Duty Session 119: Convoy Escort Quest I

There have been a lot of problems for the Lander convoys these days. In the North, travel has been particularly dangerous. Thus, there was a call put out for Adventurer aid in accompanying one of these trade groups in their journey.

A line of wagons and carts sits, waiting to head out. Anxious Landers check their mounts, double check that the goods are properly tied down, and look to the Adventurers for their protection. A burly looking man seems to be heading up the convoy, and he stands before those gathered, rubbing his nose with one sleeve. "Guess you lot will have to do." He doesn't sound impressed.

"Keep us safe, help where ya can, make sure we get to our destination, and you'll be given good coin for yer efforts." He explains, "Now, get yer sorry asses in place. We're movin' out!"

There is a raised brow given from Mikage as she looks at the caravan leader as he wanders away to his cart. The thing actually dips down when he gets onboard. "Pleasant fellow." She mutters sarcastically. "You hear that, Rama?" She looks down at her lynx companion, "Let's get our sorry asses in gear."

Coin may be a nice incentive for some of the players, but for BlackRose, it's not the money that she's here for.

It's the ability to lend a hand in a dangerous situation. Sure she might get paid, but the fact that she'll be helping those in need is an even better incentive for her. Whatever the problem is, she's sure that she and the others will be able to handle it!

"No one's gonna get in our way!" BlackRose says as she looks around with a determined look on her face. "We're gonna get this convoy through one way or another!"

    The Lander Leader probably isn't impressed because Yuuki is currently lounging in the back of one of the carts. She leans her back against one of the large crates it is carrying, arm propped up with her head resting against her hand.

    As the caravan leader explains their purposes, Yuuki opens her eyes to watch. She then grins and raises her hand to give a thumbs up, "Not to worry, mister! We've got this covered. You can count on us!"

    Yuuki then goes back to lounging.

    Baroness Wake arches an eyebrow at the rather rude comments from the leader of this enterprise. Still, there's a job to do, and regardless of his attitude, she means to keep him and the others alive. She grins and directs her attention to Yuuki.
    "Dear Yuuki, are you sure you are protecting the goods, or are you merely booking travel at a low price?" she teases playfully. She's in remarkably good spirits at the moment, and not in her normal, stately garb. Today, it seemed that the Right Clothes are for travel, including a most practical pair of brown trousers and a blue blouse, and a pale gray cloak is wound over it all for comfort.

Syx hadn't done one of these in a while, maybe he was a little out of practice. He never really did well interacting with the Landers anyway even before they were all stuck here forever.

He sure as hell doesn't like getting spoken down to by the guy running this convoy, that's for sure. But he won't break the dude in half, at least not yet.

"Come on, brother. You've got the best adventurers that money can buy on your side right now." The tall Salamdander says, boastfully, "So maybe just chill your ass down a little, dig?"

     Really, being unimpressed when faced with Pela as an escort isn't /that/ strange. She's not exactly the most intimidating of figures compared to most adventurers, but she is quite obviously still an adventurer, which holds some sway with Landers on how strong she might be, at least. "You can count on us." Pela responds though. Focused on a job, she seems to be in her 'short but non-stuttery' kind of mindset.

     It is notable that, beyond a certain exception, she seems to be gravitating more towards the landers of the caravan than the other adventurers, making smalltalk with them, and actually talking about a certain Adventurer Venture that was going on in the lands that they might be interested. There was possibly a small exchange of coin as well, a single coin. Possibly some sort of 'thank you for your time' kind of thing among merchant sorts.

     Afterwards, she returns to the person who she's gravitating towards who happens to be... the Baroness Wake! She gives a small smile towards Yuuki. "...You helped a lot on the wave fight. It was good."

    Miyako was in the area tracking down rumours of... something that she hasn't been talking about much. She's mostly been sitting in local taverns and buying drinks for people and listening to stories. When she heard about the merchant convoys having trouble, she decided she might as well check it out and see if she could help. It's a nice little break from her other things, and she can take the time to let the information she's gathered percolate.

    Of course, it also comes with other benefits, which she discovers as she walks up to join the group. She spots Yuuki first, perched atop the cart, and waves, then she sights a familiar head of pinkish-white hair and grins. "Well well well," she calls. "I spy with my little eye, a beautiful flower to light up the sky. Hey, Rosie. Way too long no see."

The portly looking Lander just looks over at Syx, scrunches his nose, and then opens his mouth to say something when another voice pipes up from one of the other nearby carts.

A small, mousey-looking human who is not only wire thin, but very short comes huffing and puffing up towards the group. "Are you /really/ going to accept this sorry lot?" He asks, waving vaguely at the group of gathered adventurers. "I mean, /look/ at them!" He squints. It's hard to tell what he sees or doesn't see in the group.

The Caravan leader gives a tired sort of sigh, "We don't have time for this."

