Session 3: Fight or Flight Report
General Summary
Naomi bites her lip and gulps, before whispering very quietly S-surely those soldiers would be kind considering our situation? They're the law."
Ragia motions to the party to get ready to flee toward the woods as she casts image, making it look like another random group of adventurer is badly trying to sneak away from another bush on the other side of the camp, making sure to get them running as soon as they are spotted.
Eleanor lets out a quiet gasp, "Wow look another group, that's unfortunate for them"
One of the soldiers who was setting up a tent looks over at the adventuring party, placing a hand on his shortspear and holding up a hand. He is saying something in the same strange language that the party doesn't speak, while holding up a hand, looking directly at them.
A few of the other soldiers look towards this new distraction.
The image party looks towards the guards in a panic and start to run away from the campsite, towards the hills and down the road to get away from the guards.
Three of the guards, two wearing breastplate, the other wearing a chain shirt, start chasing after the image party meanwhile Ragia motions to the others to start getting a move on while she keeps the mean looking guards at bay and prepares to make her escape as well.
As soon as Eleanor exits the bush, she rustles it a little louder than her companions, and one of the remaining guards looks over, spotting her and shouting, again his hand on his spear, but he doesn't move toward the party, until the other two grab their spears and shields.
Noticing her party got caught, Ragia sends the illusory party into the bushes to dissapear, giving them time to get out of the situation.
Ayame turns on a heel to face the new enemies while they still look dead at Eleanor, who stands still as she spots the guard looking dead at her, pointing to herself, looking back to her companions, keeping her voice low despite the guard being real far away, "uh.. are we fightin?"
The guard nods, making a beckoning motion, while saying again, something in the strange language.
Ayame, after some thought, decides to speak up. "Hello?"
The three look to each other and the one that caught the party scratches his head, saying something again in sylvan to the other two.
Naomi tries herself in Celestial, but with no results.
"AHH!" says one of the guards as he rummages around in his pockets for something. he pulls out a stack of letters and points at them, than points at the party, than points at the papers in his hand again.
Ayame pulls out her trade license, to which the original guard that spotted them sets down his spear and moves over to Ayame, holding out his hand. Ayame gives him the license, and the guard inspects it, nodding to himself and handing it back.
The soldier scratches his head, looking back to the fire, then back to Ayame and motioning to the fire, and holding up a single finger. to which Ayame joins him, and sits at the fire while the rest of the party watches from the outskirts of the camp.
It takes only a minute for the other three to come back to camp, where the soldier who 'spoke' with Ayame, speaks to the one wearing a chain shirt. He makes his way to the fire, crossing his arms and looking at Ayame. "Do you speak in trade?"
"Ah! Yes I do" says Ayame.
The chain shirted man sighs, which breaths a sigh of relief from the rest of the soldiers and they continue setting up camp. "My subordinate mentioned that you have passengers? Do they speak in trade as well?"
"Yes they do as well" she says with a nod.
He nods back. "There is no reason to sneak around if you have nothing to hide, you seem green for a trader, so that is the best advice I can offer... Based on the white haired ones description... Gug-Oeja?"
"Yes that is the direction we are going"
The soldier thinks to himself for a minute. "The woods are dangerous at night, even traveling near them can get you caught in the fog. Pull up a chair and leave come morning. You have no food that will spoil, another few hours will not harm your journey." He says with a smile.
Ragia get outs of the shrub and peeks out, making it look like she was just hidden by Naomi on her departure from cover.
Ayame smiles back and nods "Thank you" before gesturing the others over, her fox tail swaying gently.
Eleanor has been lying down with her hands behind her head and watching the sky half mindedly, but with the distraction of the gold kobold, she stands up and also joins everyone at the fire.
Eleanor looks down to Ayame as she approaches, "Everything good?" she says, looking up to the guards. the chain shirted guard nods to Eleanor. "Other than the other companions of yours that ran away, but we called in a team to find them. Don't want them to get hurt."
