After the End -- A Post-Apocaylptic Fantasy RP
Part 1: A New Dawn
The sun languishes lazily on the edge of the horizon, the first rays of morning beginning to spill out onto the purple canvas of the sky. The last hint of a few stars begins to fade, and in the distance dark clouds loom ominously. A new day has arrived.
Fort Washington is a moderately-sized town straddling the Potomac River, notable primarily for the great keep from which its king rules -- built, it is said, atop the ruins of yet a different fort long abandoned. In the shadow of the keep sit a number of farms and villages, making do off the fertile soil of the river and travelers passing from north to south or south to north.
The day's curiosity, however, is situated
inside of the keep, where the important and the interested alike have gathered to see off a party of adventurers who have volunteered to travel westward across the continent in search of great fortune. To the gathered villagers, the party is unimpressive -- two young men, one more handsome than the other; an apothecary; and a scarred veteran. Indeed, the being that attracts the most notice is one of the younger men's horse, a huge and ill-tempered stallion.
By the time that the sun has fully appeared on the horizon, proceedings are well underway. The party members have managed to negotiate for a number of supplies, in addition to that which they have on their person (or, in one case, a mule cart): a second mule has been laden with enough salted food and general supplies to last well into the trip westward (for none truly know how long such a journey will last). In addition, each party member has been given a small coin of freshly-minted gold coins.
Also assembled in the keep are a number of navigators and merchants, each eager to gain the lord's favor by suggesting a path for the party to take. One, a seaman, suggests the commandeering of a boat to sail southwest along the coast of the Hundred Realms, where in just over a month they might be able to make landing on the eastern coast of the border realms of Tejas. The second, a merchant who allegedly made the trip westward himself (and who brought the first rumors of unimaginable treasure when his cart returned laden with gold), advises that the party travel due west along the crumbling wide roads of the Predecessors. The third, a grizzled mountain-man, also advises a boat -- but northwards, just under a month's time to the city-state of Kebek, where the party might seek their road west in the frigid forests of Albionoria. Each offers its own benefits and downsides -- the first will see the party a significant distance more quickly than travel overland, but brings with it the dangers of the open sea; the second is most direct, but the wide roads are plagued with outlaws as one travels westward; the third is slowest, but the wilderness offers an ample source of food and shelter with little risk of human danger provided one can withstand weather and wildlife.
In the end, however, it is up to the party to decide among themselves -- and to get to know one another, of course, for the long journey ahead. Regardless of what is chosen, the King of Washington insists that they set off by midday.
