Post by Brandwyn on Sept 5, 2020 15:56:08 GMT -5
[ooc: This post is open to anyone. Let your character discover their own adventure in Desperation.]
A new town
The passengers of the river barge jostled for position as it pulled up to the pier and the deckhands secured it and lay down the wide ramp onto Desperation’s double-wide pier. Tory, sitting on her shaggy spotted horse, looked down on the booming town and watched the people on foot and those with wagons disembark the barge and enter the town. She and Chocolate Chip were perched on a rock outcropping on the northwest side of Desperation, but she was not high enough up to see into the town over the stone and wood palisade that surrounded it. She had spotted the watchman in the tower on the opposite corner of the town and waved at him. He waved back. She was now a familiar sight.
She turned Chip and let him pick his way down the rocky slope and back around to the gates of Desperation. She could hear the chaos of the new arrivals at the livery. Tory rode past the Blacksmith shop and wove her way between the people trying to find a place for their livestock and those making their way up to the tavern that also served hot meals from 2 in the afternoon through 10 pm and drinks until midnight. The sign above the door was hand-painted and simply said, ‘Tavern and Meals’ in block lettering. The word "Bonnie's" was painted above in flowing, light lettering completely opposite from the rest. Several people were also shopping in the General Store to get food and supplies before they headed up into the mountains.
Tory turned down the first side street to the right between the crowded Claims Office and the Apothecary. There was a Ropery behind the Apothecary and her personal camp was up against the ropery wall. She had a 10-foot diameter carousel tent with a large patch of grass behind it for Chip. Inside the tent was a saddle rack and her weapons and armor rack, a small square table with two chairs and a wooden slat bed with a straw-filled mattress and several wool blankets. At the foot of the bed was a large, locked trunk containing her clothing. She was not dressed in her usual ranger gear, for she was technically on vacation. She didn’t want to dwell on why, or what had happened in the last assignment to warrant a vacation so soon after reaching Ranger status. It still brought her anxiety when she thought about it. Her silver leaf was still around her neck, but she kept it tucked into her tunic, out of sight. No one here knew she was a ranger and she wanted to keep it that way.
She liked her little camp. It felt like home, the first home she could truly call her own. It wasn’t much, but it was hers, bought and paid for. Tory unsaddled Chip and brushed him down, humming an old folk tune. Chip leaned into her brushing and stuck his nose out, his eyes closed, enjoying the scrubbing. When she was finished, she gave him a bucket of grain and a pile of prairie grass and tied the bell around Chip’s neck and left him in the makeshift enclosure behind her tent. It was just a few stakes with rope strung between them that she put up to claim Chip’s area and keep people from pitching their tents right next to hers. She left the gate open so Chip could go where he wanted. The bell signified to others that the horse belonged to someone here, even though she knew Chip wouldn’t let himself be caught by anyone. Most of the time he just went down near the wall closest to Pyrite Creek where the grass grew thick. Her neighbors knew him and even fed him treats. Twice in the last week he had stopped petty thieves from helping themselves to her neighbor’s food stores. The open area down by the southern wall was getting increasingly smaller, however, with more and more people arriving.
Tory had found out about Desperation from a merchant in Meric who was selling pickaxes and tin pans for panning for gold in rivers.
“They have found some real gold dust in Pyrite Creek, so I’ve been told,” he had said to her. “I even bought this map off this guy. He said he was too old to go looking himself, but he knows there’s gold up there in the mountains.” Tory was skeptical, but since she had some time on her hands, she bought the map for an exorbitant amount and made her way to Desperation to check it out. It was late summer and the weather in the mountains was cool, especially at night. The leaves on the trees higher up were starting to turn bright red and orange, and heavy rain fell often in the afternoons. She found it surprising how the town roads were mud pits one day, and rutted, dry ridges the next day, depending on how much rain had fallen on any given day.
The map she had purchased had not been very helpful so far. She took it out now, as she sat at her table in her tent and studied it. The problem with the map was the starting point. In the past week, Tory had not been able to find it. The map started with a notation of a rock formation that looked like a horse head located at the bend of a small stream.
Tory had ridden out each day just after sunrise to search for the formation and was not able to find it within a day’s ride of Desperation. She was beginning to think the whole map was a hoax. Well, not beginning, she had suspected that from the day she bought the map. But she kept searching anyway. She had found four small streams up in the high country that fed into Pyrite Creek and had ridden up each of them as far as a half-day away from the town. Tomorrow she planned to camp out overnight and go a bit farther. Today she needed to hire someone to watch her camp here in town while she was gone.
The third stream she’d found looked promising and she intended to ride further up that stream. There had been two rock formations along the swift-moving stream, but neither looked like a horse’s head from any angle. It was likely, if the map was legitimate, that the formation was much higher up the mountain. From the rock formation she was to ride upstream around three bends and then look for a cluster of oak trees in a small glen. Behind the oak trees was a rock wall that had a break in it forming a canyon. The map showed the way to a vein of gold in the canyon wall. “It can’t be that easy,” Tory muttered and then sighed. She rolled the map up and tucked it back into her satchel and looped the satchel over her head.
The sun was sinking low on the plains below as she made her way up to the great room at the Inn. There was a group of young men always hanging around the Inn looking for work. Tory pulled her fur-lined wool cloak tighter over her shoulders as the evening breeze brought a draft of cold air down from the mountain. The temperature dropped fast up here when the sun went down and even though it was summer, it was still cold at night.
She approached the Inn and sure enough, about seven young men, some mere boys, were laughing and hanging out in front of the Inn doors, just to the left where some benches had been set. Tory walked up to them instead of going inside as they had expected. They grew quiet as she approached.
