It was raining, which Andrew normally didn't mind. However, the oddly chilled summer evening was far more noticeable when you were nearly soaked through. He glanced at Morris, who seemed the same as ever, then pat the neck of their borrowed horse. Or, well, they had paid for the horse, but they didn't plan on keeping it once they reached their destination. The equine huffed, its head bowed in the downpour and Andrew scanned their surroundings for any sign of shelter. Even some dense woods would work at this point. Huffing he wiped some moisture from his face, as if that would truly change anything, and then moved closer to his friend. "How far is the closest town?" His friend looked at him with a raised brow "You'd know bettah than me lad." At that Andrew frowned, and then cursed. 

Of course...he was the one that had actually lived in Vanyar, and he was the one that should know the area. It had been many years though, and he hadn't traveled this way to catch their old ship. So he shook his head to show that he didn't know, despite that the fact that he needed to ask should have shown that much. Morris sighed a little and Andrew felt a shiver run down his back. Licking his lips while rubbing his arms he glanced at his boat. It was still on the cart of course, but it could offer Morris and himself some semblance of shelter. That meant leaving the poor horse out in the rain though, and Andrew was sure that the animal needed a break from the moisture as well. So he dismissed the thought and tried to remember what he could of the area, hoping that he would end up knowing of a safe spot after all. 

His armor was packed away, riding behind him upon the horse. A black gelding, white patch on its forehead though that was almost constantly hidden by the black main tuft that stuck through the front of the bridal. The saddle was dark, darker than normal due to being absolutely sodden by the rain, and so was everything else that showed its face to the weather. Even the oiled canvas of his hooded cape was a dark brown under the watery onslaught and nearly black due to the lighting of the hour. Closed around him as it was, his boots being black as night and flat as shadow by design, he looked like a Shade on a Nightmare. Or he would, if anyone was of a mind to stare into the stormy night on this eve, he knew he certainly wasn't inclined to. In fact, through the pouring rain, the whipping wind, the movement of himself and his mount, he wouldn't have been aware of the two men until he'd ridden right into them had it not been for the fact that they were talking to one another.

The voices on the wind, carried through the rain by its strength, caused him to lift his head and examine the way ahead beyond the next few strides of his mighty steed. A wagon, a horse, a boat, and two men. "Lo the wagon," he called politely through the wind and rain. Loudly, since he realized he was shouting upwind. "The answer to your question is three and a quarter leagues," he said as he pulled up beside the two. "Eleven miles in the Imperial measurements. If you don't bog down or break the horse's leg, you'd make it just 'fore dawn in this weather. Which looks to last the night, I might add. There's a rock shelter ahead and off to the left, old standing stones topped with a flat rock as a way station long ago. If we string a couple of tarps up for walls we can find shelter for man and beast alike, assuming you care to follow me to it." He knuckled his brow in greeting, belated as it was, and waited for them to pass judgment on his offer of a shared camp.

He'd been up and down this road repeatedly in the last month, he'd grown familiar with it. A fact he found almost as annoying as the rain. Be glad to be through with it for a few seasons, he thought to himself with a smile that he hoped looked friendly despite his soaked state. He was sure the two men wouldn't fault him for that, given they shared the condition themselves. "May be dry wood there for a fire, some travelers leave a bit behind to cure but some don't." He didn't want to promise it but he was certainly hoping for as much. Had been there the last time he passed through about three days earlier. Hadn't needed it then, of course. He was glad there were no women to be scandalized with the two men, he intended to dry his clothes before he slept and he doubted his second set were in any better condition in his saddlebags than the ones he was wearing at that very moment.

Andrew moved his head at the sound of a voice. A person, and they seemed to know the area if what the stranger said was anything to go by. Though the manner of speech wasn't something either of them was really used to hearing, they got the idea. This traveler, also a male, was offering to make camp with them. Andrew looked at Morris, who just shrugged. They both knew it could possibly be a trap, but they were both capable fighters, and their weapons were always with them, even in this sort of downpour. So, Andrew nodded, "Aye! That sounds like a decent plan!" He raised his voice a little to be heard above the rain, and then rubbed his arms again. "Lead the way good sir, and we will follow." It wasn't like they had much choice on that one, since this other traveler knew the lay of the land, while they did not. 