"I will not budge my cart one inch until these... would-be Adventurers prove themselves!" The merchant stomps his foot.

As much as the leader had given them a hard time, it seems that he is not their largest problem. The chubby Lander just motions at them. "Best get on with it. Otherwise we'll never get on the road."

    Yuuki gets teased by Wake, the Imp pouting for a moment, "Heyyyyyyy!" But she then grins, "You know I'm good enough to do both!"

    At this point Pela gravitates her way over in their direction. Yuuki gives her a brief laugh in reply, "Really? That guy was good. I couldn't get a proper hit in. So not sure how much help I was." Yuuki grins, "That was fun though. I really hope I get to run into those two again. Though I think it'd be nice to just talk with them."

    Yuuki spots Miyako joining the group, giving her a wave in reply. But then a rude lander butts in, claiming that they're not going anywhere if they don't prove themselves. Yuuki stares at him for a moment.

    She then waves her hand dismissively, "Nah, I don't need to prove myself to you. I already know I'm good and if you can't tell that. Well that's your loss!" She goes back to lounging.

"Hello hello, Miyako," BlackRose says with a smile, before looking to the landers as her smile turns into a scowl.

"Qualified? What are you talking about?" She narrows an eye and takes on a strong stance. "Just because we don't look qualified doesn't mean we can't help you!" She takes a deep breath and blows it out but maintains her stern stance. "I think you should give us a chance!"

    There was a time when Baroness Wake was known throughout the land for getting into places that were thought unreachable, for recovering that which could never be recovered. To be questioned now like this is.. not really offensive, but simply fascinating. She murmurs to herself, "How the mighty have fallen."
    That being said, the legends of the past have given way to a new Baroness, and she steps forward, saying, "You do realize we can count among those present a Champion and others who stood fast against the Wave? Does that change nothing in your eyes?" There's a change in her posture, subtle in a way, but palpable nonetheless. Though she be dressed as a traveler for now, her posture and carriage is better fit for a queen before her throne.

     Oh good, a mousy little merchant poked up out of nowhere to cause problems it seems! Calling them into question on if they can actually do it or not. Pela gives a soft exhale, shaking her head. She muses on how to handle it, her arms crossed over her chest and one finger resting on her chin thoughtfully. "Mmm~. Well, you see, the fact we didn't outright lose with the odds stacked against us somewhat like they were... it's probably pretty good that we managed to all survive, with relatively minimal casualties to the lander forces as well." Pela muses. Which probably doesn't help their case.

     Meanwhile, the order to 'prove themselves'. Hmm. How to prove herself. Really her skills aren't the super flashy things one might actually want for that. So she actually opts for the simple option! She just starts to gently push the merchant back towards their cart. Her negotiation skills weren't the greatest at times, it seems! "Come come, let's just get on with this."

"That's stupid." Syx says, shaking his head a bit. He decides to just ignore the Lander, and then continue to help with loading some of the goods onto the last of the wagons. He doesn't have to prove himself to anybody, and if this guy doesn't think they're worth the money, well, he's more than able to cancel the whole trip. No skin off Syx's nose, as far as he's concerned. He'll always find something new to do.

    Miyako grins back at Blackrose, then claps her on the shoulder as she joins the group. "Good to see everyone again," she adds, "Been too long." She hums a little tune as she watches the merchants make their preparations.

    Her smile fades as the one merchant demands 'proof' of their qualifications. "Really?" she asks. "I guess you don't want to make any money, then." She shrugs. "If you don't want to make the trip, then I'm sure everyone else will be glad not to have the competition."

Mikage isn't exactly a person known for feats of strength, but she does have some unique ranged skills. She grabs a bow from one of the nearby Lander guards, snatches one of his arrows, and then shoots it past the merchant's ear. It comes just a bit /too/ close to him in her frustration, though.

The merchant crosses his arms over his chest, clearly even more unimpressed with them than the caravan leader had been. "See? This is what I'm talking about. I bet they could be blown over by a stiff breeze!" He should really be speaking for himself.

With a growling undertone, the Caravan leader seems to be quite irritated with the delay. As he steps down, his form shifts into that of a very large lizard, though he still seems to keep that portly belly of his. "I've had enough with ye. Get back in yer cart and shut the hell up or I'll turn ye into my next meal." Apparently, the Caravan leader is a Were Fang, who doesn't like to be questioned.

With a sound that seems more likely to come out of a young girl than a grown man, the merchant retreats, hiding inside his cart.

The Caravan leader turns to them, flicks a tongue in their direction, then grunts. "Let's get moving." He is clearly unhappy, even from the start.

At least they do manage to get on the road, though it isn't long before they run into the first sign of trouble. Monsters. Undead are common in this area, and it is a group of skeleton warriors who they have stumbled into. "Guard the caravan!"

