Knights of the World Tree

The nip in the air bit hard like a timber wolf gnawing down an the freshly captured deer. The sky was bright, white clouds sprinkling snowflakes upon the frozen stones that stretched on forever in these mountains. The nearly vertical peaks and valleys were dark and shadowed from the morning sun.

Most notable of all, was the complete, conspicuous lack of green life. No trees, no shrubs, not a single blade of grass. Only stone decorated the the "Great Mountains of Death", so they are sometimes called. The tallest mountains of Adma, located in the continent of Hersh and stretching larger then any border could consume, contained absolutely no life. Or at least, not in the same sense of the rest of Adma.

It was eerily silent, no bird noise, with no birds at all to make noise. No traditional predators or prey, plant or herbivore lived here as far as mappers have explored (Though the Culma Mountains are more vast then what has been thoroughly mapped). Instead of these there lived aberrations against nature: Slimes, oozes, and giant molds and fungus's call the mountains home. Only the brave (or foolish) Dwarves live here. But even they have yet to expand this far into the ruined wilderness.

Finally you come upon it; A great, ancient keep in the style of the Old Dwarven Empire. Black banners line her walls, adorned with white trees. The emblem of the Order of the World Tree, a sell-sword company, and your new employer. Perhaps you have been invited to this safe house to accept the privilege of being trained to by a sell-sword of this company, or perhaps you already are what they call an 'Indie', able to take you own jobs, in which case you are only here to accept your next case.

Either way, you approach the fort and a heavily hooded individual enters it just as he becomes visible, and a horse with a cart and what appears to be a pack mule are stabled just outside.

What do you do?

Evelyn strolled through the Mountains in search of the Order. She was relieved when she saw the keep come into view, after walking for hours. She let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully Dinyardo (her rescuer and teacher) was correct about them being able to help her regain her memories. As she approaches the keep she sees a figure appear briefly before disappearing inside. "Hey, wait," she yells, a little too late, to the figure.

Erenne looked over the parapet, having arrived only the day before. Idly, he wondered how many more were due to arrive. He hoped they'd start soon. The inactivity was killing him. If he didn't have elven blood running through his veins, it would have been a literal analogy. Sadly, inactivity wouldn't be the death of him unless he literally did nothing. Including eating, drinking, sleeping, or breathing. He supposed he could synthesize a drink for that, but the elf wasn't that desperate. Anyway, literal days working on tinctures had made him restless. He want to get out in the field already! Start replanting the land and other such fun adventures.

Alea let out a shivering breath as she wrapped the relatively thin cloak around her armored body. She had yet to become accustomed to the climate of the mountainous region, having lived nearly her entire life in rather temperate Skol, bordering the ocean. Regardless, she hoped that her new job was at least a bit more morally stomachable than her previous one, though she had a creeping suspicion that it was simply trading her past mercenary work for a sell-sword's work, not entirely the same - but questionably similar. Trudging up the graveled pathway, Alea made no move to catch up to any travelers in front of her, even actively trying to avoid being accompanied - she couldn't exactly trust any stranger after all. The loud shout echoing off the blank mountain surfaces momentarily alarmed her, failing to register what the yell was, she placed a single hand on her short sword as she continued towards the fortress's front, eyes glancing about, ears kept keen.

Harkara the indie had arrived to the keep a hour ago, having taken her time to rest for a moment in the entrance hall as the trip was long and excruciating in the mountains. While the land was dead she found a form of serenity and pleasantry in the cool mountain winds that had blown on the pathway when she made her way into the grandiose keep. She enjoyed her time here so far.

Harkara was sitting at a table, with her helmet on the table as she was now finishing up the last of her supplies that she had for this trip - she is going to resupply here, anyway, so why not enjoy herself with her rations. There was some dried meat and rye bread left, with some water in her waterskin. She was eating as she looked around herself, wondering if there is anything interesting going on, or if she should make her way to selecting a job for herself once she finishes her meal.