Before she even knew it Rika was being greeted by the rest of the caravaners who would be going out in this group. The shy Yuke kid, The alchemist Lilty, and the caring Clavat. All together they made...one interesting team in Rika's mind. 

"Heyyy!" Rika greeted her friends with a cheerful smile and a wave of her hand, "You all ready to go on an adventure?" She smiled, she was well rested, and ready to get going. Also she was ready to sprint onto the wagon so she wouldn't have to walk for most of the journey. She was currently the only lady that would be going, so it made sense to have the lady not have to walk right? In her mind she grinned at this thought, she will certainly use being the only one to her advantage.

As the group all got together, an old man hopped down from the drivers seat of the caravan, with his hand stroking his white beard he started to speak to the young adventurers, it was the mayor, and he was going to go off on one of his speeches and try to impart of his wisdom to the caravan, like he did with every caravan before.

"You may or may not know it, but you are going to be the heroes of Tipa when you return." He started to pace back in forth in a straight line in front of them on the bridge, effectively cutting hem off from progressing till after they had listened to him. "It will be a marvellous adventure and experience for you, but as you should be aware, it means the difference of life and death for the village, as you fill," pulling an awkward sized and old looking chalice from a pouch no his side, "this chalice up with myrrh, don't ever forget who you are, or what is most important to you." He walked forward and gave it to one of the caravaners. "Always keep it with you, for it is what allows you to be out in the deadly miasma without any issue. Also don't stray too far from it if you are not in a town, the last thing we want is for you to come back one member short." He gazed upwards at the passing clouds. "Remember that we love you and care for all of you, even if you can't manage to make it back with the chalice full, please just come back to your families one last time if it is to be the end..." He scratched his beard, going into deep thought, "I remember hearing stories about this one village far to the north, where there was a young man who dressed funny, or wait...that is the wrong story...No the young soldier who stole his masters name, he traveled far and wide to catch all the bugs in the known world, but when he got there, he forgot what his name was, so he went home, but he forgot where his home was, so he travelled forever and his home got swallowed by miasma." Confident that he was on the right track he nodded his head, "Yup. The moral of this sagely story, don't eat stripped apples with bugs in them." He proudly walked off in a manner that only a delusion old man with power ever could.

Rika continued to stare where the mayor once was standing, bewildered and almost at a loss for words she spoke, "It all made sense till he started to ramble..." Deciding that it would be easier to forget about the so called 'sagely' advice, she decide to continue with her plan, and hopped on the wagon. "Well, lets go before he realizes that he has another story to tell us!" grabbing the reigns firm in her soft selkie hands.