Lay of the Land

[Djute]

The small expedition had traveled for several hours and the rain had not let up once. They had long since left the road and found shelter under the cover of a forest. However, trees don't serve as well as a roof when it comes to blocking the rain and nearly everyone was thoroughly soaked. In an attempt to improve moral, Garoche had decided to stop early for the night and everyone had gotten to setting up their tents. Djute, on the other hand, had never used a tent before, and was struggling to even figure out part of the tent was the top. Of course, he hadn't thought to watch someone else put up their tent, and by the time he did, everyone else was close to done. As he returned to his attempt to erect his shelter, he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. He turned to find it was Hester, the apprentice pathfinder, and he could tell from the look on her face that she was about to crack a joke. Djute huffed out a breath and addressed her before she get a snide comment out. "Need something, Hester?"

"No, but it certainly looks like you do. Don't you know how to put a tent? Or is that something you backwoods kids don't learn?" She replied with a cocky chuckle. Djute simply rolled his eyes at her and turned back to the tent. He started trying to put the tent up again, but his attempts were making Hester laugh, so he gave up again. "Look, if you're not too proud to admit that you can't assemble a tent, come and find me. Right now, I gotta go tell Lars about this," she finished, srolling back towards her tent, still chuckling slightly.

[Zacharia]

It was amazing that so much rain could pour at one time. Zach half expected the ground to give way beneath them. Really, what were the odds of leaving right before a storm? As if to get him to stop muttering about it, a tree on the edge of the forest was brought to the ground by a brilliant blue bolt of lightning. It smoldered for a bit, but the rain put it out quickly from sheer volume of the stuff. The crew set their tents up in a cluster-like formation. Djute had set up right next to him, not that he minded. But Djute's tent looked like a total mess. The shaman was the last one currently to get his tent up and cozy besides him, and although he struggled a bit, he managed to put it up after remembering bits and pieces of what he was told back in the Rebel Army. He sat outside his tent, constantly brushing away his wet hair from his eyes.

He looked back to check his magic tome for the umpteenth time. It was a miracle that it was the only thing he kept from getting wet. He could do a few charms and such on his own, but he'd essentially be weaponless in a fight without one. The pages would've been illegible and the enchanted runes would be messed up. It'd either backfire on him or not work at all. Magic is such a fickle thing. He was seriously considering doing Djute's tent for him when Hester came along. He wasn't a fan of her, to say the least. Didn't help matters that she wasn't a fan of magic. "You should probably go with her. Rather have one person laugh at you than everyone else, right?" He flopped back down and looked up into the canopy of the trees. The rain was annoying, yes, but the picture it painted looked splendid.

[Djute]

Djute groaned, but he knew Zach was right. He didn't fancy sleeping in the rain, nor the ill effects that would follow. He had learned from a young age the adverse side effects caused by rain when he had caught a rather bad cold after working too hard during a rain storm. He and his mother almost froze to death because the had no one chopping wood to burn in the fireplace. On the other hand, Djute's pride was wounded. These were things that every explorer worth his salt should know, yet here was, fumbling with the folds of canvas as if he were some excited toddler who had just found a new plaything. It was downright embarrassing. However, after another attempt went awry, Djute swallowed his pride and went to get Hester. He found her sitting in the entrance of her tent, and it was obvious she had known he was going to give in. Djute swallowed and spoke up, "Hey, sorry for being so stubborn. Just don't want to mess up my first expedition, I guess. Seems I'm not doing a good job of that either."

Hester chuckled at Djute and cracked a smile, which caused him to blush. Djute had little experience with women and even the littlest things set him off. "I was wondering when you were gonna come around. Don't feel too bad about this. Most people don't know how to pitch a tent their first time. You should have seen the look on Lars' face when he saw the tent I had assembled on the last expedition. He didn't let it go until we got back to Arcadia. And don't worry, I won't tell him about this. It'll be our little joke. Now c'mon, let me show you how it's done." Taking his arm, she nearly pulled him to the tent, and began instructing him in the basics of pitching a tent. After a couple of minutes, the job was done and Djute was rolling out his cot, preparing for a few hours of sleep. "See? That wasn't so hard," Hester teased, giving him a light punch in the arm, "Now get some shut eye. You and Zach have watch duty 'round midnight."

