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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2475778" data-attributes="member: 1210">Winter“NYARRGHH!!!”Kyle twists against his restraints.  The nurses mop his brow and carefully avoid putting anything within reach of his bite.  Froth dots his lips.  He is a weak man, but his little muscles strain to tear him free from the bed he is in.Dahlia shakes her head.  “There isn’t much we can do for him,” she comments. “Except hope,” returns Goer.  ***It takes most of a week, but finally Kyle Goldenbow manages to fight off the disease.  Sweaty and exhausted, he falls into a deep slumber for almost a full day; and when he awakens, his color has begun to return.  His eyes are clear.  He coughs and vomits out the remaining sick bile and froth that lingers in his mouth, throat and stomach.  Finally, he is released and staggers weakly to his feet.  It is only a day later when the band of brave heroes that overthrew the villainous knight in Sir Bors’ regalia are called back to Sir Martin’s estate, where they learn what happened to the true Sir Bors: he had been betrayed and murdered by his squire, who then took his place.  Henceforth to be known as Bando the Black, the squire is the fellow that our heroes defeated.  “As to the real Sir Bors,” Sir Martin declares, “his family has at last found... his body.”Despite this unfortunate turn of events, the Baron of Kamenda has sent along the agreed-upon reward of 50 gold crowns, to be split amongst the party.  Sir Bors’ family has also sent a reward: a large, brass-bound chest holding some 800 sp.  Between the gold and silver, our heroes are richer than they have ever been!But there is not much to be done with the money, at least for the present, for the weather has truly turned and the long days of winter have set in.  Rain begins to come down regularly, and soon there are the first flurries of snow.  Winter has come for real.Over the course of the winter, Jorgen, at Lord Whitewater’s request, begins working to establish a group of a half dozen or so trusty deputies- a cadre that can defend the town, build additional forces, and seek out dangers to the folk of Whitewater.  He manages to find Skeetles in the wilderness months after a conversation with Cur Sed Seed about him, but the old orc is completely uninterested.  Nobody is quite sure what motivates him.  Tad Ranger agrees to help at need, but declines actually being deputized.  Greybold, an old veteran warrior, won’t do it either; “I’ve killed enough men,” he states flatly. Goer starts to train his brother Valkor how to use the longspear, but he doesn’t have much natural talent for it.  Nonetheless, once he gets a little experience with it he will probably do all right.  Scowling, Goer reflects that he hopes his brother never has to get any experience with it- it’s a bloody, dangerous business.  But then, it’s better to fight than to knuckle under if those damn bandits come and try to carry off our wares and our women, he growls to himself.  The last year has really shown him just how helpless his little village is against any sort of force in numbers.  Dahlia has plenty of shelter in the ruins of Castle Laagos.  The storms make puddles here and there, but the giant ants seem to mostly stay in their holes during the cold and wet, and the strange hermit manages to be mostly undisturbed during the bad weather.  This is how she prefers it; there is a reason she does not live in town.  She spends a great deal of time frolicking among the trees in the courtyard and chatting with her badger.  No monsters that the group missed rise from the rubble; nothing disturbs her solitude.Cur Sed Seed, on one of his trips into town, finds himself offered a position as a deputy to the sheriff.  After pondering for a few moments, he says, “Well, it might be kinda nice to have a job...”  He accepts, although he understands that the position does not come with a salary per se.  Jorgen reassures him that Sir Martin has been more than generous so far, and Cur smiles as he realizes that he is actually part of a community now.  Sure, he has grown up with the Outcasts, but they are less a community than a loose band of backbiters.  You can’t turn your back on your own ‘brothers’, although they would trust their lives to each other when relating to outsiders.  Now Cur abruptly has a foot in both worlds.The winter sweeps on, cold but not too cold.  Nobody freezes to death by New Year’s Eve, and as always, both the Gardens and the Cookers have phenomenal parties.  Cur and Jorgen go to Castle Laagos to see if they can rustle up Dahlia for the events, and the hermit allows herself to be coaxed out into town for some fun.  The Garden party has a great deal of entertainment, including some from out of town (they must have paid well to get someone to travel through the winter!).  Cara performs for them, singing and strumming her lute.  She goes through more than a dozen traditional New Year’s songs, several drinking tunes, a couple of original compositions and even a song or two about her mom’s adventuring career.Dahlia and Kyle eventually move drunkenly to the Cooker party.  