Eternity RPC Board
06-25-2018, 02:46 PM
Long before the sun creeped over the horizon that morning, Elke had been awake and restless. A sleepless night of strange visions left her squirming in disquiet under her blankets. Deciding finally around the time that the deep blue-black of the night sky began to fade into a rich pre-dawn purple that she would do better to rouse and set to work than to futilely try to sleep, she lit her lantern, pulled out her journal, and began trying to jot down any details from the dream that she could remember. There weren’t many specifics, but rather feelings and general themes. Elke frowned at the paltry three bullet points she’d noted and tucked the journal and her pen away.
As the sky further lightened through gradients of violets and pinks and yellows, the pastel colors of morning swallowing up the stars, Elke worked on packing away her tent and bedroll. She’d decided that a walk in the fresh air would do her good, and she’d remembered a gorgeous little meadow she’d passed on her way into the town when she’d first arrived. This time of morning, the moonflowers would still be opened wide, and the cool, dewy air should work wonders on the jumble of thoughts swirling in her head. But as the mage walked, she found that her stroll deeper into the untamed natural world yielded the opposite effect; everywhere she looked, she saw omens - signs of the things to come. The pearly bones of a chipmunk picked clean by cats and carrion birds lay sprawled in her path at one point. A rose bush that had lost all its petals in the night, now naked but for its menacing thorns, greeted her a few paces later. The pendant around her neck clanked against her sternum with each step, never allowing her to ignore its presence.
When the midday hour grew near, Elke abandoned her quest for solace through solitude, gathered her things, and prepared for the journey ahead. She ducked into the dormitories behind which she’d made her camp and bargained with the exhausted-looking front attendant to allow her access to the bath and dining hall. After much narrowing of the eyes and heavy sighing from the wrinkled old woman, clearly nearing the end of her late-night shift, Elke was granted a token for the bath, and was promised a small satchel of breakfast leftovers from the kitchen’s pantry would greet her upon her return. After a quick freshening up, Elke found that the old woman (now gone home to sleep off her night’s work and replaced instead by a chipper young fellow) had kept her word and snatched the paper-wrapped package as she darted outside.
She found the Lady and Professor in the agreed-upon place, along with several guardsmen.
“Good day, Lady Ethelgifr, Professor Gudrig.” Admittedly, she was a little disappointed to not see Toffer; seeing a soft, nice creature like that would have somehow made her feel better. Alas.
She tipped her head towards the guards. “Will they be accompanying us the entire way?” Elke found it hard to believe that these men would march so far in all that armor, but it was their job, after all, and they must have been used to it. Or would they all try and pile into the carriage? Certainly not. “Well, actually,” she added, “I must admit that I’ve not got the best sense for distances when it comes to traveling by roads. I suppose that must sound silly, but I find that I lose all sense of time and distance when I’m not traveling in less-worn paths. There’s something hypnotic about riding down a road, no? Perhaps the journey to Greycastle won’t be as long as it only seems to be..”
She cleared her throat. “Pardon, I’m rambling. I’m afraid I get a bit loopy when I haven’t slept well. Are there any preparations here left to do, or shall we be on our way?”
As the sky further lightened through gradients of violets and pinks and yellows, the pastel colors of morning swallowing up the stars, Elke worked on packing away her tent and bedroll. She’d decided that a walk in the fresh air would do her good, and she’d remembered a gorgeous little meadow she’d passed on her way into the town when she’d first arrived. This time of morning, the moonflowers would still be opened wide, and the cool, dewy air should work wonders on the jumble of thoughts swirling in her head. But as the mage walked, she found that her stroll deeper into the untamed natural world yielded the opposite effect; everywhere she looked, she saw omens - signs of the things to come. The pearly bones of a chipmunk picked clean by cats and carrion birds lay sprawled in her path at one point. A rose bush that had lost all its petals in the night, now naked but for its menacing thorns, greeted her a few paces later. The pendant around her neck clanked against her sternum with each step, never allowing her to ignore its presence.
When the midday hour grew near, Elke abandoned her quest for solace through solitude, gathered her things, and prepared for the journey ahead. She ducked into the dormitories behind which she’d made her camp and bargained with the exhausted-looking front attendant to allow her access to the bath and dining hall. After much narrowing of the eyes and heavy sighing from the wrinkled old woman, clearly nearing the end of her late-night shift, Elke was granted a token for the bath, and was promised a small satchel of breakfast leftovers from the kitchen’s pantry would greet her upon her return. After a quick freshening up, Elke found that the old woman (now gone home to sleep off her night’s work and replaced instead by a chipper young fellow) had kept her word and snatched the paper-wrapped package as she darted outside.
She found the Lady and Professor in the agreed-upon place, along with several guardsmen.
“Good day, Lady Ethelgifr, Professor Gudrig.” Admittedly, she was a little disappointed to not see Toffer; seeing a soft, nice creature like that would have somehow made her feel better. Alas.
She tipped her head towards the guards. “Will they be accompanying us the entire way?” Elke found it hard to believe that these men would march so far in all that armor, but it was their job, after all, and they must have been used to it. Or would they all try and pile into the carriage? Certainly not. “Well, actually,” she added, “I must admit that I’ve not got the best sense for distances when it comes to traveling by roads. I suppose that must sound silly, but I find that I lose all sense of time and distance when I’m not traveling in less-worn paths. There’s something hypnotic about riding down a road, no? Perhaps the journey to Greycastle won’t be as long as it only seems to be..”
She cleared her throat. “Pardon, I’m rambling. I’m afraid I get a bit loopy when I haven’t slept well. Are there any preparations here left to do, or shall we be on our way?”