[center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center][center][img]https://i.ibb.co/vXD6Q0t/Update-Text.png[/img][/center][center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center][center][img]https://i.ibb.co/VpHzK5s/Avonshire-Township.jpg[/img][/center][center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center] [u]Weather[/u]: The heavens have opened, spilling the contents of a thousandfold skyward buckets upon the earth below. This is no massive, flooding deluge, but a respectable enough downpour to chase folk from the streets. There might have been enough water to cover the cobblestones of the main streets, at the least, were it not for a superior drainage system which performed valiantly in its task of channeling it into the nearby river. [u]Time[/u]: It is just past midday, or thereabouts. Without context it would be difficult to say, as the sun is nowhere to be seen and the usual townish occurrences associated with midday were nonexistent. [u]Ambience[/u]: Rain and rumor have removed the lively action of the town almost completely. The streets are largely abandoned, with exceptions being the occasional awning under which handfuls of people might be clustered. Precipitation hammers out white noise and obscures vision at a distance; not as completely as the fog from the night previous but notable enough. Persons attempting stealth might find their efforts easier in these conditions. Rain dominates the Township as a feature, giving an eerie, [i]ghost town[/i] feel even though this is the objectively the densest population in the region. The Farmers' Market contained the best example of locals caring a little bit less than others about the crisis that they were all in. Maybe it was due to the utter stubbornness of the salt of the earth folk, or the clannishness of the agricultural families from nearby. Suffice it to say, they are holding fast. Pavilions, covered wagons, tents, and the like are heavily occupied, and the smell of roasting, smoking, and curing pork continues, though blunted by the weather. The Traders' Market is virtually abandoned. All of the big trades done in the morning, but a couple of later boats came in nearer to midday. One tied off and its inhabitants fled to shelter from the weather, the other staying put under a tied-down shelter, its inhabitants patiently waiting for the rain of soften some. Outside of the walls, things are tightly battened down. Many are awaiting a good opportunity to travel while others form up in knots of people and vehicles like a bolstered caravan encampment. No one sells wares, and their numbers have gotten even smaller. [center][h2]*****[/h2][/center] [center][hider=Township Thoroughfare][img]https://i.ibb.co/MBMn2JN/Overcast-Township.jpg[/img][/hider][/center] [u]COMING FROM THE WEST[/u]: The rain patters down regularly in front of the Honey Barn, turning the street into a respectable but quite fordable stream. This is a more secluded section of town, on the other side of the river and away from the places commonly populated during daytime hours, making it just perfect for prying eyes to gaze upon the unwary amid its corners and copse of trees. Luckily, Madame Marcie showed her newest guests across the main floor, up stairs to a low balcony, through a wonderfully appointed bathhouse attachment, and out a back way. The weather outside was not ideal, but it might just have beaten the alternative. Naturally, the rain and obscuring conditions made it quite possible that any who wished to follow could do so at a distance, if they knew what they were doing. Once or twice, a person might be forgiven if paranoia had them look behind, anticipating hooded figures or the like but never quite seeing them. Rainwater spilled from the bridges and cobblestones of the Township, feeding a slightly swollen river even as the settlement's ample drainage system did the same with greater efficiency. From this point, one may travel south and west to get back to the Hayloft/Public House/Stable area quickly, utilizing side streets. Either way, it is inevitable that Kathryn and Kosara make it back to this area about a minute before the others arrive. [u]COMING FROM THE EAST[/u]: Feet hit the flooded stones of the main thoroughfare with purpose, even if that purpose is to get out of the inclement weather. An uneasy sort of white noise peace fills the air around the trio of Baronfjord, Marita, and Victoria, as what should be a crowded and bustling street is abandoned, and all of the windows visible have been shuttered. With the exception of movement at the edge of visible distance, likely from others hurrying along to their destinations, this place could pass for a ghost town. The most direct path takes the trio down the main thoroughfare and into the Township's center, where the huge stone basin still stands and a great, gurgling fountain seems to push water even higher in defiance of he rain's presence. No performers play their music here this time, though; no jugglers a'juggling, no songs being sung by skilled vocalists. Pushcarts, may of them, simply lay where they were left, the valuable things they might have once held removed for spots more secure. From here is it south, as if to leave the same way which the party entered the Township. A quick cut to the east puts them within sight of their intended destination. The [url=https://i.ibb.co/VgpLqTS/Bobs-Tavern.jpg]sign[/url] of the Public House swings back and forth in the rain and wind, pitching rivulets off to the ground below. The Stables seem open and friendly, as its proprietor is in the small, covered farriers' smithy in the front of the establishment. [i]Fields[/i] by name, he remembers Marita and Victoria from before and gives a wave before getting back to repairing unruly nails with heat and hammer. [center][hider=Neil & Bob's Public House][img]https://i.ibb.co/5vK80t3/N-B-ip.jpg[/img][/hider][/center] The party now removed from one another by a matter of traversable meters, and is within clear(ish) sight of one another. Casual observation has no one else out and about on this street right now, though you can hear something that might be business come from inside of the Public House. The Hayloft, nondescript and closed up as ever, lay right across from the Stable, which is right beside Neil & Bob's. Anyone entering the Public House will see that three tables are occupied - the ones nearest to the bar proper. [url=https://i.ibb.co/xH8vbT7/Barmaid-at-N-B.jpg]Lea[/url] is here, taking to her usual duties even if there really isn't much to do. [url=https://i.ibb.co/WVkr1vc/Bob.jpg]Robert[/url] is here as well, taking up his position behind the bar like a seasoned professional. The former gives a smile and wave in the party's general direction, while the latter casts a wary look with steely eyes. There is a fire in the hearth, crackling warmly against the oppressive sounds of the rain from outside, and the overall feel of this place is more comfortable, with a decent toothsome smell of food cooking over the notes of ale in the air.