In a Town

[Bjorn]

It takes a few minutes more for Bjorn to finish his tea, staring at the wall in contemplation.  When he's finished, he stands.  "Well," he says to Bridgett, "I suppose I should go and find something useful to be doing, eh?"

[Brian]

"Maybe," she says, offering a shrug.

[Bjorn]

"So encouraging," Bjorn teases with a straight face.  "I'll go check to see if there's anything I can do to help with the building.  Maybe see what the Bigfire guys are up to."  He waves at Bridgett.  "I'll see you later, eh?"

[Brian]

She nods, but as she does so, a warning from Lazarus reaches Bjorn, More people are approaching.  The only image accompanying this warning is three separate figures at different points on the road.  One is in the lead, and moving considerably faster.  The other two are a few steps apart.

They'll be at the entrance to town in about five minutes, someone unfamiliar adds, their vision (the same Lazarus relayed) unsteady enough to suggest that they are in a car that's being driven off-road.  Apparently they're pulling ahead of the runners, to reach town in the car first.

[Bjorn]

"Strangers coming," Bjorn says out loud to Bridgett.  "Be careful."

Waiting only for her acknowledgement, he heads out a fair run towards the road.  At the same time, in the Dream, he reaches out to Philip, Nathan, and Parthipan.  Strangers coming up the road.  Might be together, one might be being chased by the others.  Hard to tell.  Heading for the road now, meet me there.

[Brian]

Bjorn reaches the end of the road, and shortly, Nathan, Phil, Tom, and Parthipan arrive.

[Dracos]

Dracos, getting a whimsical feeling, raised a hand in greeting.  "Yo."

He headed over.  "Anyone spotted yet?"

Dracos

[Brian]

The road before the group stretches a good twenty miles before it reaches the nearest highway.  It's generally straight, and there are no trees to speak of in the area.  The land is, while not level (it slopes up towards the village), it is pretty flat, offering little in the way of hiding places.

And while it may be cold, it's also dry, so movement across the road kicks up a lot of dust.  Movement off the road kicks up a lot more, as someone's jeep is demonstrating.  The jeep is riding to one side of the road, and pulls onto it, but everything behind it is obscured by dust.  After a few seconds on the road, the dust behind the jeep (dust colored, of course) diminishes enough to make out a single figure lumbering forward through the dust at a jog, pausing occasionally to turn around and look behind it.

The jeep is being driven by a man almost completely coated in dust.  He looks to be wearing a tank top and jeans.  He doesn't seem to be armed, and the message from Lazarus across the mind link suggests he's with New Delphi anyway.

[Dracos]

Dracos waits until the jeep is in earshot, assuming it stops and doesn't try to run them over.  "Hail there."

Dracos

[Bjorn]

It takes Bjorn just a second to weave together connections between the other members of the Order and Lazarus.  You check on the guy in the Jeep, Bjorn suggests, find out what he knows.  I'm going to go cut off our runner, find out what the story is.

He's moving even before the mental message is finished, striding down the path towards the runner, waving a greeting as he does so.

[Dracos]

Dracos agrees in the simplest fashion possible...

continuing what he was doing as he approached the jeep.

Dracos

[Brian]

The jeep skids to a halt, and the guy driving it hops out, glancing at Bjorn before warning, "The guy in front's got a body on his back; I think he's running from the other two.  Didn't see any weapons, and they didn't try and attack me."

As Bjorn draws closer, the figure in the lead becomes clearer.  It looks to be an asian youth, with an especially grim face.  He's carrying some sort of walking stick that's shoulder high.  There's a hook at the top, from which something is dangling.  On his back, there's a girl who's hanging to him loosely, though she appears to be unconsious, as she's mostly just dangling there.  He tries to skirt around Bjorn as he gets closer to the town, and then looks behind him anxiously.  The dust is pretty thick here....

This kid looks awfully familiar to Nathan and Parthipan.

[Carthrat]

Tom... hangs around and looks on, leaning against a handy wall/tree/car/whatever solid surface happens to be nearby.

[Brian]

The area is largely clear of debris that someone could lean against, climb up, or hide behind.  The jeep makes a reasonable leaning spot, if you don't mind the dust.

[Carthrat]

In that case, Tom leans against nothing (but looks decidedly grumpy instead.)