• Solo • First Flutter to Desnind

[Yrmellyn Cole]

First Flutter to Desnind

Treth (Ne'haer) on Trial 72 of Vhalar 717

The thoughts of Rudi, her apprentice to be, left the painter no peace of mind. She had promised the boy to take him on and in addition accepted a bribe from his grandmother, but most serious of it all was that Yrmellyn Cole had made a promise to the immortal Vhalar to follow through with it.

When the general situation in Rynmere had seemed to go south (for mages) she had feared that it would become dangerous for her to remain there. She had left, in search of a better place to live. It wasn’t like she had intended to break her promises when she had left the boy behind, it had just felt wrong to bring an eleven years old boy with her on a journey with an uncertain outcome. Yrmellyn had found it best for him to stay where he had family, such as it was.

That ships’s destination had been Scalvoris, but when it stopped in Ne’haer the city had seemed like a possible place to settle down. Yrmellyn had gone ashore there, thinking she might not need to move all the way to the other side of the world. Ne'haer had seemed like a good place to start over in. She had been wrong. Eventually the situation in Ne’haer had become more and more instable, with an increasing number of pirate attacks as well as rumors about tensions between Ne’haer City and other parts of the wider Ne’haer area.

The painter, with her good abilities for early detection of incoming trouble, had seen these signs. Her interest in staying in Ne’haer had steadily declined over a period of time. All signs pointed to a major crisis. The question wasn't if the shit would hit the fan, only when. She had decided against staying. It would be better to go north and seek the apprentice out instead of making him travel to her. I would also be easier and safer for him.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

This day in mid-Vhalar she rented a horse and joined a group of travelers who were headed to Treth where they were going to take the Flutterbus to Desnind. When she arrived at the stable she was immediately told that they had a procedure all travelers must follow, for the sake of their own safety and for to spare the animals unnecessary pressure. She entered her name in a ledger and paid one gold nel for the trip, “all inclusive”. The she was brought to the box of her mount to be.

The horse was a nice brown mare who was easy to handle, she was told. Yrmellyn followed the advice of the group’s guide, an animal handler who would take them to Moseke’s Landing on horseback. First she was told to lead the horse out on the yard, because it can be dangerous to try to get up on a horse in a small space. Yrmellyn took the reins, and as she had been told she led the animal outdoors.

The animal handler told her to greet the horse and make friend with so it would feel comfortable with her before she mounted up. She did so. She held out her hand for the animal to sniff at and feed it several carrots the animal handler provided. They were included in the price...Yrmellyn suspected she had bought some terribly expensive carrots there, but she wanted a safe journey to Treth so she didn't complain.

The horse ate the carrots greedily, looking at Yrmellyn with big dark eyes like it was assessing her and trying to find out if she was friend or foe. Yrmellyn patted it in order to show it that she was supposed to be a friend, even if it would only last for a day. The mare seemed to accept her. The painter proceeded to checking the equipment and make sure everything was in order. She checked the girth and cinch and all the buckles and then he adjusted the length of the stirrups a bit.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

This done, she continued to follow the instructions.

She waited in the queue of riders moving toward the big stone that was used as mounting block, until it was her turn to get help from the animal handler. When it was time for her to get up on the horse, she did as she was told and let the animal handler hold the horse’s head, so the animal would stand still.

He told her the stone was used a mounting block in order to make it easier for people to get up on the animals, but also in order to spare the backs of the horses. Yrmellyn got up on the stone, and from there she put her hands on the horse’s back and her foot in the stirrup. Then she lifted herself up into the saddle. There. With some help from the animal handler she had managed to get up on the horse in a reasonably well organized way.

She pulled in the reins carefully and found the other stirrup. The animal handler let go of the mare’s head and told Yrmellyn to join the group of riders waiting in front of her. The horse was trained to carry strangers on group trips to and from the flutter bus, so it was easy for Yrmellyn to make it walk to its place in the line of horses waiting to depart with their riders. To be honest she felt like the horse knew more than she did, but why not, as horses were intelligent animals and it done this many times before.

Travellers who had heavier luggage had sent it in advance with carriages, but the painter travelled with her few belongings in the backpack. During the ride to Treth she focused on the riding and watched the landscape. Now in Vhalar the leaves of the trees had started to change color from green to yellow and read and the beauty of the forest was breathtaking. The weather was pleasant, sunny and perfect.

