The pineapple, it seemed, had struck a chord with Liliana. “This is DELIECIOUS! Thank you so much Goro!” she gushed. The woman wiped away her tears of joy and proceeded to bow most fervently to the orc. “Oh! How rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Liliana Rosenveldt of Starkstone. It is a pleasure to meet you both.”

Goro looked decidedly uncomfortable with all this praise. "Ah. Good to know. Nice to meet you, Lady uh... Lady Liliana."

Once Winter finished going over the details of her request, Nkosi took the opportunity to address longstanding contractual issues. “As long as the request for border walls is upheld and the other smaller agreements from my tribe kept, I’m at your service and at your disposal, if you so wish it. I also wonder if you will be gracious enough to supply us with better traveling gear and weapons for this mission of yours?"

While Nkosi was concerned with the logistical side of things, Goro's concerns were more about intel. "I'm honored that you're gonna let us greenhorns do something this important so quickly!" Goro declared. "Truth be told, was a mite worried that you're gonna make us sit in a dimly lit room for a couple months doing nothing but reading. I've always been more of a hands-on kind of orc myself anyways. So Lady Winter, what's at Bay'kin? I imagine that it ain't just some barren lands. Any sort of trouble you be expecting us to run into while we're doing our thing?"

Nkosi glanced at the orc and spoke first. "We are traveling into the unknown, dear friend. Hostility is to be expected and accepted as an ugly truth of life on the frontier.”

Goro retorted, "I expect danger; I ain't worried about that. But only a git calls their ignorance bravery, mate. I don't know what's at Bay'kin, and knowing what it is can help us prepare accordingly. No sense in going bushwhacking with only half a sack. In other words, be prepared."

Liliana agreed. “I guess we’re all on the same boat. Truth be told I don’t have a lot of experience fighting, but I won’t hesitate to eviscerate our enemies!”

"Let's not go lookin for enemies now," Goro warned with a chuckle. "Last thing we need is for people looking into magic like us get a rep for violence and such. Now I don't mind fighting if I gotta, and I ain't no stranger to war, but that don't mean every confrontation's gotta end in blood and guts. Remember that Lady Winter is sending us to research the magic stuff going on in Bay'kin, not slaying monsters or taking out a rival gang of lads."

Winter stared longingly at her plate of pineapple. If she took another bite, she wouldn't be sober enough to participate in the discussion. She symbolically pushed it away and took another sip of coffee instead. "So, allow me to reiterate everyone's respective concerns. Nkosi, you want to know about traveling gear, weapons, and supplies, as well as whether I will uphold my contractual agreements with your tribe. Goro, you want to know what challenges we will face on the way to our destination. Is that correct?"

She cleared the table of decorations and laid out a map over it.

"We are here, at Southaven Tower in the Kingdom of Man. The plains and grasslands are benign and easy to travel on. The roads are paved, well-maintained, and routinely patrolled, so there are few threats on our way out. Not that highwaymen don't try, though. To the west lies mostly mountains and deserts, where Westhaven Tower and the Necropolis of Stone are located. The Sky Nomads roam this side of the continent, and while they're a rowdy bunch, we need not worry about them, since our journey is more eastward. To the north, as you know, Goro, lies the tribes of Fellmore, and the Storm Eye nation in particular. It's mostly tundra, a barren ice-desert where life is hard and little grows. It's a miserable place, if you ask me, but the fishing is surprisingly good in the Ulayhan region, and the abundance of iron and gold make it strategically important. We won't be going that way either, but it's important for us because Bay'kin lies just southeast of the Fellmoran border and a stone's throw away from Storm Eye territory, so we'll need to keep our eyes peeled northward."

"The Waru Forest, where Mister Naswaru hails from, is where we will encounter our toughest challenges. I've been hearing wild stories of strange and deadly monsters appearing in the area, which we should be on our guard against. The xenophobic Waru tribe isn't known to take kindly to visitors, and they will either turn us away if we need help, or drive us out if we are weak. There are maybe...one or two sub-tribes that might give us the time of day, but they're not in our path, unfortunately, so resupplying is out of the question until we reach Easthaven Tower. From there, it's a straight shot to Diamont, the fortress city, and its suburb Bay'kin."

"From here to Easthaven Tower is about 700 miles, roughly a fortnight's journey. The rations I've prepared will only last us a week if we make the entire journey on foot, which, if I have a say in the matter, we will not. I paid the stablemaster at Edmond's Inn well in advance to let us use four of his horses, and there's an inn at Diamont that will take us. If all goes well, we should arrive in five to six days, seven if we encounter trouble."

Then Winter withdrew a parchment listing their supplies.

[hider=New Items Acquired:]
4 lengths of rope
4 matchboxes
1 box of iodine tablets (for water purification)
1 lidded cast-iron pot
1 cooking stand
4 sets of utensils
4 bowls
enough pemmican to last a week
[/hider]

"As for weapons and armor, I expect you to bring your own. We should use magic to fill any defensive gaps, since it will serve our research purposes admirably."

Winter sat back down and ate another slice of pineapple. "Ohmmm so good..." she moaned. She closed her eyes for a few heartbeats to savor the moment. "Anyway, are there any further questions or concerns? Nkosi, you may rest assured I have not forgotten my contract with your people, and development is proceeding on schedule. I'll complete the deal once we pass through your village."