Out to the Canden Settlement

We met with some interesting people yesterday morning - there were, as expected, thirteen men provided by the big caravan companies.  Unfortunately we only had four of the other guards turn up.  We think our message to delay this meeting from the morning before confused several of them (they're not the sharpest of people that I've ever met).

We had seventeen of them - and the six of us.  None of them had horses, but we did.  This caused us transport problems, but in the end they just had to walk.  We didn't have far to travel, but this did slow us down.

Elenhugh and Mullory had gathered some food supplies - trail rations, enough for everyone for a day or so, but this was a heavy burden.  We loaded the supplies onto our horses and walked with the Hznamen guards.

It was mid afternoon yesterday when we arrived in Canden.  The locals were quite pleased to see us, and had been concerned by our delay.  We explained as far as we could - and they were overjoyed that we'd brought some extra blades to carry out this fight.  They seemed to thin that seventeen extra men was plenty - we don't think it's enough, but we don't want to hurt the settler's enthusiasm.  From their own people, they'd mustered six young men, these had all come from the local settlements.  More, they told us, were on their way - the other settlements were concerned that their young men wouldn't be up to a fight, but there had been some weapons training taking place here for their young volunteers.

The other aid that had been provided was a selection of food - salted pork and some fruit mostly - to feed our small army.  This was most welcome.  The food was very fresh - we've packed some of up so that our horses can carry it easily, but with the Bandit camp so close, we have decided to leave most of it here.  We'll be using Canden as our base, this job may take us several days especially if the bandits flee.

As many of those in our group are new to sword fighting, we've been holding some training sessions of our own.  Daran and Kenner lead these for us, and some of the other experienced guards have been joining in too.  There is one that has established himself as some kind of natural leader, his name is Onter Farley, but his closest friends in the group seem to call him by his nickname, Gripper.  From what the others tell me, he likes to punch his enemy very hard until they stop swinging their sword at him, but he doesn't have much opportunity to do that when defending the caravans.  He's not a pleasant man if you get on his wrong side - but he's very popular, and has a great rapport with the others.  Daran and Kenner talked long with him on the journey down about what we're facing and how the enemy is organised.

We'll be enjoying more of the hospitality of the local farmsteads here in Canden tonight. There is one large barn that we've been meeting in, and a couple more that have been roped in as barracks.  We might not be leaving in the morning as we'd hoped - we're still waiting for some more people from other settlements.  There has been no word of any raids on the farms since we were last here, but the settlers seem to be expecting one very soon.

Those fickle traders have really hampered our mission.  We want to hit these bandits hard, and some of the traders were initially keen to give us plenty of their men.  But there are some that weren't so happy to be fronting the cost of doing this job -  and they were vocally reluctant.  Under this pressure the seventeen men we'd been promised soon dwindled to just eight as we had a couple of the smaller caravan traders pull their staff out of the project.  That was yesterday morning.

We needed a little more time - the big caravan companies wanted to be involved, but they wouldn't commit immediately when we talked to them yesterday morning.  The eight guards that we'd gathered we sent off to meet with the Willesden family at Canden, who we were supposed to be meeting this lunchtime.  We sent a letter with the guards to explain to the Willesden homestead the problems that we'd encountered, and asked them to wait one extra day.  We promised to be with them tomorrow even if we were on our own.

It looks like we will not be on our own, though.  Another meeting with two of the largest firms this afternoon by Elenhugh and Mullory convinced them to provide us with some of their men.  When we'd met with them yesterday, they'd just had their teams return from the cross-country journey - they had wanted to help, but their guards were stood down.  They had rallied, though, and with the promise of a small bonus had managed to re-enlist some of their people for this extra work.  Both had faced the same problems, and both had arrived with the same conclusion - finding the location of the bandits base was excellent news.  One had promised seven more guards, and the other six.

It turns out that these guards often work together, and as part of a larger team of guards.  They'd all been on the attacked caravan only a few days ago, and they also knew some of the guards who worked elsewhere.  We met with them this evening over a meal, and there were another three guards that had joined them - we're not even sure who is paying the wages of these extra men during this trip. That's sixteen more men to our cause, along with yesterday's eight and possibly ten more from the settlements, we could have a force of thirty four, plus ourselves, of course.  This makes the numbers more reasonable, and we might have a chance of achieving our objective of smashing the Bandit camp.

We're meeting tomorrow morning, where we'll assess the men we've recruited.  We'll then move on to Canden after we've shared breakfast with them.  From their demeanour in the bar tonight, I'd say that most of these had missed the earlier fight with the Bandits, and were keen to be involved in some action.  I think that guarding these caravans is often a more dull job than they like to portray.

Where the Bandits Live

We watched the bandits all day yesterday, and well into the night.  As Barr and Daran had been carrying out most of the observation activities, the rest of us set about setting a camp.  We found a place where the ground is low, in a small depression, topped at the southern edge by some gorse and other bushes.  With winter now upon us, the branches look quite bare, but they provide shelter from the eyes of the bandit camp.

Not that they were watching us.  It looks like they've been busy out making raids - a small group of six or so rode in on horses as dusk fell.  We could tell very little of them from this distance, but they carried heavy sacks, and unloaded food.  Either they traded for this, or they've just raided one of the settlements.  There were some cut sides of meat that I could see among their booty, these were probably from a large pig, but it was really hard to see over such a distance in the failing light.

As they dismounted, one of the men had a heavy limp - he was clearly injured, which suggests further that they had raided this stuff, and had met some resistance.  When it was fully dark we all retired to the camp to discuss what we'd seen.

Barr informed us that he'd seen at least twenty different individuals in the camp.  There were another six who had been out raiding, and probably half as many again were inside the caves and out of sight.  We'd be expecting maybe thirty five of them in total, and all would be experienced swordsmen.  This is out of our league - unless we can catch them a few at a time by surprise.  That's unlikely to happen.  We may catch one small raiding party or patrol, but the alarm would then be raised.  If their patrol didn't come back to the cam, they others would probably blame the local settlements, and take retribution.

It was a difficult decision to make, especially in the face of Kenner's enthusiasm, but Elenhugh was clear and adamant - we need more help.  Greater numbers will be vital if we are to stand any chance of winning a fight with these people, and the back-up of the local law enforcement people would also really help.  This may be considered 'out of their jurisdiction' though, and leave it up to mercenaries hired by the traders.  Personally, I find I don't care where the men come from or who is paying for them (as long as it's not me) as long as we can assault this place and deal out justice.

If the Kings Guard don't want to be involved - and the only excuse they'll have that is valid is one of jurisdiction - then we'll be free to impose whatever justice we (or, more likely, the traders and settlers) want.  If they do get involved, then this will be official and we'll have to take prisoners into custody.  Again, I'm ambivalent to the choice here - either option suits me.

We stayed and watched the camp for a couple of hours more after sunrise today.  We watched a patrol leave and return an hour later, they appeared to do a circuit of the camp site, but they didn't spot us.  We did get a closer look at them as they rode past, though.  Barr was right about their armour - its a mix of leather armour and leather armour with metal studs, some also carried shields, but all seemed to have a bow of one kind or another, and they all had long-swords.  We moved out after they'd returned to the camp.

We dropped by the settlers once more on the way back and let them know what we'd seen.  When we told them of the group of mounted men returning at dusk, they told us that one of their small farmsteads to the south had been raided yesterday lunchtime.  They'd taken food supplies, including some livestock.

After a short discussion, we told the settlers of our plan to raise more help from among the traders around Loudman.  We asked if they had any volunteers from among their own people that would be willing to lift a sword and end their misery.  They couldn't, of course, make promises for the other settlements, but they had four young men among their own that wanted to take care of this matter.  I urged them to send word to the other settlements nearby to see if any other volunteers could be mustered - and that they should meet back at this same farmstead in two days.  I asked if they could find at least ten men willing to help defend their homes.  They were very eager to try and organise this.

The farmers helped us with some more food before we set out for Loudman.  The town was much closer to the farmsteads than I'd thought, and we were back there by nightfall.  We've been spending a little time with the traders, especially those in the last caravan that arrived - the one that had been attacked.  When they heard that there was a group of the bandits nearby, those that had a livelihood working these caravans were happy to help.

As a result, we've had several offers of the use of caravan guards to aid our fight.  We've asked everyone to keep this as quiet as possible, but the guards are assembling tomorrow lunchtime on one of the caravan assembly fields.  We've had promises of up to forty men - but we're not going to rely on all those turning up.

We'll speak to the Kings Guard tomorrow.  From what the traders told us, we'd be very lucky if they wanted to become involved.  We can only try, however.

Almost Civilisation

We were woken before dawn by a red-faced farmer's wife.  She had a plate of rustic bread and some bacon and sausages.  We certainly weren't expecting this - it was most welcome.  She told us that she and her husband had been talking together, and with a couple of the other families in this settlement, and they were keen to see some of the local bandits brought to account for what they'd done.  She told us of several times during the last year this settlement and others close by had been attacked, and the farm workers had been hard pressed to fend them off.  The raiders mostly took food or small numbers of livestock - perhaps they figured they could raid whenever they needed more supplies.  When the attacks first happened, they were quite sneaky, but were opportunistic and disorganised.  Recently, though, the numbers and organisation of the attackers had been growing.  This is quite a concern to the local people.  The food and accommodation overnight were a gift to us, she told us, in goodwill that the bandits might be dealt with.