Ragia does a small motion to get the guard's attention. "Sorry for that, t'was hard to see who you people were so that was a distraction to let us flee in case it was something bad"
Eleanor nods at Ragias comment, rubbing her chin, "The forest is quite a thing to travel near and through, we've had a bit of a stressful time lately with them." She makes a gesture with her hands wiggling her fingers towards her head, "mind games and the such." She puts her hand on her hip as she continues, "Don't know how you lot handle it so well honestly"
"Ahh... well, Ill be reprimanded, but that is understandable. Many of the undead would wear the armor of Wanhua." The soldier looks to Eleanor. "We don't. This is considered a punishment duty."
"Punishment? You weren't guards before?" Eleanor says, tilting her head.
"Soldiers in the army, unlike towns outside of Wanhua, everyone that is sworn to protect the country does so in different locals. Im being punished for being a pacifist," he says pointing to different members of the squad. "drunk on duty, poor hygine," he points to the man who just put the pot on the fire. "Gave food poisoning to a general..."
He sighs, "Observe and report, call in for backup in case something outside of our scope happens. That is our job until we are relieved or requested elsewhere."
Ayame leans in and whispers "A-And you let him cook?"
He leans back in, whispering, "Wouldn't you trust your life with someone who has his life in your hands?"
Ayame grins and nods "I suppose so"
Eleanor lets out a chuckle, "Well now, sounds like my old group of companions." She smiles a bit and then it fades, "My name is Eleanor Primrose, I'm currently the bodyguard to the lady over there for her travels." she says in a half lie, gesturing towards Ayame.
He extends a hand to Eleanor. "Jiou. A pleasure."
Eleanor gives the man a firm handshake and smiles again, "a night with a few minor guard duty misfits sounds a helluva lot better than demon nightmares in the forest, so thank you Jiou."
"Im sure any of them would take you up on your offer, but they are exhausted, and wouldn't be able to please." he says before looking to the pot, and shouting to food poisioning guy in Sylvan.
Jiou looks to Naomi however. "I must admit, I do not know the spirit on your staff. Could you enlighten me?"
Naomi tilts her head, "T-the spirit?"
He points to the holy symbol upon her staff. "Is it a family spirit?"
"Oh! No. It's the holy symbol of my Faith."
Jiou blinks. "Isn't that what I said?"
She stumbles on her words "U-uh..W-well I mean. When you say Spirit, to my understanding, it means the Soul."
"She's a pilgrim, the spirit she worship isn't really known around her"
Jiou nods to Ragia. "Exactly why I would like to learn." he says before turning back to Naomi, "Perhaps we could discuss this in more detail?"
"I am a Cleric representing the Goddess Rhamnasia. She deals with...Well a few things really...But, most importantly, she helps to quell the rage and chaos caused by the unliving and the ungood. M-my mom would be able to explain this better than I, she's a Paladin of our Faith. She used to fight demons and devils and stuff...A-am I rambling? I'm rambling aren't I?"
Eleanor pulls her head up and looks to Naomi, "so she fought stuff like we saw in those woods then?"
"Well, my mom was trained to fight...I spent my childhood learning. She didn't really want me risking my neck like she did when she was my age, but...I don't want to just sit at home and heal the minor ailments of the townsfolk! I wanted to help make a difference...It frustrates me to no end that we had to run from whatever that thing was..." says Naomi, still fidgeting slightly.
"Nothing wrong with wanting to heal others." Jiou says quietly, looking Naomi dead in the eyes. "Its what I do to earn my keep here."
Eleanor chuckles, "I've never heard you talk about yourself to this extent Nahemah, have you had something to drink without us noticing?"
"Healing is something that has always escaped me"
Eleanor rubs her chin, "I never expected such armored folks to be healers, though I suppose I've only been treated in towns where no battle was happening."
Naomi bites her lip "N-not like there's anything wrong with that!! It's just that my mom kept me like a crystalline bird in a cage. She thought I couldn't handle anything further than JUST healing. I want to be like her! Destroy a hell gate or two, kick some Devils ass in the Hells. Something other than being stuck home all my life..." she pouts "Besides, back in my mom's day Clerics and Paladins of our Faith were expected to serve in the fight against the undead and the unholy. I felt terrible just skipping out on what used to be tradition."
