Dragon-Bane

[Ryvius]

Markus intended to stay up as long as the orc was awake, as he was the one Markus was most wary of, but before long his exhaustion got the better of him. He didn't sleep in one of the bed, a couple pillows on the ground were more than enough for him. He wasn't sure where he got the pillows, in fact he didn't even remember going to sleep last night. He got up early though. He was second in the group to wake.Partially because of his day working in the fields, but mostly because the first person to wake up tripped over his sleeping body.

Rest was good, but not enough. It never was of course. Soreness from his journey still plagued him. It was cold as ever, luckily that wasn't much of a problem for Markus. It was an effortless task to raise his body temperature a bit with magic. With only gloves and thermal underwear, Markus was quite comfortable. Well...sort of, sort of not. He was still sore from the journey to the tavern, and the journey to the village would probably be worse.

Mikal looked over the odd group, and let out a snort. This would be a long morning. "Ah hope everyone's gotten their breakfast and morning shit out of the way. Are we all ready to begin on our way then?"

Markus definitely respected the mountain man's energy. The sun was just rising over the horizon, and it glared unforgivingly off of the snow. "Ready as I'll ever be." Answered Markus, trying to blink the left over sleepiness out of his eyes.

[Aleister Black]

Dew blinked and sighed as she awoke to the morning sounds; the footsteps of the publican and the clatter of plates and cups being retrieved from the tables, the mumbling and coughing of the tavern's other guests and the groans of those of them who overestimated their capacity for alcohol. Dew had not been one of them, fortunately. She really couldn't use extra nausea and headaches on top of everything else, not now the bruises were finally healing. She tried to get out of what passed for a bed around here without having to negotiate her way around too many of her sleeping companions.

Conveniently, she had chosen a spot close to the stairs and quickly descended them after quickly grabbing a few things from her pack. She nodded to the publican on her way out and stepped out into the cold. The wind stung her cheeks like a handful of needles, and she pulled her thick cloak a bit closer around her. They would have to travel in this cold for-- who knew how long; she'd better get used to it. She quickly made her way to the outhouse, opened the door, and thought better of it. She carefully closed the door again, making sure to touch as little of the wood as possible, and sought out a copse of fir trees. She might not be a stranger to the gutter, but this outhouse was just too nauseating.

Before returning to the tavern, she took a lidded box from within her cloak. She was certain that no white was visible, but she was not about to take any chances. She took some of the cream, mixed it with some snow and warmed it in her hands until it was more or less fluid. Then she dabbed her hair and thoroughly spread all of it over a few strands. After stowing the box again, she went back to the tavern.

She returned to find Markus awake. She smiled awkwardly and greeted him with a faint 'good morning' before she started to gather her things and have something to eat to prepare herself for the long hike they faced.

---

Not much time later, Dew found herself joined with the rest of the party in front of the tavern, addressed by their guide, Mikal. He was a bit rough around the edges, but he was practical. He was definitely better than the drunken louts Dew had stolen from when she had first come to the big city. She did not speak, but nodded at his question. She looked up at the mountain peaks of the Archedy mountains. They wouldn't go to the tops, thank the gods. They would traverse some passes and ridges to some village in a somewhat hidden valley. Or maybe not so much hidden as simply difficult to get to. And from what she had heard of it (which had not been much; Mikal was not a talker) it wasn't a particularly inviting place anyway. She wondered what anyone was doing there at all.

"Stop hanging about, then. We're not going to get there standing here." And with those words, he simply turned and walked off, not even looking back to see if they were following. After a few moments of mentally saying goodbye to such things as Warmth, Comfort and Regular Meals, she started to follow him up the trail that would, eventually, lead them to the heretic raiders' village.

[professor13]

It didn't matter that the mattress was almost as soft as metal, or that the cloth seemed designed to make the sleeper acutely aware simultaneously of all the places on the body capable of itching. Wylliam, as he laid in bed, was very, very comfortable. This was because of the blanket that was pulled up tightly around him and tucked beneath his chin. It gave him the illusion of being warm, and he knew that when that blanket was removed from his body, he would come crashing back into cold, cold reality.

Shuddering at the very thought, Wylliam pulled the thin sheet even tighter about him. This, however, caused his spear leaning against the bed to shift, sending it crashing to the floor, and making Wylliam fly out of bed from heart-rending shock. While his balance was usually impeccable, cold mornings forced a dramatic dip in Wylliam's dexterity. Thus, Wylliam tripped over the corner of the neighboring bed, and ended up flat on his back on the frigid floor.

Then came reality's frozen slap across the face.

Wylliam leapt from the floor, having recovered his agility out of pure necessity, and practically dove into the additional layers of clothing he had placed beside his bed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that morning, Wylliam stood fully armed and armored with the rest of his companions, hopping from leg to leg to try and fight off the cold. His hopper-helpers felt snug and warm against his feet, but that hardly helped the other ninety percent of his body.

