Revision as of 21:46, 11 December 2015

Participants

• Bazalt
• Cara
• Fenris
• Kilani
• Rokarion
• Zuri

Date

11/12/478

Log

The circle of caravans stops in the outskirts of Summerford, near the cemetery grounds that greet new visitors coming in from Firmament. Atop the hill in the north the hearth fires of Summerford's homes provide scant illumination for the dusking evening. Up that way is the center of Summerford, the only area with two-story buildings, the home of the Mayor herself and all the major stores, shops and services in this small village. The wagon being ridden by passengers rather than cargo is the last one to stop, and with a gesture the exhausted fox being driving it urges the passengers to hop off.

Fenris gives the weary driver a pat on the shoulder and slips him a few extra coins for his trouble and for keeping the tiger company on the long trip. He slips down from his seat beside the driver and alights on the ground. The big tiger is in his customary long leather duster, his Lightbringer and Divine Sentinel insignias jingling together on his belt. "Why are we stopping outside of town?" he asks curiously, "Do they think we are going to call the bugs down on them?"

Bazalt Sighs and Stretches as he Exits the wagon. "Urrnn joy.. That ride.." he nods and grins "welp buuug hunting time.. ish-sorta..." he Rubs a spot on his neck "atleast. the nightmares have stopped.." he shrugs. "Meehh... " he shrugs again grumbling "I really Shoud probs get shoes at some point...."

Kilani clambers down from the wagon, her height not proving advantageous for this kind of transport. She stretches as she lands on solid ground once more, adjusting her clothing and smoothing out any wrinkles that may have accumulated, tilting her head at an awkward angle to get a better look at all the other travellers that came along. She spent most of the ride looking at the floor, and had thus acquired a stiff neck and a rather detailed knowledge of various critter's feet. "Perhaps. Do you think something may have blocked the road ahead?"

Cara yawns for a moment and as she pokes her head out of the back of the caravan. "Guh, that was an uneventful ride." As expected, she appears to be wearing her usual attire for the most part. When she makes contact with the ground after stepping outside, she begins to stretch her legs for a moment as she spies the insignias on Fenris's belt. "Maybe they're giving us a chance to get ready first before we head over there. They could be giving us some important information that might make the job easier on our part." She turns to the unfamiliar bat and shrugs, "Or that too."

The moment the wagon stops, a little commotion could be heard from underneath the passenger's wagon. A quick rolling ball of purple appears from underneath before the object begins spreading it limbs exposing the shape of a being, and what a being, none other than the Jester, standing in their gaudy dress and mysterious mask, "A village in need, a swarm of aches to feed. No knight on a steed, but a nuisance is here to plead. An hour of fun is what this place needs...." the Jester suddenly stops whispering something to themself about recycled words, but at least their offer was made plain, at least to some people.

The vulpine driver looks down at Fenris and shrugs. "Beats me fella. They don't want any wagons going up all the way now. Makes life ruddy inconvenient for all of us." True enough, the wagons are being unloaded onto the roadside by the various beings that came with the caravan, while several of the locals can be seen walking down from the hill in the distance, likely to help with the unloading process and to carry things back up the road. A few of the other passengers begin the opposite journey, travelling up the hill towards the center of the village and the main area of residence.

All around waft the scents and sounds of farmland. In the late evening most of the livestock is being herded out of the pastures and back into their barns, while all the farm work has stopped and the workers return to their homes for a well-earned dinner.

"Good stuff, good stuff!" A male ringed salamander dressed in a guard's uniform walks out from behind one of the wagons towards another as he inspects the goods. "This is exactly the stuff we needed, I think. Good job!" He's addressing another being, a blue-spotted salamander in civilian garb that's walking alongside him. He was about to say something else when his attention is caught by the being disembarking from the passenger wagon, and particularly by the Jester that leaps out from underneath it. ".. the heck?"