After we moved on we rode between several small settlements, these were dotted around, little more than half a mile or so from each other.  Once beyond there, we spent the morning catching up with a rapidly disappearing trail.  Progress has been excruciatingly slow as Barr has had to walk his horse most of the journey.  As we approached lunchtime we were little more than six or seven miles from the last of the settlements, but we'd stumbled over a most interesting place.

Before us, and hidden from the view of the rolling plain behind us, was a sunken valley.  The land here had collapsed down, and on three sides there was a sheer cliff, here on the eastern side and curving around to the south and the north.  Across the area, on the far side, the land sloped upwards and was covered with grass.  The whole depressed area is probably three miles long from north to south, and a mile and a half across to the far slope from this side.  The location is perfect for anyone wanting to keep out of sight of either the caravan road or the settlements, both of which are away to the east behind us.

We carefully sneaked up to the edge of the valley, and peered over.  Below us is a drop of maybe thirty or forty feet, but the land at the bottom is level and grassy.  Set into the cliff further to the south are several cave entrances, some with small fires outside.  Looking carefully through the gloom we can see a paddock and some men walking around in what looks like leather armour.  These are quite possibly the bandits we seek.

Now we need to observe them - it would be nice to gather some information about their numbers, patrol sizes and times, and where their supplies are, etc.   We want to mount an assault, but I get the feeling this place will be too well defended for us.  We might have to bring in help - although there should be enough traders back in Loudman, and enough of the local settlers to muster some kind of force to assault this place.

Barr is still watching - and we'll probably gather information until late this afternoon.  Then we'll need to make decisions about how we attack these bandits.  We may choose to pick off their patrols if they're sending any out.

A Race Into the Wilderness, and Barr's Tracking Test

Yesterday was not fun.  We had agreed to go out onto the caravan trail to help and, if necessary, assist the incoming caravan, but an hour after dawn another scout arrived with news.  The caravan had been attacked by bandits, they'd done some damage.  The news was not good, but it was far from a disaster.  The report told us that there had been casualties - three caravan guards had been killed, and another half dozen injured.  But there were eight dead bandits, and they'd been turned back quite easily.

From what I could gather the guards had been caught by surprise, otherwise they'd not have been hurt at all.  The bandits were just not up to the job, and were hurt badly in the first counter attack.  Unfortunately, they'd used some kind of heavy crossbow and a lucky shot had broken a wheel on one of the back carts. As they were so far into this journey, they had no spares left and couldn't replace it easily, so the scouts are all returned mid morning with some new parts parts.  The whole column of carts was stopped, they didn't want to split up - it's much safer when they stay together.

We tried to get their agreement so we could go with the scouts, but they were keen to move quickly and get the caravan moving again.  We knew we couldn't keep up with them, so we decided to take extra food supplies out to them at a slower pace.  The caravan was a day away still.

We grabbed some supplies (on account) from the local traders and set out just after the scouts had left.  Riding quickly it took us five hours to reach the caravan, and we greeted them warmly, handing over the food supplies and the invoices that went with them.  The scouts had been here for a couple of hours before, and with the new parts they'd repaired the wheel quickly and moved on northwards.

After travelling with them back along our trail for half an hour or so, we left them and continued back down to the place where the attack had occurred and they had been stopped.  They'd piled up the bodies and burned them, so the place was easy to find  We were in luck - the bandit's tracks were still visible.  It was getting dark by this point, though, so we found a place to camp and settled for the night.

This morning, we picked up the trail from first light.  It was tough going - Barr was really tested in finding this trail.  We followed it all day, and in the lower lying land it was easy to follow in the frost.  On the higher, rockier lands we really struggled, and at times we cast about trying to pick the trail up again.  This really slowed our progress - we spent over an hour at one point trying to pick up the trail as it came over a high, rocky hill.

We've now arrived at a small settlement, it's named Candon by the locals, and we've found lodgings in a simple wooden barn.  The trail didn't come into this village, but went across some of the farmed land a mile or so to the south of it.  The villagers are surprised the bandits came this close, they're not welcome here.  There are about 150 people here, and about fifty of them are men who have been toiling in the fields all summer long.  Now it's almost winter, they have a little time on their hands, and they don't appear shy about defending their homes.

We'll be resuming our hunt in the morning.

The Incoming Caravan is Late

Barr was out among the traders to the south of the settlement yesterday morning when he was first of us to hear news of the imminent arrival of a caravan.  We've been waiting for this for several days - and it was due in this afternoon.  He'd met some of the early scouts, who normally ride in to let the people here prepare for the huge influx of trade, and they were reporting that it should be expected this afternoon.

We're now worried - as it hadn't turned up by nightfall tonight, and we can only speculate about what has happened to it.  The scouts seem a little agitated now, they were talking about returning down the path to find out what has gone wrong; that will not happen until first light now - and we're considering travelling with them.

I've been urging the others to go out down the trade route for a couple of days before these scouts arrived - I was getting quite bored sitting here among the traders preparing to leave in a few days time.  The others were intent on exercising caution, though.  Hopefully by first light we'll have agreed to go and investigate.

This is an Unusual Community

It is not the people who are unusual, it's the make-up of them, the mix.  I've been struck by how diverse these people are while I've been talking to them.  I've learned quite a bit about the way this transport industry works, and how different people slot into the smooth running of the caravans.

There are two large community groups here.  The biggest one is the traders that are just preparing to leave, these can be caravan participants who are gathering guards and maybe other parts of their shipment, and who may be hanging around in the town for a week or two while all their trade comes together.  This group gradually gets bigger and bigger until a caravan leaves.  One of them left this morning, we'd only been here for a day - but I watched it go.

The next group are the traders that are just arriving in the town with new caravans.  These are briefly the biggest group, for a few hours every week or two - there are people in these groups that are just happy to be back in civilisation, they're arriving dusty or muddy from the journey and often with tired guards and pack animals that have been hauling their loads for several weeks.  There is something of a euphoria that can overcome the traders as they arrive, so they say (we've not seen any arrive yet).

Of course, there are the locals.  All-in-all these are quite a small group of people, but they provide essential services - inns, equipment repairs, blacksmithing, etc., to the caravan operators, traders and their guards and passengers.  These people seem to be making a really good living from these temporary inhabitants.  Money would have to be good - you'd certainly get a quieter life doing this in a more ordinary town.

The other groups are the ones that are here for the caravans themselves - the van operators, guards, load/unload/labourers, even some bards and minstrels to entertain the people who ship their goods long-haul.  There must be something about spending long periods travelling the wilderness, because most of these people do this repeatedly.  The get off one caravan and immediately get themselves booked on another one going back in the opposite direction.  Although they're spending a lot of time in the wide open land of the wilderness, they're cooped up together - it's potentially dangerous to be away from the protection the caravan (and its guards) brings if your out in the middle of nowhere.  Many of the van operators have become traders, too.  There is quite a free market that has developed in the caravan waiting areas.

The cart drivers are quite polite to each other - and it took an hour to get them all going and plodding out through the exit between the holding areas this morning.  The large carts take some effort from the beasts to get them moving, but once they're rolling they seem to be difficult to control quickly, they're much more cumbersome than normal sized carts.

I spoke to some of the drivers and they all seem to prefer different places in the column.  Some of them wanted to be at the front, others at the back.  They all seemed to think that in the event of attack they'd be in the safest place, or in the place where they could escape easiest.  I suspect that means the caravans are not often subject to attack.

I spent the whole morning and into the afternoon just chatting with some of these people.  It was the van operators and guards who I focussed on for the most part.  These people are the ones most likely to have experienced any bandits recently.  The traders will have arrived with goods and will have moved on.  There have been attacks recently although the traders who just turned around at the far end of their last and come straight back have not been on the road headed south for more than two months (the journey time is four to five weeks, depending on the weather), so their information is not up to date - and many of them have just left once again on the latest caravan.

The anecdotal reports, though do confirm that the bandits have been working at this end of the journey, and they've attacked a couple of the smaller caravans, but only under cover of darkness, and only while they were still in the semi-civilised region of South Caldonacia.  Some goods were lost, but it was mostly foodstuffs - flour, honey, some root vegetables and the like.  The information is quite sketchy, and I've struggled to gain any coherent information about locations and times of attacks.

Perhaps if another caravan comes in during the next few days they'll be able to give us some better information.  News of attacks during this latest trip would be ideal.

A Caravan Gathering Site

Loudman is quite an odd town.  On one hand it's a proper town, but quite small (except for several large inns), and on the other hand there is a large series of light-fenced enclosures where I'd have expected farmland to be.  The enclosures are bustling with traders and their large carts, there is even overspill beyond the enclosures to the south.  It looks like the place is packed full of people, but it isn't.  All the carts and all the goods being transported make it appear as though there are more people here than there are.

Of course, it was dusk when we arrived last night, and none of this could easily be seen.  We did check-into an inn immediately upon our arrival, of course, and we cannot see any of the enclosures from the inn.

We'll be having a wander round this area today, but we really want to talk to incoming caravans.  It's hard to predict if any will be here - but it's been a few days since any came up the wilderness trail, so we might be in luck in the next day or so.  If we can't find anyone arriving soon, we'll just set off and speak to some of the locals in the area of South Caldonacia.  I've already talked to a few of the traders in our inn, but that's drawn a blank.  We need to try and locate where the bandits are hiding out.

