Eddard's Diary: Chapter 4

2: The Valley of Hobgoblins

 

Thoram did an inventory of the weapons found.  As a gesture of thanks he offered each us what ever we wanted from the inventory.  I took two finely made but plain daggers.  These were the only weapons he had that I could use.  But daggers were always handy, and I wasn't going to insult him by refusing his generous offer.

 

The next morning, we rode out, being competently led by the hunter.

 

It took us most of the day to reach Miklaus' valley.  When the hunter told us his lodge was in the next valley, Wren did a little scouting.

 

There were a dozen hobgoblins in the valley, practising archery, possibly there as guards.  There was no sign of Miklaus.  Thinking he may simply be in the lodge set apart from the humanoids, we decided a direct attack was in the cards.

 

We set ourselves up.  Logan and Garrus were taking point, lances at the ready.  I took the right flank with Thoram.  Azzarak and Ulf took the left.

 

We crept as close to the summit as possible, and then charged full speed down the hill.

 

We took them by surprise.  We were halfway down the slope before the creatures opened fire with their bows.  I fired back, wounding one and in turn, naturally, being wounded, but only slightly.

 

When we impacted their line, we swept it.  The opening clash left 6 humanoids dead.  I had some trouble taking mine out, wounded as he was.  Short swords are not very good when fighting mounted.

 

When I killed mine, I leaped off my horse and ran for the house, concerned that we could be under attack from the dwelling, not knowing how many people were inside, or what weapons they had.  I guarded the entry as the rest of the party finished off the hobgoblins. 

 

It didn't take long, and during the rest of that fight, no one came out of the house. 

 

With a short sword in either hand, I covered the locked door to the lodge.  And shortly, the rest of the party joined me. 

 

Thoram didn't hesitate and simply walked through it.  His sheer strength has always left me in awe, and this occasion was no exception.

 

The house was empty of anyone save ourselves.  We searched it thoroughly, there was little loot.  We weren't gentle.  I was sure that this man was the local source of many wrongs in the area.  It was wren that drew my attention to something.

 

It the valley to the north, there seemed to be plenty of smoke rising into the air.  My first thought was perhaps a forest fire.  I asked he to go check it out.  She headed up the slope quickly, and it wasn't long before she returned.

 

"Hobgoblins."  She said, out of breath.  "Five hundred of them."

 

I think everyone in the party swore at the same time, to their own Gods.  The number was direct threat to the baronies, and perhaps even the county.

 

We needed to get the Hells out of there.

Something to think about...

We Are People

 

We are people.

 

We are not gay, straight, or bi.  We are all these things, and so much more.

 

We are people.  We are not black, white, Asian, or aboriginal.  We are all of these things, and so much more.

 

We are people.  We are not Jews, christian, Muslim, Shinto, Buddhist, atheist, or any other religion.  We are all of these things, and so much more.

 

We are not rich or poor.  We are not pretty or ugly.  We are not old or young.  We are not male nor female.  We are all of these things, and much, much more.

 

Why we insist on narrow viewpoints, limiting perspectives, and closing our minds to new ideas is beyond me.

 

We are people.  We need to be equal in standing, in rights, and in potential.  Should we ever achieve this, humanity will leap forward.

 

We are weaker when any of us is thought of as just gay.  Or just Muslim.  Or just black.  We all fail in our potential.  That is our weakness.  That is our critical flaw.  It is why we fight, why we weaken ourselves, and why we deny recognition of others, and therefore, through that precedent, ourselves.

 

Our strength as homo sapiens lies in our diversity.  Our willingness to adapt to new ideas, share new philosophies, and use them to change our perspective.  We grow, we develop, and we improve as we change, progressing ever forward and these ideas and philosophies are applied.

 

We are all people, as different as we are from one another.  But because we are people, we are also the same.

 

Copyright 2013 this blog.

Eddard's Diary: Chapter 4- Siege at Halfbrook

1. Smoking Inn

 

Two more miles, and my worst fear was realised.  The Troll and Maiden lay in ruins.  There were men, the Duke's men by the look, poking through the still smouldering remains of the Inn.

 

My first thoughts were for Tia ad her child.  I could see no others anywhere in the area.

 

With no sign of anyone else, I decided to go to the nearby temple of Chauntea, to see the priests. 

 

That decision didn't help.  The temple area was empty, though undamaged.  A quick search of the area made it appear as though the priests simply abandoned it.

 

What happened to Tia?  Where were the survivors?  I was torn, I had a duty to those we had rescued in Scornubel.  I also had a very strong need to find Tia.  Duty won.  It had to, though the question of her location would plague me for some time.

 

I went back to the ruins to converse with the soldiers there.  Only Logan and I approached them, the others hid some distance off, though near enough if we needed them.

