Belinswae. Winter...
The dwarven war party can hike long distances during a day. Especially in fairly benign terrain here along the coast of Belinswae, compared to what they normally face in the Stone Hills.
For the two humans in the war party, they just can't compete with the stamina of the dwarves from clan Galve. So a few times a day, they cheat.
With Mira Reinholt the mage teleporting himself and Shur Kee the monk. Either to keep up with the war party. Or to get ahead of them, as the mage Reinholt does in this instance.
The two of them, the once powerful mage and the short statured monk make their way up onto the road the spellcaster from south of the equator teleported them beside.
The practitioner of magic, who was once able to teleport in excess of ten miles, far further than most human spellcasters. Can barely teleport the two of them over five hundred yards.
Looks back up the to the low hill they've come from, and sees the first of the war party, those few on horseback, come into view.
"They'll catch up soon enough" says Mira Reinholt the mage as they continue southwards along the road "The way they walk, it won't be long at all" adds the Vexilian mage in exile, next to him, the acolyte in the order of Bru Li, nods his head in agreement.
The road is empty, apart from the odd wagon or cart that's been abandoned. They've seen more of them over the last day or so, as people flee the so called marauding dwarven war party from the Stone Hills.
Most of the local populace who are fleeing to the city of Falnic and further south, haven't even encountered the war party from clan Galve.
They're leaving their homes due to rumour and hearsay, from what they've heard from the people of those towns and villages the dwarven war party have actually gone through. Those they've forced from their homes, and burnt their towns and villages down.
The spellcaster who is also a highly skilled swordmaster knew that they only had to do that a handful of times, and know that word of that would spread down the western coastline of Belinswae fairly quickly. It was what he was hoping for.
As they approach some woods, the mage Reinholt notices something, then gestures ahead on the road, and says "Seems someone ran into some of the Justifiers guards" he then adds in a dry tone of voice "And got something they didn't expect".
Shur Kee the monk who has been looking away to their right, to the west, where the Great Western ocean is in view. Looks ahead to what the once powerful mage has spotted, the physical adept from the otherside of the continent slightly grimaces at what he sees.
As a cool wind comes in off the sea, no where near as freezing as it is up in the Stone Hills. They approach a wagon on it's side, still in the traces are a pair of dead horses. Most of the contents that was in the wagon bed, are strewn across the ground.
There's carrion birds pecking at the flesh of the dead horses. They take to wing, squawking in indignation as the two humans approach.
Further beyond the wagon and horses, lies a shattered cart. Next to it lies a body of a man, half covered in torn up bolts of cloth. A pair of ravens that were pecking at his face, fly away when they hear the two adventures coming closer.
Mira Reinholt looks at the dead man, and wonders what he sold his life for. Probably food, and something to drink, the spellcaster from south of the equator thinks to himself.
The highly skilled swordmaster, who has traveled far and wide since he was exiled from his homeland of Vexil at just seventeen years of age. Has been in untold wars and conflicts ever since. And he's seen people underestimate those who they think normally protect and look after them in times of peace, act completely differently in times of conflict.
Soldiers, troops, guards and mercenaries, unless they're highly disciplined, and have good officers. They'll take what they want from the local populace. And what they take more often than not, is food and drink.
"The idiot" mutters Mira Reinholt as they pass the dead man, a cloth merchant by the looks of it, who is covered in golds worth of his wares, that is scattered across the ground. Who was probably killed for the food and drink he had in his cart, that he refused to give over.
When the Southlander spots the coin purse still attached to the belt of the dead man, he knows that he was more than likely killed for something like food or drink, things that soldiers, in this case Justifier's guards, can readily use.
"What was that friend Mira?" asks Shur Kee the monk, who has been quietly murmuring a prayer for the dead as they've approached the corpse next to the road, then walked by him.
"Nothing" replies the spellcaster who is also a highly skilled swordmaster, then the mage, who was the youngest ever member of the mage council of Vexil, takes out from his cloak, a map of the area of Belinswae they're in.
While behind them, the carrion birds settle back down on the two dead wagon horses, and the corpse near the shattered cart, and resume their ghastly feast. Soon they'll be disrupted again, as the first of the dwarven war party, those handful on horseback, approach the woods.
Looking at the map as they walk, Mira Reinholt says to the physical adept from the far eastern coastal kingdom of Wah Lee "There's another fishing village not too far away" the highly skilled swordmaster from south of the equator points this out to the short statured monk, then points at something else on the map, and adds "And a town about four or five miles further south of that".
"Should we try there?" asks Shur Kee "Might as well" says the spellcaster who was once the most powerful mage of his generation to be found anywhere in the Southlands, the mage Reinholt rolls up the small map, and returns it to the inner pocket of his cloak he took it from.