It’s already late, and things are winding down, but the remains of a veritable feast of goat and chicken is in evidence.  There is plenty of drink, too; and before the night is done, Kyle ends up coining the term ‘dwarven breakfast’ for puking.  He also continues to flirt incessantly with Dahlia, who is a little put off by his forwardness.  However, when he starts mumbling drunkenly in Elven she shows a little more interest.Spring comes to Whitewater.  The river rises higher, higher on its banks, filled with the melt water from the mountains upstream.  There is still some snow on the ground, but the paralysis of winter is broken.  One morning, as Jorgen walks along the river’s banks on patrol, he is hailed by one of the Cookers’ hands.  “Sheriff!” he cries.  “We’ve been looking for you!”“What’s going on?” asks Jorgen.The hand looks angry.  “Last night we had a major goblin raid.  They took a bunch of our goats.”  He glares at Jorgen.  “Junior wants to talk to you.”Jorgen nods immediately.  “Goblins!” he curses.  They can’t be trusted.  Maybe Otis is right- maybe we shouldn’t have let those ones we captured go.  Now look what has happened!***Meanwhile, at the Whitewater estate, Sir Martin is speaking urgently to his son, Cedric.“Has she quickened yet?” demands the father.“Well, we have no, uh, conthummated the relathionthip yet.”  The son looks uncomfortable.  For some reason, images of boyish thighs and firm buttocks keep flashing in his mind.Martin Whitewater sighs.  “Remember, son- we must be sure that she is fertile.  As I have told you, there is no shame in a child’s birth being six or seven months after the wedding.”“Of courthe not, father.”“And before we... formalize the arrangement, we must ensure that she can continue the line.”“I underthtand, father.”  Cedric stifles a sigh.  “I will move things forward more quickly.”Sir Cedric nods, his face serious.  “Good.”***Cara and Kyle are eating breakfast together at the Fat Mallard.  The place is abuzz with rumor and speculation.  “There was a raid on the Cookers last night!”  “Was it the Gardens?”  “I heard it was goblins!”  “They stole a bunch of goats!”  “I hear they killed ten people!”  “I heard that it was a witch that did it!”After they eat, the two of them decide to go take a look at the ranch.  They stroll west along the north bank of the river until they reach the Cooker Ranch.  The guard there, easily swayed by Cara’s beauty and persuasive ability, directs them along the west edge of the fence.  “They cut a hole,” he spits, “and got away with quite a few of the goats.  But we got a couple of ‘em.”When the two start heading along the fence, they can hear a great haranguing taking place.  It appears that a few of the Cookers- especially Blake Jr., a man of middle years and foul temperament- are giving Sheriff Jorgen a tongue-lashing he’ll not soon forget.  “Are you stupid?” Junior barks.  “Can’t you do your job?  This was a full patrol of goblins, mounted, and you didn’t even notice?”“I-““I demand you do something about this immediately, ‘sheriff’!”  The way he pronounces sheriff is filled with disdain.  Junior’s face is purple with anger and his voice booms like thunder.  Clearly, this is a man used to having his way.“We’ve come to help,” announces Kyle.Blake Jr. whirls on him.  “You?” he sneers.  “You’re a lapidary!  What can you do?”“We can help,” says Cara.  “Just as we fought against the bandits and cleared out Castle Laagos.”  “Yeah, we were just collectin’ the sheriff so we could go get our tracker,” Kyle adds.Eventually, after a fair amount of disparagement, Kyle and Cara manage to rescue Jorgen from the Cooker haranguing.  “Whew!” he says, “Thanks!”  Damn goblins, he thinks.  He has just grown a significant hatred of them.  “Now what?” he wonders aloud.  “I guess we should inform Lord Whitewater, and then we can see if Dahlia can track the goblins for us.”The group sets out for the estate.  A short while later, they reach it, inform Sir Martin of the situation, and leave again with Sir Cedric with them, mounted upon Thunderpuss, his bold palomino.  As the group heads back towards the ruined castle where they will find Dahlia, they discuss the situation.  “We already know that thomething drove the goblinth from the thouth thide of the Goblin Gorge,” comments Sir Cedric.  “Maybe we thould look into it.”“Goblin Gorge!” exclaims Kyle.  “Crikey!  That sounds dangerous!” “Certainly, it can’t be more dangerous than letting the goblins run loose all around our town,” points out Jorgen.They reach Laagos, collect Dahlia- who is only too happy to help, as she thinks of the terrible mistreatment the goblins might subject the goats to- and head back to the ranch, where they pick up the trail.  By now it is early afternoon.  “They have quite a head start at this point,” comments Dahlia.  “But there were quite a few of them- their trail is easy to follow.”“Not to mention the fact that they’re herding goats,” adds Cara.Next Time: Our heroes encounter some of the goblins in question!</blockquote>

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