Return to the Southern Continent

[Graybeard]

OOC:

"Port Lorrel's a' couple days sailing from m' village." Tamina supplied in response in Drusia's question. "Didn't enjoy first trip there. Spent most the first part in a cage."

I nod. "Port Lorrel it is then," I say, recalling that it is on the gate network. "We can be there in a couple of days if we head south now." Speaking of South...

"Do either of you have issue passing through Goriel again?" I ask. "That's the fastest route from here, and I have a couple of pieces of mildly unfinished business there."

Huh? A little review of geography is in order. See map. On this thing, Goriel (unnamed on the map) is somewhere around the northern edge, quite possibly off the map entirely, while Lorrel is on the south coast of the island-nation of Farrel. It's a looong way from Goriel to Lorrel, with an ocean/sea in between them -- except by elven travel platform. Was that what you were intending? It wasn't clear from context.

We really need a good map for Errant Road. Let me do some poking at that, but if some other Errant Roadie is more proficient with map-making tools than I am (which isn't a very high bar...), I'd much rather collaborate.

[Drusia]

except by elven travel platform. Was that what you were intending?

OOC: Yes. Rather like travel platform that Drusia and Sar used to get to within a days walk of Goriel earlier in the thread. Drusia's previous post stated something along the lines of "let's see if there's town nearby with a travel platform" and, after you confirmed Lorrel, I had Drusia select that as the location to transport to.

Didn't my question of "do either of those cities have travel platforms?" make it pretty obvious what I was intending? Why would I have asked otherwise?

[Jack Rothwell]

"Do either of you have issue passing through Goriel again? That's the fastest route from here, and I have a couple of pieces of mildly unfinished business there."[/i]

"Gory-el? Don't think I've been." Tamina replied.

As the trio started on the path that led to the city the kobold fell into her habit of asking her new companion a barrage of questions that highlighted her species short attention span.

"Is it nice? Any killikah there? They do fishing? Like fishing... what you wanna do there? Elfy stuff? Don't know much 'bout elves, they do the strong magics, like to see it! Know much?"

She smiled as she walked alongside Drusia in a half-skipping walk.

[Graybeard]

OOC:

Didn't my question of "do either of those cities have travel platforms?" make it pretty obvious what I was intending? Why would I have asked otherwise?

Well, honestly, it left me puzzled, because one thing we know from Errant Story itself is that the elven travel platforms and the Tsuirakuan warp gates don't communicate with each other. (Unless Sarine jury-rigs something, that is.)

It would certainly work reasonably for the group to use the elven travel platform to get to another such platform close to Lorrel, then go across the ocean from there. It would be similarly possible to use the elven platform to get close to some other city (Ysabel? Saus? Kiyoka?) where there is a Tsuirakuan warp gate, then gate from there to the Tsuirakuan warp gate in Lorrel. However, using the platform to gate into Lorrel, via its Tsuirakuan platform (more accurately, warp gate), would be contrary to what we've been told of the way the platforms work. That observation is why I had a bit of a "huh?" reaction to your inquiry about a "travel platform" in Lorrel.

Incidentally, and possibly importantly, while there is no Tsuirakuan warp gate in Grendell, there is a travel platform on the elven network that's not merely in the Southern Continent, but in fact, very close to the Killikah village. It's even been used in the story -- although by the bad guys, not the good guys. Would Drusia know about it? I dunno, you'd have to ask her. However, it offers a way to cut to the chase, if the Southern Continent is indeed to be where the next round of action occurs.

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC It would be better if she didn't know, if only for pacing purposes. The Killikah village'll be the last stop before the plot enters the final location, but I don't want to get too spoileriffic just yet. /OOC

[Graybeard]

[OOC:

OOC It would be better if she didn't know, if only for pacing purposes. The Killikah village'll be the last stop before the plot enters the final location, but I don't want to get too spoileriffic just yet. /OOC

Yes, it should not be presumed that every ranger knows the location of every travel platform, particularly one as far out of normal Peregin patrol areas as the one near Tamina's village. It wouldn't be unreasonable for Drusia-the-elf not to know about that one, since it's rather outside her usual patrol area from the sound of things. Just be aware, for future purposes, that Bauti does know about the thing ... Speaking of whom (btw, there's obviously no Tsuirakuan warp gate in Goriel itself, in case anyone was wondering):]

"Halt and show your papers," the man at the front of the Yurkashev patrol called roughly to Haniko Goto, Arsoro Kurou and Peregin Bauti.

