Myths of Thalassana: The Cursed Stones of Light

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The wizard's eyes danced with mirth, but he decided to give the halfling some mercy at this point.

"Well, I do hope you had enough rest in any case. This may be the last time you sleep in a comfortable bed for a long while."

He unrolled an ancient map, copied and embellished from one of the ancient relics that lay hidden within the archives of his City.

"We are here, as you know, just south of the Great Sea. The River Seepay runs some ways to our West, from out of the deserts of the North where the wild-men live south through the grasslands of the herders for miles upon miles. Our destination is here."

He pointed at a mountain range far to the West of the River.
 
Bingo frowned at the map. "B-but the city isn't that big, is it? On this map it looks like it extends over half the country... and what are all those lines in the sea?"
Paragonis found that the old map he drew was a little older than he intended to grab...

Silentium shifted around, looking at their companions at the bar skeptically. He was supposed to be the quiet one, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd made more noise this morning than most of the other people in the room...
 
The wizard raised an eyebrow. "All those are just marks for cartographers. What's important is the landmarks."

He reached into his satchel and pulled out another map, detailing the lands from the River Seepay to the string of stony heights appropriately named the Snowy Mountains. In the southern portion, isolated from the rest of the range, were three peaks that was circled and marked, probably by Paragonis the night before.

"The repository lies on one of these mountains," said the old man. "Its name in the native tongue means Serpent Swimming West, and legend has it that the mountains move of their own accord, causing the earth to tremble and shake when they do."
 
Raenah snorted into her folded arms as Bingo was woken up for a with a powerful blast of air to his ear. She remembered pulling a similar prank on her own litter mates. However, she would usually aim for their muzzle and afterward they would spend a whle playing an uprouriaous game of tag. Watching Paragonis spread out the map she looked at all of the criss crossing lines that spread across the paper. But, after only a couple seconds she gave up trying to read the map. She could kind of get it, the long thin lines were rivers, and the great blob was the city but, besides that none of it really made much sense to her.
"Are we leaving soon?" She asked aloud not really caring who answered her question. "If we leave soon we might actually get some where by sun down." This last part she said in a voice little more than a whisper. In the short time se had been living with wolves she had found that people tended to travel excruciatingly slow. Having become so acustomed to the constant running required to track and hunt, she found it annoying when she had to constantly check her speed to allow for people to catch up.
 
Paragonis smiled slightly. "We will be leaving soon enough. Still, it is better to know where we are going and plan for inevitable obstacles than try to improvise on the run, I think. It will be a long while, possibly not until the end of the journey, that we see another city again, so if we need something it would be best to get it now rather than discover we lack something and be unable to get it later. Medicine we can forage from the local plant life, water from streams, and food from both plant and animal, but rope, spare cloth, flint and canteens would go a long way helping if any of us lack them. I suppose I COULD use a spell, but that would leave less energy for fighting and defending, and I have a feeling that we will be doing plenty of both."
 
Kutta walks up and stares at the map. She traces a line with her finger from the city to the mountains, frowning where it crosses the river.
"It doesn't look as if there is a bridge across the river on the most direct route. I take it we'll not be going as the crow flies?" She inquires, tilting her head towards the wizard.
 
Silentium went to an out-of-the-way edge of the tavern, discarded his armor, and began stretching. He had a feeling something big was about to happen, with all this planning--whether it be a battle or a day-long march, he couldn't tell--but he intended to be ready and raring to go.
 
Jarvig had grown tired of waiting, but since he couldn't go alone, he decided to have a second breakfast. A little extra food couldn't hurt. He watched the halfling stumble out of his room as he returned to the table with a loaf of bread, a whole chicken and two mugs of ale, which he quickly stuffed inside his mouth. Caring little for the map, mostly because he couldn't read it anyway, he decided it was about time that he'd speak up about his discontent. "She's right. When will we be leavin'? I've grown impatient by now, I wanna go out, breathe some fresh air 'n bash some skulls in."
 
Paragonis shook his head at Kutta's question. "Not only would that put the river between us and our destination, but also it would take us through several obstacles that would not exactly help our passage. My advice would be to try keeping away from the desert lands as long as possible, skirting the edge until we reach the Snowy Mountains. After that we can go down along the foothills, letting us draw water from the rivers, until we reach the shortest distance between the range and the repository. After that it would be only a short final journey to the repository, assuming all goes well."

The wizard's lips quirked up at Jarvig's complaint. "As soon as Bingo has finished eating, and our... captain. If he wishes to come, of course. I overheard him telling you that he intended to come?"
 
Bingo had just finished eating, as it turned out. He took no hesitation in complaining about this, too. "How could I possibly enjoy a meal with an adventure hanging over my head?" he whined. "Now I've crumbs all over my vest..."
 
"Hah! The drunk kid, yeh mean? If he be up by now, it'd be a miracle. His great-grandfather might'a been a mighty warrior, but dat don't mean his offspring's too, 'specially not generation after generation after generation." Jarvig said in response and began to laugh. He was very degrading towards other people, mostly since the dwarves in his neighbourhood were all like that, but unlike other races, they thrived on it to become better, rather than feeling insulted and become angry. But Jarvig spoke of nothing but praise and respect when at it forge, conversing with passers-by.
 
"A sad fact," grinned the wizard, "but I don't doubt he has a few skills we might find useful on the journey. And he did receive a summons by the King, so I suppose we shall simply have to wait. Unless one of you wishes to try to prank the captain of the guard."
 
Silentium slipped in one of his stretches at Paragonis' last comment, ending up on the floor.
 
"There's noting in the world I'd rather be doing, but I guess I'd get in trouble fer that, now wouldn't I?" The dwarf said and laughed full-heartedly.
 
Raenah watched with a entertained look on her face as Jarvig and Paragonis talked with each other. Hearing a crash from the corner she perked up and swivling around she saw Silentium sprawled on the floor.
"Are you alright?" She asked watching him with bright eyes, her face concerned but, also trying to hide the fact that she was about to laugh. Then flicking her gaze back to the wizard she said in a lazy knd of voice. "If no one does something I will either howl in his ear or bite him." the second half of her offer was accompanied by a sharp toothed grin, clearly showing that she meant every word.
 
Rather than pick up the armor he'd knocked over in his fall, Silentium decided that--based on Raenah's offer--it'd probably be best to put the armor back on and get ready to start dodging flying chairs.

Bingo was tiredly sipping at some juice without a care in the world, daydreaming of home. The conversation in the room went in one ear and out the other.
 
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"Considering he hasn't had a chance to do anything about all that he drank yesterday, I wouldn't be surprised if the captain took unkindly to loud noises." Kutta commented.
 
Hadrianus groggily stumbles out of his room, obviously hungover. ''Oh God.. Where am I?'' He looks around the room, remembering last night an his 'contest'. ''That's the last time I ever drink alchohol..''
Last night, Hadrianus never took off his armor, besides his helmet. So he was already ready to go. ''Alright, alright. Sorry for keeping you guys waiting..'' The noise of their talking began to irritate him as he stumbled to a chair, laying his head down.
 
The wizard simply shook his head and chuckled heartily. "Well well well, good morning good Captain. Do you have the magical armor that my collegues in the High Council sent the King? We'll be needing it when we get to the repository. We may leave when ready, otherwise."
 
Hadrianus groans. ''..The armor is in my room..'' After a brief moment of silence from Hadrianus, the middle-aged knight stands up. ''I'll go get them. Oh, and when I get back.. I want a breakfast out for me. Someone kept me up with snoring.'' He glares at everyone, then continues up the stairs and into his room.
 
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