Yeah, that's weird. Doesn't rule out that they're demons, but it's less likely. The patrol wizard's snowy owl familiar flies wearily over to get a look at them.

Two men, the older one lanky with a bow and quiver, the younger broad-shouldered with leather bracers, and a youngish teenager with a nice satchel, all dressed for desert heat and not evidently dying of frostbite and hypothermia, occasionally grumbling at each other but mostly just stumping exhaustedly through the snow.  Does the owl have any unusual senses?  Does the owl speak Osiriani?

The owl does not have any unusual senses and can't speak any languages, because it is an owl, not a raven. It observes them and circles back, flying slow enough that they can follow where it's headed.

The man with the bow notices first, nudges his companions and calls out something- there's a brief irritated-sounding exchange in the language the owl doesn't speak before the little party notices the distant patrol and picks up the pace to follow.  As much as they can, anyway; despite not freezing they're clearly unused to moving through snow, and worn out besides.

The imposing edifice of #11 isn't far off anymore and it comes into view. Oddly, it's not flying any flags at the moment.

The little party confers briefly as they crest the rise and spot it, most of the affect being relief if the owl is still keeping an eye on them.  Finding it easier going once they reach the patrol's tramped-down path, the larger man waves and calls in thickly accented Common Taldane, "Hallooo!  This is who fort?  We are very lost, thank you!"

"Chelish fort!" calls back one of the fighters from the patrol.

Some wariness but mainly shrugs: apparently Chelish Fort is less than ideal but far better than endless snowstorm.  Trudge trudge after the patrol towards the possibility of Indoors.

There's an area by the front door with enough shelter from the wind to be marginally less miserable to stand in, but then they have to stand there and wait till someone can be by with Detect spells. They can wait with the patrollers while a guy up on the wall watches them.

The teenager slumps against the wall; the fighter glowers out at the snow; the presumably-ranger checks on a small bundle in the front of his shirt and if the guy on the wall is at the right angle, he can spot a tawny cat's ears before he covers her back up and wraps an arm around her.  He seems to be doing somewhat better than the others, and tries out some similarly rusty Taldane.  "Very happy to find you.  We packed only for a day journey, did not know how far north we land.  Last of our food we ate yesterday, except the camel."  He winces slightly at this. 

"There's food inside. But we weren't expecting you so you need Detecting even more than the regular patrol. You see any demons on your way here?"

He nods, unsurprised by the caution.  "No, your bird is the first we see three days."

"Camel is six hours north," adds the larger man.  "If most dead camel you think worth walk back, all yours."

"Four hours, shorter days."

This gets an eyeroll.  "Since dawn walk.  Whatever."

"It's probably not even on short rations, but good to know."

Here comes the commander in his coat, suited for the weather.

He's got an Iomedaean holy symbol dangling out in front of the buttons.

The ranger blinks at the sword-and-sun and nudges the teenage- wizard?, who's been huddled into the lee of the wall, eyes closed, and the larger man steps forward, evidently the spokesman for the group.  "Hello.  Thank you find us.  I am Tariq, this is Omar," the ranger, "Khalid," the wizard.  "We are very lost."  He's glowering at the situation in general, but doesn't seem to be glowering at the commander in particular any more than anything else.

"Yes. This is Fort #11 at the Worldwound's northern border. I'm Commander Artigas. Do you expect that any of you are strong enough to be detectably aligned?"

He shrugs.  "No-", pauses to confer with the ranger briefly in Osiriani, "not likely.  Soon maybe?"  They certainly don't have any visible gear good enough to suggest it, even accounting for being in entirely the wrong climate.  

He nods. He Detects Magic, first, that's an orison.

A faint evocation aura on the bow and another faint aura on the satchel- no, two, one abjuration and one conjuration.

"What's the magic on the bag?"

"Scroll for remove magic, wand for cure wound.  Half used."

All right, that showing all the expected results he'll cast his Detect Chaos for the day.

Nobody here pings.

"Admit them," he tells his men, and the doors open.

"Thank you."  They follow the patrol in, having a hissed Osiriani conversation in which he can probably catch "Iomedae?"  Once the doors close behind them (the wizard jumps), the ranger undoes the bundle and lets a half-grown sand-colored cat out to ride on his shoulder, where she starts grooming a paw with a decided air of definitely having been huddling in a spare pair of pants because she chose to not because she had to.  

Does the entryway of the fort have any obvious places to sit down, or are they being shepherded in a particular direction?

There is a bench they can sit on. There's a couple of soldiers in the entryway. "Prestidigitator on duty is that way to get you dried off and cleaned up," point, "mess hall is that way but we are not on full rations so you aren't either. Channels are at noon and sunset in the mess. Commander Artigas'll want to hear from your party leader or whoever's best at Taldane when you're ready."

"Thank you", again, and some more muttered conversation, including 'Iomedae' a couple more times and something that might be 'High Inquisitor' if anyone recognizes the title.  "Khalid know prestidigitate, once we rest, but channel is likely good, thank you, we walk much.  We have some camel also, we share.  Commander speak alone?"

"Uh, probably?"

