Stranded in 1650: IC

[JbeJ275]

All

You slowly sit and wait as the horsemen continue to talk, trying to come to some greater understanding of them before engaging in anyway, the conversation goes on for some time, the man on foot becoming increasingly frustrated and the men on horseback looking increasingly concerned. After about five minutes of discussion, one horseman turns back to ride away, while the other braces himself then starts heading up the path in your direction.

Ontor

You can hear them and make out the words but you do not speak this langague. Just from tone though... they seem suprised and lost for words that fit what they need to describe, else they themselves barely know the language. Something these people can’t explain seems t9 have happened recently.

[Evoker]

I'll whisper: They weren't speaking common, but judging from their tone they know something about our arrival here.

[Thundercracker]

Samuel

"That's it then, one of them is coming this way," he said.

He rode forward a few steps then called out to the horseman.

"Hail!" he said, waving to get his attention and making sure he knew it wasn't an ambush.

[JbeJ275]

The rider panics when he sees you emerge, you're aware that some elements of your magics show on your person but the rider panics more than you might expect. He draws his skittish horse back a few paces, takes a breath then speaks for about thirty seconds. Daroga naka ti solom ...... "more gibberish".... janis te noke si sulton rek noplal. His tone is nervous but he seems to be acting with some level of authority, upon finishing he stares at you expecting a response.

[Evoker]

Do you speak common?

Does anyone else understand him? I can't understand him in the slightest.

[Thundercracker]

Do you speak common?

Does anyone else understand him? I can't understand him in the slightest.

Samuel

Samuel looked over his shoulder.
“No, I don’t understand a word,” Samuel said, “does anyone have ‘comprehend languages’ prepared?”

He turned back to the guard.
“Sorry, I don’t understand,” he said, “we’re not from here, we had some kind of accident.”
He pointed to his ear, shrugged and shook his head and faced his palms upwards (as if to say I don’t understand), then pointed back in the direction of the town when he referenced the teleportation accident.

[Toliudar]

Mama

Hoping that an unarmed middle aged midwife sends a message of friendliness - or at least inoffensiveness - Mama nudges Tikka forward.

She reaches slowly into her shopping bag and pulls out a wrapped waybread. She lifts it to the man on horseback, gesturing to show putting some in her mouth, some to him. Perhaps, in the universal language of broken bread, they could head off any misunderstandings until magics could be brought into play.

[JbeJ275]

Upon your movements he calms slightly but still seems very wary, he accepts a small piece of way bread then repeats his message in what seems to be two other languages increasingly slowly and falteringly. You still don't understand either one though. If you let him finish his attempts eventually he gives up, and beckons for you to follow him then returns to the village garrison.

[Dimers]

Emlin looks at his companions. "He seems willing to keep a peace, and perhaps someone who knows Common or another familiar language will be wherever he's leading us. I think we should go with the man and see what may be seen."

Turning his horse up the pathway, he adds, "I don't even have a clue what that language might have been. It sounded naught like Elven, Orcish, Draconic, Sylvan ... very strange."

[Evoker]

I agree that we should follow him, he isn't acting like he's leading us into an ambush, and I can't believe that wherever he's leading us would have no-one who can speak common. We should keep an eye out though. He seems prepared for battle, there's likely monsters in the area and we don't want to be caught off guard.

[Thundercracker]

Samuel

“Agreed, let’s go,” Samuel said, making to follow the horseman, “do any of you have the ability to prepare comprehend languages for tomorrow?”

[Evoker]

Yes, I can ask Heironeous for that blessing. Unfortunately, it won't allow us to respond to them, unless they also have someone to cast Comprehend Languages, but I will be able to understand their speech.

[Thundercracker]

Yes, I can ask Heironeous for that blessing. Unfortunately, it won't allow us to respond to them, unless they also have someone to cast Comprehend Languages, but I will be able to understand their speech.

Samuel

"It'll do for now until we can find someone to enchant a bit of magic into an item we can lend to them," Samuel said, "thank you."

[JbeJ275]

With you seemingly being content to follow the rider, he turns his horse and heads back to the small garrison he was talking to a few minutes earlier. Two men from that garrison fetch horses from what you can now see is a small fishing village, though no boats seem to be at sea at the moment. The initial rider has some tin cups full of water brought out for you then together your group begins to ride westwards.

The ride lasts about six hours with fairly frequent breaks, and largely is across the same road, which veers inland into the hills, then returns to the coast. The other riders largely avoid the towns or villages, but you do notice those people driving carts and other civilian vehicles are also exclusively human. The architecture you see is also unfamiliar, with stone buildings being more common and villages a little more spread out. You see buildings which seem ornate enough to be temples, but no religious symbols you can recognise and no-one on the road speaks common either.

