Their plan looked like it should be viable if they appeared at Hatbury, and the cleric was sure they could safely appear there. The only concern was that they would still have to cover over four hundred kilometres in three days with the added distance to Hatbury.
Or, they could make it slightly shorter than the road route from Lutonade and go east through the wilderness.
That was mostly Orc territory, with some nomadic demon tribes in the region. Both could be quite troublesome, but they didn’t usually come near Halsearing, the closest town to the anomaly, as it was largely populated by Minotaurs, who were highly territorial.
“I think that we might be best going down the road. At least we know that it is regularly travelled. We can bring out Thor and the Golems, and travel like a caravan. With the beasts, I don’t think that we will be anyone’s top targets to attack.
The outfit that Rae made me also looks much like one for a Rogue or assassin, which blends with the magical fighters of the other human nations.” Dana suggested.
“Alright, so a rogue, a warrior, two clerics and myself with Thor and the Golems? That sounds like a reasonable group.” Karl agreed.
“Bring out the Bodyguards from Remi as well. They should be able to keep up with Thor at a jog, and Naga actually belongs here. Maybe not in that region, unless it’s swampy, but we can say that we came from the swamps or are going to them.” Tessa suggested.
The beast god cleric looked intrigued. “That could work. The swamp starts not far from the road, and runs from this river here to the Charham River. Most of your journey will be next to the swamp, so it wouldn’t be out of character for Naga Warriors to accept a guard contract.
It’s a shame that you’re only bringing two of them, but your group has other guards. Most would think that you were escorting the clerics.”
“I don’t suppose that you have a wagon that we could purchase for the trip? Thor likes to pull wagons, and we could put the ladies all inside, so it would be me plus monsters and golems visible.” Karl suggested.
“We can get one. There is a portal nearby, and they can bring one from the cities. It won’t be cheap, though.”
Karl took out ten Gold coins from his inventory.
“Will this cover it?”
The cleric pushed half of the money back. “Not that expensive.”
“Thank you for taking care of that for us. It will save us a lot of trouble to look more like average travellers. Well, as average as we can with Thor pulling the wagon.”
“I can arrange for some horses, if you would like.” The beast god clerics offered.
“No, the part about having Thor pull it is not negotiable. He would be too disappointed if we brought in new beasts just to prevent him from pulling the wagon.”
The transformed beast chuckled. Thor did seem like the sort that would enjoy pulling a cart all day.
For a few minutes, everyone examined the map, trying to guess as much as they could about the route, and any detours that they might have to take in order to get to the anomaly on time.
Karl gestured at the direct route across the rural areas. “From what it looks like, even if we have the open wilderness, we should be alright. None of this is mountainous or forest, at least not on the north side of the road, where we will be looking for the anomaly.
We’ve got the coordinates, but once we get close, it will just be a guessing game until we actually see and activate the device to keep the anomaly stable.
The only issue is that we have no idea what is actually there for the inhabitants. With nomadic tribes making up most of the monsters, I guess it makes sense that you can’t pin them down on a map.”
The cleric smiled at Karl’s frustration. “Well, we have some intelligence on the numbers of the Orc Clans, but they have hundreds of camps over the thousand kilometres east of the coast, all the way north to our borders.”
“There are that many Orcs? Then why don’t they call it an Orcish Empire?” Dana asked.
“Because the Orcs aren’t interested in being responsible for anything, or eliminating the other monster species. If they did that, they wouldn’t have anyone left to fight with. That would be a disaster for them.
So, they’re happy to let the cities and even the villages full of other species live, while they plant random fields on their migration routes so that there is food everywhere that they go.
They don’t even eliminate the Goblin tribes, and everyone finds the Goblins annoying, filthy scavengers.
The Orcs get along well enough with the demons, since the species both love to fight and have a sense of honour. How much do you know about Orcish battle customs?” The cleric asked.
“Enough to know that they like to assign someone to count kills so that nobody makes up fake kill counts to brag.” Karl shrugged.
The others turned to stare at him.
“What? I met with some while I was out. They’re quite interesting. Or, they were ten thousand years ago.”
Bishop Misty came to join them at the table. “Things have changed for the Orcs since then. When the system collapsed, so did large parts of their culture that were based on it. They’re much less civilized now, but the basics are still intact.
They love to fight for the smallest reasons, but they still have the same code, and they don’t attack children or noncombatants.”
“Noncombatants?” Lotus asked.
“If you stand back of the fight and wait to heal your side after the fight finishes, they won’t attack you. The War Clerics wouldn’t get away with it, but Nature Clerics are notoriously flaky.”
Lotus sighed. “How did we get such a horrible reputation even here? You follow the beast gods, the fans of all things feral.”
“You cuddled an immortal Temporal Dragon this morning instead of going to breakfast.
Then, you had to snack during morning training because you were dizzy from hunger.”
The others nodded and Lotus shrugged. “That’s not flaky, that’s just priorities. Time schedules are not part of nature. When you are safe, you should be able to sleep as much as you want and then eat, not rush off to training.”
While they were talking, the guards at the temple were already working to get the plan in order to help them get to the anomaly. It was vital that it was stabilized, so they were doing their best to prepare whatever the team needed.
That included some fake trade goods to load in the wagon because nobody travelled with an empty wagon, even if their primary goal was to move people.
Orthos came in to meet with them when the wagon had arrived, and he was satisfied with it.
The guards had loaded bolts of linen into the wagon, which were a trademark of one of the northern human nations, and only valuable within Newbon. Everywhere else, linen was among the cheapest options.
The wagon was on the small side for a merchant wagon, but big enough to do the job, and there were side platforms for guards. They could put Golems or something on there, so that bandits knew the wagon was protected.
