Meeting before Trip

JP with Lorem, Jaxx, Redsword, Lasersexpanther, and Cindy

It was about 10:30 AM by the time everything Elizabeth had ordered from the various stores in Oslo had arrived.

The team had eaten breakfast at about 7:30 AM, and Elizabeth had mentioned that they had a break until the items arrived then she would be holding a meeting. So, they knew to stay on the palace grounds.

The team leader herself had taken time to take in the palace grounds. While the Norway was more like spring in countries like France or England, in terms of flora growth, there was a nice quality to the gardens starting to spring back to life. The greenhouses however were another story full of life, greenery, flowers, vegetables and fruits always in season.

Once the crates started arriving Askel had sent an errand boy to fetch her.

While the Eldren hadn't opened the crates yet. It did seem like no order was missing.

Elizabeth asked Askel to have the team summoned to the dining room and asked the servants to put out drinks and snacks.

As usual, the team leader was the first to arrive at the dining room, then it was just to wait on the others.

Vor, Lily and Dr. Jackal were once again in the library going over the documents pertaining to their mission. They were adding to their notes and making any corrections they needed on their notes. As they were near the end of their task they were interrupted by Askel and informed them Lady Elizabeth had summoned them to the dining room. Seeing as they were at a stopping point now they cleaned up their stuff and made their way to the dining room. Cronk on the other hand was sleeping in the garden next to two empty bottles of Irish whisky. So after being woken up he was informed he was being summoned to the dining room by Lady Elizabeth. His stomach growled at the thought of food and he stumbled his way to the dining room.

Lorem had likewise been in the library, though she hadn’t bothered any of the others teammates that were there. She was hyper focused on researching the books on magic she could get her hands on. With assistance from the librarian she was able to procure useful material and a large working desk to invest her time and efforts on. While it was frustrating that she couldn’t get her hands on the primary source materials reserved for magic users with clearance, the peripheral information was still useful in taking a broader view on the subject in preparation for narrowing her framing later.

When she showed up to their meeting she was dressed in her normal plain and simple working girl attire, with its extra modifications, including a satchel that was equipped like an over the shoulder purse. The fancy hairstyle and makeup was gone, and in its place just a modest English braid and a clean face; the latter actually not as normal being sans grease and metal shavings.

Lorem curtseyed to everyone present and dawned a heartwarming smile to greet her coworkers. Friends would still be too generous a term, she really barely knew them, save observations and common knowledge provided them all.

“Hello everyone.” She said meekly. Lorem then took a seat and retrieved a sketchbook and stylus from her satchel to take notes with. The sound of her pulling it out indicated there was more in there.

Walking out to the garden, Sung met up with some servants who set up the range for Sung. He paced off about 50 and 100 meters and had targets set there. The gardens were beautiful, some of the best he had ever seen. Pristine stone pathways, ornate greenhouses, and everything else were perfectly trimmed and laid out. This would rival any Japanese or Korean gardens.

Laying out a bag with his Yumi bow and a quiver of arrows. It did not take him long to wipe the bow down and sting it. The people in the garden started to see Sung doing this and became interested in what he was doing. The Yumi bow was different from the European bows. And the bow was even as tall as Sung was. The bow is traditionally made of laminating bamboo, wood, and leather. It was artwork by itself. It glistened in the sunlight. It was apparent that the arrows were of fine craftsmanship, too.

He readied himself and pulled the bow back a few times. He looked satisfied. He took one arrow, pointed up with the bow, and notched the arrow. He lowered the bow as he pulled it back. When he was online with his target, he relisted the arrow gracefully. This is a thack, and the arrow hits the target near the center. Sung took another arrow and repeated the motion. This time, the far target was hit near the center.

People started to watch as he fired his arrows slowly and gracefully, each one looking more like a ritual than just a bow shot. He really wanted to be alone, but a crowd started to form. He would not let Lady Elizabeth be embarrassed by a miss. Looked at everyone watching. He took a deep breath, cleared his mind, pulled an arrow out, and pulled the arrow back. He let loose the arrow, and it hit the 50-meter target, striking one of the arrows that was fired, splitting it.

Some people clapped and whispered to one another. He repeated his technique, this time striking an arrow at a 100-meter target to prove the first shot was not a lucky shot.
The crowd clapped again as he continued with his shooting practice. He was not showing off anymore but did some entertaining stuff for the crowd.

