The day had closed off by pleasant conversation, and the pair was hurried to join to dockside just one hour north from the Rainrand inn. A ferry transported people up the Cairou river all the way up the Ur Sanpur. Their stop, however, was in Kamarhan, far past the grand but shattered city of traders and mages.
Despite being dubbed the
Elbion portal stone, it was located three countries and a half away from it.
A brief stop there offered good rest from the riverine voyage, and the city offered much in brief entertainment.
While finally catching up with the porters, there was much time to spend before a suitable caravan to join would be found. Good food and drink, and entertainment like song and dance would do much in quelling boredom.
Caravans from Kamarham to the portal stone were not as frequent, but a small detour slightly to the north of a stone with a larger group offered more protection from raiders and bandits hiding within the arid lands.
Thankfully the nights in the month-long trek were mostly peaceful, even though they were occasionally stirred by red burning lights on the horizon.
The
guardsman's tea did much good in calming one's nerves at such times.
Sometime towards the end of the trek, your party split off and kept moving southwest. Other caravans came into view, but also small foolish groups of single people and adventurers. The portal stone was just in view when you noticed the rather not-so-insignificant crowd before it.
Of course, large masses of people were extremely cumbersome to transport through stone, but sometimes jams like this happened as well.
The head porter went ahead to organise with the rest of the people, and one by one, the groups that came earlier vanished. Each time a group of people went through, a downtime followed. Your turn to pass only came the next day at midday, at which a gentle magical caress of the stones began to twist your group through unfathomable space.
The hot arid air turned to the chill of the frigid cold. No wonder some of the porters turned on their coats before leaving.
The last stretch of the trip was a well-marked trade route with rune marks etched into stone. In due time, some of the porters would have thought any of the heroes how to read them if so asked. No doubt useful in such a place.
Through a rather uneventful trip through well-managed woodland paths, the porters unpacked the goods at a small boar farmer in Dunumhold, who was willing to host the pair of heroes for two days at most if they wished to stay this long. He was a rugged
Nordenfiir, who didn't have much to say other than questions of the world that was not his own.