Bazalt sighs "probabally a way to try Keep the krick away.." He Streatches some more before headding towards Zane. "How's it been, anymore. of them? missing cattle?" he asks, Glancing around, it was hard to Picture Zuri comming from this quaint place.

Cara gets to stretching her arms now as she looks to Kilani for a moment, "So, from the looks of things, I take it we're going to have to walk to the infested area." As she finishes up with her stretching, she walks closer to Kilani and asks, "So, other than the Krick infestation, how do you think Zuri knows about this place?"

Kilani shoots a strange look at the rhyming... thing... the bat keeping a level expression as she looks them over, before giving a little shrug of measured indifference and strolling over to the edge of the road, surverying the countryside out in the distance. "Walking through the infested area surely won't be enjoyable. Nor easy, for that matter. Would there be an alternate route around?" She turns around, looking a the driver, the salamanders, and at the tiger. "Preferrably one that won't take too long."

"He's from here," Fenris answers Cara, then he spares a nod for the approaching salamanders before his attention is caught by the jester. "Ah," he says, "You again. What did you have in mind?" He looks to Kazel. "The . . . infestation is quite a way off road," he explains, "We won't be taking the cart."

Zane finally looks away from the Jester as he notices a familiar face approaching. "Eeey-hey! It's the Freesword that jumped in front of all the Krick he could. You're looking mighty healthy partner, better than last time I saw you." He looks around at the other confused passengers and walks in their direction. "Woah woah, calm down everyone. There's no infestation in town. Town's plenty safe." Clayton follows along quietly, looking at all the faces as if memorizing them. "Just don't go into the forest, alright? That's where the trouble starts." He pauses as he recognizes Fenris' voice, and turns to regard him. "Oooh boy, you as well? That's grand! Y'all come on up and come meet the rest of the folks." He moves off up the hill, gesturing for the gathered beings to follow along. Clayton stays behind, walking back to the wagons to help with the unloading.

Bazalt nods to Zane "I didnt JUMP in teh way..they jsut.. liked me.. or something."the wolf glances back at Cara and frowns "they've not nor willt ehy get to teh town.." he shakes his head. "So.. how's thigns been though?"

Cara smiles slightly for a second, "Thank you, Fenris." As Zane asks everyone to follow him, she obliges and begins to walk after him. However, before she can get too far from the group, she turns around and grins, "Also, for anyone who doesn't know, my name is Cara." At that point, she continues to walk along with Zane. As she walks along with the group, her ears twitch and she responds to Bazalt's question, "Well, they've gone pretty well for the most part. Although, I'm mostly wondering which would work best on the krick though. Flaming arrows on the hive or just sending out heated air."

Fenris gives a look to the beings unloading the carts, then nods and follows Zane. "After all the fun last time?" he smirks, "How could I stay away?"

Kilani follows along behind the salamander, the wolf, and the female tiger, the bat walking relatively quietly compared to the others. It's quite a fun mix of beings here, seemingly. She nods at the various things people are saying, listening carefully, documenting anything. In response to Cara, she speaks up, "Well met, Cara. Likewise, I'm called Kilani, for those I'm unfamiliar with. Which is... most of you, actually." She shoots another glance at the rhyming thing before keeping her eyes focused forward.

The Jester simply frowned and grinned on Fenris, no wait that is the mask again. After a quick glance around, the Jester simply marches into the direction of the village, making no effort to keep pace with Zane and the other beings, "An hour of fun, a chance for dancing and prancing. A little vocal song to entertain the locals." they add in their sing-song voice as they prance across the road towards the village.

