The Other Axis

[Hydra]

Zigurds

Drowsily wiping the sleep from his eyes but unable to make out who it is, Zigurds stares blankly.

"Barnie, is that you?"

[JRoxas]

Kumiko Mii

Upon seeing someone inside stirring, Kumiko quickly and not-so-quietly scampers away from the tent, a little upset that she didn't really get to make a friend-or-foe identification.

A few dozen paces away, she trips and falls flat on her face.

[Hydra]

Zigurds

Now throughly confused, Zigurds quickly gets to his feet and exits his tent. Spotting the unfamiliar individual on the ground, Zigurds quickly snaps his fingers, and a bright light luminates from his hand, allowing him to better survey the situation.

"So you're not Barnie, so I'd recommend identifying yourself quickly, lest I do to you as I did to the feline friends we made earlier."

OOC: Casting Light, targeting my hand.

[Apollyon]

Captain Squarejaw

With the light illuminating much of the camp, it is now possible to notice the little fuzzy ball coming out of the Captain's tent. It strikes the ground and begins to change. Growing larger, it slowly starts to become a small quadriped. The legs grow sharp claws, the flesh becomes covered with a layer of fur, the head becomes distinct from the torso, the jaws fill with sharp teeth. A few seconds after hitting the ground, it is now recognizable as a wolverine.

Captain Squarejaw exits his tent and rises to full height, stretching his limbs.

"Where did Barnie go?"

[JRoxas]

Kumiko Mii

Lying prone on her elbows, slightly quivering with fear, and forcing a smile, Kumiko makes ready for fight or flight as she asks in the most professional-sounding voice she can muster:

"Heh heh heh... ummm... I'm Kumiko, and I'm looking for a group of adventurers including J'barnabar Ripley, Hieronymous Squarejaw, and Zigurds. You wouldn't happen to be them, would you?"

[Hydra]

Zigurds

"And if we are?"

Zigurds taps his foot impatiently, keeping his finger leveled at the stranger in their midst.

[JRoxas]

Kumiko

She answers nervously, as though a mischievous child trying to explain her innocence after being scolded by her teacher:

"Umm... Denali Patchkin asked me to help you guys bring back the body of Elmo Constanz. It's kind of a long story."

[Hydra]

Zigurds

Zigurds looks over the young woman in the light projected from his hand before lowering his other hand.

"Well, I suppose we do have time for a story, don't you agree Captain?"

[Apollyon]

Captain Squarejaw

Captain Squarejaw settles back into a rigid stance, his stretching completed."This wouldn't have happened at the Troll's Jaw...", he murmurs.

"Since I'm up, and not doing anything else, please share your story."

He calls over the Wolverine, who trots over. He instructs the Wolverine to sit, then proceeds to take a seat on its back. The wolverine bristles, visibly upset. He reaches down, attempts to pat the wolverine's head, and recoils his hand to avoid being bitten.

[JRoxas]

Kumiko

Kumiko gets up and dusts herself off. Following a curtsy, she begins telling her tale. She tries to speak formally, as she was taught while growing up. It is apparent that Kumiko is not used to speaking this way, as her formality sounds choppy and forced.

"I am Kumiko Mii, a traveling cleric. A few days ago, I encountered a Paladin chantry and they asked me to perform a service for them. One of their members, Sir Kevin Robertson, had fallen in the line of duty. A letter had arrived for him, inviting him to attend a memorial for his friend Elmo Contanz. They asked me to travel to Zazoo to inform Denali Patchkin of what had happened to Sir Kevin. I had nothing else to do, so I accepted their request. Upon its completion, Denali asked me to catch up with you and assist in you quest."

Kumiko's formality breaks down.

"As far as me personally and why I'm a traveling cleric... that's a secret!" She smiles and winks.

[Hydra]

Zigurds

Zigurds lowers his guard a bit, intrigued by the young lady's story.

"Hmm, seems reasonable enough, although I do think it would be proper for me to ask if you still had that letter in your possession? Considering the things I have heard since Elmo died you cannot possibly fault me for being a bit...cautious, now could you?"

Zigurds glances over to the Captain, shaking his head a bit when he notices his campanion's rather...unique choice of furniture.

"Any chance you can get the fire started back up for us? I unfortunately never mastered the less...destructive uses of it."

[Apollyon]

Captain Squarejaw

"It appears that I stand corrected. Or, in this case, sit corrected. If Kevin was to be the fourth, then I shouldn't have said that he didn't honor his commitments, given that he was slain in the line of duty. Ah!"

With that interjection, the Captain grabs the jaw of the wolverine, who had finally managed to nip his fingers. The wolverine releases the finger.

"I suppose that's what I get for playing with it. How did you manage to find Denali, Kumiko? I find that he's a tough man to locate."

[JRoxas]

Kumiko

"Well, I reached Zazoo and had no idea where to look, so I started asking around. Before long, Denali approached me himself. That mean old man even made fun of me! He told me that if someone was looking for him meaning to do him harm, there's no way that person would have searched so obviously. I guess I wasn't exactly discrete about looking for him, but still!

Kumiko closes her eyes takes a deep breath, relaxing the pouty look on her face.

"Anyway, I still have the letter. You can look at it if you want, but I need to keep it because the chantry eventually wants it back."

[Hydra]

Zigurds

"I would like to see it yes."

Zigurds then shakes his head at Squarejaw's antics with his perch.

