((sarright. just keeping the thread semi-memorable. I'd hate to have another story die before it finishes.))
He would nod, seeming to understand.
"Out of curiosity, could you teach me some basics of your language while we travel? I would prefer not to be entirely in the dark when we reach your lands."
He would await the response of the knight, before following up with a second question.
"That reminds me. Who were your two companions? I normally try to keep people alive, but I doubt it would of been wise for me to fight a second knight, let alone a man who can produce fire from nothing. I doubt the latter of the two would of been anywhere near as receptive to me caring for them, either."
Regardless of the response gained from the knight on both topics, he would start to follow the western route into the desert, leading the mule in one hand, and keeping his blade ready in the other. without both hands, his gun was beyond useless, and he did not bring a pistol either. Not last he checked, anyway.
((I'll try my bestest to not let this die before we get some resolution.))
"No. It is not my place to teach our dialect, I am no teacher. The dialect is not spoken much anymore anyway, the common tongue prevails in the big cities. I will translate where necessary.
You are right, the mage would not have stopped attacking. He was a cruel man and I do not feel sad for his passing. The other knight was a mercenary like me. We never spoke beyond what was necessary for our job, but he seemed professional."He shrugs
"It is the danger of this line of work to die."The two of you start making your way through the western route. The going is slow since you're travelling with a practically one legged man and a stubborn mule. [?] Thankfully, this day's walking is peaceful, you do not come across anyone else on the road. When night starts falling, you've [?] made very good progress, you're about 30-35% on the way to the village in the middle of the route if you read the map right. If you make camp here and start again at dawn, you'll make it to the village just past noon. You can make camp on one side of the road, next to a large boulder. A bit away from the other side of the road you also spot some ruins. It isn't much, a small stone rectangle in the sand with an oval round roof. The walls around the building could come in handy though. For the record, you do have a sidearm. Your bog standard m1911a1 service pistol. You also have a bayonet knife, with a loop to attach it to the end of your rifle.
Lead the men through the back door, silently as possible. Try to get them into formation - what formation? Uhmm... I think a curved surround is the best.
[sneaky roll=2] You and the guards are just through the door and about to get in formation when a sudden gale slams the door shut. The sound makes the bird snap his head to your direction. It looks straight at you with its beady eyes and blood soaked beak and lets out a piercing shriek. It quickly darts forward towards the guards who [1+1 from magnificent aura] don't manage to scramble out of the way fast enough. It slams into the frontmost guards, sending him flying backwards and into a wooden pillar, which cracks under the force. It then snaps its beak around, tearing off most of the second guard's neck. The bird quickly turns and generates some distance as the second guards head lolls around a bit before he falls dead to the ground. The guards who got thrown back stands back up and closes in with the rest of you, but he's obviously hurt.
”Can I meet the Lady or your mother? I like the flowers on your back, by the way.”
"Thank you!" The little rhino beams "I like your furs! They look warm and comfy! You can totally meet mom! She's currently gone to do something with the lady. Let's go, I know the way!"
You follow the rhino into the forest. At first it seems like it's just wandering in a random direction, but you can't help but feel that it's actually following a very complicated path. After quite a while of walking through the dense forest, you come upon a very large clearing. In the center of it there is a gigantic tree, it's trunk easily wide enough to fit a whole house into it. Following the rhino around, you see that the tree is actually made up out of many many intertwining roots packed together so densely that it looks like a single trunk from a distance. The little rhino gives up a yelp and rushes forward, towards another moss rhino. This one much larger, standing nearly twice your height. It is adorned with similar flowers as the little one, but has many more of them. The two rhinos bumb horns in an affectionate kind of way. You look towards the tree again and notice a woman standing on one of the roots, not too far from the larger rhino.
Also, cast True Seeing on myself and Peace Knight.
((bold yo actions))
You cast teleportation anchor and true seeing on both of you before heading out into the forest again. Peace knight follows you, with his looted armour and an old sword resting on his shoulder.
"I am not sure that going to the center of the forest is the best of ideas. This place is ancient, and I feel as if we would be wise not to anger its guardians."Regardless, you press on. After much getting lost and following tracks that might not have actually been tracks, you arrive at what you suppose is the center of the forest. In the distance you see a gigantic tree. ((Please see the Lawatooshort's turn for the description))
Off the side, in the distance you see four figures. Two rhinos made out of moss and bark, a lady half hidden behind a big root and a smaller man covered in furs.