Lofi Library

Chapter 5: A Chance Encounter Based on what the party knows, people still must live out there in some form or another. Kaori has seen traders, bandits, and all sorts of groups of people on the road going north. No doubt they had to pass the bastion she and her father raided. The gate for that bastion is wide enough for 2 or 3 carts to go through, and fortunately it had already been raised to aid in the evacuation of it's occupants despite how unsuccessful the evacuation actually was. "I'm sure a team could be used to lure the zombies away so that a cart could make it though. And if people are going in that direction with goods that means there has to be some sort of place that can defend against a bunch of corpses." says Lain. "We never really saw that many, and I don't think I've ever seen one come from that direction. Me and my father have been around here for a while. I suspected it actually is just more dangerous in that direction and no one could come from that direction cause no one is left in that direction. That and most of them only had supplies for trade. It could mean that whoever goes that way ends up dying." Dante looks at me when I say that, "Yea? But honestly what would there be in this direction that they would want to go to?" Lain throws a small frown towards Dante, "If anything, I have to believe there is at least something up north. I mean it was the capital of the human empire. However people coming from the south means that at least they are holding out somewhere down there." Her face wrinkles as she thinks brining her hands to her head tapping it as if knocking on a door. Coming to a realization, "If they are leaving the south something may have made it less dangerous to travel to the north. We need to find people if we are to figure out information on how to end all of this. We don't know the situation that is making people leave the south. It's probably best if we head north to where they are going. It is possible they had some sort of military unit that went through that Kaori wasn't around to see. Anyways if it is too dangerous we'll just turn around and know not to try and press through." "I guess that makes since. I feel it's a toss of the coin either way. At least with this option we know we have a chance of finding someone. But... ending all of this? Isn't that a little bit too presumptuous?" questioned Kaori. "Yes, but I feel like something is behind all of this... It's not like it's only my sister's fault. The presence of hordes surrounding these staves is at least a little proof that this wasn't an isolated incident. At the very least it's possible another of they staff wielders is still alive and can give us some incite. You never know, there may be a way to fix all of this. At least that's what I hope for. And if there is a way it is possible that someone has already started fixing it and a community is relying on them. We could learn from them and take it to our own communities." Dante stands up with a smug look on his face, "Then what are we waiting for!? Being down about it all isn't going to fix it! Let's head out!" --- The team heads for the bastion. Before they get there, Lain shows Kaori how to use the shape change staff. She explains that before touching the staff you have to have a clear picture in your mind of who you want to look like, then call the staff and hold it. This use of the staff actually requires a keyword. One that shows up on the staff when the person who is using it has used that key word before. It shows up as a small symbol inside the crystal. The symbol is a hieroglyphic from the language of the Kitsune. It shows as if the crystal gets clouded in that shape. Lain also came up with the plan to get Kaori and herself though the gates and to the other side. Dante is of course is flying over. Kaori will change herself to look like zombies and go through first. Lain know when the Kaori is through when she is able to call the staff using the bracelets. After they make it through it's actually quite a long travel time to the capital. They aren't aiming to go to the capital exactly, but it's a starting point to finding other people. This is because the main road, the one wagons are going to have to follow, goes to the capital and then diverts east and west a few miles before you reach the front gates. These roads then continue north west and east respectfully. If the team follows the road it would be a months journey, but, even though they are trying to find people, some people are best to avoid. They don't have supplies like traders do and can not negotiate with raiders or thugs that may stick close to the road. So for the time being, they will be traveling parallel to the road inside the forest. This is going to increase our travel time significantly. The month travel will inevitably become 2 to 3 months long. --- A month into their travels a storm catches them off guard. They double back to a side road they had passed half a mile back and follow it to an abandoned little "town" consisting of 5 houses. You can imagine what the houses look like. A small blacksmiths house with 2 chimneys, a farm house with a damp moldy looking cart parked in front of it, the 3 other houses were likely living residents for the families that helped run everything. The field out back is visible through the small wooden fence. What use to be there long scavenged or rotted away. A small stream lay in the center of the field running north to south. Not wide enough to give the impression of any depth. Thus will not help as a natural barrier for the dead. They choose the only living quarter houses that has a chimney not falling apart to get out of the rain. It's more likely to have beds, firewood, and linen to be able to dry off with. They will still have to take shifts to keep watch. Many of the walls and both doors have visible rot and mold. After drying off and putting our clothes up to dry, Kaori wraps up in a blanket with Lain next to the fire to keep warm. While Dante uses an iron rod to stoke the flames, the party hear 3 distinct knocks at the front door. Clumps of dirt and spider web fall from its hinges. The look at each other and then to the door. Dante readies the fire poker. The front door slams open, lightning crashes and a dark silhouette stands in the threshold holding an axe and cloaked in a dark green hood standing 7 foot tall. A second silhouette behind it flashes into view as more lightning and thunder fill their ears. As quickly as the door opened Dante rushes the would be intruder with the iron rod. *Clang!