It wasn't long before Markus said a few words to the group and started down the trail. Wylliam's soul was suddenly warmed by the thought that he was heading out to etch his name into the world with his spear. On the way, he would have to think up some memorable and profound things to say after the mission was completed. Something with "dragon wings" in it. Or "soaring." He liked "soaring." What were some other majestic words he could use...?

[Doaj]

Worm, in his drunkenness, had fallen quickly into the bed offered to him by one of the others, whom he did not remember by morning. He awoke to a near empty room and made his way outside, yawning. He wondered if all goblins never got hangovers, or if it were only the ones from his tribe. Either way, he walked clearheaded into the group and managed to catch the end of "...morning shit out of the way. Are we all ready to begin on our way then?"

The others nodded in agreement, and Worm realized he wanted to thank the bartender for letting him stay there. He sneaked away from the back of the group, and ducked back into the bar. The bartender was cleaning some tables, it being early and empty, and Worm approached him, his right arm outstretched. The bartender took his hand and shook it respectfully. "It was nice having you stay, Cormagg." He said.

Worm nodded, "I'll pay you back when this job is over. What you've done for me is irreplaceable. I'll pay you for the clothes, the booze- I'll even pay you interest!" The two laughed together, and then the bartender gave him a friendly hug, patting his back. "Don't die out there. The Stratogast isn't known for having a high survival rate." He said lowly, seriously. Worm smiled, in a goblin kind of way (which has a lot of teeth, no grin, and is a bit scary, in an awkward way).

Walking back outside, Worm noted his lack of possessions, which he was proud of, and readily began up the trail with the rest. Walking into the future.

[A Bit Obtuse]

Blood. Her hands were dripping with it. Crimson stained hands grasped at the darkness but found nothing. Her fingers brushed against something cold, and she felt around until her hands rested on it. It was soft and very cold. She lowered her face closer to see what it was. Julian. His face was so pale. She tried to speak his name but she had no voice. His eyes opened in response. Hollow. She tried to place her hands on his face again. He was hot. Burning. Her hands were burning. The smell was horrible....



Mia jerked violently awake, body trembling and sweat dripped from her forehead, even though it was freezing in the room. Her hands ached terribly and she noticed that one had bled through the bandage. "Bloody hell." She cursed under her breath as she slowly came back to her sense. She was in the room,alone? No. She could feel that the Orc was still present in the room.

Mia eyed him suspiciously as she gathered her things off the bed and quickly made her way down the stairs. There was no way she was going to be left behind in the middle of nowhere...not without getting some answers first. As she made her way out of the Inn she snatched a piece of bread off another patron's table and was out the door before they even noticed.

She pulled her hood up in attempt to stop the cold, it didn't help much at all. Mia made sure to stay back from the group, she didn't want to be involved in tedious conversations with the others. She kept busy by removing the bloody bandage from her hand and re-wrapping it with some torn cloth from her bag. She tossed the old bandage into the wood somewhere, so that wolves would not catch the scent of blood on her. That's all she needed was to wake up in the middle of the night and find she had been chosen to be dinner.

As the group wandered on she let her mind drift back to the ungodly nightmare. What could it possibly mean? She didn't want to put too much thought into, it was merely a dream after all.
Or so she hoped.

[Aleister Black]

Dew could scarcely remember a time her feet had felt so cold. Even though her boots were supposed to be able to withstand the wet cold of the thickly packed snow, reality proved to be quite different; her toes felt as if they were someone else's. Trudging through the snow, which was packed really high in places, tired her more than she had expected it would. From what she could see, everyone was getting tired. Everyone, except their mountain guide Mikal. His expression seemed ever stolid, and Dew was used to the rhythm with which he poked his measuring stick into the snow at each step by now. When he was asked about that, he had answered, "To see fer holes an' ravines underneath the snow. You can't get out of those. Stay in my trail if yer don't want to starve an' freeze in a chasm."

Dew was suddenly a lot more conscious about the man's footsteps and how far she strayed from them - the prospect of dying slowly in the dark hundreds of meter below the snow was not something she particularly looked forward to, no matter how grim her current fate might be. At least after this she could just go her own way and choose a place to live far away from the people who had hunted her down and forced her to do this fool's job.


Just as she thought that exhaustion would be the death of her on the very first day - she was small and not used to this sort of travel - Mikal suddenly halted. Dew pulled her cloak closer around her and forced herself to look around. There wasn't much to see down the mountain; a few banks of snow and ridges and a few copses of pine trees determind not to give way tot he cold and the snow storms. In front of the group was another such copse of trees, resolutely holding on in the lee of a steep cliff rising high above them. A narrow path was cut into the cliff that led almost straight up. Dew had a sneaking suspicion that was where they were going. Great.

"Well? Ye going to stand there or are ye setting up camp?" came the voice of Mikal, who was already walking around through the pine trees, wasting no time in setting up a tent while they still had some light to do it by. "It gets dark quickly in the mountains. Start workin' if ye want to see what ye're doing." Dew sighed. She'd rather just sit down against a tree and fall asleep right then and there. Seeing the steep, narrow path they would be taking tomorrow didn't do much to make her feel better.

