<Dreol> [London December 15th 1230, 9:30 PM]
<Dreol> [Rolf and Moriel approach the farm. It is of moderate size, and includes 
a decent size farm house and a barn. No one seems awake at the moment. The house 
is dark, and there is no movement outside. The actual grounds contain several 
horses, and there are also some sheep that have been herded into an enclousure.]
<Dreol> [Begin.]
 06* Moriel looks up at the darkened windows of the farm house, brow creased.  
"Hm.  I had hoped someone would still be awake, and I could explain matters to 
them..."
 06* Rolf rolfs along with Moriel and snorts, before growling, "Could wait until 
after first sleep, if you're worried 'bout what they'll think."
 06* Moriel rubs his lips, still thinking.  "Well, I would prefer not to be 
hanged as a horse-thief..."
<Moriel> ...not that it would work... 
 06* Rolf says, lowly, "They're your friends."
 06* Moriel glances up at Rolf, eyes unreadable in the darkness.  "Not 
precisely."  He sighs.  "I'll leave a purse, and try to get word to them.  I 
doubt there's anything in the barn I can write on."  He starts heading over to 
the barn.
<Dreol> [The barn contains several horses. There is a carriage outside of the 
barn. It is not incredibly large, but it will fit 4 normal sized people and 
Rolf, in some very cramped conditions.]
 06* Moriel looks the carriage over.  "It'll do."  He's careful to stay well 
back from the horses, so as not to spook them.  Instead, he goes looking for 
tack and such.
 06* Rolf walks after him, and nods at him going for tack, and then turns 
towards the horses and licks his lips before going, lowly, as he looks at one of 
them, "Hey there. Not gonna hurt ya. Just need you to >stay calm<, alright?" He 
makes a small nicking noise, tossing his head slightly.
<@Dreol> [The horse looks somewhat wary but does not freak out immediately when 
Rolf approaches him.]
 06* Rolf nods slightly and growls a low, "Gonna go talk to your stablemates. 
We're gonna go on a long ride." He makes a whinney-style noise and then tosses 
his head again, before walking over to the next horse. Gonna have to keep doin' 
this for as many horses as it takes to carriage up!
 06* Moriel rummages in tack and pulls out appropriate horse accoutrements.  He 
brings an armload back towards Rolf and waits with silent patience for him to be 
ready for it.  He's still careful to keep some distance between himself and the 
horses.
<@Dreol> [The horses stay pretty calm and allow Rolf to approach them without 
putting up a fuss.]
 06* Rolf gestures Moriel over, and then it's time to get them all set up for 
carriaging. "See, no problem, right?" he says, half to Moriel and half to the 
horses.
 06* Moriel doesn't respond, though his lips curl up in a faint, cool smile.  He 
just hands Rolf half the tack and (carefully) starts putting the other half 
where it needs to go.
<@Dreol> [It does not take long to assemble the carriage, and the horses readily 
follow Rolf, but they do get a bit skittish near Moriel, though Rolf can fairly 
easily calm them down again, at least long enough to get them attached to the 
carriage.]
 06* Moriel slips back inside the barn as Rolf hitches the horses.  He takes out 
his coinpurse, hefts it, and frowns unhappily.  Then he sighs and sets it 
outside the horses' stalls, in obvious sight when the farmers come in in the 
morning.
 06* Rolf looks to the coins, looks to Moriel, then growls, "You all set with 
them, then?"
 06* Moriel nods, and then his eyes brighten as he has an idea.  He pulls a 
black handkerchief out of his pocket, monogrammed MM.  "There.  Perhaps now 
they'll know who took them, and know not to worry."
 06* Moriel folds the handkerchief and tucks it under the coin purse.  Then he 
nods again, firmly, and turns to exit.  "Let's go meet the others, then."
<@Dreol> [And Rolf and Moriel ride off into the moonlight to meet with the rest 
of the group.]
<@Dreol> [Around 10:30, everyone has pretty much managed to arrive. Rolf and 
Moriel were waiting at the farm house with the carriage when Eliana shows up and 
several minutes after that, Thalaba shows up, as does Cosimo.]
 06* Eliana nods curtly to Rolf and Moriel, dressed like before with the added 
benefit of a good-sized leather bag slung cross-shoulder. "I see you managed to 
procure transportation."
 06* Thalaba arrives, she is dressed in a simple gown rather then her more fancy 
attire she usually seems to wear. She also has a bag with her of her belongings. 
She looks at Eliana "Good enough?"
 06* Moriel nods to Eliana, and gives Thalaba a shallow bow as she arrives.  
"Good evening, my lady."
 06* Thalaba smiles at Moriel "Good Evening! How are you?"
 06* Eliana gives Thalaba a sideways glance. "I was not aware you required my 
opinion to equip yourself," she replies, her tone clipped.
 06* Rolf looks down at people from being a fine coachman. Rolf.
<Rolf> Yeah, they're fine horses.
 06* Moriel murmurs, "Well enough..."  He glances uncertainly between Thalaba 
and Eliana,  but all he says is, "We should be on our way while the darkness 
lasts."
