Archives: Search for the Stormlord
Chapter 5: Morning in Roid
Bella woke in a bed that could fit her entire family comfortably. It was light out, as Bella could see from their west facing window, but the light was still faint. Everyone who would be traveling with Niklas had gone to bed early in the evening and they could probably get a good start on their walk to Shinning Hill.
The grassrunner had completely changed for bed, donning a comfortable nightgown to sleep in. Niklas seemed to still be asleep, so Bella slipped out of her bed, gathered her clothes, and dressed on the side of the bed opposite from Niklas so the young man wouldn’t see more than the back of her head if he woke.
The young swordsman woke with a yawn, opening his eyes. It was a little gray out, and he could hear movements in the background. That meant Bella was awake. It was good, he wanted to leave before the sun got to high to travel. Getting up, Niklas kept his back to the grassrunner out of privacy, and began to dress himself. Although incidentally, it appeared he had worn most of the clothes from the night before. The only things he had omitted was his shirt and weapons, which lay close at hand. “Do you think the others are ready?”
Bella pulled her jacket on, then stepped out from behind the bed, buttoning it. “I hope so. If not, we should just go wake them up,” the grassrunner replied. She took her hat from the foot board post and put it on her head, then picked up her pack. She was ready to leave, just as soon as she ate.
“I suppose thats true...” Niklas said, yawning lightly. Making his bed, albeit, in haste, he joined Bella, opening the door for her. The sound of someone snoring could be heard in the hall, although the walls muffled the noise a bit. “It seems someone still sleeps quite deeply,” he said absently, a bit surprised by it in all actuality. “Well, I suppose we need to check to see who is downstairs, and find out where the others have their rooms. Although you seem a bit more friendly with Midau, so maybe you should wake him if hes not ready.”
Bella nodded to Niklas, then headed for the stairs. Feeling energized from her sleep, she gracefully hopped down them with the lightness and ease grassrunners shared with elves.
* * *
Ghorde snored loudly. As was expected of old soldiers. It was said that an old soldier’s snoring was a mockery of the roar of countless battles... While by no means was his snoring comparable to an ogre, or even a kobold, Ghorde “sawed logs” like he meant it.
* * *
Having woken up hours ago to pursue his morning training, Midau took the time to bathe afterwards and dress into his clothing once again. The dark elf combed his fingers through his long hair and went to meet the others in the tavern. The dark elf was in a surprisingly good mood this day, forgetting about the bigotry and racism of the day past, although his good mood soured when he saw the frightened looks of the patrons when he descended. “I just have a really good tan,” he lied, taking a seat to wait for the others.
* * *
Jereidon woke up and stretched, he had slept well but now it was time to leave. Not knowing if the others were awake he packed his gear and picked up Neria’s cage, he headed inside to take a bath and get some breakfast before they left.
* * *
Looking around, it seemed most of the individuals in his newly formed party were up. In the end, it seemed like only Ghorde was asleep. Niklas still had to go and see if Luda was able to go. “I suppose I’ll go wake up Ghorde then. I would have thought he would have woken up earlier...”
He checked with the innkeeper, then made his trek back upstairs. It didn’t take him long to find out that focus of the snoring came from the room that the older warrior was in. Niklas gave three loud raps on the door, but didn’t speak. Instead, he waited to hear movement, or acknowledgment.
Ghorde bolted upright at the sound of knocking. He glanced out the window to see the time and made haste to open the door.
“Aye?” he said as he swung the door open, “We ready to go?”
“Yes, we’re basically ready to go,” Niklas said in a friendly enough voice. “We’re eating breakfast at the moment.” He had to eat a bit himself. It didn’t help if he was starving most of the day, after all. “If you’re still tired, I suppose we can pick you up after visiting the temple...”
“No.” Ghorde turned to collect his gear and don his travel garb. “I’ll meet with you here once you are done at the temple. I have much to prepare.”
With that, Ghorde smiled and closed the door. He had to grab some breakfast before too long...
* * *
With a quick glance across the common room, Bella saw Midau was already there waiting. With a smile, she went to meet the dark elf with a skip in her step and hopped up into the chair next to him. “Good morning, Midau!” she greeted him cheerfully.
Jereidon had just come out of the bath and grabbed his meal as he joined the others at the table. Noticing Midau and Bella already there, he nodded lightly. The cage was covered by a cloth this morning, Neria seemed rather still in the cage.
“Morning, did everybody sleep well?” he asked as he saw the rest of the group there. Ghorde was not there, though he should have been. Seeing Niklas head upstairs, he figured he was going to get the old soldier.
Midau sat in quiet contemplation while he waited for the others. He had not even noticed that Bella had come to say good morning to him, and didn’t notice Jereidon either. By chance he looked up and saw Bella’s small face. Taken by sudden shock he pushed the chair back away from her and stood with a startled expression. “Ah...” Recognizing her, his stance relaxed. “Bella. Sorry, I was...in thought. Good morning.”
Bella covered her mouth in shock when Midau jumped back, as if she had said something bad. “Oh, by Marfa, I didn’t mean to startle you!” she gasped.