    You know, sometimes things just don't go your way. This is one of those times. After all, Skeletons are weak to light, and Baroness Wake knows how to use light magic. She lashes out with a beam of pure light, and inexplicably watches it have, to put it mildly, little more than a cosmetic impact.
    "I hope that we run into something that requires stealth, because that result makes me wish to hide for a while," comments Wake glibly. If she's frustrated, it doesn't show. She's actually smiling. "Back is against the wall now," she adds more softly. More confidently she ends, "Exactly where I like it."

     Luckily they get to go forward! The merchant is barked into order by the lead merchant! And Pela seems to be okay with this outcome. It's not /great/ but it's ... something! It's something. She shifts her tail back and forth slowly with a small amount of agitation.

     Aaand.... there's a monster scout! Which is unfortunately too far to reasonably get to. And there's even /more/ that are up on the ridges around them! Pela lifts her hands, flicking out several throwing daggers at the monsters! Which... are not suited to this range of combat. Unfortunately. And it quickly becomes a slog of a battle, as arrows rain down and Pela is spending the rest of her time trying to evade the incoming attacks.

     "Of course it's not a situation I can close distance." Pela mutters under her breath, her ears pinned against her head with a displeased little grimace. She can just see that little mousy little merchant in the back of her mind like 'Yeah called it!!!' or something.

Not one to dwell on things going downhill, BlackRose simply puts her best game face on and tries to keep things going. She sighs a little but looks to Miyako and says, "Gotta keep at it."

She's got a good point it turns out.

Some time later, skeletons appear and BlackRose scowls a little. "Leave this to me!" BlackRose says as she uses her sword to deflect the arrows away from the caravan. "You won't get the best of us!"

    Hahaha, that'll teach him. Yuuki likes the caravan leader more now. But it's time to depart!

    The cart is rumbling along the path, Yuuki relaxing in the rear. However, soon her pointy ears twitch. The Imp sits up. Something has triggered her Searching skill!

    Yuuki quickly vaults over the side of the cart, landing on the ground and drawing her sword. Just in time too as the skeletal warriors are soon upon them!

    Yuuki finds herself on the defensive as several swarm her. She's slowly getting pushed back, losing ground to the assault. But she just laughs, responding to Wake, "That's right! No fun if it's not a challenge!"

All the skeletons attacking from range, Syx really wants to rush over there and attack them in close quarters, but it's not to be at the moment, because they're too far away and he has no weapons that can manage to attack at range.

So instead he does his best to try to defend the convoy, putting up walls of flames to try to absorb arrows. But he's not really good at /defending/ things, he's good at punching things until they stop moving, so his flame walls are pretty weak.

    Miyako smiles with satisfaction as she sees the unruly merchant bludgeoned into compliance and the group moving on. /Finally/. She takes a perch on one of the carts, like Yuuki, and gets out her guitar to entertain as the group carries on along.

    And then: Skeletons on the hill. A swipe of her hand over the menu replaces her guitar with her familiar naginata, and she gives it a twirl before letting out a streak of shadow at one of the skeletons, smashing it asunder.

    Too bad it's not the only one.

It seems to be the day of stealing bows fom people, as Mikage is quick to loot the same guard when he is frantically looking to defend the cart. "I think I'll be a fair bit better with these than you are." She starts to fire arrows back at the skeleton armies, managing to pick off a couple of them.

The skeletons have the high ground, and that seems to work to their advantage. It makes it harder to strike back against them, and it gives them an easy ability to fire arrows at many different parts of the caravan. One flaming arrow manages to set the mousey Merchant's cart ablaze, but it is luckily put out by one of the other nearby Landers.

With the Adventurers not able to make any significant headway in reducing the monster numbers, the irritated Caravan leader barks, "Run! Get those pekos moving!"

He apparently decides that it is better to simply try to out run them. However, his angry expression shows that he is going to remember this. The skeletons close in on the group, but the various cart drivers begin to get them moving. The skeletons aren't fast, which is the caravan's only saving grace.

The rest of the day seems to go by without incident, at least until the group stops for an evening rest and meal. It's at that point that they all realize the mousey merchant, who's cart had been set on fire... was the one carrying the group's food supplies.

"Looks like it'll be a lean night for all." The lizard Were Fang grunts. "Empty bellies." He laments, patting his oversized one. Perhaps the Adventurers could lend a hand?

Ah hah, finally something that Syx can actually do good at. He grabs his fishing pole out of his inventory, and wanders off away from the convoy. He saw a river a little way's back, and he should be able to get something pretty good from there.

Sure enough, it takes a little while, but the Salamander comes back with several Steelhead Trout strung together on a line, "Alright I hope y'all like fish because it was either that or tree bark."

