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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RatPunk" data-source="post: 456976" data-attributes="member: 1246">Chapter 4 - Ratik, Part 2--- From the Journal of Knuptar ---The rest of the night passed uneventfully. In the morning, we ate a quick breakfast then resumed the journey to Fairhill. Sometime in the afternoon we made it out of the forest. We hadn’t gone more than a hundred yards when we heard a loud buzzing noise. We looked around for the source of the noise. There were three bird-like creatures with extremely long beaks in the sky above us. Stirges. And they were coming right for us.Those of us who had ranged weapons made use of them. Unfortunately, Jeb was the only one who managed to hit. His target practically exploded from the crossbow shaft that pierced its tiny body. We managed to keep one of them at bay by swinging our weapons at it. The other one, however, latched onto Shuglin’s back and sunk its long snout into his body. He immediately went white and became unsteady on his feet, but he didn’t fall. I’m sure it was through sheer willpower alone.As the rest of us fought to keep the airborne stirge at bay, Ostler ran to help his friend. Interestingly, his idea of help involved swinging his greataxe at the stirge on Shuglin’s back to try and dislodge it. Fortunately, Ostler wasn’t proficient with said weapon and all of his blows managed to miss not only the stirge, but Shuglin as well. Finally, someone managed to connect with the still flying stirge and it crashed to the ground. At about the same time, the remaining stirge decided that it had drank its fill from Shuglin and detached itself. As it leapt from his back, I stepped up and sliced it in two with a swing of my short sword. The stirge menace was no more.Everyone gathered to see how Shuglin was. He was weak and more than a little wobbly, but he would survive. Unfortunately, we were out of healing spells. He would have to slog along as best he could until tomorrow. He smiled and gave a weak thumbs-up. He was a dwarf. Of course he would make it. Once again we set off towards Fairhill.After a few hours of walking, Shuglin began to feel better. His color had returned and he walked without assistance. He still needed healing but he wasn’t on the verge of collapsing in the middle of the road. We hoped the rest of the trip would be uneventful. It wouldn’t be.As we rounded a bend in the road, we spotted a farmhouse and barn ahead. We could tell right away that something was wrong. It was mid-afternoon and there wasn’t any activity. We approached cautiously. As we drew closer, we saw the bodies lying in the front yard. There were animal and human corpses alike.Upon closer examination, the human bodies appeared to be those of the farmer and his family. What’s more, they had only been dead for a couple of days. We decided to spread out and search the farm. Rumblethorn, Jackie and I headed for the barn while Jeb, Pyro and Corian went to the house. The dwarves checked the outside perimeter.Inside the barn, we found that not all of the animals had been slaughtered. There were a handful of pigs and chickens still alive, along with a large draft horse. We finished searching the barn, which turned out to be empty, then located some feed and fed the starving animals. The draft horse was most appreciative and Rumblethorn and I spent some time cleaning it up and taking care of it.The house was empty as well and the dwarves had likewise failed to turn up anything of consequence. With darkness approaching, and the area at least temporarily secure, we decided to spend the night at the farm. Jeb and the dwarves thought it would be a good idea to bury the farmer’s family, so they went out to the front yard and began digging graves. Pyro and I opted to take advantage of the farm’s kitchen and started cooking supper. That was when Vortigern caught up with us again.</blockquote>

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