Silver Insanity

The night itself passes uneventfully, though there are odd, unusually deep howling noises from somewhere in the woods. Still, whatever creature it is that felt it neccessary to make its presence so widely known does not come close to your camp.

One night without sleep it is, then. Lauren doesn't wake until sunrise, when she yawns, stretches, and bids you a cheerful "Good morning!"

She's clearly not completely recovered yet - but also clearly feeling much better.

I sweep off my hat and bow. "Good morning to you as well, m'lady. So, where are we headed to?"

"Well..." Lauren fishes a map out of her backpack, "I was heading for Dornsby," she points to a medium sized city on the eastern edge of the forest, "but all we really need is anywhere that has a competent cleric. I think it's safe to assume that they're going to continue attacking me with nightmare spells, and I simply don't have the right spells to counter that."

"Well, by an astonishing stroke of good fortune, I happen to be headed for Dornsby myself. At least, I'm not headed for not-Dornsby. Shall we?"

I lead the way, effortlessly picking perfect paths through the forest. Kitty scampers through the trees just ahead of me, occasionally turning back to chitter at me gaily and incomprehensibly. I whistle a tune, utterly unconcerned about being followed, since with Lauren along I can't pass untrackably anyway and it is therefore up to Fate.

"So, my Lady, perchance we should while away our travels with an exchange of tales? Perhaps the story of how a group of alarmingly mediocre woodsmen came to be pursuing a lovely and vivacious maiden with something so unpleasant-sounding as nightmare spells?"

Lauren follows, though not quite so effortlessly.
She laughs at your description of her persuers. "I suppose, if half the stories I've heard about you are true, you can get away with calling them merely mediocre. But yes, I do owe you an explanation of just what it is you've gotten yourself involved in."

"I suppose I should start at the beginning. I've always been fascinated by the magic of the second and third ages, and I've spent a fair amount of time studying history. So when I was invited to go to the capital and work on an archeological project, I was glad to go. Turns out they had already collected a number of powerful magic items of mostly unknown functions, and what they needed help with was figuring out what these things did."

"Everything went well for a while - until I realized that all they really wanted was ways to use these things as weapons. Like one device meant to ease the harshness of winter and extend the growing season - and they wanted to know what would happen if they turned it on cropland in the summer..." She shudders.

"Some of the other researchers seemed to feel the same way. The wizards Tara and Emmet, who'd found most of these things in the first place." She pauses, clearly holding back tears. Still, if there's one thing mucking around with magic teaches, it's self discipline, and Lauren continues in almost her normal voice.

"Anyway, when I couldn't find anyone to help, I went ahead on my own. I destroyed what notes I could, and took with me anything portable. And that's why they won't give up - I'm carrying enough magic to obliterate a small town, and that's just from the few items where I have some clue what they do."

"I can't imagine what you've heard. I am simply a humble traveler, and a loyal servant of Her Imperial Majesty. Nonetheless, destroying cropland as a weapon of war is a decidedly unpleasant way to act. Who precisely were you working for, my Lady? It may become a necessity for me to remind him of his proper honor." One hand on my swordhilt (a simple bellguard design decorated with a motif of leafy vines), I gaze steely-eyed into the middle distance, my hat half-cocked and the tails of my coat fluttering in the wind.

"Officially, the project was being run at the order of King Darien IV of Catian. But I'm not sure if he actually knew about it or not... It just... I don't know." She shakes her head, and seems lost in thought for a minute.

Then she turns to you, a twinkle in her eye. "I believe you had offered an exchange of tales. So, what brought you to the middle of the Arkwood?"

I grin, just a bit ferally, and, as we walk on to Dornsby, tell the tale of how I tricked a wealthy and corrupt landlord into marrying an innkeeper's second-best chair, thus negating said innkeeper's debts. The landlord challenged me to a duel, then faked an illness so that his second, a hired mercenary, would fight me instead. I handily defeated the mercenary by using my sword to flick the landlord's toupee into his face, but alas! This drew the attention of Lord Antleberry's dragoons, who were seeking me to discuss the matter of Maid Antleberry (the younger) and a shepherd's lad, the two of whom I may have encouraged somewhat to, shall we say, take an extended leave of absence for purposes of free cohabitation? Not wishing particularly to subject the good people of Glinford to the immense boredom entailed by entertaining men as dreary as Lord Antleberry's dragoons, and noting the general loveliness of recent weather, I elected to undertake a substantial peregrination amongst the trees.

The trip to Dornsby takes the entire day, though it certainly doesn't feel like all that long. Lauren is both an entertaining conversationalist, and a good listener. And it doesn't hurt that she has her own stories of properly humiliated nobles and would-be nobles. In fact, you find yourself learning quite a bit about what it's like to grow up as a sorcerer and noblewoman. And a fair amount about the history of the world, too; Lauren manages to make what would normally be a fairly dull topic actually entertaining to listen to.

But now Dornsby stands ahead of you, the setting sun shining its last rays is it dips down below the forest you left a half hour before. A squat keep presides over the mighty Dorn river, and to its north sprawls the city itself, edged in outgrown fortifications like some fancy layered cake. The current perimeter is a simple wooden palisade, clearly designed for ease of expansion. The gate before you stands open, bored guards engaged in some sort of card game off to one side and paying no attention to the tiny amount of traffic going past their post.

Lauren and I are very obviously a noblewoman and a trusted retainer, so we behave exactly as appropriate for such: we find the city's best inn, which I survey with obvious disgust and pronounce "far too gauche for my Lady's subtle sensibilities". Then I get us an adjacent pair of rooms in the second-best inn.

Once we are settled in, I say, "So, what is your plan from here? We need to figure out who you were really working for, yes?"