<div align="center">(https://i.imgur.com/qXOaDz0.png)</div><br/><span class="bbc_u"><strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br/>Related Links</span></strong></span><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li>Recruitment Thread (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=297324.0)</li><li>Character Thread (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=298025.0)</li><li>OOC Thread (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=298024.0)</li></ul><hr/><br/>Less than a week ago each of you were sat in the<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Ratcatchers</div><div class="spoiler_body">the nickname given to adventurers, mercenaries and sellswords by those who look down upon the sometimes unreliable profession who can never guarantee if their next job will see them with more or less coin in their pocket than when they started when expenses and repairs are taken into account. It was taken with grace and worked into the official name as... well. Sometimes they were indeed called on to kill infestations of rats, be they regular, dire, cranium or lycanthropes, though their members were often times also called in to hunt more exotic foes, or even jobs that involve scouting and rescues.</div></div>Guild, a sort of festhall and hub in the area where those who deem themselves "adventurers" can find cheap lodgings and listings of jobs in the local area. Within the last five years the scope of the area covered has widened significantly to the point where requests from far off city of Brindol, a frontier settlement in the Elsir Vale, has sent in a request for soldiers of fortune to aid in a bit of scouting. Recently, according to the summons, war drums of the hobgoblin tribes have been heard in the hills, louder than those heard in living memory. In all likelihood the tribes are fighting amongst themselves for territory as they are known to do, but considering the volume they may be worryingly much more close to civilisation than would be liked. Rumours are also abound that a new, powerful leader may have arisen amongst the tribes and rallied them together. Though this is likely hogwash.<br/><br/>As such your sponsor in the guild Bonn Braydon, a burly man with a thick salt and pepper beard and built like a brick shithouse, has recommended your group for the job. He's a jovial man and a seasoned ratcatcher who has a bad habit of slapping people a little too hard on the back when he's amused - in days gone by he was responsible for your induction into the guild and sorting out your training in your chosen fields, recommending you to other mentors when necessary. You have been provided with two letters of introduction, one addressed to Soranna Antina of Drellin's Ferry (a smaller township on the way to Brindol), captain of the local militia there and another addressed to Lord Kerden Jarmaath, the current governor of Brindol. In the briefing, you were advised it was in all likelihood a good idea to make a foothold in Drellin's Ferry as the township bordered the area known as the Witchwood where the majority of the war drums could be heard from.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/FxrDSGB.png)<br/><div align="center"><em><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 8pt;">Illus. by R. Gallegos</span></em></div></div><strong>Time of day:</strong>Day 1,  2pm<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Elsir Vale, six miles away from Drellin's Ferry<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>All<br/><strong>Content:</strong>Tortle<br/><strong>Notes:</strong>Bright daylight<br/><br/>Today you find yourselves either in a carriage or trotting along beside it based on your preference, driven by one of the Guild's most steadfast (if elderly and doddering) coachmen, the<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Tortle</div><div class="spoiler_body">(https://i.imgur.com/ibNaGck.jpg)</div></div>Kanuna. Ahead of him the carriage is pulled by an immense tortoise, Kanuna's prized Betsy. One would normally look upon this creature and believe it so be a slow, ineffeciant way to traverse ground, but Kanuna has proven himself time and again to always get his passengers where they need to be and on time, as further ahead of Betsy the largest, juiciest strawberry you've ever laid eyes upon is dangled on a stick in front of her, urging her forth for just one bite of it, to the point she has become as swift as any steed. From your vantage point you can see Kanuna's neck extend forward every so often, as though trying to take a bite himself, possibly forgetting that he was the one holding it out and what he was using it for. Kanuna himself is dressed simply, a loose drab shirt with a wide-brimmed straw hat to keep the heat of the sun from his head, his formal coachman attire was neatly folded beside him and a trilby perched atop the pile of folded clothing.<br/><br/>The afternoon sun beats down upon the carriage creating a somewhat clammy atmosphere inside as the still air does nothing to help move the heat of a summer's day along. Only a few vagrant clouds hung in the sky with the promise of shade. The lands of the Elsir Vale are monotonous, filled with hills and speckled with very few towns, the last of which was now almost a full day behind you and marked your last official pit stop before your job proper would begin.<br/><strong>"Not be... long now..."</strong>Kanuna droned in his slow, methodical way, his neck craning back to you as you have troublingly come to experience with him the last week as it meant his attention was on you and not the road in front of him, often times causing the strawberry to swing and Betsy to follow it,<strong>"Just... a few more... miles to Dre-llin's... Ferry. Be there in... a couple... hours. If'n you need... to make y'selves look... presentable... or fierce... now's... the time."</strong>he says, his head slowly moving back forward just before his tortoise took the carriage off the road and into a gully. While there hadn't been much entertainment on the trip by way of places to stop, it could hardly be called uneventful.<br/>