101 – Karen continues debriefing, The trio enters Skarg

  She entered her bed room, leaving the door open behind her. She crossed the vaguely musty room to the double doors to the small private balcony, and opened these to their stops, feeling them latch open. Even for winter it was warm out, and the room needed the air if she was going to be staying in it. She lit the fire in the fireplace, feeling the air in the vents that were through out the house circulate warmer.

  Karen turned to her closet and divested herself of her equipment and costume. The equipment and harness onto her grandmother’s chest. The rest was draped onto a chair, to be dealt with later.  The cape went on a hanger.

  Karen's leather harness and girdle had a knife hung hilt down from the left suspender, a pair of interchangeable leather pouches from the front of the girdle, and her primary weapons at her hips from the sides of the girdle. There were points around the whole where she could attach other equipment at need. Shoulder pauldrons were attached to the suspenders, and rerebrace pads fastened to these, and had straps that went around her arms to prevent them from flapping about.

  A pair of hard leather vambraces covered her forearms, the left side had a sheathed stiletto on its inside, the right a broader cutting knife, the handles arranged where she could cross draw both at the same time. Karen then removed her elbow and knee pads, putting each piece on the chest as she removed it. Occasionally she wore hard leather grieves, but only when she was expecting a lot of trouble; otherwise she left these aside for mobility.

  Her trousers had a drawstring waist, with gussets at the lower leg, as well as a billows seam at the crotch. Lining the interior of the legs were several pouches and pockets for assorted weapons and tools accessible through slits in the trousers, in addition to the normal cargo pockets and hip pockets. The seat was triple reinforced, right through the bellows seam, as also the knees. If she needed to splint her legs, she carried enough stiff things in the trousers to act as splints.

  When she wore her long boots, these covered the lower gussets and up to just below her knees; if she wore short boots, as she did this night, these only came above her ankles.

  Her jacket was cut bulky around her torso, with a draw cord at the waist, and buttons on the wide double breast all the way up. The shoulders and upper arms were loose with gussets on the forearms. Fingerless leather gauntlets protected her hands and forearms. Several more pockets and sheaths were arrayed on the interior of the jacket. The inside is the equivalent of a load bearing vest, which attached to her trousers. She chose a cloth as durable as some tent fabrics.

  Next was an insulating layer against the cold. Compared to her specialized equipment, these linen long-johns were of the usual design and construction, dyed a dark gray.

  Karen wore a bodysuit as underwear. It was of leather for support and protection, and fabric to move and breathe. The leather segments protected her ribs, trunk, and groin. It had short sleeves with some leather on the shoulders on her arms and went to her knees with thigh and hip pads below. She wore this under her business suit, or most any suit, as she felt the circumstances would require.

  As the weather or social circumstance required, she wore a cape over top of all as needed. She also carried a slim backpack with her extra sundries, as needed. She carried many knives, but no tiger claws or leg climbers as she did not need them. Two blow tubes with needles, a garrote and several assorted lengths of cord, several vials and pouches of chemicals, all were in appropriate jacket or trouser pockets, as was some black makeup. Her first aid and sewing kits were among the contents of the pouches on her girdle. Winter gloves that fit over her gauntlets were kept though not yet in use. Assorted bits of money were in a pouch in her belt. Depending on the weather, Karen used a scarf or balaclava to cover her face.

  Her favorite weapons to use was a pair of sai’s, carried on either hip, though sometimes she carried a short sword across her back attached horizontal to the girdle. Professionally Karen usually killed with a knife, most often her stiletto. She was trained to use most anything, being taught the fundamentals of every weapon the guild could teach. She was not an archer, but she could use most any bow, and occasionally carried one with the quiver attached to her back. She could use pole-arm's, staves, swords, and blunt weapons. She was not an alchemist, but did know poisons, and antidotes, as well as many herbs and other pharmacological stuff. She could sew, and sneak, pick locks, and kill.

  As Karen undressed, she made a list to herself of maintenance issues; the harness would need to be oiled, the metal buckles and equipment cleaned and inspected for rust. The tunic and trousers would need washing. Last all the leather would need oiling, the individual pieces and the body suit. Her underwear went on the top of the pile. It was all still a slight bit damp. She put on fresh underwear from the bureau, and a nightgown from the closet.

  Karen closed the doors leaving one slightly open, and moved to her bed. Set into a dais, it was a good sized pit lined with black fur and a few blankets, and very soft. She sat in the middle of it, her legs folded and her hands on her knees, palms up. Karen then began to focus her attention down to just her breathing. As she did, her mind stilled from the excitement of the evening, and the chill of the river and season left her body.

