The road to Nightstone

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Muddbutt

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A Dragonborn Cleric, Human Artificer, and a Tabaxi Monk make their way to the town of Nightstone. At a crossroad they meet two half-elves a bard and a druid seemingly heading the same way. At this crossroad there is a signpost that reads that the town is about ten miles away.
 
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Aster was thinking back on the strange and cryptic dreams he had been having regarding how to save his forest, and the realm from the looking threat, which seemed to be giants from his dreams, and especially after the recent events causing so much damage to his home forest. One thing was for certain, he had to find the other four people from his dream or things would end in ruin, or according to his dreams they wouldn't even have a chance at stopping the threat... there was still no guarentee that meeting the other four would ensure the survival of the realm. Still he had hopes they would manage that his dreams would steer them all in the right direction to ensure the safety of his forest. He honestly didn't care if all the cities were destroyed, in fact he would prefer people to live in villages and return to the natural ways. Still he needed the threat to be ended, which means also helping out the cities regrettably.

As he drew to the end of his thoughts he noticed another person walking down the road at a rather fast pace. For some reason they seemed familiar but he couldn't place his finger on it until he saw her face and everything fell into place. "Hey you! Wait up!" He declared as he sped up to walk beside her. "You're the shady one I saw you in my dreams and I need your help! " He stated as he caught up to her and began walking with her. "The stars gave me a vision and as I said I need your help and the help of three others, a human, dragonborn, and Tabaxi, to stop the giants that are soon to be plaguing this land, though they're already rampaging elsewhere." He declared rather bluntly as he looked at her, knowing there was more to her than he was seeing right now, as for some reason she keep appearing in his dream.
@Jas
 
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"Goddamn it!" Scarlet uttered, barely a hiss. As she hurried along the road, she squinted her bright blue eyes in worry. Ur'gray was gonna be pissed. And at this rate, Scarlet would run out of money. She could feel her meager coinpurse jingling as she hurried down the road, acutely aware that this blunder had cost her her last sovereign, and that most of the jingling was copper. She again muttered to herself, "If I can get back to him before he finds out from someone else, I might be able to save my ass."

The chest the lass was pulling hit a rock, causing it to stagger jarringly. She turned around to inspect it, and after a few moments, got back up and continued her hurried pace. A dagger and a rapier clanged and rattled against her right hip as she hurried along, and her blonde hair trailed behind her, revealing an ovoid and slightly pointed ear. A discerning eye would doubtless see a well-worn leather collar rising from under her silken blouse, an indication of the protective garment below. She was barely paying attention to the road, much less her surroundings, when Scarlet heard a male voice calling out behind her.

"Hey you! Wait up!" he called and hurried to close the distance. Feeling foolish that she'd lost track of her surroundings, Scarlet's hand curled around the familiar handle of her trusty dagger. The worn and slightly rounded facets of the pommel against Scarlet's palm made her feel a bit safer.

After what felt like an eternity (but which must only have been a few seconds), he came abreast of her. Simultaneously, she pulled the dagger from its sheath and tucked the blade flat against her arm, prepared to defend herself if need be. "You're the shady one I saw in my dreams and I need your help!" the man continued. At the word "shady," Scarlet dropped her hold on the chest and flexed her right arm, the dagger still hidden against her forearm but poised to strike.

The man, apparently oblivious, continued, something about stars and visions and giants. Scarlet visibly relaxed. He didn't know her; he wasn't here to apprehend her for her crimes nor to try to shake her down for whatever money she'd hustled him out of.

He was just batshit crazy. After quickly sizing him up, she determined he wasn't a particularly dangerous brand of crazy, either. The female bent down and reclaimed her chest, replacing her blade in its sheath as she did so. Hopefully he'd never know how close he came to being stabbed.

"You don't get out much, do you?" Scarlet replied bluntly with an unimpressed expression on her face. "You sound more than a little crazy right now, and I don't really have time to indulge you in your game of giants. I have to be somewhere." She took off again, and made it a few yards before she came to a signpost. After a brief glance, she turned left, in the direction marked "Nightstone."

(EDIT: Mostly grammar fixes, and a couple of clarifications which have no bearing on anyone else's posts)
 
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Whether Aster was bat-shit crazy, or perhaps part of some elaborate deception or prank would be difficult to ascertain, but the odds of Scarlet reaching the crossroads as a trio of travelers coincidentally began to approach from an adjacent road were certainly low at best. The small group was comprised of none other than a dragonborn, human, and tabaxi. Peculiar at best, suspicious at worst.

