarion introduces the other people in it. ?The young elf maid over in the corner is a young Ranger that I have been mentoring. I think it is time to test her skills on her own. The young Halfling bothering her is Surin Bitteroot, a scoundrel whose heart is better than his upbringing. He is quick as a fox and can be quieter than a mouse. Next to him is a Druid of the Great North Woods, Salix Wealdward. The Stormfather has tasked him with learning about the world at large, so he has entered my service for a while. His knowledge of nature and the wilds should be very useful.? At that comment the tall half-elf bows slightly, a little embarrassed by the attention.
Walking behind the two remaining members of the group, Quarion lays a hand on each shoulder. ?These two? motioning to the two half-elves sitting in the chairs, ?are Fal-Tor and Bel-Ril. I have known them for several years and thought that their abilities with magic might come in useful if my worst fears are realized.?
At that Surin pops in. "So, what'll you be doing for our friend here while we're leading the bridal procession, if you don't mind my asking?"
Quarion looks at the Halfling with a look of amusement. ?I am going to try and find out who poisoned the Knight/General Corron.? When he says this Ran-Ell looks a bit ashamed, but quickly hides his emotions.
Surin then asks "I'm glad to give you a spot of help Quarion, but I don't quite see how you'll be needing me on this little trip? It isn't too common to see a Halfling acting as a bodyguard, after all, and I'm better at avoiding a fight than I am in meeting one head on. Also, Salix said something about 'dark forces'? I don't reckon there are many as would hold that Undulant trying to stop this wedding would be a good thing, but I don't hardly think that that qualifies as 'dark forces'. Occurs to me there might be more to all of this than meets the eye, if you don't mind my saying."
Quarion gives Surin a piercing look. ?The ?Dark forces? are what I am going to try and find out about. I just do not like coincidences, and the attempt on the Knight/General comes to close to this wedding. They may be unrelated, but they may not.?
?Now we have spent enough time talking. Salix and Cai should know the way. The escort party will be coming down the North Mountain Road. The only real place where there might be problems is near the pass of Undulant. The North Mountain Road is fairly easy from here to the foothills in Bhyo, but then it becomes a bit more difficult terrain. It is about 56 leagues to the border and you should be able to make that in about a week or so. The Pass of Undulant is another 60 leagues north west of the border, but I would guess it would take you 10-12 days to make that. We do not expect Rochelle, Anglewing's intended to be at the Pass for another three weeks. That should give you enough time to get beyond the pass, meet her party and escort them beyond the Pass.?
?Any other questions?
OODM: Ami I went on with out your response because I wanted to get the story moving. Please try and get some type of response in, even if it is ?I do nothing?. Thanks
From: Jake
Subject In the Meeting Room
Surin grimaces at the reference to the poisoning (OOC: Mark, is this the first he'd have heard of it, or is it the sort of thing that would have reached the circus in the form of a rumor?).
Nodding, he listens to the rest of what Quarion has to say. "So, when do we leave?"
From: Mark
Subject Poisoning
OODM: This is the first he would have heard of it. In fact there is a good chance he has no idea who Quarion is talking about.
From: Karl
Subject When to leave?
Salix nods to Quarion, "We'll bring her in safely." Then he walks over to Ran-Ell and extends a friendly hand. "As Quarion said, I'm Salix. Good to be serving with you. May the Spirit of the woods be with us on this errand. I'm at your command." He glances then at Harp and simply nods to acknowledge his position as second in command.
"I know the North Mountain Road and can depart when you are ready."
From: Jake
Subject Who is he?
Surin nudges Salix with his elbow and whispers "Who is this Corrin?"
From: Randy
Subject Leaving
Salix nods to Quarion, "We'll bring her in safely." Then he walks over to Ran-Ell and extends a friendly hand. "As Quarion said, I'm Salix. Good to be serving with you. May the Spirit of the woods be with us on this errand. I'm at your command."
Ran accepts Salix's hand gracefully and replies, "I look forward to the opportunity to journey with you. I am told that your skills in the wild are quite impressive."
Noticing the glance Salix gives to Harp, Ran says "Do not be too quick to judge my friend Harp. He is much more than he appears to be."
