[M]Pathfinder: Making Trails IC

[Jacogos]

"Life is sometimes unfair..."

The man muttered this phrase as he overlooked a map under the cover of a large, pavilion-style tent. This was not the first time he uttered it today, nor would it be the last. When he had taken up this position of authority to... oust the bandit infestation in these parts, he hadn't expected his job to take so long.

Or worse, to cost so many lives... he added bitterly, eyes glancing over at a mud-stained letter that was stuck to the wooden table by way of a knife through the center. It mentioned numerous things, that letter. As a possible candidate for the next Captain of the Guard, the man took it as a threat to that possibility that it was signed by the village elder himself...

Ser Nathaniel

It has come to our attention that the contingent of guardsmen that we sent with you to deal with the problem have been met with a most unfortunate fate. While death on duty has always and will continue to be a threat due to our location on the frontier, we cannot simply throw away lives like this!

Because of this and because of mine and the Guard Captain's reserves on sending you more men, we are instead placing a bounty out on the head of the bandit lord that holds the fort you have been assailing. Those coming to capture said bounty will be sent to you as mercenaries for hire, at which point you will use them as more acceptable means to oust the scum from our lands.

During the interim required to gather these individuals, you will not - under ANY circumstances! - engage the vagabonds any further within the vicinity of the fort. You will instead simply recon the area and gather as much information as you can about the fort and its inhabitants. You will relay this information to the mercenaries. Then, you will allow them to do their work. That is all.

Do not throw away more lives for your own glory, Nathaniel.

Signed,
Elder Hamaar

It stung to remember the words, or at least the gist of them. It was written in a biting tongue, meant to make him regret his choices that led up to the sending of that letter. And it worked. It worked very well. Ser Nathaniel heaved a sigh of emotion and stood straight once more. Today was the day it was mentioned the mercenaries would be arriving. If they traveled normally from the town of Spiritvale, then they would be arriving within the hour, even. Making sure that he was presentable, the former shoo-in for Guard Captain turned and exited the pavilion.

He was instantly met with raindrops down his brow and face. The rain had only started a day ago and had not decided to stop since. It was nearing the beginning of the rainy season, which excused why the downpour was lasting so long. Still, it did not befit what was supposed to be, if not a joyous occasion, then at least a unique one. Spiritvale had always been rather self-sufficient with its own problems until this point... Never before had it called on outside help to solve even a martial problem such as this.

"First times for everything, I suppose..." Nathaniel murmured, looking out towards the dirt road that should lead straight into this makeshift encampment. The camp limits were marked by large, free-standing torches that burned fiercely even against the precipitation, two on either side of the path and on both sides of the camp.

The last remaining soldiers Nathaniel had with him either patrolled the camp or were huddled inside their own tents making conversation or preparing their dinners. The sun was approaching the horizon, after all. Dusk would be upon them within the hour... "Let's hope the mercs get here first..."

As if on cue, one of the guardsman hailed an approaching stranger. The difference between different hails were practiced amongst these trained soldiers, so 'stranger' was designated here. Nathanial wasn't sure if all the mercs would be travelling together, so even a lone stranger could be expected to be them. And if its not, then who the hell would be walking on this path at this hour in this weather? he wondered. Regardless, the commander of this mission walked towards the southern portion of camp, which is the way one would have to come from town, expecting to greet the mercenaries shortly.

[Tetsuya]

"A book full of spells, and I'd give them all up in an instant for just a single one that could stop this damned rain," Max hissed as he marched towards the direction where the camp was supposed to be, the rain continuing its deluge that had lasted for an entire day and showed no signs of stopping any time soon, making Max quite irritable. A traveling magician such as Max might have piqued the interest of many people, but throw rain into the mix and most of those people will choose to remain dry and seek their own entertainment rather than venture out into the open and get drenched for just a moment's amusement. This had cut rather deeply into his earnings, which ordinarily wouldn't have been a problem since he was planning to cash in on the bounty on some local bandits. However, Max would surely not be the only one trying to claim this bounty, meaning that the reward would likely need to be split multiple ways, assuming he hadn't already missed it entirely. Hoping to get there first and claim the bounty before anyone else showed up, Max had left as early as he possibly could...only for this damnable rain to slow his progress.