A couple of meaningful looks are exchanged, and the ranger nods.  "I speak best Taldane.  Tariq and Khalid wait in mess hall?  Is it commander who channel at noon?"

"Yeah. He tried to get a Gozrehn to stick around but her party left, it's just him."

This does not really answer any of Omar's questions but okay.  It's nearly noon already, they can shuffle off to the mess and wait to meet the commander there after he channels?  And most importantly they can SIT DOWN.  (Or Omar can wait here but it's probably pretty obvious the party would prefer to stick together.)

At noon, there he is, standing on a specific table; people crowd in around him and when they settle down he channels.

The stray adventurers squeeze into the edge of the radius and- yup, that's a positive channel all right, there go all the miscellaneous aches and strains from keeping up a punishingly hard pace through snow for three days with a minimum of rest, and Tariq's wrenched elbow from where he landed wrong- whatever else is going on here this guy is definitely a real priest of Someone.

The other two go back to the table they were sitting at, Khalid slumping back onto Tariq's shoulder and continuing to halfheartedly clear the snow off their boots, and Omar hangs around for the commander to be available, scratching behind Noor's ears and trying not to look nervous. 

And then the commander steps off the table, accepts a bowl of Worldwound stew from one of his men, and makes his way to the lost adventurers. "My office is upstairs."

Whatever the Worldwound stew consists of, it is not cold raw camel and therefore it is the most delicious thing in the world.  Omar will collect a bowlful for himself and Noor before he follows.  (Tariq has the remains of the haunch in his pack and will seek out whoever seems to be in charge of the kitchen once they've eaten.)

"You have questions, or I should tell from the beginning?

Worldwound stew is rice and beef and sometimes, if you're lucky, dried tomatoes or cheap zucchini or potatoes or something. They are not lucky at this time. It's rice and beef.

"Go ahead from the beginning," says Commander Artigas.

It is hot rice and beef and it is glorious.

"We are from Sothis, in Osirion, work normally as-" he struggles for a word, comes up with an archaic one, "skiptracers?  Follow man who flees and bring him.  Other things also, but this pays best because with a wizard we go further into desert, most wizard parties think this is not worth it, so since Khalid join we do mostly these. 

Three days ago we follow man, he is- very afraid, he run into tomb ruins.  We follow-" a twist of his expression probably means he's eliding an intraparty argument that he lost, "we do not see trap, it send us to snow.  We think, we go south, maybe Worldwound, maybe Tian Xia, probably freeze, still better than stay put and certain freeze."

"That's quite a trap. You can accompany patrols around the edge of the Wound and progress to Kenabres that way but I don't know your prospects for affording passage back to Osirion from there. Teleports are scarcer than they normally are at least on this front, I don't know how much you get of Avistani news there."

He nods.  "Khalid think it is old trap, not meant do that, not sure what it did meant.  Think we maybe lucky it was not worse.  In Kenabres they speak Taldane, yes?  We likely make boat money, not teleport money, but most places enough work for willing swords to make boat money.  Slower, but we none have family waiting."

Noor delicately fishes bite-size pieces of beef out of his bowl as he talks; he pushes a few over to the edge so she doesn't put her whole paw in.

"We hear- a lot of things.  Cheliax has revolution, no Galt conquers Cheliax, no Lastwall does, no the High Inquisitor's party does, war is over, Aroden has returned, Nefreti Clepati has closed the Worldwound, no it was the archmages with the High Inquisitor, no it is still open, no it goes other place now... but mostly we hear war in Cheliax.  We did not think to find Chelish fort still up, still patrolling.  ...Even more, I did not think to find Iomedae has Chelish forts now?"

"They have Taldane there but also Hallit. It was insofar as my information is correct the Inquisitor's party in both cases. Iomedae has me specifically, not the fort entire. Chelish forts continue operational but in most cases with fewer clerics even than this one. Asmodeus dropped all of his clerics not too long ago. You'll be able to sell that wand for considerably more than it'd be worth in a city if you care to."

"All His clerics...?"  Omar looks badly disconcerted.  "If they..."  but whatever foundation just shook, he apparently doesn't have the Taldane to discuss it, and after a moment takes a breath and returns to practical matters.  "Good tip for the wand, thank you- we will talk this, dangerous to go without but if it buys us teleport, maybe worth it."

"It might, I'm not sure. Not too many people have the necessary knack with wands if they can't cast their own Cures. It'll be dearer at a neighboring fort than this one. Would you like to be assigned to the next patrol going clockwise?"

"I sp- will speak with Tariq but I think yes.  Or, it leaves how early?  If we have one or two nights to rest, this is better."

"You can rest here a night or two in the guest quarters, yes. Patrols go out frequently, you can catch one when you're ready."

"Thank you, yes.  More questions?"  Noor has eaten her fill and climbs back onto his shoulder to look around at the office; he starts finishing up the rice and remaining beef.

"What are your abilities? It's usually quiet here but if you're taking Worldwound hospitality I need to know how to deploy you should Worldwound events occur."

