Wren Sunchaser's Story

Drakara kept the pace up for a few hours and then went into a general trail walk. After a quick stop for some food and some water, from his water skin, he remounted the horse and kept on towards the north. A day and a half through the wilderness with only short stops for the horses and he made it to the end of a small hamlet town surrounded by tall towers at it’s corners.

One tower at the end of the town stood far above the others and shown out to sea. This lighthouse was ivory white with a black and bronze beacon atop it. Its beacon light was thrown far into the horizon for the safety of ships navigating the rocky waters.

The village bustled with families and merchants the pace of the town seemed lively enough. Drakara seeing it was getting closed to dusk stopped from coming into town and found a spot in the tree line to camp for the night. He built a small fire pit and went hunting. An hour in he found a small feral pig. He made the kill and made a dinner and drifted off to sleep. His mind raced with thoughts of the past and twitched in his sleep at the thoughts of the Wizards fire.

He rose early the next morning and went by the creek. Taking his soap, he had a quick trail bath and then went into town with both horses. He stopped at a small cottage house with mud walls and a thatched roof. It was quaint, but seemed comfortable for a mage. He dismounted the painted horse and made way to the door. Making sure to cover as much of himself with the hooded robe, he knocked on the door.

Despite the seemingly pleasant exterior of the cottage, the faint sounds of shouts and crashing could be heard from within as Drak awaited a response. The commotion was momentarily broken by the brief shout of a woman's voice. “What do you want?”

A moments time passed before the door opened to a familiar figure, though perhaps not the one Drak had come to expect. Scarcely reaching past Drak's midsection in height was a small felinoid woman with white fur and a long mane of silver hair.

Blinking up at the robed figure of Drak, it took Wren a few moments time before recognition dawned on her. “Drak! What in the blazes are you doing here!” she exclaimed to the backdrop of more screaming and the audible sound of glass shattering. Partially closing the door, she shouted loudly. “If you don't put your brother down right now, I swear by my ancestors that I'll have a new carpet in the morning!” Turning back to Drak her the utter exasperation was evident. “By the gods, please tell me that the world is in peril?”

He simply nodded to Wren and peered over her and past. “I assume the carpet would belong to you by blood relation”, He stated looking down to her. Drak took his hands out of his pockets and cracked his fingers, making his hands feel much better.

“Have you seen Vestul?”

“Vestul?” Wren asked. “Damned if I know. He left over a month ago. Watch the house for him he says! Doesn’t he know I have kids to feed?! Six of them you know! Six of them and every one as bad as the last!” Scowling she stepped outside and closed the door behind her to drown out the noise from within. “At least they're not wrecking my house. Good gods.”

Drakara let out a strained and quieted laugh. He looked to his old companion and then took a knee coming down to a better conversing level. He pulled the cowl up looking at her with his ice blues.

“I would think you could do to get away from this place for a bit. Have anyone to watch your rug rats?”

“Hell if you have to ask me twice,” Wren exclaimed. She cracking the door long just long enough to grab her cloak from inside. “Their father will be back at some point, and if fortune smiles on me I'll be leagues away from here by the time he does.”

Drakara arched an eyebrow and then motioned towards the horses. He mounted up and then looked around town. He looked over at Wren and motioned for her to take the lead.

“Please. We need to head in the direction Vestul went. And If you know anyone who can help us to destroy some big bad evil things that would be nice.”

Throwing her cloak about her shoulders, Wren swung up into the saddle of the offered horse. The animal stamped and whinnied at the suddenness of her movements, but she quickly reined it under control. “Couldn't have brought something smaller, eh?” she asked. “And I haven't a clue where he's off to. Said something about dragons and pork chops. Really, I don't have the faintest idea what he was on about.”

“There were horses and I did not expect to find you here. If you feel more comfortable with it, I am sure I could find you a miniature pony. I know how vertically challenged you are”, Drak stated with a smirk under his mask.

“I think the word you want is vertically gifted,” Wren replied with a wry grin. “So what's the great peril this time? And why are we looking for Vestul again?”

“Gilnaes and Barash were killed and my order is out for my head. The barrens are crawling with nothrak. I feel our job from twenty years ago may not be complete.”

Wren's mood sobered at the news and her grin turned to a scowl. Looking away, she took a moment to absorb the news, before she offered a response. “Northrak? You're sure of this?" she asked, but she already knew the answer. "Well if it's fire power you want, we can always head to Lorandor. They're never lacking of mage sorts up that way,” she remarked. After a brief pause she quirked her head to one side. “Hey, do you remember that foppish fellow we picked up once? Petros? I think his nephew owns an enchantment shop up that way. He passes through here a few times a year. Knows his trade.”

“As I remember him, he was with us for about half a moon cycle and Vestul lit him on fire, you almost robbed him blind for comments against you, and he almost became werewolf food.”

Drak looked around and then smiled. If they would be able to find more people that would make it all the easier to travel. Younger folk could do the things too strenuous for the aging adventurer. He nodded approvingly at the thought. Drak looked to Wren and simply asked, “Can you find this person?”

“Hah. Do you ever need to ask?” Wren asked with a grin. With that, she wheeled her horse about, and gave it a swift kick to urge it into a gallop.

Wren and Dark's travels northward towards the city of Lorandor proved uneventful, with the only point of note being Maria's rather abrupt return about a days travel outside of the hamlet. She hadn't offered a word of explanation as to her whereabouts, nor a word of conversation since her return, opting instead to travel in silence. Wren had made several attempts to entice her less sociable traveling companions into conversation, but her efforts were met with little cooperation and soon she grew as silent as they. By the time they had reached the gates of Lorandor they might as well have been marching onward to a funeral for all the talk that had ensued.

[City Description goes here, will add it later so not holding people up.]

As the trio approached the city gates, Maria drew her horse up short allowed the others to move on ahead as she gazed upon the looming city. Her unease was evident in her stiffened posture and watchful gaze, but her moment of wariness passed as she kicked her horse back into motion, trailing behind Wren and Drak by several paces.

Up ahead there was a crowd collected at the gates with impatient men and women jostling one another as they awaited questioning to gain entry into the city. Wagons of goods and clusters of livestock lined the roadside, and through the gates the congestion was all the worse. Wagons were backed up down the length of the street and were being searched by guards before they could depart the city.

Drak piped up in his usual hushed tone, ‘I guess we'll find out what has this place in such a tizzy very soon. I just hope your friend is not at the heart of it, Wren.”

At his side, Wren let out a low laugh. “I think it's safe to say they're not searching half the city for mage enchantments. I'll have a listen around and see what I can find out. His shop should be down in the mage district, Quillion's Magical Emporium I think.” Sliding down off her horse, she passed the reigns to Drak before slipping off into the crowd.