Beakers - an austere raven arrives, following Orick.

2 Blackram guards, Chessa, Dimples, a Kite of the Cloudspine arrive, following Teagan.

You find yourself on the road heading off to a faire (or other thing that makes sense) just outside the city limits. The spring rains have been heavy in this area and the steep banks of the road just ahead have eroded enough to turn an entire section of road into a small, fordable, river. The river itself wouldn't cause you much delay the covered wagon trapped in the muddy water is creating quite the roadblock.

Lilith, the Raven arrives, following Branwen.

You find yourself on the road heading off to a faire (or other thing that makes sense) just outside the city limits. The spring rains have been heavy in this area and the steep banks of the road just ahead have eroded enough to turn an entire section of road into a small, fordable, river. The river itself wouldn't cause you much delay but the covered wagon trapped in the muddy water is creating quite the roadblock.

Ian is sitting in a carriage, riding out to some kind of training ground behind the people he was going out to train who clearly got through ahead of this roadblock. When everything comes to a halt, he confers with the driver about the situation in a low voice.

Lilith, the Raven leaves, following Branwen.

Kritr is grumpy about the weather, both the fact that is warm, and the face that it is wet. He has gear for a long sojourn in the woods most of which is strapped to a barrel-chested grey horse. He expects to do some peaceful hunting. Unfortunately he is stopped, dismayed at the washed out road and staring at it, as if he could intimidate the water out of his path.

Orick is walking along somewhere near the middle-rear of the travelling group and he is without a horse for this journey, a large leather satchel thrown over his shoulder and jangling softly with every few steps. When they arrive near the roadblock with the carriage he stops and studies it awhile, looking around in his stooped shoulder fashion for others who might lend a hand with this, "We're going to need several strong folks to pull this out, I think I see a way.."

It is not a celebration that has Jaenelle out and about the city, but her position as the Crown's Minister of Infrastructure. With the spring rains, it is very much beneath her duties to make sure the roads in and out of the Capital are safe for travelers and merchants alike. Every so often the Archduchess and a small gathering travel the roads closest to the main gates of the city and as fate would have it, this is the road she has ended up on and there is problems with it. As there seems to be a bit of a congestion of carriages and horses and people in general, Jaenelle appears concerned. "Is everything okay further up?" she asks the lead Velenosa guard, who now must go find out.

Caspian passes through the gate with large, easy strides, hands in the pocket of his parka and his eyes set on the scenery. He stops, noticing first fist the river. He notices the wagon when Orick speaks, shrugs once, and heads towards him. With a confident smile, he approaches the ruffled-looking fellow and offers, "Signore, I'd be glad to lend a hand." He puts his hands on his hips and tries to strike a pose.

Kritr makes consoling noises to his horse and turns him around. He begins uncoiling rope from one of the packs. He'll make a pulling harness first, the riding saddle won't be good enough for a wagon this size. There is no chance that he enters that rushing water himself.

The Velenosan guards are paranoid but not particularly worried as they move to cordon off the area. Just in case.

Almost immediately after the words pull this out are voiced a short very pale man climbs onto the seat of the wagon and starts waving towards them "Hello? My ox is stuck. Lend a hand?"

Ian eventually climbs down from his carriage; he's careful in getting down, careful to keep his balance and not end up in a heap in the mud. He starts over toward the wagon. "Horses will be better for this task than people," he remarks to Orick. "If there's enough rope, I can make a harness or two."

The horse -- a sturdy mare -- that the Blackram Marquessa rides is burdened with gear. Camping trips are not remotely uncommon for her once the winter snows melt away and spring sets in. She usualy tries to take one trip outside the city before summer hits its full stride. Teagan's guards are even polite enough to ride a bit of a ways back so that she can feel like she has some space (and time) to herself. However, the growing collection of -stopped up people- causes them to gather in closer just in case. The woman herself leans up in the saddle to get an even better view of what is going on ahead.

Orick nods to Ian when the Lord steps forward and he hops down from his vantage point to follow the instructions, "As you say Lord Kennex, anything else we can do?" He has started to look through the group, checking his own bag and pestering others to see if anyone else was holding, "Rope?" He passes a few more people, "Who has ropes?"

Caspian shrugs and splays his hands at Orick. "Unfortunately, I'm just taking a stroll, and it's been long since I've fallen a ravine." He looks over at Kritr and grins wryly. "I wouldn't be surprised if Lord Clearlake could lift the thing on his own. But I'll be happy to lend a shoulder." He starts inspecting the situation before moving toward the back of the cart, not yet in the water.