 06* Thalaba chuckles "I meant about not being late.. " Her tone indicating that 
she didn't care what anyone thought of her attire.
 06* Moriel opens the carriage door for the ladies.  He offers a hand to Thalaba 
in a courtly gesture and...offers a hand to Eliana.
 06* Thalaba takes Moriel's hand "Thank you.." And with his assistance gets in 
the carriage.
 06* Moriel murmurs, "Your servant, my lady."
 06* Eliana rolls her eyes, but she doesn't respond to Thalaba. Instead, to 
Moriel: "Yes." She reaches into her bag and pulls out a good-sized tube - sized 
to hold a large scroll or map - placing it in the hand Moriel offers.
 06* Eliana has the sense to blow out her candle-lantern before climbing in 
herself, taking a position by the window and across from Thalaba.
 06* Moriel takes the tube with perfect equanimity and follows Eliana into the 
carriage.  Once inside, he opens it up to scan the contents.
 01<Eliana> [Moriel finds he's holding what looks like a surprisingly detailed 
map of a good portion of England - certainly good enough to travel from London 
to Chester.]
 06* Moriel 's eyebrows rise.  "Impressive.  And useful.  It seems your time was 
well-spent."
 06* Eliana settles the bag next to her and pulls a rather weighty book from it, 
removing her gloves before flipping to the last page. "I try."
 06* Moriel looks at her for a moment, then leans out the window to call to 
Rolf, "Do you need directions, Master Rolf?"
 06* Rolf looks back and says, "Wouldn't be a bad idea: I ain't really a 
carriage driver!" His eyes are glowing as he looks back.
 06* Moriel unrolls the map again as best he can while hanging half out the 
window - maybe he should have ridden up front with Rolf - and gets Rolf heading 
in the right direction.
 06* Eliana proceeds to read as they travel, by moonlight when possible and by 
fire in her palm when not. Although THAT is probably highly disconcerting and 
someone may have the sense to stop her when she starts doing it.
 06* Eliana also reads, strangely enough, from right to left, starting at the 
end of the book and moving to the beginning.
 06* Rolf is mainly on animal handling and 'can see at night' duty, and at both 
of those things he's the rolfest.
 06* Moriel eyes the tiny flame with some discomfort, but makes no move to stop 
her.  Otherwise, he alternates between watching the countryside go by in 
silence, and consulting the map to direct Rolf.
 06* Thalaba takes some time to think on the vision she had, her head turned to 
look out the window but not actually seeing anything as she's deep in thought. 
At some point she randomly says to the carriage in general. "I had a vision 
about our mission.."
 06* Eliana is reading the book with intense concentration, her flame held 
precariously close to the pages. She doesn't respond.
 06* Moriel turns rather quickly to look at Thalaba, and he seems about to say 
something, but then he subsides and waits for her to continue.
 06* Thalaba glances at Eliana before meeting Moriel's gaze. She offers him a 
polite smile before turning her eyes back out the window.. not saying anything 
else..
 06* Rolf says back, after a moment, possibly surprisingly, "That happen often, 
little lady?"
 06* Moriel pulls back ever so slightly, faint irritation visible in his posture 
and the curve of his brows.  He goes back to looking out the window.  He is 
listening when Rolf inquires, though, even if no one can really tell.
<Thalaba> "Not as often as I'd like.... though.. " She says thoughtfully. "This 
vision was stronger then normal... "
 06* Eliana turns her page.
 06* Rolf shrugs and says, "I ain't got visions, so I don't know normal."
 06* Moriel glances over at the sound of the page turning to see what Eliana's 
reading.  His eyebrows flick upwards momentarily in an expression of interest, 
but he doesn't say anything.
 06* Eliana is reading a book that's certainly in another language: Persio-
Arabic (or Arabic, or just squiggly marks, depending on one's familiarity). The 
alphabet, at least, is entirely wrong. The numbers look largely familiar, 
though, and there are quite a lot of them, as they form strange equations, mixed 
with other symbols, in rows.
<Thalaba> "Normally they are short flashes... A little piece of information.. 
But sometimes they are stronger and longer like this one. " She turns away from 
the window finally to look at them. "Five people were executed for the crime we 
are suspected of.." 
 06* Rolf shrugs and says, "Know it was a group. Just gotta make sure it weren't 
us."
<Thalaba> "There wasn't a lot left to know for sure...." She pauses to look each 
of them over before continuing "But I don't think it was us.. so we just need to 
be sure we do what we need to do here to make sure it isn't us. " 
 06* Eliana snorts, faintly, though whether it's at Thalaba or the book is hard 
to tell.
<@Dreol> [Midway through the eighth night of travel, you come upon what Eliana's 
map claims should be Chester. It is a much smaller city than London, but a city 
none the less. You enter the gates of the city, after a guard examines the 
carriage briefly, and find yourselves in what appears to be the market of 
Chester. All of the shops and stalls are closed down for the night, but there 
are still people moving through the streets and some of the taverns still appear 
to be serving patrons. And we will have to find out what happens with that later 
because...]
<@Dreol> [Session End.]
<@Dreol> [Oh! For reference, that makes the date December 23, 1230. That is 
important, so that people don't forget]