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[Arcana]

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“Konniciwa, Arcana-san,” Tai greeted her from the side of the road. The warrior-monk and his companion – both Army of the Frontier soldiers – were waiting exactly where her scout had said they would be. Arcana grinned and bowed politely from her saddle, reining to a halt while the packhorses and their escort of her knights caught up.

With the competent escort, the knights soon reached the headquarters building of the Army. Each time she saw Arlin’s growing army, she was impressed at the numbers of people who came to follow his leadership. Not that she felt the least bit competitive with him, but all the same she was proud that she’d been able to bring a respectable number of knights with her. She exchanged a very cheerful, though somewhat awkward greeting with him, both feeling restrained from their usual bear hug in the presence of a score and more of their knights and soldiers.

Among the most recent additions, Arcana was introduced to Dominitara, a lady she knew by reputation if not personally. She was certain the lady would be a great help to Arlin diplomatically; Arcana had often heard Dominitara described as both educated and well-spoken. Despite Dominitara’s foray into humanis philosphy, Arcana knew her to be another one of Arlin’s few, trusted old friends.

Leaving the rest of the knights to mingle and set up their horse lines, Arcana and Defender Merlina brought their packhorses to the storeroom inside and began unloading the armor and medical supplies, passing the supplies bucket-brigade fashion via a few soldiers to Arlin, further inside the narrow storeroom. The armor was crafted by the Knights of Sosaria’s own artisans in Vesper, in exchange for the caravan of ingots, hides and other raw materials that they needed to keep their forges working, all excorted by Arlin’s troops last week. Arcana had also included a donation of medical supplies for the Abbey hospital.

During the unloading process, Fred – a very enthusiastic but phenomenally stupid packhorse – contrived to get his foreleg stuck through the storeroom gate. This was not the first mishap the animal had suffered on the long route from Vesper to Yew. Fred had also run afoul of a mongbat (he hadn’t meant to step on it), a corpser (he’d heard tell they were good eating), and a rather devious log which had snuck up on him while he’d been distracted, contemplating saying hello to a lich (he seemed friendly enough, laughing like that). Having extricated poor Fred from his latest predicament, Arcana patted the horse soothingly and took him to the horse lines outside, whispering that he must gather his dignity because Corporal Tai and Lieutenant Flik were laughing at him.

She rejoined Arlin and the others in front of the headquarters building. The two exchanged amused, conspiratorial glances and Arlin asked, “So Arcy, how long are yer knights stayin’?”

“Several days I should think; at least long enough for me to see one of these Council meetings and have us get some training with your soldiers,” she said with a smile. Behind her she heard murmuring in the ranks of her knights. What, they whispered, training with foot soldiers?

Arlin grinned widely and turned to his soldiers and bellowed, “You heard her! Trainin’ time. Mount up and move out for th’ Abbey!” Arcana issued a more quiet string of orders to her knights, and a short time later, the foot soldiers formed one line in front of the Yew Abbey and her cavalry formed another perpendicular to them. The soldiers formed a neat, disciplined line, whereas in the knight’s line, Deidle seemed to be having trouble with his horse and Sir Black had apparently brought a few ales along “for the road” from Vesper.

“Deidle, this isn’t a picnic trip, get that horse in line!” she commanded and threw an icy glance in Black’s direction. He stifled a hiccup and guiltily hid an ale bottle behind his back. Arcana held out her hand sternly. With a wistful sigh, Sir Black reluctantly passed several bottles to her from his pack. Corporal Tai would probably just slip him some sake later, she thought in resingation. The line now in some semblance of order, Arcana nodded to Arlin. “All yours,” she said, they having previously agreed that he would be in charge of their joint training exercises.

The half-ogre captain turned to face them. “Without the cavalry, foot soldiers’ will get pinned down an’ torn apart. Without the foot soldiers, cavalry can’t hold a line an’ will get torn apart. Now ah know Lady Arcana’s been trainin’ ya, but for the next few days ya got only me to impress. And I ain’t impressed yet!”

“Dismount!” Arlin ordered. The knights crisply and promptly dismounted and stood at attention beside their horses. The effect was marred somewhat by Deidle’s horse once again acting the fool, playfully butting him with its head, then backing out of line when he turned to quiet it.

“If you don’ git that horse in line right now,” Arlin growled, “I’ll see that yer lookin’ at it from under its hooves.” After a moment’s contemplation, even Deidle’s horse looked contrite and the two now quietly stood in line.