    After the disaster with the Bun-Buns, Wake is considered banned from cooking. Plus her fiance promised to never let her hear the end of her gastric-explosion stew. At least it tasted so bad that nobody ate enough to suffer much from the other effects.
    In light of this, Baroness Wake directs her efforts at fishing. She has no talent for it, honestly, but it's likely she won't fish up some poisonous fish here. It takes her some tries, but eventually she feels a tug at the line! And it's actually a fish this time! While she'll never be mistaken for a master angler, she returns with a respectable catch of her own. She looks over to Syx, nodding at his catch, "Excellent work there, friend. Oh, pardon my manners. I'm Baroness Wake." In trousers, with fish in hand, she somehow manages to glide into an elegant curtsey as she introduces herself. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

     Being peppered by all of the arrows from the enemies is unpleasant, she has to quickly dip into the caravan carts to avoid losing too much health as they push forward as best as they can! She can evade a lot, but it doesn't really help out the caravan! Ugh! And here she thought this would be an easy travel to be honest!

     "...Oh, this isn't that much of a problem." Pela comments as she goes into the mousy merchant's cart, beginning to pick through things carefully. It's almost like she was working magic, her dagger going to work to the ruined foods. She doesn't try the meat, the smoke would have heavily damaged it, but she can cut apart the vegetables and rescue the parts that weren't completely ruined.

     With the fishing skills of the others, she taps her lip, before going for a cooking pot. She starts adding water to the pot rather calmly and recruits whoever she can to clean, gut, and cut up the fish while she works on a healthy and filling fish soup.

    Yuuki helps keep the skeletons at bay, buying time for the caravan to escape by placing herself at the rear. She's still on the defensive as the carts rush away, until finally they're in the clear, "Okay, time to scoot!"

    Yuuki turns and runs! She takes advantage of her petite, athletic figure-plus rather high Evasion skill-to get away from the skeletons and catch up to the convoy. With one last jump, Yuuki manages to land in the trailing cart.

    Yuuki turns around, waving goodbye to the trailing skeletons, "Better luck next time, guys!" Of course, she hasn't yet realized the true despair of their failure.

    No food!

    Come the camping, Yuuki looks despondent at the realization that they have nothing to eat. But then she lights up, "Wait! I might still have some food in my inventory!"

    Yuuki reaches behind her back, before pulling out a loaf of bread. It shatters into pixels immediately, "Ooops, durability ran out." She reaches back, this time pulling out a hand of bananas. It too shatters, "Erm..." She reaches back, pulls out a nice, juicy Crescent Burger. It shatters into light. Yuuki stares at her empty hand with sad eyes.

    No wait, the others have food! Yuuki watches on with ravenous eyes as food is prepared.

You'd think that BlackRose would be a good cook with that sword... or at least she could slice 'n' dice some food, right?

Well, she's not the best at cooking, but she tries her best. With what she's got and what she's gathered, BlackRose actually manages to cook some foodstuffs that are actually decent for a change!

    "ugh," Miyako mutters, wrinkling her nose at the results of the first attempt at cooking. "... that's not meat, that's charcoal," she says. "Let's try again, shall we?"

    She used to /like/ to cook, back in IRL. When there was time, outside of work. Today is just not her day, though, it owuld seem. "Wonder-freaking-ful," she mutters as she looks through her inventory. And realizes she ate the last of her bentos three days ago. "Yeah, sorry, Yuuki, I don't have anything either." She too has to stand back, stifle her drool, and ignore her rumbling stomach, as others actually cook a meal for the group.

"Rama and I will see if we can hunt up anything in the surrounding wilderness." Mikage reports, taking the guard's bow with her, much to his irritation. The pair are gone for a while, but when they return, they look tired and disheveled. "No such luck. I think the skeletons have pretty much scared off most of the wildlife."

At first, it looks as if the caravan has accepted that they will go hungry tonight, but then Syx and Baroness Wake arrive with fish, Pela manages to scavenge some vegetables from the damaged cart, and she and BlackRose manage to chop them up and help with the food preparation.

In the end, they manage to make a sort of fish-soup with all the gathered ingredients. It isn't the most fancy of meals, but no one in the caravan is going hungry tonight.

After all of their failures thus far, the Caravan Leader finally shifts back to human, patting his oversized belly, and giving them a nod for a job well down. "Alright, everyone. Bed down for the night. We've got an early morning ahead of us."

As the caravan gets started the next day, they seem to actually be making good time. That is, until a very fat dire peko decides to plop itself right in the center of the road. Maybe it ate the wildlife in the area? Whatever the case, it is looking at them all... hungrily.

     A lovely, tasty, simple fish stew. Good for the travel! Not so great for the next day. "Make sure you get your fill, the fish soup is going to get very fishy by morning no matter what we do to try and preserve it well. Unless you like that fishy taste, that is!" She's probably going to eat more in the morning to get the energy and such. She also opts to nibble on some of her own personal stash of travel food.

