Friday, November 11, 2011

Grava and Dain

WORLD OF RYNAGA TRAVELOGUE

Quena, Veratar

Arcan and I paid a visit to a local Igwaza Trainer yesterday, in hopes of finding him a new riding mount. His current steed is a Quenan Igwaza named Grava. She's been a loyal friend to Arcan, but is in poor health now. A respiratory illness has left her with a wheezing cough, shortness of breath and lack of stamina; symptoms which mean slow, painful travels for beast and master alike.

We did not find a new mount for Arcan, but we did hear of some strange rumors. Dain, the associate of Solan we now seek, has not been seen in or around Quena for months. We spoke to no less than seven shop owners and the city gatekeeper without any record of Dain’s activity here. In addition, several travelers report seeing unmarked transport carriages on the roads east of Quena, which points to Dark Trader movements.

Controversy follows Dark Traders wherever they go, as they’re usually in possession of forbidden or dangerous wares in addition to common supplies. However, for them to be active so close to Quena’s jurisdiction suggests they have buyers in this area. Dain lives to the east of Quena, so perhaps he’s being supplied by these shadowy merchants for some reason.

We’ll keep searching for some clue as to Dain’s whereabouts here in town. If we can’t find information on him here, there’s only one other option: travel east to the edge of Silentwood to find him.

-Eric

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Beginning at Traveler's End

WORLD OF RYNAGA TRAVELOGUE

Quena, Veratar

Each time I arrive in Quena, it’s as if I’ve stepped into zoo. I mean, you’d feel the same surrounded by such a variety of animals – beasts of burden, family pets and domestic herds. Quena is a town filled with animal trainers, mostly igwaza trainers. Farms are abundant, stables are everywhere and everyone seems to have some connection to farm management, animal husbandry and ranching.

This isn’t the first time I’ve paid a visit to this town, so it wasn’t hard to meet up with Arcan since we had agreed to meeting at a particular inn called Traveler’s End. The inn is famous for it’s comfort, cuisine and a poker style game using cards called Showdown, at which I lost several times but with happy company.

Arcan arrived a few days after I did, worn out from his adventures but in good spirits. He had been called out to support a search team looking for a missing family. The family was found in good health but with a badly injured igwaza mount, which they did not want to leave alone in the wild. Arcan says any search that ends as this one did is a rare thing. The wilds are no place for errors or injuries.

Today we’re discussing our plan to find our associate Dain, a former associate of Solan. Dain and his wife Vesena live on the western edge of Silentwood forest and visit Quena regularly. They should be due in anytime as the weather is only getting colder here and they’ll need to resupply before the storms arrive. Our goal is to interview Dain and see if he would support an expedition to the Shrinking Depths.

Convincing him to enter the dark place with a search party will be another matter entirely.

-Eric