Umber Terra: A Shattered Realm

[Wolfykins]

Ina's head bobbed. "As I said, so be it. I will obey the will of the Umber, even if I do not agree with it. I cannot give my blind faith anymore, but I can still give obedience."
She tilted her head at Tonka. "I don't know your intentions, but if you head towards the coast, I can take care of your food problem for a significant while," she said.
She then turned her attention to Burt.
"What do you intend now? I cannot safely fly in darkness."

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Burt stood there thinking.

"This is a nice fire. We dont have to leave tonight. Id like to sit and talk, we can stay the night, and leave in the morning. "

Burt looked around.

"Any problems with that?"

[Andrew Markham]

Tekaji, still curled up under Ina's wing, begins breathing regularly. Hr has fallen asleep.

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"You are welcome to stay, and in the morning we will help you prepare the cargo for transport." Tonka says, having a seat on the bench with his brother. The Shook grab ahold of their ropes and swiftly take to the trees once more.

[Wolfykins]

Ina shifted and lowered herself down so she was sitting on her feet on the ground, and pulled Tekaji closer as she tightened her wings against her body.
"Yes, we can stay the night. If anyone else would like to shelter under my wings, you may. It wouldn't be the first time I warmed a party of Minotaurens," she said fondly, thinking of happier times.

[paladin_artea]

"It appearsss I have much to think about. There may have been thingsss that were unnoticcced by me dessspite my usssual analytical mind. If no one objectsss I will ssstart a watch," Ssithiss said carefully.

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Everyone settles in, in one way or another and night passes uneventfully. When the morning sun breaks the sounds of shuffling boxes and crates are heard, along with occasional splashes of water. You wake to find the rebels loading everything into the canoes again. Ropes have been tied to the canoes and the log that was last night's bench has been tied between them. There is room in each canoe for one person and a paddle rests on the seats.

"Good morning" you hear from various people as you start to stir.

[Wolfykins]

Ina stood and spread her wings, stretching them. She paused to rub her head against the pollex of one wing before folding them. She stood preening, setting ruffled feathers to rights and eliminating dirt and parasites, while keeping an eye on what the others were doing.

[paladin_artea]

Ssithiss was testing to see if his pistol was dry enough for use from the previous day when it got soaked in the river. He was looking for small game to hunt as his test...

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Ssithiss spotted a young rabbit and took aim. He squeezed the trigger and the hammer fell causing a spark to pop off of the flint striker, but nothing happened.

[paladin_artea]

"Ssstill wet...oh right..." Ssithiss hissed, he emptied the gun of the useless powder, took a cloth and dried the inside as best he could before refilling it with some spare powder in the horn stored on the inside of his vest. He then took aim at the rabbit again and...

[Andrew Markham]

Tekaji wakes up and looks around. The dull look has returned to his eyes. He grunts and scratches his side. "Still here, I see. Another day." He starts looking around for food.

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Bang
The pistol goes off in a flash of fire and smoke. Tonka and Tova both nearly jumped out of their skin in surprise. When the smoke clears the rabbit is gone, nowhere to be seen. Springer strides up to Ssithiss, laughing, having been watching at a distance. Did you forget to load the shot there doctor? Powder alone isn't going to do you any good. He holds his hand out offering to help load it up properly.

[Wolfykins]

Ina flinched, biting down too hard on a secondary feather, breaking the shaft. She looked at it and sighed.
"Well, I can manage without this feather, but, I'm not near a molt and won't regrow it for a while, so it's a bit annoying." The thunderbird flexed her crest and looked down at Tekaji. She lowered her head down to his level.
"Would you mind? I have an imping kit--ah, feather repair kit--in my ankle bag. A clean break like this is pretty simple to fix. There are just some lightweight reinforcement rods and special adhesive, and you just glue the rod to the shaft of the feather so it remains straight," she explained.

[paladin_artea]

Ssithiss bowed his head down slightly, "I guesss I'm having a ssslow morning. I'm sssure the whole camp heard that," he commented before handing over his gun to Springer, "The rabbit isss gone anywaysss. I wasss mainly tesssting to sssee if my gun ssstill worksss after it got wet lassst night ssso no big lossss. How isss your injury from that ssserpent?"

[STDM Grizzly Ad]

Fit as a fiddle. No worries. We'll be cleared out before anyone comes looking anyway. He takes the pistol and horn and pours a measure of powder into the barrel. Then he lays a small piece of cloth over the barrel and drops the lead shot in on top of it. He rams it all in tight and hands it back. There ya go. That will be ready for your next rabbit. Just don't go swimming. He said with a smile.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Burt, having been sleeping still, a snort and snore into his rest, The loud Bang startled him into a squeel as he flopped around on the ground in an uncoordinated fashion as he looked around in confusion.

"What.... WHAT!.... "

Taking a few moments he looks around further to survey the situation. He calms himself and looks to everyone before going to Ina and sitting in front of her.

