Early the next morning, Quinn was standing back in the caravan district. Its shady streets seemed far kinder than she remembered, though that probably had to do with the fact an entire caravan was assembled around her. A couple dozen carriages were all around her in two rows. Most were simple cargo carriages, though there were one or two passenger carriages in the lineup.

At least two hundred or so guards, the same she saw the last time she came to the Schel Caravan Warehouse, idled about the carriages. They wore the same metal armor as last time, though the majority of the guards bore far more weapons than initially. They, just like the carriages, had the curling nautilus shell symbol printed on their armor. Most were strapped with simple spears and swords, though there were quite a few wielding larger two-handed weaponry and bows. The majority of the carriage drivers were also guards, though they wielded what looked to be rifles faintly reminiscent of Atamai's.

Aside from the inner rows of carriages and the outer perimeter of guards, there was also a large number of random people milling around in between the carriages. The idlers were a random assortment of adventurer types and city-goers. The differences between the two groups were obvious when you took their attire into account. Most of the adventurer types wore simple leather armor with the occasional bits of metal mixed in while the citygoers mostly donned three-piece suits of various colors. The gaggle were all people who had paid for transport to Strumgard from Mauershein. Quinn was of course a member of the group.

The other more ‘elite’ forces of the Schel Caravan Company were placed around the carriages in a seemingly disorganized manner. Atamai and Willa were the closets to her position about two-thirds back from the front. They both waved lightly at her but otherwise went about their duties. She wasn't expecting much anyway. It only made sense that they were busy doing their job.

The rain splattered on her clothes as she looked about the entire caravan in its pre-deployment phase. Thankfully, the Eternal Storm only decided to grace them with a light drizzle on the verge of their voyage. Truthfully, the rain was quite nice. The large amount of bodies shoved into the tiny backstreet where they held caused quite the buildup of heat hemmed in by the tight walls of the street.

Quinn glanced at the guards with a curious gaze apparent on her face. She just couldn’t figure out why Mr. Schel hadn’t taken the guards with them when they headed into the Veiled Grove. No matter how she thought about it, it was a very poor idea to go into a dangerous place with little better than weak mercs to protect him and his grandson. Maybe he thought his ‘elite’ guards were more than sufficient? She supposed there was no way he would have expected a village of the dead…

A familiar face walked over to her with a wide smile beaming on his face. His trademark pink-red hair said all she needed to know about the man walking over. “Hey, Quinn!” As he approached closer, a frown worked its way onto his pink lips. “Did… did you get taller?” He raised his hand to about head height and his frown deepened. “I know kids are supposed to grow fast, but wow.”

“Y-yeah. I, uh don’t really know what happened either…” Quinn felt it was rather weird talking to Mikeal now that they were nearly the same height. It was a complete turnaround from how almost every interaction had been. She was no longer looking up at the flirt, craning her neck to see his eyes. That nervousness wasn't helped at all by the hundreds of people around her.

Mikeal didn't seem to mind too much about her appearance, thankfully. “Sooo… are you excited to finally get out there into the big bad world? Ah, I still remember my first time adventuring out into the unknown…” He got a dreamlike look in his eyes as his attention faded away. The mirth in his eyes seemed to fade slightly as his eyebrows twitched.

Quinn decided to change the subject so the pink-haired mage wouldn't infect her with his sense of morbs. “Sure am! What is Strumgard like, by the by?” It would be a massive lie to say she wasn’t interested in adventure. It was every modern person’s dream to sate their wanderlust, and she had a golden opportunity like no other. A massive bonus to the charm of adventure was most of her holdups disappearing. A majority of the flaws of a weeks-long voyage could be solved with magic. Namely, Cleanse.

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Mikeal snapped back to attention and laughed in that annoyingly snooty way of his. “Oh, it's quite amazing. You wouldn’t believe-”

He was cut off as a bell rung from the middle of the gathered carvaneers. Almost immediately, all conversations on the back street cut out as everyone - including Quinn - focused on the one ringing the bell. “Hello, esteemed guests and honored guards! Before we begin our long voyage, I thought it best I give a rundown on how the trip is expected to go.” The speaker had a certain tone to his voice that captured everyone’s attention even further.

Arnz Schel continued from his position on a cargo carriage. “After we set out from here, we are headed to a small town called Hardtenbach. It is about seventy-five miles from here. We’ll stay there for about a night and refill supplies. Then we are headed to the river city of Maulden, which is about a hundred miles from Hardtenbach. We’ll rest there for a couple of days then continue on our journey.

"After Maulder should be quite easy since we’ll actually have a main road to follow. We’ll stop at every town we come across for no more than a night. From Maulder to Strumgard is a mere three hundred or so miles.” A couple of people laughed at his joke, but it was more out of pity than anything. “Overall, we are expecting at least ten miles a day, depending on the circumstances. That puts us at… about forty-five days, not including any delays. Any questions?”

A collective groan ran through the gathered people, and Quinn couldn’t blame them. Forty-five days of just walking… at least she would lose any fat she had. And ten miles a day wasn’t all that bad, comparatively. She set a far quicker pace when she headed to the warding stone with Mikeal in the Veiled Grove.

Several people raised their voices to ask questions, but a particularly high-pitched voice came from somewhere near the back. It sounded like a shrill woman, almost evoking an image of a haughty noble. Or in modern terms, a Karen. “And if we are attacked?”

Mr. Schel smiled. “No need to worry, ma’am. We at the Schel Caravan Company have made this trip countless times, so we are fully prepared for any and all potential dangers. None of the customers are required to take up arms in defense, but we most certainly won’t tell you not to.”

Several more questions were asked, but Quinn barely followed along as she thought of several potential issues and how she would go about solving them. Before too long had passed, Arnz Schel stepped off the carriage and headed to the front. Shortly after, the entire caravan started to move.

Unlike what she was expecting, the caravan headed to a side entrance into the city. Judging by the nearby area of warehouses, it was an entrance designed specifically for caravans to come and go. They passed through the portcullis in short order, which was surprising since there were guards everywhere. She got the feeling they were present more for searching people coming in than going out. And with a final step onto the stone path, she was free of the walls of the city.

Quinn had little idea what would happen in the future during their trip, but she mentally prepared herself for issues. She figured it was better to prepare herself now than if something truly went wrong, like the very real possibility of getting attacked. What would she do? Simple, she would assist where she could, but not over-exert herself when there were such capable guards within the Schel Caravan Company.

Even though she was weary of the future, half of her heart was overcome with excitement. This was her first true adventure where she had no idea where she was going. Of course, she could simply find the cities on her maps, but she decided not to. Quinn didn’t want to spoil the sense of adventure and wanderlust that was rapidly rising inside of her.

This was something she had dreamed about ever since she was a kid. It was what drove her to get decent at mountaineering and read and play anything related to the fantasy adventure genre. That, and her dad loved sallying forth with little more than the equipment on her back. Truly, he would’ve loved to have been in this place, even with all of its apparent dangers around every corner…

It seemed as though she wasn’t alone in this thought process. Her athyrn senses reflected a thrill in the air as the caravan thrummed with emotion strong enough to adjust the athyr. The emotion was quite complex and was equal parts wariness, wanderlust, and wretched fear. Maybe she had trouble pinpointing the exact emotion since it was taken from such a small sample size. She would have to test this theory later. There was still so much she didn't know of athyrn...

Aside from the prep, she made small talk with Mikeal as they headed deeper into the mountain gorge that acted as their road. The ‘road’ out of the city, if it could even be called that, turned into packed-down dirt barely a quarter of a mile away from the city’s gates. It was quite rough to walk on as if a prelude to the hard path ahead.