Chapter 1; A journey in the Raynn.

[Raynn]

The rain falls in a pitter patter tone.

tip tap tip tap.

From the back of the wagon you can spy the water falling down to the earth as streams coming down from the edge of the canopy. Reddic sits on the hard wood bench that stretchs out long enough to be used as a bed. Across from him is Not'Urden and Bah See.

It's wet and cold, but that doesn't seen to bother Rand Icescale who sits silent beside the driver, his eyes dance first over the two horses, pale brown and young, he was used to very different looking pack animals, horses normally the perview of human and elven settlements.

His eyes rested on the horizon, he couldn't see Fallcrest yet but he thought that a shape in the distance might be the first of the Moon hills.

Old King's road, for all its use, was broken and it didn't seem to have seen much maintenance or upkeep for all intents and purposes it was a fancy wide dirt track.

Brook drove the wagon, and by position, the dozen or so strong trader caravan. All those on his wagon had paid for their transport by agreeing to lead and guard. Brook was luckly he knew the way, if only by hearsay and directions.

Not'Urden had been called to Fallcrest by an old friend, Jonin 'Jon' Loreweaver, who he had run into not too long ago with an offer of work from the Lord Warden of Fallcrest. Jon didn't work for him he had just been payed to spread a message, as bards often are.

He told Not'Urden to bring whatever bodyguards, hunters, relatively moral mercenarys, dungeon raiders or adventurers to the Nentir Inn where he would meet Not'urden and whoever he brought and give him a letter pretaining to whatever mission the Lord Warden would pay him to complete.

The wagon struck a bumpy patch and slowed, waking any of the sleeping passengers in the front wagon. It was large, having been all too recently been converted from a wagon used to transport young cattle to be sold or slaughtered. Not'Urden hoped it was not a sign.

The rain began to come down more heavily.

tiptaptiptaptiptaptiptaptiptaptiptaptiptap

Awake after a short journey from Winterhaven the group has the first chance to talk, mainly simply because there is little else to do for the rest of the journey in such a confined space.

What do you do?
If both players consent any character is allowed know a character, especially in passing or from earlier in the trade caravan's Journey.

[Lost Demiurge]

Bah See really should be meditating. She's worst at that, of all her duties and regimens. She should be contemplating the cosmos and her place in it, but...

Tiptaptiptaptiptap...

It's the rain, really. Throws her off. And the wagon movement makes the drops of it hit her in irregular rhythms.

Tiptaptaptiptiptiptip...

So she peeks out at her companions from under her straw coolie's hat, and observes them silently for a few minutes.

"Um." She says, the stops. No idea what to say, really. Well... The masters always said that questions were a good start.

"So... What is Fallcrest like?"She finally asks.

[Sliver]

Sliver sighs as he gets the pun. He suffers massive damage.

Brook pulls up his hood and glances at the one sitting besides him, Rand, he recalled. He then turned his head slightly back to Bah See and shook his head "Never been there myself." he says simply and returns to silently stare at the road ahead.

Sometimes he looked sideways, examining the human settlements, but he quickly resumed the staring contest with the road. He was losing.

[SuperMuldoon]

Rand blinked some rainwater out of his eyes as he continued to scan the road and the surrounding woods, triple-headed flail resting on his lap. The weather was not the best for travelling, but so far the trip was uneventful. His fellow wagon guards were a motley crew indeed.
Two humans, though they couldn't look more different - one powerfully built man who looked like he's seen more then a few battles, encased in heavy armor, and the other looking like he would be happier in the woods instead of the wagon, let alone driving the thing. That was where normal ended. The minotaur looked nothing like the stories he had heard of the monstrous brutal warriors, furious and unmerciful in combat. This one looked more like a farmer. There was still something about her...some air of prowess, but it was hidden beneath that hat and peasants clothes. Then there was the drow. Sure, Rand was glad he was here - drow were well known as top class, ruthlessly efficient fighters, but their race's reputation left a sour taste in his mouth. He had heard of the drow surface raids, leaving whole elf villages burnt to the ground and filled with corpses, and Rand had experienced his own version of that.