"Ina... I seek your council, I was raised on the laps of your generation and younger. What do you think we should do with the supplies?"

[Wolfykins]

Ina looked at Burt for a moment and then looked off into the distance, crest bobbing.
"I think... attacking individual businesses in secret and pretending to be bandits does not ultimately serve the goal of peaceful living on equal footing," she said slowly.
"These Umbers have been doing this for a while, and nothing has changed. They haven't bucked the system this way. And they're not trying to, if we're being honest. They're just trying to survive. The way I see it, we have a short term goal and a long term goal," she said, looking at Burt and tilting her head, flexing the feathers on her cheeks.
"The short term goal is to help these Umbers get to a point where the most basic survival is no longer a struggle. They need food, shelter and safety, immediately."
Her eyes half-closed, giving her a less friendly expression.
"The long term goal is to tear down the current system and build one that is fair for everyone. Preferably without engaging in another war to do so."
The thunderbird closed her eyes for a moment, thinking.
"I think if we accomplish the short term goal in a way that catches too much attention from the dracokin, we won't be able to accomplish the long term goal at all. These Umbers are not strong enough to survive if things escalate to the point where a Misikinubik comes to take care of the problem personally. I think we need to be as independent as possible, and not rely on dracokin goods, especially illegitimate ones." Ina opened her eyes and tilted her head the other way, fluffing the feathers on her neck.
"We need to find a defensible place where they can settle, with easy access to resources, especially water. If it's a reasonable distance from the ocean, so much the better, as I can easily feed a large number of people by catching large fish and small whales. The undesirable bits of what I catch can be used to fertilize crops even if the soil is otherwise not ideal for agriculture."
"In the time it takes us to resolve the short term goal, we can discuss how to approach the long term one."

[Andrew Markham]

As the gun goes off, Tekaji freezes and tenses. He stares off into the distance, seeing nothing. Ina's words seem to shake him out of his trance. "As you wish," Tekaji grumbles. He moves to Ina's side and begins following her instructions.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Burt listened and slowly nodded.

"Those sound like good plans. Unless someone else has something better... I think Id like to go along with them. I am not saying we form up as some sort of group... but... with our recent experiances, maybe we should stick together... watch each others backs. "

He looks toward the supplies.

"what shall we do with the supplies then?"

[Wolfykins]

"I think it would be best to return them, lest they send stronger and more aggressive bounty hunters," Ina mused. "The sooner we do, the sooner we can begin searching for an appropriate place to settle these Umbers. And then we focus on building up our supplies, strength and numbers."

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"Whatever you decide, we've rigged the canoes where you can take em upstream really easily. If, well, if Ina here would grasp that log and fly low over the water, you could get back to the main road in no time." Tova chimed in.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Burt nods.

"Then thats what we will do." Burt begins moving to ensure everything gets done.

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Tekaji straps into Ina's harness and Burt and Ssithiss each climb into the canoes. Burt waves to his new friends as Ina grabs the log and begins towing the canoes upstream with ease. Forty-five minutes later they reach the bridge and drag the canoes ashore, leaving them beached at the wagon as they moved cargo back into the wagon. With no small amount of effort, the Mintauran take the yokes of the wagon upon themselves and begin pulling it toward the city of Markham. As evening approaches, the group nears the mountain city, a 30' stone wall surrounded the city with a large iron gate. The gate bore a great amount of vandalism and damage as the once ornate metalwork had been scraped and hammered to remove whatever significance the decoration once had. Weary from the strenuous haul, Burt and Tekaji dropped the yokes.

[Andrew Markham]

Tekaji breathes heavily, grumbling as the air passes through his teeth. The heavy work served as a balm on the Mintauran's feelings, leaving him pleasantly devoid of thought. "Mark-Ham," he grumbles. "What ham deserves marking in such a way?"

[Wolfykins]

Ina perched on a nearby rooftop and looked down at Tekaji with amusement. Her cheek feathers fluffed up and she made a chortling sound.
"Perhaps it is like a brand on livestock, but on the meat," she suggested, amused.

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Burt looks over the town.

"We need to make our way to Black Hill District... Well find the Buyer there and deliver the Goods"

Burt looks around for a local to ask directions.

"Hey... which way to the black hill district?"

[paladin_artea]

”I think you are overthinking thingssss,” Ssithiss said to Tekaji, ”It isss a name, nothing more.”

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The large gate creaked and moaned as it began to open. An average looking human man in a brown uniform stepped into the opening. "What business have ye?" He grunted. Then he starts violently when his peripheral vision caught sight of Ina perched on a watchtower. "Is... is that with you?"

[Darius Vibrtrar]

Burt stepped forward.

"Names burt. We are completing a delivery to the black hill district that ordered some supplies."

He motions toward Ina.

"She is with us, yes."