Sasha was close by where Sung had set up to train in archery. In the mid morning silence she could hear the thump of arrows against a target somewhere a little bit away, she was practicing with a new sword. Attempting to get a handle on its weight. Being lighter than her normal weapons, and much sharper. The blade hummed through the air with a little whistle with each swing. Silently running throws different forms with the unique saber. Once through she started working on forms that used both sword and dagger. The mirror-like finish on the blade reflected bits of light in little dancing beams. In her zero in near meditative state when Askel approached and she was unaware, the moment he spoke Sasha whirled around and the tip of the blade stopped near his nose. Sasha's eyes went wide and she pulled the blade back. "My apologies, I'm sorry my training has me on edge most of the time." she said sheathing the blades.

When the message was delivered she nodded and began the trek back. After a short walk she stepped in and bowed slightly " Good morning everyone, Good morning Lady Elizabeth." she said, taking a seat near Lorem.

When Masao was found by Askel he was outside sitting under a tree, a straw hat over his eyes to block out the sun. It wasn't clear if he was napping or just blocking out the sun. "Captain?" Askel said cautious now after the incident with Miss LaGrave.

Masao pushed a pointer finger under the hat and blink bleary eyed at Askel. "Askel, words of wisdom. Never try to drink with a Dwarf." Masao pinched his nose. "What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Yes Captain, the meeting with your team is about to begin I was sent to fetch you." Askel said.

"Thank you." Masao said, standing with a groan, and putting the hat on his head. "You are a good man. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Masao said, striding past.

Masao entered the room where the meeting was, seeing everyone was already here. "Good Morning everyone. I apologize if I was holding things up."

Elizabeth greeted everyone as they came in. "Greetings everyone." She waited for everyone to get settled, got herself another cup of tea, sipped it and then started. "Let us start the meeting then. We leave here tomorrow morning to head north. So we need to get somethings done today but once those are done you may all have the rest of the day to yourselves.

A few things to go over. The first is I would like to leave tomorrow, at about 9 AM. Currently, the plan is to stop about every two hours. We will stop for the evening, everyday, at around 5 - 6 PM. I have marked possible places to camp on the way up, there are a lot of options for that." She paused. "The carts and the items I ordered from the stores ,here in Oslo, have all been delivered. Capitan Maseo, the items from the team that were left in your cargo will need to be brought to the carts after the meeting. Also, after the meeting I would like everyone's help in getting the carts loaded. We will need a logical order in which to have the items placed on the carts."

Elizabeth looked at Lorem, "Miss Ipsum, how many trunks of equipment did you bring with you?"
Lorem put the stylus down in the center of her notebook, then looked up and held her little hand up to show all its fingers. “Five trunks,” she declared.

Masao nodded. "I'll get the crew on it right away, Lady Elizabeth." he said, "But anyone with equipment that needs to be handled a specific way should tag along to instruct how it should be handled so nothing gets damaged."

Dr. Jackal raised his hand as he replied, "I will need to be there then. I have a lot of sensitive equipment as well."

Lorem nodded in understanding to Masao. She didn’t think they could harm anything by handling it incorrectly, but better safe than sorry.

Masao nodded at Dr. Jackal. "Wouldn't make you bother if I didn't think it was a good idea." he said. "But my crew isn't a delivery service. They aren't exactly 'gentle' unless I tell them to be."

Dr. Jackal nodded as he replied, "Understandable. Normally one has to pay a large sum to properly transport sensitive equipment since many transporters are unprepared for such jobs. In the past we had a few companies in the science guild we use but that is no longer an option for us. However, I thank you for your consideration, Captain Masao."

Elizabeth nodded to Lorem and wrote down something, then turned to Dr. Jackal. "Dr. Jackal, how many trunks do you have of equipment?"

Dr. Jackal replied, "Only two Lady Elizabeth. One is my clothing and the other is my portable scientific lab. I will only need to have one trunk properly handled."

She wrote down something else, then Elizabeth asked the group on general. "Does anyone else have more than 1 personal trunk? Not including small bags, like for toiletries and such?"

Sasha half raised a hand. "Two small trunks, and a duffle of weapons." she said.

Lily shook her head no and replied, "No ma'am, just one." Vor shook his head no as he replied, "just one lady Elizabeth." Cronk scratched his head as he asked, "I have one trunk, but four small barrels of booze. Does that count?"

"One trunk and a few weapon equipment boxes for me." Lady Elizabeth. replied Sung.

Elizabeth wrote down what each person said, she seemed to be calculating things. (edited)

Masao shook his head. "Just a duffel and a small wooden box about the size of a pair of shoes." He said.

Elizabeth did more calculating, then "We have 7 drivers all together. Cronk, I know you cannot drive. Miss Lavigne, if I remember correctly you can not drive, as well. Are you, by any chance, interested in learning? Because this trip would be a good time to do that." Elizabeth asked.