The previous day:
[indent]Elki got most of her work from taverns. It turned out it was far more fun to drink yourself silly waiting for work to come to you then it was to go out seeking it. And surprisingly, so long as the town was big enough, work usually [i]did[/i] find it's way to Elki's ear.

It had been a wonderful evening on the edge of twilight, and the tavern was already heating up. Elki was in good spirits and sang rauchously out of tune with her fellow drinkingmates, people she would perhaps rather not see on daybreak but tonight they made fine company.

A dwarf she would later know to be called Gundren Rockseeker entered the tavern and headed to the noticeboard to pin a job up. They got talking (or more accurately, she started shouting at him from across the bar and he shouted back), the inebreated Elki challenging him to a drinking contest (of which she promptly lost), and then speant the evening swapping (inappropriate) stories and playing card games exceptionally badly. It was a good time, and the pair of them hit it right off. Along the way Elki learnt of the job Gundren Rockseeker had. While Elki was relatively alright for coin for the time being, the chance for travel and adventure far beat the possibility of inevitably getting bored around here and "stumbling" into trouble. She mentioned she was a cleric, and also who in their right mind would turn down a cleric as a travelling companion, guard and healer?

"You? A Cleric? My bloody arse suits the job far more then you." 

"ooh aye? I betscha that'd be a shhight to shee and all." Elki had slurred back.[/indent]
And the rest was history. Elki sat atop the back of the wagon, keeping an eye out for trouble. These roads were infamous for being bad news, after all. She'd met her fellow wagon guards during their quick briefing - initially through the haze of a slight hangover - and had made a mental note to get to know the rogueish one, being that Elki had a soft spot for that line of work.  As for the half-orc, he looked fun to tease, if not providing a good chance to brush up and practice on her orcish, lest she start forgetting it. The bard she'd barely got a chance to talk to before he'd squirreled himself away, though his travelling compatriot was easy on the eyes and knew a few good tunes, which Elki presently enjoyed from her lazy perch. 

As for the wizard - well, Elki was far from capable of understanding such intellectual or arcane pursuits, and she didn't particularly care for the fancy way he carried himself. [i]But[/i], his hair looked pretty and soft, so Elki had resolved to touch it when he wasn't paying attention to find out for herself if her theory was true and also for her own personal amusement. The aim of the game would be to not get caught, of course.

And then there was the quiet one. Elki propped herself up by her hands and leaned back, blankly and quite obviously turning around to stare at him driving the wagon. Man. She always wanted to mess with the quiet ones, but often thought better of it, if only because they freaked her out so much. She couldn't help believing that anyone who didn't regularly open their trap were hiding something or plotting everyone's demise, and Elki hated not knowing. They were the type of people who screw up her perfectly good escape strategies (utterly unforgivable), the type of people who were often wild cards, and [i]sometimes[/i] the type of dangerous people you don't want to get on the bad side of.

And this one? This one [i]definitely[/i] gave her the heebie jeebies. 

She shuddered.

[Placement: 6]
[Perception Check: [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/3667]6[/url]]