Travel interludes

Feb 7, 2024 7:21 pm
As the caravan continues on its journey down the Long Road, the characters have conversations. I'm starting it late, but this is where characters can converse, separate/in parallel to the action of any encounters that happen during the course of the trip. Player characters are encouraged to jump in and respond or interject at any point in the conversations.
Feb 7, 2024 7:22 pm
This conversation takes place on the evening of the day that the party encountered the giant spiders, and put out the fire on Dugal's wagon: the 13th day on the road.
Feb 7, 2024 7:25 pm
That day, Adran had foraged and Elowin had hunted, and together they provided a bunch of greens (mostly watercress and miner's lettuce), roots (daikon), and fowl (three partridges).

Jalon grins appreciatively, showing all his teeth as dragonborn do when they try to approximate that mammalian expression.
Jalon
"Thank you for the meat. I don't know what I'm going to do with all this...make a stew, I suppose."
Feb 7, 2024 7:26 pm
Flint
Flint, the dwarf who has been driving the gnome's wagon, groans theatrically. "Oh, no - not stew again!!" Jalon looks shocked, his massive, toothy jaw hanging open. Flint chuckles.

Findal

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2024 7:28 pm
Findal
The gnome sage Findal smacks his driver Flint in the shoulder. "Flint, be kind! He doesn't see that you're joking!"
Feb 7, 2024 7:30 pm
Tesko
Tesko clears his throat noisily. When no one responds to this opening, he exclaims with exasperation, "Why don't you just ask me if you need my help?" Jalon's jaws close with a snap, and the dragonborn looks levelly at the chef. "I am the most celebrated food artisan of Mara! I could make such wonderful dishes with what has been provided!"

Swelvie

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2024 7:30 pm
Swelvie
Swelvie passes the bottle to her driver, Salt, and looks with clear jealousy at Belany, who is enjoying berries that Adran found in his foraging and is sharing with her. "What I want to understand is what a woman needs to do to get some male attention around here." Salt rolls his eyes and takes a swig.

Belany

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2024 7:31 pm
Belany
Belany delicately licks juice from her fingers and raises an eyebrow. "Based on my own experience," she flicks her eyes quickly at Morik and Adran, "If you ignore them, don't respond to them, give them no encouragement at all, and make it clear that you'd rather be alone, they won't leave your side." She takes another cluster of berries from Adran, pops it in her mouth, and nods thanks to him. "As much as I prefer solitude, I will admit that there are some benefits."

Swelvie

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2024 7:32 pm
Swelvie
"Are you saying I'm trying too hard??" Swelvie's voice raises in pitch and volume.

Belany

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2024 7:32 pm
Belany
"No, I didn't say that." Belany smiles thinly at the younger woman across the fire.

Turighe

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Feb 7, 2024 7:33 pm
Turighe
Turighe smiles handsomely at Swelvie. "Mistress Swelvie, please don't feel slighted. I am always happy to provide a beautiful woman some masculine companionship!" Swelvie looks at him up and down, as blank-faced as when Jalon the dragonborn looked at Tesko. Then she turns away, and takes the bottle from Salt again. Turighe's smile fades, and then he turns to the rest of the group with a new grin. "Well, I guess there's no pleasing some people!"

Gavath

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Feb 7, 2024 7:33 pm
Gavath
Just then, Gavath returns to the fireside. "The horses are all set for the night. What's for supper?" Tesko huffs. Jalon ladles out a bowl of partridge stew for the groom. "Oh...Stew again, huh?"

Flint cackles.
Feb 7, 2024 7:43 pm
Dugal
After everyone has eaten for a while and people are a bit less tetchy for having their hunger sated, Dugal the dwarf caravan master notes that some of the drivers look a bit pensive. He nods and addresses a comment in the direction of Turnip, the kar'Javon's halfling driver: "Tomorrow we should reach the Thile crossroads."

Turnip

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2024 7:47 pm
Turnip
The halfling nods, and pokes a stick into the fire. "Yes, that's right. My folks say we've got family there. I guess a lot of us halflings do." He pokes the fire again. "I've never been, though. Not yet."
Feb 7, 2024 7:54 pm
Smoke
Smoke spits into the fire with a sizzle. "I've been. It's not that great. Buncha fishing villages, mostly. They don't take to outsiders much." Swelvie reaches across and offers her cup; Smoke grabs the cup with both hands, takes a swig, and then sighs appreciatively. "Thanks!" he hands it back to her carefully.

Ferona

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Feb 7, 2024 8:00 pm
Ferona
"I heard it's wonderful!" Ferona, the young halfling driver of Turighe's wagon, interjects. "And why wouldn't it be? An island homeland for our people? How could that NOT be the best??" Turighe claps. "My mom's parents came from Thile; I heard so many stories about it growing up!" She subsides a bit, staring into the fire. "Someday I'll go and live there." She notes the others' expressions and misreads what she sees. "I will, too!" Smoke and Turnip raise their hands placatingly, and nod in agreement.
Feb 7, 2024 8:04 pm
Smoke
Smoke replies, "I was about your age when I went to Thile, before. I had all the same dreams..." He stops himself, seeing her expression. "Well, I don't know your dreams, of course. But I desperately wanted to see this place that was just for halflings like me. And a lot of it was good. I'll probably return again, someday, but not to stay."
Feb 7, 2024 8:07 pm
Salt
Salt, the young dwarf driver of Swelvie's wagon, frowns a bit at this. "I don't understand. You say it was good, but you don't want to stay with your people?"
Feb 7, 2024 8:11 pm
spaceseeker19 says:
Turighe smiles handsomely at Swelvie. "Mistress Swelvie, please don't feel slighted. I am always happy to provide a beautiful woman some masculine companionship!"
Elowin smiles and shakes her head. In dreams, everything can happen Turighe.
And sometimes only there.