* Sparks fly as the axe and rod meet. The axe wielder nimbly jumps backwards despite their large size to put distance between Dante and himself. Unfortunately, this means that he also collided with his ally that was behind him causing them to crash into the mud off the front porch and drop their weapons. Dumbfounded by their clumsiness Dante stands there for a second before striking a pose and yelling, "Don't you dare come near us! You're dead if you do!" Lain stands up quickly putting Kaori behind her, then something catches her eye. At Dante's feet is a basket with a cloth over it. She walks up to it and takes the cloth off. Inside are a few food items and a canteen. "Dante, look." "What the...?" --- Inside the large pair explains while being on watch at the farmhouse next door they noticed 3 people come into this house. They investigated looking in the windows to find children. Their "mistress" as they called her asked them to bring the party a small amount of supplies in case they needed them. The large are an Orcish guard and also a husband and wife duo named Melba and Rolan. "Well that is quite kind of you, but you do realize the atmosphere you created entering the way you did right?" says Lain. "It wasn't my intention. The gust o' wind were quite strong. When I went to open the door it slammed open and thanks to that one there I didn't get to get a word out before being attacked." said Melba pointing to Dante. "Well you get surprised while being half naked in the middle of nowhere and two large figures enter your house abruptly." Melba's husband lets out a hearty laugh, "Yur a quick one I'll give you that! Knocked her right on top of me! Though I can't say I disliked it." "Shut yur hole, these be children!" she jabs at his stomach with the hilt of her blade. The blade resembles an axe but is long enough to be wielded like a sword. Imagine a large club with a the blade of a large sword stuck half way in giving it one blunt side and one sharp side. "What you talking 'bout? That one there is a fey folk the other is a feline. Both them gotta be older than us combined. Based on the movements of Mr. Feathers over there, he's already an adult for 'is breed." He says motioning to each one of us. "We couldn't get a decent look at ya from outside. If we'd known better we'd have left y'all alone. If anything accept the food as an apology for scaring tha pants off ya." "Like he said darlins, enjoy the food. As extra we'll keep watch over y'all tonight so get some rest as well. We'll see you in the morning." They promptly leave without even so much as a response from the party. Outside the party hears a bit of the pair's conversation as they walked back to the other house. "They are an interesting bunch aren't they!" "Quiet down they'll hear ya, I swear you can't read a room for nothin, ya just kept talkin ya head off back there." Dante looks at the food, "Do you think it's poisoned?" "I doubt it," I say. "Something about them seem ...honest ...to a fault. Though I don't like the idea of letting them be our guards for the night." "Yea, we should still do our normal shift for guard duty." Lain shakes her head and collectively the party lets out a big sign all at the same time. --- In the morning the party gets invited over to the farmhouse next door. Three other people are their: an old human couple, probably in their late 70s, and beautiful elf woman. She has short green hair with the front pulled back into a small tassel-like ponytail on the top of her head. She wears a loose but elegant forest green shirt and dark brown leather pants with straps down the side. Her face gives a since of kindness while also impossibly looking like it was made of marble even as she spoke. Even as she smiles not a wrinkle is present. A kind of face that could only be achieved when not experiencing any kind of misfortune. Dante broke the ice, "You really gave us a scare last night." His speech seems to be more reserved this morning. He doesn't seem to blush, but his movements lack any form of stiffness as if he feels completely at ease. The elf woman speaks up, "Understandable, but to be fair you gave us reason to be concerned. People running into the neighboring house during a storm makes it seem like we were followed." This woman speaks a lot like Lain in her formal mode. Its respectful and you can tell she puts thought into what she says. Kaori thinks to herself that is she were to guess, she would say she was some type of noble or equivalent. "But my guards speak otherwise. From their words you looked travel weary, well except for the naked defender." She puts a hand to her mouth that is holding a small paper fan and lets out a small but noticeably playful snicker. The playfulness of it contrast her proper way of speech leaving everyone a bit more relaxed. Kaori looks at Dante expecting a rebuttal, but only find him scratching his head and blushing. (Oh, I get it now. This is either his type or he knows her. I'm betting the former since he has yet to mention anything.) Lain speaks up in the same respectful tone, "We