CH 1: This Place Sucks

[HorizonsDream]

Echo leads her horse through the crowd to reach the paladin's and clerics since she works for the Pharise. "I can't believe so many people, including children are here,"

[JadedDM]

"Most people leave their kids with loved ones," a voice says. Turning, Echo finds herself facing a red haired woman in armor, lugging some kind of dwarvish firearm over her shoulder. "But some don't have that option. And at least one of them was born during the pilgrimage," she says, pointing to a young woman holding a swaddled baby.

"You the fresh meat?" the red-haired woman asks. "Name's Cadegund, Paladin of Gonto."

[HorizonsDream]

"I'm Echo Soulstaff," she says looking up towards the Paladin. "Now I understand why you need more fighters," she added thoughtfully. "Don't the children run off on occasion?" she asks.

[JadedDM]

"Nah," Cadegund says with a shrug. "They're good kids. They understand the dangers we face. Got any of your own? No? Looks like it's just you then," she comments. "You're the scribe, right?"

[HorizonsDream]

Echo tried hard not to outright laugh at the idea of her having children of her own. It came off as more of a scoff, as if to say the woman was crazy to even suggest such an idea. "Yeah, your Pharise was reluctant to even give me that. I have a feeling, I'm not going to like him much," she says. Though, she decided not to add that she hardly ever liked anyone.

[JadedDM]

Cadegund frowns. "You don't have to like him, but you should show more respect. He's a Pharise, after all. More than that, he was chosen by Gonto herself for this mission. And he's descended from an Archon--he's literally the son of an angel."

[HorizonsDream]

"I'm afraid respect doesn't work that way," Echo says with a shake of her head. "Just because he is the son of an angel and the chosen of Gonto does not mean he deserves respect. That just means that he is luckier than the rest of us," she points out. "He has to earn respect, just like the rest of us, and sadly he failed horribly when I met him yesterday," she explains. "Don't expect me to show respect to someone that can't show respect to another living person just because he is stuck on how great he is."

[JadedDM]

Cadegund, a woman of six feet in height, towers over Echo. She walks up close to her, and looks down at her, fire in her brown eyes. "Why does he need your respect? Who the Abyss are you? How many lives have you saved? What greatness have you accomplished that a successful, heroic man like the Pharise owes you anything? And yet you have the audacity to say the Pharise is the one stuck on himself? Ha!"

[HorizonsDream]

"Oh, he is a hero, so I should bow down and kiss his feet!" Echo mocks with a roll of her eyes. "That gives him the right to treat people however he wishes? No, I'm sorry. I can't do that. You can though, so I'll leave that up to you. Are you done trying to intimidate me, now?" she asks as she looks up the taller woman.

[JadedDM]

Cadegund snorts. "You're not even worth my time," she says, and then brushes past the mage, nearly knocking her over when her armor-plated shoulder slams into Echo's.

[HorizonsDream]

Echo winces a bit since the woman's back is turned away from her. "Well, if that is how followers of Gonto act, I'm glad I'm not a follower," she says softly to herself before she continues forward in search of the Pharise.

[JadedDM]

Echo finds the Pharise talking with a young dwarf. The dwarf has light brown skin, brown hair and a fairly short and well-trimmed beard, for a dwarf, at any rate.

"Pharise, I believe everyone is ready to move on," the dwarf says.

"Very good, acolyte. Tell everyone we leave in five minutes," the Pharise responds.

[HorizonsDream]

Echo approaches the dwarf and Pharise. "Um, excuse me? I guess I'm suppose to report to someone?" she asks, figuring that since the Pharise is busy, she can ask the dwarf that seems to work under him.

[JadedDM]

"Ah, yes. The new scribe," the Pharise says, a hint of weariness in his voice. "This is Gimog, acolyte of Gonto. Acolyte, this is our new scribe...hmm, I never got your name, actually," the Pharise admits.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss," the dwarf says with a nod.

[HorizonsDream]

"Echo Soulstaff," she says to both the Pharise and Gimog. "Nice to meet you," she adds to the dwarf, but she seems to do it more out of habit than anything else. That is what people said to one another when meeting for the first time, wasn't it?