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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gina" data-source="post: 1634648" data-attributes="member: 10990">Leaving Three OaksAt Long Last We Leave Three OaksAugust 4thAs we made our way to the city gates, I noticed a woman who seemed to be watching us. I tried to follow her, but she was deep in conversation with someone. I could swear that I had seen her before, but I may imagined it. In any case, we did not see her again as we set off on our journey. The road was busy near town, but as we moved farther from Three Oaks, traffic thinned out considerably. We walked, two aside, talking quietly among ourselves, enjoying being on the road again after nearly two weeks in town. Suddenly, Thaile rose straight into the air, shrieking! Before any of us could react, she was twenty feet above our heads! She rose high above our heads as we struggled to comprehend what was happening. Tieran, activating the orcish brooch, could see the creature. It was large, he said, human-shaped and it was lifting Thaile farther up. Up she went, thirty feet, thirty-five...it was hitting her as well. We stood helpless, hearing her screams but unable to do much about it. Tieran was the only one who could see anything, so he cast spells at it, but aside from blindly striking at it, there was little Kytum-up or I could do. As I cast produce flame and hit it by aiming close to where Thaile was held, another person moved into the fray. A tall young man with red hair, armored in chain mail, leaped from the top of the hedge, landing near us. Thaile had, by this time, recovered enough to try to escape. The creature allowed her to do so and she dropped forty or so feet to the ground with a sickening thud. The creature, Tieran informed us, had gone to the other side of the hedgerow and he could no longer see it. I moved through the hedge and was hit by it. Hard. It nearly killed me before I was able to get away, across the road and into the hedge on the other side. As I retreated (or rather, ran like a frightened rabbit), Kytum-up, Tieran, and the red-haired man were just topping the hedgerow. Tieran said that the creature was gone and they climbed down to where Thaile, having healed herself was doing the same for me, though I was in no mood to leave the relative safety of the hedgerow. Thaile said that the creature had spoken to her. It said “Tamen Arbroth”. None of us knew what it meant, but all of us knew that we didn't want to face that creature again. The red-haired man introduced himself as Torsten Longwood. We asked if he was related to the Longwoods who lived nearby and after a short conversation, we determined that he is Lissia’s older brother. He had until recently been at the front in the North, fighting the giants. We decided that a night at the Longwood’s was a good idea, since we had taken quite a beating already, so we began to walk toward the farm, Torsten along with us. As we walked, Torsten fell in beside me, asking if I was a priestess of Eliwyn. Odd question, but I answered him that yes, I am a Druid of Eliwyn. He waited until we were a good distance ahead of the others and asked the following question:Is it right to save a child of a monster race of the parents have been slain by humans?Can such a child be redeemed?It was in that moment that I knew that Torsten and I are going to be great friends. I answered that, in my opinion, yes, it is right to save that child, since it is innocent of any wrong-doing. Killing such a child would do no one any good. All creatures with free will have the chance of redemption, in my opinion. I also told him that others likely would have differing opinions. His follow-up question was much harder to answer: Why do the “good” gods grant powers to clerics who perform evil deeds? I was unable to answer this one, thinking of Garrett, Kytum-up, and the slaughter of the non-warriors of the Goblin clan. I told him of this event, not mentioning any names, and he seemed unsurprised by it. In fact, he seemed as if he had seen all of this and more in his time in the North. I also told him that we had come across a tribe of creatures deemed evil by most who turned out to be very different indeed. About this time, I noticed Thip (Tieran’s bat) perched on my backpack, so he knew what we were speaking of. Torsten said that he had seen priests commit evil acts many times in the North. It had sickened him. We walked in silence a while, moving toward the farm and a quiet night’s sleep. Torsten was quiet, deep in thought, which seems to me unusual for a warrior, Riva not having been so given to introspection. As we drew closer, I bade Torsten ask his question of Thaile and Kytum-up. Thaile said that she did not know the answer to either question anymore. So much has changed and so many new questions have been raised since we set out on our quest for adventure. I think she preferred it when she believed that all of the answers were there for her in the church. Kytum-up looked distinctly uncomfortable at the question. I suspect he was thinking of his part in the killing of the goblins and perhaps of his own tribe. According to all we have ever been taught, all Kobolds are evil, yet his tribe is not, they have changed, been redeemed by their change of worship. After asking us to speak of it to no one, Torsten confided in us that he did rescue a giant child and that she is at the Longwood farm, being cared for by his family for now. Her name is Dagda. As we moved on, down the road to the Longwood’s, Torsten stopped us. A two person blind was nearly concealed in a tree, two archers ready to loose arrows upon us. They greeted Torsten and let us pass. Soon, we were at the still-unfinished palisade surrounding the farm. There seemed to be even more people than before, as if all of the local farm families were gathered here for protection.If the farms do not produce, it will be a long winter indeed. Their crops will be in the fields, but if the orcs decide to destroy them or the farmers are unable to tend to the harvest, there will be starvation. The Longwoods greeted Torsten like the long-lost son he is. They were all happy to see him. We spent a quiet night and I got to meet Dagda. She is very like any human child I have ever known, just much, much larger. She does not know her own strength, but she is delightful. I played with her for a while in the evening before bed. Torsten’s father and Uncle James made ready a small house for Thaile and I to sleep in, not wanting us (delicate flowers of womanhood that we are) to have to sleep with men who might have less-than-honorable intentions. I pointed out to them that Kytum-up is not human (he looks to be halfling right now) and Tieran is a wizard (and we all know about wizards!). Still, both gave Torsten very stern looks before time to retire. I found it very amusing. I noticed him staring at Thaile tonight over dinner. How amusing.</blockquote>

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