Aftermath 6.

The Kaldel Plains...

After spending a chilly night out in the open wrapped up in their cloaks.
They get up at dawn to look around and see where they are.
"All looks the same" murmurs Tamric Drubine the field commander after looking around in every direction.
The nobleborn teenager who is originally from the feudal kingdom of Sarcrin looks over at the newest member of the group and asks him "So where exactly are we?".
"About two hundred and twenty miles northeast of where the ship went down" replies Beldane the cleric, who continues with "Back towards the direction of Nastell" he then adds "My church would often send us out on the plains to convert the locals" the fighting cleric then dryly murmurs "Not many did".
Tamric Drubine, or Tam as he's more commonly called by those who know him well, slightly nods then says "And you can't send us back?".
"I can't" answers the powerful cleric, who continues on with "I have to know where I'm going for a gateway to work".
Beldane, who is from the kingdom of Nastell then explains "Since it was nighttime, and we were up in the sky, i wasn't exactly looking down at the ground to see our location" he shrugs apologetically, then adds "It's a limitation of a spell such as a gateway or a rift, you have to know exactly where you're going, and picture it in your mind for it to work".
"Makes sense i guess" murmurs Tam, who has been taught to not rely on magic, for even it has it's limitations, to go with it's advantages.
"And you knew this place?" asks Lisell Maera the messenger who speaks up for the first time "I do" replies the cleric in the church of Glaine, who points further eastwards and adds "There's a settlement that way, about two miles away".
"There is?" says field commander Drubine, who puts his brass, cylindrical eyepiece up to his face, and looks through it with his left eye, then says "I don't see anything" as he looks to the east.
"It's there" says Beldane the cleric, who then adds "You just can't see it from here".
The nobleborn teenager from the kingdom of Sarcrin shrugs, then says "I'll have to take your word for it". Then the young field commander looks at the other two, and says "Might as well head there" followed by "We need supplies anyway, so might as well check this place out".
Both Lisell Maera, and Tovis the war engineer nod in agreement. So the four of them head off, making their way eastwards, as the sun rises in the early morning sky, on what looks like to be clear day here towards the end of summer on the Kaldel Plains.
Tam might be the youngest, being two years younger than Lis. But he automatically takes charge. After all he is the senior most ranked of them, being a field commander in the armies of Farque.
He walks out infront, with the attractive young woman from the city-state of Brattonbury, Lisell Maera walking beside him.
The two of them are quietly chatting in the elven language. While a dozen paces behind them. Walk the war engineer Tovis, and the cleric Beldane.
"How do you know we're about two hundred and twenty miles from where the ship was attacked?" quietly asks Tovis the war engineer, who hails from the kingdom of Druvic, where he once served a baron Harkonin.
"Because that's about the maximum limit of how far i can go with a gateway" says Beldane the cleric, who only recently joined the armies of Farque, infact just a handful of days ago.
The member of the church of Glaine, who still can't believe they got off the destroyer before it presumably crashed, continues with "I should be able to take us about another thirty miles south of here, that was the furthest I've been into the plains on horseback".
The fighting cleric then adds "Being on the ground is way better than being in the air, for remembering locations, and what the terrain is like. Which is essential for casting a gateway".
Beldane is glad that his mace is no longer erratic. But last night, it took him a little bit longer on the plummeting warship, to cast a gateway with the aid of his magical weapon than usual.
One of the side effects of the mace no longer able to do what it wants to do, whenever it wants to do.
The powerful cleric who knows that the elf named Helbe who took his mace away from him on the morning they departed from the city of Almaic in northern Nastell.
And returned it to him just before the destroyer and the rest of the fleet were just about to take off from north of Almaic.
Has done something to amend the erratic behaviour of the mace. What? He's not exactly sure. But he does know that the magical weapon is now behaving as it was originally designed to do.
Infront, Tamric Drubine gestures away to the right where the skeletal remains of an animal lies about thirty yards away, stripped of most of it's flesh and hide.
"Must have a number of predators on the plains" quietly says the young field commander who is a former heir to a previous knight of castle Drubine in the north of the kingdom of Sarcrin.
Next to Tam, the attractive young woman who hails from the coastal city-state of Brattonbury nods her head in agreement.
Then field commander Drubine looks back, and switching to the common language, he points to the right at the dead animal and asks the cleric Beldane "Any idea what that was?".
"An antelope probably" says the powerful cleric as looks away to the right at the remains of the dead animal "Lions probably got it" adds the churchman.
"Anything we have to worry about?" asks Tamric Drubine "We should be fine, they might attack a lone traveler" says the fighting cleric who is originally from the duchy of Phelm in the kingdom of Nastell "And I've heard stories of them attacking stragglers in caravans" adds Beldane, who continues with "But they tend to keep clear of people for the most part".
"Never seen a plains lion" quietly says commander Drubine, next to him, the messenger Lisell Maera nods her head in agreement, as she hasn't seen one either.
The sun isn't even a handspan above the horizon when they near the spot that Beldane says is a settlement.
As they approach, both Tamric Drubine and Lisell Maera see what it is they're walking towards.
"A canyon" says the young field commander as he looks back at the following cleric, who is walking beside the war engineer.
"It is" says the member in the church of Glaine, who continues with "It's down in the canyon itself".