Jiou motions to the forest. "Tradition may have followed you."
Eleanor stares blankly for a moment about halfway through her talking and looks back to Naomi, "Sounds like quite the set of goals for someone as young as you" she lies down on the grass and puts her head up against whatever was her seat, kicking a leg up, "Glad we have such an ambitious healer with us."
"Indeed" says Ayame.
"My mom had a rougher upbringing than I, and at a much younger age. I...I kinda felt like a leech just sitting at home and reading everyday..." she says as she rubs the back of her neck.
"Oh! Speaking of ambition...D-do you happen to know of any rare plants in the area? I've been refining my alchemy skills as of late, and I even managed to make this!" She says while rummaging through her pack and taking out a small, blue colored vial of liquid. "It's an antitoxin I've made, while I'm traveling I figured that I could collect samples on the way to make medicines."
Jiou's brow perks up looking at the vial. "Never seen it blue before... but i'm afraid I am not much of an herbalist. Maybe something in the forest, like one of the mushrooms on the trees, but otherwise..." he shrugs.
"I believe it probably best to stay away from the forest, the undead can be quite an issue in there" says Ayame.
"W-well..Honestly I colored it blue using some coloring to mark it as mine. Works just as good as any other antitoxin! It'll just uh...Turn your tongue blue for an hour from the coloring." Naomi blushes, embarrassed "I-I didn't expect that to happen okay!! I mean, like, it's blue! Yeah! But the whole tongue thing...Ugh, nevermind! I agree, we should stay away from the forest for now"
Ayame giggles a little bit at this.
Eleanor chuckles at Naomi sort of dorking out about things too "We still have a bit over a days travel to our destination with Ayame and Ragia, we might spot stuff on our way."
A handful of spices is thrown into the now boiling pot and meals are being served to the individual soldiers. Jiou stands up. "Well, make yourselves comfortable, and unless you want something ill be in my tent on my own." He says something to one of the other soldiers, who nods, spooning down his meal fairly quick.
The party settles in, and rests through the night, not tired, but needing to refresh their schedule until dawn the next morning, when the soldiers start tearing down their camp.
Eleanor snaps up awake panting and looks around as though she forgot that she wasn't in the forest anymore. Quickly calming down, "Oh right." she says.
Ragia yawns and peek out of her tent, crawling out and stretching in the morning sun.
Ayame awakens from her peaceful slumber in her magical bedroll.
Most importantly, Naomi emerges from her sleeping bag like a new butterfly, with all the equivalent clumsiness of doing so.
Eleanor stands up and stretches her back, still fully covered in clothing that she slept with in the bedroll. An audible couple cracks and pops are heard from her body as she lets out a yawn, "Alright, time to keep moving forward?"
Naomi stares at her as she cracks "U-uh..Need healing? Surely that can't be normal?"
laughs a bit at Naomi's comment and shrugs, "been this sore and broken as far as I can remember hun, no worries need to be had, my body's just a tad worn and twisted is all."
Ayame turns to the guards who let us stay with them and gives them a bow while the rest of the party finishes tearing down camp.
The guards, already having everything packed up, give a bow back to Ayame, Jiou giving a nod and a yell in Sylvan, as the soldiers line up in a group of three and a group of two. "Good luck on the road to Gug-Oeja. Look me up if you are ever halfway between here and the capital. Ill make sure you are all treated right." he says with a smile, and the soldiers go marching off down the road.
"Very kind of them" Ayame says before starting to continue down the path, along with the rest of her party.
The party makes their way without issue for the last day to get to the river, arriving just before dusk. Following the path they see an older man, sitting on a chair near a tied up barge. It looks to be run via a strange mechanism that looks similar to a water wheel jutting out in the middle of the barge. There is a small "hut" on the barge that looks to cover whoever is inside it from any rain.