"I have my grandfather's bow, and very good at follow- track?  In desert, I have not try this in snow before now.  In desert also Noor helps me scout," he rubs the back of her neck affectionately, "but she is young cat still and does not like snow in her paws.  Tariq is good brawler, I think grapple demons is bad idea?  But he can fight sword also- needs loan sword if this, though, it is in Sothis still.  Khalid is second circle, mostly useful spells, less fighting spells- because Endure Elements we are alive, Comprehend Languages, some illusions, some I do not know the Taldane."

"Endure Elements is very valuable, on the men and the horses, and will be most of what I would ask of you. It is generally a bad idea to grapple demons. I can source a loaner sword; you do not have to return it to this fort in particular but must leave it at some Chelish fort unless you buy it, that kind of equipment slosh is accounted for in the budget. Archers and wizards are usefully posted on the battlements. How rigid is Khalid's sleep schedule? Does he have a familiar?"

"I will tell Tariq of loan sword, hope it will not need."  He makes a bit of a face (to Chelish eyes, possibly a lot of a face); it's never pleasant to split the party but especially when you're sending your friend into worse danger. 

"No familiar yet.  Rigid is... stiff, firm?"  The question is clear enough from context anyway, even if he's completely off.  "Khalid sleeps best in dark and no footprints, does not need precise before dawn?"

"Well, there's plenty of dark to be had at this time of year. If you have no further questions I'll have Caldentey show you to quarters and get you on the schedule."

He has so many questions but this man's god is clearly his private business- no, some of them are relevant.  "Other forts as we go, they are... also still up, still patrolling?  War in Cheliax is not war here?"

"Other forts are still up and patrolling, though at reduced rations and spotty timings. When Asmodeus dropped His people there was a bit of a scramble to turn wizards into Nethysians and pursers into Abadarans and soldiers into Gorumites, and to encourage adventuring clerics to stay, with limited success but enough that in conjunction with the Wound closing no forts have fallen outright. I believe I'm the only Chelish person to be collected by Iomedae. The war in Cheliax affected the Wound substantially, but only indirectly."

"That... works?"  He extremely does not have the Taldane for this, adventurer bars are not heavy on theoretical theology and he's feeling the lack right now.  "...we should fetch more camel before we go?  Not worth it to you but if next fort is more hungry, maybe worth it to them?"

"I can't spare men to accompany you but you can make the excursion for the rest of the camel if you choose."

He nods again.  "We will talk this.  I have no more questions, thank you."

The commander hands them over to Caldentey, who shows them to guest quarters and where the schedule is posted.

Tariq and Khalid are where he left them, glad to see he's unmurdered, and they can all read Taldane numbers no matter how thick their accents are, and then they can go do No Things for a bit until whatever they're next needed for on the schedule.

...Khalid has four Endure Elements that they're not going to need today if they're staying indoors, is there a patrol going out that could use them?

Always. They can save wand charges that way. These patrollers please and thank you.

Then Khalid can go do that while the other two- okay, they can have yet another brief muttered argument in Osiriani, and then Khalid having apparently won it can go cast Endures and meet the other two back at the guest quarters.

Any of these patrollers especially perceptive?  Or Caldentey for that matter?

Not strikingly so, nah.

Then it's down to their base rate expectations and the whims of fate whether they notice anything odd about the slight foreign wizard (and perhaps how much they know about Osirion).

Endure Elements.  Endure Elements.  Endure Elements.  Stumble and recover.  Endure Elements. 

And out goes the protected patrol.

And up to the guest quarters goes a tired wizard to FLOP.

If the adventurers hide in their guest room (they're all in the same one, so they can warm it up for each other) they will remain largely undisturbed, but if they come out - for water, or dinner, or a fire, or company - they will get attention from this guy! "Hello - which of you is the party wizard?"

"It is I," in an even thicker accent than the other two (one of whom is snoring loudly behind the door).  Said wizard is also shivering violently, a blanket wrapped tight around thin shoulders, having apparently learned the hard way why you Prestidigitate yourself all the way dry before Endure Elements wears off.  "I, um, I seek the k-kitchen?  Or any other fire which is at h-hand."

"This way. I'm First Arcane Grec, and you're..."

"Khalid," through chattering teeth.  "F-first Arcane, this is a title of wizardry, is it not?  Or solely of c-command?"

"It means I'm in charge of wizardry for this fort. I wanted to ask if you wanted to trade spells, we don't get a whole lot of foreigners this far north."

"Oh yes!"  Some things can usually be relied on, however differently they manifest, and a young wizard's hunger for new knowledge is one of them.  "I have but little ink remaining- attend a m-moment-"  Cold briefly forgotten, the youth dashes back to the guest room and returns with the satchel slung awkwardly over the blanket.

Grec attends a moment patiently enough. He's got his spellbook already.

Khalid catches the door just before it slams and eases it closed a bit more quietly.  "There.  Which w-way?"  Another bout of shivers.  "And may we t-trade nearer the fire?"

"This way. Did Caldentey not get you three proper coats?"

"Oh."  Somewhat sheepish wizard.  "He may have done so, I confess I did not think to look when I returned, nor I did not wish when I woke to make too great a light and wake the others."

"You, check with Caldentey if he got the adventurers coats, and if he didn't see that it's corrected," Grec tells a passing soldier, who salutes and runs off.