[Zacharia]

Zacharia's sleep was just black, currently. No dreams, no nothing. So it didn't matter much when Djute shook him awake. No doubt it was for that guard duty thing he mentioned several hours ago. That or he needed a bathroom buddy. He rubbed his eyes and fumbled around for his waterlogged shoes, before realizing he left them outside the tent while he slept. His cloak was back on unlike earlier and was functioning as a blanket of sorts. He quickly scrambled about for the shoes and after that, his magic tome. He drew his hood up after re-fastening the cloak's clip, and left his tent to join Djute. The rain was still present, but it was more of a gentle mist as opposed to the monsoon earlier.

It was pitch-black out in the woods, and the torches they had didn't really help since the rain kept making them start to peter out. It wasn't like they'd see anything anyway. At the very least, the pair could chat for a while. He wasn't the best conversation starter, but he would try his darnedest. "Sooooo, Djute. How'd you end up with these guys anyway? You act nothing like them." He didn't mean that in a bad way. Most of them were cynical, broody, or both. It was surprising that Djute acted nothing like them. Maybe it was his upbringing or something like that? He peered off into the all-consuming void that was the night. The stars were nice whenever you were able to see them through the patches of trees. The constellations looked much more prominent than they did in newer times. Probably from the whole "more potent magic" factor.

[Djute]

Djute was awoken rather abruptly to the somewhat jarring voice of his teacher. "Get up, Djute," came the harsh whisper, "It's your turn to look at nothing." He groaned up at the man, but opened his eyes nonetheless. By the time he was sitting upright and rubbing the weariness from his eyes, Hammond had already left and returned to his tent. Djute remembered faintly that he had been dreaming but the dream's content was already fading quickly. It had something to with dragons and horsemen, but the last remnants had already faded, and he gave up trying to grasp at something that wasn't there. Regardless, it had only been a dream and Djute was not one to believe in the deeper meanings of dreams. He had always chalked it up to superstition and the prattling of old women and wasn't about to change his mind now. He hastily set about donning the various pieces of armor that he had haphazardly scattered before sleeping, then grabbed his sword and left to wake up Zach. The boy was easy enough to rouse, and Djute stuck around long enough to see that he wouldn't drift back to sleep.

He trudged out to the outskirts of the guild's makeshift camp, taking a seat at one of the stools that the previous watch had set up to make the arduous watches a bit more bearable. Zach joined him shortly, sitting in relative silence for a moment before opening with a question. "Sooooo, Djute. How'd you end up with these guys anyway? You act nothing like them." Djute gave a sarcastic chuckle in response. It was true, he really didn't quite fit in with any of the other guild members, except for Cook, of course. "Well, I don't really know for sure," Djute replied, giving a lazy shrug of his shoulders, "Ever since I was little, I knew that I wanted to see the world, to find its secrets and show them to the world. I guess Arcadia's Eyes was just the first guild I found and they let me in and that was that. You see, I'm sort of a backwoods kid. I haven't seen much, nor do I know an awful lot 'bout the world. So, I just took the recommendation of the people that brought me to Arcadia and ran with it. I don't regret it though. They're good people and some of the best too. 'cept for Hammond of course. I can't wait to surpass his lazy butt. But enough about me. What are you doing here?"

[Zacharia]

"Here like right here, right now? Or in this group? I'm here because I'm with you guys, and that's because uh.. well. I'm just some orphan, washed up on the shores of the eastern coast from a shipwreck not half a year ago. My dad was a...merchant by trade, and my mother was-- well, never knew her to be honest. Drifter of some sort. A grubby old bum found me when he was getting his fishing boat back on shore, and dumped me at a church." The story was fake, except the part about the ship. That was true, not to mention the place where he got his cloak from. It still smelled of seawater and dried blood, if you took a deeep sniff. "The head priest was an old friend of Mr. Garoche here, and the rest is history." Or was it? Dang, this stuff was confusing.

