The night passed without event for those who wished it such, and with no events beyond the control of those who wished otherwise. The sunrise ceremony at the Healing Hand, Lathander's temple in Scornbel, was attended by some, and the group met shortly thereafter at a shrine to Azuth. No permanent temples existed in the city other than that of the Morning Lord, and Azuth was no exception. The shrine was not permanent, and not meant to look so, but it served its function for the followers of Azuth who came to the caravan city in the summer.
Gordrenn was waiting at the shrine with a small chest and a scribe. He hastily dictated the terms of the contract: the chest was to be delivered to the wizard Tauster in the village of Thurmaster in Haranshire for the price of 150 gp; the chest, containing 1000 gp value in spell components, was not to be opened by said deliverers; one third of the delivery fee was to be paid up front and the remaining two thirds would be made good by a letter of credit to be countersigned by Tauster on delivery.
The contract was witnessed by one of the Magistrati of the shrine and presented to each of the members of the group to sign after Gordrenn himself had signed his name with a flourishing hand. He presented Zond with the letter of credit, a pouch containing the promised coin, and the chest after each had signed. Gordrenn also gave Zond a shoddy scroll case, which contained a map of Haranshire to the east of the city they were now in.
Kaileer dropped out of the tree he was sitting in when the party came out of the inn and grinned. "Round ears miss best part day!" When the quill was handed to him the elf looked at the page with more than a little uncertainty. Then suddenly his eyes lit up as he understood and makde 3 slightly curved parallel lines, like a claw mark.
Arachne signed, after reading the contract through and inquiring about the local meaning of two terms. (But the contract was short and not intended to be haggled over; she was merely curious.)
After completing any last minute errands, the group set off to the west on the road to Haranshire. The road was easy, as Gordrenn promised, and other than traffic to and from the city, there was little to see. As the day passed and they got farther from Scornubel, the passersby all but disappeared. The road to Haranshire was not on the Trade Way, and the bustle of the caravan season was but a memory by the end of the day.
"What a lovely day it is today" Torro remarked. "Where is everyone from? I am from a town near the High Forest. No name for this town, kind of a little settlement. I just happened to be in Scornubel when I ran out of coins during my travels," Torro spoke to the group, "Now we are all here taking this chest to Haranshire. Has anyone ever been to Haranshire? What is it like?"
Gala replied, "I'm from Waterdeep. A lovely city. Alas, I've never been to Haranshire. But I'm looking forward to seeing it."
The elf almost seems to be counting the trees as he walks and decides to take this time to speak. "Fein talk Waterdeep last Kaileer talk him... Many leaves change..." He looks at one of the (relatively) younger trees and points. "Tree be seed last Kaileer talk Fein." He looks a little embarassed then continues. "Fein talk Kaileer learn world... Kaileer want learn world, more want talk Fein... Fein not talk Haranshire."
Aloysius looked much the same as he did the night before, with the same mo ons and stars matching robe-hat combo. However, his hair, instead of flowing d own to his shoulders, was tied in a pony tail and came straight out of the back of his hat. He appaeared to have little in the way of equipment except for a couple of belt pouches and a small back pack. Every so often, he could be seen tugging at something under his robe as if he was adjust ing something.
"My origin is of no import, as I have spent the last half score of seasons with my mentor, Thelderkein Moonspawn, studying the arcane arts. The person I was before that is long gone, for better or worse. As for taking a watch, I pr efer a chance to study the Celestial Balances whenever I can, so anything at ni ght would be preferable. However, it may be wise to pair me with one of our ni ght-eyed friends, perhaps you, friend Pug or you clever Arachne?"
For a while, it seemed that Aloysius's personality had transformed overnigh t as he was much more focused than before. "Zond," he said, tapping the large man on the shoulder, "you WERE planning on dividing that advance we got, right? " Aloysius's easy chuckle assured the warrior that he meant no insult. After his easy grin subsided, his eyes focused on the road ahead and his hands fell t o his sides. "Balance . . . . . .balance . . . . . .advance . . . . . .advance . . . . . .Zond . . . . . .clever . . . . ."
Zond looked over to the man and nodded. "Certainly," he replied. "Didn't I give that to you already?" he opened the purse that the merchant had given him and counted out the last of the coins for Aloysius.
