[Last Time, on El WHAT?!: Our Heroes were very confused, and actually made themselves MORE confused when they tried to explain things to Sophie in one of her rare appearances.] [Hopefully one of our other heroes can clear things up for her companions, and we can get this show on the road again.] [We find our heroes Tif and Fadi attempting to explain what happened to Sophie, just as Harold awakens. Sadly, their attention is distracted from Sophie for a moment, and when they turn back to her, she's gone.] [Session... Start!] So I think that brings us up to date, Soph.... Sophie? Aah... not again. * Fadi looks back. "Ah fuck." * Fadi rubs his head. "Well, that's just great." * Emmet knocks on the wall just outside Tiffany's room without actually rounding the corner to look inside. "Are you guys in here? And if so, are you all decent?" Some of us are in here, yeah. Come on in. Yes, and yes. * Nick suddenly appears beside Emmet. "..Why am I not in bed?" * Emmet enters the room and then sidesteps just inside the doorway so as not to block it. He starts a little when Nick appears. "Uhm. Because it's noon?" No kidding, it's still early. See, that's what I've been saying. * Emmet flushes a darker shade of brown. "If we're going to try to get home a half a day at a time it could take us forever." * Nick flashes Tiffany a thumbs-up while yawning. * As Emmet enters, Sophie flickers back into being, as if she were a flourescent light turning on. ..And, hey, there's Sophie. Tell me about it. Yes, here's Sophie. Now where is here? Same place as last time. Tiffany's room, at the inn. Yeah, we haven't exactly left yet. Oh. Damn. That means no food. * Emmet coughs, though not as discreetly as he probably intended. "That's why I came in here, actually. Don't you guys think we should be going... somewhere? Toward home?" * Nick perks up. "Food?" And food. * Harold finally shows up. "Am I too late? What did I miss?" That's a bloody brilliant idea, Emmet. Which way is home? * Emmet winces. "I... I'm not sure. I hoped Harold--hello, Harold. I hoped Harold or Tiffany might know." 'ey, Harold. * Tiffany puts her thumb in her mouth to wet it and then holds it up in the air, before pointing in a random direction. "That way! Oh wait, how the HECK should I know?" ... wait, are we talking about which way to go? * Emmet lets his shoulders sag a little. "I thought maybe that... yeah, Harold. I know we need to be going somewhere to find out more about how to get home, but nobody seems to know where we have to go next." Well... I've been getting this feeling, lately, that we should be going in a definite direction. I wonder if it might not be the verse in my head. Well... yeah, Harold. Do those words in yer head point us in any given direction? If not, we should probably just head to a bigger city and ask around there. * Fadi shrugs. "If ya know where to go, then let's go." * Sophie nods. "It's certainly preferable to wasting away in this place." * Harold thinks.... * Emmet watches Harold expectantly. Damn straight it is. * Nick yawns once more. * Tiffany looks over at Harold and bites her tongue to keep from saying something unnecessarily rude. Northeast... more east than north. I'm sorry, I know that's vague, but it's all I have. Do we know what's in that direction? Do we have a map? Didn't we get a copy of one from that library? The one near where we first got here? Duh? Where is it. * Emmet shrugs "I can't remember who took it. I don't have a copy, though." ... I copied it! Then pull it out. * Sophie nods. "I ought to have thought to do that." * Harold digs through his pack, inspired, and then pulls it out. "Here we go! Let's see, what's waiting for us off in that direction...." * Emmet cranes his neck to get a look at the map over Harold's shoulder. * Fadi just stands there. * Sophie follows Emmet's example. * Tiffany waits impatiently for news. Forest. Mountains. Maybe a river. How far northeast do we have to go? There's a road that runs through the mountains if we're going to the other side... I think... yes, over here. * Harold puts a finger down on the nearest city... getting there will require going through the forest, then east through the mountains to the starred city located where the river meets what appears to be the sea. [... not the nearest city. What the hell was I typing.] * Sophie runs a hand through her hair. "Don't suppose we could call a taxi, could we?" Oh, there? I don't know if we've got enough equipment to make it over a mountain range. What about this path? * Nick leans over slightly. "It's possible, but it'll probably take grain instead of gas." No taxis. If that's where we want to go, we should ask our mentors for guidance as to how to proceed. Well, we'll have to cross the mountains no matter what... I'm really not sure if we're up for this. * Emmet reaches across and traces the line that runs up from the circled dot that represents where the group is now, through one star and an uncircled dot, then east through two more dots and then south again to the circled star. Nick, what are you talking about? Buying a horse? * Nick just grins at Harold. Hmm! ... go around the mountains? Hmm. That might be more doable, Emmet... If that line is a road and those dots are towns, it would probably be a lot easier on us, and probably faster too. * Sophie lights up. "You know, if we're travelling a great distance..." * Harold glances over at Sophie. * Sophie is grinning. What are you thinking now, Sophie? Well, you can't expect to WALK that distance, right? ... you really are thinking of buying a horse. * Fadi looks at everyone else to see if they are thinking of getting a horse too. * Tiffany nodds. "Especially when there are more elegant methods available of travel." What is it with chicks and horses? Hey, we'll have to ask when we find one. * Harold isn't going to _say_ he agrees with Fadi, but he's definitely _thinking_ it. * Nick grins at Fadi. * Fadi smiles. I'm sure it will take you a very long time to find one you are able to ask, Nick. * Emmet shrugs. "I don't know. I read once that women march slower than men on average. Maybe an animal might help us