were caught in the rain and happened upon this farmstead. We cleared our house and didn't see any signs others in the area. Your group must be quite adept at covering your tracks." "Indeed, when we realized the rain was coming we took the first path off the road we saw. My guard, Melba here, is very adept at predicting the weather." "It's my knees. I can feel the rain from miles away." The woman picking back up where she left off, "We have to be careful with bandits because of our cargo. It's best not to waste it on those who do not need it. What has you in the area? Are you part of a larger group?" Kaori can see where this conversation is going. The lady is gauging if they will be a threat to her going forward. The party knows they have something of worth, and if they leave and bring more people to easily overpower them, the woman would rather deal with the three here. Another quick look around confirms Kaori's thoughts. Both points of entry are blocked and there is intentional distance between the party and her. Kaori and the others have to be careful of what they say to avoid unnecessary suspicion. Even if they have no intention of attacking them, one wrong word could cause the woman to decide it is better to kill their party just in case. While she is thinking of this Dante speaks up abruptly, "Oh no! We are on a quest to fix the world!" A surprised look pops up on the faces of everyone but Dante. Kaori and Lain both have the same thought, (He isn't wrong, but just saying it like that makes it seem like we are just children playing a game.) A heartwarming smile crosses Rolan's face. The orc walks up to Dante, "Is that so!? Well please do hurry up. I'd like to settle down soon!" Saying that he winks to his wife, Melba. He leans down and whispers to Dante, "I'm want'n at least 3 little'ns but she ittin havin it right now with all the 'rotten folks' out there. I'm gettin kinda antsy, ya know. That and the mistress is always around. Makes it hard to... *COUGH*" A bit of blood spirts from his mouth as Melba walks up behind Rolan, land the large sword-axe on his head, grabs his collar, and drags him away. The interaction lightened up the mood and everyone continued the conversation without worry. Lain explains how the three met, what they aim to do, but left out any mention of the staffs and her sister's initial involvement in the world's current situation. As it turns out the woman and her compatriots are going around the capital to the northern continent which passes right by the capital of this country following the western road. They hope that the climate makes it harder for the zombies to survive. Going as far as to bring winter crop's seeds and buds with them just in case. They come from the south-western country. It held out better than many of the towns north of it. Based on what she told the party, there wasn't an outbreak in its capital, but it relied heavily on imports for infrastructural resources. They relied on their sister city in dwarven country to supply them with tools, weapons, and other needs. Without a significant number of blacksmith as well as the resources used for blacksmithing, they soon ran out of tools to repair defenses. They were already resorting to pulling nails from buildings deemed not necessary for survival. The churches their were the first to actively donate. Following that many people were reluctant to abandon their houses, causing small conflict within the city. There were small outbreaks in the past few decades. These outbreaks as well as standards of living lowering day by day led to people not feeling safe and leaving to try and find anything that might be better. Only recently did a fraction of the military lead a large group north. The woman can only assume they made it past Fort Bastion as no remnants of the caravan were found near there. They had apparently just been a weeks worth of normal travel time behind Kaori's party only catching up due to the party's slow rate of travel. The woman mentioned that the fort's undead were still their but in smaller number. They met with many individual bands of undead on their way to the fort. It seems as though the large quantity of undead had spread out since Kaori and them had went through. Had the storm not had happened, it is possible the woman's caravan would have passed them. "Well you are more than welcome to travel with us as long as you aid in our security. I acknowledge how capable you must be to have been traveling by the woods alone. Oh how rude of me, I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Priah." Kaori and the others accept her invitation. Priah sympathizes with their long journey and noble reasoning but makes a note to point out that it's probably a lost cause. However she does understand she doesn't know the entire situation probably quite as well as they do. The journey from this farmstead to the capital will take them a little less time since they will now be on the main road instead of traveling through the woods. It will take about 3 weeks. Still slower than those who would just be walking the road, but faster than by forest navigation alone. By then summer has reached its hottest months. Having a covered carriage helps beat the heat, but on a particularly brutal sunny day one of the horses passes out. This is when Priah and her group find out about Kaori and her party's staffs. Initially it was a surprise to them, but they came to appreciate it when Kaori was able to cool the ground around them. It helps the horse recover, but Priah makes sure Kaori knows she won't be able to use the staff while we are on the road for fear one of the horses trips or falls. A horse with a broken leg is as good as dead, especially now. It would have to be abandoned and that would be more costly than losing anything else they own.