The salamander being grins at Cara. "Nice to meetcha Cara. Name's Zane, I'm the bailiff 'round here. If ya want to speak with the Mayor or have any trouble with the locals you come to me and we'll sort you right out." He looks at Bazalt and nods. "As you say buddy. So are you here to get your revenge on the suckers? You're in early, we were only expecting mercenaries tomorrow for the big day." After a moment's pause he adds. "But y'know, maybe it's a good thing you came here early. We might need your advice on a few things." He glances back at the Jester and smirks. "And I'm sure the kids would love some entertainment. They've been downright terrified lately. They know something big's happening tomorrow but it's hard to explain to youngin's that we're about to kick in a nest of blood-hungry flying vermin and that it's going to get nasty for a lot of folk. But they can sense how anxious the rest of us are."

The group of beings is halfway up the hill now, and already the warmth of lit hearth fires and the scent of evening suppers being cooked is enveloping them. Zane smiles at Fenris. "Fun he says. Ha!" He pauses, then grins. "Ha! 'Suckers'! I made a joke without even realizing it!" He looks rather proud of himself as he continues his stride up the hill.

The first sign that something has changed are the two tall wooden poles on either side of the road just as it begins to crest the hill. More poles can be seen in the distance, evenly spaced from each other.

Cara shrugs for a moment, "Well, taking out a load of kricks is just an ordinary day for me. Then again, they probably aren't all in the same area when I do it. Also, thank you for the information, Zane." She begins to sniff for a moment and she licks her lips, "Well, I can see you got everything prepared." With that, she turns to rest of the group, "The fact that the infestation of the kricks might in a forest complicates things. At best, I'll probably be able to help in guiding them through air magic, but that might be it."

Bazalt nods "mrrm Advice?.. Dont know If I can help.. but I'll try.." he nods. "what's the feast and poles for?.." he asks, Glancing at the jester-thing and frowning. "so.. whats with the otehr wagons?.. the things on teh otehr wagons, why are you having them stop outside the town?"

The Jester had already abandoned the uncivilized act of walking and was cartwheeling on the side of the road along the group, their hat's bells jingling and jangling with every movement, "Son, you can't have fun with just running and gunning, but being in the sun with a fresh bun, but for that, the day first must be won." the blithering idiot says idly at Zane, "Fight insects with fire, but beware lest the forest be burned." Looks like that is the Jester's advice on the matter.

Fenris walks along quietly for most of the trek. "I give up," he finally says, "What are the poles for?"

Cara stares at the Jester for a moment and chuckles nervously, "Ehh, hehe. Well, I sort of mentioned not to do that though." She looks to everyone else for a moment with a confused look on her face, which basically reads, Maybe he might have an idea? I could be wrong. Then, she turns to the Jester with a small smile on her face, "Okay, does anyone have a plan on what we should do in order to eliminate the krick infestation? What happened last time?"

The salamander sighs. "Yea, sadly for us the Krick are a huge nuisance. We thought we were rid of them, but now they're back and in greater numbers. We have to bring the cattle out under guard, and usher them in as soon as it starts to get dark. Even then we've lost half of them. Luckily we have yet to lose any more folks to the vermin, but we've had a few close calls. And one retired guard." He turns to Bazalt. "The poles.. eh.. they were a bad idea. Someone thought of making a wall to ward off the blighters. String up some net, make a huge tent of netting to keep the bastards away from the populace. Turns out that requires way more netting than anyone would have anticipated. Good idea tho, gotta credit Clayton for coming up with it I s'pose." There's some resentment in the salamdander's voice. Some of the story is left untold. "As for the wagons, just a precaution. Nothing to worry about." He smiles at the group before gasping. "Oh hey, I'll go get Lilly to make y'all some stew for supper. She must be just about starting dinner." The salamander gestures towards the center of the village, then hastens off to a side street, presumably to his own home.

The center of Summerford is largely unchanged. Various beings mill about, a few guards man their posts around the plaza, and the gardens are being tended by a young salamander girl just like every day. The large open ground near the Mayor's office has been turned into an impromptu workshop, with various tools and workbenches strewn about, and a variety of what look like outfits being put together out of netting and cloth. Several salamanders (and one wolf) labor away under the supervision of an elderly salamander being.