Erna

Erna shivered himself awake with a grin of tortured joy upon his face. With nothing but his thick shirt and coat to protect himself from the cold of the night, getting sleep was hard, but the destruction of the self was the perfect tribute to his master. Even if he died of cold, he knew it would still be a gratefully accepted sacrifice.

He stretched and yawned, before seeing that the priest Rothan had begun to start a new fire from the remains of the old one. He searched through the pack on his dozing guar, before discovering a pair of kwarma eggs stored within.

"How do kwarma eggs sound for breakfast?" Erna asked.

OOC: Rothan didn't actually restart the fire but it doesn't matter

Rothan

"Sounds fine," Rothan answered. He thought about offering Erna some sweetroll but it wasn't really fit to give to anyone. He swallowed the last couple of bites. "What was it you said you were going to the construction for?"

Dralas

Dralas was up early that morning after a decent sleep under nothing but sky. Deciding against breakfast, he splashed some water on his face and lit another roll of hackle-lo before walking around the camp. His eyes scanned in every direction as he moved, noting things of interest. The Temple's 'official' tent wasn't hard to spot. It was stood taller and wider than most others, and it had a vent at the top making an interior fire possible. Smoke was rising from it this morning, and the smell made Dralas suddenly want breakfast.

He doubted that the priests would have the bones with them in the tent; it would most likely be treated as cargo and guarded. He tossed his burnt out leaf and went towards the tent anyway. Inside, the fire glowed and thin strips of hound meat were being cooked. To his left were the healers, who had a few bedrolls laid out on the ground and two tables crowded with alchemical supplies. He assumed that the living quarters were on his right, since a curtain divided the tent.

"Hello!" a cheerful young priest greeted him, "How can the Temple serve you?"

"Yes, I uh, think I'm sick," it was a lame excuse, but figured it could start up some conversation.

"Here, sit." the priest said, leading him to one of the bedrolls, "So what exactly is wrong?"

"I'm coughing often," he coughed just then for added effect, "And sometimes get chills."

"Hmm...sounds like I could fix it with some chokeweed and lichen."

While the priest stood working at the table, Dralas stayed put.

"Have you been to Ghostgate yet?" he asked the priest.

"Oh, yes a few times! It's coming along nicely, but it's still dangerous out there in the ashlands. Ghostgate itself is safe enough, but some of the construction crews farther out are seeing trouble." he said, "Dagoth Ur is trying desperately to stop us, but the Armigers and Ordinators do well at keeping everyone safe."

"So you really think this wall is going to keep the blight and monsters inside for good?"

The priest seemed puzzled, "This is no ordinary wall, sir. Haven't you heard?"

He played the ignorant ashlander for a moment, "No,"

"Here, take this," the priest said, handing him a cup full of the fresh concoction.

Dralas drank while the priest resumed, "Anyway, the Ghostfence is no ordinary wall. It's going to be a great shield, fueled by the combined powers of the Tribunal."

"But ghost fences used to be everywhere. The Houses used the bones of their ancestors to fuel them. How is this one different?"

The priest paused for a moment, surprised by Dralas' sudden bluntness, "Yes, the old customs are changing. The Temple is requesting the remains of many ancestors, but that alone will not be enough for a ghost fence this size. That's why the Tribunal is stepping in."

Dralas nodded and dropped the implications he was making, "Well, thank you for the potion. I think I feel better already."

As he left the tent, he kept thinking. He had guessed from the beginning what the Temple was using the bones for; he had heard of ghost fences. But the priest had mentioned it casually, as if many Velothi were donating their ancestors' remains. Dralas wondered if the Tribunal would even contribute any real energy to the fence if the use of bones was this widespread.

He walked back towards his own small camp site.

Apelles Velvus

Apelles continued to stand on guard on the edges of the camp, scanning the area for threats. He had been up for a few hours now, doing his duties as an escort. The sun had just risen - the beginning of the end of the dawn hour. He could feel more relaxed at dawn. The crepuscular fauna of Morrowind - the creatures of Azura - were less of a threat to humans than those of Nocturnal.

He pulled some food out of his pack and began to eat. A cold breakfast was the only kind he could have while still remaining focused on his duty.

