un: sweet lily of the hidden valley - handwritten

[bearshermark]

Haltham says we're going to need another 50,000 or 60,000 more coins for a smuggler, travel fees, rations, and papers, and because now there's more of us. They haven't figured out where we're heading after this or how long we'll be here. It's a little frustrating. I guess the regions of this world must have a lot of border security. He also said the weather is unusually bad for this time of year, so that makes things more difficult.

But I'm not going to be able to go into town much now that I have someone that stands out a lot following me around everywhere, so it'll be hard to make more money to put toward that fund. But I am going to make myself useful and help with everything that needs done around the farm. I think it's important to work together as much as we can, so if anyone could use an extra set of hands or two with anything, please let me know.

P.S. Don't mind Hendrik too much. He only looks intimidating.

-Eleven

Comments

[darkeststars]

He wouldn't need to do much. Just not dress outlandishly and not bring down unwanted attention. I hope you're not routinely traveling around with someone who can't even do that. [ said the Dark Lord completely hypocritically, whoops ]

As for the rest, I suppose we might have known no good deed would go unpunished. Ugh. ...regardless, though -- certainly for the best that we went in. Your assistance was quite invaluable. [ voice going a little more wry ] Hope you enjoyed the light show. [ in the absolute chaos that was the Imperious mission, he's not fully sure where Eleven was at by the time he was summoning a lightning storm on top of of the ship floating out in the bay, which is definitely a thing that totally happened despite yours truly dropping the ball whoops, but Arche certainly had his fun letting loose. ]

[bearshermark]

[He laughs]

Well, it's better than travelling on my own.

[Invaluable, though. Just gonna soak that up for a second, warmed]

That was you, then. That was certainly impressive magi- er, force use. Though it's a bit of a shame. If we had someone who could sail, maybe we could have made our own escape on it.

[darkeststars]

Someone asked Karsa about that, if I remember right. [ Lee Chang in specific, but after listening in on so many planning conversations leading up to the whole operation, it's all a bit of a blur now ]

Her response was the thing would be too recognizable. An infamous slave ship, it seems. [ for a moment, his voice grows very cold ] Far better it rot at the bottom of the ocean.

[bearshermark]

Hm. That's fair, then. I don't know if we have anyone with that sort of knowledge anyway.

But I hope we can gain more ground soon. I'm really starting to dislike this region.

[darkeststars]

Yes, I for one would have to do a great deal of studying before trying to pilot an ancient sea-ship. [ musing on this dryly ]

And for all his talk of wanting to ferry us straight out of here, that Merchant certainly is taking his sweet time. Not to mention sweet credits. [ giving a little 'hmph', but there's no real weight to the words; the man surely has better ways to add to his personal fortune than exploiting a bunch of wanted criminals and dangerous rabble-rousers. Arche gives a sigh, though-- ]

Honestly, part of me is tempted to simply take off east and be done with it, take my chances alone on the road. [ grumbling ] If only half this motley group didn't seem likely to get themselves murdered and devoured by the warlord the second my back is turned. [ translation: he feels some sense of responsibility here. Hmm, he's gotten on El's case before about that exact thing, hasn't he? Well, the Dark Lord is nothing if not hilariously contradictory. ]

[bearshermark]

Yes. [Emphatic agreement]

I'd much rather the lot of us just travelled on our own. I'm traversing a dark world under threat already, it doesn't seem so far a stretch.. but for not knowing this world's language or how to cross its borders peaceably. We have strength, but neither do we know what's waiting for us in the East.

[darkeststars]

Yes, the language barrier continues to be a problem. [ another, more irritable sigh ] Not just between us and the local civilization, but within our little group. I dread the outcome if these little devices ever start to malfunction. I suppose we should start trying to pick up one another's tongues more as well, but learning this many languages with so little material is a tall order.

[bearshermark]

I can't imagine how difficult that would be.

[Just learning one new language is a tall order]

It would be nice to read this world's books, though. If we could do our own research, we'd be much better off for information.

[darkeststars]

Indeed. I've been working on it, and I know some others have as well, but it's quite slow going. I suppose we can only keep plucking away. [ another frustrated sigh ] Largely knowing only what those we can understand choose to tell us is no way to run a safe operation.

[bearshermark]

Yes.

..I'd offer to help, but I'm not very.. um, learned, I guess. Still, if there's any way I can help you to learn it, I would.

[darkeststars]

Hm. I don't know about that. You seem to have a decent enough head on your shoulders. [ gosh the Dark Lord is just full of praises today apparently ]

Nothing comes to mind at the moment, but I'll certainly be in touch if I need extra hands at any point.

[bearshermark]

[Soaks them up like a sponge tbh]

Thanks.