Bravo Crew [IC]

[The Big Bear]

Before heading back to Dezzel's, Rythe searches out some of her old contacts to procure some poisons and lockpicks.

The two companions meet back up at Dezzel's place, sleeping on the spare cots usually reserved for smugglers passing through. The sound of the steady flow of water around the structure brings a calming presence to this hidden abode, with the distant crashing of the waves against the tower several stories above providing a stilted white noise akin to a broken metronome.

Rythe and Misri wake up in the morning to the quiet sound of sizzling coming from one of the adjoining rooms, accompanied by the slight smell of cooking grease. Shortly after waking, Dezzel appears in the doorway holding several plates. "Good morning! I figured you could use a proper breakfast before heading off. Quality supplies are one of the benefits of this business, anyway."

[TavaCatel]

Yawning widely, Rythe rubs the sleep from her eyes before dragging her nails through her wild hair. She attempts to tame her messy locks for a few moments before giving up. "Mmm. 'Preciate it, Dezzel. This'll probably be our last decent meal until we get to Wealdstone."

Rythe stands, pausing for a moment to stretch, then moves to take the plates from Dezzel.

[Keyo]

Misri groggily stretches before sitting up, careful to keep her horns from getting caught in the bedding. "Why thank you, sir, it smells divine. I'll be missing your excellent service by this time tomorrow no doubt."

[The Big Bear]

Dezzel looks absolutely pleased at hearing praise for making breakfast. You get the notion that, despite being somewhat of a shut-in that enjoys his privacy, he genuinely appreciates it when he has some company. "Oh, well, anything I could do to help!" he says enthusiastically. "Aluaris instructed me to, uh, let you know that Torrinin will meet you near the gate to the Southeast. He's a little halfling chap with messy brown hair. His cart will be packed quite heavily...it'll be hard to miss."

[TavaCatel]

Nodding in acknowledgement, Rythe gets dressed and sorts through her belongings, taking breaks to eat her meal. She takes large, but neat, bites of food, and hums her pleasure at the greasy meal.

[Keyo]

Misri scarfs the food down and then carefully packs her bag. Taking some items out a few times and replacing them before finally settling on an arrangement that seems to be satisfactory. When her and Rythe both seemed ready, she nodded to her companion and both headed toward the Southeast gate.

[The Big Bear]

Dezzel wishes the companions a happy farewell. "If ever you find yourself back in Badon, do be sure to stop by!" he says cheerily as the party departs for the Southeast gate.

The city is bustling during the day. Each street seems to be as packed as the last, as merchants shout their deals and crowds make their way across the suspended terraces. About an hour and a half after leaving, the party has navigated their way to the Southeast gate. While the towers near the docks and the center of the city reach out of the sea below, the towers along the southern reaches are constructed on dry land. Cobblestone streets connect the skyward reaching towers while green gardens fill the remaining area. Similar to the rest of the city, suspended walkways connect the towers stories above ground level and subterranean tunnels likely do the same below.

Upon approaching the southeast gate, the party sees ahead a large carriage, packed to the brim with boxes, pulled to the side of the road. Nets hanging along the sides hold various tins and other containers, while ropes are pulled taught over the stacked cargo to hold everything in place. A halfling with bushy brown hair holds a clipboard and quill in hand as he inspect the carriage. He quickly rifles through some pages, jots down some notes, before running over to another bundle on the caravan and repeating the process. He seems intensely focused on what he is doing.

[Keyo]

Approaching the carriage, but careful to stay out of the way, Misri asks "excuse me, are you Torrinin?" While giving a small wave to him.

[The Big Bear]

Despite Misri's attempt to avoid startling the halfling, Torrinin nearly jumps out of his boots at the question. "AH!" he lets out, while quickly turning to spot the duo. After a moment to compose himself, the man flips through his notes while examining the two strangers and mumbling to himself. "Yes, Torrinin, yes, yes, yes. You must be Misri and you must be Rythe. Yes, yes, yes, it all adds up here. Arrived just like Aluaris said you would, ready to help on the way to Wealdstone. Pleasure to meet you. It'll be just a minute to finish up here and we can be on our way." He talks quickly, as if in a hurry. You get the feeling he's already double and triple checked his list, but continues anyway.

[TavaCatel]

Rythe tips her head to the sky to sigh, then leans towards Misri to whisper, "This is gonna be a long trip."

She steps forward and waves her hand at Torrinin, asking "Anything we can do to help? Maybe another set of eyes can set your mind at ease. The sooner we get on our way, the sooner we'll get to our destination."