And on top of that, Max would be dealing with bandits. Bandits, while usually not particularly bright and thus easy to manipulate, were also quite aggressive. From the sounds of it, there were also quite a few of them, so it seemed unlikely that Max would get to toy with them at all. No, it would likely just be a simple, boring thrashing, and this weather only made it worse. He wouldn't even be able to use magic to burn down their stronghold around them and cause mass hysteria in their ranks, and where was the fun in not doing that?

Max stopped then, a sudden realization coming to him. Smoking bandits out might be fun, but depending on where exactly these bandits were holed up, the guards may not even want their stronghold burned to the ground in the first place. And of course, there was always the possibility that the bandits had hostages; these bandits had to have something that was causing the guards enough trouble to call for outside help. Still, all of this would be enough to make Max wonder if the gods were conspiring against him, if he believed they were capable of such things in the first place.

As he drew closer to the camp, though, Max began to wonder if he was looking at all this the wrong way. He wanted to make as much money as possible from this since a few easily amused drunks don't pay very well at all, but he also quite enjoyed the company of others, so perhaps this job might not be too terrible, even if it was a payday nightmare. Plus, these guards were likely quite bored; perhaps he could put on a brief show after the bandits were taken care of. And as for the job itself, his skill with a blade was likely getting a bit rusty, so it would be good for him to exercise that a bit. Finally, in the absence of his usual tricks, perhaps Max could develop a few new ones in order to torment his soon to be targets.

Viewing his situation in a new light, not even the rain could dampen Max's mood as he began humming a short tune on his approach towards the camp. He had gone slightly off the muddy, rugged main road from Spiritvale, but always kept it in his line of sight so that he could get back onto it once he got to the camp. It wasn't long after he did so that a guard from the camp called out to him, prompting Max to take a few more paces before coming to a stop a few feet away from the camp, just far enough that they could communicate easily enough, but not close enough to raise alarm.

"Greetings! I am known as Max the Magician, a traveling...magician, and occasional slayer of bandits and other such unwanted entities," Max spoke, bowing slightly with as much flourish as he could manage in the rain, which wasn't much.

"While I'm sure you all could do with some spirit raising entertainment, I'm actually here to inquire about the bounty that has been put out for some bandits...assuming it hasn't been taken already," Max paused at this, taking a moment to look around to see if he could spot anyone else in the near vicinity but at first glance all he saw were a bunch of tents and guards. There may have been others coming down the road, but Max was too occupied with the other matter at hand to check.

[m139]

Throughout this world, there are many paths and many trails. Some are well paved, and traveling along them is easy. Others are harder- maybe once they were well made, but have since deteriorated, or perhaps they were never that good to begin with. And on these roads, there are many travelers. Each has a place they came from, and each has a place they desire to go. And so it was that three particular people, mere strangers the day before, discovered the others' existence in a small little tavern in the town of Spiritvale.

There was a little tavern, off the main road and somewhat near the outskirts of the town. The Leaky Faucet was this somewhat run down establishment's name. Nevertheless, it had been quite full and rowdy that night, forcing otherwise solitary characters to interact with, well, at least someone. Not a table was completely empty that night.

And it so happened, that, in a particular corner, three particular people were crammed together. They ate, they drank, and they talked. And they soon discovered that they were all headed to the same place, for the same purpose: they all wished to join the raid against the bandits. And, since they knew they would all eventually be attacking together, they decided they might as well walk together.

