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[howandwhy99]

[DAY 81 – Fastday, Azer 12th, CY 81]

At the crack of dawn the team at Outpost Bayer loaded up their horses and began the ride to Hamfast. After only a few hours of riding Dram began to recognize the woods around him. As he had grown up in Hamfast he knew a little of the Greenwillow Forest surrounding the village. As they traveled closer and closer, Dram realized he had neither seen nor heard any residents along the way. He quieted the other four as they ate their noonday meal. When the team came to the edge of the wooded town center it looked completely deserted. They decided to dismount and approach silently on foot. Dram led Dalin and Darius, while Ormand and Pax stayed behind with the horses.

The three ducked between the trees and homes. Dram spotted a large wooden pen with at least thirty or so people in it. They crept over and whistled to those inside. The prisoners in the pen were all older men of the town. Upon seeing Dram oneee started hollering, but other men quickly quieted him. Everyone held their breath and waited. Nothing happened. Then one man approached the wall near the team. He whispered to them to crouch down and make themselves harder to see. His name was Sam. Bit by bit he explained how the town had been taken over by goblins and how they were using the villagers to dig tunnels below and forge weapons above. During the day the goblins slept in the houses to hid from the sunlight. But they had other traitorous humans routinely checking the pen.

Dram searched through the prisoners’ faces, but could not find his father. Sam said he was still in the constable’s jail because of a debt owed to the town. “What? Where’s the mayor?” Dram asked incredulously. Another prisoner explained how the mayor and sheriff had actually been working with the goblins. So were some of the other townsfolk. After seeing the rest of the town chained, whipped, and made into slaves the mayor helped lead a revolt along with some of the other original sympathizers. Unfortunately, they failed. Now every human was watched more closely by the goblins. “What happened to the mayor and the others?” asked Darius. Sam stayed quiet and no one else responded.

Darius attempted to coax out the truth. Sam and a few of the prisoners admitted to having initially joined with the goblins. Then someone forced the mayor forward from in back of the prisoners. Frightened, he explained that the goblins were originally brought in to help create weapons for the war effort. The County desperately needed as many weapons as possible and the goblins worked for practically nothing. Only now, the goblins had taken over Hamfast. No one bothered to explain why troops from Margrave had not come to free the town yet. Sam said that no visitors ever came through, but large wagonloads of weapons were still carted out westwards towards Harling. From another prisoner, Darius learned the humans below ground were kept inside tunnels between the different houses. The humans were forced to dig these tunnels all over beneath the town.

Darius pulled his two companions back to the horses and collected Ormand the Redd and Pax. He stressed the need to be as quiet as possible. He, Pax, and Dalin removed their plate armor. Dram told the others he was leaving to go find his father. Dalin offered to help, but Dram ran off circling around to the far side of town. The other four snuck back to the prisoners’ pen. Dram ran until he was outside what he knew to be the sheriff’s home. Looking in a window he saw his father tied up inside. The building looked empty otherwise. Dram pried open the door and entered. His father stared at him in disbelief. Dram removed the gag. “Dad!” “Son!”