Jereidon took another glance over his gear. The sooner they left the city the happier Neria would be. Hopefully the temple would allow him to take the cage within its walls, for now she slept. “I’m all prepared. Once we’re out of the city, I’ll be releasing Neria. She’ll be happy then, plus she’ll be willing to do any hunting or scouting for us. Give me a moment, I need to feed her before we leave.” He got a chunk of meat again and slipped it into the cage, from under the cloth frantic movement could be heard as Neria started to eat.
Midau’s face darkened when Jereidon mentioned that he’d be letting Neria out of her cage. “The bug comes near me, I’ll make it go squick.” He warned the mage. Turning his attention to Bella, he sighed. “It’s alright, I know you didn’t mean to startle me, I just was lost in thought.”
Jereidon did not take offense to Midau’s words, obviously the dark elf did not like him or Neria. He would not let that happen, so he too would steer clear of the dark elf. “She and I don’t plan on it, so don’t worry about that,” he replied calmly before Midau turned back to Bella. Being quick to anger got him nowhere, as he had found out on a few occasions. He was going to at least be civil to those he was not fond of, as he always had been.
Bella’s ears laid back as she heard the spider eating. So much for breakfast, the grassrunner thought as she began to turn a rather greenish tone. She sat crosslegged on the chair, subconsciously afraid that if she let her legs dangle, the spider might sneak out of it’s cage and bite them.
Ghorde tromped down the stairs, in full travelers gear. Few things excited him more than traveling on the road. “Would you believe sleeping can give a man an appetite?” he bellowed to his new traveling companions, a wide grin across his face. He proceeded to the innkeeper and grabbed some breakfast goods and began to munch on a loaf of bread with much enthusiasm.“Now then, how many horses have we and about how many rations does each man...” he paused, thinking about Bella and Neria, “er... woman and critter have?”
The young warrior had come down stairs, and watched the interaction. Niklas still wasn’t fully trusting of the spider. Despite how harmless it may act, it was still venomous. Even if it wasn’t deadly, a bite from a spider of that size would leave a welt for weeks. When Ghorde spoke of tactics, he brightened up a bit. “Well, the spider can likely hunt for its own food, since it’ll be out of its cage.” Thinking back to his own equipment, he wasn’t pleased with the amount he had. “I have a days worth of water, maybe a half day of sun dried meat. If we have to little, I can always get some more.” As for horses, he shook his head. “I don’t have a horse... and don’t know how to ride them, either.”
Jereidon spoke up afterwards, he had been rummaging through his pack as he heard the others replies. “I’ve got a couple weeks worth of ration packs, enough to last a while.” He wondered how Neria would react to traveling with others, it had always been them and now there was more. The events that happened had given him some hope, friends had been hard to find.
“Alright, between you two gentlemen alone, we have enough to feed everyone for a handful of days - a week at the most...” Ghorde closed his eyes as he fell back on his training days. Of course this was not including Midau and Bella. And much to his disbelief, the spider was the most secure member of the party in terms of resources. It could feed and shelter itself. Maybe even hunt for the party. “Alright, which leaves you two...” He turned to Midau and Bella.
Bella raised her chin arrogantly as she replied to Ghorde. “I carry very little food with me. Most of what I eat while traveling is provided by nature itself,” the grassrunner replied. It was how she sustained herself for her journey thus far, and because she was so small, she didn’t need to eat as much as humans.
“I’m trained to survive weeks without food or water,” the dark elf stated. “Food is neither a concern nor a thought for me.” He tapped Bella on the head. “Pigtails would make you look adorable. We could scare off goblins with sheer cuteness.”
Jereidon took into account mentally the resources they had, Neria being a ground hunter was more than capable of making snares as well. Though would they learn to trust her, he hoped they would considering he trusted her with his life. “Does anybody here know how to smoke and preserve food? I do not and if we need to that knowledge will be useful. Though, my magic can be used to put up defenses, so we do not need a watch unless I have been in combat.” He was wondering what everybody was thinking now, they had multiple goals. At least there was a sense of camaraderie, an easy going sense that made him comfortable.
Bella blushed and giggled at Midau’s comment, quite a stark change from her attitude the day before. Surely, it would be a shock to Niklas to see that reaction after her rant at the innkeeper the day before.
Alright, so those two can sustain themselves. Jereidon, Niklas and I will need to keep supplies high and divide up resources. Mounts can be used to carry burden rather than mount people. “Alright, we’re set.” Ghorde turned to Niklas. “If any of ya have stuff to take care of, go on ahead. I will stay here until we are ready to go.” Ghorde noticed the light flirtation, which ultimately meant spirits were high. Good. Now he just had to sit and wait until they could travel together.
“I see,” Niklas said, getting up. He still had one thing to do. See the priestess, and see if she wanted to go with them. He wasn’t entirely sure, after all. “I’ll be at the temple of Myrii trying to persuade that priestess... Luda, wasn’t it? To come with us.”
Bella watched Niklas get up to leave and bid him farewell. A priestess would be helpful, especially if they ran into any trouble and someone got wounded. The grassrunner ordered herself a small breakfast and ate casually while waiting for the swordsman to return.