     Sleep is surprisingly easy for Pela, she just curls up in some corner with a little blanket and she seems more than content. Being compact means she also fits wherever she feels like. In the morning, travel seems to go quite well!

     Aaaand then there was a giant peko. That seems quite hungry and unwilling to move! Pela gives a soft exhale with a grin, reaching into her inventory and pulling out ... a small vial of something! When she opens it, it's quite obvious what it is just from the smell. For some ungodly, malicious, sadistic reason. She has a vial of onion juice.

     She darts in, quickly swinging that vial towards that dire peko's face and eyes! And... well. It does what onion juice does. It burns. A lot. Especially because it's directly in that dire peko's face. She stops up whatever's left of the vial, putting it back in her inventory as if nothing happened.

    The success with food does nothing to alter Baroness Wake's confidence. She already has complete faith in this team. Still, she makes a point of complimenting BlackRose and Pela for their skill at turning the raw ingredients into a total success. "Very well done! You know, it's what we do when things are hard that tell the world who we really are."
    She sleeps comfortable, after sending a few messages off to her lover, a habit that has never changed in all the years of adventuring. Even when logging out was a thing, she wanted to make sure a message was waiting for her sweetheart.
    Back on the road, she sees the Peko and shakes her head. "Well, well, well.. this should be fun." She knows she's not the only one going after that thing, but she is probably the one laughing the most. "Hey there, Pollie!" she shouts out at the bird, and then she lashes out, shadows oozing out as her attacks rain down on the creature. Quite pleased with the work, she calls out to Yuuki, "You remember that Peko riding contest we had?" She adds another attack that lands with a considerable THUMP, "I want this thing to be as sore as I was!"

A good night's sleep is always a great thing after a hard trial. BlackRose sleeps rather well.

After a nice rest, they set off again, only to encounter a giant Peko. Looks cute but very dangerous. "Sorry, but I'm afraid we're going to have to get through here!" With a few sword techniques, BlackRose attempts to make her point well known to this Peko.

    Yuuki raises a bowl of fish-soup towards Syx, Wake, Pela and BlackRose, "Three cheers for our heroes for not letting us starve!" Hooray. Hooray. Hooray. Now time to eat. It's... Interesting.

    The next day, Yuuki as at the head of the caravan, walking alongside one of the cart-pulling pekos as she pets it. However, when it starts to freak out, Yuuki looks concerned... She doesn't have to wait long to figure out what's got the bird spooked though as the giant hungry peko in the road is hard to miss. Yuuki blinks in surprise, "Yikes, that's one big bird!" Yuuki wouldn't be surprised if it had a LOT of HP... Thankfully though it looks rather plump and thus slow. So if they can just get it out of the way...

    Pela blinds the peko. That's helpful! The others try to weaken it. Wake too, to whom Yuuki laughs, "Hey, it's not my fault you didn't have the right gear for it, Miss Fancy Pants!"

    As for Yuuki. She looks around, before spotting a fallen tree. A few quick swipes from her sword and it's turned into a log. She picks it up and drags it over to the dire peko, before digging it in under the big bird's body while saying, "Give me a level big enough..." She jams the log against a rock on the side of the road and begins to push, "And i'll move the giant peko!" She puts all her physical strength into trying to get the peko to roll away.

"That is a big bird." Syx says, as he looks across at the giant Peko. And it's coming right for them. This is perfect!

The Salamander quickly jumps off of his cart and rushes ahead, whipping off his vest as he runs so that he can fully show off his upper body. There's no real need for that, he just likes doing it.

"Everybody out of the way!" He yells, as he moves to grab hold of the Peko's massive leg, and using all of his strength, throw the thing off of its feet and, in theory, out of the way of the convoy.

    It is perhaps a good thing that Miyako has kept her naginata out this time. She was half suspecting something like this would happen today. And so, of course, it does.

    "I double-dog-dare you to try to ride this big boy," she calls over to Wake after hearing of the 'riding contest'. "Think you could get it saddled, even?" She shakes her head doubtfully and advances with the rest to engage it in combat, her blade whirling about her as she flips the haft from hand to hand in a showy display.

    "Guess we're having chicken for dinner tonight."

Things are not looking good for the overal morale of things. BlackRose has been trying to be positive, but seeing the others in a negative mood isn't helping.

With a sigh, BlackRose tries to think of something to do. Then she suddenly comes up with an idea to try to make people smile. She tries to break into a song of sorts in hopes of raising everyone's spirits...

Unfortunately, she's very off-key. After a few seconds, she sighs and looks to the others. "You wanna try?"

At first, the Peko just snaps at anyone who comes close. But then Pela steps forward and launches that vial of onion juice at it, causing it to squawk as it gains a 'blinded' status effect. The creature still sits there, but without being able to see where the attacks are coming from, it is all too easy for Baroness Wake's darkness, and BlackRose's and Miyako's swords.