Sheepish wizard is even more sheepish!

And they can get set up near the fire - a couple people move out of Grec's way - and sit down with their spellbooks. "How are Osirians about Infernal Healing, that's one you might not have..."

"Ooh, no- how does that work?  Unless I know it by a different name, I had not heard of such a thing."

"Gives people fast healing. Works on undead, if you have friendly ones, on top of being an arcane healing spell at first circle. You need devil's blood or unholy water, but even since going Iomedaean the commander's said we're allowed to summon devils for it if we run out - don't ask me how he squares that."

"First circle arcane healing?  It works on undead and mortals?  Infernal priests do not channel positive energy, though?"  Khalid starts flipping pages.  "I dearly wish to see that but mine are mainly common, at least in Sothis- hm, do you have Secluded Grimoire?  Not as useful as what you could instead prepare but such efficient planar transport..."

"I have that one, too bad."

"Hmmm... Flaming Sphere?  If you have another first-circle one to make change?"  The shivers have  stopped enough now to handle a cantrip without dropping it more often than not, and Khalid starts drying their things off again.

...yeah, that's definitely a girl in drag.  Older than she looked at first glance, if you parse the delicate features and soprano voice as a woman's rather than a beardless boy's, maybe seventeen or eighteen.

Well, sometimes wizards are girls. Maybe Khalid is a girl's name. Maybe that's how Osirian girls dress, or she's in extra layers that belong to her party members to handle the cold. Grec doesn't care. "I don't have Flaming Sphere - is it good for swarms?"

"Yes, quite good, at least if the swarm is small enough or fears fire.  It's not unlike Fireball - I can't cast Fireball yet but I've seen it - except much smaller, only a quarter the size, but it lingers for a few moments and you direct it about if you can keep the link up."

"I would quite love to have that one. Not for here, really, probably won't singe a vescavor."

"Oh, be forewarned it doesn't fly- it can hop about ten yards straight up, but no higher, and it must roll on the ground to go sidewise, not in the air.  At least so far as I can do, anyway, it's possible there's a variant with finer control, or it takes practice."

She flips back to the earlier pages.  "What is a vescavor?  Apart from a swarming demon.  Alarm, Feather Fall, Sleep...  have you anything good for range, I got Bull's for Tariq because Omar had an heirloom bow already..."

"Toothy, bite straight through armor and rock if they're of a mind to, glow a bit green. I have those... have you got Abundant Ammunition, it comes up here a lot. Bed of Iron. Longshot."

"I've none of those, I think Abundant Ammunition will be most useful, and I don't yet have any really good physical conjurations besides.  Bed of Iron is the one for sleeping in armor only, yes, it would not have helped with rocks or snow?"

"Yeah, armor only."

"Flaming Sphere for Infernal Healing and Abundant Ammunition, then?  And... perhaps we could speak of other ways to trade later?"

"I'm not giving you two spells for one when the one won't even work on vescavors."

She wrinkles her nose and mutters something annoyed in Osiriani.  "Well, have you anything interesting at second circle, then?  Unless you're missing Unseen Servant or Silent Image, those are my last first-circle spells.  Aside from Endure Elements and Comprehend Languages which I expect you must have."  

"I actually don't have Comprehend Languages. It doesn't come up much, everyone knows Taldane."

"Oh- well, then would you accept that for Infernal Healing?  Or..."  She squints thoughtfully at him.  "I'd trade Flaming Sphere for Infernal Healing and the ink to scribe it, if your stores could spare it?  Considering that your fort saved our lives."

"We haven't gotten a supply run with anything less essential than food and ammo in a while, I'm using my personal ink supply."

"Much as I want Infernal Healing I don't actually need it, not enough to swap for my best second-circle.  Maybe somebody else along the way will lack Feather Fall."  She flips back to the loose folded leaf of charcoaled notes marking the beginning of her second-circle spells.  "Do you know Rope Trick?  I almost bought it last time I could afford a new spell... not that it would have been any more use to the poor camel, I suppose."

"Don't you? If you're taking the long way around that's a lot of forts without clerics you'll be going through. I have Rope Trick."

"They'll still have wizards, though, will they not?  People say Chelish wizard schools are the best in the world."  Some people said that, anyway, despite it usually provoking an immediate argument and occasionally a brawl when they said it in adventurers' taverns.  "Rope Trick for Flaming Sphere?"

"Wizards stretched a lot thinner on the Endures. This is how they have you trying to trade in Abadarland, first circles for seconds or for extra ink or for twice as many spells?"

She opens her mouth, closes it again, stares confused at him for a moment.  "Did I not-  Flaming Sphere is second circle.  I fear I must apologize for my poor Taldane."

"- oh, well then I'll trade you Rope Trick for it."

She gives him a small relieved smile, flips her spellbook to the right page and slides it over into the light for him to copy from.  "For your question... Abadar teaches that the true price of something is solely what someone will knowingly pay for it."  There's a rote quality of recited catechism to it even through her accent, not the enthusiasm of a zealot spotting a potential convert. 