The dragonborn dwarfed the pair that accompanied him, and his heavy armor and warhammer coupled with a muscled and dominating physical stature left him imposing at first impression. But he carried himself with a calm and purposeful manner that exuded a sense of ease, and those who traveled with him had found little reflection of his physically imposing figure in his mannerisms.

When he spoke it was typically with purposeful intent, and focused on their task at hand: to reach the town of Nightstone. And while he didn't seem troubled by idle chatter - either back in the town they had left, or on the road - he was never inclined to participate. He had introduced himself to his traveling companions as Kaavaurix and had been agreeable to traveling together until they reached Nightstone, but he had offered little more insight into himself or why he was traveling. To some he may have come across as rude, or even disdainful of those he traveled with, but a keen eye would detect the distraction ever present upon his mind. A distraction that often lent itself to long quiet periods of staring into the distance, or watching campfires at night. A distraction that kept him somewhat aloof to those around him.

The sight of Scarlet darting down the adjacent road towards the same crossroads that he and the others were approaching drew his attention out of his thoughts though. His eyes turned to her first before shifting to the druid at her heels with a slight raise of his bony brow. The druid didn't seem hostile in his actions, but it was certainly a peculiarity. It was none of his business though he determined. He offered only a slight nod of his head in friendly acknowledgement of the pair so as to put the fellow travelers at ease that they where simply crossing paths before turning to continue towards Nightstone.
 
The best thing about travelling with others, Cordelia thought, was the time it afforded her to turn her attention to other things as they walked. The movement of her companions in her periphery kept her on track while she had her nose in a book and would in itself be warning enough were anything notable to happen. It had been a time since she’d had people to travel with and her current company had more than proved to not only be capable but interesting as well. Even if that fact lay primarily in the cultural differences between them all. Cordelia herself having only come across a few Dragonborn in her travels and even fewer Tabaxi.

Without looking up Cordelia flipped another page and cleared her throat, eyes darting to the side for a brief moment to check on her Tabaxi companion. “We should be arriving at that crossroad you mentioned soon, correct Sky?” Movement out of the corner of her eye from the other side from Kaavaurix prompted her to look up, blinking as her eyes adjusted. “Oh, or I imagine this is it then. I thought the roads might get busier the closer we were to Nightstone but it would seem that is not the case after all.”

With a practiced motion, she bookmarked her page and tucked the slim tome into a bag. Neither one of the pair up ahead looked as though they were trouble and the numbers were in their favour, but it was better to have hands free just in case.
 
Sky didn’t mind their companions being mostly silent, though they did wonder at Cordelia's gift of travelling without ever looking where she was going. Sky doubted they could pull that off quite so gracefully even with their superior reflexes and balance compared to the human wandering along beside them.

Much like the Dragonborn walking on Cordelias other side, they used the companionable silence to persue their own train of thought. Unlike Kaavaurix however, whose thoughts were clearly either far away or deep inside himself, Sky's attention was directed outward, to their immediate surroundings. This was both a general precaution and a necessity if they were to memorise enough of the terrain to update their maps that evening.

As such, Sky was the first to spot the pair at the crossroads ahead of them. With just as much interest as they would show a passing butterfly (rather a lot), they watched what seemed like a brief conversation, before the smaller of the two turned on her heel and continued her brisk walk with a flounce of skirts.

Cordelia's sudden question made them smile, whiskers twitching, seeing as the group was only a few feet from the mentioned crossroads. They were about to answer, when she took the words right out of their mouth, answering her own question in much the same manner they themselves would have. She seemed to have noticed the other travelers too, as she packed away her book and looked more alert than before.

Sky tugged their hood a little lower, making sure it covered most of their face, as well as flattening their ears a little against their head to make their shape against the hood less auspicious. They just didn’t feel like having strangers stare at them as they passed right now or perhaps even muster up the courage to ask any unnecessary questions. Let the attention be directed to the other more exotic traveller in their small group. Kaavaurix was certainly enough of a sight to draw the eye away from a simple monk.
 
Scarlet raised an eyebrow at the intervening group. She was all out-of-sorts today. She'd allowed that nut-job to sneak up on her, and apparently in the fluster surrounding that encounter, she'd completely neglected this group of travelers.