"But I'm looking for a certain thing. Or place. I'm not sure what it is I'm looking for, to be honest. Sorry it's not very detailed of a description, but that's the maximum of what I know. I'm also trying to get better at magic while I'm at it." To demonstrate, Zacharia waved his hand and pulled a blue levitating blob from the air. He split the blob in two, and fashioned both pieces into little warriors. The figures kept trying to maim each other with their little spears and nets, but they were floating around like they were in zero-gravity so it looked more like children playing with sticks. Zach eventually smashed the two back into their original form, which dissipated like dust. "Ta-dah! Well, I guess it's more of a parlor trick, but it's better than nothing. Any special tricks you can do?" It was bad form to be doing this right now, but it wasn't like there were monsters or bandits. Central Elibe was protected by an imaginary dome of sorts. Monsters never went too far into the region, for reasons unknown. But bandits were aplenty to make up for that. At worst, they could expect a gang of highwaymen. Easily beaten if you knew how to scare them off.

[Djute]

Djute nodded responsively at Zach's story. He could relate to his plight, also having a parent he never met. It was a tough feeling and Djute was surprised that Zach was so nonchalant about it. It probably hurt less for Zach because his remaining parent could support him and he hadn't been left to be the sole provider of care. Djute let that chain of thought trail off. He didn't want to start thinking about his father again. It would only put him in a terrible mood and that would only serve to make the already long watch duty even more uncomfortable. Djute wasn't really satisfied with the answer that Zach gave him for being with the group but it didn't seem like he was going to get anymore information, so he let it go.

It was then that Zach did something completely unexpected.  Djute thought he had been joking when he had mentioned magic, but with a wave of his arm Zach summoned a small blue blob which he turned into two men fighting. The sheer surprise of it caused Djute to leap to his feet and back up to the nearest tree. Whatever it was that Zach had caused to appear just looked unnatural and it gave off an aura of unease. Altogether it just felt wrong. It took a moment for words to return to Djute and when they did, they came out stammered. "Wha.... what the... the hell was that? It... it wasn't.... How did you do that?" He nearly shouted at Zach.

[Zacharia]

Zach was still chuckling a bit, but Djute looked mystified. "Wha.... what the... the hell was that? It... it wasn't.... How did you do that?" "Easy there, you'll wake up the entire camp for Pete's sake! You...have seen magic before, right?" Geez, did this kid live under a rock or what? Magic was everywhere in these times. There was still a positive to it, though. He'd never seen magic, and that meant free practice! Djute would still have to show him some tricks of his. Like traps! Zacharia knew next to nothing about traps. His cooking could also use some work, if everyone didn't like sandwiches and oats three meals a day. One time he actually burnt a sandwich, but no one needs to know about that. Ever.

"I mean, if you haven't seen magic before...I can show you all the stuff I know! You might even be able to learn it yourself. You gotta have an affinity for it, though. It took me a while to get it flowing, but once it did..." He conjured a tiny shower of bits and pieces of flame, colored in a thousand shades and hues. They were quickly put out by the rain, but it wasn't like they'd last long anyway. The kind you wanted to look out for was Soul Fire. Green-ish in color and known for spreading exceptionally fast unless held in place with something like an enchanted jar. The stuff was super rare and expensive, not to mention volatile. It can even burn underwater and on clouds, proven by its late creator, Dab Aedi. Well, recently deceased. His house went up in green flames, as well as the city surrounding him. You could see it for miles, even from Arcadia. "It'd be really cool to see someone dual wield swords and magic, or light their sword with magic fire! Oh, uh.. I'm gettin' too excited over this, sorry. Most of my friends aren't exactly my age." His voice's pitch had increased rapidly over the last sentence before he clammed up, and he could hear one guy grumble about sea turtles or something before flopping back down with an audible thud.

[Djute]

Djute was stunned. Until this moment, magic had been just another tall tale that bored merchants had told him while selling supplies or the maps that fascinated Djute far more than supposed mystical forces. Yet here he was, mouth agape, staring at the raw elements that Zach seemed to be controlling with ease. The world just kept growing more and more amazing each day. However, something still felt off about that first type of magic that Zach had used. It wasn't that it had felt dirty or slimy, like touching something unpleasant. Instead it had just felt inherently wrong, as if it had challenged Djute's perception of reality or threatened his very method of existence. It had affected his mind rather than his body, and it was an experience he was not soon to forget.

