If only theses fools knew Valshari customs. I suppose they are lucky to be getting out of here alive, but then again so am I
Airion looked toward the man on the throne, when he mentioned a letter in his pack. things seems to be leading us down a road we have no choice but to follow He caught a glimpse of something and filed it away in his memory. Airion turned toward the human. "I suppose that I will need to accompany you on your errand."

Airion walked behind Elemmiire as they moved toward the door.

(OOC: This post is assuming Ele and Kyara follow the lead of the other two.)

You pass through the doorway and find yourselves on the side of a well-traveled road. In the distance to the east you can see a city (which you could safely assume to be Maruk) In the opposite direction lies the forest, and beyond that the border to the Illurian Empire. These are the two paths you have before you. There is no sign of the doorway through which you just passed.

Both the silver and the red moons ride high in the sky, giving the time to be approximately 2 pm, and several days (at least) have passed since Kyara and Heironymus went underground. Over a week has passed for the other two.

Kyara stomped out of the room after Hieronymus anger evident in her movements. She felt sick at having to leave Jocelyn, It went against everything that she had promised her father to do. Her hand still clenched the dagger and she itched to turn and throw it at the figure seated on the throne like shair--puffed up popping jay.

Elemmire moved out of the room into the forest, somewhere unknown to her but any place was better than this one at the current time. Too much was unknown about this situation. She looks to Arion motioning him to move off to the side out of sight of the dark elf.

Heironymus stepped out into the light gratefully. He didn't know the geography around here very well, but he could guess what city was in the distance. It was good to be out in the fresh air again. Being honest with himself, it was quite good to still be alive.

He glanced over at the two others and saw one indicate to the other to move away from where the "door" ought to be, although Heironymus could see no evidence of their conveyance. Still, it seemed like a wise idea. He also moved off to the side - the same side as the other two, but was careful not to invade their space. If they wanted some space to talk, that seemed reasonable. As he moved aside, he commented quietly to Kyara, "Sometimes walking away can take more strength than fighting. We still live - and it will be much easier to aid Joselyn alive than it would have been dead. Let us see what we can do to help her - I believe that path will start with the other two."

(The other two seemed to want to talk amongst themselves first, which seems reasonable. Heironymus would wait before speaking until the other two have finished their discussion - or some reasonable point to interject presents itself.)

Turning back to the others Heironymys introduced himself. "I am Heironymus. As you may have guessed, my companion and I were part of a group that was hired to defend a merchants caravan. While I have serious doubts about all aspects of the elf who opened this door for us, he did speak truly in one respect: we did not fully succceed in doing what we were hired to do. Or rather, we did defend the caravan very successfully, but not the caravan masters daughter - the target of the raid."

"My companion and I then followed the raiders to the cave in which we encountered you, hoping to rescue the young woman. You saw the result."

"But we know almost nothing about you. And yet, the next stage of this mission depends upon you. I am left with two questions:
1. Who are you and what is your role in all of this? We were simple guards and rescuers. I know little of this likely war he spoke of, but find little positive in the thought of war.
2. You have the letter which supposedly will state a ransom price for the girl. For lack of a better choice, I suppose it should be delivered. But it is in your possession. What do you say? Perhaps you know more of these events than we do? Or at least more than I do."

With that Heironymus could only await the reactions of the others.

After Airion stepped through the door, he took Ele's hint to move out of the way. However, when he turned to look back at the doorway it was gone.

The area now surrounding them was unfamiliar to him. They were at the edge of a forest, an unfamiliar city in the distance. Ele may have been talking to him. He wasn't really paying attention. He was more focused on trying to adjust to the surroundings and get his bearings. He looked skyward and realized quite a bit of time had passed since they were captured.