Kerr Blackwood

Kerr gave his horse a tap of his heels and it slogged on through the muck and rain. As he'd stated, just a little over a hundred yards ahead and off the path to the left, was a trio of standing stones topped by a wide flat rock. It was obviously not natural but also not any sort of serious attempt to build a home. Just the kind of thing some bureaucrat would throw the coin at to assuage traders complaining about a lack of places to shelter in such largely featureless land. Any storm would seem terrible without the trees or rock outcroppings that would break up the breeze or deflect the rain as it fell. He reined his horse down a flat route that almost seemed designed for wagons to make the side journey and undoubtedly had been a feature that had attracted the workers to select this spot in the first place. One end of the flat rock hung out farther over the standing stone on that side, and that overhang was where Kerr pulled his horse up to a stop.

He smoothly dismounted, pulled the reins over the horse's head, and dropped them on the ground before digging into the pack on the back of his mount's rump. He pulled a pair of tarps out of his kit, neither particularly large due to the constraints and needs of his personal travel situation, but with a trio of lashings he'd turned them both into a single tarp that naturally stood at double the size. Fast work was important if they wanted to have relatively dry ground at some point. He climbed one of the standing stones, using some handing holds that had obviously been carved into the thing for just that reason, hanging half his tarp up on a metal spike driven into that side. He repeated the process on the next standing stone and just like that they had a wall of sorts. It flapped a bit, it didn't reach all the way to the ground, but it stopped the rain from reaching more than a foot inside the sheltered area which left plenty of area for them.

Fortunately, stacked in the center of the space around a fire pit was indeed three piles of mostly dry wood. "We're in luck," Kerr declared as he threw back his cape to reveal his traveling clothes and weapon belt, the handles of a matched sword and dagger on his left hip but otherwise he wore perfectly normal leathers and a well made high quality linen shirt. He pulled his hood back to reveal his smiling face and mop of moderately damp blond hair. "Your wagon might have to sit out in the rain but you can park your horse next time mine and they'll be able to shelter like it's a lean-to barn. Do you have any tarps in your gear? If we can close these other two sections we'll start feeling like kings amongst men in the next hour or so."

Swords

Stone Shelter

Andrew could weep in joy at the site of the makeshift shelter. Perhaps if he were not used to rougher weather, he would have. "Getting too old for this..." He half grumbled and half joked and gained a sharp look from Morris for the comment. Ignoring it for now, he helped where he could as the stranger got the tarp up and then mentioned that the horse could shelter here as well. "A tarp of our own?" He looked to Morris in question, unsure of what his dwarf friend had on him, and got a shake of the head in answer. Andrew looked over his boat, which could survive the water to an extent and his gaze rested on the sail. It wasn't much, and made of cloth...but maybe it could work as a temporary solution? Looking at Morris again he tilted his head towards the boat "Got a sail though."



Morris rose his eyebrows and looked thoughtful. It would take some work to remove the sail and add it to the tarp, and of course some work to put it back on the boat... They could always leave it off for now though, since they weren't using it to sail on water yet. Andrew was already moving to start the process before Morris started to move as well. Working together, they removed the sail as carefully and quickly as they could. Andrew didn't want the material to rip after all. When it was removed, he and Morris worked on hanging it up with Andrew hoping that it was enough to get them a bit more shelter from the storm. 

Kerr Blackwood

He nodded enthusiastically when one of the other two repeated the question about a tarp of their own, hooking his thumbs behind the buckle of his sword belt while he waited for them to confer amongst themselves on the matter. Unfortunately, at least at first, it seemed they did not. He was considering how much good it would do them to split his tarps again and just have half-coverage but on two sides instead of full coverage on one when they apparently hit upon the idea of using the sail from their boat. "Oh, perfect! Essentially the same beast, or at least close enough to get the job done for one night." He gave a big enthusiastic grin and, since he wasn't invited to help with the rigging, turned his attention to preparing a fire. Especially since the guys he was so far sharing the space with didn't seem to be what he'd consider 'chatty'. That was okay, the horse he'd been traveling with wasn't much of a conversationalist either despite his repeated attempts.

This was going to be a long evening for his laconic friends, and probably the horse, as he was more than content to carry a conversation all by himself. He chuckled to himself and grabbed his gear off his horse, saddle bags and pack, and thumped them down by the empty fire pit. A hatchet came out and he started shaving down one of the pieces of wood that was stacked by the same followed by splitting it into kindling sized sticks to build a wood pyramid over the shavings he'd stacked in the middle of the pit. He placed a couple of larger pieces along the outer edge of the pit to get heated by the fire he was about to start. A small bag made of oiled leather came out of his pack next. He picked a small wad of cotton-wool out, frayed it out, and set it inside the stack of kindling amongst the wood shavings. Flint and steel came out of the bag next, followed by a couple of good sparkings, and then the fling and steel went right back into the bag before he closed it solidly.

