Haz Andrethi.

"Ah, the pilgrim." Haz said nothing, as was his custom, while the clerk made broad gestures towards a tired looking Guar.
"I swear, that thing looks as if its days are numbered already. Just look at its toes, all dry and withered, not strong like the others." The Argonian thought and realized that the clerk had just ripped him off just because he wouldn't be able to complain with his vow of silence. It gave him a distinct and unpleasant taste in the back of his throat. Dunmer, such despicable creatures.


"And I'm supposed to accept this?" Haz hissed angrily. The clerk looked at him with a mixture of surprise and disgust at the casual breaking of a vow of silence.
"Excuse me? Weren't you travelling under a vow of..." The 'pilgrim' interupted the man's words by stepping forward, tearing away the scarf covering his face in the process.
"Look at me, you pest! See the face of your ancient enemy! You thought you were dealing with a dimwitted, overly polite pilgrim who couldn't talk? Hah, I am a proud child of Argonia! I don't accept foul play from anyone, especially a Dunmer. You have just given me a Guar that will die before the end of the third day, unless we walk so slow, the caravan won't arrive within a month! I should kill you for this..."

His hand shot out and clenched around the Dunmer's throat.
"And in fact, I think I will." He licked his lips and watched with sick pleasure how the man twitched in his grasp, breathing out his last breath.


"It's already made the journey twice before and is so docile, even a baby could handle it! There is no Guar friendlier than this one in all of Vvardenfell, I assure you. As is our custom, everything you've requested has already been packed. Well then, it was a pleasure serving you." Haz was pulled away from his pleasant fantasy. While he had been daydreaming, the clerk had rambled on about the qualities of his new pet.
"If that Guar dies, I'll just write a letter of complaint. I may not be able to kill you without endangering your mission, but at least I can destroy your career, from beyond the grave."

He didn't say a word in reply, just nodded and took the reins. True to the clerk's words, the Guar didn't struggle. But then again, it didn't exactly help either. It just let itself be dragged wherever its handler wanted to go, apparantly without even perceiving its surroundings. The Argonian waved a hand in front of its eyes and it didn't even blink.
"Great, this beast is blind! Docile or not, if I have to lead it around every single pebble on the road, it's a pure rip-off."


Fortunately for his strained patience, the people of Balmora gave him and his Guar a wide berth, as they did with everyone else handling a Guar. Probably to avoid a sudden stampede, stepping in a Guar's dung or simply the smell. The only thing remotely interesting that Haz noticed on his way to the caravan was a pair of Armigers, under the lead of an impossibly pale Dunmer, who were searching the goods of a traveller.
"A routine investigation?" He thought, realizing that it could be trouble. His disguise was as perfect as could be, but it would not stand up to any investigation where he would be searched physically.

However, as luck would have it, the pale one began to throw a tantrum, distracting his comrades. Haz merely walked passed, showing as little interest as everyone else. No one searched him.


OOC: In case I was a bit confusing. The bit where Haz starts ranting and murders the clerk was his daydream. In reality, he just silently listened while the clerk was holding his sales-speech.

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Jan 16 2009, 10:14 PM

Rianne, at the Guar-rental site, Balmora

It was finally her turn.

"I would like to rent a Pack-guar" she said politely to the attendant, a grumpy elderly dunmer who didn't even look at her.

"hrrmmpff" he grunted, then he looked up at her face and a smiled scornfully at her

"Pah, you're not joining the caravan, are you? No women allowed I heard"

"In fact that is just what I'm doing, so would you please let me rent one" Rianne answered, getting a tad annoyed of his rudeness.

"Hm...let's see" he scratched his head and studied the ledger in from of him, then an evil grin emerged on his face and he addresed her:

"Ok, then, you can have Morrie, that's the one to the far left" he said pointing at a group of four Guars standing a bit to the side. He laughed, and it was not a kind laugh

"Morrie, is that it's name? Rianne asked

"Hehe, nah, it's Morgiah really, but we call her Morrie, she will be perfect for ya, that will be 10 goldpieces"

Rianne nodded, gave the man the gold and went towards the animals. She was convinced there would be something weird about this, but decided to remain her low profile and not cause any scene.

