IC Exodus

[grimjim]

The lands move inexorably to war under the banner of religious hatred and their petty squabbling over their green, crystalline drug. While Matis marches to war under the penant of the Karavan the leaders do nothing but sit idly by while their borders are eroded.

As the practical reasons for war fade, so does the profit. Religious fanatics cannot trust apostates, even if they need them, and so the flow of dapper dries up. This brave new world of so many broken promises and false hopes, The New Lands are just the mistakes of the past writ large again.

Still, Jyudas muses as he sips his firewine in The Tranquil Tryker, hominkind survived in the wilds as tribes before, perhaps they can do so again. The Old Lands have been found to be full of strangeness and wonder and the things once made by the old peoples. Things that might be turned to good use.

Outside the bar the guild awaits, their Mektoub's lashed to carts, weighed down by the booty of years of mercenary work, the preserved materials of hundreds of hunting trips. He downs the firewine and settles with Pecus for the cost of the barrels of firewine - at least until they can find a fire forest and set up a still.

Yrkanis - his mount - stirs as he emerges from the bar, ready for the off. The loyal Mektoub knows something is up and raises his trunk, sniffing the air as though sensing new possibilities that are in the offing.

He swings up onto Yrkanis' back and takes his helmet from the pommel, securing it in place to shield his eyes from the dust and sand, saluting the guild workers and allies who will tend the caravan as they make their way deep into the old lands to escape the conflict.

Kami, Karavan, war, the mysterious vanishing of The Atrium Keepers... none of it boded well, but they would depart and weather the storm. He kicked his heels into Yrkanis' side and took off ahead of the caravan, setting his pike in its rest, the shifting sand of the desert shifting under Yrkanis' firm-footed gait.

Outside of Thesos the air was hot, spicy...

And most importantly, it was free.