Ran extends his hand to Surin and says "Surin, I have been given the impression that you will make a good scout on this journey. Quarion says that you have his trust and I hope that I will be able to trust you as well."
Surin nudges Salix with his elbow and whispers "Who is this Corrin?"
At the mention of Corrin, Ran's face grows cold. He quickly turns away and moves towards Cai-Ril and introduces himself. "I am grateful for the skills a ranger will add to our mission." Seeing her hawk he adds "I am sure we will be able to take advantage of some eyes above us as well"
He next makes his way over to Fal-Tor and Bel-Ril. "Fal-Tor, I am glad to meet you. I am grateful for the presence of a wizard, though I hope we are not in too much need of your spells." Mentally, Ran is kicking himself. I hope he doesn't think I meant that I dislike magic, I just hope that things go smoothly.
Looking to Bel-Ril he says "I am told that you are a capable fighter. Your strength will come in handy, but hopefully we can stay away from combat." Ran conciously avoids mentioning anything about Bel-Ril's magical abilities not wanting to add to any worries that Bel may already have.
After making his rounds, Ran returns to Harp and says "It looks like we have a good group here. Quite well rounded skills. I would like to put you in charge of our watches while we are out. You, myself, Salix, Cai-Ril, and Bel-Ril are probably best suited to this task. I am not sure of Surin as of yet, so please do not assign him watch without checking with me first."
Ran turns to look at the group and waits for their conversations to die down.
From: Mark
Subject Suspicions
"Any question?" Quarion asked.
Salix simply shook his head "no". The assignment seemed straightforward enough. Head out and meet the Captain's bride and her entourage and escort them back. Could be easy, in fact, depending on how much Undulant is willing to risk just to disrupt the wedding. After all, it's not like the wedding couple are royalty. Or ---
"Actually, I do have a question," Salix says. "If you'll forgive my bluntness, is your bride a person of great importance? I mean other than to you personally?" He tries to formulate the question delicately and fears he is failing badly. (Diplomacy) "I mean do you think that Undulant would expend a great effort to disrupt your wedding? Or are you just being extra cautious?" He chances a glance at Quarion in case he thinks the question entirely out of line. "I'm at your service, regardless," he adds. "I'm just interested to know what kind of trouble you think we should expect."
Quarion replies to the group. "Rochelle is not royalty but she is noble. She is the fourth daughter of a minor house, but one related to the King of her country. Her marriage to the Captain would be the first step in an alliance between our two countries. There are many besides Fornax and Undulant who would like to not see that happen, but those two are the the most likely to do something about it. Either of those countries would likely go to some effort to prevent the wedding. However, we have tried our best to keep the information about her travel dates from the public eye. I want to be extra careful about this. My contacts in other countries have heard of some strange goings on. Nothing detailed, but enough to get my hackles up."
From: Ami
Subject Leadership
"I am grateful for the skills a ranger will add to our mission." Seeing her hawk he adds "I am sure we will be able to take advantage of some eyes above us as well"
Cai nods her head. "We will do our best." She stroked Grey. Grey seemed to be much the hawk his mother, Wind of the Forest, had been, but was still untested. Now, at this time when Quarion was trusting her to be on her own, Cai wished more than ever that Wind of the Forest had survived her last encounter.
From: Ami
Subject Leaving
Cai watched all the proceedings quietly. The others had voiced her questions well, but she was uneasy. It should not be difficult to find their way through the mountains. Though she had not been through the pass, she had been near the foothills of Bhyo and was acquainted with the feeling of the land. Her young hawk, Grey, would be of use in scouting as they traveled.
Still, she wondered what dark forces Quarion was going to investigate, and wished not just a little that she was going directly to the source of the problem rather than escorting a delicate flower of a clan so weak the paladin could not trust the escort they sent.
That wasn't a fair thought. She did not know what kind of a woman this bride would be. And if the paladin was in love with Rochelle, then of course he would take extra measures to protect her. Even if they had never met, such an escort would be diplomatic.
She noticed Fal-tor taking too many glances at her. She stared back openly. So, young wizard, what is it that you think of an elf who fails where you succeed?