The Guar gave her a mean look and shook her big head vigorously as Rianne approached. It looked angry and somewhat scared.

Rianne stopped a few yards in front of her and stood absolutely still. Then she started to sing, not loud but rather suggestive. The Guar stopped her violent movements after a couple of minutes and stared at the young Ashlander woman.

Rianne approached slowly, still singing, and stretched out her hand. The Guar stood absolutely still. After another while Rianne could touch her and so she did.

"Why Morrie, don't be scared, I wish you no harm, I just need you to help me with these sacks you know, hmm, it's not so bad is it? We will be friends you know, I will take care of you"

She offered Morrie a heap of green leaves, and she took them out of her hands. It was no problems for Rianne to gently place her two sacks on the animal's back.

"Come on Morrie, let's get out of this crowd" she whispered to the animal and both of them wandered away, nice and slow.

"Well I'll be damned!" The guar rental man outburst, dropping his jaw.

Rianne didn't answer, she just looked back at him with a faint smile

You thought you had me there old dirty scum, but I have powers you can't imagine

Rianne and Morrie went over to where the other caravaners were waiting, hoping Dralas wouls soon show up, she was getting pretty hungry by now.

Erna Rahnis

Erna's victim struggled against him, but the hand clamped against his mouth was relentlessly strong, the knife's point still aimed expertly at the man's side.

"Just be quiet, and you might live," Erna hissed. "What I want you do is to get your papers, slowly. Any sudden moves and you'll be a corpse."

The dark elf mutely nodded and reached into his pocket, withdrawing a few papers with shaking hands.

"Anything else?" Erna asked.

Practically weeping, the dark elf shook his head.

"Good, good," Erna said. "You know that I said you might live?"

A nod.

"I lied."

Naaro had woken up early after he went back to the cornerclub for sleep.
Being one of the first to get his supplies and the single Guar he needed, which turned out to be a very obedient one. The grumpy old Dunmer that had helped him was seemingly a bit reluctant to hand it over to Naaro after the sharp eyes of the younger Dunmer had picked it out - to him, it seemed like the best Guar of the bunch. Healthy, young, strong. Nothing wrong with it's behavior either.

The two sacks of supplies hung on the Guar's side, one on each, along with one bag of Naaro's own clothes and other artifacts he would be taking along. Naaro had settled down for the time being at the edge of the other waiting caravanners, just to be sure.

He had been balancing the bags as best as he could when he heard the old Dunmer exclaim something. He turned his head to see the wrinkled face express disbelief, so Naaro followed his gaze and ended up at a young Dunmer woman, walking towards the group.
Naaro chuckled under his breath and shifted one bag further up. His Guar grunted in relief - finally, the balance was good. Naaro patted the creature on it's large head, absent minded, searching for the young woman again. He spotted her with relative ease, eyeing her for a few seconds before sitting down on the hard ground, looking around, waiting for the caravan to leave.

Eno Arval, meeting point

As he moved closer to the convoy, he noticed that a flock of Armigers were buzzing about telling people where to go.
"You there!" One called and waved the Dunmer over.
"Yes, how can I help you?" Eno asked politely.

"Let's see...we'll put you in the rear, on the left flank for today. Which is over there. Please get your Guar into position and then wait for further instructions." The Armiger said after a short silence. He then instantly ran off to stop a Guar from biting another's tail. Eno chuckled at the scene and gently pushed his own beast to the designated spot.

Rothan

Rothan gave the seller a couple of coins and added the sticky sweetmeats to his pack. The caravan was taking longer than he'd expected to get itself organised and he'd looked at what the various hawkers were selling. Most of it was rubbish and he didn't want to add much weight to his pack so other than food he'd not bought anything. He wandered back towards the meeting point and was pleased to see some form of order among the crowds of milling people and stinking guar.

Near the back he spotted the mer, Eno if he remembered right, who he'd sat with in the bar the previous evening. He hurried through the throng towards him.

"Morning," he called.

Erna Rahnis

Erna wiped the blood off his knife, disposed of the body quickly and quietly and left the alley, his newly acquired Guar in tow. Whistling happily, he headed towards the gathering point.