Its quickly obvious that getting the wagon out of the mud will be a simple task. A couple of ropes. A bit of help from a horse or two. Maybe a bit of digging. All you need is a bit of time. Caspian reaches the back of the cart and thats when you first hear it. An strange earthy groan..

Ian checks perception and dodge at normal. Ian is marginally successful.

Kritr checks perception and dodge at normal. Kritr is marginally successful.

Jaenelle checks perception and dodge at normal. Jaenelle fails.

Teagan checks perception and dodge at normal. Teagan is marginally successful.

"I have one," Teagan calls over, hearing Orick's query. She directs her mare up nearer to the gathered group. A hand lifts to wave off the guards as they try to push in also.

Caspian checks perception and dodge at normal. Caspian is successful.

Orick checks perception and dodge at normal. Orick fails.

"Not while it's in the water." Kritr yells back at Caspian. It sounds like a yell, but really it's just Kritr making sure he is heard over the rushing water and falling rain. He brought enough rope to string a tent and make a deadfall, no more, no less.

"Oh, Marquessa Teagan" Jaenelle greets brightly as the woman lifts up on her horse too see closer. "You are well?" she wonders, even as the rope is found and brought forth. The she sees Caspian and her smile grows brighter, "if it isnt my favorite former protege! Please be careful" this is said to everyone as the sound fills the air and Jaenelle appears a bit distracted at all that is going on around them.

Ian is making his way back over to his carriage, probably to inspect the harness on the carriage he came in to see how detachable it is. He hails the driver a half a second before the sound.

Orick tries to collect some of the ropes, taking it from Teagan if she's offering some, once he has an armload of rope he heads over to the bank to watch what Ian is doing with the carriage. He hails, "We have some rope." He is just watching right now with an armload of rope, hefting the bundle to get a better grip as he watches and waits for instruction.

A fraction of a moment later and the entire embankment suddenly turns into a cascade of mud and earth that flows like water over the road. Both carriages are rolled right over and Jaenelle doesn't manage to get free before the whole thing starts filling up with mud and water. Orick is swept right off his feet and into a suddenly deeper river, definitely in trouble. Ian, Teagan and Kritr all barely manage to avoid being buried but survive the deluge without being buried or worse. Its only Caspian and ironically the trapped Ox and its master that seem to escape to much trouble. The Ox bellows, terrified, as the slide starts and suddenly finds the power in his body to haul him and the wagon clear. Cages tumble out the rear as the wagon pulls free, with Caspian safe on the tailgate, casting the bleating cargo into the mud alongside the rest of you.

Most of you are safe but there are half a dozen mud-buried goats, one archduchess and one Orick in immediate danger.

In the middle of hailing the driver of the carriage, Ian cuts himself off and yells for the man to get out. He scrambles as the ground starts to give out from under him, and while he does end up on his hands and knees in the mud, at least he's not actively buried.

Orick checks strength and athletics at normal. Orick is marginally successful.

Jaenelle checks strength and athletics at normal. Botch! Jaenelle is simply outclassed. This is monumentally beyond them and the result is ruinous.

Kritr gives up on harnessing his horse and instead cinches the harness around his own body. He slogs through the mud to the largest stone he can find and holds the coiled rope in his hand, "Catch. THE. ROPE!" He urges. He wouldn't trust a horse to anchor a person more than he trusts himself. Who he throws the rope to depends on whose attention he catches. He makes no attempt to ford or enter the water.

"Jaenelle," Caspian yells as the flaxen-haired woman starts to get washed away. It wasn't quite the greeting he planned for the Archduchess. With reckless abandon, he jumps into the water and starts swimming to the woman. "Hold on," he yells between breaths, grim determination filling his eyes.

Guards immediately start trying to help the carriages and their drivers and other crewmen are quickly hauled up and out of the way. They seem to be having real trouble getting into the carriage where Jaenelle is however.

"Archduchess, I am-" but Teagan is unable to answer just how she's doing. The ground is moving and she's having to tighten up on the reins, drawing the mare at a sharp angle to keep them both upright and from sliding into the mud and water. Must be a horse bred in the mountains, for it keeps its footing well enough. The Blackram dismounts; unconcerned for the attire she'd already chosen for a sojourn in the woods. She brings the rope with her, but points the mare to her guards. A clear sign they're to get it free first. Using height to her advantage, she starts pushing towards where Jaenelle's carriage got pulled down. One end of the rope she has is tossed toward Ian. "Let's not get swept away." The start of a lifeline.

