OOC: good deal—ready to roll

"The recipient needs to remain between two members of whatever the faster race or animal is, but does not need to remain near the caster. Though if the recipient leaves the space between the two who are sharing speed during the day, the spell ends immediately. I can ask Itham if he has the spell memorized; he is not due to leave for several days, so his effectiveness will not be hindered."

“You all have given so much, it would seem ungracious to ask you to give again. If Itham wishes to come of his own free will, for curiosity or camaraderie we will not refuse him.”

"Am I perhaps mistaken, but would the spellstoring item not be a good thing to store a copy of the spell into for our travels? If you would permit, of course?" suggests Tarron. He had mostly been quiet up to this point, still dwelling on his shortcomings the night before. In fact, earlier in the day you had seen him constantly going over the same manouevre time and time again until he had perfected it.

Nodding This is what I was pertaining to Tarron, it is good to see we are thinking alike.  It would be easy to use a spell from the Ioun Stone and replace with this travlling spell. he hadn't fully connected with Tarron previously but this was giving Krackor much hope.

Phaerl shrugs. "I can ask."

Once again, Jastra is sent off in search of someone. She returns almost immediately with the senior ranger. "I thought you would probably be leaving today," Itham says. When asked about putting the spell into Krackor's ioun stone, he shrugs. "I memorized one instance of the spell. I can cast it on you, or into the stone. Whichever you think would be more useful."

If you could cast into the stone, then we can utilise it when it is needed rather than whilst we have a wide path to follow and time on our hands, so probably tomorrow.! It took all of his considerable willpower to not laugh at his own words, but he manages.

"As you wish," Itham says. He obligingly casts the spell into Krackor's ioun stone, bows to the group, and heads outside on ranger business.

Phaerl nods to all of you. "May your blades be bright and the sun follow over your shoulder no matter the depths you plumb."

((ooc: Anything else to do?))

OOC: Negative Ghost Rider

Roger roger, good to go.

OOC: I'm assuming we are headed out so didn't decide to try any identifications?

Tarron welcomed the response of Krackor. "The longer we spend together, the more we will come to understand each other." he says, in typically short and unverbose fashion.

It takes six days of travel through the deep woods of Cormanthor to reach the Halfaxe Trail. Jastra leads the way, and quickly proves to be a pathfinder just like Itham. And though clearly much less experienced than the senior ranger, she is almost as adept at finding the fastest and easiest path through the forest.

When you reach the famous Halfaxe Trail, you're almost disappointed. It's narrow, barely wide enough for a single person, and though the dirt is hard packed, you likely could have walked beside it for miles without noticing. A far cry from the great thoroughfare that foolish Dalesmen once hoped would lead straight to Myth Drannor. Only its unnatural straightness distinguishes it from a normal game trail.

Jastra bids you farewell with a silent touch of her knuckles to her chest, before turning and vanishing back into the forest. As the day is essentially done, you make camp where you are, and the next morning set off on the much easier trek north towards the Moonsea Ride.

After the disastrous start to your sojourn in the forest, Kitheras makes a point of keeping close watch on the surroundings. He makes a mental map as the group moves, and so know that it's taken sixty four miles, walked in eleven days, to reach the Moonsea Ride. After more than a week in the tight confines of the trail, a road wide enough for a wagon, and the somewhat lighter forest, feels almost luxurious. You make camp for the night at the intersection of trail and road, once more back on familiar territory.

Since you passed this way on your outward leg, Kitheras knows that it will take slightly less than five days to return to the Standing Stone. From there, four full days and a bit of walking on the fifth morning will see you to Glen.

((ooc: You don't have any encounters along the Halfaxe Trail. I'm going to pause here to let you have any conversations as you walk or at camp along the way as you wish.))

Day by day, the closer they get, the more Corym's anxiety increases.  It's a nameless, wordless sensation. He's bubbling over with energy, anticipation, and fear--but speechless, and sometimes irritable.  Near the end, his eyes rest perpetually on the horizon, and it's difficult to call him from his thoughts. Krackor can tell that he's not sleeping particularly well.

This isn't a mission like any other mission he's had.  Always before there was service to some abstract cause.  But soon, he was going to right an ancient wrong, and save a life.

When they arrive at the edge of Glen, Corym mutters "Neldor..." and sets off at a run.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:30, Wed 11 May 2022.

Kitheras thanks Jastra with a cavalier flourish, before they part.

