Into The Reach

You left Rathkin the next morning, using the carriage that Commander Rixx left for you outside. With Lexie and Zoe in the back you took the reins and just as the monster said, his elite guards let you leave the Inner City without any problems. It wasn't long before you went south, leaving the bumbling city of Rathkin in the distance.

You have never been to Loner's Reach but you know it's towards the southwest. The entire place is a small circular peninsula with only one entrance into the heart of it. You've also heard that sharp and jagged mountains encircle the whole outside edges of the land which makes the entire place not only impossible to invade from the sea but makes it seem even more full of despair and filth.

If you just follow the main road south and then go west after you reach a crossing around a lake you will eventually get to Loner's Reach. There aren't many rules, guidelines or leadership in Loner's Reach and many people from all over end up going there just so they can live what you would assume would be a free type of life, under the control of no hard leadership.

Was it a smart idea to bring your pregnant soon-to-be wife and one of your most inexperienced High Commanders with you to such a dangerous place? Probably not, but it most likely was going to be alright since you were in good terms with Shade and if you mention his name and say you are friends with him, hopefully you'll be safe.

The other factoring decision was since Rathkin was quiet and you didn't want to **** Bree's hand to spy you weren't going to find out anything in regards to the incoming war. Information is something Shade should have, as he has eyes and ears all over the entire continent, at least from what he's told you. The only issue is he may require something from you because if you're going to ask him for help, he seems like the type of guy that will request something in return.

You don't push the horses too hard as you still want to take it a little easier with Lexie in the back. You thought if you took it slow then the ride itself would be a little easier on your fiance. The entire journey, if you did it with haste, would take only about one full day to get from Rathkin to Loner's Reach and you decided you were going to split that up into two days.

Lady Bree let you know if you take it casually, by the time you reach Lake Nier and get to the western side of the lake you are almost halfway there and to just continue on the road west at that point. Just to the south of Lake Nier is a village named Ticht, a small harbor town which she said you could stop there if you wanted as it's mainly a neutral city which houses many civilians that go out into the waters to catch fish to trade and sell for profit.

Stopping and exploring a new town that wasn't Loner's Reach isn't on your agenda so instead you found a place just off the road to rest, eat, build a campfire and relax for the night before cuddling in the carriage with your two High Commanders.

The next morning came and with the early sunrise, you depart on your journey west again.

A few more hours of traveling **** you to constantly shut your eyelids and shake your head as you thought your eyes may be playing tricks on you. The sky around you seems to get darker and hazier as you get closer to Loner's Reach. It seems even the world around you knew that Loner's Reach was a place for scum that the normally bright green grass grew a tint of yellow and the crystal blue skies were coated in a shade of grey.

It's at the point you start to see jagged mountain peaks in the distance that you knew this was the so-called entrance to the peninsula known as Loner's Reach. The rocks were just so different from the Syndicate which were more rounded and bright yellow looking where as these were more sharp, jagged and a darker grey color. Everything about this area just gave you an eerie feeling and as the horses strode into the lands you were quite positive Shade would be happy to see you but the tingle in your spine still made you be cautious.

Following the road was simple enough and lucky for you nobody got in your way. Part of you was worried because many bandits and lowlifes would wander the roads and you assumed would try to rob, kill or do something even worse to random travelers but that never happened. Maybe these people from Loner's Reach, who withdrew from their Kingdoms, that ran away or got thrown out, maybe they really weren't all bad?

You can't recall how many random villages you passed by, if you could even call them that. Most consisted of tarps and tents strung up between barren trees and rocks but you also passed by a few chunk of more built up towns, with wooden or stone houses and fences around. These must be random run-aways that decided to group together to create small societies through out the lands. Better survival in numbers so it makes sense.

Many of these random small groups of people you stroll by would try to talk with you and sell you some goods, most which you could only imagine were stolen. The few that would walk up to your horses all seemed to have a type of glaze in their eyes and didn't appear to fully be there as well. You would politely decline any offers saying you were on your way into Loner's Reach and for the most part, the people weren't too pushy and would just mumble some words and go back to their tents.

Still though, you kept following the road towards the heart of the peninsula, straight into the main city of Loner's Reach.

Coming to a halt you call Lexie and Zoe out of the carriage and both of them join you up front on the bench behind the horses. Before you, was what you assume was the actual kingdom of Loner's Reach. You assume this because there were actual buildings, albeit many seem run down and falling apart, but there were tons of walls, houses and a gigantic mess of people walking the dirty gravel streets. It honestly looked like the Outer City of Rathkin with the amount of people wandering about, just...dirtier and darker.

The mixture of people that you saw was incredible. You saw people that looked to be from Rathkin, Errian, Syndicate and even other far off kingdoms. Men, women and children were all around walking toe in toe or moving between houses. There were countless beggars on the streets as well as people selling random goods down the main stretch of the city. Every once in awhile you'd see some bigger brutes of guys dressed in dark trousers and cut off shirts, showcasing much of their upper chest and their entire arms. These brutes, just like Shade, had much art covering their arms as well as different piercings and jewels gouged into their bodies.

You honestly had no idea where you were going to go to find Shade but as Zoe pointed her finger "There!" she exclaims out as you follow her index finger, pointing off into the distance toward the jagged mountains deep into the heart of Loner's Reach.

At the end of your gaze were solid stone steps going up towards a bigger, almost castle looking building. The stone was still run down, pieces of the walls were falling off, moss, grass and mildew were growing around the edges but it did seem like the most prominent, best looking and most guarded structure in the entire area. If Shade really was the so-called leader of Loner's Reach, that was most likely his domain.

With a shrug you look at Lexie and Zoe and give them a smile "Welcome to Loner's Reach?" you question as you clap the rope against the horses causing them to stride down the dirt streets of Loner's Reach.