FIVE HUNDRED EIGHTY
(I/C)
As they passed beyond the former walls of Acreage, Lyra bent down and plucks a handful of wild violets from the ground, sniffing the small purple flowers. “Praise Aine! Yes, praise the living heck of Aine! Hot damn. We did it!”
“Ooooh how nice it is ta be in de outdoors again!” Wyn scuffed his feet on the thick grassy soil, coating the sides of his soiled boots with smears of green. “No more dingy stone corridors.”
Lannis nodded, frowning as he lifted his pack with his fingers and tried to resettle it on his shoulders. “Yeah. Great. We did it. Whoopdedo.” He frowned. “I think something is wrong with my bag. Is anyone else’s bags feel too heavy? I think mine is too heavy. It just feels heavy.”
“It’s bueno, Senor Trollflop,” Abraxas smiled, taking a deep breath. Using his Scythe as a walking staff, he took long strides, face bright and eyes twinkling. “Amigos, let's enjoy the trip back."
“Yeah, Maybe.” Lannis grunted, shifting his pack again. “This is not going to do. How close are we? Are we there yet?” He lifted his hand to his nose and felt it, frowning as he pinched the sides.
Lyra had dug her hand into her pouch and was squeezing the artificer doll in the face, digging her nails into it. “We just left. If you look back, you can still see the city. We have 6 days…10 to get back to Specularum.”
“We’re going to have to stop at some point soon. My backpack is digging into my lumbar and I don’t want to get a fucking hernia because someone might have thought it was funny to put a handful of bricks into my back to purposefully weight me down, you know.”
Wyn sighed, smile slipping slightly. “Let’s just enjoy not being in dat castle, oui?”
Kovid had been shielding his eyes for the last few minutes but by now, the dwarf was fully acclimatized to the bright azure sky and sun and commented on it with gusto. "Smell that, boy? No more goblin bile, kobold piss, panther scat, werewolf turds, trog ass, or dragon corpses.” He took a deep breath and then slapped the side of his backpack. “Just the smell of all that gold we're carrying wafting through the breeze. It's a beautiful thing.”
"You know I thought I hated the castle, but now I'm rediscovering the terrible grandeur of marching.” The Magic User gave a deep sigh that seemed to radiate from his feet all the way up to his neck. “This is the worst, and this stuff is so heavy. Are we there yet?" He was rubbing his arm, not aware that Lyra was twisting the arm of the artificer doll hidden in the bag, muttering invectives under her breath.
“If you’re all done with the hoopla,” Brendon muttered, walking ahead of the party, using a found length of wood as a prod as he strode without complaint. “Try to keep your noise level down.”
Regardless of Lannis’ complaints, the party marched on, the wizard taking the time to remind the party almost hourly of his displeasure and desire to be home, be carried, be on a horse, pissed that Lyra won’t carry him, be in better company, or wonder why no one would talk with him anymore. (BX Hex Daily WMC: Red/Black 5)
There was talk about hunting along the way, but it was almost universally passed for now. “Wyn gonna keep an eye out fer any tracks or signs of animals or edible plants on de way… but fer de most part I tink we can wait a day or two before we need ta hunt fer anyting.”
The hours passed as we strode through the ancestral elven homelands, still eerily empty and quiet, same as our arrival 20 months ago…er…14 days earlier. We spotted the odd sign of game, but nothing nearby except for a trio of quail that fled from a small lay of underbrush ahead. The sun moved across the sky and except for Lannis’ moaning now and again, it was a great day in regards to morale as well as distance travelled. Finding a natural rise and a heavy copse of trees on the leeward side, the party swiftly set up camp, Wyn, Brendon, and Abraxas doing the majority of the preparation. It was decided that a fire would be lit but the wood kept low. We broke out some of our elven trail rations, the party digging in, and Kovid surprising everyone by taking out the last piece of elven cake in the yellow wrapping.
“You had cake?!” Lyra exclaimed.
“Aye. Was saving it for when we had a victory. Couldn’t think of a better time.” He held it out. “Everyone dig in.”
The group all shared, everyone commenting that it was indeed a fine meal and worth the wait. “So, bandages tonight,” Lyra asked, holding the up. “And hopefully we find another means of cleaning them in a few days? Can’t hurt to be healed up for the trip.” She then set about bandaging herself, Abraxas, and Kovid. Watches were set and the group rested. (BX Hex Daily WMC: Red/Black 4)
We awoke the next day and smiled at the still great weather (Lannis heal 2 (4 dam), Lyra heal 8 (8 dam), Wyn heal 2 (4 dam), Abraxas heal 8 (6 dam), Brendon heal 3 (2 dam), and Kovid heal 10 (27 dam)). We studied, prayed, broke our fast and Lannis and Wyn spent a little time copying spells into their book (Wizard Lock for Wyn and Lannis was going to do Magic Missile, but he had done it already, so instead did (random check) Read Magic).
Skins were a bit lighter (everyone down to 3), but we had enough water for now. We marched on, heading continuously west, southwest. We had a good head of speed today, taking solace that it was mostly grasslands and low hills we were walking through (BX Hex Daily WMC: Red/Black 2). There were no obvious bodies of water but we weren’t worried for now. Some old goblin tribe markers were found but had succumbed to wind and rain, letting the group know they weren’t current. We also came upon an area where some grass deer had run through, but Wyn was sure they were a good 3 to 5 hours off and might not be worth the hunt for now.
Lannis checked his boots at least eight times looking for rocks that he knew were in there because his feet hurt, but finding nothing. Lyra meanwhile had her hand in her pouch torturing the doll within minutes of the magic user complaining about the length of time the trip was taking, the company he was forced to travel with, or the sheer indignity of a wizard of his stature having to do something so banal as walk home.
When the sun was setting, We stopped a bit early and the three again (Wyn, Brendon, and Abraxas) quickly lashed together a few windbreaks and lean-tos from fallen lumber while Kovid gathered firewood and Lyra raked up pine needles for something to sleep on. Lannis supervised. Poorly.
We ate and drank again (Food stores down to 25 days total, everyone’s water down to 2 days), Brendon finally exhausting his wine supply with a heavy sigh. “Now I now we’re in the wild,” he muttered, capping it and putting it back in his pack. We all kept watch and the evening (BX Hex Daily WMC: Red/Black 6) passed with little issue.
We awoke the next day to find the cloud cover had increased and a cool wind was blowing int with moisture from the south (Lannis heal 2 (2 dam), Lyra heal 4 (4 dam), Wyn heal 2 (2 dam), Abraxas heal 4 (2 dam), Brendon heal 3 (0 dam), and Kovid heal 5 (22 dam)). Wyn gave the eye a deep stare and frowned. “It’s going to rain at some point, mes amis. Not now, but today. I ahm sure of it.”
“Can we fill our skins?” Lannis asked.
Wyn shook his head. “Non. Not so easy ta do it dat way. Do we travel on in da rain, or stay ‘ere in shelter. An if we go, do we hunt yet or not. And water? Do we look for it or not?”
Time now is Day 16, 8: 30 AM
(OOC)
2 Days up, no WMC yet. 4 days to Kelvin’s Edge at our current speed. Well?
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