Swelvie, you do know that not all men know how a woman wants to be touched, but all women know how women like to be touched. Elowin smiles at Swelvie and returns to her stew.
OOC:
Elowin might be bi-currious
Feb 7, 2024 8:17 pm
Smoke
Smoke sighs. "Well, that's the thing, isn't it? They're halflings, sure, but they're not really my people. Or at least, not all of my people." The fire shifts a bit as a log cracks in half with a snap, sending sparks up into the night sky. "I've spent too long on the roads. This one knows," he says pointing at Dugal, "And this one, too, I reckon," pointing at Princess. "It's all well and good to spend time with people who are like you, have the same traditions as you, like the same foods as you, grew up singing the same songs as you. But when you've traveled as much as I have, you also start to relish the differences. The locations, the languages, the people," he gestures broadly at the motley, diverse members of the caravan, from the small halflings and the gnome staring into the fire with glinting eyes to the hulking, overweight dragonborn stirring the pot over the fire. and the food! I like food from everywhere! And you can't get that variety in Thile. It's a bunch of villages, but it's all halflings. I grew tired of not seeing any big folk around. No, I'd rather settle down in a cosmopolitan city like Mara or Grayhaven!"

Swelvie

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2024 8:21 pm
Swelvie
runekyndig says:
Swelvie, you do know that not all men know how a woman wants to be touched, but all women know how women like to be touched. Elowin smiles at Swelvie and returns to her stew.
Wordlessly, Swelvie pours another cup, hands it to Elowin, and raises her cup with a smile. "Here's to all the best kinds of knowledge!"
Feb 7, 2024 8:27 pm
She takes the cup. I can drink to that!
And so she does.
Feb 7, 2024 8:33 pm
Princess doing her best not get into the matters of Swelvie and gives Turighe a comforting smile.

Princess breaks from her dear shawm playing, "Yeah Smoke. I'm kinda limited in there. Caravans just don't give me all the world quite." before she takes back up her shawm playing. She breaks ever so often to drink too.

Findal

spaceseeker19

Feb 7, 2024 9:10 pm
Findal
Findal's eyes reflect the firelight like a cat's. "Philosophers have debated what the best kind of knowledge is for centuries. Some say that the utility of the knowledge determines its quality, so that knowing how to swing a sword like Bramlin here is better than, say, my knowing how to translate ancient gnomish to Imperial."

Turighe

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Feb 7, 2024 9:18 pm
Turighe
Turighe smiles in appreciation of Princess' gesture.

The problem with Turighe, as far as Princess has been able to determine over nearly two weeks, is that he's so enthusiastic about everything. Is he flirting, or just being complimentary, when he says "Why would anyone limit themselves to just one type of people, when there are so many fascinating people to befriend everywhere?" He raises his cup in another toast. "Here's to all the beautiful people, here in this caravan, and all over the world!"
Feb 8, 2024 2:17 am
With cup grasped in gauntleted hand, the Braveless one takes a swig and joins the toast!

Yes, this is a good group. I’m glad to be part of your company. Of all the caravanning I’ve done in mercenary years, this one is certainly the most…well, eventful! Ha, ha!

Bram banters and bellows with good company. With cup grasped in one hand…and his other hand, habitually reaching into his cloak pocket. And just feeling for…his silver token. And for just a moment, to perceptive friends, his smile turns to a look of distracted wonderment.
Last edited February 8, 2024 2:17 am
Feb 8, 2024 4:25 am
Princess smiles and adds as she sips from her cup for toast, "And more tales to be told. And moments to enjoy."
Feb 8, 2024 3:44 pm
Adran, who had been away from the others, approaches as he's tucking his thieves' tools back into their pouch. A faint sound of the ocean can be heard, muffled but growing louder as he moves closer.

Taking a seat next to Gunter, he elbows his friend and smiles before opening his clenched fist. The realization that he holds a copper coin is second to the sound of ocean waves, soothing and rhythmic. The sound isn't loud and is easily talked over, but everyone at the fire can hear it clearly.

"It's better this time, it isn't so loud. Might help you sleep."

Turning to the others, he offers a shrug. "I see this all as an opportunity. There was no future behind us... I think we all know that, even if we don't want to admit it aloud. By leaving, we all have a chance we didn't have before."
Feb 8, 2024 6:01 pm
Morik was in a reflective mood and stayed quiet listening to the banter, though he raised his cup in agreement to the toast. They were quite right, a single place with a single type of people was not the kind of place he’d like to stay at for very long. Different folks, different cultures, different food, different danger, different everything, that was livinf.
Feb 9, 2024 6:30 am
Findal nods in vigorous agreement to Adran's statement about opportunity, and kar'Javon says "I'll drink to that!" with a laugh.

Findal is clearly very interested in Adran's coin, too. "How did you do that?"
Feb 9, 2024 2:39 pm
Adran turns to Findal. "Oh this? I grew up tinkering with things when I wasn't wandering the forests. Over time, I got a bit better. The details are what will trip you up though. You have to..." And with that, Adran will break into an explanation about being an artificer.

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