Scene 4: Blue Ridge Parkway, Leaving Roanoke, VA – David Drake, Friday the 14th of September, 2018

Another day of work done, scratch that, another week done. Damn those idiots make me just want to fucking leave with no warning. At least I got some vacation time coming up. Three whole weeks! I never take that much time off at one time. It would be nice if it would actually be a vacation, but I got a lot of crap to do around the house and at least this will get it done. I am glad that I thought to look on Maps before I left. 81 was entirely RED! They claimed it would take 12 hours to go less than 60 miles. How can it be averaging 5 miles per hour on an Interstate? At least the Blue Ridge Parkway looked to be clear. I texted home to let them know what was going on and how long it would take to get home.

I got everything packed up from work and headed out. I'm glad that I gassed up before I got to work today, it will make getting home easier. After I got onto the Parkway, I looked down at the gauges. Shit! The Temperature gauge is spiking. I got to get off this road now and check this out. Huh, I've never noticed this exit before. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. Maybe this exit has a backyard mechanic or something. Shit. Was there an on ramp to get back on the Parkway? I don't think so. Maybe there'll be a connection road up ahead somewhere. Wait, the temp is back down, back down to normal temperatures? Did I mess up on looking at the gauges? Am I hallucinating? Shit, it was a piece of straw! It was a piece of straw that was just in the wrong place. I just saw where it fell to. Damn Chickens. Fuck. Oh well, at least it isn't an emergency anymore.

God damn. Where did the road go? There is nothing but a trail ahead AND behind me. There's a sign up ahead, it says Windsong something or other. That's an odd coincidence – I used to have an Internet id and an email with that for the last name. Well, at least it is an excuse if someone makes an issue of me trying to turn around in a parking lot. It might break the ice a bit and decrease the tension a bit.

Crap, my phone hasn't got a signal right now. No 4g, no bars, no GPS, nothing. I didn't put it in airplane mode, did I? At least I had full battery. I didn't get to look at it most of the day today, but I did text earlier. Well, there's a building up ahead. Maybe it's the Windsong place. I don't see any parking lot, or even a place where cars can be parked. What kind of place is this? It looks like there is a stable with horses and people walking around dressed in armor. Is this a renaissance faire location? I mean it looked like that woman over there with the horses had pointed ears. Must not be a strictly anachronistic place, spirit glue is hard to explain away and difficult to acquire when there is no postage delivery. Maybe it's some kind of fantasy monastery. Hell, I'll check this out while I'm getting directions. Maybe I'll look into coming back here after this is all over. I've always thought of myself as willing to live in this kind of place. Maybe they are looking for more people to join them, I know that the wife would probably like this too. I can even see an odd breed of chicken here.

When I get home I'll have to tell her all about my adventures today. Maybe I'll take a few pictures while I'm here to show her what this place is like. Wow. They take it seriously here. There is a robed and armored guy with a shaved head coming up to me. He took one look at my car, I got to say, their discipline of character is outstanding, and asks me, "Are you a priest?"

That's an odd question, pretty specific too. Way too coincidental by far, but I might as well run with it, "Yep, of Odin, the All-Father", pulling out my hammer to show it off. I had made this myself, so of course I'm proud of it. His look wasn't the look of someone who recognized Odin's name or the Hammer. I mean, Odin should be public knowledge, at least with the Thor movies. I hope to fuck that I haven't wandered my way into some Luddite Christian Separatist Camp. I hadn't heard of any in the area, but then I had not heard of this area either. The last thing I need is to die in some kind of religious extremist activity when I can't let someone know about it. The man looked unhappy when told me that he would have to take me to someone named the Abbess since he wasn't familiar with Odin. Maybe his role just didn't cover something of this nature. I will say that my arrival was out of the blue, and my answer was likely not what he is used to. I made sure to lock my car before following. No use having people rifle through my shit while I'm inside.

