The Fellowship Grows, the Journey Continues (RP)

- Ezme -

"What's a 'house felder'?" One of the fence builders asks, puzzled by your strange introduction. "Do you do windows?"

Theo suppresses a giggle, he is trying to be chipper and friendly with you now that Daryl took that awkwardness away, but he seems to have a massive amount of awkwardness of his own. With the others he is just a little moody, the tension seems to only be with Daryl and yourself, but you may not have noticed this distinction, since you are not always privy to the way he behaves when you are not around.

One of the men holds his arms open and the girl leaps into them in a big hug, the puppy bounding all around. "I see you have met Emaline." He says.

"I am not Emaline" Emaline says. "I am 'Lion'!"

"Of course you are. Little lion." Her father says affectionately, tossing her in the air and catching her again.

Emaline does not mention the invitation to stay with them. In her mind it is already settled.

What do you do?

- Albert and Roald -

"Coin? For ale?" The woman sounds genuinely puzzled by this concept. "What use have I for coins, coins don't fix the door or the roof. And the ale must be drunk."

She seems content with the village. It is simple, and definitely needs some work, but she does not seem to consider the rundown state to be a source of much worry. "There is never enough time to get to all the jobs." She observes wisely.

What do you ask? What does she answer?

What do you do?

- Ezme and Lille -

"Delivering? Through here?" The little Lion's father —who introduced himself as Tomaž— seems mildly surprised. "To the army, I suppose?" He speculates, suggesting some association or importance to/about the army for this village.

"Yes. Of course." Tomaž says when you suggest working for food and lodging. He does not say it, but there is a hint of 'obviously' tacked on. "Didn't Em... er... Lion offer to sort you out."

"I did!" Emaline protests. "But there are ..." she counts on her fingers, "... six of them. And I told them our house was too small for all of them."

"Well done." Tomaž praises his daughter before turning to you. "Er... did you want to help with the fence before getting settled in?" He asks, wondering why you out here.

The village seems very polite and accommodating.

What do you do?

- Lille -

"Zombies?" Tomaž says. "Children's stories. Anyway, the army keeps such foreign riff-raff out." It is a bit of a contradiction whether they are 'children's stories' or actually something the army deals with.

What do you do?

''Do you get many travellers passing through? Why is there no livestock? Or none that I've seen,... are they maybe in a pasture down the road? Do you live alone here? '''' Oh yes we could really try and fix that door, good idea Albert ''
Roald tries to lift the door but the gap on the top is too narrow. The edge of the wood started to rot and became thicker. Roald uses his knife to scrape away the problematic parts.

- Ezme -

The men are a little surprised, both by you jumping straight to work before resting and by your sheer physicality. Mending fences is not Theo's strong suit (in more ways than one, it seems), and his soft hands are soon bruised and bleeding, but he glares at anyone who suggests he find some other work more suited to his skills. Do you push the issue?

What they planned as a three-day job is completed by evening. The fence is not really all that sturdy, but everyone assures you that this is not your fault —"The army take all the good wood, you know how it is."— and you don't see any animals that would be kept in by the fence anyway.

It turns out there was a barrel of water near the work-site, but everyone seemed a bit intimidated by you, and you keeping your gear near and drinking from your supply lead them to believe you wanted it that way. There is a well in the center of town —in what might pass for a town square— and a few more wells in the fields behind the houses, you could help yourself, or your sigh might induce someone to offer you water or ale.

What do you do?

- Albert and Roald -

One of the village children who have gathered to gawk at the newcomers is sent to fetch the tools you need, and between the you you are able to fix the door, and the wonky step that would otherwise have been bound to break an old woman's leg.

Daryl has stripped off his armour —the kids were immensely disappointed to discover he is just a person inside— and proves fairly adept at the task.

"Not that many travellers, these days." Hilda (for that is your old woman's name) answers. "I remember when there use to troves of them." (She probably means 'droves', though otherwise this village seems oddly well-educated.) "Not much call for it anymore. Where would one go?

"Where are you lads headed, anyway?" She asks in passing.

"The army takes all the livestock. Even before they are fully grown, these days." She complains. "Then there is nothing left breed with, but they don't seem to understand why we can't just 'get more'." She sighs.

"Alone? No." She says, indicating all the kids who have come to spectate, and probably including the people you saw in the fields out back. While her house as been neglected, you don't get the impression that the village would let their old people come to harm.

What do you do?

By evening people are gathering in the town square to meet and greet your party. If you are paying attention, you might notice a large age gap, most of the people are either children or old people, Tomas is one of the few people who do not cleanly fit that division.

Tables are set up, a fire lit, and food brought out to share. Everyone brings something, and you don't see any sign of people holding back nor evident resentment about sharing everything they have. Nonetheless the fare is simple and lacking in many aspects.

Do you have anything to contribute to the shared meal? Anything you kept from hunting and gathering along the way will only make a small dent for this village of 30+, and you don't know if contributing would be considered rude.

What do you do?

- Albert -

"We are the last stop before the border." Hila says. "So the army pass through all the time. They keep us safe." You get the impression that she is not saying 'but they take what they need', as this would be unpatriotic.

If she noticed your stumble she still seems to assume you are delivering to the army, and not planning on going past the border. No one has said you can't, but you don't get the impression that crossing is common, this impression bears out the attitude of everyone else so far, including the post office.

What do you do?