Mikage joins in the fray, the Were Fang trying to make sure that the bird is distracted from the others as another team tries to get the bird to move fully out of the way.

Yuuki's use of leverage manages to start pushing the fat bird, and Syx has no problems tugging it by the leg the rest of the way. It snaps at them, sure, but due to being blinded, the attacks fall far from their target. Between the attacks and being shoved and pulled off the road, the bird finally gets to its feet, ruffling out feathers and stomping away. The caravan can continue, even if the massive peko lives to see another day, it seems.

As the caravan stops for the second night, there is a general feeling of unease from the Landers. It has been a difficult journey, and most people seem tired, hungry, and unhappy. A group of Landers sit around the fire, poking at it with sticks, while others seem to just lounge on their carts without engaging socially. Perhaps the Adventurers could do something to lift their spirits?

    With the bird overcome, Baroness Wake focuses on what lies ahead. Though she will say, "The pants were ruined, but I did hold on a full ten seconds!" Sure, she held on to one of the peko's legs and was dragged for five of those seconds, but it's technically a victory.
    And then there is the camp at night. Did someone die? Wake decides the key to getting people smiling is to sing a comic song, about the dim-witted servants of Lord Sumigawa. It's actually a funny tale, involving several times where kanji are misread for ridiculous effect. It's all the better that it ties to an old quest. However, it's not nearly as funny to those who count the dim-witted servants as distant family members. Baroness Wake eventually stops, when it's clear that she's not pleasing the landers one bit.

     That poor Peko. Blinded, beaten, and then dragged off the road. At least it seemingly gets to go about its business with its life still! Probably! Meanwhile, Pela sits there and kind of watches the Peko to make sure it doesn't come back in a blinded rage or something after being treated that way!

     The travel is ... tiring! And there's been difficulties on every leg of this journey, so it's really no surprise that by the time they stop for the second night, morale seems to be quite low among the landers.

     As usual, Pela is more or less prepared for most things. Unlike last time, where the food was scavenged, the way everyone is down in the dumps prompts Pela to opt for a simple, filing, and tasty treat to help bring moods back up.

    She reaches into her pack and pulls out a variety of various wild berries and she sneaks in some beets which she seems to have had sitting around, some flour, a couple of cluck cluck eggs, and a pot which she begins to cut up the beets and put the berries into, humming absently the whole time as she does. Once she's done cutting up the beets, she pulls out a piece of sugarcane, which she breaks off a few pieces of the sweet liquid-filled pulp from, and she's soon carefully squeezing the sweet liquid in over the fruit and beets. Finally, she makes a simple doughy top for the sweet pot, and hangs it over the fire to begin to bake.

    Of course, with how down the landers seem. Not even sweets might be enough to lift their spirits.

    The Dire Peko has been shuffled off to go and harass some other caravan. Hooray! Back on the path they get.

    As they stop to camp for the final night, Yuuki sits quietly on one of the crates. She looks around, noticing the rather sullen mood. It's not surprising. It's been difficult to get this far. But they're almost there... They just need to cheer everyone up. And who's better at that than Yuuki?

    Wake seems to have a similar idea. And as she starts to sing, Yuuki opens her mouth and takes a breath to join in.

    But the Imp suddenly goes into a massive coughing fit. Wow that doesn't sound good. Did she accidentally inhale something? Whatever the reason, she's definitely not cheering anyone up like that!

Doing stuff to lift their spirits. Syx isn't entirely sure what to do, as he looks around at all the Landers. He rubs at his chin a little bit, and then he gets an idea. He hops up onto one of the carts, and clears his throat.

And then he starts to sing, and what is he singing? His entrance theme from NJPW. Anyone who might know anything about professional wrestling should recognize it, but even if they don't it's still a pretty uptempo song to allow folks to jam out to it.

    Miyako smiles to herself as the Dire Peco is driven off. "Bye-bye, dinner!" she calls after it, chuckling lightly, and turns to hi-five Blackrose. And so the trip goes on.

    Evening brings Landers down in the dumps, and she gets out her guitar to do some entertaining. She plays along with the others who try their hand at singing, a little smile on her face as she enjoys the effort.

    Eventually, she tries her hand at singing herself.

        ./~ We are crossing the water, our whole life through
        ./~ We are making a passage that is straight and true
        ./~ Every heart is a vessel, every dream is a light
        ./~ Shining through the darkness of the blackest night.

    And on in that vein. Her smile widens as a few of the Landers start to sing along, even though the songs are completely unfamiliar to them.

Entertainment is not one of Mikage's strong points, even on the best of days. While a few of the others try to raise their voices in song, the Ranger opens her mouth and a bit of sound comes out... only to have Rama stick himself right into her face. She tries again - insert cat. "What the hell, Rama?" She asks, trying to shove him off. The sight of her fighting with her familiar might be more entertaining than the singing, but no one seems all that amused.