It was already busy, a few officials trying to get everyone together and in some semblance of order. Erna stood there for a moment, revelling in the sheer disorganised chaos of the place, before a rather harassed looking clerk ordered him to the back of the column. Taking his guar with him, Erna headed over at a nonchalant pace, not really caring whether he made a nuisance of himself or not.

He reached his place next to a young woman, dressed in what seemed to be ashlander clothes. He'd encountered ashlanders before, and found them disappointingly resistant to his own ideals. But still, it would be nice to have some conversation with somebody on the journey.

"Morning," he said. "Good one for travelling, isn't it?"

OOC: He's talking to Rianne, by the way.

Rianne, Balmora

When Rianne finally got to the waiting-area there were quite a few people there, their looks were merely curious, not hostile as she almost have anticipated. Ashlandes were not so poular and she was aware of that she couldn't hide what she was despite the big shirt she wore. It was quite warm and nice and with a broad leather belt wrapped around her waist it almost looked good on her.

A man greeted her good morning and being a well brought-up woman she smiled at him and nodded.

"Good morning to you Sera"

She then was aware how hungry she was and took out bread and cheese for breakfast, looking at the man beside her she offered him of her food, in fact hoping he wouldn't take all, because she really was starving

"Can I offer you something to eat?" she asked politely, whe she noticed another man giving her rather friendly looks so she gave him a smile as well


Where the hell is Dralas???



OOC: She's trying to be as friendly as she can to both Erna and Naaro...

Eno Arval, ya know the place

Eno was slightly surprised upon seeing Rothan. Oh, not because of him being in the caravan, but to see him here with him in the back. He'd thought that a priest would be admitted to the forward ranks, where all the official people were...as well as the largest group of armigers to protect it.
"Ah well, it is not my place to question things like that. Besides, I don't mind the company." He mentally shrugged.

"Ah, morning. Had a good rest, I hope?"

This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Feb 1 2009, 10:04 AM

Erna Rahnis

"I'll be fine, thanks," Erna said after the ashlander girl offered him some food-he didn't usually need to eat much. He extended a hand in greeting. "Erna Rahnis."

"Rianne," she replied shaking it.

"I must say," Erna said. "I don't see many ashlanders in the towns around these parts. "What brings you here?"

OOC: Rianne doesn't usually mention her last name, not to unknown ppl anyway, so I took the liberty of editing it out in your post Beanie!

Rianne, Balmora, waiting for departure

She looked at Erna, trying to figure out if she could trust him, and decided to keep a low profile, just for security reasons

Smiling she responded:

"Well, I'm on a kind of pilgrimage" she said vaguely, "it's a tribal custom, I'm trying to figure out who I am and what my destination will be"

She took a sip from her water-bottle and stared thoughtfully out in the air


Who is he? it's something about him that worries me And where is Dralas? I think I'll have to go and look for him if he doesn't show up soon

"Excuse me , Sera but what brings you here?"

Rothan, Departure Area, with Eno

"Good enough, good enough," replied Rothan, "I wouldn't mind being off sooner rather than later, but such are things with so many people. How was your rest?" If the wreckage around the Eight Plates was anything to go by he doubted it had been great.

He put his pack on the ground as he spoke and pulled out a strip of scrib jerky and began to chew the salty, if slightly bitter, meat. Eno's guar shuffled at its smell.

Erna Rahnis

"Me?" Erna said nonchalantly. "I'm a merchant myself. Seeing if there's a market for my goods at the construction site."

"What do you sell?" Rianne asked. "I can't see any goods on you?"

"Answers," Erna elusively replied.

"What does that mean?"

"I'm a fortune teller," Erna replied.

"So you tell a gullible fool what they want to hear?" Rianne said, frowning in dissaproval.

"For five gold coins, yes," Erna said. "For fifty, I tell them what really will happen. You want a freebie? You Ahemmusa always love to share?"

"How did you...?" Rianne began to ask, before being cut off.

"Knack of mine," Erna replied. He placed his finger's on Rianne's temples before she could stop him, and closed his eyes. "Now let's begin."


OOC: I'm leaving the prophecy down to you Minque. Give me something good.