Scurrying along and doing her best to keep up with the pace that was set by the big people, Arachne nonetheless began whistling. Her tone was lovely, like an alto recorder, as she began spinning variations on the well known tune, "Music For a While." (Very well known, at least, around the Sea of Fallen Stars. It may have been less familiar this far west.) At first hearing, what was most impressive about Arachne's whistling was that she didn't seem to need to pause for breath. A bit of staring at her while she walked, though, indicated that she was breathing steadily and was forming some of the notes while inhaling. The variation set she spun was clearly improvised, some of the variations -- shifted meter or mode -- being less successful than others. And the whole performance would have been wasted at the Raging Lion, where the ambient noise level would've drowned her out completely.
Since Arachne had shared this information the previous evening, she didn't trouble to break into her music-making to reply. Since she had never been to Haranshire, much less heard of it, she also skipped commenting on that question.
Zond, not wanting to hamper their journey placed Arachne on Puddlejumper in front of the chest as he alongside with the horses reins in his hand. His gait was even but not quiet as the chainmail armor clinked lightly with each step.
The whistling stopped abruptly. "Hey - What?" Arachne exclaimed as Zond picked her up. "Oh," she added, when he deposited her on Puddlejumper. "Um, very well," she allowed, cautiously. She glanced at Puddlejumper to try to gauge how _he_ felt about the additional load. Then, she looked guiltily at the others to see if anyone objected to her riding while they trudged. She looked around especially for Pug. "I mean, Puddlejumper _is_ your associate," she said to Zond. "You and he can decide what he's to carry and what not. You can play favorites," she added in a soft sigh. "And I do appreciate the rest --" She smacked her hands together. "It just seems to me that I'm having to be grateful to you an awful lot." She frowned, then petted Puddlejumper's head. "Thank _you_ for the very nice ride," she told the beast. "Do you like music?" she asked Puddlejumper.
As the group marched for the day, Azrun was rather quiet. He started out in the middle of the group, but after a while he was bringing up the rear. Didn't seem like he was really tired, but was paying more attention to what was around than the group itself. During rest breaks, he would sit down with a piece of parchment and scribble down notes.
Pug looked pretty much the same as the night before, wearing clothes that seemed to draw your eyes away from them. His hat was positioned firmly on his head and hung down across his travel pack to below his knees. The pattern of the hat either made Pug appear taller or the hat seem longer, but in any case it confused the eye if you stared at it too long. Being short, as gnomes are known to be, Pug struggled to keep up with the rest of the group. His hands were constantly working on some project as he walked.
Maisar walks quietly as they travel. He does not engage in conversation unless spoken to.
When talk of origins started Zond volunteered. "I am from Arabel. My family resides there." but he didn't really elaborate on that as it was evident that something embarrasing hid behind that statement.
when Gala remarked that she would need uninterrupted sleep in order to pray clearheadedly to the Morninglord, Arachne glanced up from contemplating Pug's stitching to chime in that her meditations to Eldath carried a similar requirement.
A gleen of alertness returned quickly to the purple man's eyes. "I don't s ee so well at night, unless I am studying the heavens themselves. I need sever al hours of consecutive slumber, however, to keep my mind fresh. As far as a w atch time goes, I'm open to what everyone else wants so long as those things ar e kept in mind. I hear there are Night Ravens in these parts . . . . haven't s een one of those since the Cycle of the Ebon Moon . . . . . . ." Due to his height (over 6'), the strange man easily strode along at the sam e speed as everyone else, occasionally grinning at Arachne's efforts to keep up with the group. He had a tendency to stumble off the road every so often due to his fascination with some tree, or bird, or animal that would distract his a ttention. When that would happen, he would just catch himself, mutter a quick "Oh my", and then chuckle to himself. After doing that, he would always readju st whatever it was that was underneath his robe. Later, he interlocked his fing ers together (in the Church-Steeple-People position), and held his elbows out a t right angles. The glassy look returned to his eyes, and he began to mutter to himself . . . . ."Raven . . . .Moon . . . .Moon . . . .Ebon . . . . .Arachne . . . . .Cycle . . . . .nethros . . . . . . ."
That night, Azrun volunteered for first watch. He then pulled out his parchment and sat by the fire and wrote more.
When watches are dicussed Maiser says that it does not matter when he takes watch, but that he does need quite a bit of rest also.