The elf couldn't help herself. She snickered ...

[Alberich]

"Do either of you have issue passing through Goriel again? That's the fastest route from here, and I have a couple of pieces of mildly unfinished business there."

"Actually, yes," said Udo. "One of the three biggest clans is hunting for us. Pretty aggressively. And we do stand out a bit. Better we avoid that city completely if we can. And with what Hieronymous overheard - they might be looking for you, too. If these yokels don't know anything about the Ralkin, better we stay away from them. They'd waste our time and tire out our sword arms."

[OOC: Note - the Yurkashev were not hunting anyone out of town, as the Duravsky and Gibazov were. But doubtless they have patrols to guard their own land holdings outside of town. They've gotten a little short of manpower though. And I suspect this new encounter isn't going to help them any.]

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Right. The assumption was that the Yurkashevs would be a little more active with their regular patrols right now, seeing all of the conflicts that have been going on with the other major clans. This bunch should be considered one of those patrols. They should also be considered disposable cannon fodder, because they're sure about to be disposed of ...]

"We don't have any papers," Bauti smirked. A torrent of the usual Gorielian invective met this declaration, full of posturing, threats, pompous praise of Lord Yurkashev, and so on, but none of the three travelers were listening to it; they were simply keeping an eye on the patrol party's swords ... and listening to the mind-speech that Haniko Goto was placing inside Kurou's and Bauti's minds.

<"All right, just like we practiced it outside Kiyoka. Hold your breath for at least thirty seconds after I cast, or it will go badly for you. I repeat: just as we practiced it."> Well, what happened next wasn't going to be exactly as they'd rehearsed it; the spell that Goto was cranking up wasn't going to be Sleep Gas or Lachrymator, but rather ... something else.

"DEATH MIST!" she cast, and it was so.

[Drusia]

"Actually, yes," said Udo. "One of the three biggest clans is hunting for us. Pretty aggressively. And we do stand out a bit. Better we avoid that city completely if we can. And with what Hieronymous overheard - they might be looking for you, too. If these yokels don't know anything about the Ralkin, better we stay away from them. They'd waste our time and tire out our sword arms."

"Damn," I sigh. "I was really hoping to go fake a getera's death, give Rose and the others one less thing to worry about. Ah well, I suppose they're well away from here by now. Goriel isn't exactly swimming in airships."

I dig out a map and show them a route around Goriel. "This will get us near where we need to go. It'll take about two, maybe three days."

-- Drusia

OOC: Basically, she wants to circle wide around the city. Feel free to add in any difficulties that make sense.

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Sounds reasonable, and given the way things are going in Goriel (or so Alberich tells me), I wouldn't expect too many impediments along the way; the other big clans in town are having ... issues that are diverting their attention inward, rather than outward. However, since he's gone to all the trouble to set that stuff up, let's give him a different chew toy ... or vice versa. ]

"Well, that didn't go exactly according to plan," Peregin Bauti observed smoothly.

Indeed it hadn't. When the cloud of noxious magical vapors dissipated, the entire Yurkashev party lay dead in the road, and the wagon was theirs for the taking. However, it might have occurred to Haniko Goto before casting the spell that gases lethally poisonous to humans might not be very good for horses, either. Coming as she did from a culture that considered travel by horse to be contemptibly primitive and uncultured (there were adult Tsuirakuans who had never seen a horse in their lives, aside from parades and historical re-enactments), it didn't.

Goto stood in fuming (so to speak) silence for a moment, examining the dead horse flesh, and wondering whether the elf was so essential to their plans that she couldn't just kill the damned bitch on the spot. She reluctantly concluded that it just couldn't be done ... but there would be revenge for that comment later. Without a word, she extracted from her Pocket Dimension a map remarkably similar to the one Drusia was using at the same time. "The barbarians have a city a day's march northwest of here, called Goriel," she said. "Surely we can find more -- cooperative transportation there." It was left unsaid how horses could be cooperative if they were dead. "And not one more damned word about what happened here."

Her glare was fierce enough that Arsoro Kurou recoiled ... but Bauti just smirked. Silently (the madwoman's threats were to be taken seriously; she was obviously a very powerful mage), but smirked nonetheless. "Very well. Time's a-wasting," she finally said, and the group continued their hike to Goriel.