"Were I desperate enough and without other prospects, I should have traded you my second circle for your first, and not accounted myself cheated thereby."  Her smile twists a bit.  "Or, a truly proper Abadaran wouldn't begrudge you it.  I am a fallible mortal and make no promises."

He pages to Rope Trick and turns his spellbook around for her to see. "The commander loves Abadarans, I think his best friend's the insurance adjuster who comes round once a year, but I don't really get it."

She rummages in her satchel for charcoal and another leaf of scrap paper, and starts sketching.  "I could quote you scripture if you wish, my father was very devout, but- I suppose people find it more meaningful when they can see Abadar's hand at work improving their circumstances.  I've been fortunate compared to some, but... gains from trade have not been an unmixed blessing.  If I had to pick only One I would incline more towards Nethys."

"That's how I've been leaning too these days, though He's not tapped me with anything useful for it yet."

"That's part of what I like about Him, really, He doesn't- make bargains with you, or the church doesn't imply bargains?  He's just- there, it doesn't matter to Him how you live your life."

"That's appealing?"

Eyeroll.  "To one who was raised to be a very proper Abadaran and- didn't?  Very appealing."  She seems about to ask something, then thinks better of it.  Sketch sketch.  "...this here, this is the planar interface?"

"That part and also this part, I don't keep it all together."

"Ohhh...."  She frowns at the page, tilts her head, sets down the charcoal to move her hands through the air over it, 'visualizing' how a spell would come together on that scaffold.  "Oh, I see now- and then when you hang it-" and she can happily chatter away with shop talk which this margin is too underspecified to contain until both their spells are copied, someone interrupts them, or Grec changes the subject back to something that isn't magical theory.

Why would he do that.

It's truly an inexplicable desire but her party never wants to hear about topology, she's very glad to have found someone more sensible. 

Other fort wizards drift over eventually to see if they can get in on this. Some of them are women.

Khalida has, actually, met other female wizards before: her first teacher was a laundry-wizard's widow, carrying on the trade for those families both wealthy enough to pay extra for a woman to come do the small household magics and insecure enough for the conspicuously strict seclusion to be worth it in expectation.  There's two she's seen visit the little branch temple of Nethys nearest their usual tavern, although they won't speak to her.  It's not the kind of neighborhood that gets foreign adventuring parties but she met a Galtan refugee couple once, both of them wizards, stretching their coin with the cheapest available lodgings before making their way upriver.  And of course everyone has heard of Nefreti Clepati, who's an exception to everything.

She has never, on the other hand, seen this many in the same place at once.

She can continue talking magical theory with the larger group at first, with scarcely a pause, and if any of them want to trade spells she can write out a list of the ones she's willing to swap, carefully organized by circle so she doesn't embarrass herself again.  But soon the group gets bigger and multiple people are talking at the same time and the women wizards (!!!) are prettier than her and she forgets to pay attention to her vowels and her accent goes from thick to incomprehensible and she doesn't realize until someone is staring at her and they probably all think she's a weird stupid hick-

Every word of Taldane flees her head in an instant.

Khalida covers her mouth with a hand, then both hands, and suddenly (and for the first time in years) wishes she had a veil to hide behind. 

(She's pathetically easy to read.)

"What," says the woman wizard who's staring at her, "all I asked was if you wanted Shield Companion? It doesn't look like you've got a familiar but some of them hide."

Headshake.  Still with both hands over her mouth, still looking like a started rabbit.

"No-  no familiar."

"Dangit, that's my only weird one."

"I apologize."

Deep breath, then another.  Put the sentence together before starting it, one word at a time.

"I think, I perhaps am not still recovered fully from, our journey."  

(No, godsalldammit that's the wrong order, fucking Taldane adverbs-)

"Well, get out of her way," says Grec, when this fails to immediately clear a path for her.

"Thank you.  I hope we may speak again tomorrow?"  The textbook phrases fall together easily enough; she gives a grateful smile to Grec and a smaller apologetic one to the cool older prettier wizard she maybe just offended, collects her notes and her spellbook and flees.

The little party doesn't emerge again until dinnertime, now all in suitable loaner coats (Khalid's is a little big on her, but she's turned the sleeves up).  They stick together as they collect their bowls of stew and find a table; Khalid is still a bit subdued, and Tariq slings an arm around her shoulders and glares indiscriminately in a manner more possessive than protective.  Omar is watchful but not visibly worried, letting Noor sit on the table and again making sure she gets her fill of meat before he eats any.

The commander arrives and does his channel for the frostbitten and training-accidented and generally weary people who flock around him and then drifts past their table. "How are you finding your stay so far?"

"Good!"  Tariq booms.  "Is very good, not dead snow.  We thank you food."

"And we appreciate the Endures. Do you have an updated estimate of how long you will be staying?"

Tariq raises an eyebrow at Omar, who confirms something, and there ensues a spirited not-quite argument in Osiriani, from which fact it can be inferred that no, they do not.

"Well, you're welcome as long as you require the hospitality of the fort and as long as I don't need to further cut personnel."

"My spells may be put to the fort's best defense as long as we remain here," Khalid speaks up unexpectedly, in archaic but perfectly grammatical Taldane (albeit with an accent thick enough to cut with a table knife), ignoring Tariq's attempt to shush her.  "I have met First Arcane Grec and found him very hospitalit- hospitable."