He thought back to last night, when he had told Salms Ralas of his history with Dranas Heleran. He had seemed so...indifferent about it. As if he were preoccupied by something else. He dismissed him quickly as soon as he had explained everything. He had no additional questions, or statements of concern.

It seemed so unlike him to be so dismissive. And his eyes had seemed to be staring far off into the distance - beyond even the end of the horizon. Apelles had noticed this and asked what was wrong.

"Nothing," he had said. "Nothing more than concern for the caravan."

"Well, this caravan is far better prepared than the last one. We have more men, more blight cures, Intervention scrolls..."

"Yes...of course..." he trailed off, concerns not alleviated.

"Well, I hope you feel better about it soon, because we won't make it far if our leader's head is a clouded mess of unfounded worries." Apelles regretted it the moment he said it - he hadn't even been drinking much. This was simply a stupid thing to say to a superior officer.

"Get out," Ralas said quietly.


Apelles took another bite of hound jerky. Salms' behavior last night had been quite curious indeed. His reaction to what Apelles had said seemed to snap him out of it slightly, but not entirely.

Apelles stirred and walked toward a roaring fire. One of the Armigers was boiling a large pot of hackle-lo tea for the guards on duty - a common courtesy shown to early-morning shifts. He certainly could use some tea right now.

Rianne

"Pffff" Rianne woke up abruptly because a small scrib was walking over her face. She shoved the animal away, gently, she didn'r want it no harm. It was early morning, she noticed Dralas was gone though...

She took out some hackle-lo and rolled it thoroughly before she lit it. The smoke going down her lungs made her cough.

Then she saw Dralas exit the Temple's tent...

What is he up to? He should be more careful, those Temple-guys are not to be trusted..


"Heey, Friend, good morning, fancy some breakfast?"

She looked in her backpack to see what's available; bread, scrib-jerky and quite a lot of hackle-lo

Ah well we'll survive

Eno Arval

"Ow, my leg feels all cramped. That's why I hate sleeping outdoors." Were Eno's first words after waking up. He carefully massaged his crippled leg, sneering a little as his fingers rubbed over the bump that indicated the place where the bone had once been broken and never healed properly.

As he did so, he looked at the camp around him. It seemed that he had been among the last to wake up. Among the last, not the last, he noted to himself slightly amused. His Guar was still soundly asleep it seemed and he chose not to wake it just yet.
"We've got a long day ahead of us again, so I might as well let you enjoy your sleep for a bit longer."

He also noticed Erna and Rothan sitting around last night's campfire right next to him.
"Ah, good morning. Had a good rest, I hope? No muscle cramp anywhere?" He said to them with a nod and then reached for his own bag of rations, knocking over the small pile of Kagouti bones in the process.
"Ah, oops. I completely forgot about those. Anyway, let's see what I'll have for breakfast. Oh...here's some bread. That would do nicely." He mumbled to himself.

Dranas Heleran

Breakfast finished, Dranas made his way over to the big fire where a few armigers were gathering--making tea, it seemed. He wanted to figure out how soon the caravan would be resuming travel, so he could be certain to once again take up a position in front, to avoid the dust and ash kicked up by foot traffic. He'd already packed up most of his gear--ready to leave on a moments. If possible, he would encourage faster progress--the sooner they arrived at the construction site, the sooner he could start making a profit. (Dealing in transit, with the caravan, was too risky.)

He stopped. There was Apelles Velvus. Well of course he was there. Since he hadn't been kicked out of the caravan yet, there was no reason to worry. In fact, he might as well have some fun. Dranas sidled up quietly next to Velvus and asked, "You have any idea when we figure to get this outfit moving again?"

Dralas

"You have no idea," he answered as he sat down next to Rianne.

She handed him a strip of scrib jerky on top of a piece of bread, and he didn't hesitate to bite into it. He felt bad relying on Rianne's hospitality so much; she'd already fed him numerous times, not to mention that he was using her guar to ferry his cargo. On the other hand, though, she didn't seem to mind and the Ahemussa held selflessness in higher regard than his own tribe. Besides, he had every intention of returning the favor once he began working at ghostgate.

