Travelogue of Aramin Olbander

22 mar 09

I set out to see what there was to be seen in the world, with my two body guards that my father acquired for me. They are supposed to keep an eye on me and keep me out of trouble. So far they have done an excellent job.

I very much doubt that I will be able to afford to extend their contract in six months when it expires, but I will be able to write Claude and Ogdin a glowing recommendation that they can use for their next employer.

I have been hired by a group of farmers in Enonia (a badly run down heap of a village) to help them establish a new community some days south of the Town. We have been working with these people for about four months and initially thing were pretty good. We concentrated on getting land cleared for planting and got about ten acres cleared and planted in time this spring, Once the crops were in the farmers started serious work on the village itself that they intended to name New Hope.

In the meantime, I was traveling back and forth between Enonia and New Hope, bringing them supplies, mail and other miscellaneous necessities that any new community would need.

At first all things went well. But as summer came on and the weather continued to warm, there was trouble. The crops began to be trampled, and livestock started to disappear or be killed. There was one such incident when I was down at thw village and I managed to discover that Kobold were involved. I slew a couple but most escaped. There was a rain storm that night and they managed to evade me.

The raids increased in fury and frequency as time went on.

I spoke with the leaders of the village, and it was decided that I would continue to travel to Enonia and collect supplies for the settlement. I think this was a fatal mistake.

People in outlying areas started to disappear. The attacks added burning of barns and houses as well as murder, and wholesale slaughter of the remaining livestock on the farms. The last time I stopped and talked to any of the farmers a desperate air hung over the few survivors. The few families still present intended to try and fight.

There were stories of new larger humanoids involved in the raids. I never saw any while I was in the village, and never found any good tracks to identify or follow.

Five days ago, my worst fears came true. I arrived at the village to find all the buildings and fields burned. No one was left alive. My bodyguards and I buried the bodies and headed north to report back to Enonia.

Luckily about a third of the families got out earlier. Mostly in small groups, abandoning the village before it was too late.

Two days after leaving the village for the last time. We took the detour for water that is a couple of hours into the Dalewood of the South trail. While we were filling our skins, Ogdin noticed smoke coming from about a mile East of us.\

We decided to investigate.

We came on a clearing where a huge and foul smelling bonfire was burning. There were about a dozen bodies merrily cooking down to their constituent parts. If you have never smelled burning human flesh, consider yourself lucky. It is a horrible sickly sweet smell, that is way to reminiscent of roast pork.

There were 4 warriors two of whom were women and one of those women was an Elf! Never actually having met an elf personally, it was a fascinating experience.

Anyway, they said that they had come down here looking for water and had found this hut in the clearing surrounded by dead naked bodies. When the bodies were approached, they jumped up and attacked this party, very violently. Evidently they were able to destroy these Damned (we found the name out later in Enonia) with the loss of only one of their party. The one who died was named Isham and from the looks of where he died, he was quite literally torn apart. There was blood splattered in every direction for 15 feet.

Anyway, we stayed to make sure there was nothing left of any of the bodies, and then we moved to where I was getting water before we discovered their smoke. By now it was getting dark and it was too late to make it back to the South trail in the dark. We set up camp here. It was necessary to move away so we weren’t quite so close to the mess, that would probably attract trouble.

The new people decided to travel with me and my companions. This was decided when I told them about the village I just came from. Evidently, they had some sort of plan of going down there to help out the farmers, but they are at least a month too late.

So we set up camp together. They have evidently been foraging along the way because, they made up a savory stew with a number of small game animals and plant items they had gathered along the way.

The next day we got back to the road and headed north.

There was a quick ambush by 2 kobolds, they popped out of the grass, threw javelins and ran away, we didn’t chase them.

Sometime during the day, I noticed that a mob of small creatures were shadowing us in the woods. At our next stop, I apprised the rest of the party of the threat. Forewarned and forearmed, we traveled on. About mid afternoon we were assaulted by about a dozen kobolds that came out the trees and grass around them. There were 7 warriors in our party now and there was no contest. In less than a minute, only 1 kobold (the leader), went scampering back into the woods alone.

That night about midnight, we were again attacked by 8-10 kobolds who raided our camp around midnight. Again this fight lasted only a few minutes with all the kobolds dead and only minor wounds amongst us.

The next day, we travelled the rest of the way to Enonia. We met several hunters who were trying to scare up some game for the town, but were not successful. We told them about our adventures which only seem to upset them. (note to self: in future lets keep our exploits to ourselves). After a short talk we all headed back to the village, the hunters hurrying far ahead, evidently not wanting to be too near us.

When we finally arrived at the gate I was in for a new surprise.

The gate guard was not only larger, but more alert, and very nosy compared to any time I had seen them in the past. They were very rude considering I have seen several of them many times in the past. I even have bought a couple of them drinks previously. (Note to self: Really keep all our future exploits to ourselves). We eventually got into town and after getting directions to their lodgings (such as they are) I headed over there. The other people that joined us went to the temple to talk to the Vicar. When they returned, I got the impression that they only managed to upset the Vicar. (Note to Self: Never ever talk about our exploits to outsiders).

I will leave of here, but I expect to add more chapters in the future.

Aramin