OOC: it's no big deal or anything, but its a rule of thumb here to avoid speaking/acting for other PCs

Dralas

After dunking his head in cold water and dressing himself, Dralas left the inn with his belongings. The streets were even busier now than the day before, but he had no trouble walking; most people avoided him and made a path. He assumed by their stares that they weren't used to ashlanders. It made him uneasy, but he couldn't complain since he was in a hurry.

He picked up his two sacks of Temple-owned materials. They were heavy, but not impossible to carry. Dralas was glad for that, since he had no money for a guar.

He waited on the bench for the caravan to leave while he chewed hackle-lo and kept an eye out for Rianne.

Eno Arval

"I have experienced better nights and worse ones. Let's just say last night was leaning towards the worse end of the scale and leave it at that." Eno replied casually and with a wry grin. He noticed his Guar's response to the meat Rothan was holding and patted the beast's bulbous head.

"Hungry, aren't you? Which reminds me that I haven't had breakfast yet myself. But nevermind, a good handler always treats his animal before he treats himself, that's what mother always said. So let's see if there's anything for you in one of these bags, alright?" Saying that, Eno opened a random bag and took out what appeared to be a sort of large bisquit wrapped in paper.
"Err...I believe this is for me. Maybe another bag? What do they feed you anyway?"


OOC: Yeah, I have no idea whether or not Guar's are herbivores or carnivores. I'm leaning herbivore though.

Rothan

"Sorry, I should have offered you something," said Rothan, "I bought more food than I can eat this morning and some of it will go off. Do you like..." he raked though his bag, "devilled hound meat? Or... some sort of cake I think." He pulled out a slice of something rather squashed.

He looked at the guar which grunted at him but didn't make any move this time.

OOC: I'd say guar's are omnivorous, they seem quite keen to make a meal of any passing Nerevarines in game but as tame pack animals must be fairly herbivorous.

OOC: Yes, it's like Danny says....now in this case it's ok because Rianne could have said something like that, but I would like to speak for her myself, m'kay? No offense!

Rianne, Balmora

She looked at Erna shaking her head...then she spotted a familiar figure and a broad smile emerged on her face..

"I think the answer I was looking for just arrived!!" she said happily. The she jumped on her feet, in a not very Ashlandish way and started waving her hands at a tall figure who just slumped himself on a bench on the other side of the aquare

"Dralas!!! Over here! Where the heck have you been?

Jeez Ree, think about your manners, Sinnamu Mirpal wouldn't have approved of you shouting out loud in public

But Rianne didn't actually care...Dralas was one of the few which she had no uneasy premonitions about...so far

OOC: Sorry about that then Minque. This is my very first RP, so I'm still a little unfamiliar with all the protocol involved. I'll make note of that for future reference.


Erna glanced at the figure approaching him and Rianne. So, the ashlander girl had a boy in tow. He was disappointed that he couldn't ply his 'trade,' and scare the girl a little, but he could live.

Erna nodded a nonchalant greeting to the boy on the other side of the square.

"So," he asked. "Who's this then?"

Eno Arval, yada yada

"Ah, there we go. This looks like grass to me. That should do it." Eno muttered and held a handfull in front of the Guar's mouth. The animal sniffed at it and then began to eat from the Dunmer's hand.

"Ah well, truth be said. I was planning on trying out my own rations for breakfast. It's all we're going to eat for the next few days, so I thought I might as well get used to it. Anyway, half a bisquit for half a cake? They're about the same size." He said, half-turning to the priest.


OOC: I'll do Haz later. Either tonight or tomorrow.

Rothan

Rothan nodded and tore the cake in two. He gave Eno the less squashed half and took half the biscuit in return. It was fairly hard and like most traveller's biscuits it was very dry, he put a bit of the scrib jerky on it and took a bite.

"Mmmm," he said then swallowed, "These are nice and fresh, I can't imagine they'll be so good once we get there though." He put the cake back in his bag, the mixture of sweet and savoury didn't appeal. "How long are you planning on staying at the outpost for?"

Closer to the gate other travellers were almost in place, a knot of armigers still sat to one side but they looked like they were gathering their weapons ready to go to whatever point they were to guard.

OOC: I took the liberty of assuming it was a tack biscuit. I can edit if you wanted it to be a different type.