Ian picks himself out of the mud just in time to grab the rope. With rough, seasoned hands, he quickly works it into the kind of lasso that will be easy to toss to Caspian. He seems to be taking for granted that Caspian's going to make it to Jaenelle. "I won't be able to haul this. My legs will buckle."

Orick barely makes it out of the way of a cascade of falling cages, moving slowly through the muck and picking his way away from the danger... by the time he reaches the bank of the river he is a slimy mud covered mess. He pops open one of the pouches on his belt full of vials and removes it to pour out the mud with a sneer. It /was/ a nice belt.

To recap. As you waited for the wagon to move, or moved to assist it, the bank of the road collapsed in a mud-slide. That mud-slide rolled both the carriages over (ians and jaenelles) and caused the trapped wagon to get pulled forward by its frightened ox. The mud-slide threatened to bury everyone but Caspian managed to hop on the wagon tail at the last moment, escaping the worst of it, and everyone else survived muddier but unburied. Orick was swept away by the mud but managed to recover. Jaenelle is trapped in her half buried carriage. As the wagon jerked forward its cargo of caged goats fell lose and they were also swept into the mud.

The mud has stopped moving but it is still unstable and there is fast flowing water pouring across sections of it.

There is certainly a look of total panic now as Jaenelle's friendly greetings turned into her carriage moving without her commanding it to. How dare it! "Keep calm" she calls out even as the carriage slams into the ground and she is now completely stuck within its slowly destroyed wooden frame. There is absolutely no way that Jaenelle can free herself from her tomb, though those outside can hear a knock against the wood to indicate that she hasnt simply died, a small sign that she would very much like to come out now. Each time she moves within the carriage, it shifts and slides, sinking deeper ever so slightly or pushing the carriage away from the gathered.

"Damn it." Ian watches Caspian while he finishes the lasso. "Where's Lord Rysen when I need him."

It doesnt take long for you to set up a network of ropes and ensure that nobody else vanishes into the mud. Now its just a matter of rescuing Jaenelle. And the goats. Those poor bleating goats.

Kritr throws the loose end of his rope to Ian. "Tie them together my Lord! My legs won't buckle."

With the carriage on it's side, Jaenelle can easily stand with her feet pressed against the mud covered door on one side and have her hands against the door on the other. Her voice is loud as she hears those around the carriage coming closer to the unstable mud that she has found herself stuck in. "I would suggest not trying to chop through the door or any wall for that matter. I would rather not wish to be cut up into small pieces, and I am certain my family is too. Maybe leverage the door some how to pull it open? I can push from in here!"

When Caspian gets to the carriage, he plants his feet on the ground to avoid getting swept away and takes a deep breath. "Push on the door, Archduchess," he yells. The duelist places one boot on the door holds onto the handle for dear life. With all of his might, he pulls, releasing a mighty roar.

Caspian checks strength at normal. Caspian is successful.

With Jaenelle giving instructions and Caspian supported on the carriage by all those ropes its not long before the door finally gives a rending creak and comes loose. The sudden release of tension as the door comes away in his hands almost tosses Caspian back into the mud but ropes catch him and leave him simply looking heroically strong instead. Most importantly Jaenelle is now free of her prison and physically unharmed. Alas the same cant be said about her wardrobe.

All the people are free now and it should be possible to use the ropes to get everyone back onto solid land and back into the over protective arms of several worried velenosan guards. But those bleats are really quite piteous.

Ian tosses the rope out to Caspian so Kritr can haul him and Jaenelle safely back to solid(ish) land.

Kritr walks to the far side of the boulder on which he has made his stand and leans into the rope, using his weight to keep tension on the rope as he hauls it in hand over hand. At the very least it served as a guide to help them get to safer ground.

Kritr checks dexterity and animal ken at normal. Kritr is marginally successful.

The benefit of height and that general 'Giants of the Oathlands' stout nature of the Blackrams is that Teagan is able to brace herself decently well. She doesn't flee to dry land (despite the fact that it likely stresses her guards somewhat) just in case. However, things work out (thus far) and the Marquessa is able to begin wading towards the nearest of the goat cages, her end of the rope in hand. She lashes it through the wire-work of the cage and begins wading to the next. "Give me more slack in the line," she calls up. Presuming, it'd seem, that it'll be the quickest way to help the goats.

Orick checks wits and animal ken at normal. Orick is marginally successful.

Ian checks stamina and animal ken at normal. Ian is marginally successful.