Though the Adventurers try, they just don't seem to be able to rouse the spirits of the Landers by much. A few join in songs, or offer a smile for the attempts, but eventually, the Landers wander off to their beds, looking pensive and worried about the day to come.

And that day does come. Everyone seems tired, as if worry had kept them from sleeping well. Luckily, the group is almost to their final destination. It's just over that hill.

That's when a group of Adventurers come running up, "Oh, hey! This is the convoy quest, right? Can we join?" They seem enthusiastic, but this is just the sort of circumstance where they might just muscle the existing Adventurers out of their full reward.

     Nope, no real fun to be had tonight. Not even the sweets work! How wonderful! Pela gives a soft exhale at that, opting to try to find someone receptive to curl up against and let the sweets cook slowly overnight in the coals so they have a decent treat for morning at least.

     Travel resumes. Everyone is tired it seems, many of them seem to be a bit crabby, even. But travel is going ... reasonable, at least. Until, right at the end of their quest... some people hop on. "...What? No. The quest starts about two days back that way, you can't just hop on in the middle here. That's not how quests work." Pela says, her brain briefly slipping into solo player and game mode out of tiredness and surprise from the arrival of the adventurers.

    If there's one thing that Baroness Wake is incredibly well equipped to do, it is argue what is right, and what is wrong. It is fortunate for the other adventurers that she's opting for a social means of resolving the conflict, honestly. Cause if these interlopers think they are stealing a part of this reward, a well-meaning thumping is truly in order.
    Wake makes her arguments simply, and once again she taps into her most imperial posture. She uses every inch of her height (plus boots) to peer down her nose at the adventurers-come-lately. "We have been working with this convoy for days. We must politely reject your request to share in a reward which you did not earn." She doesn't add any threats to her words, but she certainly makes a record of this outrageous request and who was involved. You know, maybe in a few weeks they'll find strange things in their beds.

    Miyako has kept her guitar out, playing simple tunes as the caravan moved along, doing her best to keep morale up. And when some noobs try to butt in, her pride takes a hit. After all, they had enough argument about the group's qualifications when they started. She doesn't want to have to deal with more.

    "Hey guys," she calls to the other adventurer group. "Yeah, we're doing a convoy escort. Little late to jump in at this point, like the ladies said... this isn't exactly territory that -needs- an escort. Give 'em a day or three to unload and do some trading, though, maybe you can catch 'em heading back the other way."

    Yuuki is actually looking a little worn out as they make their way across the final stretch. It looks like she didn't sleep too well last night. Which, combined with the long, arduous trip, has drained her quite a bit. But she still manages a smile as they get close to their destination.

    Only for a bunch of random Adventurers to run up to them and ask to join their quest... The quest they have not contributed anything to... The quest that the party has been working on for days now.

    Yuuki stares at the one that asked to join them, before replying, "Buddy, you must be a newb. Hunter's Guild rules prevent Adventurers from joining multi-day quests half way through. So sorry, but you're out of luck." Yuuki may have just made that up. Or maybe she's thinking of a different game. Or maybe she's actually correct. Either way it sounds plausible! Yuuki jabs a thumb in Miyako's direction, "What she said. They might take you on the way back."

"Hey kids, sorry. We're almost to the finish line." Syx says, as the group of randos tries to join them after they already went through all the BS parts of this, "I'll tell you what though. It runs both ways, to this town and back to the starting point. Stick around and help out with the second leg and I'm sure you'll get the full rewards." He of course has no intention of running it on the way back. And of course Yuuki brings up a good point, "Plus you don't wanna break the rules."

When the others come, asking to join the quest, Mikage tries to speak up, but with so many others already giving their reasons, it seems to choke back in her throat. She is a bit shy by nature, so she just smiles and nods along with the others.

The trio of Adventurers seem relatively young, so it might just be that they don't know the proper way of dealing with longer-term quests like this. So, when it's pointed out that the quest has been going for /two days/ already, they seem to pale slightly, "Two days?" They seem surprised by this fact. "Okay. We get it. Can you point us in the right direction for where it starts?" The oldest of them asks. The other two seem reluctant now that they know how long it takes.

The older young man grins at Miyako, "Oh! That would be awesome. We'll follow you then and keep our distance. Then maybe we can catch the quest the other way." His two friends seem as if they might try to convince him otherwise, though. Soon enough the trio fall a ways behind them, as they don't have the benefit of peko-drawn carts, but they do, at least, know where the caravan is going.

When the party finally arrives at their destination, the Caravan Leader harumphs down from his wagon, looking them over. "Might not have been the best guards we've ever had, but... you earned your keep." He waddles towards the back of the wagon and opens a treasure chest, handing them each two large bags of coins as their reward.