“Hi!,” Tory smiled at them. “I have a job for one of you, and it is probably the easiest job you’ve ever seen.”
A new town
The passengers of the river barge jostled for position as it pulled up to the pier and the deckhands secured it and lay down the wide ramp onto Desperation’s double-wide pier. Tory, sitting on her shaggy spotted horse, looked down on the booming town and watched the people on foot and those with wagons disembark the barge and enter the town. She and Chocolate Chip were perched on a rock outcropping on the northwest side of Desperation, but she was not high enough up to see into the town over the stone and wood palisade that surrounded it. She had spotted the watchman in the tower on the opposite corner of the town and waved at him. He waved back. She was now a familiar sight.
She turned Chip and let him pick his way down the rocky slope and back around to the gates of Desperation. She could hear the chaos of the new arrivals at the livery. Tory rode past the Blacksmith shop and wove her way between the people trying to find a place for their livestock and those making their way up to the tavern that also served hot meals from 2 in the afternoon through 10 pm and drinks until midnight. The sign above the door was hand-painted and simply said, ‘Tavern and Meals’ in block lettering. The word "Bonnie's" was painted above in flowing, light lettering completely opposite from the rest. Several people were also shopping in the General Store to get food and supplies before they headed up into the mountains.
Tory turned down the first side street to the right between the crowded Claims Office and the Apothecary. There was a Ropery behind the Apothecary and her personal camp was up against the ropery wall. She had a 10-foot diameter carousel tent with a large patch of grass behind it for Chip. Inside the tent was a saddle rack and her weapons and armor rack, a small square table with two chairs and a wooden slat bed with a straw-filled mattress and several wool blankets. At the foot of the bed was a large, locked trunk containing her clothing. She was not dressed in her usual ranger gear, for she was technically on vacation. She didn’t want to dwell on why, or what had happened in the last assignment to warrant a vacation so soon after reaching Ranger status. It still brought her anxiety when she thought about it. Her silver leaf was still around her neck, but she kept it tucked into her tunic, out of sight. No one here knew she was a ranger and she wanted to keep it that way.
She liked her little camp. It felt like home, the first home she could truly call her own. It wasn’t much, but it was hers, bought and paid for. Tory unsaddled Chip and brushed him down, humming an old folk tune. Chip leaned into her brushing and stuck his nose out, his eyes closed, enjoying the scrubbing. When she was finished, she gave him a bucket of grain and a pile of prairie grass and tied the bell around Chip’s neck and left him in the makeshift enclosure behind her tent. It was just a few stakes with rope strung between them that she put up to claim Chip’s area and keep people from pitching their tents right next to hers. She left the gate open so Chip could go where he wanted. The bell signified to others that the horse belonged to someone here, even though she knew Chip wouldn’t let himself be caught by anyone. Most of the time he just went down near the wall closest to Pyrite Creek where the grass grew thick. Her neighbors knew him and even fed him treats. Twice in the last week he had stopped petty thieves from helping themselves to her neighbor’s food stores. The open area down by the southern wall was getting increasingly smaller, however, with more and more people arriving.
Tory had found out about Desperation from a merchant in Meric who was selling pickaxes and tin pans for panning for gold in rivers.
“They have found some real gold dust in Pyrite Creek, so I’ve been told,” he had said to her. “I even bought this map off this guy. He said he was too old to go looking himself, but he knows there’s gold up there in the mountains.” Tory was skeptical, but since she had some time on her hands, she bought the map for an exorbitant amount and made her way to Desperation to check it out. It was late summer and the weather in the mountains was cool, especially at night. The leaves on the trees higher up were starting to turn bright red and orange, and heavy rain fell often in the afternoons. She found it surprising how the town roads were mud pits one day, and rutted, dry ridges the next day, depending on how much rain had fallen on any given day.
The map she had purchased had not been very helpful so far. She took it out now, as she sat at her table in her tent and studied it. The problem with the map was the starting point. In the past week, Tory had not been able to find it. The map started with a notation of a rock formation that looked like a horse head located at the bend of a small stream.
Tory had ridden out each day just after sunrise to search for the formation and was not able to find it within a day’s ride of Desperation. She was beginning to think the whole map was a hoax. Well, not beginning, she had suspected that from the day she bought the map. But she kept searching anyway. She had found four small streams up in the high country that fed into Pyrite Creek and had ridden up each of them as far as a half-day away from the town. Tomorrow she planned to camp out overnight and go a bit farther. Today she needed to hire someone to watch her camp here in town while she was gone.
The third stream she’d found looked promising and she intended to ride further up that stream. There had been two rock formations along the swift-moving stream, but neither looked like a horse’s head from any angle. It was likely, if the map was legitimate, that the formation was much higher up the mountain. From the rock formation she was to ride upstream around three bends and then look for a cluster of oak trees in a small glen. Behind the oak trees was a rock wall that had a break in it forming a canyon. The map showed the way to a vein of gold in the canyon wall. “It can’t be that easy,” Tory muttered and then sighed. She rolled the map up and tucked it back into her satchel and looped the satchel over her head.
The sun was sinking low on the plains below as she made her way up to the great room at the Inn. There was a group of young men always hanging around the Inn looking for work. Tory pulled her fur-lined wool cloak tighter over her shoulders as the evening breeze brought a draft of cold air down from the mountain. The temperature dropped fast up here when the sun went down and even though it was summer, it was still cold at night.
She approached the Inn and sure enough, about seven young men, some mere boys, were laughing and hanging out in front of the Inn doors, just to the left where some benches had been set. Tory walked up to them instead of going inside as they had expected. They grew quiet as she approached.
“Hi!,” Tory smiled at them. “I have a job for one of you, and it is probably the easiest job you’ve ever seen.”