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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 33819" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #3 (part III)Interlude“There is no reason for goats to bleat backwards, mommy. I told you I didn’t. . . “ “Ya na' makin'any sense, mun,” Malcolm said. “I wasn’t throwing eggs at the knights, I swear. . . “ Jana felt the forehead of Jeremy who was looking pale, and whose glands were so swollen his neck looked as thick as Devon’s. “He’s burning up. He’s got the bog flu,” the herbalist concluded. (25) The second day of the northward journey was dampened by this news, and by the fact that the boatswain would not provide a separate room for the sick passenger despite Jana’s declaration that it was contagious. Instead, Kristian suggested that the whole group quarantine themselves in their cabin. No one else agreed of course. The training did not go very well either. While Carlos continued to prove his proficiency with the quarterstaff, John, Guisel and others seemed easily bored and others did not even want to try for whatever reason. Kazrack and Beorth found it very disconcerting. Kamir helped Jana to care for Jeremy. Things got worse on the fourth day, when way out of sight of land the Sea Cow was hit by a sudden squall, which left everyone below deck sweating and feeling as sick as Jeremy. Kazrack clutched his prayer stone the whole time and mumbled prayers to the dwarven gods to deliver him from such a hellish place. The storm lasted an entire evening and most of a day, but on the sixth day they were in sight of land, seeing an armored horseman galloping northward along a rocky beach. And by early the next morning they passed cliffs that lined the shore and came to the port of Cutter Jack’s.  (26) The estimated six day journey had taken seven. Teflem, 6th of Ese – 562 H.E.As Crumb’s boys disembarked from the Sea Cow, Deet ordered them to get into groups of four to collect their tents as the group would be camping out in a field just southwest of the town. Jana was given her own small one-man tent. They were all also give their 28 pieces of copper for their seven days of travel. Kazrack already had his own larger tent that he and Beorth decided to share, and on Malcolm’s orders Kamir grabbed a tent for him and Jeremy and Chance. The town of Cutter Jack’s was distinctly larger than Weevon, made up of several score white-washed brick builds and some wooden ones. The port looked as if it could hold a dozen or more ships, but part of it seemed as if it had been recently burned and was still in disrepair. The town was flanked to the north and south by woodlands, and earthen ramparts were built up to defend the approach from the west and south. In the far distance, Kazrack could see the mist-shrouded mountains, whose peaks were lost in the clouds – mountains as far as the eye could see. The dwarf’s heart swelled with pride. The band marched through the town towards the southern woods. Malcolm and Chance helping Jeremy to walk. The Neergaardian was a bit more clear-headed, but still felt weak. As they past one small white building, Kazrack noticed a red dwarf come out and tying a message to a Faultless (27)   sent it off. Kazrack saluted the dwarf, who waved back. Crumb and Deet led the boys to a clearing southwest of the town, just beyond one of the earthen walls. The grass was short and a nearby stream provided water. Everyone began to set up their tents, though Kamir seemed to be doing most of the work. Kazarack and the others put their tents near the center of the clearing, not far from where Crumb had his large pavilion-style tent set-up. Gathering everyone together, Crumb assigned everyone’s tasks before giving them leave to explore the town or do whatever they like. “There will some basic chores I will have you all take turns doing to keep our camp running efficiently, so when this meeting is over I will be sending some of you off to do things. However, before we do that, I want to remind you all to obey local laws and stay out of trouble. We will be here for three or four days while I arrange for wagons that will bring us as far we can go into the mountains until we have to go by foot. Gothanius is about a fortnight’s journey away. Okay, now… You, you and you, collect rocks of the central fire pit. And you and you, go get firewood.” With that Crumb ended the meeting. Kazrack and Jana were chosen to collect rocks along with the short ugly companion of Devon’s, while Malcolm and Beorth were sent off for firewood. -- Beorth and Malcolm wandered down a nearby ridge picking up the dry wood of fallen trees, Beorth made neat piles to pick up as they head back, while Malcolm just had a huge bundle tucked under one arm. As they collected wood from a particularly ample spot, a frightened doe broke through the brush and running past them disappeared into more brush to their left. Malcolm immediately dropped his pile of wood and pulling his bow chased after the deer. “Malcolm! Where are you going?” Beorth called. At that same moment Beorth heard the sound of movement behind him and turned to see two young men with bows come through the brush. Both were of medium build with longish brown hair and light skin, dressed in the greens and browns of hunters. “Goodness! I thought you were a goblin,” one of them said. “A goblin?” Beorth said surprised. “Did you see a deer come through here?” the other asked. “Um, yes. My companion went after it,” Beorth explained, pointing to the brush. “Come on, Andre!” the second said and he and his friend ran off in the same direction that Malcolm and the deer had. Meanwhile, Malcolm had caught up to the deer by a stream and had sunk an arrow into its rear flank. The deer struggled up the bank and disappeared over the ridge. Malcolm took off after it again, when the two hunter came bursting from the brush. “That’s our deer!” said Andre. “The `ell it is,” Malcolm replied. From the top of the ridge, Malcolm fired another arrow that missed, but one of the hunters’ arrow’s aim was true and the deer collapsed and feebly tried to get away. The three of them ran down towards the deer. “Git tha hull away from ma deer!” Malcolm