The Road to Loudman is Extremely Busy

I seem to have mastered riding this horse.  As we're not trying to hurry to Loudman, controlling it is much easier.  It generally follows the others, and if I need to adjust its route only gentle persuasion is needed.  If we end up in a chase, though, I'll probably go to pieces.  But half a day in the saddle has left me feeling much happier with my level of control.  The ache in my backside and legs had all but gone my late yesterday afternoon.  But only an hour or so into our journey this morning saw the pain return again.  It doesn't seem as bad after this morning's ride - but there's plenty of time yet.

We've stopped for a break in the riding, and I tried to slip my legs back into their normal position.  This is not so easy as everything has become quite stiff.  I managed to sit down, though, while we ate some of the fresh food.  We brought some excellent pie with us for our early journey rations - made with chicken and mushrooms.  This wouldn't keep well for the long journey beyond Loudman, but this is so tasty that I don't think there is any risk of it making it past the end of today.

The freight along this road is quite heavy, it's busier here with trader's carts than I've seen it anywhere else in Caldonacia.  This volume of traffic would make it difficult to press on past all the people if we'd wanted to do that.  So we took it easy and just kept up with the others.  This did have the advantage of giving us the chance to talk to some of the traders and cart owners, though.

For some traders this is an annual trip, once per year selling on a large order, while for others it is a monthly or even weekly expedition.  There is a bewildering variety of trade goods - farming and industrial equipment, pottery and gilded or brass items are popular, as are the Caldonacian specialities - apple cider (and it's pear-based equal, perry) and a fire spirit they called whiskey.

I was intrigued by the whiskey they were bringing.  I managed to scrounge a taste of this locally produced drink, as we have a similarly named spirit in the delves.  Ours is nothing like this, though.  Hznaman whiskey comes largely from the northern coastline of Caldonacia, and from across on the water on the island of Tenagria, of which only the southern half is populated they said.  These are spirits of exceptional quality, and it seems they can fetch a high price in the south.  I managed to negotiate a deal for three bottles of the stuff, I have no idea of ten Gold Crowns is a lot for each bottle, but it matters little. I'm quite surprised that the Hznaman don't export this stuff to Gora - it'd fetch a high price there too.

A Little Light Shopping

We had a good talk about what these bandits could mean as we ate breakfast this morning.  Daran was perhaps the most reserved about the job - and even he was keen to get started.  They warned me that that fighting other Hznaman and possibly Dzarraf was nothing like fighting Gurgam.  These could prove to be quite a tough enemy.  Anyone who has been raiding defended settlements will be experienced, well trained and well equipped warriors.  And if they've been carrying out raids on merchant caravans, then they'll be an even more formidable enemy.

Loudman, where we're headed, is the southern-most town of this northern country.  Since the warring ended and one King emerged over all these Hznaman lands, trade has flourished, and huge caravans packed with trade goods pass from here in the north to the south, and back again, almost weekly.  These caravans have traditionally assembled around Loudman, but the growth in population further to the south has meant that some traders are joining caravans later.  It could be these smaller transports that are being targeted by the bandits - I really hope so because, from what I've learned in the last day, you'd need a small army to attack one of the big caravans.

We've been out around the city doing a bit of shopping.  It was important to ensure we had enough lamp oil and trail rations for the journey.  The others have been renewing bits of their equipment, but my kit is brand new.  Instead of that, I've returned to the inn, I intend to spent an hour or with the stable-boys here, learning about how to look after these horses.  I might need that knowledge during the journey we're going to be undertaking.

We Talked with Murtlley

Ennan Murtley is a quietly spoken, meek man who seems to be in complete control of the matters he's been handed.  His works for the Viscount of Fornan Bay, Donal Albury, who has been working with the Earl for several years now to support the growth of population that has been expanding southwards.

I was given a quick run-down of the history by Murtley when he realised I was so new in this land I knew absolutely nothing of the history of the Hznaman here.  Hundreds of years ago this land went to war against the kingdoms of the south.  More than once, as it happened, but the result of the fighting, which this land (Caldonacia) did badly.  The end result was a contraction of the population of Caldonacia, and an abandoning of the southern lands where the fighting was pretty heavy.  But it's been many years since the wars, and people have recovered in numbers somewhat.

Over the last generation, though, there have been a slow return to the lands that were known as Southern Caldonacia.  One of the things the Earl of Rhandan has been dealing with is the extension of the King's protection to this area, and he's been taking it easy as it involves both the imposition of law and order, and the imposition of taxation.  It all gets a bit political from this point, and I must admit I didn't perhaps pay as much attention as I could have as it was a bit dull, but the bottom line appears to be that the arrival of the Kings Guard was resisted before, until the lawlessness became a real issue.  I think he said that the larger settlements are desperate for protection, but the smaller places are still very happy slipping under the government radar.

The immediate problem that has developed is that some of the smaller settlements have suddenly become a target for bandits.  In one region, south and west of Loudman, there has been a marked increase in the number of refugees arriving at Loudman.  The Viscounts of Sparren Marsh and Fornan Bay have been asked to pick the matter up - the correct solution is to send in the Kings Guard, which is a solution that will be in progress when the go-ahead from Carlow (the capital of Caldonacia) is received.  In the meantime, the Viscount and the Earl have been considering hiring in mercenary help to sort these bandits out.

Of course, the details of even this plan haven't been agreed yet - but Murtley was quite candid with us - it would do no harm for a group of free-spirited mercenaries to go to this region deal with any banditry and take their reward from the stash built up by the bandits themselves.  I'm pretty sure Elenhugh's eyes lit up in gold at this point.  We asked for a simple map showing where the bandit raids have been happening, a list of the settlements that have been raided recently, and for any pertinent information about the bandits themselves.  Murtley handed over a couple of scrolls.

Later, after we'd retired to the common room in our inn, I wanted to know why Elenhugh was so keen to take on a mission like this with very little information.  He told me that the region of land to the south of Loudman was a gathering point for overland caravans that were headed south to Hebria.  This place was well guarded, and there was safety in numbers - but once the caravans leave their is much less protection.  The guys we bumped into a day or so ago mentioned that there had been some caravans attacked.  He was surprised that I, as an investigator, didn't pick up on this.  I had - I recalled it quite plainly - but I didn't understand what they had meant by the term 'caravan' in relation to this land south of Loudman.

Anyway, it looks like these bandits could be well off.  And they're probably well hidden.  We could do very well, financially, by finding out where some of them live and where they keep their treasure and helping the locals to deal with both of these matters.  We need to spend tomorrow preparing for this journey - this is the last city we'll be in before we go to Loudman, and we might not be able to get all we need once we're there.

Fornan Bay is a City

With all the fun we had getting here, I never noticed that I'd arrived in a Hznaman city for the first time.  It was dark last night when we rode in through the city gate, and I didn't really see - but this morning, as we went to get breakfast at yet another grill house aimed at the market traders, I finally got a look at the place we are in.  The scale is much larger, and there are many stone buildings here, it's quite a contrast to the towns we've been through.

We dropped by the Viscount's office this morning, Elenhugh dropped a note in to his friend Murtley to let him know we're in town, that we've heard of the bandit problem he's been facing, and that we're available to help.  The others know little more than that, and I know far less.

We've let him know that we'll be around at lunchtime.  We also let him know where we're staying, just in case we would be of no use solving the current problem.

Too Damn Slow No Wonder We're Late

It was truly embarrassing.  At first, I'd never been so frightened - I'm sure they gave me the tallest horse just for the fun of it.  I'm a little shorter than the Hznaman, as you've probably gathered, but I'm broader set across the shoulders which makes up for the lack of height.  But it's completely useless on horseback.  They pulled up the straps with the foot rests on them as high as they could and then helped me on board.

I cannot honestly say I was 'riding' the horse.  It was more like I was just 'sitting on' it.  I tried to steer, I really did, but it wouldn't obey my instructions.  Mullory, who was patiently teaching me, pointed out that normally they respond to movement from your legs, but as mine don't reach as far down the horse's flanks as theirs do, I was struggling to get my message across to the animal.

Fortunately, their natural environment is to live in herds, so mine naturally followed the others as we moved out.  As the morning passed by, so did the wilderness, but not as quickly as Elenhugh wanted.  It took me a while to gather the courage to allow my horse to pick up pace, it reached a canter at one stage, and the wind whistling through my beard was quite alarming.  But it wasn't quick enough for the others, who were insisting that we gallop the beasts for stints throughout the day.  When I really pushed the speed out the inevitable happened.  I fell off.  I went over the back of the animal and landed on my back in the mud and dirt of the roadway.

We had to slow down after that.  I was making it look like I was a slow learner, but really I was struggling to become comfortable with the speed and control of it.  I was just starting to get the knack when we broke for lunch later than normal, as we'd reached the small town mid way between Sparren Marsh and Fornan Bay.

We picked the pace up this afternoon.  I was finally getting a bit of speed out of my animal for periods, but we still weren't covering the distance we'd have liked.  We did get some galloping done towards evening, but the others were clearly frustrated.  We had to stop for an evening break too.  We did this as dusk rolled in, and the temperatures dropped.  We fed and watered the horses, and took some food ourselves.  I had to suffer the indignity of being the butt of the jokes (I'm starting to understand their humour a little, now), and it was all good natured.