For a while she had been worried about bad weather, because a large hurricane had recently beset the coastal regions. It was said to have caused lots of damage along the way and had been named "Chrien's Tantrum” by the locals. Yrmellyn had postponed her plans to leave with the flutterbus that had departed trial 58, when the weather had been at it’s worst. Perhaps that trip had even been cancelled? The painter didn’t know if the flutter-buses were able to fly during a hurricane, but she doubted it. Anyways, the hurricane was over now and the weather was good. She was in a good mood where she rode.

[Yrmellyn Cole]

When they arrived to Moseke’s Landing and Yrmellyn saw the flutterbus she felt awed. She had known that the bus was a gigantic insect. It had seemed okay at a distance, but now when she was about to fly with it she actually felt a bit scared. What had she been thinking?

Well, she knew that she had been very logical and decided to take the flutterbus because there were so many pirate attacks on the coast of Ne’haer these days. She had felt convinced that the pirates must be attacking and hi-jacking ships on open sea as well. Going by boat had more and more come off as a guarantee to fall victim to piracy. The painter did so not wish to find herself onboard a pirate ship under command of some extremely violent and cruel captain prone to commit all kinds of gross abuse and murder. However...now she wondered...would it really any better to traverse the seas on the back of an enormous monster-moth?

Even as she thought of this she paid her ticket as planned, twenty gold nels, no less, and waited nicely in the queue of passengers who would soon be allowed to enter the “vehicle”. She was so not looking forward to this, but she had made a promise to the immortal Vhalar, the keeper of oaths as well as the protector of art, to sooner or later take the street child Rudi on as her apprentice, and she was going to keep this promise at all cost. She had also promised the boy that they would reunite, one day, when she was able to provide for an apprentice. Bailing from the flight was not an option. She would have to go, no matter the mere thought of being up in the air on the back of that being nauseated her in advance. It was perhaps not named the flutter bus for no reason?

With an unexpected feeling of walking towards her own death she went onboard the flutterbus when the driver announced that it was time for the passengers to enter. They said the flutterbus was safe enough, but the painter found it impossible to believe this. The first flight of her life was also the flight when she discovered that she was one of the people who suffered from fear of flying. It was an unexpected surprise to her, and an unpleasant one. All signs pointed to that he trip from Ne’haer to Desnind was going to be terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible!

She forced herself to try to quench the rising panic and follow the instructions to the passengers. Truth to be told she felt that if it had only been about a promise to her future apprentice she might have changed her mind and postponed the journey until it would be safer to go by boat instead. But, a promise to Vhalar must be kept, whatever it would take. She would do what she must do.

The flutter bustook off from Ne’haer. The painter focused narrowly on thinking about Desnind where the bus would arrive on day 82 of Vhalar 717, so she could get off from it again. This was the only thing she wanted to think of for time being.

Trial 72-82 of Vhalar 717

During the following ten trials Yrmellyn continued to focus on the arrival to Desnind. Eventually the fear of flying receded a bit, but it didn’t disappear. Her relief when the flutter bus landed in Desnind was immense. She felt giddy with happiness when she had solid ground under her feet again. The first leg of her journey was completed and she went to find housing for her stay in Desnind.

Ledger: - 1 gn Horseback trip, -20 gn Flutter bus from Ne’haer to Desnind (already entered in the CS)

[Kasoria]

Review Rewards

Name Cole

Points awarded: 10

Knowledge:
Mount, horse: To lead a horse outdoors before mounting
Mount, horse: To greet the horse and make friends before mounting
Mount, horse: To check and adjust the horse’s equipment before mounting
Mount, horse: To use a mounting block in order to spare the horse’s back
Mount, horse: Riding at walk pace
Discipline: Forcing oneself to not give in to panic

Non-Skill Knowledge:
The Flutter-bus is a gigantic insect!

Notes:
Jesus Fuck, it's a giant moth! YOU'RE FLYING MOTHMA! And she's surprisingly docile... anywho! Good as always, love, but a little light on dialogue. You're very focused on forging a path for your character, but I think you're letting TELLING A STORY suffer a little. Interact with people. Have things go wrong. Focus a little more on the other people in your path, their perspectives and problems, the conversations you have. Expand your storytelling purview a bit, and you'll paint a far grander picture. Always been my idea, anyway!

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