>>4741
"Alice! Who is that? Is it the Roadmaster?""
Yulya gets ready to wake up Ashley if needed.

>>4743
Alice tries to determine whether the approaching rider is the roadmaster

Indeed it is! He quickens his pace as he sees the stalled cart. When he reaches them he realizes he's startled Yulya.

"Oh, pardon my intrusion. I knew you left too late, horses aren't machines you know, they need care and rest as well," he lectures, "well I have no choice now but to stay with you. The High Road has become more dangerous by the day." He shows the trader's plate to Yulya, "Do you know what this is? No trader would just drop it," he reads "Yalen von Brassels, good lord he's the son of a Darren von Brassels, a prominent Marquess of Baldur's Gate." he frets "We'll never hear the end of this, the relations between Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter was never that great to begin with. This could cause rising tensions to boil over. Let's prey it doesn't come to war. Not now, now with everything else going on here. We may have to put an armed guard on every shipment. This, only days after the son of the Duke of Neverwinter, Ferdinand Holden's sizeable bank shipment was seized by bandits. If they weren't out of hand before, this proves they're beyond us. This plate was his only means of survival, his livelihood!"

The frazzled road master unloads his worries on Yulya.

Ashley awakens to the booming sound of an old man. She peers over the top of the cart and sees Yulya shrinking as the man spouts on about his troubles. She recognizes him as Steggie. [Perception 1d20+1=2] She thought she saw something in the bushes on the side of the road, but it must have been the wind.

The old man's complaining drone seems to be reaching a cacophony and Ashley is lulled back to sleep.