Three of them.

The smallest of the group, still a hand taller than herself and perhaps a stone heavier, seemed to be a bit uneasy to meet Scarlet and... whoever that other guy was... on the road. The next largest was bundled up and recluse, obviously either shy or with something to hide. Given the creature's size, Scarlet was betting that it was a monstrous hominid who disliked attention.

Normally she wouldn't have jumped straight to that, but the largest in the group (perhaps the group's leader?) was himself a dragonfolk, whom Scarlet also lumped in with monstrous hominids. More intelligent than a kobold, perhaps, but still... an other. Regardless, he seemed to be decked out in battle regalia, so Scarlet had no intention of sharing her ideologies at that particular moment.

Of course, the irony that she held some sort of racism against any human-like creatures wasn't lost on her; as a half-elf, she was neither welcomed by elves nor humes, though the latter tolerated her better, and many didn't even seem to realize that she was not a full-blooded elf. Still, it didn't change the fact that she felt intimidated in their presence, and that made her extremely uncomfortable.

If not for the massive numerical disadvantage, she'd prefer to strike first, but each of the travelers she met seemed capable, and the doddering druid was at best neutral toward her. Worst-case, Scarlet didn't like the 4:1 odds. Best-case, 3:2 was still pretty bad.

So she bit her tongue and tempered her actions.

The massive dragonkin gestured a neutral greeting as they met on the road, and Scarlet mirrored the movement, acknowledging this group. She even turned on her charm and offered a warm smile. But now she was torn. She didn't trust the dragonkin or the hooded creature, and while the hume wasn't overtly hostile, she was not subtle in her alertness. The leather-clad elf was in a hurry, but she didn't want to give this group her back.

So Scarlet passed to the side of the road and let them move ahead of her, and then picked up her trudge from some fifteen feet behind them. It was a bit unfortunate that they seemed to be heading in the same direction. But saving her own skin was better than saving her wallet, at least at the moment.
 
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"You don't get out much, do you?" Scarlet asked before continuing, "You sound more than a little crazy right now, and I don't really have time to indulge you in your game of giants. I have to be somewhere." she responded to Aster's first introduction.

"I'm almost always outside if that's what you mean. I just left my druid circle on my coming of age journey, as the stars forewarned me in my dreams of the disaster." He responded with a smile. "I do? Oh well, most people outside my circle would seem so then." Aster stated with an equal amount of bluntness. "Don't have time? Well once your errand is done we can be on our way to find the others. I don't mind waiting." Aster responded as he followed behind Scarlet as they approached the crossroads.

Aster looked over to the other road where he noticed more travelers were about to cross their path as the crossroads met, his eyes sparkled as he looked intently at the hooded one to see it was the tabaxi from his dreams, his eyes wandered over and his smile grew. He almost jumped with joy upon seeing who were on the other path funneling into the crossroads. "BY THE STARS!!! They're here too! All four of you from my dreams are here! Thank Silvanus!" Aster declared excitedly.

"Hail Travelers!" He declared with a wide grin as he waved back at the dragonborn before looking back to see Scarlet biting her lip. "Thinking of something shady and how it's not gonna work?" Aster inquired bluntly as he recalled what he saw of his dreams she was typically doing something shady in the first ones, the later dreams were fare more vague and included less images of them doing things and more them standing in front of locations as events transpired.

He then walked over to the group of three, with or without Scarlet, and introduced himself. "I am Aster Exousia, I am from a druid circle revolving around stars and prophesy and my visions have led me hear to meet you three, along with the shady lady behind me whom I happened across naught but a few minutes earlier." He declared with an outstretched hand for anyone to shake if they so chose. "The lands are in danger of the rampages of giants, and I need the help of you all to stop it." Aster stated honestly. "They have already done some damage to my home forest and our sanctuary where we view the stars and it won't be long before some cause havoc elsewhere."
 
Kaavaurix once again raised a bony brow at the scene before him. Aster's words certainly explained the hasty manner in which Scarlet sought to distance herself from the peculiar half-elf. He gave his companions a cursory side-glance as he stopped in place.

"An acquaintance of yours?" he inquired.

The forward and abrupt manner in which Aster addressed the trio led the dragonborn to assume he in some way knew Cordelia or Sky, and had deliberately sought them out.
 