Naomi looks at the others and shrugs "Think he'll give us a ride?"
"Thats his job I assume" says Ayami.
Eleanor tilts her head, "Yeah I've no idea how this works, was kinda countin on Ayame here" "Who's gonna wake him?" says Naomi.
"well better you ask him" Ragia says, turning to Ayame "you're the one with the official paper after all."
Ayame shrugs and nods, stepping up to the old man "Hello?"
The old man yawns, opening a single eye and looking to Ayame thinking for a moment before uncrossing his arms and fiddling with a ring. "You need passage?" he says gruffly.
Ayame nods "Yes we do."
The old man nods and stretches. "Where you headed?" he yawns before leaning forward and dropping to the ground, doing pushups.
"Gug-Oeja"
"A gold a person, or a silver and a story each."
"Hmmm....a story each?"
The old man nods. "A story each." he says finishing his pushups.
Eleanor let's out a bit of a giggle upon hearing this, "that's quite the discount for a story."
He looks at Eleanor. "The barge is taxed constantly, and I eat what little I need and no more. A gold gets me through with a break. the silver and a story gets me through the rest of my life."
Naomi blushes remembering her rambling from last night "I-I'll pay the gold, thanks. I just want to rest."
He nods to Naomi, holding out a hand for the coin. "If you need rest, the bed only fits one, but it will get you off your feet."
"I think I get your meaning. Sadly I'm not someone with many interesting stories, never were told many either. Unless you want personally stories but even then I run rather dry" Eleanor pops out a gold coin and flips it over to the old man, "So I'll make that a no on digging through my mind for somethin, I hope you get a good story sometime though."
"W-well now I feel bad! How about I pay the gold AND a story?" Naomi rumages through her pack and gently hands him a gold!
He smiles and takes the two coins. "And that's why I offer the discount, and Ill gladly listen to your story mam." he says before looking to Ayame and Ragia.
Ayame hands him a gold. "Ill listen to her story I think"
Ragia fidgets, still thinking up a good story to tell. "Well I got something, but not sure it it's enough of a story. I could pay full price if it's not"
The old man nods to Ragia. "Lets hear the story." he says sitting on the ground and watching her intently, putting the gold coins away.
"Well, it's about the time I got thrown out for my best trick yet. I had recently found a way to get really high up, so I had decided to set up a system of traps that would have given the person going through a nice shower, warm water and everything. all while giving everyone watching a spectacle of waterworks. it was truly magnificent, but my luck that day would have had the principal trigger it, and he was carrying some documents that did not like said water. on the plus side once it was over he was squeaky clean, and the other students were all cheering after the display, though they soon calmed down when the principal called for me to go to his office.
seemed like this was the final straw for him cause promptly shredded my scholarship and banished me from the school. to this day I still don't know what the documents he was carrying were about, but considering he never reacted that bad to my antics, it must have been really important"
"And what did you learn from this experience?" says the old man.
"Uuuh, not to wet grumpy old people's documents?"
The old man bursts out laughing, before standing up, wiping his eyes, "That counts. Ill take your silver."
Ragia wiggles a little and hide in her scarf, not used to headpats.
"I'm ready with my story!" says Naomi, "I was thinkin' about it the whole time. It's a little simple, but simple is best."
"Okay so, a friend of my mom is sort of a shape-shifter -- she can turn into a cat at will! She used to play with me all the time when I was younger and take me places I wasn't supposed to go, and my mother wasn't having it; y'see, my mom was really protective of me. Well, the friend of my mom I mentioned loooved to push my moms buttons in a friendly, teasing kinda way, so she would sit near my window-sill as a cat all the time to let me know when she wanted to take me places."
"This one time though, my mom caught me sneaking out of the window, so me and my cat-friend went running as fast as we could! Now, there's a lil somethin' I didn't mention; she could cast magic! So while we were running I hear a loud thud, and I look back to see my poor mom got caught up in a bunch of clothes lines that got magicked into her way! You should've seen the look on her face! So we ended up getting away, and I think she took me to get some books or something that day...This was like, 10 years ago now so it's hard to remember.." she giggles as she thinks about it...