"You're just not happy unless you're attempting to snatch things from the jaws of defeat, are you?"

[JRoxas]

Kumiko

Kumiko cheerfully reaches into her bag and hands Zigurds the neatly-folded letter. She then leans in close and whispers something to him.

"Um... not to intrude, but should I ask him if he needs help? He's bleeding, but I'm kind of scared of the animal."

[Hydra]

Zigurds

Zigurds opens the letter, reading it over and checking to make sure it is in fact similar to the one he received. Upon hearing Kumiko's request, Zigurds looks up.

"I wouldn't worry about it, that man has more lives than a weretiger, although I must say his choice in furniture is rather lacking, I would've gone with sheep-skin myself."

OOC: Would I be able to tell if this is the same as my letter or not?

[Ephraim]

The gist of the letter is the same although a few of the lesser details are different. Without digging out your letter, if you still have it, you wouldn't be able to say for certain that the handwriting is the same.

[Hydra]

Zigurds

Unable to tell the authenticity of the letter on a glance, Zigurds reaches into his bag, pulling out his own letter and comparing the two.

[Apollyon]

Captain Squarejaw

The Captain holds up a rusty cloth bag.

"This doesn't create sheep, as far as I've managed to find. It creates wolv, wolf, boar, and bear. Also, Kumiko, you don't really need to worry about this guy here. He only managed to catch me by luck. If he really gets upset, I'll just unsummon him."

With that said, he releases the wolverine's jaw.

[JRoxas]

Kumiko

"Okay. That's comforting."

She lets out a light, relaxed yawn and stretches.

"It isn't too late to get in some sleep, is it?"

[Hydra]

Zigurds

Satisfied that the letter is real (at least, Zigurds doesn't feel Kumiko is capable of such a forgery), he pockets his own letter before handing the other one back to Kumiko.

"Sleep is likely a good idea, but I don't know if I want to do that before finding out where Barnie went... Any ideas Captain?"

[Apollyon]

Captain Squarejaw

"You guys go to sleep. I guess that I'll take watch. We can find her first thing tomorrow morning."

With that, the Captain gets up into a kneel, grabs the wolverine's jaw before it gets a chance to bite him, and says to the wolverine, "Back to the bag for you."

He enters the tent and quickly returns with a small iron griddle, a bowl, and some food. Setting it aside for the moment, he throws a couple of small sticks on the fire. Once they catch, he puts on some big ones, and in short order, there's a decent fire.

Once the fire is warm, He puts some dried meat on the griddle, and warms it up. He then puts on some dried beans with some water. After those are warm, he puts them into the bowl and starts to warm up some flatbread. He then puts the beans and the dried meat in the middle of the heated flatbread, folds it up, and starts to eat it.

[Hydra]

Zigurds

"Alright... Just don't let the cat out of the bag."

Satisfied with his quip, Zigurds retires to his tent for the evening.

[JRoxas]

Kumiko

"Goodnight, everyone!" She finds a nearby flat patch of ground and unrolls her sleeping bag. She first kneels on it to say some prayers, then reclines and quickly falls asleep.

[Ephraim]

The remainder of the night passes uneventfully, whomever may be keeping watch. The sun rises and the dew on the grass begins to evaporate into mist. Those just rising from slumber find that J'barnabar has not returned to the camp.

A damp wind and a gloomy sky to the east suggest that the day will bring rain, but for the time being, the sun glimmers low in the southwestern sky.

You take your breakfast, make your morning ablutions, prepare your spellcasting faculties, and pack in the camp. Within sight of where you stand, the road begins to turn northward. According to Captain Squarejaw's map, if you march hard today, you will reach the the village of Callow by nightfall.

What do you do?

[Hydra]

Zigurds

"Still no sign of Barnie? Hmmm...

Zigurds scratches his chin before adjusting his pack.

"I'm tempted to say we make for the town. Barnie's far more capable of handling herself out here than we are, and if she got captured we'd be wise not to bumble our ways into it as well."

[JRoxas]

Kumiko

"I don't like the idea of leaving friends behind, even if it isn't one of my friends."

She looks a little disheartened.

"But... my assignment is to follow you guys, so I'll go along with whatever you choose."

[Hydra]

Zigurds

"I can understand your concern, but if Barnie was captured we're better off completing our task and rescuing her after. Once we get to a bigger city we can find someone to cast some sort of divinity to locate her."

Zigurds surveys the land in front of him before glancing over to his companions again.

"Besides, I doubt Barnie would want us to botch this task because of her."

[Apollyon]

Captain Squarejaw

"As much as I would like to go back, sleep in a decent inn like the Troll's Jaw, and talk to Luz to see if she can help us find Barnie, I must suggest that we press onwards. If Barnie ran away, bully for her. If she was kidnapped, they didn't disturb any of us in the tent."

[Ephraim]

As you discuss J'barnabar's whereabouts, a flock of blackbirds erupts from the trees, wheels about overhead, and then flies toward the west. A feather drifts down and lands next to the fire pit.

Distantly on the road, the shape of a brightly-coloured wagon, traveling southward, begins to resolve through the morning fog. It would be easy to meet it before it rounds the bend, if you wish to inquire about the road ahead. You might delay your departure or skirt the road for a few kilometres and avoid any possible confrontation. Or you could take the road and hope to pass in silence.

How would you like to proceed?