Braxen opened his eyes with a start, then relaxed as memory caught up with reflexes. "Still in the barn" he muttered to himself. Sometime during the night, the spider that fascinated him closed up and retreated back into the shadows of the eaves above the barn door.  As Braxen sat up from his makeshift pallet of hay and cloth, he took in his surroundings with a more experienced eye. The barn was well made, he noticed someone who cared about the work he .. or she, he reminded himself, put forth. He approved of this, better to do something right and true if you are going to do a thing.  Braxen noticed the stalls were clean and well kept even though there was no livestock at present, a sure sign that he should make haste with his departure, as a barn well kept means the owner makes frequent trips to tidy things.

            Braxen gathered his belongings, a old blanket in need of repair, a sack that he adjusted to be put on his back while leaving the arms free, and the long knife he "liberated" from a careless caravan guard. Braxen made a quik but thorough scan of the immediate area and found that whoever owned the barn was not in sight. Sometime during the evening the rain had changed to snow and a light covering now covered the field surrounding the barn.

"Blood and bloody ashes, ifin anyone acomes around 'ere they're agonna know someones been about". He swore silently. there was no way around it, he knew, he just hoped he was well away before someone noticed. Moving with a quikness that only a man in his shoes would know , Braxen put on his wide brimmed hat,settled his pack on his back, nodded his head in farewell to the spider, and headed out of the barn towards the woodline a few hundred meters to the west of the barn at a brisk walk.

When Braxen made the woodline, he moved far enough into it to be out of sight if someone was looking in from the clearing. Here in the woods, the snow was not so unforgiving as it didn't cover all the ground making it not so easy a task to track him. Braxen had done no harm nor damaged any property for the Barns owner to seriously want to track him down now that he was away. Braxen stopped by a small stream, slung off his pack and did his toilet. Braxen then went into a series of stretches and exercises to work the kinks out and to prepare himself for the day. He had been doing this every morning since he decided to follow up on the rumor he had heard about an army, Red Band of the Hand or somesuch, taking on recruits. At first, he believed it to be just a rumor, no substance to it, but as he went from town to village to town he began to put snippets of overheard conversations together and piece together a pretty clear picture. There was an army somewhere in Andor that did not answer to a King or Queen or any other head of state and that they were recruiting. It was not easy to piece things together, and took a score of weeks to actually confirm there was an army, but he was determined to find the truth of things.

His exercises complete, Braxen took out his long knife and began a series of moves taught to him near twenty years earlier, for a blade larger than the one he was using.  The series was not complex, Just the basics of guard, parry , thrust, but he was determined to not embarrass himself if he got the opportunity. After about two turns Braxen put his knife down , opened his pack and took out some bread and a hunk of cheese he "aquired" in Tarren Ferry a few days ago and broke his fast, took a drink and filled his waterskin from the stream, resettled everything and headed in the general direction of Two Rivers.

(( ooc - greetings everyone, It will take another post or two for my story to finally tie in to your festival as I explain how Braxen deduced the band was in Two Rivers))

Fancy seeing you as well ;) - just checked my regular e-mail account and yes the bio went through just fine - a few minor tweaks were needed but no major issues.

OK, I went to the bio section, read the "READ this before you post" thread, gave the rundown on bios, directed me to your website for bio form and gave an email address, the problem for me is the website will not allow me to e-mail the bio - only gives me the option to submit.  so - do I post my unapproved bio on the bio thread or do I create a word document and attach it to an e-mail to the div rep?

Hmmmm.. not completely sure - I filled out the bio on the websit you guys have alicia somthin or another and when i completed it - there was a submit button - i clicked it and it replied that it was submitted succesfully. I am new to this form of roleplay and am a bit lost in the sauce.

hello lads n lasses -

                  I posted a bio on your website, and no - im not trying to rush it through, my question is where do I find your RP threads?  I am truly interested in reading what has been written so I can get a good feel of your characters and writing styles, and to just be caught up with where everyone is currently. I look forward to interacting with you folks and cant wait to get started.

Until I spit in sightblinders eye on the last day!