  Karen woke up, warm and comfortable, wrapped in a favorite blanket. At some point she had stretched out and pulled the blanket over her. But she could not clearly remember when. The light in the room told her it was approaching midday. The morning breeze had cooled things nicely. Now it was beginning to warm.

  Karen returned to the sitting position from the previous night, and worked to bring her memory to clear recall. She then got up, got a lap desk, her journal, a stylus, and an ink well. She also picked up her waterproof case, which was in one of her girdle pouches, with the papers that she had copied from the official records. She sat back down, and wrote in the journal all that she had read and learned. This she followed with her conclusions. She closed the book, putting the papers in the book next to the entry. This took some time, and then she was ready to proceed with the day with a meal and a bath.

  As she tended to the activities of the day, her mind worked over what she had learned, and what she was going to do to accomplish her task. The first thing she needed to do was find the parents and the wizard. People as tall as the parents were figured to be would be easy to spot in a crowd, if you can find the right crowd.

  So, how to find the right crowd?

  Caspian and the Caplan’s traveled along a road toward Skarg. It had become increasingly busy as they moved from the rural to the suburban, and finally the urban.

  Caspian had done a good job in teleporting them into the area. They had landed near the disk at the Wizard’s villa, and then traveled through the woods in the area for a short part of the day, before finding the road, and getting proper directions to Skarg. The horses and mules were quite stirred up and skittish after being teleported. The change from summer to winter did not help, as the animals quickly chilled under their summer coats. It was all that could be done to lead them for a few hours, without the animals taking fright at every rock and root, or just standing and shivering

  After a few day’s travel, they now traveled southwest on a main highway approached the tax and duty station on the northeast  outskirts of the metropolis.

  Much discussion had passed on how to get into the city, without causing commotion about Steven’s size and Roxanne’s appearance. The decision was to simply put on the ubiquitous cloaks over their costumes, get a cart to ride in, and let Caspian do the talking. Rox and Steven had enough Traders Cant to pass as northern traders, by language. Their size on the other hand . . .

  At a passing farm, Caspian had acquired a cart, with a pair of draft ponies, trading the three horses and two mules. Caspian had carefully selected other boxes and bags of stuff from two markets along the way. Steven had asked about where Caspian got the money for this, to which Caspian gave a noncommittal answer.

  Steven and Rox now sat in the box of the wagon with the cargo, their gear wrapped up in some cargo bags. Caspian’s staff was under his feet on the driver’s bench. Cyrril was somewhere nearby. It was not quite cold enough to see their breath in the day, but it did cool down in the evening.

  Roxanne asked about the language, as she and Steven did not understand the local language. Caspian was non committal, mentioning that in a free moment, he would magic it into their heads for them. Steven though this would be amusing, to mark yet another permanent new language for the trip.

  Now Caspian pulled the cart to a stop as the gate keepers motioned him to. The keepers were quickly inspecting each wagon as they entered, and checking invoices as available. As Steven watched and listened he saw the gate keeper respond with some slight pause to Caspian’s accent, and use of what Steven gathered was a local trader’s dialect, instead of the local language. But the gate keeper dismissed it, as his two helpers looked quickly over the cart and the goods in it. Rox and Steven's gear bags were looked through, with their weapons ends hanging out of them, but little other fuss was made. Evidently things were acceptable. After a moment with a requisition, Caspian paid a sum, and was waved on.

  The ponies pulled them into the city, and toward a market area. Along the way, Steven and Rox pulled their personal gear bags out, and climbed out of the cart. They had arranged for the Caplan's to find a place to stay, and meet Caspian after he had sold his goods.

  Steven led out, with the crowd parting minimally as they moved through it. They surveyed the inns for part of the area, and selected one. Using the traders language from the north, they got two rooms, and went up to put their stuff away. After securing things, they went back out to find Caspian. Cyrril found them as they moved down the street, and shortly Caspian showed up. He reported that he had parked the cart, and stabled the ponies.

  Steven led them back to the inn, and showed Caspian the room they had got for him. It was not as fancy as what the elves provided, but it had a window and all else it needed in this climate and setting. Caspian, like the Caplan's had done previously, was able to divest himself of his travel gear and lighten his load.

  The trio went out and spent the remainder of the afternoon getting acclimated to the local neighborhood and learning the landmarks. The inn Steven had selected was connected to a corner tavern with a open-air café occupying the bulk its part of the corner, the main tavern to one side the inn to the other. The area looked to cater to travelers and traders.