We resumed our journey with lanterns and it was soon dark.  We'd probably have stopped and camped if we'd been anywhere else, but Elenhugh and Mullory are very familiar with Fornan Bay, and knew exactly where to take us to find lodgings at this time of night.  We've hired some rooms at the Woodleigh Inn, which is a quite an up-market place.  We don't have a suite as we'd normally choose, but we had to take what rooms were available.  They've stabled the horses and they've served some supper, mostly cold meats, bread and some cold meat pie.  There's also a couple of flagons of beer, which are very welcome.

We have no chance of visiting Elenhugh's friend at the Viscount's office tonight - we'll be heading there in the morning.  But not particularly early - we've had a long day in the saddle, and it has left me quite stiff in some unmentionable places.  I hope I'm still capable of moving in the morning.

Preparing to Leave, a first Horse Ride

We rose from our beds early - this time of year the sun rises late anyway, but it was still dark when we began our breakfast.  Elenhugh is keen for us to make the journey to Fornan Bay in one day - which is possible if we don't take the mule and we go by horse.  He's already picked up the smell of money and the chance to sort out a few bandits.  The others are keen, but he's really focussed on the income.  That's not a bad thing.

Mullory and Kenner went out and bought horses yesterday afternoon, before our visit to the bath house, and we've had those made ready by the friendly staff in the inn.  The others seem to have already sold on some of the gear we'd been given as gifts, and the mule has gone too.

I've never ridden on a full size Hznaman horse before, so this will be interesting.  We don't have to run the horses all the way to Fornan, which is a good thing as I have much to learn about controlling it.  We're leaving in just a few minutes, when we finish eating.

A Chance Meeting and a Bath

We did go to Langan's for breafast, the others were very keen.  They have, of course, been here before.  I quite like fried food, but on this occasion I think I just didn't enjoy it as much as I have in the past.  I think I'm just feeling a little homesick - I have a desire for a bit of home cooked rodent.

In the Grill we bumped into a couple of people who know Elenhugh and Mullory.  These are messengers working for the viscount out in Fornan, they're here running errands for their boss, Ennan Murtley who is one of the viscount's secretaries and the popularity of Langan's is too tempting for them.  They tipped us off that Murtley is currently trying to organise help with a bandit problem that has arisen in the new lands south of Loudman and Sparren Marsh.  The messengers are off to the west next, but they suggested that our team should drop in on Murtley who might be pleased for their visit.

That's made a small change to our journey plans.  It was clear that Elenhugh was really keen to move out of Sparren Marsh today, but the others calmed him down.  They still had stuff to do - Barr especially.  He disappeared this afternoon while the others dragged me around the local facilities.

We visited a bath house later in the day.  This is a large, open-roofed building with a rectangular communal bath set in the middle of it.  The others tell me that it's an import from the south - before the Empire ended these places became popular, but it's only in the last few years that they've begun appearing here in the north.  I think the weather is far too cold to be bathing outdoors here, although the water was quite warm.  I left my woollen shorts on while I was in the water, but it was quite pleasant to be scraped clean by the burly scrubbers - and for quite a low price too.

Arriving at Sparren Marsh

This town is much smaller than I'd imagined.  The marshland to the south and west provides a unique aroma to the place too, a smell we didn't pick up until we began our approach to the town and the wind changed from the north-east and moved round to the south.  I'm not a fan of this smell.  The town is set on the edge of the marsh; to the north we could see the farmland rolling off into the distance, but the south a haze hung over the marshland.

As we entered the town, the entrance was guarded, as always, but the Kings Guardsmen, but we were spared any special attention as we rolled into town.  As we'd brought a mule, we'd ended up travelling with the traders who had carts - and our arrival at dusk was at the same time as them, and we lost ourselves among the carts.

As we passed into the town, we went past Langhan's Fry and Grill, which had been recommended to us - so we can pop into there for breakfast tomorrow.  We've stopped off at another large trader's stopover called Marcy's Inn.  Elenhugh has hired us another suite of rooms, and he's booked us in for a couple of nights.  We don't intend to stay in this reek for very long, but Barr has some people that he needs to see.

The Road Through the Marsh

As we've travelled this road, especially during today, the land either side of this road has become wetter.  We've been travelling gently downhill, and these plains are low-lying and there are few farmsteads.  The land to the south has been turning into a wetland as we've travelled east through it.  It's such a contrast to the mountains which are visible on the horizon behind us.

The road is well made, though.  It's raised up, and is solidly made.  It'll be keeping our feet out of any marshland that may be laying in wait across the plains as we head to the town of Sparren Marsh.

We've met several traders on this journey.  Fortunately our fame has only short reach, and we seem to be back into normal anonymity.  There are quite a range of travellers here.  I thought this road was going to be the main freight-way from the mountains to Fornan Bay, but I was wrong.  The people taking this route are the smaller traders, most with just one small cart.  The heavier freight takes the road to the north, through a place called Glib Hallows, and avoids the marsh, and the really heavy stuff is shipped along the river.

This means that the traders we've bumped into aren't working for big trade companies, nor to tight deadlines.  Most have been really pleasant company.  I think we may have agreed to visit Dooley's tavern in Sparren Marsh during our stay.  And Langhan's Fry and Grill.  And Porkhaven, which seems to be a butcher who specialises in cooked meats, especially sausages.  We may also, foolishly, have agreed to pop into another dozen places when we get to Fornan Bay.

It's good to have made so many new friends on the journey.  Barr has enjoyed it so much that he's managed to cover the costs of our stay in the inn with his dice game.

Moving on from Saltley

It was nice these last few days, as word of the demise of the Gallam End gang travelled around town so did the stories of our victory.  It's a small but really heart-warming kind of fame, as it's only the traders from the north of town who recognise us, and they've treated us so well.  We had dozens of little 'thank-you' rewards, mostly food or equipment, but some cash gifts.  One even offered Kenner the hand of his daughter in marriage.  Kenner couldn't accept that, though it would have kept him here - which is what we suspect the trader wanted.  His daughter's eyes never left the tall warrior all the time they were with us.

My friends normally travel light, but the extra food supplies (fresh food mostly) and equipment, which is mostly ropes, poles, lanterns, oil, hand tools and such, meant we had to buy a mule to help carry it all.  Elenhugh was pretty unhappy at this, as it will slow our journey, but we can sell most of the gear, including the mule, when we reach Sparren Marsh, the day after tomorrow.  The objective is to try and eat as much of the fresh food as we can before we get there too.

We've stopped for a light lunch, which today consists of a generous slice of pork pie with bread and some delicious butter, followed by a generous slice of apple pie.  Trail rations like this leave me wishing the journey was longer.

The Evans' Fortune Recovered and a Body Found

We found the Evans brothers, or one of them, at least.  We made our way out to Duckley's farm this morning, and spent a few minutes watching the place before moving in.  It seemed to be deserted, so we weren't expecting what we found.

There were no guards in the farmyard, and we burst into the farmhouse; Kenner lead the charge.  There was a little bit of a scuffle, as one remaining bodyguard attacked him, but he and Daran (who was right behind him) overcame the guard very quickly.  The short, stocky man inside was starting to make a break for the back door.  He didn't get very far as I'd already stepped in the way.  He was Graham Evans.  We had a little 'discussion'.  From what he told us, his brother Brian had gone out to the Ambrose farm two days ago, he'd gone to meet Wilson.

Our search of the farmhouse turned up some money - it seems the Evans boys have been keeping their cash stashed here.  We confiscated it, and carried it with us back to town.  There must be upwards of ten thousand gold crowns in there.  We left the bodyguard on the floor, but took Graham Evans back to town with us.

The local traders were very interested in receiving the 'donation' of money that we brought them.  They were also quite pleased to take custody of Graham Evans.  We didn't hang around for long, but we went out to the Ambrose farm, it was already getting towards lunchtime and we wanted to avoid being out there at lunchtime.

In the end we needn't have hurried.  The farm was still in operation, the farmer was happy knowing nothing about the barn he had rented out.  The rent was paid for another four months, and he didn't go out there.  We did, though.  We warned him what had been going on with the Evans brothers, and he was quite shocked.  We had to break into the barn - there was a lock on the outside.  Inside the smell was terrible - we'd finally found Wilson.  He hadn't come here to die after the beating we gave him - he'd come here to recover, but someone else had found him.  That someone had locked his dead or dying body in here.  He'd been beaten again, the bruises on the body were far more than we'd given him, but the cause of death were two stab wounds in his back.  He'd bled to death.

It's a horrible way to die, but he'd been involved in this world for many years.  It is, in many ways, a fitting end for such a scumbag.  We found no more money or stock stored in the barn, so we left the body and returned to town.  We didn't even ask what the local traders had done with Graham Evans.  We think Brian Evans has run off northwards.  We're now washing our hands of this matter - the rogues guild has been smashed, their money has been returned to those it was taken from, and half the masterminds behind it have been captured and handed over.

Personally, I'm really just looking forward to a good nights sleep with no watch duty.  It's been quite a tiring couple of days.

Reporting and Planning

I think I've managed to impress the others, they have been slowly coming round to my point of view anyway - but perhaps they were enjoying the rest they were getting while sitting in this inn.  I sat there while they gave Mullory and Elenhugh a bit of a ribbing for his plan of sitting and waiting.

I relayed all I'd learned about the two farms, and I suggested that we go there.  The only objection I had was that, with one being a couple of hours out of town that we couldn't do them both this afternoon.  I agreed with that - there seems little sense going out there and then having to make a camp, or try and sleep in someone's barn.  We want to check them both out if possible and in the shortest time.  We might find they're both occupied, and we don't want one raising the alarm at the other.

