Off to the Outpost! …Maybe? Part One

Maevris leaned in at the table towards Lavender, clearing her throat and saying "Sooooo… you said three hours by horseback? And what if we don't have horses…?"

We shrugged, saying, "It does not matter to Us, We can fly." A small amount of pain erupted in the back of our skull, and Our hand instinctively flew up to cover it. We turned around, finding the source of the annoyance to be Ezri.

She glared at us, saying "Good for you, Bee-Face, we can't fly. If it takes 3 hours by horseback, it will take over 9 hours on foot. There's no way in the nine hells that I'm going there without a horse."

The Vizier stood up this time, raising a hand and clearing his throat, "Honestly, it would be the town's pleasure to provide you with a horse & carriage, free of cost. It's the least we could do after what you did for us."

Maevris beamed, throwing a fist of victory into the air "Ah Sweet! Thanks Village Old Man."

Ezri cringed, snapping at her, "Maevris! Show some respect! He is the Village Elder, or Vizier Jaren. Not 'Old Man.' C'mon now."

She paused, and turned to the elder, saying, "Thank you, Vizier Jaren. That is very generous of you and we appreciate it. Now. We would love to obtain those things, and some rations, so we can head out and get this done."

The Vizier nodded back, waving over to Orgir, who was waiting by the front door. "Orgir, please fetch them a horse and carriage, a map, and stock a few days of rations and blankets in there. Thank you."

Orgir sort of just grunted, and left. It was pretty clear he wasn't happy about his inn being made into a meeting place for bureaucracy. Either way, we all gathered our things and headed outside to get on the horse & carriage, and head out.

"Who's going to drive?" Lavender asked. She made it pretty clear from her demeanor and seemingly noble background, that it wasn't going to be her.

For a minute we all sort of sat there quietly, staring at each other. We decided to clear our throat and say "Well… I could always ask the horse…"

"OH MY GOD. JUST GET IN THE CARRIAGE." Ezri was clearly beyond annoyed with Us at that point, which We made a note to ask her about later. We were being genuine when We asked if they wanted us to ask the horse…

We settled into the carriage, and almost immediately, Maevris fell asleep. "This is not a terrible idea, Short Flesh. We should probably ensure We, too, are Rested." We discorporated into a pile of bees and settled in to rest for the 3 hours until we arrived at the outpost.

Or at least, We should have. About 2 hours into our trip, we heard Ezri's voice calling back to us, "uhhh, Hey, Guys? Probably should wake up. Might have a problem here."

We could once again identify the Acrid smell of smoke, and shattered wood. We swarmed off the carriage and surveyed the surrounding area, as Ezri pulled the carriage up and around.

There were 2 dead horses on the ground, their bodies peppered with arrows. A carriage lay on the ground behind them, shattered, and burning.

Around the outside of the wreckage were the bodies of 4 men, but they did not seem to be from around here. We noticed that their clothing, and the markings on the carriage, were from Kara Tur.

In the middle of the wreckage sat what seemed to be a small treasure chest, splattered with blood. Ezri whipped the cart around and brought it to a stop, leaping off of the horse and heading for the chest. We were not surprised.

Maevris jumped from the carriage onto the horse, and took control. In the meantime, Lavender jumped off the back of the carriage, moving around the outside. With a wave of her hand, she put out the few small flames on the broken cart, and Ezri was able to grab the chest.

As she turned around to make her way back to the carriage with a greedy smile on her face; a woman came running out from the tree-line screaming, being chased by 3 more men. We recorporated and made a bee-line (ha!) towards her, in order to assist her.

They all, too, looked like they were from Kara Tur, and their sudden appearance spooked the horse. It took a few seconds for Maevris to get it back under control, but when she did, she turned so she could help and pick the woman up.

When We reached her, We said "Get to the Carriage!" Before discorporating and swarming around her, and recorporating back on the other side; putting Ourselves directly between her and the men chasing her.