cried out. One of the hunters was beginning to pull ahead, so Malcolm tried to trip him up and succeeded in slowing him down, but he slowed down himself allowing the other to get to the deer, pull out a knife and slit its throat. “That was mah deer!” Malcolm said, “Ya best bock away from et.” “It is our deer. We have been tracking it for hours,” the hunter closer to Malcolm said. “Ets nat mah foolt ya could'n' cetch et.” “Actually, we were about to snag it when you and your companion started breaking wood and spooked it,” the hunter explained. “Yeah, we thought you were goblins,” the other hunter said. Malcolm paused. “Et dosen matta. Ah het et wit mah arrow.” “So did we. Why don’t we just split it? We really want the hide and antlers. So, we’ll take that and one third of the meat, and you can have the other two-thirds,” one of the hunters suggested. Malcolm thought it over. “Fine,” he gave in. As the cleaned and prepared the deer, the hunters introduced themselves as David and Andre. “Well, you seem like a pretty good hunter. If you’ll be around for a while you can come by our cabin and we’ll show you where the best game is. You can even trap beaver and stuff further up the crick,” David explained. “Where are you from anyway?” Andre asked. “The Dubh Moors. I’m here with a band that is going to help some kingdom further in-land.” “You are gonna help a dwarven kingdom?” David asked incredulously. “It is a human kingdom,” Malcolm replied. “Human kingdom?” asked David. “What is it called?” “Gothanius.” “Never heard of it. As far as I know there are no human kingdoms in Derome-Delem. Are you sure it’s a kingdom? Do you mean the Far Shore League?” (28)“No, I don’t.” “I think someone is pulling the wool over your eyes,” Andre said. Malcolm shrugged his shoulders. “Didja seh soomthin' 'bout gooblens, behfore?” “Yeah, we thought you and your friends were goblins, that is why we hesitated coming through the brush,” David explained. “Are there a loot uf gooblins around here?” Malcolm asked. “Not so close to town, usually – but ya never know. They kind of come and go. There is a standing bounty on them of like one piece of silver per goblin ear. Left ear only,” said David. “It used ta just be ears, but people tried to double their money by brining in two ears.” “The bounty’s been around since our dad’s time,” said Andre. “But be careful, these goblins, the Na-Sor Tribe are crafty and are likely to ambush ya.” The three men spilt the deer and Malcolm returned to where he left Beorth. -- Beorth got back to the camp just as Kazrack and Jana were placing the last rock in the fire circle. Devon’s short companion had placed about two rocks and had left the work to the others. Beorth dropped his armful of wood, and Crumb said, “That isn’t enough. You better go get more.” The paladin immediately turned around and complied. Beorth ran into Malcolm who was on his way back with deer mear over one shoulder and wood tucked under one arm. Beorth grabbed more wood. Upon returning to camp, Crumb stopped Malcolm. “When I ask you to do something for the group, I expect for it to be done right away,” he said sternly. “That is not the share of wood you could carry, and you took way too long to do it.” Malcolm stared back at him, fuming. “But you did bring back a deer, which is good of you. The men will appreciate some good venison after the ship’s seven days of gruel.” Malcolm grunted and walked past Crumb, putting the deer down inside his tent, next to the resting Jeremy. “Make sure nobudy touches mah deer,” he said to Kamir. “Okay, Malcolm. Whatever you want.” At dinner, Crumb’s boys noticed that Crumb had hired on two cook/assistants who served the food and helped to keep the camp clean. Malcolm, Chance, Beorth, Kazrack and Jana gathered together to eat. “Ah met this hoonters an' they sai' thar is a boonty on gooblins 'tound here,” Malcolm told them. “Goblins? Grrrr.” Said Kazrack. “They oofer one piece of silver per gooblin ear,” Malcolm explained. “Wow! We could rack up some extra coinage,” said Kazrack. “Do you think that would violate the terms of our contract?” Beorth asked. “It says no brawling. We wouldn’t be brawling,” “And the local law says is the one offering the bounty. We are well within the limits set by the contract. And goblins are a foul menace. We’d be helping the people of this town,” Kazrack added. “It’s settled then,” Malcolm said. “We’ll hunt us some gooblins tamarrah.” -- As Malcolm and Chance went to bed (Kamir was still stoking the central camp fire and the smaller fires people had closer to their tents), Chance said, “Maybeh you shood give that dahr for the camp ta sharr like Crahm suggested.” “Why shood I?” “Ta get in good with everyone `ere. Ya nevah know when ya might need some `elp, an’ me dad always said, ya can catch more flies with `oney than with vinegar.” Malcolm thought it over, and before retiring brought his venison over to the new cooks; making sure that they told everyone that it was he that had caught it when it would be served for dinner the next day. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Notes(25)   The causes of “bog flu” are unclear. However, it manifests itself in terms of great fatigue, fever, aching and occasional delirium. Coincidentally, bog flue often coincides with a character’s player missing a session. Chronic bog flu has been known to lead to premature retirement or even death.(26)  Cutter Jack’s is one of Derome-Delem’s “Freetowns”, which were founded by deserters or those left behind after the failed invasion of Derome-Delem by the Kingdom of Herman Land in 409 H.E. This town was named after its current lord who was a commoner who saved the town from a curse by retrieving the legendary “Sacred Rose of Osiris”.(27) The Faultless are birds with large wings that are impressed with two sites that they can fly between and faultlessly deliver messages. By riding high altitude air currents they can travel over one hundred miles a day. For information see Thoth’s Libram vol II, issue #3.(28) The Far Shore League is a loose confederation of towns on the western coast of Derome-Delem founded in 562 H.E</blockquote>

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