So we decided that we'll head out there tomorrow morning, and we'll drop into the closer farm first.  The only worry about our plan is that my investigation this morning could have let them know we've been looking for them.  This doesn't really worry me - the worst they could do is try to attack us here at night.  That isn't gong to take us by surprise, we've been prepared for days.  If they run off, leaving town then we'll have utterly won.  They probably won't be back.

I hope tomorrow we can finally flush out the Evans boys.  I do not believe Wilson is with them, I think he's scurried off elsewhere.

My Investigation in the Town

I was up just before dawn this morning, I knew I'd be doing my stint on watch during the night, so I'd been tucked up in bed quite early.  I had a light breakfast - and the inn specialises in early food for the traders that are stay here, and I ate with them.

I made my way to the north of town where the businesses that were suffering from the Gallam End gang carried out their trade.  I began talking to some of the market traders and some of business owners in turns.

Whenever I raised the subject of the gang, there were several different responses I received.  There were rumours floating about of the gang's demise, and of disruptions to their operations for many reasons.  Most folks thought it was temporary disruption, though, just like last time, and they were expecting the gang to be back before very long.  Some were keeping cash to one side to pay the thugs off when they turned up, some were really scared and refused to talk to me at all, and others were just happy for the respite from the extortion.  One even mistook me for one of their heavies.

I got a sense of how utterly fed up everyone is about the tactics their heavies used and the drain on the businesses resources.  There is a desire to see the back of these guys once and for all.  I think the only justice here would be to catch these Evans boys and hand them over to the traders to be dealt with according to their own preferences.

I picked up several rumours, some of which will be just made up stories, but such rumours usually have some basis in truth.  The rumours about the Evans boys being killed seem unlikely, but there are some strong rumours about them leaving town, either after their heavies deserted them or after being so badly hurt that they can no longer protect them.  There were some rumours that their heavies were seen fighting with 'local heroes' and 'local ruffians'.  Fortunately, nobody appears to have recognised my friends - or, at least, none of the rumours named them.

I heard the story that Wilson was badly beaten (which I know is true) but after that there are a couple of rumours about what happened to him, and both have the air of truth to them.  He either returned to the Evans boys and went with them out to some hideout, or he met with them, told them where to shove their guild, and left town.

It took me some time this morning to gain enough trust with people who were still reluctant to talk.  It was a long job in some cases, and I even used a few coins as bribery - but I do not like to do that, as it can encourage some folk to make stories up and tell me what they think I want to hear just to get the money.

As lunchtime passed, my luck changed - I managed to get a couple of hot leads.  The Evans boys were known to have a secret hideout outside of town, nobody seemed to know where it was.  Except one member of the Kings Guard who'd had reason to track them down six months or so ago.  He reported that there was a farm that they'd been to, he visited and knocked on the door but there was no reply.  He told me the name of the farm, it used to be called Duckley's farm, but it had been unused for a couple of summers.  He didn't go back because he caught up with the Evans brothers in town.  He told me where the farm was.

I'd also heard that the Evans boys kept small supplies of stock (they couldn't say what the stock was) out at a farm a couple of hours out of town away to the north.  This farm was in-use by its owner, the guild just hired storage there.  The owner was a farmer called Ambrose a while ago - who owns it now is uncertain, but it's likely to be the same person.

I've had quite a fruitful morning really, and now that afternoon is here, I'm returning to the inn to make a report to the others.  I think we know where we're going to be heading, whether we do it this afternoon is still to be decided. I'm not sure going there after dark would be all that sensible - but I'll find it easier to decided what I think is best after I've had some lunch.

Two Days in the Inn and a Minor Disagreement

We kept a watch overnight both last night and the night before.  And we've hung around the inn all day yesterday and today.  Barr has been out to the tavern and around the north edge of town mid morning and again at dusk.  There was still no sign of our enemy - not at their own former headquarters and not here.

After enjoying the hospitality of our inn for the last couple of days, the futility of our current plan was starting to challenge my patience.  My intuition about these rogues was screaming at me - there is no way they'll either attack us in the inn or come back to their old haunts, especially while we're in town.  I raised these points with the team - I needed to stress to them that I know what I'm talking about here.  They didn't disregard my input, but the consensus was still that we should continue to sit tight - they still think the Evans boys will act.  And the thought is that even if they don't, they'll be losing money every day that we're here and preventing them from extorting money out of anyone.

I dropped my argument there,  my friends weren't ready to consider any other approach.  But I picked it up again over dinner this evening.  The longer we've sat in that inn suite the more convinced I've become that the Evans boys are keeping an eye on us and waiting for us to move on out of the town.  We have to go and find them - and I don't think it will be all that hard once we start looking.  Finally, they began to accept my point of view, but they're unsure how to progress.  I told them I could probably do most of the investigation - I am, after all, trained and experienced in this.  And it meant they could continue to do what they'd planned to (i.e. wait in the inn).

Eventually they agreed enough to allow me to go and do this.  They were discussing whether Daran or Kenner should go with me just in case, but I don't think that's necessary.  If I were to take anyone it would be Barr, and I'd only take him if I needed some assistance twisting arms.  If my suspicions are true, there will be no encounter with any of the gang, and the clients they've been extorting will have had some peace and quiet for two days.  I'll go on on my own initially and see how it goes.  I'm going to start looking at first light tomorrow.

Back at Weller's Coach Stop

We've been back in the suite at Weller's inn, but it's very quiet in the room.  We've been having a regular patrol, which includes us taking a look around out the window and a walk down to the ground floor and around the secure coach compound.  The others are expecting an attack of some kind, they keep telling me they just don't know when its going to happen.  I'm not so sure.  I think that they've gone to ground, these Evans boys need to regroup, and gather some more heavies around them.

As darkness fell, Barr put on his dark cloak and went out to take a look around the north of the city.  He was only gone for an hour, and his report was that both locations were empty.  Wilson seems to have been shut down as a problem to the community - his bloodstains were still on the floor from where he was beat up, and if he'd still been working, he'd have been back in his office.  Barr had been inside the office without anyone else in the building knowings.

Perhaps we have to change tack and go back on the hunt.  I don't think the Evans boys are very far away.

We Found Wilson

We knew that the Gallam End ruffians were looking for us, but we couldn't work out why they hadn't been to our inn - we'd not been quiet about where we're staying.  We'd eaten quickly and moved out to try and get close to their base in the evening.

We found getting to the bar was quite easy, we'd expected there to be groups heavies.  But there were none.  As we approached the north entrance to the town Elenhugh told us what he'd been thinking - that we'd actually hurt this group badly over the last two days - today we'd done a group of four and another group of six, and at the same time Kenner had done another group of six of their armed heavies.  That's sixteen  of them just during the day.  It was about now that we began thinking that we might not meet as much resistance if we could confront Wilson.

Then we were there; outside Bucks Tavern.  It's quite a large building, and it was very busy inside.  We walked in, unnoticed.  I nodded to a group of Dzarraf sat by the entrance door, and they greeted me, but we had a job to do.  There was only one way into the back room, and Kenner was leading us that way.

A couple of guys tried to stop us going down that corridor, but it was impossible - Kenner pushed them both back, and they tried to square up.  But Barr was there - very discretely pushing the tip of his dagger into the flesh beneath one of the guy's ears.  I clearly hear him say to the guard 'Go home.  Now.'  The guards went pale, and scurried out of the building.  We kept walking.

As we went down the corridor it was clear that there was shouting in the corridor - someone was angry, we guessed it was Wilson, because he was shouting about being too inept to find something that was absolutely obvious.  Kenner flung the door to the room with the shouting, and marched straight in, and we filed in behind him.

There were three of the heavies here and the guy doing the shouting.  It was clear that this was Wilson.  Kenner called him some pretty unpleasant names - I shall not repeat them here - and he tried to use these heavies to defend himself.  Daran, Barr and I just overpowered and sat on the heavies, while Kenner and Mullory lynched Wilson.  They gave him quite a going over, but they didn't kill him.  Elenhugh went through some of the papers on Wilson's desk and selected several to keep.  We left him in a bad way, but we also left the heavies to deal with him.  Then we went out to the bar, where we sat drinking for an hour.  We really expected a visit from the Evans brothers, but it didn't happen.  We concluded that we'd have to go out and find them.

As it happens, Elenhugh and Mullory had been looking at the papers they'd been given and they had spotted an address that came up a couple of times.  This was an address where they'd had equipment and supplies delivered.  We asked one of the locals, and the address was very close to the tavern we were in.  We finished our drinks and went off to find it.

We were disappointed - when we arrived the building was deserted.  The front door wasn't even closed.  Whoever left this place did so in a hurry.  We even asked one of the neighbours, and there were people here this morning.

As it looks like the Evans brothers have fled, we decided to head back to our own inn.  We don't know what damage the brothers will try to cause, and we know nothing about them, of course.  But if they've gone into hiding somewhere, they may well be trying to keep a low profile until we've left town.

Overnight we had no disturbances again, although we kept a watch.  We discussed the issue over breakfast, which for once was at a normal time.  We will struggle, at the moment, to find the Evans brothers.  They've either run away or gone in to hiding.  If they're anywhere close they'll either try to cause us some trouble, maybe try to put us out of the picture, or they may just wait until we move on.  Either of these situations is not acceptable - if we don't deal with them now, they'll be back to causing trouble within a month.