Setting the oiled leather bag aside he blew into the stack of wood, causing light to flare. Just a bit at first, but it started to grow, and the crackle of a fledgling fire greeted them just about the time the other two were hanging up their ship's sail. "Not as good as three walls but worlds better than just the one would've been. I'd have just made a tent and let the horse say under the main part if I'd had the whole thing to myself." He gave a helpless shrug but grabbed his saddlebags to proportion out feed for the horse, pulling the animal's tack off and making sure it was settled while keeping an eye on the young fire in the pit. He moved some more fuel onto it at one point but didn't really settle down beside it to build it into a cooking fire until he had his animal sorted. He played a cheeky stacking game with some of the firewood, too, building a reflector wall that would increase the amount of heat they'd all three have to share amongst themselves.

Andrew nodded at the comment of a tent, thinking it was a good idea for the future. "I was personally debating about staying in the boat until the rain passed a bit, but then the horse would be stuck in the rain." He shook his head "Not that it's the only animal we have with us." It was only then that he looked over Hammish, his near constant companion and boar. The boar had found a spot to lay that was warm and Andrew just huffed at it. Then his gaze went over to Morris' goat, finding her much closer to the fire, and gave a snort. Honestly...that animal would wind up supper at that rate. Shaking his head he joined the stranger at the fire, glad for the added warmth and gave a grin. "Andrew Johansen, and that is Morris" he pointed to his dwarf friend, who grunted in greeting. "He's a bit shy, don't mind him." 

Then and only then did he take off a few soaked items from his person and stretched out before giving a shiver. Sitting by the fire, he ran a hand through his hair and was glad to rid it of some water. "I sure am glad you came along! I'm from Vanyar originally, but it's been years since I've seen the lands..." Andrew rubbed his arms then was surprised to see a blanket being held out to him from Morris. Blinking he chuckled and took the handmade item and wrapped it around himself with a grateful sigh. It was just like Morris to keep a blanket or two in his pack, hand knitted by the dwarf himself. Morris then surprised him by offering a second blanket to the stranger, making Andrew raise his brows a bit. 

Kerr Blackwood

"That doesn't sound like a half-bad backup plan. I hear those things are supposedly designed to keep water out." Kerr glanced at the boat in question, juxtaposed as it was in the back of a wagon on proverbial dry land. "Mostly," he concluded. As fascinating as the situation was he decided to put off asking about just why there was a boat in a wagon, a fair ways inland. Instead, he returned his mind to the matter of shelter. "I can't recommend enough including a tarp or three in your travel gear, big ones if you're going to stick to the wagon option. So many great things you can do with them with a little thought and some ingenuity. If I hadn't come across the two of you I would have ended up leaving the walls open and set mine up as cone shaped one with the fire pit inside, that's some of the best sleep you can get on a snowy night. Keep the fire small and it's pretty good for cold and rainy too."

He let his gaze follow his one companion's to the two smaller animals they were apparently keeping around. Bit much for two men to go about eating... maybe the goat was for milk? He could get behind that. Goat's milk had gotten him through the first few days of his life until old Serbo had figured out he could eat solid foods. "Safety in numbers, right?" He gave the rhetorical question as his way of accepting the animals as they were, no judgments from him. He had a habit of talking to his horses as if they were all the same animal rather than the long string of stolen, captured, bought, rented, and won animals that they were. He wasn't about to criticize someone for having pets. And then he got introductions, he loved introductions. "Kerr Blackwood: roving mercenary, traveling guardsman, occasional merchant extraordinaire at your service." He gave the bow he could manage while sitting on the ground cross-legged, which amounted to a flourish of his hand and an angled incline of his head with a touch of shoulder movement for flair. "It is my indescribable honor to make both of your acquaintance."

"Oh, quite understandable. A few weeks off on some adventure or another and it could feel like your hometown itself had been rearranged if you didn't know better. Life is ever moving, as they say. I was only familiar with this shelter as I've spent the last two weeks riding this road back and forth in search of a particular person to complete a job set to me by a headman in the next town up." Kerr smiled warmly at the man's companion offering him a blanket. Sometimes it was nice not to travel alone. Not that Kerr would ever make a habit of traveling with company but he could see the charm of it all the same. He, too, blinked in surprise when offered a blanket. He took it with both hands reverently. "Why, thank you friend." He looked about and finally settled on setting it atop one of the piles of wood still folded before unfolding himself instead. He pulled the great hooded cape off and set it aside. Next he removed his weapon belt, the sword and war knife in separate sheaths but obviously meant to stay together even if their hilts hadn't been perfectly matched.