She was almost tired enough to forget that there were only two tents for the nine of them. And with the current group divide, she doubted there would be a male and female tent. Oh well, she'd just have to deal with it and sleep with both eyes open and a dagger close to hand.

As if he had read her mind, Mikal turned around and said, "So who's sleepin' with whom?" If she didn't know better, Dew could have sworn she saw an amused smirk on Mikal's normally so stolid face.

[professor13]

"Does it matter?" Wylliam replied through clenched teeth, holding himself as tightly as possible, desperate to keep the heat leaving his body to an absolute minimum.

It wasn't his intention to be short with the guide. Rather, he was glad to be traveling with one so mountain-savvy. However, his usually amiable personality froze about twenty minutes after setting out from the inn. If a dragon popped out, it was quite possible that Wylliam could kill it with naught but concentrated agitation and a nasty glare.

In any case, the sooner camp could be set up, the sooner Wylliam could dream about being warm. That was at least better than his current state of being very, very cold and knowing it.

"Just tell me what I should do to help," he said gruffly to the guide.

[Ryvius]

Markus was warm thanks to his magic, but the hike was still difficult for him. In many places the snow was so deep it was impossible for him to lift his short legs out. Still, determined not to slow the rest of the group down, he shuffled on. Where the snow was shallow enough for him to go faster, he sped up to the front of the group to compensate for his falling behind in other spots.

Then it was revealed they only had two tents, and 8 people. Not at all unmanageable, with Markus and two goblins plus two females. Still not exactly roomy conditions. “Well, I’d say it’s obvious we can’t separate by gender with our numbers. I’m afraid even with the two ladies together they’ll have to put up with the same number of male tentmates. Not optimal conditions but to be expected. At the least I can assure you that I for one, am a perfect gentleman.” He took a slight bow. He spoke the truth, he was extremely well-mannered. What he did not mention was that he was a virgin with very little knowledge of the finer points of the fairer sex. “Another logical approach would be to arrange sleeping groups by size. Which would place our two largest companions in separate tents.” Markus’ scholarly (read: know-it-all) way of speaking seemed extremely out of place in the harsh wilderness.

“In any case, we can discuss who sleeps where while we’re setting things up. No point in coming to a decision and then not having any tents to sleep in.” He began untying the first tent. “I have some experience in this sort of thing from long hunts on the Rinne. I assume this will all be mostly the same…just on a slightly larger scale.” His tone indicated that his last statement was supposed to be humorous. No point in everyone’s attitudes being as frigid as the air, he thought to himself.

[Doaj]

The remaining alcohol in Worm's system had kept him from feeling just how cold it really was outside. On top of that, he wished he'd had more layers. His hangover was pretty much gone when the guide stopped them. He announced that it's time to set up camp, and Worm was more than ready for it. He immediately set to work helping pitch tents and when it looked like the others had it, decided to set up a parameter. Worm had found that wild beasts could smell live meat from a distance, and while some monsters may not eat goblins, they quite possibly eat one of the many other species around. They were a large bull's-eye for anything with a nose and teeth. Worm walked off a short distance, far enough to be out of sight of the camp, but not too far so as to lose his way. Here he began snapping branches off of trees, preparation for traps to be set all around the tents.

"So who's sleepin' with whom?" the guide asked, and he changed his expression for one of such few times Worm could count them on one hand. 'Is he asking more than he's letting on?' Worm thought. He also grimaced. There were few of the same race, and interspecies relations were becoming more and more common, much to his disliking. The thought of other species being intimate between themselves was just as gross. Nobody would want to think about two goblins making love, just as goblins didn't want to think about anyone else, usually. Much to Worm's dismay, the only other goblin in the party was another male. Perhaps just as well- a distraction could be dangerous.

"I'll bunk with anybody." Worm said when he'd finished setting traps and returned to the group. "And if you have to...use the little girl's room, don't go too far." He stopped and thought for a moment before asking, "Should we decide the rotation of night watch now, then?"

[Aleister Black]

First watch? As if I'm going to sleep at all! Dew thought. She knew, however, that the exhausting trek into the mountains, followed by setting up the heavy tents that would withstand the strong winds and heavy snow of the mountains, had drained her to such an extent that not sleeping simply was not an option. The only reason she didn't jump into the first tent she saw was the lack of any plans concerning group distribution among the tents. An acid voice in her mind said, just put all the colour-skins together, but she knew that this would still not distribute the members of the group evenly, and that she would have to rely on these people in the mission that they had been sent on. She didn't know exactly what they would have to face, but it was going to be hard enough without overt animosity within the group. I suppose we have to make do, then... She sighed, and heard herself say, "Well, I'm taking this tent. You decide for yourself where you want to go."

As she said this, she grabbed her pack and flung it into the tent. She made sure her place was right besides the entrance of the tent, just in case.

While she untied the laces of her boot, she continued, "I'll take the first watch, too. Just give me a minute to try and massage at least some life back into my feet. I feel like I'm walking on stumps."