Our plan now is to spent the next couple of days laying low in the town.  We will keep a watch in our suite overnight and we will be vigilant during the day.  If they send someone to attack us, then we want prisoners we can ask questions of, and if they return to their activities we want to catch them in the act. We're going to keep an eye on the empty building and on Wilson's office.  I think Barr is the expert at covert operations, so he'll be doing most of that.

It's Like a Red Rag to a Bull

Or, at least, that's how the saying goes.  Our encounter last night seemed to have ruffled a few feathers, and the effect was very predictable.  We took an early night, turning in as soon as we got back to the inn last night, and even posted a watch in the room - although it's much harder doing that indoors, the cold air keeps you awake or you can walk around if you're nodding off outdoors.  Walking around on wooden floorboards just wakes everyone up.

We were out of bed before first light too - and we ate breakfast as early as they would let us.  We were expecting trouble, but Daran and Kenner seemed excited, not apprehensive.  They were really looking forward to settling some scores, I think.

We went out to meet the morning traders and split into two groups.  I tagged along with Barr and Daran as we went around the market traders.  We wanted information about Gallam End gang, and we were prepared to bribe people - with real gold - to get the information quickly.  Barr is the natural talker among us, I think Daran and I were really only here to provide some protection.  We ran into two separate groups of heavies - they were definitely out hunting us, too.

The first group were the easiest.  We didn't really suffer anything from them - Daran faced them down and was quite belligerent when they tried to attack him.  Of course they didn't manage to keep tabs on where Barr was, and the four meat-heads were so intent on beating up the people they'd been sent to attack, the also missed that I was there.  The rather limply started off by pushing Daran around.  They surrounded him, but the slicing sound as Barr sliced through the tendons in the back of one of heavies' knees was revolting.  They pulled long knives out to Daran, so I swept both the legs from underneath the one in front of me with my axe.  Daran disarmed the one who started the pushing and shouting, and stuck the knife into its owner's kidneys.  We left the injured writhing on the floor here, as the unhurt one ran off.

The second group was much less subtle.  We'd actually moved up a side road to talk to some of the back-street shop owners.  We were surprised by the presence of three heavies stepping out of an alleyway.  They already had their swords drawn, and behind us were another three.  A fight broke out.  I actually took a blow to my arm from one of the swords, and Barr had to do some proper hand-to-hand fighting instead of what he normally does, which is put them out of the fight before they know it's started.  It took a little longer than we expected, as Barr and I are not experts in this kind of fighting - but Daran is.  He waded into, and through them.  As we walked off, it turned out that Barr had also been stabbed, but like me, his pain wasn't serious.

We regrouped late morning at a place called Wray's Grill where they serve some excellent fried food.  The place was quite busy, and I had my first encounter with the little race, the Hznamen called them 'Halflings', I think their name in Dzarraf is Hulbitwain, but that seems something of a mouthful.  They're very lighthearted, and in the brief chat I had with them I found myself laughing quite a bit too much.  We had another breakfast in this grill, and the Halflings insisted this meal is called 'second breakfast', and is only really traditional (in their terms) if it's served with extra mushrooms.  How can they be so small yet eat so much?

Anyway, after Mullory had patched us up, our two groups swapped notes.  We think the Gallam End gang are run by two brothers, Brian and Graham Evans, and their organisation has been milking the northern end of town and some of the countryside for ten years.  They're well established, and in the last two years have been upping their activities and the income they've been extorting.

Many of the traders didn't want to talk to us; they were very coy about grassing the gang up - the consequences must be terrible.  I've never seem Mullory so angry.  Normally he wouldn't advocate violence, but he knows that he can make a real difference to so many people here by taking this group out of the local equation.  We'd even had a tip-off about where some some of the senior members of the so-called guild meet.  One of their 'generals' is a guy called Barry Wilson, and he hangs around the back room of Buck's Tavern by the north entrance to the town.

So, guess where we're going later on.  We needed some supplies first - we want to hurt these people with no collateral damage.  We spent the afternoon walking around the northern parts of town - Elenhugh though it may pay us benefits if we know a little of the layout of the streets.  We've spent an hour before our evening meal deciding how we're going to approach this tavern and what to do when the heavies bolt and try to run away.

A Bizarre Evening

Last night we had an interesting evening.  The second tavern we went into was, I think, called Melton's Tavern, but inside were some of the people we were looking for.  Fortunately we didn't have to look too hard, they seemed to recognise Kenner and Daran.  Elenhugh asked us to finish our drinks quickly and make it look like we wanted to leave in a hurry.  He thought they'll follow us and try something, so I and Barr went outside first, to lie in wait - I went because they wouldn't recognise me, Barr went because they'd never see him until it were too late.

I waited across the street in the gloom - I still have no idea where Barr went, he just vanished.   I was pretty cold, so I was glad I didn't have to wait long, it was just a couple of minutes until the others came out.  From where I stood I could see the other entrance to the tavern down the side street.  The targets came out, there seemed to be three of them, two were very burly but the third was a small wiry guy.  The little guy sneaked off the other way, but the heavies headed towards my friends, who had by now begun walking down the street.  I kept in the shadows, but slipped along behind them.

We'd gone for fifty yards or so when the enemy began the fighting,  The launched themselves into the backs of the group - it was Mullory and Daran at the back, but they just bounced off.  My friends, in their armour, were pretty impervious to the punches.  This wasn't the main thrust of the attack, though.  I saw two rogue-like men slip across my path.  A melee had broken out between the heavies and my friends but the rogues closed in.  One made a lunge at Kenner, there was a glint of steel in the darkness and I saw blood pour from his back.  Kenner is pretty tough, though, and he didn't fall.  Now that they'd used weapons against us, we had our cue to defend ourselves more fully.  The other rogue fell as he was moved up to Elenhugh and Barr stepped out behind him.  In one move Barr grabbed him and ran his blade around his throat, then he let him fall.  The blood gushed from his neck, spreading through his fingers as he clawed at it, desperately trying to hold it together.

The other rogue, the one who had hurt Kenner, was in my sights.  I took a quiet step forward, right behind him, and hit him between the shoulder blades with my axe.  He collapsed too, although I did get an unexpectedly accurate blow in.  It was at this point that Barr and I backed out of the fighting.  Daran and Kenner handed out quite a beating to the heavies.  They continued to pound them heavily.  One of the heavies was killed with punches and kicks, a horrible way to die.  The other was left in serious pain - the idea was to leave a message to the gang that attacked and tried to kill us.

We casually waited around a moment or two while Mullory took care of Kenner's injuries, then we walked back to our inn.  I feel quite bad about attacking Hznamen like this, but this was self defence.  This mob were intent on killing us all.

Helping the Locals

Last time my friends were here in this town they managed to upset a criminal organisation by landing heavily on some of their operatives.  The gang are known by the odd title 'Gallam End Guild', which tells me that they've set themselves up as a guild in some bizarre attempt at legitimacy.  Eight months ago they were causing problems for some of the local traders and a couple of the farms just outside of town, and my friends happened to be in town and were asked to help out.  The gang were demanding protection money, which meant they had several large men using intimidation and harassment tactics, so in return for a small fee my friends turned the tables on the heavies.  They were all badly hurt, but none were killed.  The gang were not pleased, and fought back - using violence, of course, as this is the only tactic they understand.  Elenhugh and his companions thought they'd dealt with the problem, so as they packed up and moved on.  As they were leaving Saltley, they were attacked, this time it was some of the more senior members of the guild.  They were hurt lightly, they turned back their assailants and left the gang with another bloody nose.

Barr had been visiting some of the people they helped after he met one of them in the common room last night.  It turns out they'd had some respite from the problems, but the gang was back in a few weeks.  We're going to try and deal with them more thoroughly, and this time we'll be hitting their senior leaders directly, and maybe even taking them out of the equation permanently.  I don't fancy that, but people's livelihoods are being hurt.

Barr and Daran have been out gathering some information about the gang this afternoon.  The rest of us have been out around town, just trying to have a high profile.  They wanted the gang to note our return to the town, and perhaps try to take some action against us.  Nothing happened to us today, and we've all returned to the inn for the evening.  We're going to eat here and then spend a little time in the popular taverns near to Gallam End, where the gang are based, and they'll try to find anyone they know to be a member of the 'guild'.

The plan is to quietly deal with any members met tonight, then tomorrow to go after the big fish.  Barr has a couple of leads for places where they're based.  We might have to hurt several of their operatives, but its the leaders we really want to get.  I just hope that we're helping in the right way, that we're not opening the door for another gang to come in and start hurting people.  My suggestion that we go to the Kings Guard for help here was laughed at.  To become as established as this guild are, they've either acquired contacts in the Guard already, or are skilled at avoiding their attention.

A Day in Saltley and Potential Work

After the chase to the city yesterday and a late night in the common room, we rose late this morning.  After breakfast we went to the city to buy some more supplies.  I had my first real look at a Hznaman town, the streets seem quite narrow, especially near the centre of the town.  The buildings are largely wooden, packed together, and much lower than I'd imagined they'd be.  Barr explained that this is a smaller town - cities tend to have more space, and have much more sizeable, and stone-built buildings.  We wandered around the market - where there was a surprising variety of food available considering the time of year.