Infact, the settlement is down on the canyon floor. Above where a thin ribbon of water flows through it.
The sand coloured roundhouses, which there's just half a dozen of. Along with a few other buildings.
Would be difficult to see even from the air. As they blend right in with their rocky surroundings.
There's a path down this side of the canyon, used by pack animals mainly. As it's too narrow and steep for any wagons.
And with Tam and Lis leading the way. The four of them, who are in the armies of Farque. Carefully make their way down to the settlement on the canyon floor.
And while the sun is now up on the plains above. Down on the canyon floor, much of the settlement is still in shade. And only getting the first light of the day right now.
Even so, most of the inhabitants are up and about. Getting on with their day.
As the four of them make their way down onto the canyon floor. The cleric Beldane explains to the other three that the inhabitants are for the most part plainsmen.
And the settlement is used by caravans going up and down the plains as a way station, or a stopping point on their journey.
When the locals see them, a few of them recognise Beldane, from his last visit here. Which was about five years ago. When his church last sent him out onto the Kaldel Plains on a mission to convert the plainsmen.
A mission that basically failed. As his church, along with many other churches and temples over the years, have failed to realise that the plainsmen have their own gods that they follow. Pretty much shunning most of the other gods of Volunell.
The fighting cleric points out a building, that's basically a chandlers. Where supplies are brought and sold by the passing caravans.
And he along with commander Drubine make their way into it with a couple of the locals. While Lisell Maera and Tovis the war engineer remains outside. Sitting near the well, next to the chandlers.
As a trio of children watch them in wide eyed amazement. Children who are predominantly dark skinned as are many plainsmen.
Lis, who with her tan colouring and dark hair, could probably pass herself off as a local. Says in the elven language to the young engineer from the kingdom of Druvic "Wonder how many of them got off the ship?".
It's the first time one of them have really brought up the topic of the others who were onboard the tri-masted destroyer with them, when it was attacked last night.
Tovis, who has been learning the elven language over the last fifteen or so months, and has yet to truly master it, says in elven "Hopefully a lot".
The attractive young woman from the coastal city of Brattonbury nods her head in agreement. As she too hopes many of the others onboard the warship were able to get off it before it crashed into the ground.
By the time Tamric Drubine and Beldane the cleric make their way back out of the chandlers with all the things they've bought.
The sun has risen even down here in the canyon. And three children who were watching Lis and Tovis. Have gone back to the game they were playing before the small group made their way down to the settlement on the canyon floor.
As Beldane hands the messenger and the war engineer new water sacks and bottles, along with travel packs stuffed full of supplies.
The young field commander quietly says in the elven language to the two who were waiting outside near the well "Found out something interesting in there from the plainsmen".
"Like what?" asks Lisell Maera in the same language, Tamric Drubine or Tam as he's more commonly called by those who know him well.
Tells the messenger and the war engineer what he and Beldane found out while inside the chandlers.
Both Lis and Tovis listen to the young field commander in silence, stunned silence to be exact. Surprised at what he's telling them.
"Are we going to check it out?" asks the attractive young woman from the city-state of Brattonbury once the nobleborn teenager has explained what he's found out.
"We are" says the young field commander in the armies of Farque, who has already made a decision of what they'll do.
Tam gestures at one of the nearby plainsmen who went into the chandlers with him and Beldane, and says "He'll lead us there".
The four of them, along with the local. Make their way through the small settlement, and across a footbridge over the stream. They continue across the canyon floor. Then make their way up the track on the otherside of the canyon.
Once they're up on the plains again, they make their way eastwards and slightly northwards from the canyon settlement.
Walking in silence as they follow behind the plainsman, who speaks the common language in a deep languid fashion with a strong accent.
He tells them it isn't far, and in just a short while since coming up onto the plains again, they walk down into a slight depression, which looks like an old lake bed.
And as they walk across it, they see it in the distance. They look at it, well what's left of it, as they walk towards it.
On the ground is the remains of an airship. Nothing much really, just some of the ribs of the hull, and bits and pieces wood. Everything else is gone, including the keel. And by the size of ribs, and the width of them, it looks as though the vessel was a cargo ship.
"So when did they take it away?" asks Tamric Drubine to the local, who has told them that a large group of strangers showed up in the area, just a couple of mornings after the airship crashed.
And airship which some of those in the canyon settlement saw crash one early evening as they were bringing their herds back to the canyon. When a small pin prick of light rose up from the ground and hit it, and exploded.
"It was in the late spring" says the plainsman, who continues with "It took them less than two days to take it all apart".
He leads them around to one side, and points at some wagon tracks, then points to the northeast, and says "They went that way when they were done".
Tam nods as he looks at the many wagon tracks that head off in that direction, then field commander Drubine asks the local "How many of them were there?".
"Many" replies the plainsman, who murmurs something in the patois spoken by those on the Kaldel Plains, then says "Two hundred yes, at least that many".
Lisell Maera lifts a questioning eyebrow as she looks at the nobleborn teen from the kingdom of Sarcrin, and in elven she says to him "Well?".
"The cleric says there's a lot of villages and towns in the eastern part of the plains, especially to the northeast" replies Tamric Drubine in the same language, who looks in the distance in the direction the wagon tracks lead to across the old lake bed, and he adds "And that's where we're going" . . . . . .