[The Big Bear]

"Yes, yes, yes" the energetic little halfling replies, if half seems as if he wasn't paying attention to the question. After a moment he stops, flips through his notes, and scribbles something down. "Apologies for the wait, I'm ready to go whenever you are. You are ready, yes?"

[Keyo]

"Where would you like us?" Misri asks the halfling. She seems to have deduced that short questions with direct answers will be easiest for Torrinin to process.

[The Big Bear]

"Anywhere to the side or back, just watch out for the horses. And let me handle the guards." Torrinin replies quickly, pointing to two large horses tied to the front of the carriage.

As the caravan nears the gate, two guards with lances leaning against their shoulders approach. Above the gate, two others with crossbows turn their attention to the large overpacked wagon. "Halt! Have yer manifest with ye, halfman?" says the shorter and stockier guard holding his lance lazily with the point still toward the sky. Torrinin fishes through his pack quickly and produces a small pouch that jingles with the sound of coin, then hands the man both his clipboard and the pouch. "Yes, yes, yes, you'll find everything is in order, I'm sure" he says with the confidence that shows he's been through this many times before.

The guard weighs the pouch in his hand briefly before looking at his partner. They shrug to each other, and pass the notes back to the halfling. "On ye go, then" says the guard before they both turn to walk back to their posts.

After clearing fifty yards from the gate, the halfling looks down at his two escorts. "Easy as always. Well, not always. Sometimes they ask for some cheese, too" he says to you, quickly and shamelessly. "We'll be to Wendle's before nightfall. Have one nice place to stay before starting to Wealdstone in earnest."

[Keyo]

After a few moments of travelling down the road, Misri catches Rythe's attention with a humorous glint in her eye. "What's a better guard look for me? Solemn and mysterious?", she asks while lowering her head, the hood over her head shadowing her face, but still not hiding the marks of her Tiefling heritage. "Or cocky and belligerent?" Now she lowers her hood, puffs up her chest, squares her shoulders, and haughtily sneers at Rythe.

[TavaCatel]

Rythe throws her head back belts out an guffaw, showing off her sharp teeth. She attempts to compose herself, trying to hide her smile behind her hand and coughing to smother her laugh. Still giggling slightly, she replies, "As... ah, impressive as your strut is, I have to say that dark and mysterious suits you better."

[The Big Bear]

The group moves through the countryside at Torrinin's leisurely pace. The sprawling city gives way to dense farmlands past the gate, which eventually opens to distant farmsteads off of the cobblestone road. Several hours pass as Torrinin makes small talk and lazily steers the horse-drawn carriage.

The sun begins to dip low, steadily working its way toward the horizon, and the roads begin to show shallow puddles reminiscent of the recent rain in the area as dark clouds loom overhead. "Lucky Wendle has a barn we can pull the carriage and horses in to to keep everything dry" Torrinin says with a sigh. "Her place is just off the road up over the hill here."

As he gestures over the hill ahead, the darkness of the storm clouds and night loom overhead. Rythe sees a billowing smoke over the hill to the eastern side of the road, nearly imperceptible against the dark sky. It looks like there is a large fire somewhere past the hill, in the direction the halfling was pointing.

[TavaCatel]

"That way, you said?" Rythe asks as she squints at the horizon. "Where the smoke is rising?" She moves closer to Misri, pressing up against her side and pointing and the pillar of smoke. "Misri, can you see it too?"

[Keyo]

Misri shades her eyes and squints where Rythe is pointing. "Oh, yes, I do. Think it means trouble?"

[The Big Bear]

Having the smoke pointed out, Torrinin gasps and jumps up in his seat on the wagon. "By Tymora! That looks like its coming from Wendle's place! We have to hurry!" He pulls the reins up and urges the horses into a gallop, the bundle of goods securely fastened to the wagon creaking slightly under the strain.

Cresting the hill, the party sees a farmstead nearly a mile out, consisting of fields with a house and a barn situated closely together in the middle. A well maintained fence surrounds the farm; the road splits, with one leg leading to the farm's gate, the other continuing along to Wealdstone. The barn is in the process of being consumed in a fiery blaze and the faint sounds of horses and cows can be heard within. Approaching the open gate of the farm, something seems a little off. A few hundred feet away from the farmhouse, you can see that the door is hanging loosely on broken hinges and several windows are broken.

"Wha-what could have done this?" Torrinin says in disbelief.

[Keyo]

Misri turns to Rythe, half shouting due to the sudden burst of adrenaline, "I'll go check out the cottage and make sure whoever caused this isn't still in there if you want to help with the barn. I'll come right back to help if it's clear!"