The elf and human were having their own conversation. Airion started to come back to teh reality of things as the human approached and began speaking. "I am Heironymus....defend a merchants caravan.....doubts about.... not fully succceed..... masters daughter" damn my head hurts. I'm going to need to rest soon The first parts of what the human said were patchy, but Airion pushed the pain of his headache away and focused on what was else was being said. But we know almost nothing about you. And yet, the next stage of this mission depends upon you. I am left with two questions:
1. Who are you and what is your role in all of this? We were simple guards and rescuers. I know little of this likely war he spoke of, but find little positive in the thought of war.
2. You have the letter which supposedly will state a ransom price for the girl. For lack of a better choice, I suppose it should be delivered. But it is in your possession. What do you say? Perhaps you know more of these events than we do? Or at least more than I do."
Airion waited a few moments to see if Ele or the elf woman had anything to say before he spoke up. "I wish we could have met under different circumstances Heironymus. I am Airion and my companion is Elemmiire. We are both of the Illurian Empire and hail from Bevaris. We along with a few others were hired to discover the cause of the raids that have been occuring on the trade roads recently. We were attacked and several of our party were murdered. We were the only two spared. I have been tortured to the brink of death and kept away from my companion until just today."

Stopping for a moment Airion realized he was parched. He couched a bit to clear his throat before continuing on. "I am not sure of my part, or any of our parts for that much matter. It seems as though we are being used as pawns in a game where lives hang in the balance." Taking off his pack airion set it down and searched through for the planted letter. Pulling it out he continued. "I believe this is the letter that man spoke of. It is the only thing out of palce in my pack. I would hand it over to you and go on my way to complete my mission, however I don't belive that would end well. Something tells me I am to retain the letter." The thought of that girl's eyes nagged at Airion. "The girl that this ransom is for, Jocelyn was it. I think part of waht we saw was a show. She is not being held there completely against her will. I was able to look into her eyes before we left and saw something there."

"I am willing to offer my assistance if Ele would agree. This area is unfamiliar to me, but I am going to assume the city to our east is our destination. Now I am all for getting to know each other some more, but could we set up camp. I'm starving and need some rest."

Just when it seemed we had misjudged the young lady, more reason to doubt her appears, Heironymus thought.

"Hmmm, I am very curious to hear why you doubt the young lady," he said quietly. "You will find we have similar concerns of our own. But we can discuss those over a fire at a camp. May I suggest we move away from our entrance spot to find our place of rest?"

With that Heironymus offered the lead to the others if they wanted it. He thought they should probably head in the general direction of the city, as that would likely be the next days target, but wasn't overly concerned about the direction taken at the moment. Once a decent place for a camp had been found, and the surroundings briefly scouted, Heironymus hoped to sit down and discuss things with the two strangers. Because they did not seem to be on the side of the elf in the cave, nor to want the war spoken of, he decided that he would share what little information he had willingly, telling the tale of the attack on the caravan and Jocelyn's apparently willing capture.

Heironymus hated the thought that somehow he might be used as a pawn to start a war. Wars might be fun games for the rich and powerful, but rarely benefited the little folks who ended up fighting them. Wars between two apparently civilized races seemed particularily pointless.

But he was so new to the area, he understood that he made an easy pawn. He didn't even understand the relationship between the merchants city and the empire these other two came from. Perhaps it was time to take a class in politics 101. At the least, he would start by learning what he could from his companions.

You find a spot to set up camp not too far off the north side of the road, at the edge of the forest. Before long firewood has been gathered, a fire lit, and a few rabbits (courtesy of Kyara) are roasting on spits over the flames. Judging by the moons, it is likely early evening.

Airion seems to be limping more with each passing hour, and clutching his side from time to time, grimacing in pain.

An hour has passed since you passed through the doorway onto the road. (Conversation can, of course, happen during this time. But I thought it simpler to wave my magic wand of Game Mastership and say it is done so you could all sit around the fire and figure out just what the heck is going on. )

Kyara finally master her anger and a strong impulse to turns and hurl her knives at the dark elf on the throne. I am Kyara/

"I am Kyara, a scout hired by a merchant to guard his goods. During the trip we were attacked by what seemed to be bandits, or brigands. However, that dark-skinned elf was there as well hiding in a tree until he vanished most likely by magic. Some of the magics used against us was illusion and he appears to be a master of illusion himself.He is not innocent of what happened there or of the kidnapping of Jocelyn. She was perfectly fine before she fell into his hands. I will kill him for that."

