[Jean] Chapter 13: The Evacuation of Tathi VIllage

[pringerbeam]

     Jean turned back to Amie's father.  "Got some family secrets eh?  Skeletons in the closet?  Yeah sure, have fun with that.  Though I'd love to know what you're up to we really don't have the time to play cat and mouse on this.  I would hope you're not so vain as to believe that you're the only one with secrets here.  After all, you and I seem to be pilgrims in an unholy land.  If you pardon the religious statement."  He turned his back to Karn.  "I hope you don't turn out to be the betrayer type.  If you need my help with whatever you're doing, you know where to find me."  With that he set off to find his companions, admiring the craftsmanship of the mansion as he walked its halls.

[Throndir]

Location: Eldricksen Mansion - Underground Vault
Date: Day 7 (Jean), Day 9 (Rosalie) - Time: 30 minutes after arriving at Estate

The man waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing you have to worry about. It's something only the head of the Eldricksen family know, and when Amie is of age, she too will have that burden." As you began to leave, Karn headed back inside the vault. And once he was in there, he closed the doors behind him.



As you walked through the halls, you realized that the place was very much richly decorated. However, either the Eldricksen's chose not to, or some other reason, but there were no gold-plated or gold decorations of any sort. Instead, there was an abundance of crystals and gems, some of the vases on display looked to be cut from a single piece of gem too, though with their size, you doubted how that would be possible. Much of how the mansion itself was build seemed to reflect a strangeness to it as well. Although aesthetically it reminded you of an estate that was built perhaps in the early 20th century, or 19th even, there were some parts that seemed strange. One example was that the floorboards were made from a single sheet of wood, or at least you could not find any evidence of planks being involved. So too were many of the other tables and furniture. They were all just a single piece of material that looked more like they were shaped into their current form rather than built with traditional methods. Seeing how most of the mansion was like this, it was a curiosity to what 'traditional' even meant to the Eldricksen family.

Most of the other villagers were still on other floors, taking items, then placing them into the few wagons that Karn owned. Though, with the amount of decorations, furniture, and things inside the mansion, you doubted that a few wagons would really do much to lighten the over-all load.

Many of these decorations are expensive, you can totally choose to stuff them. We'll use your prior appraise roll if you do, and we'll just figure out exact monetary amounts later once you unload (or if you plan to 'forget' you had them).

Soon enough you made your way to where Dalina, Amie, and Ren were. They had what looked to be a wooden cart which was already full of various books.

"Hey hero, sorry this is taking awhile... I'm familiar with a lot of father's research and library of books, but... There's just too much, and we don't have that many wagons. Many other villagers are running back into town to salvage what they could and bring back wagons, if any weren't damaged by the fire. But we already have one wagon full of nothing but father's books. So I've been trying to be picky going through these... There's also still a lot of research papers, but I'm not sure what can be thrown, or what is important. Father with you?"

[pringerbeam]

     Jean admired some of the gemstone crafts as he walked down the halls.  Taking a sideways glance he tried to slip some of them into his inventory.  "Waste not I guess.  I wonder if the Dungeon Core can use these for points."  He said as the items disappear.  Finally he came to his companions.  "Well I think I can help there." Said Jean as he looked at the piles of papers.  "Inventory."  He said, checking to make sure he had enough space as he proceeded to put the papers into his inventory.

[info]Will try to pocket 50 lbs worth of gemwork goods into his inventory, prioritizing those that will fetch the best price.

Puts as many papers into his inventory as it can hold.[/info]

[Throndir]

You began to shuffle both stacks of papers and some notebooks and books into your inventory. After sometime of letting Amie go through them, you eventually managed to fit everything. There were still many books that were remaining, but it was around this time that some of the villagers came back with more wagons. So even the rest of the books began to be packed and readied.

When you had time, the mayor started to explain the situation.

"Altogether, we have 21 wagons, 4 of those have a canopy. However, we only have Karn's horses, 8 of them. Meaning we won't be able to bring all of them with us. We've already filled up 5 of the wagons. Three wagons, filled with nothing but books. The rest of the villagers have begun collecting anything else they can fit easily, but some villagers went back to their homes to salvage what they could."

[okay]Inventory
Max Weight: 5,000 lbs | Max Capacity: 1,000 cubic ft. | Weight Remaining: 10 lbs | Capacity Remaining: 700 cubic feet
Search: _______________________

Stored Objects:
Typhoon Spear
<~4400 lbs, 300 cubic feet of Eldricksen materials>
<50 lbs of gemwork goods>
<140 lbs of research>[/okay]

[pringerbeam]

     "Okay, have the horses pull what they can.  Rig the other wagons into a train.  I need to see something."  Said Jean as he finished putting the research into his inventory.  Going outside to the wagons he waited for the villagers to finish connecting the wagons together.  Walking up to the lead wagon, he grabbed the yoke and put it over his shoulders.  Griping either end with his hands he tested his strength on the wagons.

[info]Trying to see how much the wagon train weighs and gauging how much Jean can pull on his own.  Jean has a drag/pull weight of 10400 lbs.  If you deem these to be favorable circumstances that is capacity is doubled.[/info]

[Throndir]

Once you went outside, you couldn't help but notice it seemed to be colder than before. At the very least a chill wind blew over. You couldn't help but notice that some snowflakes had started to appear in the surrounding area. None of it was sticking however. The skies above too seemed to be much darker than how they were in the fight against the demons in town.