There is a smell to the town, it smells of an open sewer.  While wandering around the marketplace, I chatted with a couple of the red-breastplated guards about this.  They could tell that I was a newcomer to the land of the Hznaman, and I think they were sort-of proud of their land.  They said that the sanitation in the larger towns is easier to manage, as the greater prosperity means they can afford better drainage.  In Saltley, however, the town is not big enough, yet, to afford the drainage that bigger towns enjoy.

We've purchased some salted pork and some dried beef for the journey.  We've also bought some dried fruit sealed in leather pouches.  We also bought a few clay jars sealed with wax, Mullory spent some time trying to find particular ones.  I didn't know what was inside them, so he opened one when we were back at the inn.  I was quite surprised - it was some kind of freshwater fish that had been salted and sealed into the jars. These, he says can be eaten cold and have saved him from starvation on several long journeys before.  They can also be eaten warm - you just sit the jar on the top of or just to the side of a camp-fire and  the fish will cook through while the wax melts.  You pour the wax off and then eat the fish.  Once they're open, the jars contents have to be eaten with then day, so we finished this jar off.  They smell a little strongly, but they taste great.

It was only at this point that I realised Barr wasn't with us.  I asked the others where he'd gone, and only Elenhugh knew.  He'd slipped off to see someone he met at in the common room last night; there is a potential for work here, but he didn't want to say anything at this time because there are some complications, so it may not come to pass.  We'll find out later when he's back.

Fast March to the River

We were up before dawn.  Barr had a small batch of firewood and we had a hot breakfast, he had some salted pork that he's bought in Gora - he told us it was the 'emergency ration', and it was most welcome.  We broke camp as the sun came up, and the last act was to pour lamp oil onto the bodies of the Oggar and set fire to them.  They burned slowly, but we didn't hang around to watch them.  We hurried away from the camp.

We marched quickly along the road.  By lunchtime we'd covered many miles, in the five hour march we probably went as far as we would normally cover in a full day's walk.  The march did come at a price, though.  We were quite tired by lunchtime, and I had blisters on my ankles.  When we stopped for a rest I pulled off my boots and the blood stains on my socks raised eyebrows among the others.  "I thought you Dzarraf were a hardy folk", Barr quipped.  Cheeky bugger.

Mullory used the power of his faith again and healed the pain, but it didn't make my boots chafe any less.  He told me he didn't like to do this - the pain and chafing will heal on its own, and it grows back stronger.  As we'd made such good progress, though, we knew we could take it easy this afternoon.  The weather was clear and we could see the river away down in the valley, snaking its way from the mountains to the west out to the east.  Saltley was still out of sight, but it was no more than ten miles away.

The afternoon's march went well but more slowly.  We reached the river only an hour after stopping, and the road we were following turned and tracked alongside it.  Down at the river the roadway was in better condition - it seems to have been used much more, and has been maintained in places.

Our good progress continued, and the afternoon became warmer and warmer.  By evening we'd turned away from the river a little and the road reached the main highway.  We turned south and there ahead of us, across the plain was the town of Saltley.  The road wiggled its way towards it, through a rolling plain.

We reached the town's entrance just after night fell, and we slipped quietly inside.  There were guards on the gate, Hznaman wearing bright red breastplates and brown cloaks trimmed with gold.  They are quite an impressive sight, but they seemed quite bored as we passed them.  We've stopped in a tavern called "Weller's Coach Stop" which looks like it's aimed at the better off traders, those who can afford large shipments.  There is a huge coach yard, and a (comparatively) small inn.  As usual, Elenhugh has hired a suite of rooms, and we're on the top floor.  This is a new experience.  We're off down to the common room to share stories and sample the local brews in just a few minutes.

Overnight Fight

We were struggling to keep warm in this open camp site, the frost had bitten hard.  As usual, I was doing the mid-night watch, when the world was at its darkest.  I can see so much better than the Hznaman in these conditions, and it was good that it was me watching - I saw four Oggar approaching.  They were clearly trying to be quiet as they closed in, they were almost 'sneaking'.  I think they planned to hit us with surprise.  Quietly I roused my friends - starting with Kenner and Daran.  When Barr climbed out of his slumber he was instantly alert.  The low bushes here kept the others out of sight - which was a good thing, it allowed my friends to prepare, although they couldn't really see very much in the darkness.

As the Oggar were creeping up to our position, Kenner whispered his plan, which was to wait until they were right upon us, then Elenhugh and Mullory were to throw light into the area to confuse the enemy and make it easier for the Hznaman to see.  Just as this happens Kenner, Daran and me were to leap out and set about them with our weapons.  After that, Mullory was to join in the hand-to-hand fighting while Elenhugh had some very special magic he wanted to use.  We'd be turning their surprise attack right back on them.

This would be my first opportunity to test out my new axe.

I hoped I wouldn't be testing my new armour.  I though it odd that nobody had mentioned what Barr was to do, I turned to ask him and he wasn't there.  He was not in our camp any more - I've seen him in action so I knew he'd be off in the darkness somewhere waiting to pounce on the enemy.

I could see the Oggar moving closer and closer, and I gave them the countdown.  Elenhugh and Mullory began chanting, a few seconds later the front two Oggar burst into light, they glowed!  This was our queue.  Shouting as loudly as we could to emphasise our surprise, we leapt from the camp area into the enemy's path, two swords and one axe swinging into them.  The Oggar have pretty tough, thick hides, and were wearing more leather patches as crude armour.  But my first swing of my axe bit deep into the side of the opponent I'd chosen.  It didn't stop him, though.  He lifted his huge club and swung it at me.  I dodged it neatly and swung my axe again.  This time I hit him only a glancing blow on the upper arm, but I'd bitten him again.  I wasn't aware of what was going on around me until this point, the Oggar at the back fell.  I assumed that he'd been hit by Barr, and I was right - even after he'd been stabbed in the back, the Oggar still had enough energy to turn round to retaliate, which was his undoing.

At this point a shaft of pale light thudded into my opponent.  It came from Elenhugh, and I later learned that this weakened them.  I could see my opponent's shoulders sag and his huge club seemed to become heavier to him.  When he swung it again it caught me full in the chest, and I was lifted off my feet.  I landed several feet away on my backside, and I struggled to get up.  He'd knocked the wind out of me, and I was bruised and in pain.  I looked up to see my Oggar take a step forward towards me, then fall.  Behind him was Barr, just turning away to face one of the two remaining monsters.

I now had a few seconds to recover my composure, but I could only get to my feet slowly - the bruises around my chest and lower torso were aching.  I made my way over to the fight, but I was too late.  The last two enemy fell just as I arrived.

Both Kenner and I had taken hits.  I think I'd been hit the hardest, but I think he'd been hurt more seriously. He took a blow to the right shoulder, which had meant he couldn't use his sword very well at the end of the fight - but Mullory used his clerical power and healed him.  He was fine in just a few minutes.  Then it was my turn.  When Mullory was finished, the pain had gone - all the bruising was gone and I could move freely.

We moved the dead bodies away from our camping site - it took four of us to move one of them - we piled them up and then we returned to our beds.  We had surprised them by being ready to defend ourselves - if they'd been able to catch us unaware, we'd have struggled in that fight.  Any more that four of them would also have been a tough test for us.  I hope we can reach Saltley tonight.  Mullory thinks we'll be safe if we can get as far as the river.

Footprints at the Camp-site and a Night in the Open

Our route through the mountains followed a little-used trail that seemed to wind its way gently down from the heights behind us to the foothills ahead of us.  It seemed to pick its course to make the journey easy, rather than take the shortest route or try to keep out of sight of any of the (clearly lower) peaks around here.  The sunshine this morning soon washed the frost away, and by the time we stopped for food at noon, it was quite warm and bright.  The sun stayed low to the south, Mullory explained the changing seasons to me - of course I understood the difference between winter and summer, but the practical effects of this on travellers is something I need to understand to help survive out here.  It's currently mid-autumn, and down in the plains where there are trees, the leaves are turning golden brown and falling from the branches.  Up here in the mountains, though, it's a little colder, and there are far fewer trees.  It's also slightly colder this side of the mountains - to the west and north there is more shelter, and wind that passes eastward along the plain and up into the hills and mountains.

I nodded as though I was following this.  I understand quite a bit about the 'what it is' side of seasons, I've just never experienced things first hand.  I know that while I'm with the Hznaman I'll be reasonably safe - they know all the precautions to take against elements - but if I become separated it could help save me.  I think I just need to pay attention to what they're doing in response to changing weather and land, and learn all I can.

As we passed further down the road we spotted more Oggar tracks.  I still find these quite unnerving.  It was worse at the end of the day too.  There is a clear camp site here, prepared by traders.  It has a low wall around it on three sides, and it nestles under some low trees.  It is clearly not a winter camping place, but for us it wasn't the lack of protection from the weather that was the problem.  It was the Oggar tracks that criss-crossed this area.  There are lots of them, and they seem to have been here for only a few days.  It's like this place attracts Oggars.

We looked around for somewhere else to camp - the problem here was that this place was selected for a reason - it's the best camp site within an hour's march from here.  We had to march on well into dusk to find somewhere to stop.  And then it wasn't perfect - we're huddled up under a low cliff with a brambles and other mis-shaped bushes around us.  It's very cold, and we are not having any fire again.  As the day drew on, cloud bubbled up along the eastern horizon ahead of us, but not enough to bring some warmth tonight.  I'm expecting a sharp frost again.

