Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2, Ch 3.1 Bannihar
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 2 Chapter 3.1
Bannihar Measured in Minutes
Having just overcome one horribly adverse geographical obstacle it only seems to make sense that the group from Bannihar now face a meteorological challenge. Readers selected "Measured in Minutes" for Bannihar, which might be VERY bad for at least 1 group member as Elias is now out of Willpower and the group took another -1 Favor hit (cancelled out thankfully as Bannihar got the crowd favorite among the groups). Though it may be small compensation, Elias DOES get +1 xp from the character vote! The modifiers to Bannihar for this chapter are as follows: + Favor, + Willpower, - Delay, and - Luck... but only if successful.
Dana was gone by the following morning, and the opinions of that development were understandably mixed. For the next three days Iskiy spent all of his spare time moping; Elias spent the same time lost in thought; and Kayte simply spent that time feeling lost. Lord Raes tried several times to strike up a conversation and, though she always did an excellent job answering his questions it was obvious that she was distracted. Sebastian and Roarg spent a lot of time laughing between one another about nothing-in-particular, and the gryphon seemed perfectly content to spend his time casually padding along on the ground.
Not everyone's mood had been altered, however. Jules maintained watch, seemingly as intent as ever with moving the group toward its ultimate destination. Despite Lord Raes' concern for the mental well-being of Kayte, he maintained a careful vigil. Elesin continued traveling on foot, albeit a little more tenderly during the first few hours the first morning. By the third day, however, she was back to her old self... apart from avoiding Sebastian's gaze when she noticed it.
The trail leading down from the mountains was a smooth one, and the going went quickly. The party traveled easily and, for once, had little trouble maintaining their pace and the peace. Unlike the first portion of their journey there were no bandits, no sun cultists, no wild beasts attacking them. Were any of them less inclined to be on their guard, they might have even begun to enjoy themselves... but they were all far too prudent to be that foolish... and for good cause. At the end of the third day, Lord Raes called the wagon to a stop; they had finally descended the mountains and a long, flat stretch of golden sand lay before them.
"Wow..." Jules noted, gazing across the darkening landscape, back to the sun as it set in the west, "I've heard stories about deserts, but I've never seen one in person."
"You can't find a lot of deserts in mountains." Elias noted flatly, clenching and unclenching his fingers, "It feels like forever ago, but I still remember this place..."
"The Saliean Desert." Roarg acknowledged, kneeling down to run a paw across the dry grass under foot, "We're still miles from it but the plants still seem to know it's there."
"Are we sure this is the best way?" Iskiy asked quietly.
"This is the path the caravan had planned, Iskiy." Kayte offered simply, "We're following the Highway because it is the route of the divine pilgrimage." she offered a half-hearted smile, "Credit should be given to those who remain loyal to their commitments."
If the priestess meant the comment as a subtle indication regarding something else, it went right over Jules' head, "And being too rigid to look into other options as they come is a sure way to end up with a pawful of crap in the end." the Wild Lander offered flatly, still gazing across the barren landscape. Kayte bristled, but quickly and subtly smoothed down her hackles.
Lord Raes interjected immediately. "Let's focus on our plan of action." he suggested, holding a gauntleted paw out to Iskiy, who was riding in the back of The Risen. The antlered wolf obediently offered up a scroll of their inventory. The champion nodded to himself as he looked over the supply list, "I'm not too pleased with our less-than-ideal amount of water... but I suppose we can make camp tonight and seek out some water sources tomorrow." he glanced back to the scroll, "If we consolidate some of our supplies we should free up a few more water-tight barrels to provision our journey."
"We have elementalists here." Elesin countered with a casual eye roll, "If we run low on water Elias and I can just whip up a little rain storm or something."
"First..." Elias quickly spoke up, "I don't want you EVER summoning something that includes the word 'storm' in its name..." he cleared his throat, "and second, Dana said she thought it would be a good idea if I conserved my strength... she said that I've been overexerting myself and doing that with casting is as bad as with anything else."
Kayte shot the armadillo a quick glance then looked back at Elesin, "There's nothing wrong with trying to find water the old fashioned way... relying too heavily on magic can be unsafe..." she glanced pointedly at Elias, "...as we saw back at the divide."
"Well, personally I think it would make things a whole lot easier." the battle mage crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm just saying..."
