A Voyage through the woods

[DY]

In reply to the friar Vash says, "No, I don't believe we've met before. And a ride into town would be appreciated, if my companion here also agrees to it." He turns towards Tylor for his response.

[Brian]

"Sounds good to me," Tylor says, nodding.  He then stifles a yawn and surveys the wagon a bit more closely.  What's in it, anyway?  Will it be comfortable for a long trip?

[Dracos]

"Hmm?  It's wine.  There will be a wedding soon.  In one weeks time, and so there will need to be a lot of wine at the church."  He rubbed his chin.  "You certainly seem familiar, but I guess everyone has someone else they look like.  Hop on."

Waiting for the two to get aboard, he gave a whip to his horse, the wagon starting off once more.  A gentle drizzle was coming down by the time they reached a small church on the outskirts of the town, old wood buildings everywhere the likes neither of them had ever seen.

[Brian]

Tylor stretches, reflecting that this wasn't the most comfortable ride he's ever been on, but he's had worse, too.  He checks Vash to gauge his reaction before surveying the area and trying to figure out what's going on, or where adequate shelter might be found if the weather worsens.

[DY]

Wiping off a little water from his brow, Vash observes his surroundings trying to see if anything looked at all familiar. "Hmm, nothing. I've never seen buildings like that before," he thought to himself. Speaking up, he asks the friar, "So, this is Nottingham then? Besides the Sheriff being in charge and about to get married, is there anything else you can tell us about this town?"

[Dracos]

"Well, I can tell you a lot, if you have the time.  Do either of you have a hood?" He wondered, sitting with them in a small back room, pouring a spot of wine for each, and sharing some bread.  "If not, you might want to wait out the rain.  The people of Nottingham have always been a hardy and bold people, the former duke a strong ally of the noble King Richard the Third.  Perhaps not the most religious, but they were good folks and gave god his due.  The son of Duke Edward even went off with Richard on his crusades, but he hasn't been heard of in many years   It's been a bit hard these recent years.  The guard building up to keep bandits off the roads, taxes just having to keep rising to pay for it all.  But we make do."

[Brian]

"Not really the 'hood' type, but in this rain it would be nice," Tylor admits, wiping some of the water from his own face before accepting some of the bread gratefully.  Hmm, tough, a bit bland, too.  Better not complain about it, though.

The wine is weaker than he expected, which is probably just as well -- there are times to get drunk, and times ... not to.

"Bandits, you say?" he muses.  "It sounds like those are the only real source of trouble from how you describe things.  I guess we were lucky not to run into them, eh?"

[DY]

"Yes, good thing we didn't run into them," Vash agreed before taking a sip of wine and a bite of the bread. "Bandits do tend to be problematic, even more so if they're organized."

Curious about something the friar said, he asks, "You mentioned a former duke, did something happen to him?"

[Dracos]

"A great sickness afflicted him not three months ago and took him, bless his soul, to the heavens after a long struggle.  In the absence of his son, his daughter's regents have been running the duchy until she is wed."  The man took a quaff of his mug, sharing the tragic tale.

[Brian]

"That's just a shame," Tylor sighs.  "About the Duke, I mean."  He rubs his chin thoughtfully.  They're supposed to be looking for a ribbon of some sort, right?

Probably a vague thing to search for, and a weird subject change, but it's worth a shot since this friar seems so friendly.  "Hmm, there's something about ribbons and weddings, isn't there?" he muses, trying to recall ... well, any knowledge about the current area, or the tech level of the surroundings.

Admittedly, since it's not all steel and cement, it's almost completely indistinguishable from living in a cave for him.  But maybe they have the tech level for ribbons?  Hey, come to think of it -- ribbons -> girls, right?  Tylor grows confident that this is actually a very good idea, and flashes a grin at the friar following the question, giving his best disarming shrug to try and cover his obvious lack of proper knowledge.

[DY]

Vash frowns a little at that, someone dying was always a sad event. Hearing Tylor asking about ribbons and weddings, he's reminded of the reason why he's here. Sitting up a little, he waits for a response from the friar.

[Dracos]

"Huh?  Well, it's customary for the bride to give a ribbon to her husband on his wedding day around here.  An old tradition dating back nearly a hundred and fifty years, when the Freczk were first accepting god's holy light."  The friar smiled, seeming willing to go off into almost tiresome tales of old times.

[Brian]

Tylor blinks, mentally calculating that 'marriage = victory' under this new information.  Wait--  There could be more to this!

"That's an interesting tradition," he says, nodding.  "So--  My companion and I are unfamiliar with this area and the local customs -- can you tell me more about this?"  While Tylor doesn't have much of a plan -- yet -- trying to figure out if there are competitions or games of some sort -- they did that in primitive times, right?  Just like chariot races and pyramid building?  He hopes it's not pyramid building; he has something of an aversion to the hard labor like that.

Still, if there's any sort of 'open to the entire public' event as part of the wedding, that'd make a great reason to sneak into town.

Though ... if that's some time away, maybe he should put thought into how to survive until then?  Or find out if there are tavern wenches.  Those came around some time in the viking era, right?  Hard to tell where this is in comparison, but that feels like an almost equally worthwhile goal.

[DY]

Vash sits there digesting this new piece of information. A ribbon given from bride to groom, he wonders if it's the one that he's looking for. And how would one get into the wedding? He could try to sneak in but that usually stirs up all sorts of trouble, given his luck.

Hearing Tylor speak, Vash voices his agreement. "Yes, anything you can tell us would be a huge help."

[Dracos]

"Well, the wedding is also a chance for the Sheriff to show off before our neighbors.  Many of the nobles will be in the city for the event, so there will be a festival the day of the wedding with archery, knight battles, musical displays and more to entertain them.  It's said, the winners of the competitions will get a chance to meet the sheriff himself, and also greet the blushing bride before the wedding.  Ah, poor Maid Marian.  The sheriff confined her to a tower until the very moment of the wedding.  To keep her safe..."