Cordelia's eyebrows raised to a point where her glasses slipped further down her nose, prompting her to push them back up. This whole situation was turning odder by the moment. She was not particularly talented in reading people's intentions however the excitable Druid was almost inscrutable in his excitement of what she was convinced was nothing more than a chance meeting of people on the road.

"Certainly not one of mine." She replied, sparing a glance over at Scarlet as well. Now that it was more than apparent that the pair they had come across weren't travelling together the fact that she was alone on the road dragging a chest behind her promised a story. Though it was more likely than not a story that she had no business in and was better off not knowing.

Casually she reached into a side pocket and pulled out a glass pipette which she rolled between her forefinger and thumb to keep her hands busy. The action likely resembling something akin to a nervous tick to the casual observer. "I'm afraid that all sounds a little too grandiose for my tastes. We are simply traversing the road to Nightstone and have no quarry with any such giants."
 
Much like their two companions, Sky was rather taken aback by Aster's sudden announcement. Their initial surprise however faded into concern as what the druid had said sunk in. Even ignoring the prophecy stuff, rampaging giants sounded serious. As far as they knew, giants generally lived in seclusion and didn’t bother with other peoples much unless truly provoked. This information could easily be wrong, seeing as their monastery didn’t have any giant tribes in the vicinity, but their stores of knowledge were usually well researched and mostly correct.

At Kaavaurix’ question, they shook their head. Though they had met many people even in their so far short travels, this person had not been among them. At least they didn’t remember them, which they thought they would have, had he been proclaiming in similar fashion then.

Seeing as they were now not just passing by, they pushed back their hood, both as a sign of open friendliness and simply to free their ears from the annoying constraint of the fabric. One large ear twitched almost involuntarily as they addressed Aster,
“You said giants? Why would they come here and attack your people?” Oblivious to the fact that they may not be speaking in their companions interest, Sky continued, “How can we help?”
 
Everything was playing out as Scarlet had hoped. The dragonkin seemed wary of the druid, and the hume seemed apathetic. Even as she witnessed these responses, the bard was building a speech in her head to simultaneously strengthen suspicion on the druid and allay any aspersions he was placing on her.

Until the hooded one spoke and revealed their face.

They were indeed one which Scarlet would label a "monstrous hominid," though not of a fashion she'd ever seen before. The being reminded Scarlet of a housecat, albeit an imposing one. But even more shocking than their appearance was their apparent... acceptance... of the druid's insanity.

Scarlet mentally binned her prepared speech and decided to freestyle.

"Obviously, he's either mental or a con man," she began, loud enough to be clearly heard despite the distance. Her poise and diction indicated a practiced speaker. "What's more likely? That this man is a prophet who just happened to meet the four people he prophesied travelling in two different groups at the exact same time, or that he is somehow trying to entreat our sense of duty to drag us along on some 'quest' just to lure us into his waiting band of highwaymen to shake us down?" She closed the gap as she spoke, still dragging her chest behind her. Her chest struck another rock, making her temporarily lose her footing. She regained it quickly, but she feared should wouldn't recover from the hit to her ethos for this performance. Regardless, she continued, "I'd vote on the latter.

"He's telling the truth about one thing, though. He just ambushed me down that way a bit. I don't know him, and I would be happily minding my business on the way to Nightstone if not for him." Scarlet looked over at the human as she said "Nightstone," noting the girl's fingers going about some busy work on a glass rod or something. She issued a barely-visible nod before proceeding. "I'm just a thespian who worked a particularly rough gig back that way," she gestured at the direction she'd come, "and I'm just trying to get back to find some better employment from my... er, agent."

She sighed, both visibly and audibly. This was also a part of her performance, but she hoped it would help sell it. Afterward, she realized that she may have laid it on a bit too thick. Regardless, she continued, this time her attention focused more on the dragonkin than anyone else.

"But since it seems we're all going the same way anyway, it makes sense to do so in greater numbers." Again, Scarlet shifted her focus, this time to the hooded housecat. "And if you are going to actually indulge this madman's delusions, you may as well do it whilst traveling."
 
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Seeing the disbelief and disinterest in the eyes of the two Aster found himself becoming disheartened and his smile failing, was his journey to save his home and the lands of others for naught? However this feeling disappeared when the Tabaxi believed him and his smile returned. He turned to answer their question when Scarlet spoke up. "I have I will swear upon my life both here and in a zone of truth I am neither insane nor a conman. I only come to you seeking your aid for the quest I have embarked upon requires it as so dictated by the stars. I know no one outside my druid circle, and I am headed to Nightstone since that is where the prophesy is said to begin. I have done no such thing as ambush you, I met you upon the road and asked for your aid like I did the others, I have done nothing else." Aster replied with evident indignantion.