Teagan checks wits and animal ken at normal. Teagan is marginally successful.

Jaenelle checks command and leadership at normal. Jaenelle is successful.

Ian sighs when everyone starts pitching in to save the goats. "Alright. Give me a rope." He'll plunge into the mud and yuck, slipping, wading, and half-swimming, to keep the goats from getting swept away while rescue plans are being hatched.

Caspian reaches for Jaenelle with one hand and Ian's rope with the other. Assuming he can get both, he lets the bear-lord haul him back in, picking along the way. Upon getting to shore, he coughs a bit and gives the Archduchess a wry smile. "Good afternoon, Archduchess." He stands and nods once to Ian. "What else can I do, Lord Kennex?"

Kritr feeds the Marquessa line, helpless to get into the water himself but glad to play a limited role. He's attentive, calling out directions of the cages he can see from his position atop the boulder. He's collected quite a pile of rope though in his position as anchor and when one of the cages starts to break, he reacts quickly, twirling the rope around in an impromptu lasso that snags the goats foot. It keeps the beast from being swept away from the water, but without the cage to stem the water, the beast is likely to drown, even if Kritr is strong enough to keep it's foot clasped. "The first one! Kennex! Get the first one!"

Orick slips and slides around but he's capable enough with a rope and a goat to help, following others directives and doing his best to be an asset and not simply underfoot.

Once she has climbs out of the interior of the capsized carriage, the short Archduchess gets to see the state of the group and their surroundings. With further help from Caspian, Jaenelle grins at him, "Vittori misses his Champion teacher." Only Caspian is allowed to teach Jae's son how to stab things. Then she looks towards her guards who have assisted because they would be in rather a lot of trouble if they just left her there. "Make sure the area is secure and all living creatures are safe." The order is not sharp, but there is weight behind it.

Ian is apparently just intending to bulldoze through this with sheer 'the current is going to get tired before I do, damn it', though he's on his knees and just shy of being swept away as often as he's standing. He looks up at Kritr to see where he's pointing and moves to follow his directions, facilitating the rescue efforts while withstanding the cold and the force of the water.

The cages that kept the goats contained inside the wagon turn out to be fragile constructs that mostly fall apart under the combined thrashing of the livestock and your efforts (and those of one unhappy looking knight) to rescue the animals. Whenever a goat is reached it takes long awkward minutes to make it stop thrashing around and do as much damage to its savior as itself but somehow each of you manage to haul one rather bedraggled animal out of the danger zone where one unfortunate junior Velenosan guard finds himself on temporary goat herding duty. The rest of the guards keep suspiciously staring at the surrounding territory, probably hoping that assassins might leap out of the mud.

After the goats are herded Orick takes a moment to check with the group, asking around if anyone has any injuries and then making himself scarce shortly after... he isn't a fan of being dirty and everything he is wearing is currently caked in mud.

Though she's never been very good -with the animals themselves- Teagan does love goats. You don't grow up in the Cloudspine without a fondness for the beasts. So she doesn't seem to mind the bleating or the nipping or the kicking. She at least knows to keep well clear of the knobbly horns on the one she's retrieved. Once the woman reaches shore, she looks down at her soaked, bedraggled self and breathes a sigh. "Looks like my trip will be delayed."

Ian is a sopping, muddy mess, so the training exercises will have to wait. He'll send a messenger once he's back in the city.

"I'm at your disposal for training him, Archduchess," Caspian tells Jaenelle with a bow. He might be covered in mud and dripping, but he carries himself like he's dressed in freshly cleaned clothes. When he sees people making great effort to save the goats, he shrugs. He turns to Kritr and Ian and gives the pair a single, respectful nod. "Thank you, Signores. I likely would have been swept away without you."

As everything settles a rather nervous farmer picks his way across the mud and stands looking embarassed near his goats. "Thank you. Thank you. I dont know how i'm ever going to repay you all for this."

Kritr steps down off the boulder and checks over the goats. He's a calming presence for some animals, not goats in particular. He returns Caspian's nod. "I'll take another route to my camping ground." He decides loudly, not really tlking to anyone specifically.

"Once when my brother and his wife went off to war, I was tasked with watching their goat. They are far oo mischievous" Jaenelle says as she watches everyone else collect the animals without running around doing so herself. She dusts herself off, the mud clinging to her spidersilk gown and slippers though it appears she is ignoring it all for now. "So. Once I arrive into the city I'll have to complain to multiple contractors that I almost died and this road needs to be repaired immediately."

Beakers - an austere raven leaves, following Orick.