All around them, people were tearing down tents and packing up to resume the trek across the grey wasteland. Seeing that as a cue, he finished his meal and started to load the supplies onto Morrie's back. Or, rather, he tried to. The guar refused to let him even get close, much less sling anything across its back. Dralas couldn't decide if he thought it was funny or frustrating.

He looked over at Rianne, who seemed to never have trouble with the thing, "A little help?"

Rianne

Rianne noticed that Dralas didn't manage to load their things on Morrie, so with a smile she went over to the big animal and stared it right into its eyes

"Morrie, my lass" she whispered " Easy now, let Dralas come near you he's our friend, he won't do you no harm" Her voice was soft and almost singing. Morrie stopped tossing her big head back and forth and seemed to listen to Rianne. The girl held out her hand towards the guar, with two fingers pointing directly at it, this gesture seemed to calm it down and let Dralas load the stuff.

"I..I've always been able to sort of talk to animals, it's a kind of gift I have, don't know why, but it's pretty convenient at the moment, don't you think?"

Rianne then turned to Dralas, whispering in his ear:

"We are the only ones of our sort here, we just have to stick together, and Ahemmusa custom says we share what we have, without any questions, because in the long run everything will be even...besides, remember I sort of....have things and my things are your things...just so you know!"

She gently put her hand on his shoulder, smiling...


OOC: the gesture Rianne pulled is the same as Crocodile Dundee does in his films! Hope you understood that despite my poor explanation of it

Haz

Haz just wanted to get moving instead of waiting for everyone to wake up. But even he realized that going through the Ashlands on his own was suicide. Not that he was planning anything else, but dying now would make him worthless.

So while a few campfires were relit and tents broken up, Haz unceremoniously piled his bags on his Guar.
"I refuse to carry them myself today as well. So have fun, dumb beast." He thought venomously. The Guar whimpered and squealed softly under the load.


OOC: and there you go, one dead Guar guaranteed.

Erna Rahnis



"Me?" Erna asked. "I do tarot, fortune telling, all that rubbish."

He took a pack of cards from his pocket, each one with a tiny, ornate portrait on them, and showed it to Rothan.

"Now how about getting those eggs going?" he asked.

Dralas

He couldn't deny the usefulness of Rianne's natural empathy with animals, and soon the guar was packed up with no problems.

"Well don't think that means I won't pay you back," he answered, "The Ahemussa may be all about sharing, but the Erabenimsun aren't. So I'll pay back the favor once I'm making ten gold a day at Ghostgate."

He sat down again, since the guar was loaded and the caravan hadn't moved an inch yet.

Rianne

"I know" she said calmly, "Let's worry about that when the time comes, ok?"

She sat down beside him, waiting for a signal to get moving. In the meantime she lit a hackle-lo, glanced at Dralas and tossed the pouch containing the precious leaves at him.

"Help yourself if you like, we'll probably not be on our way for some time yet, since most of the caravaners were either having breakfast or just finished it.


OOC: Anyone care to give the sign for moving on? Or are there still conversations to come before we can leave?

Apelles Velvus

Apelles let out an irritated grunt, his thoughts having been so abruptly interrupted.

"An hour," he snarled. In truth, he was not entirely sure - he wasn't in charge of the caravan. Then, without another word, he carried his cup of tea back to the outskirts of the camp to continue the remaining minutes of his watch.

Dranas Heleran

Dranas watched Apelles Velvus stomp away. He had expected to get more of a rise out of the man, but sadly the Cyrodiil appeared preoccupied.

"Huh. Best be back to my outfit, then." Dranas said, to no one in particular.

Dranas packed his gear, making sure nothing was missing. Everything was accounted for. He loaded the panniers up onto the guars, checking carefully for any imbalance in the load. There was none. He hefted his katana, checking for any damage. The blade was pristine. He was ready. He looked about. Much of the camp was still in a state of relative chaos. No matter. He prodded his guars forward, to the edge of camp, toward Red Mountain. He would start the line--and hopefully everyone else would take a hint and fall in.

