[IC] Death & Taxes (Session 2)

Nera nonchalantly tries to hide her bow between her armor and cloak. Won't be too comfortable.

"Good, good," Galbernost says as the weapons pile onto the cart. "Now, if you'll excuse me for a second..." From the swamp side of the palisade, it's hard to tell what's going on. But Nera sees the farmer push through the grain until the tall stands of wheat swallow him up. "Where is it, where is it..." the farmer grumbles, as the tops of the stalks rustle first here, now there. "Ah, there it is!" comes the triumphant cry.

Suddenly, you all notice a portion of the palisade about three meters wide shudder and ripple as if underwater. Where once the fence had seemed uniform, a nine-foot part of the wall now seems to have sprouted a lock and hinges. Nera sees Galbernost reemerge from the wheat holding what looks like a child's doll shaped like a buzzard. "Little blessing of our goddess," he says to Nekurr. "As long as this thing's in the wheat, the gate's hidden." He puts up a finger to his lips with a smirk. "Now for the lock." The farmer pulls a large, metal key from his pouch and unlocks the double-gate. He pulls the doors open and motions to those outside. "C'mon in. Welcome to Buzzards' Ford."

Galbernost notices Nekurr staring at the doll and shoves it into his pouch. "Look, if you're here to loot the village, stop with the act. If you're here for official business, everyone start walking down this path. And no leering. I'll pull the cart."

"Can't have someone pulling our cart by himself..." Tronus mutters getting ready to assist him.

Galbernost chuckles at Tronus's offer as one of the others leads the horses through. "I can handle a simple cart by myself, Master... Tronus, right? But, sure, never too many stout shoulders in a place like this." Once everyone's through the gate, Tronus and the farmer pull the cart through. Clearing the hidden gate, Galbernost shuts the gate back and locks it behind him. "Straight down the path, folks. The mayor should meet us there if he doesn't catch up with us sooner." You see Galbernost bring the buzzard doll back out from his pack and throw it discus-style into the wheat field again. The gate disappears from view once again.

The way to his house isn't so much a path as it is a gap between wheat fields. But a couple of things become quite evident very fast: First, it's quite staggering to see so much grain here—you all know that the Barony of Cailn has been cursed with blight since the Third Darkness. But seemingly not so here. In fact, this whole place smells something like dough, or wet bread, mixed with overripe fruit. Second the mosquitos are quite rabid here on the other side of the gate. For some reason, Nera and the farmer don't seem to be bothered by them, but the rest of you find yourselves swatting away blood-suckers every few steps. It might be worth finding out how to avoid the pests.

"Bloody little..." Nekurr snaps, slaps and curses. "Not a good sign these cursed things! Not a good sign..." the cleric mumbles as he crosses the bountiful fields

"Tronus is fine, I'm still out and about working for the clan for a few more decades. Galbernost you having issues with manpower then? That you can trust I take it. And the bugs in here are worse then outside." Tronus makes small talk while they work slapping his arm suddenly with annoyance.

The farmer snorts. "Bloody annoying, the little bloodsuckers. I might have some spare repellant, but you'll probably wanna buy a jar from the physic's place." He heaves the cart forward a few more feet. "We're not a big village. One-thirty-five I think was the last census count, and there've been a few babes since then. But Aris has blessed us, so we always feel shorthanded at harvest time."

"By Fortuna, where do these pesty things come from?"

Bruv tries to be subtle about his casting, not yet knowing how they feel about magic, so he masks his incantations and motions as much as possible...

Nekurr takes a card from his tarot deck... "Oh!" he says as he sees the card he picked "Not a good sign..." he adds just before dropping the entire deck in the mud, ruining it.

Hidar tries to ignore the bugs and think on what he knows of this Aris.

Despite his frustration that the cards fall into the mud, Nekurr notices the mosquitos dissipate from around himself, and Tronus -- only to come right back. Nekurr gets a feeling that his prayer might be answered once they make a bit more progress down the path. The horses and Hildar, however, still seem to be plagued by the nuisances.

Despite the buzzing pests, Hildar recognizes the name Aris. She's a fertility deity popular among rural folk in the baronies. Her symbol's usually a dove, so for this village to associate her with a buzzard is a bit abnormal. But small places like this often have peculiar customs.

"Ah, that'll be the mayor there," Galbernost says, nodding toward his cottage in the distance. A few men are standing out front alongside the farmer's young boy and daughter.