The need for stealth behind them, and in high spirits, Kitheras comes into himself as a noble leader with a gift for tales and song.  The grasslands of Mistledale remind him of the plains at the base of hills that are his home.

Each night Kitheras will weave wondrous tales that alternately awe, inspire, or bring about rib-aching laughter. Each night when the fire burns low he serenades the moon softly until sleep claims the party. On the trail he has marching songs, chants, and shanties aplenty.

He looks with concern on Corym, but stops trying to comfort him specifically after being snapped at a time or two.  In his heart, he understands why Corym feels as he does. That knowledge, however, does not empower him to alleviate his companion's growing anxiety.

As the days pass, Tarron is clearly working on regaining his composure. Early morning workouts, practice routines and contemplation. He seems more withdrawn during these times, perhaps caught in some form of the reverie as he reviews his mistakes. One thing is for certain, he has a fierce determination to make up for past mistakes.

The evening tales do little to lift his spirits, but on the fourth day his mood seems to crack, and he starts to warm to the attempts by Kitheras to make the travel as enjoyable as possible. There do seem to be times where he is caught keeping time to the marching songs and softly whistling to some of the chants, and his practicing intensity does wane somewhat.

Before he reached the glen, he approached Kitheras and thanked him for his efforts. "It's a good thing to have met you. There have been many dark times in my life, but it's hard to dwell upon them with the company at my side."

Kitheras smiles and takes a bow. "Some find joy, and others make it, but everyone needs it. When we reach Glen, Tarron, we'll feast.  Long days and nights invisible to the world and each other are at an end for a time.  We owe it to ourselves to seize it."

He pinches his chin thoughtfully, "Not that any of us have had the opportunity to inspect the haul, but to hear Corym tell it there was little in the way of coin.  It may become necessary to liquidate some assets in order to acquire coin.  Glen is a poor market for such transactions, but Highmoon may yield better opportunities."

Krackor was glad to be at the fortress tunnels, he was glad to be walking the forest ways led by such a ranger as Jastra. He was glad to be at the Halfaxe Trail.
He reminded all on the journey that they were going back to Glen. He would have called it Home but there was something!!! Something he just couldn't fathom but guessed he'd find out when they got back, so his chipper, smiling, comforting persona continued to be on display.

Some moped about, some had a sullen look about them, some let the oppression of the Forest close in on them. He laughed at Kitheras' stories, joined in some singing and none knew that these were genuine smiles. He didn't need to be sad or anxious, he just let those feeling fall away as his training was evident, to support and protect those in his care.

Kitheras, would a song of Dwarven stealth and caution be in your repertoire?  He was sure there wouldn't but thought it would be interesting.

Moving to Corym a few days out from Glen "Corym, something us bugging me about Glen, hidden but open; not wanting visitors but hoping for Caravans; inviting yet strictly stoic and secluded.

I think we could make a home here but they will restrict us. Hope this gives you something to think about do you can sleep better, I've seen you like this before and you started to slip as a result. Is it a worry that the magic won't work to restore the Lady?" He didn't really need a response but asked to help Corym.

"There's just so much we can't know!  Her mental state was poor before we left--what if it degraded more? What if someone came for her? What if the Wish is worded incorrectly?  Too much that can't be known.  We should hurry."

Using the Marching spell may not be necessary, why don't we keep that for when we need it.  Krackor does his best to keep up and with the open roads, doesn't mind continuing into the evening when the others have stopped in order to progress the speed of getting back to Glen, making breakfast then setting off early too with one at a time. If someone sets off early with me, they can walk whilst I quick or Force March, then they can keep resting on and off until everyone else catches up, then swap with someone else.  I may end up Marching a couple hours longer but we'll get that much further each day (Hoping for 4 days rather than 5).

With Krackor's insistence, you push on a little further each day than you would otherwise. Now that you're on the road, and spring has fully arrived, it's a pleasant walk. When it isn't raining, of course, which happens often enough that you're confident that neither the trees nor the farmers will have anything to complain about. As for you, well, at least you have decent cloaks.

There are more people out as well. You pass a number of caravans; in this early season usually horse or mule trains to avoid the peril of wagons getting stuck in the mud. You chat up as many as you can, finding many to be eager to share the current clack after months spent in winter quarters.