I will help us set up camp and I will hunt for food. Kyara gathers wood, starts a fired in the one decent place they had found not to far off the trad road. Then she went hunting.

"Dame it our horses are back at the entrance of the cave.' Kyara anger raised against the dark-skinned elf.

Seeing one of the others limping, Heironymus offered his skills as a healer. (If accepted he will cast the lowest level healing spell that looks like it will work.)

He then sets about explaining the events of the last several days. (What is in this thread, essentially) In particular he notes that the young lady, although appearing to bear wounds from her captivity, might well have been in on the escape. Or perhaps was in on it until things got too deep for her. But clearly, Kyara tracked the brigands to that cave.

Is there anything to do other than deliver the message? How do we prevent this war the elf was speaking of?

"Hieronomus. I have to go back for my horse. I cannot leave him there tied up. Blast that devil. If you want to head back to the city I can run there and return as quickly as possible. It will not take as long as it did when I was tracking. I know where I am going and have all the original tracks you and the others made getting there. Unless you want will stay here until I return to rest and recover.

"yes, I was wondering about your steed. I understand. Certainly, go and do what you need to do. I suspect it would only slow you down, but I would certainly be willing to go with you if you desire. Otherwise, I will wait here. All four of us should together decide what to do and act as one when you return."

Airion sat around the small campfire holding his side. He was pretty sure he had at least a few broken ribs. He was about to ask the other two if they had anything to help heal him, when Heironomus offered some up.

"I'll gladly take any healing you can give me. I had quite a few beatings while we were held captive. There were times when I wish they would have killed me, but no they wouldn't offer me that satisfaction. They held me just at the brink of life. I was surprised I've been able to hold up this long. Thank you!"

"Kyara, I know you would like to believe that young lady Jocelyn is innocent. I am sorry but it isn't completely so. I have a good sense at reading people. Call it a habit of my profession. I had a good look into her eyes before we left. She may not have liked everything about her current situation, but part of her wanted to be there. It is very possible she could have been in on her own kidnapping."

Airion was feeling better after receiving healing. He found a comfortable spot to lay down and set up his sleeping gear. While trying to relax and clear his mind so he could get some sleep Airion overheard Kyara talking to her companion. She wanted to go get her horse.

"Pardon my interruption. With the group of people we just dealt with, I wouldn't be so sure that your horse would still be where you left it. As it may be I assume that you and your mount have a close bond. I think it is foolish for you to travel alone right now. There are dangerous elements all around us. I would recommend one of us go with you. I wish it were me, but I am not yet strong enough. If you decide to go alone, use stealth, stick to the shadows, and do not engage anyone or anything unless your life depends on it. Whatever you decide, you must move and act quickly."

"Heironomus, you are correct, it would be best for us to plan our next move when she returns." Airion's head was swimming. The events of the last few days were finally catching up to him. As he felt his consciousness slipping away he managed to get out a few last words before he was out. "Right now I need......zzzzz"

Ele stands u, "I will go with her. Forgive me, Hieronymus, I mean no disparagement of you abilities but you are not built nor dressed for running far. Arion needs your healing Kyara needs her horse if for nothing else than to keep it from those others and carry Arion if his injuries prove to be beyond your healing at this time." We will not take long and you two can rest. Arion you get well. I think we will need you fully healed up before we are done with this matter."

Ele leaves her pack and takes only her weapons and her light armor. "I am ready to go with you Kyara."

The slender dark elven woman waited to Kyara to lead the way since she did not know the way from this unknown place.

After healing the wounded, Kyara decides to return for her mount.

"Kyara, I hope you take this offer of company on your journey. I will go with you if desired, but clearly I am not built or dressed for speed. Or stealth. But I do fear for your safety if you are alone."

Looking back towards the sleeping elf, Heironymus added, "I will stay here and stand guard. Clearly Airion needs sleep, but should not sleep unguarded anymore than Kyara should travel alone. Good luck on your journey."