After a moment, he regained his composure and returned to his stool, albeit on wobblier legs. Though he was fascinated by the existence of magic, he wasn't so eager to start messing around with it, especially if it was whatever type of magic that Zach had used. "Thanks for the offer," Djute replied with a polite smile, "But it all seems a bit above my head. I don't expect I'd have the chops for it and even if I did, I'd rather focus on my swordplay. I'm certainly not a blade master and it'd throw me off to try and add any other type of weapon to that. Still, magic seems awful interesting. How much do you know about it?"

[Zacharia]

The rain was picking up yet again, along with a bone-chilling breeze. Zacharia huddled back into his cloak, snatching the last bits of warmth that he could from it. The book was kept under his head: it did get dripped on every now and then by Zacharia's hair it was still relatively safe from the rainfall. It was understandable that Djute didn't want to learn magic, but just about everyone could learn. People with higher constitutions weren't usually good at magic; after all it requires precision and agility. It was rare that someone couldn't learn magic, and some people were just naturally better at it starting off than others. Prodigies, if you would.

"I'm not a master at it yet, but I do know that the magic I use- dark magic, isn't all that dark. Scholars call it elder magic, but that doesn't really roll of the tongue, right? Anyway, I know it can do a variety of special things that anima and holy magic can't quite manage. For one, it's a better conduit for curses and hexes, all that good stuff. The matter it's made of is said to be beyond our understanding, like ghost slime. It's usually seen as throwing a bunch of black fire around, but a creative mind can make up lots of crazy attacks. Swarms of dark "bees", controllable black holes, I could even make an umbrella out of the stuff I used earlier if I wanted to. It'd tire me out like I don't know what, though. Magic can really take a toll on you if you use too much or too potent magic at a time. Anima and Light aren't nearly as punishing as dark magic-- since it's more powerful, of course. You can burn yourself to a crisp, or be sucked into another plane of existence, but that's on you. I don't think I'll be going to try any of that crazy stuff until I'm a full-fledged wizard, but I got a long way to go till I get there, kinda like you."

He wanted to prove that he could be a great wizard to all the boys back home. At the very least, he had a little breathing room if time worked like he thought it did.

[Djute]

As Djute listened closely to Zach, the magic he had used began to make sense. No wonder it had felt so wrong. Something doesn't get called dark magic for giving someone a warm fuzzy feeling. Plus, it didn't help that the magic could also be used to create hexes and curses. It certainly closed the matter on whether Djute wanted to learn to use it. While he wasn't the superstitious type, something that had earned the tile of "dark" wasn't something that Djute intended on dabbling in and its other name, elder magic, simply made his skin crawl. Still, if Zach could implement it, he would be a great companion and a powerful ally. It explained some of the mystery around him as well. Something had certainly felt different about Zach, and now Djute knew what it was. "Well, hopefully I'll be around to see magic when you get that skilled. Some of that stuff you were talking about would be a sight to see. I s'pose you could even take on a dragon!" he replied enthusiastically. Realizing he was being a bit too loud, he added meek shrug to his outburst.

Come to think of it, he had been a bit loud the whole time he had been on watch duty. It was for this reason that neither he nor his companion heard the bandits sneaking up on them. That is, until one of them prodded Djute in his back with the tip of his sword and ordered threateningly, "Hands on your head or I'll gut you where you sit." Of course, the man behind the voice hadn't accounted for how jumpy the young cartographer could be and the moment the man spoke up, Djute leaped from his seat into a roll that should have placed him on the other side of Zach. However, he had not accounted for the weight of his armor, leaving him on his back next to his companion. "You damn idiot!" came another voice. "You were supposed to wait for the signal!" Taking advantage of his attackers confusion, Djute quickly sat up and got to his feet, drawing his sword once he was erect. "The hell with surprise!" the first voice retorted, "Let's get em!" Suddenly, four men emerged from the darkness. Two carried axes, while the others carried swords, and the all reeked of desperation. "Great," Djute muttered to Zach, "Bandits."