A Bitterly Cold Morning and Some Tracks

We awoke in the cave this morning to a pale sunrise.  The sky had been clear overnight and outside our little cave there was a heavy frost.  The ground crunched under our feet as we gingerly went out into the frosty air.  We'd not had a fire last night, but the cave had protected us from the worst of the frost, and we'd hung a blanket over the entrance way to keep the cold out.  As a result of the six of us crammed into this space it was quite warm - there was condensation on the walls of the cave that had started to freeze by the doorway.

As the sun was now up, and there was light around, Barr quickly got a small fire going in the mouth of the cave.  He'd set up some snares down the trail that lead up to the cave, and a couple of them had a result.  He'd caught a couple of hares, which we cooked over the fire for breakfast.  Barr and I went together to check over the snares, and as we passed along the trail he stopped to look at some tracks.  I'm definitely no expert at tracking, but I could see these large footprints.  These, he said, were Oggar prints.  He did reassure me that they weren't fresh - they were not made last night, but probably two or three days ago.  That helped me relax a little, but he showed me how he knew about the age of them, how they'd weathered, and he also showed me how he knew there were at least three of them, and they were only passing through.

It's nice to learn a few new tricks, I found most of what he was saying quite confusing, if I'm honest here.  But at least we know that these particular beasts are not in the immediate vicinity.  The prints look awfully big, half as big again as my own feet.  It's quite an incentive to get through this country as quickly as possible.

Reaching a Turn Off and Camping in a Cave

The east road has been much easier than I expected.  We reached our turn-off by mid morning, and despite an objection from Daran, who considered this a risky route, we headed down the road to Saltley.  The day has passed with little incident, unlike the main trade route we hardly seen anyone along here.  The only people we've seen have been a small contingent of mounted knights that moved quickly past us back towards Gora.  They called a greeting to us as they went past, but said nothing more, and they certainly didn't stop.

Mullory thought them rude, and seemed more incensed than the others.  These were church knights, from a rival church to his.  It was Elenhugh that pointed out that they bore the symbols of the church of Anbartae.  This is the church that holds some of the sway at this time in Caldonacia.  The Hznaman King, despite being in a foreign land away to the west, is a follower of that church, and it gives them a degree of kudos and social rank that is denied to the priests and knights of other churches.

I'd never really considered the religion of the Hznaman before.  I'd assumed they were all followers of Danethrae, much like us in the delve.  It seems this is not so.  The churches do, for the most part, get along, but they do teach different philosophies.  Anbartae's position seems to be to promote establishment and order, which contrasts Danethrae's position which promotes honesty and mutual support for each other.  I asked Mullory how many churches there were in the Hznaman lands, he said he could name another four, but there were many others, and some that worshipped and practised evil.  He would not speak of these at all.

I suggested that they try and teach me a little about these kinds of social structures of the Hznaman people, so that I didn't upset anyone or cause problems for people when I arrived in the first town.  They said they would help, but that it didn't really matter.  It would be quite difficult for a Dzarraf to offend anyone in that way, they assured me.

We spent over an hour this evening looking for a suitable camping place.  Barr was quite insistent that we find somewhere both defensible and well hidden.  We eventually found a dry cave, but it was getting dark when we went inside.  He lit a lantern to illuminate our way, but didn't really need to.  The cave is quite small, and it's quite easy to see all around inside it, even in the gloom of dusk.  I think that if the lantern were off it would be just as easy to see in here.  We're having a cold camp tonight, they're worried that a fire might attract unwanted attention.

A Day from Gora and Travelling

As we left the beauty and majesty of the ornamental entrance to Gora this morning and turned left we walked along a well made roadway.  It had all the hallmarks of a Dzarraf road - the paving was precise and the surface level.  I noted this to Mullory, and he confirmed that this section of road is maintained by my people.  It's part of a wider highway which runs to the south, and off to the nearby Dzarraf realm of Riviga Kiziph.  My people have a long history with Riviga, more so than the other great delves of this land, we've stood shoulder to shoulder in war against common enemies, and we've co-operated with each other wherever we could.  He did point out, though, that the Hznaman also make roads much like this one.  He believes that many Dzarraf think they only use cobbles to make roads but this is not true.  Some of the finest highways in the country are made by the Hznaman, using stone they cut and laid themselves.  He thinks his people are no better and no worse at this kind of masonry than the Dzarraf - but did agree that there is a kind of snobbery among his people where there is a craving for the exclusivity of Dzarraf-worked stone.

As we moved along the road, taking it a little easy as we were in the company of other traders and enjoying the flat and easy road surface, we discussed the detail of this journey.  Mullory seems to have planned out our route carefully.  We followed the road southwards for the best part of a day, before we reached a small and quite new settlement.  This place used to be just a series of camping sites that the traders used, he told me, but in the last few years solid structures have been built.  The trader's stopover has acquired the name 'Pinnell Camp', he was unsure why.  We will reached here an hour ago, and both the local inns were full.  For tonight we'll be camping among the traders.

The camp sits on the road's turn-off.  The main Dzarraf road continues south, but is less well maintained from this point, and a second, well worn road leads off to the east.  This runs down to the plains of Caldonacia, the Hznaman land beyond.  This road runs eastward for several miles before gently curving away to the north.  It eventually it meets the main trade route down to Scourt Hills at the eastern foot of the Gora mountains, but we're not taking that route.  Just as the road starts to turn north, there is another turn-off that heads south-east, one that is less well used, and it is the route we shall be taking.  This will be much more secluded, and it runs through an arm of lower mountains and eventually meets the River Jallar, which it then follows until it meets the main road north of the town of Saltley.

When we go along this road, Mullory warned me, we must be vigilant.  There are known to be Oggar that live here, and we may also run into Ogruks too.  The traders do not like to use that road because of the danger of attack.  We have no trade goods, so we're expecting to be left alone - although it does no harm to take care.  The road from that turn off to Saltley should take us three days to walk.  It makes the journey at least one whole day shorter than taking the north road through Scourt Hills and then south once again down the highway.

Once we're in Saltley the plan is to spend a day or so replenishing supplies and to look for any work that may be available to a team of our ability.  After that we'll head out along the southern route, a road that leads to a town called Sparren Marsh, which is in the wetlands, but the road is quite dry, he assures me.  The highway here will allow us to pick the pace up considerably, it would take three days for traders with heavy loads to make the journey from Saltley to Sparren Marsh, but we should be able to do it in two with a brisk pace.  We may even purchase some horses to speed our progress.

The north-east road out of Sparren Marsh leads to Fornan Bay.  If we're on horseback by then we'll make this last leg of our journey in a day.  What happens after that is unknown.  None of the others have made any plans that far ahead, and we may be delayed on the road by any work that we pick up.

I've overcome my fear of the outdoors, and of Hznaman traders and of camping in the rain.  So I'm pretty sure I can master my fear of horses.  I've never worried about sitting in a cart behind a mule (I've often not enjoyed it, but I've never been actually apprehensive about it) but sitting on the back of a huge horse is an intimidating prospect.  Well, I'm here to experience more of life, so I'll go through with it if the others do.

The Ornamental Entrance

The ornamental entrance is a bustling, busy trade centre.  It's pretty cosmopolitan and packed with people of all kinds.  It's the show-piece of the Gora delve; I find it thrilling and spectacular in equal measure, and I feel so at home here, yet I also feel I should have come here much more often.

The main entrance hall is lined with pillars, the tops of which reach an arched ceiling.  The chamber ceiling is pretty high thirty feet at the peak - as a youngster I often wondered how the arched shapes were made.  I've since learned how the techniques work, but it has made it no less thrilling to look upon.  The tops of the pillars are leafed in gold, and when the sun sets to the west it shines in through the entrance and falls upon the tops of the pillars nearest the huge entranceway and a golden fire spreads over the threshold.  At each side of the main entrance are two larger columns like the pillars inside.  These stand forty feet high and are thirty feet across.  They're actually a trick to make the entrance look larger, the opening is only twenty five feet or so high, and the ceiling rises into the room.  The pillars are carved on the outside of the mountain to make the entrance look larger.

Inside, the pillars run six abreast, from the entrance deep into the chamber beyond.  It's a huge chamber, and towards the back of this is a market area.  Goods are traded here, people coming in with supplies for the delve and people wanting to buy the output of the mines meet and exchange gold.  The trading can become loud and frantic at times, and is a spectacle that has to be seen.

At the back of the huge entrance hallway there are dozens of inns set into the back walls and down the numerous corridors that lead off the main hall.  They do a brisk trade here with all the visitors.  Most are reasonably priced and provide a reasonable service to the buyers and sellers, some are aimed at Dzarraf, some at the taller races.  But, as always where there are lots of traders gathering, there are some inns catering to the more well off among them.  What is also apparent is that the more expensive the inn is, the bigger its rooms are and the fewer number of guests they can house.  Elenhugh has negotiated for us to stay in a suite in one of the most exclusive inns.  I've always wanted to stay in a place like this here; whenever I've visited in my official capacity in the last few years I've been granted board in one of the standard places that has a contract directly with the delve.  They were never anything like this one, though.  Inside it is wonderfully quiet, and so comfortable.  We've dropped by many of the market stalls and purchased food supplies and other bits and pieces for the journey, so we can be away again first thing in the morning.

As we approached this place, I felt no nerves about once more being out of the under-land.  I only truly recognised this as we dropped our packs in the inn this evening.  It could be that I was so excited about seeing the ornamental entrance again, but I believe I have overcome my fear of the outside.