[Ridge]
Viscount Morin- Kedcoe, said our first stop was The Grey Wanderers, but that's all the instructions he gave us. The extra documents he gave us before our departure several days ago don't mention any other directions either. However, he mentioned that we should pass through Eldmiss.
Somehow it's even marked on the bottom of the first paper in the stack. It sounded like an afterthought, but had he already planned to have us go through there? Or did his scarily intuitive secretary scribble it in while we weren't watching? They give me the creeps, just like their boss.
So, we've been wandering in the general direction of Eldmiss using the main road. We definitely debated taking the back roads to avoid extra attention and running into 'Nycia' forces, especially after the peddler incident. However, we figured time is of the essence, and trying to take our small wagon through the unkempt back roads won't achieve that.
The Grey Wanderers is a group I'm not overly familiar with. Back when the Perry Vandals and some other groups were supposedly trying to recruit me I didn't keep up with Imperial news and organizations. I was worrying about getting through the Academy and keeping Kadeeth under control.
Once I got older we started learning about the Empire's big groups in my classes, and then I grew interested and even researched it on my own. So I can name a lot of them, mainly information guilds and large mercenary groups, not all of them criminal either.
I've definitely heard of the Grey Wanderers, but only because of how quickly they rose to fame. Other organizations like the Perry Vandals started off as small nobodies and then grew in popularity as they accumulated connections and power over years of expansion. The GW's on the other hand, were suddenly just there.
They were very in your face about it too, mass producing their own wanted posters and spreading them like a form of advertisement. I don't know much else about them, except that they take on any client who can afford their fees. Much like Kedcoe, the GW's don't discriminate against their client base at all. Which means they'll take minorities and people who can't get help anywhere else, but also known criminals and traitors.
As we get nearer to actually meeting them, just how in-the-dark I am on their operation is causing the hair on my arms to stand up. Not knowing has never sat well with me.
I've yelled at Kadeeth over the peddler situation several more times over the last few days. I want to drill it into his head that he almost crossed a line. I want to protect the people of the Empire, which means no unnecessary violence. It took me almost a full sun AND moon cycle to come to this conclusion. Being at a loss as to how to deal with my best friend really threw me for a loop.
I also apologized to Raforn and Tellur for getting so defensive when they tried to call him out on his behavior. It wasn't something I should have taken his side on. Not that my points weren't valid too.
That familiar weight on my chest is back. The one I felt during the Academy, and when I started serving the Riddothas. I know we must be getting close to the GW meeting point, since we're about halfway to Eldmiss, so maybe it's warning me. Or I'm reading too much into it.
Yeah, it's probably fine. I'm being dramatic again.