CH 1: This Place Sucks

[JadedDM]

"Sounds good," he says. It takes several moments before her previous comment sets in, though. "Different kinds?" he asks. "Anyway, here's my tent," he says, walking with her toward it. It was large enough to accommodate at least two people and was already set up. A tarp had been thrown over it to help shield out the rain, as well. "What's your name, by the way?" he asks.

[HorizonsDream]

Once Echo is under the tarp, she throws her hood back off her head. "I just wasn't expecting to see an elf here," she says with a shrug. She clearly didn't mean a whole lot by the comment. "I suppose it depends on who you ask. According to the Pharise, it seems my name is scribe," she says with a smirk. "My name is Echo Soulstaff."

[JadedDM]

Nuvain crawls into the tent with her, removing his own cloak and stretching out a bit. "Really? I've seen a few elves in these parts. One of the Sadduces is an elf, too," he says. "We're not too far from the homeland, so you see a lot of elves around here. Anyway, nice to meet you, Echo. That's a pretty name. Human, isn't it? Were you raised among humans then?"

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Echo makes a Religion check (1d20): 19, fail. She has no idea what a Sadduce is.

[HorizonsDream]

"Sadduces?" Echo asks. Absently, she starts setting down her blanket and pulling her spellbook so she can study a little before going to sleep. "My mother is an elf, and she is the one that raised me. Though, the Rotwein is mostly full of humans."

[JadedDM]

"Higher than a Kohen, but lower than a Pharise," Nuvain explains. He starts stripping off his armor, and then wraps up in a warm blanket. "Cold!" he comments. "Too bad we can't start a fire in here. But it's too small and the smoke would choke us. I wonder if someone could invent a magical fire that didn't make smoke? Wouldn't that be something?"

[HorizonsDream]

"It probably has been invented," Echo says. She starts to make herself comfortable. "There are probably a bunch of small fires out there right about now what with all the people around. Who is guarding us anyway?" she asks curiously.

[JadedDM]

"The paladins keep watch, and some of the clerics do, too. I'll probably have a watch later, because I can see in the dark. But for now, I'm off," Nuvain explains. "So you're a scribe, huh? That sounds...interesting. Did you always want to be a scribe?"

[HorizonsDream]

"I'm just a scribe for now," Echo explains. "I'm actually a mage, but I need the money so the Pharise hired me as a scribe because I can read and write. So far, I don't think I've had to write a single thing down."

[JadedDM]

"Oh, a mage!" Nuvain says. "My brother is a mage, too. Can you do that one spell, where you can shoot a big bolt of lightning? It's the greatest thing I've ever seen. I saw him use it against an ogre once. It was incredible. I haven't seen him in about ten years, though, not since I started my training with the Pharise."

[HorizonsDream]

"I'm not that powerful yet," Echo says, though she looks a little disappointed. "Why did you start training as a follower of Gonto?" she asks.

[JadedDM]

"Well, it's kind of a long story," he says. "When I was younger, my brother and I found this old cave. We explored it, and led to some old ruins. Maybe from the days of Ruara. Or that's what my brother thought, anyway. He was always pretty smart about that kind of thing. Anyway, turned out the place was guarded by a demon. It was really scary! I was useless, though. My brother fought it with all of his spells, and he died so I could escape. After that, I wanted to be more useful. The Pharise found me wandering around, sick with a fever. He cured me and let me come with him, and I saw how powerful he was. Then I wanted to be like him, so he agreed to teach me the ways of Gonto, and here I am now."

[HorizonsDream]

"Oh, I'm...sorry about your brother," Echo says, seemingly a little unsure on what to say on that matter. "So you are wanting to become powerful so you can go back and avenge your brother, or do you just not want to be useless anymore? Why is it taking you so long? Also, do you always invite random strangers into your tent?" she asks. It seems to have just dawned on her that some random stranger asked her into his tent and she willingly accepted.

[JadedDM]

"Both, I guess," Nuvain says. "Taking too long? Is it taking too long? It's only been ten years. I'll be one hundred in the fall. And yeah, I guess I do. I mean, I saw you getting ready to sleep in the rain, and I thought, 'that's not right.' So I offered. Is that strange? I have to admit, I'm not really all that good with knowing those kinds of things."

[HorizonsDream]

"You're young, for an elf then. That explains your...amazement to everything. For an elf, I guess ten years isn't a long time. As for inviting someone into your tent, especially a young woman, that could be considered a little strange. Though, it seems like you were just being nice, so I can't fault you for that."

[JadedDM]

"Why would that be strange?" he asks. "What if it were an old woman? Would that still be strange? What about a young man? I can never keep all the taboos straight."