ANIMAL PENS/STABLES:<br/><br/>[OOC: the carry capacity of the pack animals is optimized based on the successful Handle Animal roll and roleplay.  Wants: Cure light wounds lvl 1, 30 charges.  Signal Flare (flare) lvl 1 12 charges.  Shield lvl 1 8 charges.  Fox's cunning lvl 2 9 charges.  Eagle's Splendor lvl 2 12 charges.]<br/><br/>The ranger tips his head in acknowledgement.  "Of course, Sir.  If you say so."  He starts separating out the pack animals and doing a final check of their tack, waving to a couple of low-ranking stable-hands to help him load up the indicated beasts of burden.<br/><br/>*<br/><br/>COURTYARD:<br/><br/>The Half-Orc nods at the assembled.  "Charlis Dunnigan at your service, Lords, Ladies, and every'fin in between.  'twill be a grand adventure I'm certain."<br/><br/>For Myra's question, he nods.  "Oh, sure, you can send livin' fings but they'll be dead when they get there.  Sorry.  Come through frosted straight to the core, hard as a rock.  We tried sendin' a chicken once.  It was so solid you could chop 'er in half and not a drop spilled.  Don't know what happens in between but they are solid froze that's for certain."  He shrugs.  "You find a way 'round that an' you can come back any time."<br/><br/>Preparations are set, and the expedition is prepared to embark.  The sun has yet to reach mid-sky when the line of pack animals sets off behind the intrepid company, rangers scattered to the road's sides as if treading upon its worn dirt would be a sin.  All the soldiers wish them well, and the commander of the fort can be seen watching from the parapets, her nurse fussing over some matter of comfort that the old crow will not accept, until the black shape of the jagged fortifications disappear into the forest beyond.<br/><br/>The going is quick, that first day, and it is not long before the forest's full bloom settles in.  Wildflowers grow like madness in violets and whites now that they have left the scorched earth and smoke behind, and the coniferous trees lean and bend over the pathway as if graciously seeking to avoid bothering each other.  By dusk, they have seen cadres of white-tailed deer and a handful of common brush animals, not to mention plentiful examples of the common birds of the area.  Soon, the roadway turns to an animal path, and as they press westward, they find that they will be crossing blue mountains-- blue with the cool air, blue with the suffuse glow of skylight and clouds, valleys and nooks smooth with ages of wear and the gentle press of the land easing them up like ancient hands sculpted them.  Within the day, they will find a river-- the Empire calls it Holdon's Crossing where they will make the west bank and, if they continue with the descent of the land using that river as their route, they will move southwest for at least two weeks before they reach the region of their first challenge... their first real mission.  To map, to kill, to report, to capture... they are to be the assassins of the dark continent and the lightbringers of law to the wild.<br/><br/>...<br/><br/>It is on the second day that they find their first sign of once-settled lands.  Great monoliths of rock dot the mountainside of a newly-spotted range, each black stone tower matching the next in a nearly-symmetrical pattern.  They are carved, shaped, etched as if stacked there by giants, and birds circle them like cliffs to build nests and to roost with a view.  At least six within sight-- some so far as to appear as threads on the horizon-- their stone is black as pitch, unlike any stone seen on the continent.  The line stretches north to southerly, not in perfect alignment, but almost a crescent-whorling shape of a tattoo on the land.