Arlin then marched her line of knights to stand opposite his soldiers. Quickly counting the numbers, Arcana noted with some amusement she’d somehow acquired an extra “knight”. A young farmer had slipped into line and was now standing proudly at attention amidst the ranks of armored warriors and mages. It didn’t seem like this particular citizen of Yew was at all frightened of Arlin or his troops. The lad rather seemed to be enjoying himself through the introductions and directional marching drills.

The lad had a grand time indeed until Arlin commanded they draw weapons and pair off for sparring. “But… I’m just a farmer!” he cried in sudden alarm, and hurried off to watch from the sidelines. This drew amused chuckles down the ranks and a sheepish grin from the farmer.

Arcana walked among those sparring, offering advice and noting with pride that her knights were fighting well. The sparring ran down through single elimination, with the top four warriors being Arlin himself and Corporal Tai as well as her own Defender Merlina and Sir Black. None of her knights were practiced duelists, and Arlin and Tai won the final matches handily. However, both Merlina and Black had fought very well.

After a few words of commendation, Arlin and Arcana dismissed most of the soldiers and knights, though sending a few out on joint patrols. The other reason for her presence here were the growing signs of orc hostility toward Yew.

Alone at last, Arlin whispered somewhat anxiously in his lady-knight’s ear, “Yer stayin’ too, right?”

“Of course,” Arcana murmured back, grinning up at him. “Who else is going to keep you out of trouble?”

Arlin wrapped his arms around her narrow waist and pulled her close against him, a wide grin and a hint of a mischevious leer spreading across his face. “In that case,” he said, leaning close to kiss her, “I won’t make ya stay in th’ barracks.”

[Guest]

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Black moved slowly through Skara stables in search of a pack horse or two, worthy enough to carry the goods to AOF guild house. After some careful inspections he found two suitable for the task. He gathered them and headed to Skara moongate where he could jump to Minoc moongate which is very close to Riverun. He exited out at the Minoc gate and the packies were very eager to kill a lone mongbat. Black had a lot of difficulty handling them. He eventually made his way away from them and on his way to Riverun. Once there he turned to notice one of the packies had wandered off. Lady Arcana asked Black if he could get another from Skara. He agreed and headed back to acquire another pack horse. He quickly returned to Skara and purchased another pack horse to use in the caravan. But once he stepped back through to Minoc, off to the east he saw the second packhorse eating some grass. So he quickly collected him and returned to Riverun.

Arcana and Merlina gathered the crafted item and loaded them onto the pack horses. Black waited outside and talked to his fellow knights about areas along the way to watch. Once the supplies were loaded, they headed toward Yew and AOF headquarters. There were a few minor skirmishes along the way but the knights quickly dispatched all threats to the caravan. The journey seemed long. Black was so use to assistance from his paladin studies. He was not use to riding such great distances. He thought it was time for him to walk more and rely less upon his sacred journey spell. They met up with two members of AOF who would guide us the rest of the way. They headed north past the moongate and off to the west near the shore. Black remembers this area well. He was a mere skip to his second home that use to be in this area. They arrived and walked the packies up to the house. Black couldn’t help but notice a few more members to AOF since his last meeting with them. And also a few that were not here this time. Black took a small sip from one of his bottles thinking to himself Lord Arlin had a nice group there. Suddenly a feeling of being watched, Black turned to see Lady Arcana staring at him. Black looked quickly to the bottle in his hand. Realizing Lady Arcana wishes to complete the task at hand first. Quickly he slid the bottle behind him trying to keep eye contact with Arcana. It was too late. She noticed his lazy attempt to hide it and Arcana quickly asked for the remaining ale Black had. He turned over almost all of it, keeping just two bottles for extreme emergencies.

Now that the pack horses were unloaded they mingled with Arlin’s group and soon after headed to the Abby for some training. Arlin’s group were well versed in combat. The knights are very good as well but they lack the ability to fight man to man as well as against a beast. Maybe it is that lack of fear nothing only a skilled warrior has. Maybe the knights hatred for a beast is hard to hold against another man. Whatever it was Arcana said Arlin would help us get it. They chose partners and began duels. Black drew a mage the first time and faired well. It was always tricky when fighting mages. The second draw a more formidable trainer. A man named Malacite. They were dead even. Neither would be able to kill the other Black thought. One would have to run out of bandages first. Malacite conceded mere minutes before Black. It was a long battle and Black had considered it as well. The last match for Black was against Arlin. Black was easily dispatched by Arlin. A new weapon to look into Black thought. He was tired of katanas. He wanted to go back to being an axer. They were better sturdier weapon. It was getting late and Black had a long day. He asked Arcana if he may excuse himself, and she said he may. He wanted to stay and mingle but just had nothing left. He headed home to sleep.