The Roving Band

....and our travelers finally reached the Township of Dul. (See the googledoc linked in the OOC for prior details.)

Ramsus wrote:
The group then sets off for Dul. When it gets dark, the decision is made to travel through the night (to Ni’s protest). You go around the battlefield from the other side from came from, just in case you would see any bandits or find any clues. (You don’t.) When dawn breaks, with its pretty pastel colors painting the land, Ni is clearly too tired to keep going and is put up on the horse she found. Little after this point you can see Dul in the distance, looking like a rough circle that has its surroundings dotted by outlying farms. A couple hours later a farmer pauses tilling his field of wheat to wave at the group as you pass by. From here you can see a large wooden watchtower around the center of Dul. A couple hours later you finally reach the outskirts of Dul, where you see a lot of others who clearly also recently came from the battlefield. Some are carting goods to sell like yourselves, others are heading back home, and there are quite a few people going into or coming out of a nearby tavern. Most of those heading into town can be seen to be traveling a bit farther west along the outskirts and going down what Aurna says is a main road.

SubjectZ wrote:
Rinnian smiles and says, “Anyone up for a drink? Little thirsty from all this traveling. Maybe we can find a room for sleepyhead here, and Atriax seems to be getting tired, some stables would be great.”

Hydrax nods, adding simply, "It would be wise to find lodging for Ni, and if the horses need rest, then by all means, let them have it. We have traveled far - and they have not had much say in the matter."

Aislinn watches the farmer in mock horror, mostly trying to mess with her companions but gives up on it after a while. "That's fine by me. I would be a poor husband indeed if I did not allow my poor wife to rest." She says with a chuckle.

Rinnian stares at Aislinn for a moment, then says, "What."

Even with Aurna guiding the group, avoiding the main road into the center of the town for less heavily traveled paths, it takes over half an hour to find an inn that's under her family's ownership and isn't completely full. Aurna manages to get you a deal for two rooms and another for the stabling of both the horses and the carts for two silver. After which Aurna says her goodbyes and wishes you luck and says to come find her if you need any herbs.

After thanking Aurna for her help and bidding her farewell, Hydrax retires to what he assumes will be the "Men's Room" to meditate - leaving the "happy honeymooners" to have the other room all to themselves...

Yes - he wouldn't have to look long to find something worthy of meditation this night... for as the lion does not sleep with the lamb, neither did he assume the fey normally slept with the kin - especially when they were of the same sex...

Rinnian, happy to be in shelter, heads to the tavern area ((Assuming there is one.))

There isn't a tavern area in this particular inn but, there is a main room with a few tables for people to eat meals at and you would assume they have some beer on tap at least.

Aislinn carefully pulls Ni down from the wagon as the horses are stabled and adjusts her onto her back. Looping her arms under Ni's legs and leaning forward slightly to better support the young Stormkin.

As she follows the other from the stables to the main tavern, a small brown hawk swoops down from the trees and lands upon her shoulder. Aislinn doesn't seem at all surprised by this, so you assume it to be a common perch for the bird.

As the others begin to split up she shrugs Ni a little further up her back, following Zen a short ways and veering off towards the room marked on her key. Stepping inside, and locking the door behind her, she gently deposits Ni onto the bed and covers her with the sheets before setting her bags down on the floor and taking a look around the room. Reaching into her bag, she pulls out a half carved block of wood and sets it on the counter before digging through her pack again.

The hawk hops from her shoulder to a bedpost as she pulls out a set of carving knives and sits down on a corner of the bed and resumes carving for a while. The beginnings of a creature curled up taking shape among the many precise cuts as she passes a few hours in silence before bed, waiting to see if Ni wakes up to explain the situation to her.

Spoiler:

Some time passed as Hydrax meditated on recent events as per usual, sitting cross-legged on the floor of his and Rinnian’s shared room, but as he began to contemplate Ni and Aislinn’s new relationship more and more, he found himself feeling a bit… stiff… around the extremities. He knew he should know better, but he couldn’t help but think of what they might be doing in the other room even now… laying together… Stripped, naked, sweaty… tangled in each other’s arms… groping…

-And suddenly the tension was too great.

Hydrax rushed out to relieve himself.

Afterwards, the waterkin found himself standing alone outside (not sure if interior bathrooms are commonplace in this setting or not), panting and flushed, sweating from his exertions. Without doubt, I have lived a solitary life for far too long… Hydrax thought, trying hard to regain his composure. He made to pull his hood back up – then realized that he’d given Ni his coat…

Thinking of Ni again made him think of the two of them up in their room, like foxes at play, teasing and toying with one another…

Hydrax grit his teeth and slammed his fist against the wall of the inn. Damn them! Damn them both! Closing his eyes, he tried to steady his breathing, One… who does not master their emotions… is doomed… doomed to be mastered by them… he took one long, deep breath, They become no better than the wild beast – the wild beast in heat, he clarified, copulating with anything that moves… One must give up idle thoughts… unburden oneself of them like the snake that sheds its skin – but why did she have to choose Aislinn over me?! Perhaps one should be relieved that she did not choose Aurna over me too – or the ice girl, Vindrea, for that matter?! By the Nightstar! Women! GAH!