"I've never been there either. Probably just a typical human town, same as the last one." Rand says, breath coming out white with the cold as he spoke, though his breath was always like that. He loved this weather.

[Lost Demiurge]

"I've never been there either. Probably just a typical human town, same as the last one." Rand says, breath coming out white with the cold as he spoke, though his breath was always like that. He loved this weather.

"Oh." She lets that digest for a few minutes, then says "I haven't seen many humans. Or towns, really. So I don't know what's typical."

[Sliver]

"You're not the only one." Brook speaks quietly, hardly heard through the rain.

[SuperMuldoon]

Rand wasn't surprised that Bah See had not seen many human towns, but was surprised, however, that Brook had not - him being a human and all. "Most human settlements that I've seen share basic design. Very claustrophobic. As if they are trying to fit as much as they can in as small a place as possible." Rand says, shaking his head. Talking about this made him think of his former home, and how different things were in the human lands.

[Lost Demiurge]

"Why is that?" She asks the dragonborn. "I mean... It seems like there's a lot of space... Out here, and all. Why cluster?"

[SuperMuldoon]

"Never fully understood it myself. Maybe because the settlements are always expanding or getting ready to expand." Rand shrugs. "Everyone's got a way of doing things. Dwarves live secluded in their underground fortresses, elves in their trees. My people are scattered, shards of the ancient Arkhosian Empire. I guess you only truly understand if you are of that people." Rand turns to look out at the woods, surprised at his sagely attitude. He sounded like a road-worn traveller. Perhaps that is what he has become.

I guess I'm kind of taking a little liberty with the 'typical' human settlement, but it seems like it would fit for either frontier towns or growing cities. I've just been watching Deadwood, and that frontier town is CROWDED! :smalltongue:

Rand is also kinda just talking from stuff he's heard. He hasn't actually been to a Dwarf Fortress or Elf forest city.

[Ladorak]

'The thing about large settlements is... You can always find what you're looking for, if you know where to look.' The Drow turns his attention to the group, until now he had been looking out at the carriage over the rolling scenery, idly twirling a short crossbow bolt back and forth over the fingers of his drooping hand. He had been doing that for most of the journey, when he wasn't throwing it up and catching it without looking as it spun through the air.

His violet eyes fix on Rand first. He had little experience with the Dragonborn, and their facial structure was so different it was hard to be sure what they were thinking. However Not'Urden fancied he saw distrust in those cold Saurian eyes. He had liked Rand from the start.

He had almost dismissed the Minotaur as a brute, but quickly realised Bah See was a brute struggling to control herself and that kind of brute was a handy thing to have about. He knew almost nothing about the other two, but he had judged them sound and their reputations bore that out. It had been easy to assemble a party, heroes by defination are high profile and finding people used to be his job. He had taken care when selecting fellow warriors. There was a certain savage nobility to Bah See and a certain calm nobility to Rand. Reddic had so far proved as solid in nature as he appeared physically. Reddic's references made him an instant choice for the group. Brook had something otherworldly about him, which the Drow appreciated.

He wanted to help Loreweaver very much. Not'Urden had often suspected that, if he had never met Loreweaver... He had been close to simply slaughtering humans on sight. So far his hands were clean, apart from Drow blood, which he could easily live with. They had driven him almost mad before the only time he met Jonin Loreweaver. In that meeting he completly changed his option of humanity, and settled in a city of humans. Happily far from anywhere that knew about Do'Urden.

Not'Urden had decided that, since he would reflect poorly on his friend by nature, that those around him would inspire confidence in Loreweaver, helping him to his goal. It would mean a lot to his old friend and it would probably be worth a lot of money.