"Understood." Lord Raes acknowledged, "We can consider magic a back-up, but the Priestess is right; at this point relaying on anything too heavily could lame us. We've come far too great a distance to fail now... especially with Zion just beyond the desert."
"Really?" Iskiy's ears went up, "Zion is just past the desert?" he gazed eastward, as if looking hard enough would reveal it to him.
"Assuming you were liberal with the word 'just', yes." Elias noted flatly, "We'll be in the desert for a week at least... and then it's another four or five days to Zion."
"That's still not all that bad." the Wild Lander offered with an optimistic wag.
"You've never been in a desert before." the armadillo offered in a sour tone.
"Well... YOU survived it, old man," Elesin offered the Geomancer a solid slap on the back, "It obviously can't be THAT bad." she grinned widely.
Elias glared at her, "Touch me again and--"
"And you'll tell me off but-good?" the kangaroo grinned, "If I remember, you're taking Dr Dana's orders and swearing off mana until--" her words got stuck in her throat as she was suddenly thrown to the ground by a violent, very-isolated tremor.
"until absolutely necessary." Elias smiled to himself.
"Good news, Kayte..." the kangaroo announced, getting up to her feet, "Apparently he doesn't respect Dana's advice THAT much!"
Elias flicked an ear, looking back at the battle mage, "What are you going off about now, woman?"
"The way you were all over that shaman..." Elesin shrugged, "I figured it was pretty obvious to everyone here." she motioned around with an arm, "You know... cozying right up to her, hanging off of her every word..."
"What?" the armadillo's ears went up in confusion, "No!" he objected, "We were having a teleological discussion about the application and utilization of--"
"Oh come off it." Elesin interrupted him, "I mean... if you're the ONLY one here who couldn't see it then you're one sorry son of a bitch, but from the way our poor Priestess has been moping about the last few days, you can figure she expects you to be praying at a different altar in no time."
Everyone's eyes followed the kangaroo's pointed figer right at Kayte, who sat on the driver's bench of The Risen as still as a statue, every last millimeter of flesh visible beneath her fur as red as a beet.
"Just shut up." Elias countered flatly, still looking at Elesin, "She's not some flighty little girl. Kayte wouldn't be so stupid that she would think I--" the armadillo fell silent the moment the priestess let out a wordless, stifled sound. He paused and slowly turned toward the priestess, who quickly dropped down off of the driver's bench. "Kayte?" The armadillo glanced back at everyone, but nobody would meet his gaze. "Kayte!" he called after her, but Lord Raes quickly moved to block his path.
"Set up camp." the Champion directed.
"But--"
"Set up camp, Geomancer." Lord Raes repeated, with a little more force.
"But, Kayte--" Elias began.
"I have a feeling that you should let her be." the dog spoke. His voice was still firm, but with less of an edge, "I've known her long enough to tell when she needs alone time."
The armadillo let out a deep breath, "Goddess damn it all... when did life get to be so cracking difficult?"
"Sticking your penis into a woman with emotional issues tends to do that." Elesin smiled.
"Goddess help me, Elesin..." Lord Raes growled forcefully.
"I'm going to go look for water." the kangaroo offered cheerfully and, with that, she about-faced and headed southward.
"Iskiy." the Champion motioned, and the scout nodded, following after the kangaroo.
"Sebastian and I will scout northward." Roarg offered.
"Jules... do a sweep of the area and make sure we don't have any predators around." Lord Raes suggested.
"On it." the Wild Lander confirmed, and immediately disappeared eastward.
"Which leaves us." Elias stated flatly, kicking a loose rock on the ground.
"By design." Lord Raes acknowledged.
Elias looked up questioningly, "Huh?"
"Kayte is like a little sister to me..." the champion stated calmly, "Which means that you and I need to have a talk..."
* * * * * *
And Chapter 3 begins for Bannihar with quite the discussion. Is it just me or is Elias just not all that good when dealing with others?
Either way, we move forward and bring the first vote for this chapter to the Contributing Readers. So folks, what'll it be?
1) Take time to get as much extra water as The Risen can handle. (+ Delay, + Luck). 2) There's nothing wrong with relying on magically created water. (- Delay, - Willpower for Elias and Elesin, + Major Fatigue for Elias and Elesin). 3) It's time to get moving... move past the preparation and go! (-Delay, - Luck).
Votes are due by midnight on Thursday, the 12th of January. Good voting!