Commander Braghaman Larethian

Travel Plans

Sister Anetta sat in the common room of the tavern in Darkshire, sipping a glass of noir and listening to the sounds of the room. Next to her sat a young gnome, his hair ruffled and his his clothes showing the worse for wear.

“I’m telling you, miss. The future will be in pneumatic catapults.”

“You seem quite certain of this,” the priestess said as she sipped her wine. The gnome had been regaling her with scientific descriptions since she initially struck up the conversation. 

“Of course!” the gnome blurted out in response. “It will be so much quicker that going by horse or ram. Even by gryphon. One straight shot and your there. And you won’t have hire mages for those pesky portals.”

“But what happens when you get there?”

“What do you mean?” the gnome asked, looking perplexed.

“Well, how do you stop?”

“Oh, that!  Well, my dear, we’ll have a system of nets set up to land in. Saw it once at the faire. It’ll be spectacular.”

“What happens if you miss?” the priest asked.

“Well, there are some bugs to work out,” the gnome offered sheepishly.

Sister Anetta smiled at the gnome and took another drink of her wine. She thought to herself that she didn’t have these types of interactions with the students at the abbey. Her gaze went towards the ceiling, to the upper levels where the young girl was asleep in one of the rooms that the captain of the Night Watch had arranged for them. 

“Well, I am afraid that I will have to rely on the slower horses when we leave in the morning,” the priestess said, her thoughts returning back to the gnome seated beside her.

“That is a shame.  A few more weeks and I’m sure I’ll have the system perfected. In fact, after my trial yesterday…”  The gnome was suddenly cut off by the sound of glass breaking and the a scream from outside. All noise in the tavern stopped as people ceased talking and began looking at each other. Suddenly, the front door slammed open and a man came running into the tavern.

“Quick! Someone just fell out of a window!”