<div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 24pt;">Companions at Rest</span></div><br/>Steppe.<br/><br/>Steppe for days.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c6/42/44/c642443e07185785d8f778698cc742c4.jpg)</div>Gently rolling grasslands sprouted with the occasional shrub land or copse of woods, but by and large spread out in a sea of thigh high grassy rushes.  Rocks broke the terrain with gentle suggestions of something beneath the ground, and atop and outcropping of them was an earthworks fort.  Reinforced with a bevvy of bowing wood and strategically sharpened rocks, the simple affair could house at most two hundred souls living in very tight conditions.  Its simple patchy dirt ramparts were not more than five feet above the raised ground they encircled, its towers little more than thatched over lean-to's amidst the defenses.  It had no structures per sey, just some dug outs and many tents pitched across it.<br/><br/>And it was utterly dwarfed by the lake of yurts that encircled it.  A host of the mighty<strong>Olaq</strong>tribe's warriors, bought by tax exemptions for their caravaneer people, were gathered here to support their tentative allies.  Two round banners lined with cut hide streamers around the rim topped the tallest tents beyond the fort's walls.  Here the sounds of feasting reached well into the night, and the leaders of the Olaq's Warheards kept their most prized fighters entertained.  Outsiders were not troubled in the camp of the Olaq, and several roads were kept open through it for ease of motion.<br/><br/>Still, those within the fort were wary.<br/><br/>This was a<strong>Ruritanian Fort</strong>, usually staffed by no more than fifty levies brought in from the west to stand watch at the border and send word of<strong>Berikan</strong>activity.  With a force of nearly one-hundred Citizen Cavalry and their horses present within the walls, it was stuffed to bursting.  They were here on a dire matter, had traveled far and arduously, and were at wit's end.  Their distrust of their Olaq allies was rivaled only by their distrust of their Berikan neighbours.<br/><br/>But now a new enemy had emerged, unexpectedly, right between them.  And this enemy brought more than fear.<br/><br/>It was to the great relief of<strong>Serene Commander Vartaemo</strong>(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b6/89/7a/b6897a0d6af601af4cd87f730ee351e8.jpg) and his Captains when the Summoners and their Guardians arrived.  Ruritanian and Olaq alike were in awe of these strange entities.  All had heard tales, some had known of someone who'd known someone who had family who had been Marked, but none had ever really met a Summoner.  Much less a Guardian Spirit.  Morale in the camp was improved greatly at their coming, but fissures in spirit were clear just beneath the surface.  People whisper in hushed tones that their final days approach, and the land will open up beneath them.  Surely this is what the heralds foretold, and now here they are, besides the champions of the threshold, the Guardian Spirits.<br/><br/>They were led by<strong>Arlaq'qo</strong>(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/fd/c3/72/fdc372d8b38ec1a1be3f837c3597116d.jpg), the Particii assigned to escourt these new Summoners to their first encounter with the Enemy.  The Enemy knew many names, but the Particii were reluctant to give any.  So too Summoners who'd faced them.<br/><br/><strong>"There is power in names,"</strong>Arlaq'qo would rattle on to no-one in particular as they crossed the coasts to the steppe to get here over the course of two weeks' journey.<strong>"Don't give the Enemy any, or they'll use them."</strong><br/><br/>They'd been Portal'd to the nearest safe site, an ancient ruin where an immense stone circle acted as their receiver, and then had to ride the rest of the way with freshly obtained horses.  The Particii's word was better than gold, so Arlaq'qo had no need of gold.  What was required was provided with reverence and awe.  And, of course, a stocking full of magickally conjured I.O.U.'s with Particii seals on them.<br/><br/>Now, they were within a day's ride of the ancient fortress that stood on the border between Ruritania and Berika.  But there was a complication:<br/><br/>In the time it had taken them to arrive there had been disturbances in a nearby trade town.  While ostensibly neutral and tribeless "people of the land," they had many ties to the Olaq, and were closer to the Ruritanian side of the definitive border.  That made them tax exempt, but under the protection of the Republic.<br/><br/>Meanwhile the Berikans had mounted an ill-fated assault on the fortress in spite of knowing what it contained.  Losses had been sustained, but the reeving things from within had trended west rather than east since the initial bloody encounters.  Rumours swirled that Berika had invited these beasts into the world to drive them onto Ruritanian soil as part of some fel plot.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The Guardians & Summoners have arrived at one of the countless border forts along a broad steppe border between the Republic of Ruritania and the Kingdom of Berika.  These lands have long bickered over an imposing stone castle, an ancient keep of unknown origin, that stands betwixt them.  Now it houses a Rift, whence came the Enemy.  They are now spreading across the region.  It is the job of the Guardians, as directed by their Summoners, to sweep the land clean of corruption and close the Rift.<br/><br/>Their guide and halfway mentor, the sedate Arlaq'qo, is a member of the Particii.  While much about their order is kept secret even from the Summoners he is clearly not very high ranking.  Nor is he a particularly potent magus.  Mostly he keeps to himself and gives only cryptic answers or half-baked advice.<br/><br/>When the time comes, he has told his traveling companions, he will call for them.  For now they should<strong>"make any final preparations"</strong>while Arlaq'qo meets with Serene Commander Vartaemo.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 20pt;"><strong>TAGGING FORMAT</strong></span></div><br/><strong>NB</strong>: tag GM if you'd like to make some meaningful interaction with the environment or an NPC, or your targets in combat.<br/><br/><div class="codeheader">Code: <a class="codeoperation" href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="return smfSelectText(this);">[Select]</a></div><pre style="margin: 0; padding: 0;"><code class="bbc_code">[floatright][img height=300 padding=6]image_address[/img][/floatright][url=link_to_sheet][b]Character's Name[/b][/url]<br/>[b]Location[/b]:  <br/>[b]Tagged[/b]:  <br/>[b]HP[/b]: current/max [b]AC[/b]: <br/>[b]Active Effects[/b]: <br/>[/spoiler]<br/></code></pre>