Wordcount: 394
Rating/Warnings: PG
Summary: No shame in retreat.

NOTE: This is a very rough draft with no editing at all (per National Novel Wiriting Month rules) and is presented for amusement value only. Think of it as a periscope into my writing process rather than a coherent story!

There will most likely be spelling and grammatical errors afoot as well as flat out bad writing, info dumps, plot holes, contradictions/retcons, uneven characterization and pacing. These snippits are also posted out of order, so please refer to the story page to figure out where it’s supposed to fit.

~*~*~*~*~

Arriving at the Keep

Need to find out the distances and traveling speeds, but in theory this is several months later. Winter is starting and the snows are horrible. They lose speed as they work their way up the mountains and they have to be extra careful because of the kids traveling with them.

They haven’t lost as many as they thought they would, plus they’ve picked up people along the way. The kids are sick and tired of the traveling and the adults have more or less fallen into a ‘I hate my life, but I’m too stubborn to die’ mindset. All in all the group is pretty grumpy in general and they are pretty close to just giving up and going home. There aren’t any maps to where they are going, they are relying on the spiders to tell them where to go.

Then one day they can finally see the monastery. It is just a small speck against the mountain but growing larger as they walked. It’s hard to see it against the mountain background but it doesn’t seem to have any snow on it. It’s not like the temples, more hidden. If they didn’t know what they were looking for, and had the spiders help, they most likely would have missed it.

Now that they actually have a final goal in sight they can be slightly heartened. Most of the kids perk up a d bit but many of them are just not interested in doing much except sleeping. It still takes them three days to get there, but about a day out they are met by emissaries of the monetary.

The monastery has some idea why they have come, but were still not expecting the company. The food stores are only just enough to get them though the worst of the winter, but they’ll be able o hunt and should be able to manage.

They don’t trade much with the outside world, so they haven’t noticed the changes that have been happening around them. They agree that they will stop traveling down to the fairs, that they will let other non-weavers do this for them.

There is a pretty good population to build from and there are others on their way. The monasteries will survive on their own, but it will be less extravagant living than some of the temples are used to.