The next morning, they set out together. There were a few delays, mainly because it was rather unpleasant to leave the nice, warm fire for the cold torrential rain. Still, they set out at a decent time. For most of the day they had kept walking. Rest breaks were short and few, mainly because the weather was, well, terrible. Sometimes they would talk, sometimes they would walk in silence. Sometimes, one of their group even sung

It was near sunset, although with the lighting you could hardly tell, when the small group approached the camp. From the darkness of the clouds and rain, soon emerged the outlines of two figures and a small pony. No, wait- there were three figures. One of them, in the front, holding a rope by which she was leading the pony, was much shorter than the others, and, from the distance, her outline was hardly distinguishable from that of the taller, stouter person behind her. The other person, who walked to the left of the stouter one, was much thinner, and about a foot taller.

As they came closer, the observing guards could hear one of them speaking. Wait- that was not speaking- it was, of all things, singing. What the words were, the listeners could not determined. And, despite the overall terrible weather, the tune sounded happy.

And the three figures continued to advance. As they came closer it could be discerned that the shortest figure was actually skipping, despite the mud and the rain. By the voice it was obvious she was a woman. However, much of what she looked like could not be determined, as she wore a large dark green cloak to keep out the rain. Her two companions walked silently behind her. Soon, however, the three figures came into hailing distance.

The guard soon hailed the group, and the three people came forward. The one small one, still in the front, stopped singing, and took a short bow.

"Hi," she said, lowering her hood, and nodding both to the guard and the man who was outside the wall, "I am Ryela, and these are my companions: Grimm and Gyneth. We are here to help fight the bandits."

[Cfavano]

Rain. Torrential rain. This would put the damper on even the stoutest of hearts, but not Carrot. It was because of rain that the flowers grew, and someone once told him that it was those who loved him crying, because they missed him, and this reminded him that, even though he cannot see his brave father or his loving mother, they could see him. His only hope was that he was making them proud. By the sheer amount of rain, it would seem so.

Eventually, he got to the edge of the camp, where the kind old lady who gave him a cloak told him the call for heroes was coming from to rout some evil bandits who dared to prey upon the weak and innocent. He didn't like killing, hated it even. But if someone had to bear the burden of taking a life in the name of protecting the innocent, it should be him. He could and would bear this guilt, for the sake of those who could not protect themselves, and nothing would stop him from bringing justice where it was needed. He eventually got to the edge of the camp where the other adventurers were gathered, and addressed the guard. "Hello there, my name is Carrot, I am here about the bounty."

[P.K.]

Gyneth's mood had been a bit dampened by the rain, not that she really hated the rain, or being in it. But large amounts of it on her was a bit of an annoyance, sometimes a little more then an annoyance. Fortunately she was in her human form which meant she was not a whole lot of soggy fur. Gyneth tossed her wet, red hair over her shoulder as she continued to walk behind the halfling with her pony and near the stout dwarf. She had to admit it was interesting to find herself traveling between these two races. Observing from a distance was not that same as interaction with in person, It was a good opportunity to learn and study from the actual thing and not from books and other people's perceptions.

Gyneth glanced at the sky once, she was unsure as of yet if the rain was fortunate or unfortunate for their case, but if they were dealing with bandits and their strong hold... well opinions would very but she found it unfortunate if it kept up. On the other hand they would not need to worry about drinking from water skins for a while, as a matter of fact. Gyneth stuck out her tongue just then to catch the droplets that poured from the sky, fresh water straight from the source!

Just then Ryela stopped, her pony doing the same, Bringing Gyneth to a stop as she felt the beasts body next to her's. She closed her mouth and quickly looked down to see the camp, She assumed it was the one they were all heading to. There appeared to already be someone here, well more then one somebody, She could tell who belonged to the camp and who didn't, so it seemed that it was just her, Ryela and Grimm, there would in fact be others that they hadn't met at the tavern. One appeared to be human and the other was... well he had traits of an animal, but with the rain she couldn't tell anything by scent, but it intrigued her none the less. Ryela Spoke to the guards, introducing her and Grimm to which Gyneth simply smiled, Gyneth didn't look like much, she was attractive in her human form but she probably look out of place in this weather and with this group. Maybe more like a pretty bar maid then a adventuring sorceress, She'd been told that once before on an small adventure previous to this one.

