The Restoration of Erihal [GAME START]

"Is that... is that everything?" Duril asked the commissioner. "I really should be getting on to the warehouse. I need to see how much the extra money will support..."

Commissioner Redwyne finally works up the gumption to shoo the rest of the group out of his office and have someone herd them to the warehouse. There, they find an exasperated woman dealing with the group, oh dear. She glares at Jack and his clearly imperial dress, but has no time to berate him as she's swarmed by Kamile and Jow.

"Ugh! Just, here!"

She stomps over to a wagon and throws a few sacks of seed, a box of tools, dried rations, and building supplies onto it.

"Get yourself a pair of draft oxen OR a horse, not both! And then some sheep or goats. And then get out!"

An assistant comes over to help Leah with her lab equipment, and, noticing Duril, points out his items as well. To the scientist's trained eye, it doesn't seem like the warehouse has anything apart from regular goods for settlement. Perhaps a specialty shop out in the city would do better.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll be back shortly," said Duril, heading out to see what he could find in the city. He should have really arranged for more supplies from Kelthurios rather than funds, but this had seemed more efficient than lugging the stuff halfway across the League before the expedition even started...

Leah is like, "thank you, my good friend!" However, she asks the assistant if they can help Kyalson also!

"Ye-yes indeed, I was looking for papers and information about couriers I could hire! So I can pick the best ones for my supply chain, haha."

Jow bowed repeatedly to the Keeper. "Thank you, thank you kindly." He babbled out quickly, pretty pleased with the offer.

As he started picking out a horse, tying it to the cart, he muttered to Kamile. "Make sure she gave us some good stuff aye and not just the top of the heap, swap 'em out if yah need to. And see if you can grab us some good feed for Girl here, she'll be worth feeding well. I'll pick out the goats and sheep" He said, patting a stocky young gray horse softly, looking into her large dark eyes and making pleased shushing sounds. Yeah, she'd do well.

Duril wanders off to look for supplies!

Meanwhile, at the warehouse, the assistant mumbles to Kyalson that they'd need to establish a settlement and send someone back before any couriers would dare go into the empty lands of Erihal. After all, it's dangerous and they wouldn't know where to go anyway.

Jow checks out the animals and finds some nice healthy ones. Good deal.

Outside, a bunch of bystanders see the cart and swarm the caravan with offers.

A short and muscled man with a shaved head and ruddy complexion stands outside the warehouse, juggling what appear to be hand-axes. Tattoos cross his skin, the most prominent being a raven struggling free of thorns across his chest. He smiles at the caravan and waves.

“Greetings! Will you be needing the services of a warrior to guard your caravan? My name’s Skal, finest blade of the North. And I’m not a half-bad shot as well.”

A tall and well-dressed woman stands with a large bag, looking expectantly at the group. She cuts an imposing figure, with makeup that accentuates her features She smiles at them, but there’s something cold and ruthless behind her eyes. She is wearing heavy gloves, unusual since the weather is rather warm.

“The name’s Julia Winthrop, of Winthrop Guild. I’m a building and mining contractor, and I’m willing to offer my services to your caravan… for a suitable stake in your enterprise, of course.”

Another finely-clothed person is there, this one with a large jeweled pin on a sash across his chest and a feathered cap. He looks rather cheerful and his blue eyes sparkle with adventure. He bows and doffs his hat, and the caravan can see a lute strapped across his back.

“Dear travelers, my name is Lucas Jolie, baronet de Voy. But don’t let my title fool you! I am quite the well-versed traveler, artist, and poet. And surely a group such as yourselves needs someone to chronicle their story?”

A darker-skinned person of indeterminate gender waves to the caravan. They are dressed practically and have a rifle with them, and have braided hair streaked with grey, held back with a simple circlet. They look like a veteran of many struggles, but still carry their head high.

“Hail and well met. My name is Jani, and I’m looking to join a caravan. I’m handy with a lot of things and have some practical knowledge of the land. I hope you’ll consider taking me along.”

Finally, there’s a pale man who seems to appear out of nowhere, suddenly standing in the light of the square before the caravan. By his green eyes you can tell that he’s one of the people of Hesh – strange, since they rarely leave their homeland. He looks the caravan over and nods.