"Sorry, but rules are rules," BlackRose says firmly. "That's just the way it is." She's not budging in the least bit, especially given that they're so close to finishing. "I'm sure you'll find a better opportunity!"

    With the quest finished, Baroness Wake stretches and smirks over at Yuuki, "Chalk up another last second win for Queenie and the Champ, right?" She laughs softly, "We simply must do this more often."
    Directing her attention to Pela, Wake reaches out to ruffle the girl's hair. "You did really well, you know! That was some great work." She looks at the others with an approving smile, "You all were great teammates! I appreciate your efforts and not giving up on it. I'd love to join you all for another one again someday, and let me know if there's anything you need help with! Or if you want to get involved in something yourselves. Lots of big projects are going on right now."

After the crew finishes, Syx finally finds a place to sit down and relax, "Hoo, boy. That was sure something." He laughs a little bit, "Did you all expect that to be so hard? I mean come on, how come these folks can't take care of stuff on their own.." He knows why, it's always been like this in a game.

     Pela's hair is ruffled! She shifts a little bit at that, it's not an entirely uncomfortable movement, but she's clearly unused to the unexpected contact. "...I'm solo a lot, so try to be prepared for anythign since it can get dangerous pretty quickly." Pela gives a small nod. A simple explanation, really! Also she now has two big bags of coins. Woo! What the heck does she want to do with those coins? Hmm.

    "Queenie and the Champ, hmm?" Miyako grins. "Speaking of which, congratulations, Yuuki. Good work on the tournament." She practically preens at Wake's praise, then realizes what she's doing and waves a hand dismissively. "Was a pleasure to work with you, as well. Glad we could all work together."

    She hmms to herself and considers. "If anyone wants to grab dinner, I'm up for hitting a local tavern?"

"I suppose I can go with you," BlackRose says to Miyako. "Always nice to have a little something to eat after a good quest." She then looks to the others and says, "We all did well." She gives a thumbs up and a smile.

    They made it!

    Yuuki groans in relief, falling backwards onto the grass beside the parked caravan. She murmurs to herself, "I'm reminded of why I hate escort quests..."

    Yuuki turns her head to look up at Wake, before raising her hand off the ground and into the air. She gives the Baroness a thumbs up, "Yup! The Knights always get the job done! Eventually..."

    Oh hey, rewards time! Yuuki taps into that endless well of energy she apparently has, flipping herself up into a standing position again before bounding over to the caravan leader. She takes her gold with a quick, "Thanks!"

    Yuuki then grins at Miyako, "Hehehe, that was tough stuff. This one in particular." She motions to Mikage. Which then reminds Yuuki. She walks over, before crouching down to Rama, "And this one!" She gives Rama pets, "Such a good boy. Couldn't have done this quest without you!"

Rama, clearly considering himself the hero, seems quite happy that Yuuki is willing to point it out. He purrs and circles around her ankles, obviously much happier in her presence when it isn't in the middle of a fight.

Mikage, on the other hand, seems a bit more shy about the whole thing. "Feel like I didn't do a whole lot, but we can certainly use the coin." She admits, shrugging with humility. "I'm just glad the caravan got through. The undead in this area are getting to be a real problem."

    Wake directs her attention to Pela, considering the offer of a meal stop. "Well, we do have some ways to go." She looks over to Yuuki and explains, "I promised Tae I'd be coming with a guest, and our home is a fair ways from here. Of course, you are welcome if you'd like. She's rather eager to see you again, as well."
    For all that, it's clear that the Baroness is considering staying here a bit longer. A long journey is always better on a full stomach, after all. Especially if dealing with undead is going to enter the equation. Which it does seem to do rather often as of late.

     Pela listens quietly to the Baroness as she speaks, giving a small nod. "...Probably a good idea. A more... restful night than before." She says towards the Baroness, her ears shifting slowly. Hmm. Yeah. Following them seems good enough! "...A good drink too. I like water well enough, but I like other things too." That and she doesn't want to dip into her preparation food unless she has to, especially with more journey before her.
     That and it's important to stick with the person you're journeying with. "...I'm the guest, by the way." Pela comments towards Yuuki, giving her a small smile! Friendliness towards relative strangers!

    Yuuki pets Rama a bit more, before standing excitedly at the mention of food, "Food would be great! Especially after that near disaster a couple days ago..." She then looks at Pela and BlackRose, "Ehehe, not that your fish stew wasn't, umm, great..."

    Yuuki is also invited to join Wake and Pela, "Oh! Well... I didn't have any other plans. So sure!" Yuuki walks over, before patting both Wake and Pela on the shoulder and grinning, "It'll be fun!"

    Miyako grins and nods, clapping Blackrose on the shoulder. "It's a party, then. Now we've just got to find the right tavern." She takes a moment to try to remember the ones in this town, to see if she can think of any.

    What comes to mind is: "... I wish I could find the right spices for butter chicken, dangit."