[Blood]

-A few of days ago-

Maya was leaning back in her chair, wanting to look up but staring straight at the glass of water on the table. She was used to having the open skies above her, even in cities. Which admittedly she was more comfortable in than out in the middle of nowhere. Speaking of things she wasn’t used too, for this project. She and an odd Undine decided to team up, normally she would be against it. For now though, she thought the skills were worth the chance. Not that she was going to unwrap any of the cloth that completely covered her head. She didn’t care that he saw her hair, she didn’t know him and wasn’t comfortable around him; so she wore the cloth.

“Aren’t you ready yet? Come on Maaka, if we don’t hurry. Some wanna be hero will take the bandits out before we even get there.” The half elf complained, before the chair fell back to all four legs. Drinking the water in one gulp and flipping the cup upside down. Starting to get a little impatient about what was taking the Undine so long.

Maakadenz was finishing looking over his formula book and preparing his extracts for the morning. After sorting the vials in his cloak and folding his alchemist lab back up, he placed the lab and his materials back into his backpack and sealed it up with its cord. “I wouldn't think that someone who has had to learn the art of patients and subtly could be so naturally loud and impatient.” Maakadenz thought to himself as he put his backpack on his back and his satchel over his shoulder. Maakadenz steps out of his room to find Maya laying back in a chair with her head once again fully wrapped in cloth. “She looks like a leper when she dresses like that.” he thought to himself. “Ready to go?” He asked her.

Maya rolled her eyes, “Of course I’m ready. Haven’t you ever seen someone that was bored before? I may have grown up on the streets… No, because I grew up on the streets. I learned how important it is to not let a prey get away.” She said, getting out of the chair and headed for the door. Before muttering behind her, something she hadn’t said since he offered her a place to stay and a meal, “Thanks for what you did last night.” Then was gone through the door, before the Undine could say anything.

Maakadenz raised and eyebrow. “Elves, humans and whatever she is.” he thought to himself. “I can never understand understand their kind at all really.” Maakadenz made his way through the same door Maya had just stepped through to head down to the main lobby to pay the bill for the room before he was falsely accused again of skipping out on the payments he was due.

[Arcus]

-today-

Maya had nothing against rain, but with everything wet and soaked. They felt at least 10 pounds heavier. Though, she said nothing as they trudged through the mud, muck, and roads turned streams. Her attitude may be a bit sour when they arrived, but she was betting that the Undine was enjoying this constant downpour. From what she heard, they loved water. While she just hoped they would be at the camp soon and that they would be handing out towels.


Maakadenz was greatly enjoying the downpour. “Ah. It’s just like home.” he thought. He had to try and not snicker thought. While he both enjoyed and was prepared for wet conditions, he doubted his new half-elf partner cared for their predicament as much as he did.


Thankfully, it couldn’t be but a tens of minutes later. When Maya saw what she believed to be the outline of the came they were supposed to meet everyone at. Unfortunately, they were not the only ones that were there. All of them were closer than the Undine and herself. So while her zoned out companion didn’t seem to care much when the arrived. She thought that she would just wait and see what would happen with the people in front of her. Keeping her ears open so that she might hopefully hear something, thankfully she could still see a little; though wondered how the Undine was seeing right now.

Maakadenz, still enthralled by the downpour, couldn't help but notice that they had arrived at their destination and that his companion seemed to be a little apprehensive to make a full public appearance to the rest of the people gather at the camp. “Well, I’ll give her one thing. She knows how to make observations and think before she acts. I think I’ll follow suit.”

[Roberts]

Grimm was sitting on his horse riding safe from the mud on the ground, at least thats what he was currently imagining as he walked though the mud as it rained, having been at this for a day already, normally he liked the rain, but he had a tear in one of his boots and his foot was soaked. But he pressed on, not wanting to delay his new companions whom he had bet the night prior in a crowded tavern. He didn't know what to think of them, but after a bit of talking he found out they were going the same place he was going. This was greatly welcome news to Grimm, a friendly face was always welcome, and the hope of a friend in general was even better.

