Vanguard

Background

Fifty years have passed since Under The Dome, and, after numerous smaller explorations have resulted in tragedy and near-total loss, an enormous expedition to clear the wilderness of threats is about to be undertaken. A thousand soldiers and four massive war-wagons are being sent out, along with representatives of various houses and factions.

The party rides beneath the Castle Banner, one of several banners associated with one of the war wagons. Leaders of the Castle Banner group are:

• Serreyan, an eleven woman with a bow.
• Hinnineah, a quiet goblin woman priestess.
• Chekra, a Gerund spearwoman from a rich military family.

Characters

• Lord Geoffrey Cromwell, nobleman played by John
• Archon Brachus - Brad
• Ergos Bracher, grandson of Arcadius, played by Dio

What Happened

Departure

Excerpted from the journal of Lord Geoffrey Cromwell:

Verily, when I received documentation of my proper and appropriate duties from House Tashenda, I quivered with anticipation. An adventure! Leaving our fair though morbid city to capture new territory, stake a claim to riches in the wilderness, to further cement the name Tashenda in the epic history of our time! I could scarcely wait to depart, and arrived at the site at which our forces coalesced promptly, loyal retainers and talented (and ample-bosomed) assistants in tow.

Sadly, we did not depart forthwith, but rather, were expected to commence our great and honorable journey at first light. I naturally inquired as to whether I might retire to my mansion, where the brandy is strong and the featherbed simply heavenly. Alas, no, and so I spent my first night out-of-doors at the gates of the city amid the rough and tumble soldiers and kind.

In the morning, as final preparations were made in the shadow of our majestic war wagons, all manner of merchants and buskers and hawkers approached, selling their various shabby wares. Knowing our journey to be long, and with the promise of weeks of leathery military rations, I immediately thought of bacon, and pork chops, and sausages, and especially bacon, and acquired a pig.

Thus followed a week of slow progress astride my dull-eyed horse as the towering war wagons lurched across the plains to the north with great difficulty. There was some talk among lesser nobles about the logistics of meal times, but it mattered not to me. While the food was of low quality, there was plenty of it.

Eventually we reached a place where an unfathomable quantity of construction materials were unloaded, and I overheard talk that a wachman's keep was to be built on the spot. We'd reached the horizon! Beyond, our city would no longer be visible in the distant south. I was leading men into parts unknown! The thought of it quickened my pulse.