"My best officer," nods Artigas.

"When is no demon, soldiers here do what?"  Omar interjects, fending off another brewing argument.  "Play cards, dice, this is allowed?  Practice shoot, grapple?  ...practice language maybe?" he adds hopefully. 

"Cards and dice are allowed but on the advice of the insurance adjuster betting is exclusively in favors, not money. There are classes and practice sessions you may sign up for with Lieutenant Vallvé, over there, including in common Taldane, though the classes assume that the native language is Chelish."

Omar translates 'insurance adjuster' and a few other words for Tariq, who scowls.  "No good favors, leave soon."

"What manner of favors?  I expect there may be quick ones?"  Khalid directs the last few words to Tariq; he responds with some suggestive remark in Osiriani and she rolls her eyes at him. 

"You teach grapple soldiers maybe?"  Omar is trying to keep this conversation in Taldane their host is right here.

"I do not teach the grappling classes personally. Sometimes the favors are quick, or they're more like dares than like favors."

"Tariq knows good tricks, maybe good practice grapple soldiers-"

"No, no, is good dares!"  Tariq interrupts him.  "I do dares."

"So then we may stay a bit longer?"  Khalid stays in Taldane this time, although it's directed at Tariq.

"Two days.  Then go."

"I've sent a letter to the next fort east of here to alert them that your party will be heading clockwise soon, so they will be expecting you."

"Is how long walk, between forts?  Noor no-"  He intercepts the little cat before she can pounce on Blai's holy symbol, glinting in the light.

"It depends on the weather. Unless something goes wrong a patrol is out for hours, not days."

"Oh good."  Omar and Tariq both look immensely relieved; Khalid is still poking glumly at her bowl.  If something does go wrong they might all be dead and it won't matter if the next fort is one mile away or a thousand, but nobody actually needs to say that, it's equally true of adventuring parties the world over.

"You will have many legs of the journey to get to Kenabres, though."

Omar nods.  "One, maybe two night at forts, should ready each time for two days walk if fort locks doors..."

"Oughtn't they simply kill us, if they take us for shapechangers, not drive us off and let us try the next fort?"

"Maybe no food, not share?"

"That's part of what the letter is for, and you should accompany a normal patrol who can account for you having been with them the whole time. But you might run into places on shorter rations than we are."

"Bring camel, give."  Tariq says decisively; Khalid looks miserable about this prospect but doesn't argue.

"What beasts live here?  Not demons-"  Omar indicates Noor, now working determinedly at a particularly chewy lump of beef, then expands the gesture a few feet above the tabletop.  "Wilderness beasts much trouble?"

"Occasionally there are bears, caribou, dire rats, ptarmigans. Not likely to attack a group the size of a full patrol, though of course you should be ready if you do see a bear or dire rat."

"What is caribou?  And ptarmigan?  Not know these?"  Omar glances at Khalid, who shrugs and shakes her head.

"A caribou is a big deer. A ptarmigan is a white bird, so big, not dangerous but good to eat."

"Ah, food beast not fight beast, that is good.  With patrol we can- Tariq, not grapple bear.  Loan sword bear."  He accompanies this with a glare of 'I know you were thinking it', and Tariq throws up a hand in mock surrender with a "yes, yes", and a comment in Osiriani that presumably alleges a lack of courage.

"Caribou are also good to eat."

"Is good!"

"What do the caribou and the- the birds eat, themselves?  I did not think to find many, um, such beasts here where there is so much snow."

"I'm not sure. We don't see them too often so they may have to travel pretty far for it. There are some plants under the snow, though."

"Huh."  She nods thoughtfully. 

"Most places is some plants.  Desert have-" Omar checks with Khalid if she knows a Taldane word, then switches back although he's still mostly addressing her.  "...very small sword plant, drink much at once and keep it, like camel, ocean have no roots plant, swims, make sense snow place have snow plant."  He looks much more interested in the prospect of investigating weird snow plants than he was about just trekking from fort to fort for weeks.

"The snow does melt for some of the summer. ...anyway, please let me or my officers know if you need anything or have questions." And he moves on.

"Thank you much!  Is good talk!"  And the little party will return to Osiriani among themselves as they finish up dinner.  If clusters of soldiers stick around the mess hall talking after the meal breaks up, they'll split up but keep vaguely in the same area, Tariq and Omar looking for a card game or a group of men who might seem inclined to start one, Khalid in search of the wizards.  ...hopefully a smaller group of wizards.

There's a card game over there, and a dice game thataway. There's some of the wizards from earlier in that corner.

Staying at the fort is going to do nobody any good if she's scared to talk to them so she has to do this.  Probably they get foreigners with bad Taldane here all the time anyway.  She'll take a breath and head over, angling so that they'll spot her in time to wave her off if they're working on something classified.

"Good evening, may I join you?"

"Sure, why not," says a Female Wizard. "I'm Txell."

"Khalid," she says automatically, but if there ever was a time it's now, come on- "Or Khalida, in mufti, but we came here quite unexpectedly and without baggage."