So they had started off the next day to reach the camp. Currently Grimm was rather glad of his furs, they were keeping him warm and more importantly his gunpowder dry. He was glad when he saw the camp, and that there were others there. Ryela introduced the three of them to the guards to which Grimm responded with just a grunt of acknowledgement. This would be a good experience, and even better was the promise of payment at the completion of the task at hand. But he did silently admit to himself that he was hoping that there would be at least portable building, his people brought them with them where ever they went, sometimes even in the mines, but all Grim saw were tents and the wall around the encampment. So no where to actually get dry and keep dry. And no where warm for a meal. He sighed, he knew he would be lacking many luxuries on his escapades, he would deal with it as he went.

[Mr.Cynic]

He followed the road, without being on the road. He didn't see why he should have to. A road was far more dangerous sometimes than an outside path. It's where ambushes and all kinds of distractions occurred. On a road.

The rain was a nice change, the sun, of what there had been, had always given him trouble, so to not have it beating down on his pale skin and his photosensitive eyes was a nice change of pace. Night was soon upon them, and those are the times he felt more energized.

Though he tended to switch his schedule around for the sake of others, not necessarily what he wished to do. So no one in other cities, when he did pass through them, suspected anything weird of him, he often had to switch to daylight hours.

A tedious bore, that left his skin stinging. He did wear a cloak and long sleeves, but it didn't stop his facial skin from stinging, nor his strands of platinum blonde hair. Why he was traveling down this road, to this guardsman post. To be honest, he didn't really care.

He just found, dead guards, dead bandits, or even dead mercs would be a nice corpse for Erzo and the Worm. Not that he always did things for Erzo, but he also had no care or desire to be poking around dead bodies when Ociven could be caught.

He kept to the shadows like some common rogue, though that was where the similarities ended. He was not a common rogue, and that was a bit insulting to his skills. Ociven kept to himself, despite knowing there would be more than one person seeking out these guardsman.

He would study and observe the situation before he entered it. He would remain in the shadows, till the time came for him to speak, which was when he felt it the right time to do so. Not when others asked him of it.

Though the perceptive type might notice him more than the slow and dimwitted. He sighed, as he traveled. Now it was probably time to start actually using the road. If there was one thing Guardsman probably wouldn't appreciate is some shifty fellow on the side of the road claiming to be some kind of merc for hirer.

Only problem now was he was going to get soaked, despite his common black cloak, keeping him mostly dry. Though he didn't really understand the need to complain, it was better than the sun, which was what he kept telling himself to make his wet hands feel better.

Though there was an unnerving sense bothering him in the back of his mind. How the guardsman and other mercs would view him. He had met some interesting perceptions of him over the years and was not aware that some people might view him with a hostility that others have before in the past.

Though he also didn't want to become an enemy of the state either. So, then in case of a situation like that. He would have to run, only other option he had. Ociven bit his lip, forgetting doing so lead to breaking open his own skin of his lip.

He didn't like the idea of extending himself out this far. Getting this deeply involved when the people around him, might not yet be ready for what he was.

[Derpnaster]

Rain, water that had at one point been sitting on the ground, most likely in a puddle, and had been evaporated and carried with the winds until it fell again to the earth. Each drop came from somewhere and had a story. And has Mirian made her way down the now well traveled but fairly undeveloped road she wondered what the stories of each rain drop was as it fell to the earth, swirling about her when the winds she made caught them and flung them about in a small vortex. By now she was quite likely to be late, and the party might have already left. But as luck would have it she spotted the camp a ways off, as well as a large number of people going the same direction.

Rather than go along the same route as so many others Mirian took a detour and made her way across the harder root infested ground to another side of the camp where her small winds proved quite the surprise for a young guard when she made her introductions.
When all shock was gone and sorted out Mirian was taken to the captain and again she introduced herself. This time with less wind and mini hurricanes throwing water everywhere.