Taking up his staff, Hydrax sighed, “It is at times like these, one could use a diversion…”

-And with that, the waterkin went off in search of one. Maybe if he was lucky, he’d run into some back-alley thugs he could beat on – that was always a good stress reliever. If nothing else, maybe there was a brothel or some prostitutes in town… He reached into his pocket and put a hand to his coin purse, testing the jangle of his newly-made gold. He assumed it should be adequate enough to attract the former and buy off the latter… Either way, it would get his mind off Ni and Aislinn.

Spoiler:

After about an hour and a half Zen has found no sign of brothels or ladies of the night. In fact, he's found few people except for the very occasional night watchmen of the town's militia patrolling the town. Two of whom notice him as he gets blinded by the light of the first's lamp and stumbles and the second as Zen trips over a loose cobble and faceplants right in front of him. Both of them question him about who he is and what he's doing out here for a moment, not even giving him time to speak before they recognize him and suggest to him that he go back to wherever he's staying lest he run into someone who thinks he's a thief on the prowl or worse.

Ignoring them he continues on until, passing through an alley to avoid another night watchman, he overhears the sound of a group of men having a discussion in hushed tones.

Rinnian sits down at the bar-ish area and says, "Hey Bartender, give me the strongest ale you have. I could use a drink."

The innkeeper gives Rinnian an annoyed look and explains, "I am not a bartender and this is not a bar. I will however bring you a strong ale." He then exits the room to go through a door you assume goes to the kitchen or wherever they keep things. He comes back momentarily with a large glass of dark ale and places it on the table Rinnian sat down at and says, "That'll be a copper for this and the next glass when you want it."

Rinnian hands over 2 coppers with an embarrassed look, and says, "Sorry, my good inkeeper, keep the change." He proceeds to drink his ale, and says, "So, how long have you been working this inn?"

In the room of Zen's frustrations and burdensome yearnings, while Aislinn was looking the other way, her hawk (whose name I forget if I ever knew) hops over to Ni's bed and walks over her until it wakes her up by standing atop her head. Ni brushes it away and sleepily asks, "Where are we?"

---

The innkeeper looks surprised only for a fraction of a second before quickly snatching up both coppers. He smiles and replies, "My whole life. It was my dad's and his mother's before him. What about yourself sir?"

As Hydrax caught the sound of the men's voices, he pressed his back to the wall of the alley and remained perfectly still, trying to discern what the men were saying – but it was no good.

He couldn’t hear a thing from where he was.

So, inching up closer to the corner of the alleyway, the waterkin hugged the wall while readying a bag of caltrops in case he found reason to use them. Then, slowly, he peeked around the corner… trying to determine how much closer he’d need to be before he could make out what the men were saying – while also trying to make out how many of them there were and what they all looked like.

Spoiler:

As soon as Zen rounds the corner he can make out seven figures lurking in the dark. As he gets closer he can make out from their shape that three of them are older (somewhere in their forties or fifties) and the others are younger. He has to get almost half way down the alley before he can make out what they're saying but, on the bright side none of them seem to have noticed him.

He overhears:
"-o way. The town needs those horses."
"And that's why they'll draw and quarter us if we're caught."
"But they won't catch us because we'll have the horses."
"Yeah."
"I refuse. It's just wrong."
"Stealing is wrong now?"
"Yes, people will actually suffer now."
"Yeah, like us. Suffering a painful death."
"This is the chance I've been looking for for years. I'll never have a shot to start up a new life as good as this again."
"Tough. We're not dying for you you ingrate. Apprentice blacksmith is a fine lot."
"Easy for you to say. You don't have to work for the troll."
"I agree though. It's too risky."
"Seriously you wool headed kids, don't do this."
"Whatever you old cowards. We can do it fine without you anyway."
One of the speakers sighs and shakes his head and that one and two of the others walk away.
"You know we need a few more hands right?"
"I'm sure we can handle-"
"No way, that's crazy."
"Agreed, we're going to need to find some help."
"Maybe this isn't such a good idea. They might have a point."
"Oh come off it. You want to get out of here as bad as I do."
"Yeah.. yeah ok. Allright. Well, I guess we'll... what?"
"Recruit people? Who? Better off risking it by ourselves."
"Might have a point. Look. Let's keep our eyes open for anyone who might want in at least."
"Right."
"Sure."
"K."
And then the four younger ones start to walk in Zen's direction.

Well, things seemed to be working out rather well. Hydrax hadn’t found a brothel, that’s true - but he’d found the next best thing outside of a paid companion, so he wasn’t complaining. The ancestors provide… the waterkin thought, Seek, and one shall find…

Two with daggers… One with something – can’t make it out… And the fourth? Unarmed perhaps? Hydrax nodded ever so slightly to himself as he gave a quick weapon check of the four men heading towards him.

