Salt wind hisses over the beach as Kadash and the troop leave the transport boat behind. The two loaded carts groan in the sand, and the pair of milk-bearing buffalo stamp and snort, eager and uneasy at once.
Ahead, the grass thins into the first edge of Grissey Forest. The long eastward road waits beyond the trees, and every pack, bow, and bedroll has to make it there intact.
Wor Gokk braces a hand on one cart’s side and checks the lashings with a surgeon’s care. One buffalo tosses its head and digs a hoof into the sand.
Wor Gokk
The load holds, Kadash. If the beasts keep this pace, we reach the grass before noon.
Kadash steps up onto the slope, his armor settling close and quiet against his frame. Behind him, the troop strings out in a disciplined line, watching the forest and the open shore with equal suspicion.
Kadash
The beach is open. The trees are cover.
Wor Gokk
Boss, give the word. We push straight in, or we tighten the line and check the carts first?
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach Grissey Forest
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the troop and supplies intact
“I ask Wor how he feel about naming us tribe Black Arrow”
SUCCESS (Good Leadership, rolled +1)
Salt wind brushes the line as Kadash turns to Wor Gokk at the carts. The gully dwarf steadies a strap, then looks up, waiting for the thought behind the question.
Wor Gokk
Black Arrow? Hah. Sharp name. Fast name. Makes folk look twice before they come sniffing.
Wor Gokk
He rubs his jaw, eyes moving over the troop and supplies, weighing the sound of it like a crafted blade.
Wor Gokk
If you mean it as a tribe name, it fits. Quiet on the draw, hard to see coming, and mean once loosed.
Wor Gokk
But names carry a trail. Folk hear Black Arrow and ask who named it, and why. You ready for that?
A few nearby elves glance over, one of the cat-men smiling into his collar. The buffalo flick their ears, calm for the moment, while the forest edge waits ahead like a dark seam in the grass.
Wor Gokk
Say the word, Kadash, and I will tell the others to test it on their tongues. Or choose another, and I will carry that too.
Quest Complete
Keep the troop and supplies intact