The biggest news is that Azoun's crusade returned victorious from the east over the winter. There's a great deal of relief, both at the end of a rather nebulous threat that has been lurking to the east, and at the successful return of so many of the Dales' bright lads and lasses. Evidence of the distant battles is as mangled as you would expect, considering the length of the transmission chain, but you gather that casualties were heavy among the infantry and cavalry, but relatively light among the archers, who were predominantly Dalesmen.

You also hear at least a dozen stories of Azoun personally killing the Tuigan chieftain, each more outlandish than the last.

It is raining when you finally reach Glen. It's been raining for the past five days, which was bad enough when you were in the forest, but becomes downright miserable when you emerge into the open, rolling plains of Mistledale. Pushing yourselves harder, you press on until at last you see the steep, slate roofs and the gently curling plumes of smoke that are the deceptively-simple tops of the buildings of Glen.

Making your way down the steep incline into the ravine is always fraught during a rainstorm, but you manage without anyone falling or breaking an ankle. The dwarven guards at the top of the road nod to you politely, and you don't raise any eyebrows from the few people who are braving the driving rain.

Reaching the bottom of the ravine, you pause for a moment. The rain is still coming down in buckets, but at least you're out of the wind. And you're back in Glen, so a decent bed seems likely for the first time since you left the Vault. Where do you go?

Knowing how much anxiety Corym was in, the Captain sprang into action.

"Corym and Kora--run to Neldor and begin framing the wording for the wish."

"Krackor and Kali--send our greetings to the headman of the town.  Inform him that we've returned to fulfill our obligations."

"Tarron, come with me.  We will check to see if Talindra is in the house that has been lent to our use.  It is possible that she will need to be soothed, and I am best suited to that."

"Let's move with a purpose--tonight we save a life."

OOC: I would like this to count as an inspiring speech in order to grant everyone a +1 to saves/skills/attacks.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:25, Tue 17 May 2022.

Corym barely registers Kitheras' marching orders since that's what he was going to do anyways. He moves as hastily as the safety of his apprentice will allow.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:26, Tue 17 May 2022.

Corym and Kora

It is probably fortunate that Glen is a small town, and packed more vertical than horizontal. A quick dash down a side street, a short sprint across cobblestones subtly graded to provide excellent drainage, and you reach the door to Neldor's shop. Corym bursts through the door, panting, with Kora a few steps behind.

Inside, both Neldor and Rethusra are at the counter. They look up in surprise from where they had been conferring. Neldor grins when he sees who it is. With a wave of his hand he closes the door and dries the two of you. Corym doesn't seem to notice, but Kora smiles as the shop's warmth has a chance to work on her cold skin.

"You return!" Neldor takes you in with a glance, and his smile widens. "With a very familiar luck blade on your hip. Excellent! I was beginning to fear I had sent you to your deaths. What books were you able to recover from the vault?"

Tarron and Kitheras

The house that had been provided to you is much the same as when you left, if a little more worn for lack of anyone to tend it. But dwarves build solidly, and the roof and walls are in good repair, so when you light a fire in the stove, heat begins to return to the building at a refreshingly rapid pace.

You climb the stairs, lighting lamps as you go. The house is impressively dark when you entered, with all the shutters closed against the winter and no lamp, candle, or magic providing light. As the lights are lit it moves quickly from eerie to cheerful.

Talindra is in a bedroom on the third floor, drifting perhaps a foot above the ground and facing a wall. She rotates towards the door when she hears you and blinks slowly. "Hello. Were you not leaving for the forest?"

Krackor and Kail

Since it's evenfeast or slightly after, you take a chance on the Undercellar, and are pleased to find both Vorn Duraxe (the smith guildmaster) and Garn Foehammer (the quarrymaster), two of the town's most influential dwarves, at a table in the corner, enjoying a mug of beer after a long day's work. They both rise and bow when they see you approach. "Be welcome back to Glen, honored one," Vorn says. "We are glad to see you returned safely. How was your winter of adventure?"

Tarron broke out in a smile when he saw Talindra. "It's good to see you. You may have slept a while, but we did head to the forest and we managed to return!" he says in good spirits. "We can't wait to tell you all about the dragons, elves and who knows what else we had to go through on our adventure. But enough about us. How have you been?" he asks.

"I'm afraid that I was unable to read most of the spines and the environs were most perilous.  I got as large a section as I could carry--which is difficult because of the bulk." He sets the pack of books down.  "We can go again as you wish, but better arrangements should be made. The stairs, walls and floors will not bear many trips, and the foes are fearsome."

"We have the sword.  What do you know of wish-lore? How should it be framed?"