 

A conversation with them proved that they were there merely to investigate.  We were told the in was attacked, by soldiers wearing cloaks in the colours of Baron Redhand.  This was proved out when someone discovered a Redhand Knight's sword.  Logan and I looked at each other.  Someone was trying very hard to implicate Garrus' father in something.  The whole thing smelled bad.  I didn't believe the evidence, he definitely wasn't the type.  So the question is, who was doing this and why?

 

We didn't dally.  We had people to take home, safely, and night was coming, so we pushed on. 

 

It took 2 days to get to Halfbrook, our final stop.  There were only four people left.  Two were the girls Wren rescued from the traders, and the last two were from village itself.

 

When we got to Halfbrook, we were greeted by the townsfolk, and an impromptu celebration was held at the Inn.  Wren decided she would blend in as a rescued person, in an attempt to discover if the return of the girls was welcome by everyone.

 

Logan and I got to talking about the night of the raid.  We decided to find out as much as we could about it, as a stepping stone to learning what was really going on.

 

As we interviewed everyone we could think of, the militia men involved in dealing with the raid, the parents of one of the girls- from the farm north of town, and staff members at the inn, we learnt many things.

 

The raid was clearly well planned.  The door at the back of the stables was left unlocked.  The militia were busy at the farm when the inn was hit, and Thoram's goods were a bonus and not the target.  We knew the date was consistent with the information on our map from the bandit hideout,thus indicating the date was planned in advance, and wasn't changed because of the presence of Thoram's goods.

 

The unlocked gate gave the bandits free access to the inn.  They had inside help.

 

By the time the investigation was concluded, day had turned to night.  I wrote a quick note or Wren and slipped it into her hand, asking her to look check on the inn's employees.  We narrowed it down to someone with a store room key.  The owner and the night manager.

 

Wren did her thing.  It was the night manager.  She did a quick search of his room and Thoram's weapons were found.

 

We had the night manager arrested.  Thoram was pleased to see his weapons.  The armour, however had been taken by the bandits.

 

A hard interview with the night manager and we got a name.  Miklaus.  He was a hunter who had a lodge a ways north of town.  A local hunter, eager to help, offered to lead us there.  So, tomorrow, we would go.

Nature's Way...

Out my front window...

In the bedroom...

Eddard's Diary: Chapter 3

They came, We saw, I Charged

 

It was like that, As soon as the two wagons came into view, I spurred my horse forward.

 

I had one major concern, that the guards did not have time to react to the attack and kill the people being transported. 

 

I stood high in my saddle, and leaped the distance from my horse to the wagon top.  Even as the crossbow bolt stuck in my side, my swords impale the guardsman.  I was hurt pretty bad, but I used the body of guardsman as cover from the crossbowman on the wagon.

 

An arrow appeardd in him, and he fell, from Ulf I think.  Thoram took care of the guards flanking the wagon.  Garrus and Ulf went after the other.

 

As quick as I could I got the body of the guardsman free of my blades, and he fell with a dull thud to the packed ground below. I swung into the wagon.  The guard looked like he was going to fight until Thoram's appeared behind me.  He dropped his weapons.

 

And just like that, it was over.  I was bleeding from my side from the bolt, but one by one, sacks were untied and people appeared.

 

We created quite a commotion.  There were people everywhere.  Even the guard turned up before long.  There wasn't that many involved that the city guard couldn't put a stop to it in reasonably short order.

 

We were asked questions.  It was sort of undiscussed, but the party as a whole decided not to try and fight the watch.  The freed people spoke for us, as both witness and evidence.

 

In the end, we were asked to leave town, but the guard captain in charge seemed a little worried.  He asked us to stay in touch, and we'd use the Troll and Maiden as the message point.

 

We left the next morning, with out fanfare.  We rode while our charges walked.

 

Well for the most part.  Azzarak did catch up to us the following day.  He had little explanation for his absence.  He also had this idea that the freed people would be better on horseback while we, their protectors walked. 

 

A quick lesson in battlefield tactics will tell you that the armed people needed to be mounted, as we can respond to better to threats.  We can see further, and react faster to potential problems then someone on foot.  In fact the first lesson I learnt in fighting mounted opponents was "be the mounted opponent."

 

He got his back up and insisted he was right. 

 

I realised that Azzarrak was a moron.  I offered to demonstrate this principle.  I told him to start at 150 paces.  If he could reach me before I could put 3 arrows in the ground, he was right.  I knew that I could put 5.  He also refused to take me up on it.

 

I wanted him out of the party.  I can abide many things.  Except constant stupidity on behalf of the guy that should know better.

 

Logan soothed us.  Azzarrak walked.  I got over it.  For now at least.

 

It took us nearly a week to return to the Troll and Maiden.  As we drew close, we saw smoke on the horizon.  This wasn't going to be good.  I could tell.