It was an uncomfortable journey wearing nothing but his skivvies as they traveled in the cold of early spring. Eventually, they left the forest for open farmland, passing some villages here and there, before finally making it to a large, bustling town. It was surrounded by a wooden wall, but Donny could see crews were halfway through converting it to stone. Even from a distance, it was possible to hear the clamor of noise, and Donny was able to see the plums of dust and smoke rising from the town proper even before he could see the town itself. Donny could see a large, iron banded, wooden gate as they pulled in closer. A line of other wagons had formed in front of the gate entrance. Over the entrance read a sign. Gowan.
They joined the line and crept slowly to the town’s entrance as guards checked the people passing through.
“Terrible, isn’t?” said Ashelyn, “There anything like this in San Fernando?”
Donny shrugged. “I’ve seen worse.”
Ashelyn blinked at that.
“What do you mean worse?”
“Yea. Even in the middle of the day, traffic on the I-5 could be backed up for miles. And forget about rush hour. Little slow down like this ain’t shit.”
Ashelyn leered at him.
“I’m talking about the injustice being done. There’s no legitimate business here. All the goods and livestock being brought in here were probably stolen. Half the people here are being taken against their will.”
Donny looked around. Indeed, dingy looking men with weapons escorted wagons filled random goods. Livestock brayed in distress as they were beaten back into line. There were many people chained or in cages like theirs.
“Just terrible,” Ashelyn continued, shaking her head as she cast her eyes over the sight, “Someone has to do something.”
“Do it girl,” said Donny, but his voice was bored, empty of encouragement, “If you can get my ass out of here too while you’re at it, I’d owe you a solid.”
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Ashelyn turned to look at Donny, who had made himself busy picking at something up his nose.
“Do you want to at least act more distressed?” she fumed at him, “It's not even that you’re resigned to your fate. It’s like you don’t even care. It's beginning to piss me off.
“Well, ya,” Donny replied, “Are you gonna stress out about every single thing you can’t do anything about? The way I see it, until there’s something worse about to happen, I just do what they say and they keep their whips and clubs off me.”
“So might makes right, is it?”
“Prolly not. Might makes the rules though.”
Ashelyn stared at him coldly.
“Hey, I’m looking to breaking the rules and saving my ass too, ok? But I’m not the die trying kinda guy.”
Ashelyn shook her head in disgust.
“You’ve worse than given up. You’re...fine with it. I don’t know if I should feel sorry for you or sickened.”
“Eh,” he replied, shrugging.
There was silence between them. Ashelyn looked back at the scene. Donny continued to pick inside his nostril.
“And how the hell,” Ashelyn said suddenly, “Does traffic back up for - what did you say? - miles?”
Being carted through the town was a surreal experience. Gowan was a populous, bustling, medieval town. Filthy people ran between grime stained buildings. The sounds of clattering wheels, shouting, pounding, sawing, and distressed animals blended together in his ears to make a constant, nerve-wracking buzz. It was double worse for the smell.
At the same time though, this was the Gowan from the game. They passed a fountain he recognized for its dancing gargoyles. He looked down a street where the armor vendor NPC had been in the game to see the billows of black smoke and hear clanging of metal of blacksmiths. Gowan was bigger and full of peasants instead of players, but every landmark he remembered from game was exactly where it showed up in this world. Donny could tell where they were going.
Their path went straight toward a hill in the center of town, making curve around a walled off area that the Lord’s barracks would be located, before heading up the hill to the Castle of Gowan. Donny saw familiar looking banner’s bearing an upraised fist on the castle’s towers. It was made of dark gray stone, with the wooden elements stained with black, earthen tiles coloring the roof with brick red. He knew, for both the game’s first questiline and this caravan’s journey, things were at an end.