I follow the man who was basically pulled out of a drawing screaming "CLERIC" to a masked woman. The "Masked Abbess" as she was known, seemed to be a decent sort, but I can't actually read her emotions, so who can know what she is thinking. I sure hope this isn't a cult. The conversation is short, but not unpleasant. She tells me that Windsong Abbey is a multi-faith building and that since Odin isn't already known here, a representative of his faith would be welcome, after I explained a bit about the faith in The All-Father. This place seems okay. I mean it shouldn't be a cult if there are multiple faiths. That kind of goes against the whole point of a singular point of power. Also, it's not like I have anything against those who worship other gods. Maybe the wife really will like this place. Hell, my old priest would even like this place. When I get out of here, I'll have to ask him about it.

Wait, what? I must have drifted off into my own thoughts. The Abbess (Masked, M.A. – maybe "Ma"?) asked me where I was from. I told her the town where I was living, I didn't need to go into my life story just yet. She had never heard of it, so I went told her the county. Still nothing. I ask about the Blue Ridge Parkway, or 81. Nothing. She led me up to the top of the chapel, and handed me a well-crafted box that held a spyglass and a map. She invites me to look around. We are on the coast. The COAST! The Blue Ridge are nowhere near the coast. Where the fuck was I? The Abbess tells me that someone in Magnimar might know more about my situation, as it was beginning to be obvious that I wasn't from here. Maybe they could help get me back to where I was from. Apparently there was a group that was heading to Sandpoint in the morning, and Sandpoint was on the way to Magnimar. Maybe I could find a group that was heading the rest of the way. She did tell me that it might cost a lot to get back home though. I was figuring that after I learned that I clearly wasn't in Kansas, or Virginia as the case may be, anymore. The Abbess invited me to stay the night and head off in the morning with the group

After that, I looked around the countryside one more time, and noticed that there was a group of kids around my car, poking and prodding it. I ran down and went to confront them. Apparently they weren't kids, but Gnomes. Oh yeah, Gnomes are a thing, not the lawn type, but the mythical type. Apparently these gnomes LOVE technology. I mean LOVE it. Apparently they wanted to study my carriage, having heard that it showed up without any horses to draw it. When they looked at it, they noticed that it wasn't magical. Oh yeah, Magic was a thing here. One of them was even prepared to show me magical auras. I looked around and saw that there were people wearing clothes with magical auras, and while I was under the effects of the spell, someone else cast a spell. That was an interesting thing to see. Anyway, the gnomes wanted to study my car more thoroughly, and wanted to pay for the privilege.

Hm. Maybe I can work with this. If I have spending money here, it might make it easier to get back home. I didn't know how much I should ask for, when one of them blurted out 20 gold. Not thinking, I said, 50 but that it better be back in perfect condition when I get back, and I would throw in a book about the car. At that, they instantly agreed. I went to the trunk, and hit the button on my remote. They were fascinated that it wasn't showing to be magic at all, but that it unlocked the trunk all the same. I pulled out a lot of my stuff, but I could not think that I would need everything in there. I walked the gnomes through where the gas went, where the oil was, and how to start the vehicle. I also took some of the gnomes on a ride. They were fascinated. I told them that the gas would run out after a while, and that I needed at least some to get home. I took about a gallon out of the tank and put it in the spare gas canister.

I told the gnomes that if they could figure out how to make the gas, they would have a lot more ability to drive the car around and figure out more stuff about it. I showed them the book about the car, and told them that both the fuel and the oil were made from the blackish oil that comes out of the ground. That set most of them running to I guess alchemical labs to figure out what gas and oil were. If I had more time to spend, I could probably show them how to make a moonshine still to get the ethanol component.