"In... mufti?" says a different wizard, this one a man. "Is that Taldane?"

"I learned Taldane mostly from books, it may have been a loanword from something else?  Or I may be saying it wrong.  Off duty?  Not on a job?"

"You have a separate name for when you're on leave?" says Txell.

"It's the same name at the root?  Just-"

oh no this was a terrible idea- breathe.  Focus.  Say a different thing than the sentence that got stuck.

"-we do a lot of skiptracing? So it's- simpler, if men think they're losing to a girl they would fight harder..."

"...a girl with a sword sure. A girl wizard?" says Txell. "Man. Garundi."

"It's truly that different here, then?  You hear things, but..."

"Oh, people are assholes about women but they're assholes about everything. A wizard's a wizard at least once she's got Alter Self, anyone with sense knows that," says Txell.

"Girls aren't as good at keeping their heads in combat," objects a male wizard.

"All the ones that's true of? Die before they circle up," shrugs Txell. "I know you passed math, bitch."

She shrugs.  "Many people haven't seen a wizard in combat, and the ideal would be for them to surrender without fighting- my most dramatic spell makes it more difficult to take someone alive.  I imagine it's very different here."

"We basically never want a demon or a deserter alive," nods Txell.

"I can't imagine you would, what would you even do with a live demon... do you get many deserters?"  She's pretty sure she knows what that word means but not sure enough to risk assuming and being wrong.

"Well, how many is many?" shrugs one of the men. "- Janer," he adds, introducing himself.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance."  Thanks, Janer, that did the opposite of help.  She's probably totally wrong and it's some kind of weirdly specific technically-not-a-demon Abyss-dweller.  She'll... return the shrug.

"I suppose I mean more... what do you do here, on ordinary days when there's not a demon attack?  Endure Elements for the patrols, of course, but..."  

"Prestidigitate everybody and everything," says Txell, rolling her eyes. "Lights. Detect Magic."

Khalida laughs in rueful sympathy.  "If you'd told me when I was twelve I could ever get bored of magic... I suppose my teacher did, really, she was a laundry wizard.  Not that I listened."

"It's better than farming," says Janer.

"Oh, certainly, I don't disagree," says Khalida, who has never in her life been closer to a farm than riding through one.  "And it's an incredibly versatile spell, for all that the other things it does aren't nearly so useful."

"You really don't want to try to take a bath at the Worldwound even in summer. We just prestidigitate everyone," says Txell. "I've gone a year solid without a look at my own tits."

Khalida doesn't actually know that word either, but there's a limited subset of things it could be in that context, and now she's thinking about Txell in the bath... she schools her expression into a coquettish duck-and-smirk after half a beat of looking poleaxed, but words in any language are not happening just at this moment.

Janer and a couple of the other men laugh at her. Txell grins brazenly at them.

Okay, focus, now is the time to turn this conversation to either a flirting one or a decidedly not flirting one... she doesn't know nearly enough about Chelish soldier social dynamics, there's got to be an unspoken hierarchy under the rank one, can she manage to flirt with Txell specifically without giving the men ideas... well, a full retreat would signal vulnerability anyway, maybe she can sally and pull back and see if she's pursued.  

She makes the smirk intensify slowly into a smolder while she marshals her sentences.  "Well, that does seem a shame," she murmurs, then takes a breath and leans back, letting the eye contact drop as she rolls a crick out of her neck.  "How warm does it get, here, in the summers?  The commander mentioned the snow" shit what was the special snow verb, no time "-departs?"  She's aiming to keep the tone at 'simmer' instead of dropping all the way back to 'polite small talk' but she's never flirted in Taldane before and isn't quite sure if she managed it.

Txell snickers at her. "Yes, the snow departs, but it still frosts overnight half the time and you still want your coat to go anywhere outside or hold still anywhere inside."

"Ah, well."  Friendly small talk then?  She can do friendly small talk.  She's not disappointed.  "It's so different from Osirion, it was an especially hot summer when I mastered Ray of Frost and I likely spent hours just hitting the walls and floors with it to cool the house."

"It gets hot in Cheliax in summer too. If I muster out before I've got another circle I'll have a drinks cart, I think, better than scrivening or laundry."

"Oh, that does sound better, people could just come to you instead of you going to them... what would you do in the winter, just switch to warm drinks?"

"Yeah, exactly."

A burst of raucous laughter comes from the card game as Tariq stands up and cheerfully shucks off his coat and shirt in one go.  Khalida jumps at the noise, then relaxes when she sees it's harmless and rolls her eyes at him.

"How'd you fall in with your party?"

"Hmm?  How did I join them, correct?  The usual way... I suppose I don't know what's usual outside Sothis."  She shrugs.  "We passed time in the same taverns, they sought more talent to accept better-paying jobs, I sought- a more stable situation.  The taverner recommended us to one another, I spoke to some former compatriots and Omar's landlady, we took on some short jobs to make certain we worked well together."   To a decent Sense Motive check, she's not actually lying lying but she sure is leaving some stuff out.

"Well, usual for a Chelish wizard with any talent is the army," shrugs Txell. "Hold the Wound."