You eventually reach your destination, a fairly large town with limestone walls, densely packed streets and a substantial garrison. Upon arrival another ten or so soldiers fall in and escort you to a large fortified limestone structure at the top of the hill where a group of more official looking people wait, and approach you upon your arrival.

Do you do anything noteworthy on the ride? And what is your response to these new people approaching?

[Evoker]

I don't do anything particularly noteworthy, focusing mainly on controlling my horse. I'm keeping an eye out for monsters for the whole trip, but after the first couple of hours with no sign of monsters, I'm pretty sure the lands we're traveling through are pretty much free of monsters.

My response to the approach of the official-looking people is mostly to look to Samuel, as I'm taking him to be the de-facto leader of the group, so far as diplomatic matters go.

[Thundercracker]

Samuel mostly makes mental notes of where they’re headed so they can find their way back later.

[Dimers]

Emlin's eye finds no familiar symbol at all, of either religion or nobility. Icons and near on the buildings suggest at least one of those -- but whose marks are they? He has passing acquaintance with the holy symbols of other pantheons, orcish and elvish and such. It's just as well that nothing matches, since that would raise more questions than it answers, given the all-human populace.

The paladin is also somewhat experienced with certain crafts and spends time looking at the equipment used by soldiers and travelers. Some of the civilians seem entirely unarmed, a fact which adds to Ontor's musings about the lack of monsters.

As the trek continues past the amount of time Emlin initially expected, he tries to ask for a closer look at the leader's blade. During one of the breaks he gets the man's attention, points to the sword's hilt and makes a "peering at something close up" face, then holds out his hands palms up and tilts his head to the side with a querying look. Emlin knows that some warriors bond closely with their weapons (as he himself has). Examining the blade may be a way to begin a personal connection.

[JbeJ275]

Emlin

The lead rider is somewhat suspicious of Emlin's request, but during one rest he allows you to hold the blade. He draws some sort of strange best tube device from his side as he does so, and only returns it to his belt after you pass the sword back. The blade itself is unremarkable, a long slender cavalry sabre, worn down but seemingly kept in decent condition. It lacks any runework or sign of enchantment, seemingly quite unremarkable as far as swords go.

All

Six people in various states of fanciful dress, with various ornaments and unfamiliar symbols approach and surround you. Four more men, more heavily armed than the previous soldiers wait just behind them and watch with some nervousness. The more richly appointed men first attempt to repeat some phrase in what seems to be a wide variety of languages. Increasingly disgruntled by your lack of response they close in more, with both the new soldiers and the previous gaurds around you they start to pick at your equipment. Particularly odd looking items, increasingly hurried gibberish passes between them as they tug at your garments or peer at other items. One takes Samuel's hand and holds it up to examine the gloves, another one, the most richly appointed present, looks at Ontor's reliquary, then grabs it from the front, examining the symbol with wonder and worry. Mama is largely ignored by this group, while two of them closely examine Emlin, both his armour and his hands.


(Does Emlin have his nimbus of light activated by default or not?

[Evoker]

What do you need? Are you looking for healing? Just because I don't worship Pelor or one of those more traditional healing gods doesn't mean I can't heal those in need.

I'll cast cure light wounds on the person panicking over my holy symbol, converting a casting of Magic Weapon to fuel it.

[Thundercracker]

Samuel Arvandor

Sam removes his hand from the glove so they can get a better look, but keeps an eye on it so it doesn’t vanish.

Incidentally this also reveals his signet ring.

He glanced at the sun to try and gauge how much daylight they had left, and whether they’d be able to make it back before nightfall.

[Dimers]

Emlin takes the examination with good grace and a little amusement. "It's been a while since I was last stared at this much. Clearly I need to travel more! Heh." He's a little disappointed by the relatively low interest in his handcrafted hammer, but he pushes his pride away with a rebuke and an appeasement: Be watchful against hubris: keep your feet wider than your head. And anyway, they have no way to know I made it myself.

[Toliudar]

Mama Masala

As usual, it's best to let the men talk and talk - it helps distract them from the important things.

On the road and in the town, she keeps a hand firmly on her shopping bag, stays on Tikka and looks around for the important things:
Are people afraid of each other, or relatively relaxed?
Are they reasonably well fed, or scrounging for what they can?
Is the town heavily fortified (built for hiding in) or more porous (built for living in)?
Are the farms well cared for? Are the crops much different than the ones that she knows?