“You will do quite nicely. I am Malik. Some would call me a mystic. My portents spoke of this. If you would have me, let my fate be intertwined with yours.”

Kamille salutes, a stern look crossing her face at Jow's request. It does not suit her, but dammit she's determined!!!!

She'll examine the goods, not worrying about the new folks just yet.

"Oh, more friends!" Leah is pretty happy at the numerous state of people.

She looks around and thinks. There is a lot of people, oh boy! Mostly of the industrial and fame-specialty sort.

She liked Jani. They seemed to have a lot going on but they did said, "they know a bit of the land." You kind of needed to understand the land in order to get the most fun plants...

She goes to Jani, "'Ello! Name's Leah Bigmane Panthera! Nice to meet you!"

Kyalson approached the baronet: "Ah, esteemed de Voy!" he says, initially ignoring the man's request to ignore his title "Or should I call you Jolie, or ah, perhaps even Lucas? Ahha! Well, my name is Klyalson Gyerbert, and ehhe, I do know the power of chronicles and advertisment! I really think you should join us indeed!" he says, as he shakes the man's hand.

Jaw gave 'em a good squint. Damn, they all seemed useful enough maybe. Least far as he could tell. The ones he didn't know about he knew just enough to know they could be handy, and the things he did know about couldn't hurt to have more of.

Let's see, Skal, probably fair enough to deal with, so long as he didn't get no big head. Julia gave him a bad feeling of willies, but, maybe she'd just be an issue in the future if she was a builder, make sure she didn't sign too many things. The fop could be decent for keeping up spirits and getting a communities name out. The hunter looked experienced, likely better than himself, more hands getting food and keeping an eye out'd be good. And the Hesh... Rare enough to be believable maybe? Magic weren't really his expertise, and especially none that trucked in divinations. But damn that'd be useful to have though, a diviner, or whatever they were.

"Malik was it?" He asked, stepping over and putting out a hand to shake. "Mind if aye ask you to expand on your business a tad?"

Jani looks Leah up and down and gives a little smile.

"Oh, a Mau! I saw a lot of you during the war. Figures you'd be joining the resettlement. It's nice to meet you as well. Where is your group going?"

Lucas grabs Kyalson's hand and shakes it very enthusiastically.

"Excellent, excellent! I knew you were the discerning sort! Ah, this is splendid, a tale of adventure, camaraderie, and of course, the beautiful story of rebuilding the great nation of Erihal!"

Malik nods to Jow.

"I cast omens, foretell the future. I was chosen to be such by the gods, by circumstance of my birth."

Duril returns with a lizard-person to find that the group has mostly managed to gather supplies and their cart is now being mobbed by people seeking to sign on.

And not just any lizard person, at that! Well, maybe just any lizard person. One with dark reddish scales, about seven feet tall and generally pretty Large, dressed in a sort-of-scruffy green coat that might have once been a little nicer, plus a big, wide-brimmed hat. Imposing, and also kind of a Trash Wizard vibe, perhaps. She walks toward the collected group, eyes narrowed in... study? Suspicion? Who knows.

"...So this is them?" She asks Duril. "Interesting bunch. Hello... uh, settlers?"

"Ah, we're going to Arisha, my dear friend!" Leah declared, puffing her chest proudly. And also because she was at the group-meeting with the Commissioner. "My focus is on the flora and fauna of the post-war era. And I don't exactly know how much of the land you know -- but I'm sure there is plenty of things we could do while we rummage the capital!"

Leah waves hello to the sketchy-looking wizard-lizard! She was glad she wasn't the only animal person around here, to be honest.

"...Okay, well, what number am I gonna throw up." Jow said, putting a hand behind his back and thinking hard about the number 2. Needed to test the fella afterall.

Jani nods to Leah and waves to the newcomers.

"Arisha, eh? Now that's a unique destination. I fought in the region, at the Battle of the Foggy Bluffs, but I never got to see the city itself. And with such a dangerous destination, it'd be a crime for me NOT to come along."

Lucas chimes in.