[Zacharia]

"I hope so too. You better keep up with me if I do, though!" The way they were bantering, you'd think they were old friends. Funny how conversations work that way. At least, he hoped they'd be friends for that long. Djute reminded him a little of Selibas, even though they looked nothing alike."A dragon? You'd need to be at least as strong as Bramimond to take on a dragon by yourself! Er, that is, he's a legend where I come from. You probably haven't heard of him since he wasn't from around here either. He gave his soul up for the most powerful magic on the entire map, to combat a legion of artificial beings. But he's just a legend, so no one knows if he's even still around or not." He was going to continue, but the bandit poking into Djute's back shut him right back up again. He could smell the guy's breath from where he was sitting, and

Boy did they look foolish. At least they hadn't fallen asleep, or they'd have been gutted like fish. Speaking of sleep, were the others okay? He didn't care too much for Garoche or Hester, but he wasn't heartless. Djute tried action rolling to the other side of Zach as the two leaped up from the log. He flopped onto his back while Zach nearly tripped face-first into a tree. He would've laughed, but now really wasn't time for that. He whirled around to see Djute standing with his sword drawn. Forgetting the book of mass destruction in his hand, he grabbed a glob of muck from the ground and lobbed it at the first bandit's face. It hit his chest, but the splatter ended up obscuring his right eye. Lower than what he was aiming for, but he'd take what he could get. "Bandits? Why would there be any out here? There's nothing to take!" He cried. He wasn't trying to wake the others, and he could assume the bandits had not noticed them either since no one was screaming and he couldn't smell blood, only the muck on his hand and the sweat on the men. Only then did he remember he was carrying artillery.

[Djute]

As Djute lowered himself into a combat stance, he gave a quick glance towards Zach, who had almost become rather familiar with a nearby tree and was only now righting himself. Instead of using the magic he had been showing off moments ago, he tried to fling mud at the closest of their attackers. It wasn't the most effective strategy ever, but it stunned him for a moment. Taking that advantage, Djute turned quickly to Zach. "Must have seen us down the road and thought we were a merchant caravan stopping for the night. Either way, it doesn't matter." The time for talking over, Djute turned his head back towards his opponents just in time to catch one of the axe wielders charging him.

He barely had time to tighten his two-handed grip on the sword and ready himself to parry, when the axe came crashing down at his head. He moved his sword to a horizontal position just in front of his face and a loud clash rang out as the axe rebounded off of his blade. The recoil from the impact caught Djute off guard and caused him to stumble back a few paces. Having little experience against axe wielders, he was surprised by the brute force behind the swing. His teacher had often told him that swordsman had the advantage over their axe-wielding opponents, but right now he was having a hard time imagining why. When the axe had collided with his sword, the blade had vibrated worse than it ever had against his teacher and he had almost lost his grip on it. With that in mind, he turned back to face his opponent. Both Djute and his attacker recovered simultaneously and the two charged at each, each swinging for the others head. Their weapons collided again, but this time he was expecting the force behind it and went with it, leaping back. The bandit, unable to slow his moment stumbled forward, leaving Djute an opening to lunge in and stab at his thigh. The sword pierced through the man's thin pants and into his leg, creating a surface wound that, unfortunately, would only annoy him. Djute took a step back and raised his sword to eye level, ready to block his next attack. The bandit, having already regained composure, snarled at him and charged.

[Zacharia]

While Djute brawled it out with Beefy McHalitosis, Zach saw the others regain their composure and start running towards the pair. There was no way they could take everyone out by their lonesome. He could try to get to the mercenary, but that was past all the angry brawlers. Maybe he could outrun them, but he wasn't going to chance that, or Djute getting sliced to ribbons while he was gone. He readied his flux tome as he backpedaled from the other bandits, took aim....and fired! A ball of "liquid darkness" ran to meet with the charger, and hit him like a punch to the throat. It wasn't enough to seriously wound the guy, but he was down for the count currently. It was a little exciting, honest. Killing was appalling, but the ends justifies the means, right? Not like the guy was actually dead. He was clutching at his throat trying to breathe in precious air, currently. Well, Zach would just go run and wake the big log up if he wasn't awake already. He couldn't say anything too loud about it or the bandits would hear. "Djute, think we can run and get the Mercenary up? Or is it too risky?"