[JbeJ275]

Mama

Your keen eyes ouck up on several things as you are escorted through the day's ride. The common people are carefully kept at a distance by the guards that have been escorting you, but you can see the common people have some distaste or distrust towards these soldiers. A healthy dose of fear is present in the countryside, but while some resentment stays the fear is lessened as you pass into this larger town. There does seem to be a lot of hunger present inside the city and less pronounced signs of the same pattern in the countryside, in particular, inside the city there is less fish on display then you'd expect from a town near the sea. The farms for the most part seem to be intact if stretched, though you see a number of distant sites of rubble, where buildings like farmhouses once stood but burned or fell months or years ago.

As for the town, it seems like a town to be lived in that later saw intense efforts to fortify it, even if they never went quite so far as to re-arrange the already present city. The limestone walls encase the entirety of the landward side of the city, and while have a few cracks- perhaps from monster attacks or powerful magic - there are no breaches. The structure you're in was clearly intended to serve as a fortification and shows signs of recent renovation. Also, while the light is dimming you can see the harbour district of this city, which contains several warships flying flags marked with cresents, stars and a few with other more varied symbols.

Samuel

You left around noon, and rode for four hours to get here. You could not return in clear daylight, but with fresh horses would make it back before true nightfall.

All

The discussion between the well appointed men comes to a sudden halt when Ontor casts his spell, the one you had chosen to cast it on seemed unwounded but reacted very strangely as the magic washed over him erasing mundane aches and pains. The silence slowly breaks into discussion yet more hurried and strange than before. They escort you from the outside courtyard into an interior room that seems to lack any lighting but candles. Upon doing so they seem yet more shocked at the glow coming off Emlin, once dismissive as a trick of the light now obvious. Two of these men dash off after more discussion while the others attempt to lead Ontor and Emlin in one direction, with Samuel and Mama going in another.

How do you react to their continued attentions? Do you consent to be separated?

[Evoker]

I'll turn to Samuel, and speak quietly, trying not to alarm the people around me.
I'm uncomfortable with allowing us to be separated in this new land, as it'd be nearly impossible to find each other without the help of our hosts. What do you think would be the correct course of action? I do understand if you don't want to risk upsetting these people, but I also feel that allowing ourselves to be separated is a serious risk.

[Thundercracker]

Samuel

“Stop, wait, don’t go with them,” Samuel said, “if we get separated, who knows what could happen.”

The strangers’ reactions puzzled him, and they would at least be able to understand them for a time tomorrow.

He turned to one of the strangers who looked to be in charge.

“We are hungry,” he said, making a mime of eating.

“We are tired, and wish to rest,” he said, making a mime of closing his eyes and folding his hands to sleep.

He pretended to wake up and stretch, then blink and squint up at the sun.

“Then we can talk,” he said, gesturing to the strangers and themselves, and mimicking a conversation with his hands.

“We can pay for lodging, of course,” he said, withdrawing a coin pouch and jingling it.

“Money, he thought,”the universal language.”

[Dimers]

Emlin's simple response is to link hands with Mama Masala. He shakes his head at the person trying to lead him away, hoping that the culture isn't so far separate that the gesture will be misunderstood. What crazy circumstances!

[Toliudar]

Mama

Mama gratefully takes Emlin's arm and holds tight.

"Emlin, you are a gentleman. Look, guys. No offense to Ontor, but that was a pretty standard healing spell, in a land that's clearly been dealing with war or something like it. Crazy as it sounds, maybe magic works different here the way it does back home. So best be cautious about how we flash any magic around.

Maybe if we call for writing implements, we can start to use maps, numbers or something to start to learn the local lingo? At least, it's a good stall while we figure out what else to do."

[Dimers]

"Dealing with war? How do you mean?"

[Thundercracker]

Samuel Arvandor

At mama’s words, Samuel quietly shifted his sight over to detect magic, and took a good look at their hosts. As wealthy as they appeared, he expected they would at least have some magic about them...

If there is nothing, he looks around the room.

[JbeJ275]

Samuel

After the first set of gestures the men pause the guards, and enter brief discussion between themselves. The discussion nearly breaks argument until two of them eventually manage to get their way over the others, one being the man you healed and another, in plain white robes lacking the colours of most others. They bark new commands to the guards and they approach you again, two of them with polearms lowered. They are shepherding you much more intensely than before but do at least seem to be herding you all in the same direction, where Ontor and Emlin were headed before.

Your casting is somewhat disrupted by the jostling, and you're unsure if you managed to cast it correctly due to a total lack of any magic, even the normal background amounts of insects and plants seem to be much lower than normal.

All

They are becoming more insistent and urgent in their attempts to move you away, with some even readying pole arms. They seem to be increasingly tense and several of the men in fine robes are speaking louder and more quickly.