One of the gnomes was fascinated with the air rifle that I had pulled out of my trunk. I showed them how I could ping a mug sitting on a far off rail post without any noise. As I did, I saw an ELF™ walk out of the woods, finely craft bow and all. She walked up to the cleric and spoke in a language that I didn't understand. He looked to cast a spell, and then took her off, probably to go see Ma. The Gnomes had cast the same spell when they went to look at my book, so I guess it is a spell of understanding languages. I keep showing the gnomes other things, including my Multi-meter. I show them that the battery voltage goes down overtime, so that would be something to look out for as well. I ended up giving the gnomes some information on how air piston rifles work from an e-book that I had on my tablet, and some information on how solar chargers work. Maybe they can figure out what they could do with all of that. They had enchanted a pen to write down what I spoke, so that was kind of cool. Didn't last too long though.

I ended up sleeping in my car that night, as I wasn't prepared for the kinds of lice or fleas that they had here. I'll probably end up giving the whole place lectures on cats, rats, lice, fleas, and diseases before I leave this place if I have to stay long. While I was laying there trying to sleep, I decided that I was going to have to write all of this out. At least in a journal of some sorts. The gnomes gave me one to write in if I wanted, apparently they don't encounter a lot of humans with an affinity for technology. I decided that I will update this journal every night before I go to sleep.

When I woke up the morning I was to go to Sandpoint, the gnomes had one more thing for me. They had sourced a set of boiled leather armor for me. I don't know where they got it in my size, but apparently someone was decent at whipping up armor in a hurry. Hopefully it will keep me safer than having nothing. Last night, the gnomes warned me that there were goblins in the woods to the south that tried to eat humans whenever they could, and foul things like ghouls that dig forth from the earth to feast on living flesh. Great, is this a Romero world or something like that? If everything is trying to eat me, I'm going to have a bad day.

It was then that I met up with the group that I would be travelling with, because why not leave getting to know your fellow travelers until the last minute. Nothing bad ever comes from that. EVER. But I digress, apparently the Elf ™ woman from last night will be joining us. I hope that there is someone who can translate between us. From what I can see, she doesn't seem to like the look of me, but nothing I can do about that. At least I know that she should be good with a bow. I never got the hang of it. Her name is Faunra, and she is from up north. Well, I can at least pronounce Faunra, so maybe I'll be able to shout her a warning or say her name and point if something happens. Her chain shirt looks much more defensible than my boiled leather, and her gladius looks very sharp. I will do my best to not piss her off on this trip.

The next fellow traveler is I think a half-elf. At least he doesn't look fully human. Is that even a thing here? I think I remember that half-elves were a thing in the games that I used to play in. But I can't remember anything about them anymore for some reason. He seems to be dressed in less armor than me, but doesn't seem to be too worried about it. He carries a few of what I would call Martial Arts weapons, but who knows what they are called here. It doesn't look like he has a ranged weapon of any kind. If it comes down to it, maybe I'll teach him how to use this rifle. I'd much rather keep my pistol as a surprise for anything that I need to use it on. Who knows what kinds of powers things have here. Things seem to move on their own around him, so it might be best to not bother him either. Oh yeah, he goes by Jonathan.

The final fellow traveler is a pair. Another half-elf looking person who wears what I could only describe as oriental style armor, complete with a set of steel arm guards and an armored skirt. Her holy symbol is emblazoned on a heavy wooden shield. She holds her lance at the ready as she rides on a horse that looks like it just jumped out of the movie Black Beauty, with her arming sword in a sheath on her side. That's when I remembered that she was the one who I had noticed at the stables. I hope my car's noise didn't upset her horse. That was when one of the gnomes warned me that she can call down the favors of her goddess, and that she brought this horse back from the depths of Ghoul fever. Someone like that is not to be fucked with. Obviously. She goes by Dame Rebekah Destrier. Because of course she would. The horse looks a little tough too.

Oh yeah, we also have a donkey and a cart, which I am praising to no end, because I don't have to carry all of my stuff. I swear that the donkey was looking at me side-eyed. Better not mess with that one either. Honestly. I don't know who among this group I'll be able to trust to get through to my end goal. I can only hope that I can trust them to do the right thing when the time comes.