From: Kevin
Subject Harp
Harp responds to Ran-Ell
"I understand Sir. I will begin to work up a watch schedule prior to our departure. I will try to vary it somewhat during the first week of travel so that each of us may get a chance to meet our new companions.
Now with your permission Sir, I would like to introduce myself to the rest of the party. While the member of the Order here in the Keep maybe familiar with me, I doubt that any of our companions have had many dealings with someone of my background."
Assuming Harp gets a nod of approval, he will circulate amongst the new arrivals, paying particular attention to try to sit when he introduces himself to Surin. During these introductions, he will give a brief background on himself. When he reaches Salix and Surin, he says the following very quietly:
"Corrin is the Knight-General of my order, the superior of both myself and Kight=Captain Anglewing. It was he who took me in and instructed the brothers here to look at me as a challenge sent from above. He is a paladin of exceptional piety and devotion. There is a history between the leader of our group and the Knight-General, but I will leave it to him to broach that subject, should he choose to do so. Just know that Ran Ell is one of the closest friends my Knight-Captain has, and as such has my complete trust and loyalty.
I am sure that you are curious about me, as I know from personal experience that people of my particular background are uncommon in these lands. Suffice it to say for now that my mother was the victim undesired attention from my father during the sacking and razing of her village. It was with great sorrow that she left me with the Order, but she had had no luck in trying to control my natural tendancies. The only thing that seemed to give me pause was when she played her small harp, hence my name. The brothers here took me in, showed me the good their diety had done, and taught me to contral my baser impluses as I grew. It has been two years now since I actually joined the order, though I have not advance much. My more "aggressive" side occasionally balks at the stricture placed upon it by my order, but I strive, through both prayer and training, to grow in my faith and in my "human" nature.
I look forward to travelling with you and learning more about both of you. If you will excuse me, I must go check with Ran-Ell on any addtional preparations before we travel.
OOC: I know, I know, music soothes the savage beast.
From: Karl
Subject Ran-Ell
Salix nods quietly at the answer. Now the task was beginning to justify the skills of the assembled party. He should have known Quarion wouldn't have called them all if the task were a simple escort of a minor noble. There must be good reason for him to be expecting trouble. It would be nice to know the details that clearly Quarion was reluctant to divulge at this time, but Salix long ago learned to live with secrets. Some things were best known up front. Others were best withheld until the proper time. The trick was knowing who you could trust to know the difference. Quarion was one Salix could trust.
Ran accepts Salix's hand gracefully and replies, "I look forward to the opportunity to journey with you. I am told that your skills in the wild are quite impressive."
Salix bows politely at the praise. "I will give you my best."
Noticing the glance Salix gives to Harp, Ran says "Do not be too quick to judge my friend Harp. He is much more than he appears to be."
"To be sure," Salix replies. "Anyone who Quarion trusts has the benefit of any doubts I might otherwise entertain."
He turns to Harp and adds, "Forgive me if I seem wary. I . . . have not had the opportunity to know many of your kind personally. I look forward to learning much on this trip." He offers a hand to the half-Orc and returns to his place near Surin to escape any further awkwardness.
Surin nudges Salix with his elbow and whispers "Who is this Corrin?"
"I have no idea. Never heard of him," he replies, then, noting Ran-Ell's reaction to the question whispers to the halfling, "There's one who seems to know, but I'm not sure now would be a good time to ask." Clearly there was history there, but just as clearly their new leader didn't want to pursue the topic.
From: Derrell
Subject Cai-Ril
Fal_Tor notices Cai staring and wonders if he should talk to her. He walks over. "I,uh, I'm sorry I was staring, but I've never seen an elf quite like you, before. I do apologize if I made you uneasy. "
While waiting for a reply, Fal-Tor looks out the window and calls to his raven. The bird glides effortlessly through the window and perches on its master's shoulder.
From: Mark
Subject Birds
OODM
I hope everyone realizes that there are 4 bird familiars/animal companions with this group. If they ever get hungry they can just eat the eggs. There are two hawks, a raven and an owl. :)