There was a pair of belt daggers set into the back of the belt in a way that he could draw one with each hand at the same time as they would lay across the back of his waist when the belt was buckled. He wrapped the belt around the sword and war knife sheaths and then stabbed the whole contraption into the ground just behind where he'd been sitting, the iron shod tip of the sheath digging into the dirt efficiently. He then draped his cloak over the entire assemblage carefully, flairing it out to capture any heat from the fire that got past him. He untucked his fine linen shirt and sat down again, pulling the blanket he'd been given about his shoulders and shaking his head to fluff out his blond hair again. "There, that should see me swiftly back to sorts in no time at all. So, what brings you back home, Andrew? And in such august company," he waved his hand across the boar, the goat, the dwarf, and the boat. He felt like there was a children's rhyme in there somewhere.

Andrew got as comfortable as he could as their new and likely temporary companion introduced himself. Kerr Blackwood eh? Andrew adjusted his hold on the blanket around him as he listened, and noticed Morris look his way more than once. Kerr had a lot of jobs it sounded like, not that there was anything wrong with that.

"Oh, we were both sailors. It's been years since I've been home, and Morris..." He trailed off and looked at his friend with a light frown. Why was Morris here with him? As far as he knew, his Dwarf friend wasn't from the same area. Morris met his gaze "What? I can't leave ya to your own devices. You'd likely do somethin' reckless and die lad." His friend said, surprising a chuckle from Andrew.

"Fair enough," he said with a smile then turned his attention back to Kerr. "We are also merchants, so I figure going back home would be the best. The market there is quite nice...I'm sure we could sell our wares..." Andrew rubbed at his eyes some, starting to feel a bit tired now that he wasn't moving. "There is no river or other waterway that we can sail on to reach my homeland, so the cart was the solution. After that, we will likely fully rely on my boat."

Kerr Blackwood

Kerr added another log to the fire, making it a bit large for the pit it was in but opting to over do the heat at the beginning to try to get them dried off and warmed up now that they had some shelter from the storm beyond the standing stones. He listened to the story of the two being sailors and heading home, his eyebrows coming up in curiosity when Andrew apparently realized he didn't know why Morris was along for the ride. Kerr tilted his head and reassessed the Dwarf at that point, mysterious motives always a matter of interest for the secret Judicar. Not that he was the bad kind of suspicious about either of the other two at this point, it was just in his nature to unravel mysteries when he could. But just like with most other things that were obvious mysteries he found that often people were all too happy to explain the situation away if he just waited a few extra minutes, he wouldn't even need to ask.

This matter turned out exactly that way, too, as Morris so carefully avoided saying it was a personal interest of some sort in Andrew that he might as well have yelled it was about a personal interest in Andrew. The statement was protective, the words used suggested perhaps a fatherly nature to it. Kerr had been raised by a Half-Orc so he wasn't gonna judge Andrew's good luck in the matter and even less so the paternal instinct of Morris if indeed that was the situation. It didn't sound sinister, at any rate, so Kerr considered the mystery resolved for the time being and pending any further information. Though the constant glances the Dwarf was throwing at the man was starting to stack into a clue all its own. It went on the back burner for the time being. "Never hurts to have someone watching your back, especially a volunteer. Paid protection can't even provide that kind of peace of mind."

The boat situation was explained as well, the two being described by Andrew as fellow merchants. They were going to a market that at least one of them was familiar with, to make a new start of things Kerr figured though he didn't pin that onto the situation board in his head. "Knowing the market is what got me into the habit of doing a little mercantilism, along with the fact that some of the poorer folk who hire me as a mercenary have to pay via barter. Can sometimes make a profit off my pay if I know where to trade a goose for gold, if you know what I mean." He gave a chuckle as he pleasantly related his own experience with the markets. "I've met a few river traders, I figure it has its own challenges but they never seem to be in the market for a guard so it must be safer than the wagon trains." He tended to sign on with any wagon going in the direction he was, sometimes in return for nothing more than a little space in said wagon. Always getting paid, no matter what he was doing, was the key to staying in the black. An old habit left over from his genuine mercenary days.

"Not thinking about going to the Midsummer Solstice festivities in Thisbē, then?"

Andrew frowned a little at the comment of someone watching his back. Though he was glad of Morris' company...he could protect himself just fine. He had his harpoon and bow with him after all. Not that Morris went without weapons either, it was just that a bola and blowdart pipe tended to be a bit more subtle. Adjusting his weight, he was feeling a slight discomfort at how the subject changed to trading goods, though he also nodded easily at Kerr's words.

