[OOC:
Alberich wrote:He knew he'd be tired tonight, but he was determined not to ask to ride on the wagon. Especially not if the ladies were walking. He was young enough to get away with missing a little sleep anyway.
Actually, there's plenty of room on the wagon. Bryce and Maduin normally ride on Bryce's impressive stallion, and on one of the group's many encounters with dead people -- they really need to break that habit -- they picked up an abandoned horse for use if needed. So he should feel no guilt about hopping on board; everyone else is aboard, and there's room. Anyway ... /OOC:]
"We'd better get moving," Sister Rose said as the group reassembled. "It's a very long day to -- Getsemiel from here under the best of conditions. At least we'll have a full moon to ride by, if it comes to that." [OOC: This is true, actually. This is all happening about a lunar month after the very first moments of the game, which were also under a full moon. /OOC:] "On the other hand, if we have to spend a night on the road, we're equipped to." She smiled at Eli, Desiree and Brother Timothy. "You should see this amazing tent gadget of Maduin's. It's a regular home away from home. A little short on privacy, maybe, but a lot more comfortable than throwing a sleeping bag onto rough ground."
As soon as the group was outside the gates, the subject came back around to the figurine.
"Let me see if I get this straight," Rose said to anyone who would listen, her face serious again. "This thing shot arrows and pyrotechnics, but it doesn't any more. The boy had it, tried to use it on you. He got it from his Uncle Shemmy, who almost certainly was the man killed in the stables that Argus and I were asked to examine, and who found it at the stable. The boy thought you were 'demons,' because his uncle wanted revenge against 'Tsoo-rakyan' devils who had to be demons." An arch look at Maduin, followed by a more contemplative one at Argus. "The Tsuirakuans had killed another uncle, the dead man's brother. And there was a different demon or demons that started the fire at the stable, and eventually killed his Uncle Shemmy. Does that size it all up correctly?"
A look around the wagon confirmed that she had, so she continued. "I don't know about you, but for all this to happen at just the same time that we reach town, and Bree and Blaise reach town ... well, this trip has taught me not to believe in coincidences like that." She took a long, deep breath. "But if these things happening
aren't a coincidence ... just what
are they?"
The question hung in midair over the wagon as they turned west.