Khalida nods.  "Have you come here straight out of school?  In the Sothis taverns people talk of going to the Wound someday, but more as- a thing to do once you have a few circles to your name and a party you trust?"  And usually some less than Good deeds to try to make up for.

"Yeah, I was straight out of school," says Txell, and there's some nods. "But it's one thing when your country does its part with the forts, right, and another when you'd only come as an adventurer."

"I did a few years on a ship first," says a guy.

"I was a laundry wizard for a bit but had to get out of town in a hurry," says another.

Khalida glances away, suddenly crestfallen- she was absolutely planning to come here as an adventurer in a few years, not entirely selflessly but she'd thought it was a perfectly decent goal, and now it just seems... insufficient. 

"I've never been on a ship," she murmurs for lack of anything better to say.  Why do Chelish people all have to be so hard to read, she can't tell if hurriedly leaving town guy is hoping she'll ask so he can tell the story or if he's not and it's rude to pry, and she's already trying not to ask about their god or their country or any of the half-dozen other things she's desperately curious for...  "What was wizard school like?"

"Better than farming," says Janer.

"Tougher than regular school, since everybody in it was bright enough to be a wizard," says Txell. "Couldn't count on being tops in everything just for being the smartest of forty idiots."

"Forty?  Goodness, I can scarcely imagine a school of forty, how did you ever focus enough to read?"

"- what would stop me? Kids breathing?" says Txell.

"Ohhhh, if they set you all to reading at the same time that makes sense... but then how did they tell what you'd learned, if they were trying to ask forty children questions in half the time?  Did they have many teachers, and speak in small groups?"

"They had tests, and called on us one at a time to answer questions."

"Oh huh!  So it's- I don't know the Taldane- a subset of the things you should know, not chosen in a skewed manner?"

"Well, if you can solve a random arithmetic problem, probably you'd have been able to solve a different random arithmetic problem, and if you just got lucky, the test will show that."

"But arithmetic runs on principles, right, there's a technique to it, there's no technique for law or history or poetry, I suppose you could say there's technique for embroidery but it's not really the same thing..."

"We didn't really study poetry. I guess we learned law a little but all of the kind where if you don't know it you'll bleed sooner or later."

"Mm, lucky.  I was acceptable at memorizing poetry but my middle sister was better at composition than me by eight years old, and I was embarrassed enough I simply stopped instead of trying to outpace her.

...I suppose law does operate on principles if you step back to think on it, it must be forbidden to set fires in a city or the city should have burned down long before, one doesn't need to memorize the penalties to know that, but it's not... it's not like arithmetic, it's not like looking at your abacus and knowing that thrice five is the same as five times three and it must be so and could never be otherwise...."

"Normal kids who are just going to go back to the farm? Don't think about math like that," says Janer.

"Huh."  She wrinkles her nose.  "I suppose my sisters didn't, but I just attributed that sort of thing to them being younger.  But you follow my meaning, though, it's about skills more than facts?" 

(She's intending the slight emphasis on 'you' to distinguish Janer from the normal kids, but realizes too late it might come across as switching flirting-targets.  Hopefully Txell doesn't mind, but she's too invested in the sudden prospect of math discussion really for real for it to throw her enough to break her Taldane.)

"History is too," says Txell. "After a while I stopped trying to memorize the history books every year and started just getting the answers from how they wrote the questions, they weren't good at not telegraphing."

"Hm, I suppose that would be a drawback of written tests.  But history isn't so important for wizards regardless, not past the basics at least, not like it is for clerics."

"Why's history important for clerics?" asks one of the other female wizards.

"If they set a policy that seemed like a good idea, but it had been tried a hundred years past and turned out terribly and they should have known that?  I suppose village priests don't often set policy, but wizards you scarcely hear about involving themselves in politics before archmage level-"

...oh no.

The comment about archmages gets a bit of a nervous laugh all around. "Maybe that's more of a thing in Osirion, where you've got your cleric king?" offers Txell.

Okay they don't hate her forever.  Or are hiding it very well, which is totally possible because again, Chelish, like she apparently forgot for a minute there.  Breathe.

"Maybe, yes, Taldor has... dukes?  I think?"  She should probably say something less stupid than that but it's a coherent grammatical sentence and that's as good as she's getting right now.

"We have those too! Dukes and archdukes, counts and barons, petty lords."

"I fear I know little about how countries govern when they aren't theocracies- or, rather, aren't Osirion especially."  Okay, focus, small talk, she can do small talk.

"You've got some assholes and some bigger assholes that tell them what to do," says Txell.

Is this banter?  Godsdammit she can't tell.  Banter is harder to pull off than flirting but plausibly a better sign.

She chuckles and briefly ducks her head again.  "Well, it seems that much is the same everywhere."

"Does Osirion even have nobles or just priests? Are they all like Boian - I guess you've probably never met Boian, he's not even Osirian -"

"You know we don't all know each other."  She flashes Txell a quick bright smile.  "But I don't recognize the name, I fear.  Is that the insurance adjuster?  First Arcane Grec mentioned one."

"Yeah, that's him. Whole fort has to kiss his ass."