"Neither I nor my circle have been able to glean any information from the stars other than my dreams which depict the five us us, and six various events and locations." He stated as he pulled out as scroll with seven pictures on it: The first was of the five of them, the second was of a tower flying through the clouds, the third was of a fiery giant driving their swords into the ground of a town overtaken by chaos, the fourth was a savage warriors with head’s of different animals in blood soaked snow, the fifth was a collage of various places of spiritual power across the lands, the sixth was a great axe wielding giant cleaving through his brethren, and the final image was an ancient temple standing strong and proud with ancient knowledge beckoning the viewer towards it. The scroll was drawn with careful attention to detail... thanks to Aster going through countless scrolls to write them all down perfectly over the several years he had the reoccurring dreams.
 
Kaavaurix was genuinely not sure what to make of the spectacle unfolding at the crossroads. The bizarreness of it defied logic or understanding. It was for perhaps this reason that he remained silent and observing as words were exchanged by the others. It wasn’t Scarlet’s performance that hooked his attention at last though. It was the druid. Specifically the final scroll drew his gaze and for a moment he forgot about the half-elven woman and her words regarding Aster, and her business on the road. Something about that image…

He shook his head as if to rid himself of a distraction and looked to Aster directly.

“Forgive my initial… apprehension at your words,” he spoke.

His voice was clear, but both deep and gravely.

“Your abrupt approach - and your words - are quite atypical,” he explained. “It is the nature of most sapient races to be wary of that which is atypical. You speak with conviction though, and that conviction speaks to me.”

He glanced at all upon the road, and choosing for the moment to disregard Scarlet and the proposal she had already put forward, he offered a politer version of his own.

“Whether through happenstance, fate, or visions of the future,” he began. “We do all seem to share a common destination. Let us speak on the matter as we walk.”

Kaavaurik wasn’t yet sure if he believed Aster’s words to be true. But he believed with utmost certainty that Aster believed his own words to be true. And that was reason enough to give the druid his ear for a time.
 
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Cordelia didn't return the nod Scarlet had given her but instead cocked her head slightly as though she were attempting to figure something out. She remained quiet as the others spoke, her brow furrowing as Aster retrieved his scroll and set about explaining the drawings on it. Her talents had never much veered toward divination and as such, she wasn't entirely sure how things usually worked in those spheres. He had sounded confident in the way he spoke about it but she'd had more than her fair share of confidence in things that had both metaphorically and literally blown up in her face before. Not for the first time since setting out on her travels, she lamented her single-mindedness while she had been at the academy, there was still much she didn't know.

"I can concur with that. At the very least it is in all of our best interest to not be on the road past nightfall." She chimed in at Kaavaurix's proposal, taking a moment to take in the forming group as a whole for the first time. They certainly made an odd bunch, one that would very likely draw attention to them because of it but that had worked out in her favour before.

Having paused a bit behind the group she turned, only slightly having to project her voice so that Scarlet would be able to hear her. "If that chest isn't as heavy as you make it look I may be able to give you a hand with it?" She offered, the sharp-eyed amongst them likely able to catch the way her idle twirling of the pipette took on a more purposeful movement, nearly resembling a pattern but not quite
 
Sky listened to what could only be described as the womans tirade with calm patience. Her last words, obviously directed at them, made them frown. They weren’t indulging anyone in anything, only trying to get to the root of what was going on with the giants. How could anyone help a situation if they didn’t know what the actual problem was?

The druid however was about as helpful as the lady was, getting distracted by her accusations and even when getting back to the general topic of his plight, only going on about a prophecy and dreams, not the giants Sky had asked about.

The following quick discussion tended towards moving on, something Sky was certainly not averse to, especially since it looked like it might rain soon. It would also be easier to get information out of people in a safer, more comfortable setting, perhaps also in a smaller group without others butting in with rude remarks.

Recalling their maps to the forefront of their mind, they simply said, “Nightstone should be just up ahead. Any discussion would indeed be better continued there.” Before starting back along the road at a slightly slower pace than before, giving the rest the choice to follow or remain as they saw fit.
 
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