travel faster by keeping the weight off of the girls. We could probably make over twenty miles a day, maybe as much as thirty if we double time when we can and the roads are in good condition... * Emmet stares off at nothing for a moment. "We would need a few good topographical maps to really find the best courses overland. In some cases it's best to leave the roads, and we could probably save a lot of time if we knew what the land looked like before we got there. Of course, in class we always got maps ahead of time. And this isn't class." * Harold looks a little bit sick as he listens to Emmet. "Alright... but, the question remains, who do we talk to about getting a horse or learning the lay of the land?" Who else? I'm sure our mentors have been out of this town before. Hmph... well, then let's get to that, then. Quite yeah! * Sophie heads out of the inn to go do that. * Tiffany follows * Fadi heads out too! * Nick nods and stretches, following the two girls. * Emmet falls into line. He's good at that. * The inn's common room is pretty well deserted, it being just a bit after noon. * Harold trundles off after the others, having to jog to keep up after taking time to get his pack back in order and on his back. * Sophie heads to find the mentors. Or at least, her mentor. * Fadi heads off to Alfred's. * Nick splits from the group, going to Blind Edward's. * Harold scratches his head, and then decides to go see Feld and find out what he has to know on the subject. * Sophie wasn't exactly expecting this, but oh well. Horse *_* * Emmet follows Fadi to Alfred's, because that at least is a destination with which he's familiar. His own mentor probably isn't in town right now anyway. * Sophie is already heading to Alfred's [It's easy to tell where Alfred is, on account of being able to hear him hammering all the way across town.] * Fadi walks into the smithy. * Alfred looks up slightly. "What brings you here?" We'd like to ask ya a few questions about where we think we should go next. Probably save us some time if we know about the area first, ya know. Yes, and where can we obtain horses? * Emmet stands behind Sophie and Fadi with his arms held behind his back in a sort of quasi-attention as the other two ask questions. * Alfred frowns. "Horses? You could get some at the crossroads up north. All the ones here are being used... though if you offered enough money, you might be able to get a plow horse." As for where you should go... a big city's always a good idea, when you're looking for information. You'll have access to temples and possibly a diviner, not to mention any private library you can bribe your way into. We have an idea on where we should go. We want to know if you have any idea on what's there already. So where's that? Northeast. Don't ask me why. * Alfred frowns a little and concentrates on his smithing for a moment as he ponders. "Well... northeast there isn't much. There's the Gap keep, it guards the only usable pass through the mountains. * Emmet nods at this comment, as it seems to confirm what he thought he read on Harold's map. * Fadi nods. "What is further Northeast? Water * Emmet clears his throat. "Actually, it's more east from the pass." More east? Well what's there then? * Tiffany mumbles under her breath, "Other than a big headache..." Oh, more east? That's Gateway. You can't go wrong by going to Gateway, really. That's reassuring. * Fadi shrugs. "Sounds good to me. What about you guys?" We don't really have another plan... It's better than trying to cut straight across the mountains. * Fadi nods. Fair number of monsters up in the mountains. Ogres, goblins, a few giants... * Fadi hmmms... * Emmet frowns. "I was kind of hoping that goblins were the worst of what we'd have to deal with." You saw a dragon. What'd you expect? I didn't expect a dragon! Anyway, that was different. It didn't look like it was trying to kill us. I'll go wherever though. There's gotta be a way through that wouldn't get us pounded. Well, I expect your little group could take on an ogre without too much trouble. A giant might be a bit of a problem, especially if he's got friends. Somethin' tells me a giant would be a problem. What is an ogre like, anyway? Yeah, let's avoid giants. * Fadi shrugs. * Nick approaches the smithy, idly playing with a knife. "Hey, folks!" Sounds like a brilliant idea. Avoid big stompy things. Got it. Heya Nick. Ogres are big. About eight or nine feet. Very strong, and very ferocious, but if you look strong, you can deal with them a bit. I've got information! * Emmet nods to Alfred. "Thanks very much, sir. Hopefully we won't have to fight any of those, but it's good to know about them just in case." Then what've you got? Yeah, what's up? * Fadi nods. "Thanks Alfred." There's a pass called the Gap, some big city called Gateway.. and some ruins. Knew about the Gap, found out about the Gateway, but what's with the ruins? Some ancient city in the middle of a swamp, covered in swamp goblins. South of northeast. Are swamp goblins different from normal goblins only in that they live in the swamp? Ugh. I don't want to go through a bloody swamp. I'm sure it'll just be a sweaty swamp. Unfortunately, the ruins sound like a good thing to investigate. You don't want to be going into Mishrak. You can't handle those swamp goblins. They're like normal goblins, only nasty. They've adapted to swamp life, so they'll be able to outmaneuver you. Oh. I hope that's not where Harold thinks we're supposed to go, then. Eh, worth a shot. Perhaps he'll be able to narrow it down as we get closer? * Emmet nods. That's the way things work, isn't it? * Emmet sighs. "It is starting to seem that way," he admits. Generally. I take it you've got a general direction, but no distance? Yes, sir. East by northeast. Well then, you might consider heading north to Crossroad, and see what direction you're supposed to go then. An old wizard friend of mine always used to do that. * Emmet allows himself a slight smile, because that adivce sounds a bit like his own suggestion. "Yes, sir. Thanks again, sir." Sure. Thanks again Alfred. * Tiffany nodds agreement. [Session... END!]