"Agreed! Ah, what songs I'll sing, of the brave caravaneers who reclaimed the jewel of Erihal! It'll be the stuff of legends, I guarantee it."

Malik, meanwhile, frowns at Jow.

"Unfortunately, I cannot read minds. But something tells me, the gray bird will show you the truth."

At that moment, Jow spots a peasant with a goose under each arm, shouting "Two geese! Healthy and plump, two geese for sale! Lay eggs like gold! Perfect for settlers, get yer geese!"

Suddenly, a group of soldiers in colorful uniforms arrive, shouting at the crowd to disperse. Most of the people around start leaving, but Malik, Lucas, and Jani seem to be staying with the caravan. One comes up to your group and shouts,

"All right! Get a move on! Gates close at sundown, port too, get on your way!"

Duril turned to Xanthi. "Doesn't look like we have time for introductions," he said. "We'd better bring a pack animal back to your shop so we can load it up."

He proceeded to hustle over, apologizing to everyone he nearly bumped into, in order to do just that.

Xanthi waved back at Leah, who seemed to be another sort of academic? Maybe they'd get along.

"Hm. That quickly? Alright. Most of your group seemed... busy, anyway. Or not much for conversation? Either way."

Back to the shop to get everything in order! Xanthi had quite a number of books, research journals, scientific and pseudoscientific instruments, and so on to pack away.

Oh, another new friend! Klyalson hopes they too, like fish flavoured noodles.

"Oh?" Leah cocks her head at Jani. "The capital is dangerous? I thought everything died down after the war. I guess, there is other factors. Chemicals, wild animals --" she realized a lot of people in this group are of the occult kind "...residual magic?"

Kamille spent quite some time looking over and making an inventory of the goods. They all seem to be of decent quality, nothing special but it'll do for this group. She finds several barrels of dry provisions, probably enough for a few weeks, as well as sacks of seed, farming and carpentry tools, some rifles with powder and ammunition, cookpots and other crockery, and tools for mending clothes.

Jow looked at the geese, the seer, then up at the guard, giving him a super-big thumbs up of understanding, before back to Malik. "Alright seer, as cool as that trick is, you should know it's not going to be be a big enough pass to let you not pull some of your own weight. Help buck stuff on the cart, come on." He said closely to Malik, gesturing to the cart preparing rapidly to clear out.

Jow made sure all the ropes were tied properly, no holes in sacks or crates, quickly checked the horses hooves, that kind of thing, the kind of things that got missed when packing in a rush.

After a few hours, the group introduced themselves to each other, took stock of their supplies, hired on Malik and Jani, had Lucas tag along, and set off. It was early evening when they stopped at a wayfarers' inn to discuss their next moves. They were going to reach the border of wilderness in the next few days, and would no longer be able to rely on paved roads. They had a few options to proceed, all with their own risks and benefits.

They could follow the old Royal Highway, which used to connect Erihal and the League in years past. It would probably still be good for some distance past the border, though no doubt much of it was destroyed during the war to deny the Empire an easy route. The road would take them north and west, bypassing Lutishal and passing through the drier lands of the Luka plain, north of the Karen basin.

Alternatively, they could follow the River Lutis, passing between Lutishal and its mirror Lutispolis, provincial capital of the Mau-Aaru region. The Great Bridge between the two cities may still stand, though if it's collapsed then it would pose a serious challenge in navigating the river. Following its western root would put them fairly close to Arisha, with only a short distance through the gently sloping descent from the mountainous North.

Finally, they could trek across the plains to Lake Ka, and then use the city of Karen as a navigation landmark to proceed. Arisha was almost due north from Karen; if they managed to stay on heading, they would almost certainly spot the capital and correct their course. There was also a road between Karen and Arisha, much less traveled than the Royal Highway, but it might have had a better chance at survival.

Of course, the travelers would need to forge their own path at some point. Nobody knew what had and hadn't changed in the past sixty years, so no doubt many of the landmarks were different in some way or another.

When people started to come together to discuss the route, they found Duril hunched over the map already, having experimentally plotted out routes with string and pins. He was quietly talking to himself as he did so. "Need fresh water... a caravan our size might struggle crossing the drylands..."