'People get accustomed to having whatever they want, provided they have the coin, it can be hard for them to go live somewhere with less people, with less things. That's the secret of human society you know, things. They like things. More than Dwarfs in their own way.
I've also not been to Fallcrest, never really thought I'd come this far North, not even when I was fleeing Do'Urden's name... Cold isn't it? I don't know why anyone would choose to live so far North.
'By all accounts it's a city on the way down. Some big attack years ago wounded Fallcrest and it never really recovered. Bad place for sellers of things. Good place for sellers of swords.'

[Lost Demiurge]

"Oh." Murmurs Bah See, quiet again while she thinks. "Thank you for explaining." She says to Rand and Not'Urden. Finally, she says,

"The humans I grew up with didn't seem to really, really like things. Most of their rooms were pretty empty. Maybe towns make people like things more? I guess that's kind of what you said."

"If the town is sick maybe we can help it. It sounds like it would be a good thing to do."

[Sliver]

Brook nods "I'm used to live off the land. There was a human caravan once, that I escorted earlier in my life. They were surprised when they discovered I was human... I only started attempting to look presentable when the tribe expected that of me. I guess it was one of my redeeming features, with me in the tribe dealing with humans and other outsiders was easier..." He shakes his head, reminding himself why he started that path of conversation "That caravan was the first time I found out of the human love of things. So many things... Non of which is something actually useful like... A map."

[Ladorak]

Not'Urden looks back over his shoulder and raises his voice to carry over the rain 'Sorry friend, maybe I misheard. Did you say maps?' He realises who had spoken seconds later 'Of course you did, my apologies.'
He turns his lambent gaze back on the others 'I've always found maps quite useful. I'd like to see one of this Nentir Vale soon. What Bah See said has been on my own mind and by all accounts the real problem isn't Fallcrest, but the area surrounding it.' In fact, Fallcrest sounds quite lucrative, if one knows where to look.

[Raynn]

As the Caravan shudders on it sees a shape at its front. At first small in the distance but as they approach they can be seen to be humanoid forms.

The largest and tallest of the Humans is just far enough away that he is still a dark shape when he shouts "STOP! Or Burn!"

As if to reinforce is words a large oil fire is started by the men behind him like a wall of flame just strong enough in the rain to stop the caravan from safely continuing.

[Sliver]

Brook raises his head and looks at group "like hell.." he mumbles to himself as he grabs the reins tighter and urges the horses to faster. He quickly lets go of the reins and climbs to one of the horse's back, hunched low to keep balance, ready to leap when the enemies are in sight.

[SuperMuldoon]

Rand's blue eyes glitter in gloom from the fire blocking their way. The large dragonborn turns back to his fellows. "Looks like we might have run into a little trouble with the locals. Be ready." After saying this, he turns back to the group of men standing in front of their fire wall. Rand stands to his feet, moving his triple headed flail to rest on one of his shoulders, a threat of force plain to see. "You were kind to light us a fire, it has been rather cold on our journey and I'm sure my companions wouldn't mind a few moments to stop and warm themselves, but we are bound for a destination further north from here and I'm afraid we don't have the luxury of time to stop. You would do well to remove yourselves and your fire from our path, and let us continue on our way." Rand says to the figures blocking their way, with a voice that meant to hear no argument in return.

[Ladorak]

Always nice to have companions ready to jump in. Leaves more room at the back
'I'll see you soon.' Not'Urden gives his others a brisk nod and leaps out of the carriage as it hurtles toward the enemy. Landing deftly he coolly throws one side of his poncho over his shoulder, revealing his crossbow at his hip. He throws the crossbow bolt he was holding up into the air and then pulls the weapon from it's holster. Holding the stock with a reversed grip he jerks it down with one swift motion, hooking the string into position. He flips the crossbow, catching it by the trigger and jerks it out, catching the crossbow as it comes down. He doesn't draw his sword, leaving it hidden strapped to his back. Instead he hooks the side of his poncho thrown over his shoulder with his free hand and casts it over his weapon to protect the string from the rain.
As he does this, it is only a matter of seconds, he shouts toward the carriage 'Damn it Rand, they didn't set up a wall of flames to ask us politely to stop. Get to work.'