The Southlander looks back, and through the trees, he spots the dwarven war party on the road, approaching the woods. The exiled Vexilian mage who has a plan for quickly getting to the city of Falnic, rubs his chin, and quietly says "I wonder how good that lot are at sailing?".
Later in the day, after midday, the two humans, stand with a handful of the war party, on top of a seaside cliff, looking down to a town a few hundred yards away to the south of them.
"Busy looking place" says the dwarven swordmaster Varl, everyone nods, as they see vessels either leaving the port town, or approaching it. There's vessels of all sizes at dock and out at sea. Many of them far larger than the handful of small fishing skiffs they saw in the village a couple of miles north of here just before midday.
"Don't be seeing any Justifiers guards down there" says old Kalend who continues with "That dunny not mean there ain't none of the blighters about".
The old warrior who taught the hammer and axe to the clan chieftain Lomi Galve, dislikes the Justifiers of Belinswae and their guards even more as they've traveled south towards Falnic. As they've seen what the Justifier's guards have, and have not been doing.
"Prosperous looking too" quietly says Tarong "Aye, that it is" says the dwarven swordmaster, who looks at his equal in rank with the sword, and asks him "You be going down to check this town out?".
"I will" says Mira Reinholt, who nods at Shur Kee and continues with "We'll go down there and see how things are" the once powerful mage casts a spell upon himself and the short statured monk, changing their appearance by way of an illusion spell.
Then the mage Reinholt, who can't sense any spellcasters down in the town below, says to the dwarves "Keep an eye out on us" then he takes a hold of the physical adepts right arm, and teleports the two of them, down behind a house on the edge of the seaside town.
They look around as they make their way through town, and as they head towards some of the piers, the spellcaster from south of the equator reads the minds of a few people.
When they stop next to a dock and watch the unloading of a small, single masted vessel, Mira Reinholt points to nearby dockside tavern, and quietly tells Shur Kee "In there" and in barely a whisper, the highly skilled swordmaster tells the physical adept "This town's a smugglers den" Shur Kee's eyebrows rise up in surprise at hearing that.
They enter the tavern, they illicit a number of stares, nothing threatening or lingering. Probably because the illusion spell the once powerful mage has cast upon himself and the short statured monk, makes them appear pretty benign and fairly trustworthy.
The adventurers make their way to the bar, and the exiled Vexilian mage orders a tankard of ale. While the acolyte in the order of Bru Li asks for a mug of hot water.
As Shur Kee crushes up some dried leaves he takes from a small pouch from under his cloak, and drops it in the hot water. The mage Reinholt has a quiet word with the tavern keeper.
A little while later the tavern keeper introduces the two of them to a sailor, who in turn leads them to a corner table, where sits four sailors, who are quietly talking to one another, as they sip their drinks.
Mira Reinholt quickly reads their minds, and finds out that they're all smugglers, three of them are ship's captains, while the fourth is the first mate of another vessel.
"Looking for a hire are you?" asks one of the sailors, a captain of a twin masted cutter "Something like that" replies the Southlander, who continues with "We need to get to Falnic".
"No can do" says the captain who is doing all the talking, he continues with "Due to the blockade they've got on the harbour down there, only the Justifiers navy, and ships whose home port is Falnic, like their fishing fleet, are the only one's allowed in and out of the harbour".
Shit, the spellcaster who is also a highly skilled swordmaster thinks to himself, as he senses by way of a spell, that the cutter's captain is telling the truth.
The mage Reinholt reaches beneath his cloak and takes hold of a spell gem within a hidden pocket in his cloak. He's a little depleted in power at the moment, so he drains some of the power in the gem, and replenishes his depleted stores after casting quite a few spells today.
The spellcaster from the city-state of Vexil in the Southlands reads the mind more thoroughly of the captain who has been talking . The once powerful mage slightly nods at what he finds out, then he asks "Say, if i wanted to get fairly close to Falnic, but not actually there, would you happen to know a way?".
There's silence from the sailors at the table as they all glance at one another, then another of the ship's captains says "Maybe there is". "Maybe" adds the captain of the cutter "Then maybe that's where we would like to go" says Mira Reinholt.
After another moment's silence, the captain of the cutter, who has been doing most of the talking, says "It's not exactly cheap to sail to Falnic, or i should say close to it" he then adds "Even though it isn't exactly that far away from here".
"That's alright, we've got enough to pay" says the spellcaster from south of the equator, who continues with "Whatever the price is".
The four sailors, smugglers all, share a few looks, then the captain of the cutter asks the two adventurers "Just the two of you then?".
Mira Reinholt the mage and Shur Kee the monk glance at one another, before looking at the other four at the table with them, then with a slight grin upon the face that disguises what he really looks like, the Vexilian mage in exile says "Not quite" he follows that up with "A few others will be coming along with us too" . . . . . .
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