"Of course I got in HUUGE trouble later on, but it's still a fun story to think about. Violet, that's my mom's friend, used to take me all over the city to play when I was young, half to push my moms buttons like I said, and half just because she just liked to play around n' hangout n' stuff." The happiness on her face fades for a moment..
"Honestly, I miss Violet, and my parents and everyone else back home a little already...B-but I can't give up now! I HAVE to show my mom that I'm all grown up now by completing this journey!"
"Thats an amazing story....did you run away from your mom?" says Ayame.
"K-kinda! I mean...Well, my OTHER mother knows generally where I'm going and where I am. But my mom, the Paladin, is kinda...super...over-protective...So I had to sneak out."
She rubs the back of her neck "I never mentioned that I have more than one mom. It's complicated."
"My dads a spirit," says Ayame, "I understand complicated families."
Eleanor wraps her arm around Naomi with a chuckle, "Sounds like quite the upbringing, multiple mothers and the sort."
"It sounds like you are still learning from the story you told me." the old man says, nodding slightly.
"Mhms! Learning day by day, I suppose." says Naomi.
He nods. "Well, when you are ready, come abord and we will head off." he says, picking up his chair and bringing it on board the barge.
Eleanor lets go of Naomi and looks to Ragia, "How were your parents?" she says as the party starts getting on board the barge.
"I'm a kobold, I was mostly just raised by my tribe. I know my mom, but you would need some advanced magic to find out who my dad is."
Eleanor hums, "Everyone has such interesting families"
The old man untethers the barge from the shore, pushing it off using his foot before he goes to the large wheel, from on board, you see that the wheel has a large crank on it, and he cracks his knuckles before taking his shirt off, revealing that even in his old age, he still has enormous strength, and begins to turn the crank attached to the water wheel.
The party proceeds to watch the old man pedal the boat for two hours, blasting them down the stream at breakneck speeds as he controls an unseen rudder using pedals next to his feet. At the end of the two hours, as the night has grown dark, he stops pedaling, and the boat drifts into place along the shore, next to a large, horribly misshapen wall made of numerous materials from stone and glass to wood and paper, nearly thirty feet tall, complete with a gate that goes over the entire river. He lands the party on the western shore. "This is as far as I can legally take anyone. You should be able to get in not too far from here." the old man says, tying off the barge.
The party departs the ship, giving thanks to the old man, and waving as they leave.
The old man waves the party off, and sets up his chair, giving himself a snooze right on the boat. The party makes their way not too far from the drop off point, and finds that the wall only gets worse as they travel around it. Literal trash is even glued onto specific parts of the wall, and as you turn one corner you find that the entrance is a complete reconstruction of an ancient wooden sailing ship, complete with masts, and a flag flying even at an hour that you can't see it properly.
It is in the front of this ship that a pathway emerges into, with two guards, easily spotted as Paladins of the Stone, wielding great spears as they hold their position atop Gryphons.
The party approaches the pair of guards, who cross their spears over the door before looking to Ayame, wordlessly.
Ayame shows them the trade pass, forcing a polite smile.
One of the guards speak, a womans voice emanating from the helmet hiding her face. "Speak thy name. Be that thine own pass?" she says as the party feels a magical aura about them.
Naomi shudders at the interaction.
"My name is Ayame Shiori, and yes this is my pass"
They nod, the spears parting, the door to Gug-Oeja is now open. The magical aura dissipating. With that, the party enters the city of Gug-Oeja.
Rewards Granted
Ragia Raflesia has given a silver coin to the barge master, giving purchase to the bone reading they were given.
Missions/Quests Completed
The party aoided conflict between themselves and a patrol of Wanhua soldiers. Ended up gaining a contact within the country of Wanhua.
Character(s) interacted with
Jiou and his 5 soldiers of Wanhua.
Barge Master, (Name Unknown).