The stranger seemed to have a story for everything so far, which meant he was likely well traveled if only by land. Trying to shake himself of his unease, which had not truly been earned by the so far friendly company, Andrew raised his head in interest at the next change of subject. "A festival? This is the first I'm hearing of it." He didn't even bother checking with Morris this time, sure that his dwarf friend had not heard news of it either, since they were traveling together.

Kerr Blackwood

"Not that you can't take care of yourselves each on your own, it's just that so long as the gods smile on us and want us to be happy there will always be places that are both interesting and too dangerous to visit solo. And lots of reasons why one would indeed have to visit those places solo." There was nothing in the world as enriching as a misadventure or as empowering as a near death experience. Well, at least nothing was to the sort of soul that ended up living their life as a Judicar like Kerr. His job, his calling, was chasing the most vile beings in the world back to their dens in the most dangerous places occupied by men and mer. There was a term for it, others brought it up every now and then... oh, yes! Death wish. Kerr smiled all the more warmly at his fire companions at the thought. Misunderstood was another way of saying mysterious and the ladies loved him a little mysterious.

"Same festival that's held every year, the big one just happens to be in Thisbē this year because of some... well, lets say 'money mismanagement' on the part of the usual host. Thisbē, of course, wants to make an even bigger shindig out of it than usual for the big shindig, lots of nobles, merchants from all across the continent, trouble, adventure, beautiful... whatever trips your respective triggers." He made sure that Morris was within his line of sight when he suggested that last little bit. Where the dwarf looked, or steadfastly refused to look, would say a lot. "Point being, it's a grand opportunity for anyone looking for opportunities. Like, say, a new beginning." He chuckled to himself as he brought the whole thing full circle, connecting it to the man that had spoken of such earlier in their conversation. "Midsummer. Ah, memories." He seemed to reminisce.

A festival that was held every year... Andrew was sure he vaguely recalled something like that from his younger days. If nobles went...and merchants...then surely his family had as well. "Hmm..." It did seem like the perfect place and time to try and sell some of their wares. 

"I guess it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to make for Thisbe." There was at least a river...he thinks. Andrew shakes his head and soon yawns. "We can figure it out later, eh Morris?" He asks with a look to his friend, and the dwarf nods. They both ignore the quip about finding someone to spend especially warm company with. Andrew felt too old for such nonsense now, and as far as he knew, Morris wasn't really that interested in it. 

"For now, I think I will at least try to get some sleep. You two can chat though if you wish." Andrew says then chuckles. He more than knows that Morris tends to be on the quiet side. Still, he was sure that this Kerr character was much like him, in that he could chat away without proper responses. "Night!" He says cheerfully enough, then just lays where he was sitting. 

Kerr Blackwood

Après moi le déluge

A strange rumble began to roar with increasing volume, soon drowning out the sounds of the torrential rain and booming thunder. Suddenly, a huge rush of water surged through the camp, sweeping the men and their beasts out into the chaos of the tempestuous night.


Andrew Johansen, Morris, Kerr Blackwood

"Nothing like a good journey with hope of better at the other end," Kerr concluded on the subject seeing as they'd decided to discuss it amongst themselves later. Since he'd been excluded from the conversation he got the distinct idea that he wasn't invited along for that leg of their adventure, which was fine, so he settled himself on the idea of being the friendly stranger for a few miles the day after and then going his own way. He wasn't much for water travel anyway, it neither excited him nor comforted him the way having solid land under his feet did. He could deal with just about anything that happened on the ground, even if it was just recovering from it after the fact. He looked out into the pouring rain with an inward smile. Even rain and dark of night.

He gave a grand smile to the man before he laid down and figured there was as good as anywhere, especially for the task of drying out. He then looked toward Morris with that same cheerful expression and switched to Dwarvish. "I speak your mother tongue, if that makes you more comfortable." He was watching the dwarf's face for a reaction, both to see if he'd understood it and if it was being taken well, when the rumble finally came to Kerr's attention. His own face turned contemplative, his eyebrows slowly coming together as it worked its way up to not just a sound behind the rain but one that was competing with it... not just louder, but closer. Kerr was too late to catch on but he tried anyway, leaping to his feet and grabbing his weapons out of where they stuck in the ground. "FLASH FLOOD!" He shouted as he dashed toward one of the standing stones, thinking to scale the cleats that had been hammered into them when the place was put together. Just managing to get the cross guard of his sword hooked on one to free his hands on the run when the water swept his feet out from under hm leaving his weapons and rain cloak hanging up high...