[Garrett]

"It's raining..." The pitter pat of rain plopping down on the top of his tent was rather distracting. It was really cold, but the rain has slowed down a bit. Still there was that plip plop blip bloop of rain trickling down. Laying on his back looking right up at the roof, watching it wiggle and shake with each little drop of water falling onto it. It was dark, there wasn't much of a moon or anything because of the thick clouds in the sky. He closed his eyes to breath in the frigid air, before coughing it right back out again. The back of his throat burned and tingled, his entire body shaking as he sat up to cover his mouth. He had been sleeping, but the plop plip ploop woke him up. He coughed for a few moments before slowly calming down, feeling as though there was some kind of thick filmy phlegm covering the back of his throat. It was cold, too cold to sleep. He snuggled as tightly into his blanket as he possibly could, but there was a freezing chill that just wouldn't go away no matter how much he covered up. 

What was he doing? Curling up into his blanket trying to warm up, but it wasn't helping. He should try to do something productive, he wasn't sure what time it was but it was probably late at night. He was up late often, his sleeping is more akin to that of a cat's then a human with constant small naps whenever he could get one in. It wasn't because he was lazy, but rather because he simply just needed to sleep often. For all intents and purposes coming on this trip was a bad idea, not that a bad idea would ever stop him from doing something. Which was his reasoning for leaving his tent in the middle of the night, perhaps he could clean up the campsite a bit, or prepare a breakfast. He was up anyways after all, and wasn't likely to get back to sleep any time soon. Perhaps doing something would get rid of this foul chill.

So he grabbed his staff and poked his head from the small tent, his head being greeted by falling drops of rain. Splashing onto his head, but his thick hair stopping him from feeling wet. It was a slow, steady rain. The kind he liked, so he pulled up the hood of his robe to stop him from getting too wet and began to wander around the site, almost aimlessly. It was dark, but his eyes had grown adjusted to it so he could make out vague shapes and figures on his path. He used his staff almost like a walking stick with each movement, making squelching noises as it poked into the moist earth. It was quiet except the sound of rain falling everywhere, hitting the tents with a pitter pat. He moved with this group, but looking around he realized he didn't really know any of them. He just joined, maybe a week or two ago. He was too busy trying to handle himself to actually speak with anyone, he was getting over something and it was still difficult to even move. Trying to keep up with the pace these people set was exhausting, he didn't have much time to talk and was always trailing a bit behind. Maybe he didn't belong here? Maybe... Maybe he should join the merchant's guild instead...

Whatever he was thinking, it didn't much matter. He would make a good first impression, because from the looks of it no one really had any impression of him to begin with. He would make a nice big breakfast for all of them, or do their laundry. There was some people on watch right now, right? Maybe he should go see what they're up to, maybe they'll have some good ideas? It was a stupid plan, but then again when has a stupid plan ever stopped him? So he walked through the darkness with a somewhat misplace grin, especially since it wasn't like anyone could see it. So instead he chuckled to himself. He heard little outside of rain as he wandered around, but the noise of something else grew more... what's the word, loud? It got louder, though he wasn't sure what it was. His slow walk broke out into a somewhat brisk jog, he could see two figures in the distance, he recognized their silhouettes and he was almost ready call out to them when something hard rammed right into him from the side.

It smashed him right in the side and up against a tree. "Ugh!" His voice came out like a squeak, loud and high pitched. Feeling physically pushed up against the bark as it dug right into his side by some man, some big... burly man type shape.

"Hey! I found one!" He shouted right next to his head, hurting the cleric's ears. It looked right at him, his eyes gleaming in the dark and looking almost inhuman. They narrowed as if he was smiling, the rotten smell of his breath almost made Garrett retch. "Looks like a little weakling. Should I kill him?!"