Some of the villagers looked at you in confusion, but with prompting from the mayor, they eventually followed as they were ordered to. The process of getting each of the wagons took some more time, however, eventually 13 of the 21 wagons were hooked up and rigged together. The other 8 wagons had their own horse to pull them. Once the wagons were rigged up together with rope slung from the front end of the wagon, and tied to the back of the next one, you took your place at the front. You grabbed the yoke then and began to pull with all your might.

It was tough at first, but the wagons started to move. The contents of the combined wagons were perhaps up to 13,000 lbs, and everyone stared in shock as the wheels began to roll.

[info]Heroic Action Pointed earned[/info]Karn raised his eyebrow in approval. The rest of the townsfolk cheered.

[pringerbeam]

     After successfully pulling the wagon train a couple yards, Jean set down the yoke.  "Good.  You can get moving then.  Everyone that can, start heading south with the horse drawn wagons.  Dalina, you should guide them from the skies.  Keep an eye out for the relief force.  As for me...  Does anyone have a bow and arrows or maybe a crossbow?  I think our allies above could use some help.  Anyone that's a good shot can stay and try to pick off some of the demons and help cover our forces retreat."  Jean turned to the skies and shouted as loud as he could.  Hoping to catch the attention of the other hero.  "Hey!  Hero!  The villagers are starting to evacuate!  We need to begin our withdrawal!"

[Throndir]

There was a couple of people who had bows and arrows. And some of them attempted to aim up to the skies and fire, though with their poor marksmanship, the fact that the fighting was occuring 500 ft. in the air, and the targets were small, it didn't seem likely they would hit.

When you called out to the hero, you weren't able to tell if she had heard you or not, though, you did recognize her red dragon flying in formation with the rest of the dragonknights. You noticed too that the wind priests had begun to follow in formation with Rosalie as well, and had stopped being reckless in their dives.

"They'll be able to catch up with us quick, being on the birds or their dragons." Dalina commented. "There are less flying demons up there too. If they need to escape, I'm confident they'd be able to."

[pringerbeam]

     "Alright Dalina, you know them better than I do.  Hey!"  He barked at the villagers that had tried to fire at the demons above.  "It's time to go.  Keep an eye out for and demons straying too close to the caravan in case they try to harass our evacuation."  With that he turned back to the wagon train and once again grabbed the yoke and set out hauling the train of wagons to follow after the villagers that had already departed.

[Throndir]

Soon enough you and the rest of the villagers began to move out, leaving the battle behind.

If any special instructions for Dalina or Ren, call them out.

[pringerbeam]

     Jean looked from side to side at the woods as the caravan made its way through the wilds.  "Dalina, if you could fly above us and keep an eye out?  Should also be able to make sure our allies can catch up with us.  Ren, keep an eye out on the ground.  Who knows what inhabits this forest."  Jean made sure to try and keep his eyes on the scenery while he hauled the wagons just in case.

[info]Perception check to keep an eye out for any wild animals[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+13 : 1 + 13, total 14[/blockquote]
Otherwise Just keeps heading south until we run into the relief force or Rosalie catches up.[/info]

[Throndir]

As you made your way southwards, it was around an hour into the journey when Dalina had called out to you, then had Gust land next to you as you pulled the wagon.

"I see the other priests and dragonknights coming from the north. It wouldn't be long until they've caught up." Dalina explained.



Soon enough, you caught sight of the other hero, Rosalie, the dragonknights, and the wind priests.

[Throndir]

A few more moments and Rosalie glided down to you. The rest of the dragonknights and wind priests continued to hover above. "The demons above the town are dead. Is there anything that was left behind that we can go and pick up before the next wave arrives?"

[pringerbeam]

     Jean kept hauling the wagons as he responded.  "Maybe...  Hey Karn!"  He yelled back over his shoulder.  "Is there anything that they might be able to bring back?  Something we didn't have room for on the wagons before?"

[Throndir]

Using the same spell as before, Karn moved the earth to propel him forward to the front. "We can ask the rest of the villagers... Though surely the fires would have burned down half of the village already. We brought back most of what was valuable from my estate. Of course, the estate itself is valuable, not to mention the materials that had gone into building it... But it can all be replaced." He turned towards Rosalie.

"Do you have the dragon-carried platforms that was common back in my world? I do notice that yours do not have collars on them... But I suspect how things are in this world might be different. With the reliance on magic, do you perhaps have some sort of geas spell on them?"

Valeriya snorted, then she spoke, still in her dragon form.

"Your daughter thought the same when we first met with her. Nothing like a geas, no coercion. Rosalie and I are partners."

Karn raised an eyebrow. "They even speak when not spoken to." This earned him a glare from the red dragon but the man ignored it. "The dragon platforms are constructs that one or up to 4 dragons can carry. It was designed for transportation of both goods and people without the need for something more complex such as an blimp powered by dragons. There are parts of my estate's construction, especially the basement, which had reinforced titanium along its perimeter. Normally I wouldn't be worried, as Titanium is fairly easy to come by, especially if you're an alchemist. But I worry about the knowledge in this world. Is titanium, the metal, something this world even has?" With no one else around who seemed to be a native, Karn looked specifically at Rosalie and Valeriya. "You may speak."

Valeriya responded, though, her tone as low, and her eyes continued to glare sharply at the man.

"If it's a type of metal, I've never heard of it. When it comes to weaponry, we use iron, mithril, and rarely orichalcum."

"I feared as much... But with the little time we had, I wasn't sure if we would have the time or the transportation to bring what I have in the estate that surround the basement. I would neat to break down and mold each of the walls and bars to storable blocks, not to mention the weight of all of it together would have covered the entirety of these wagons. Apart from that, there are a lot of furniture too, though, those are more mundane, such as wood, ivory, and silver."