Then, making some discrete hand signs, he summoned his magic, sensing as his body became more light and agile.

Steeling himself for the fight ahead, Hydrax felt a sense of serenity wash over him like rainwater – and he relished the change. Finally, he could ignore all that he’d suffered in silence over the past few days – the doubt, the uncertainty, the frustration of feeling useless during those three days of battle; the disgrace of having a girl he cared for choose another girl over him. Finally, he could forget about Ni and Aislinn back at the inn doing ancestors’ knows what – and ultimately, he could channel all of his nagging pains into something more worthy of his efforts.

With another series of hand signs Hydrax summoned a water clone, and as the four men grew closer, he forced it to rise up right behind them.

Then he ordered his clone to attack – waiting for it to attract the mens’ attention while planning to draw his quarterstaff and charge them the moment they were distracted...

Spoiler:

As the water clone appears the third man turns around, apparently having heard the gurgling sound as it formed and proclaimed profoundly, "What the fuck!?" Before pounced on one of his less perceptive friends, one will will call... number 1, and grabbed him (as it really isn't at all strong enough to seriously injure people). As the others turned around, Zen clocked one (whom we will call number 2) in the back of the head, knocking him out. As this occurred the third man bravely.... ran away back the way they came. The fourth man seeing this followed suit... but, chose to try and run past Zen instead. (He's not quite out of melee range for Zen's next turn if he moves, though number 1 might (or might not) manage to escape if Zen doesn't deal with him. Which would take Zen's & the water clone's turn but, automatically succeed in dealing however much damage Zen wishes.)

Rinnian smiles, and a faraway look comes over him. He says with a sigh, "Myself? I'm a wanderer, a traveler. In the blood, y'know. Came from a nomadic Air tribe, we all only stuck together because, safety in numbers, you understand. But me, I liked the solitary life, going from place to place. A rolling stone gathers no moss, as they say." He slaps another copper on the table, making a dull ringing sound as it impacts.

The innkeeper looks at the copper with confusion for a solid second before slowly taking it and waiting to see if Rinnian is going to ask for something in return. "That sounds like a lonely, and might I add, dangerous life." he says to fill the time.

Well, Hydrax thought, this is quite... anticlimactic...

The waterkin had been hoping to find more of a fight – but then, with two men running and another knocked flat, it didn't seem like he'd find much of a fight here... All things considered, Hydrax feared this was going to end rather quickly - but as a wise man once said, when life gives one lemons, one prevents scurvy.

Hydrax glanced past his water clone and the other struggling thief, catching sight of the last of the men fleeing in the opposite direction. He'd round a corner in a few more seconds, and Hydrax didn't want to just let him get away. Unless the waterkin finished these other two off fast though, he likely wouldn't have a say in the matter...

Wasting no more time, Hydrax spun on his heel to face the fourth man who’d just fled past him, swinging his staff around for another strike, simultaneously issuing a silent command for his water clone to keep hold of the other immediate target.

Spoiler:

Zen gets in another well placed strike and knocks out the wind out of the man who tried to run past him. However the man who was being held by his water clone uses the time to resist with such force that he pushes his way out of it backwards with such force that the water clone is dispersed. Then he starts running away.

Aislinn looks up from her carving as Talon flutters off when he's shooed. "Silly bird..." she mutters affectionately to herself before looking at Ni "Slept well I trust, dear wife?" She says with a little chuckle. "We're staying at an inn in Dul that Aurna found for us." She says as she sets the carving and the knife down before turning to face Ni. "Since we have a moment to speak in private there are a few things I'd like to discuss. Such as that horse and cart you found, or more importantly, this 'marriage' of ours?" She waits a moment to let things sink in for Ni as she wakes up before continuing. "I imagine that was just a ploy to keep your father from marrying you off, yes? Or were you just that stricken with me?" She says with a chuckle and a flirty fluttering of her eyes. "If it was just a trick for your father though, he is not here now so how far should we continue this? Should we let the others know? Do we continue this at all?" She asks more seriously.

It was a good thing Aislinn gave Ni a few moments as she just seemed to stare at the world blankly during that time. She waits a moment to respond to Aislinn after she's finished, "I suppose you could say it was both.... in a way. Indeed I had no wish to be married to someone as... payment" she says the word with a good deal of venom, "Considering we don't know a lot about Sevle I knew nobody could really object as they might offend you. Especially if it is the case that we could potentially mate. A matter I am somewhat curious about. And that brings us to the other part. While I would not say I am smitten with you, in fact I think I'm a bit young to have been properly smitten with anyone as of yet, I am very intrigued by you. As far as how far we should continue... that is by custom up to you, not me. I certainly considered that all of you might choose to.... consummate our marriage, no matter who I chose, and at least I figured that if it came to that, at least you would be the most gentle, being able to understand better how I felt. Either way, charade or not, I would prefer we keep this to ourselves. I would rather submit to you than suffer the advances of the others, especially as Hydrax Zen might make the case that if not yours then by 'rights' I should be his."