An overwhelming victory for B1, I am surprised. I thought the first choice would have been a close thing, but oh well. Today you'll have the first map, hope you like it. It took me quite a while to draw it
7 – Choosing your first step
You decide to confront that Jay fellow in private, but in an amicable way. You wait the next morning and go meet him in the field where he's building traps for animals. After reaching him, you make your presence known with a friendly greeting. You are most surprised by his reaction.
He jumps up, takes three steps backwards and quickly draws his dagger. He seems very afraid of you, terrified even. After a couple of seconds he speaks with a tense tone: "I... I do not want any trouble. Go away, I won't tell anyone."
Thanks to the fact you are so composed, you manage to keep a straight face, and calmly ask him what he means.
"I know. I know what you did, I know that you killed your parents. I'm not going to tell anyone, they would not believe me. Just go away, I don't want any trouble."
You are so surprised at his accusation that for a second you almost drop your calm expression. But you manage to avoid that, and tell him calmly but firmly that you have no idea of what he's talking about.
"You lie, I know you killed them. The Green Plague? Impossible, your parents were very experienced and knew all the symptoms for that. They taught about the plague to the villagers! They would not have missed the symptoms on a diseased animal. So, your story is a lie and you killed them. But I do not want any problem, just leave me alone." That said, he turns and runs away.
You are still reeling from this confrontation, but you remember you have an appointment with the village chief in order to plan for your journey. You reach his home, and are quickly invited inside. The village chief asks once more if you are truly convinced to leave, but after hearing your firm answer, he relents.
"You really resemble your father, he too would not budge about his journey. Very well, I will do what I can. I have noticed you do not have a lantern, and that can be useful at night when it rains. Here, have mine, it also has four flasks of oil. Come, let us take a look at the map, I cannot give it to you since I only have one copy but I want you to know what is ahead of you."
(You have gained items: Lantern, 4 flasks of oil)
(This is the map. It's big, I suggest you download the full size file on your pc. Follow the link and save it.)
You ask the village chief about the various geographical landmarks you may encounter on your journey.
You can see on the map that the entire territory nearby and down south is mainly thick forest, with a couple of smaller mountain ranges. The peaks of Berl and Zans are not as high and harsh as the Wulan Mountains, but still are not to be understimated. The village chief assures you that they are inhabited by many dangerous animals, and hard to cross. You should probably avoid them if at all possible.
As for the rivers, there are many, but all of them should be easy to cross for the entire spring. Here, near the mountains, they are very wide but not deep. It is only in the summer, when the snow of the Wulan Mountains melts, that crossing them becomes very hard indeed.
As for your destination, the village chief suggests you go to Bitak. It's the closest biggest settlement, and from Bitak a paved road leads to the other important settlements of the kingdom. There is a cart path leading there, about 500 km of hard march, you should be able to make it in 20 days or so. But you remember the warning of the villagers about the road being not so safe. Maybe you could consider other paths as well.....
You ask about the small hamlets of Qoor and Pojis. The chief suggest you do not go there unless in case of emergency. They are out of the way, and more or less the size of Tulik. They probably have nothing to offer you. Still, the road is dangerous and who knows what might happen. The chief assures you those hamlet are inhabited by good people, willing to help if needed.
Finally you ask about the ruins you see on the map. The small ruins south of Tulik are hamlets abandoned in the last 50 years or so, while the small city of Giwil to the east was destroyed in a war a couple of centuries ago, and abandoned as it was too far from other settlements.
As for the ruins of Avarlos....
"Young Kyoss, the ruins of the Great City of Avarlos have stood there for a long, long time. It is said that at least a thousand years before the Kingdom of Eskal was created, Avarlos reigned over every place a man riding on a fast horse could reach in six months. But then the city of Avarlos was destroyed. The legend says mighty Avarlos fell in a single night, while others insist that it fell in a minute, at the stroke of midnight. I understand your desire for adventure, but not even the king's army braves the streets of what once was Avarlos..."
And so, you thanks the chief, and think about what to do.
Where are you going to do, young Kyoss?
This is an open update, you can do whatever you want. You can stay here, or you can leave for any place you want. Please, as for the semi-open updates, if you make a proposal put a number on it so I can count better.
Please note, if you vote for leaving Tulik I would like a complete path. Not just, go to the small ruin south for example, but something more. And some details too, like, traveling at night, or keeping out of sight from the road or anything else. Then, if events make you change your path, so be it, but it would help my planning to have at least an idea of what you want to do for a while.
This vote will last at least a day, but if by tomorrow evening there's no general agreement I will leave it open for more. I am also going to update the setting post at the start of the thread in the next few hours. You will have some more info on the kingdom, but nothing that should influence this particular decision.