Eno Arval

"Alright everyone! Start moving! We don't have all day!" An Armiger shouted as he ran past, pressing the travelers to get their preparations done as quickly as possible. Ahead of him, Eno saw that the Guars had already begun moving.
"Oh dear. Now let me take one last quick check. Left side ok, right side ok, nothing poking against your spine, friend? No? Then let us be off." He murmured and gently tugged on the Guar's leash.

Haz

Haz kicked his beast of burden under the tail to get it to start moving.
"Urgh, you stinking pest! Either start acting like a Guar or die already!"

Erna

Erna finished the last of his Kwarma egg quickly as he heard the armigers order the caravan into action.

"Time to get going," he remarked.

He quickly stowed his bags on the guar he had taken and got up to join the gathering crowd of travellers.

Apelles Velvus

A little over half an hour later, the caravan was underway again, headed toward Assarnatamat.

Apelles had loaded his bedroll onto one of the guards' communal pack guars and took up his spot on the perimeter of the caravan. He continued his vigil, but in the back of his mind, his thoughts continued to stir.

Something was obviously bothering Salms Ralas - quite possibly enough to affect his judgment as a leader. He still trusted him, but was beginning to worry about both him and the caravan. It didn't help that he felt uneasy about this mission as well. There were times during the late shift that Apelles had felt chills down his spine - never a good sign, particularly for someone with as good a sense of danger as Apelles. Was something really coming...or was it all in his head?

And then there was the annoying issue of Dranas Heleran. Just looking at his face brought back years of bad memories. It certainly wasn't helping matters to have him around.

Things were getting worse, and he had a sickening feeling that they would deteriorate even further as the caravan moved farther northward.

Haz

"Move, you stinking beast! Move!" If looks could kill, Haz's Guar would have become ground zero of an explosion large enough to wipe out entire Vvardenfell. They had fallen behind slowly but surely and now they were so far back they'd even passed the rear guard of Armigers, who assumed that as long as they could see him, he was still safe.

With a weak snort, the Guar collapsed for the final time. Haz grumbled under his breath and let go of the leash.
"Not again. Get up, now!" He whispered urgently and kicked it in the face. There was no response.
"Hmph, dead? Was about time, but you could have done this at camp, not while we're moving."

About a hundred metres ahead of them, one of the Armigers looked over his shoulder.
"Yeah, he's still with us...No wait, looks like that Guar from the first era died on him. We should send out someone to help." He said and then ran ahead.
"Stay in formation, I'll report to the commander."


OOC: There ya all go.

Dranas Heleran

Dranas was once again enjoying being at the head of the caravan--enjoying the knowledge that everyone else was eating his dust, and not vice versa. He scarcely noticed, at first, when an armiger came jogging up from the rear of the caravan. He became only mildly concerned when the armiger fell into an animated conversation with one of the leaders--was there trouble in the rear? Evidently. Perhaps an ashlander raid, or more trouble from the local wildlife. Secure in the front of the caravan, Dranas was not unduly troubled. Then one of the armigers walked up to him.

"Beg your pardon, sera, but a pilgrim's guar died at the rear of the caravan and we can't abandon the Temple goods it was carrying. Seeing as how you've got two guars to spread a load over, and seeing your skill with leading these beasts, we need you to go back and aid this pilgrim." Dranas started to speak up, to protest, but before he could say anything the armiger continued, "We'll send one of our scouts back with you to help and keep things safe. Also, we'll try to redistribute the goods at camp this evening so your pack stock won't have to carry too much of a burden the rest of the way, and I think we should be able to compensate you for your trouble in some way once we reach the project site. Really, we need you to do this."

Dranas sighed. Need. The only time he liked that word was when it was spoken by a skooma addict. And probably the compensation would be some useless religious text, and maybe a tiny, tiny bit of gold if he was really lucky and didn't complain.

Dranas turned his guars around and started walking rearward, now subject to the questioning eyes of the rest of the caravan.

OOC: My "scout" reference above (by the armiger) is my way of suggesting that Apelles will be the one sent to babysit this re-packing mission, and the "questioning eyes" at the end should open things up for everyone else to ask Dranas where he's going and what he's doing, so anyone else who wants to tag along and get attacked by ashlanders can do so.