”Well let’s look around there has to be a cart or something we can use. If nothin else we can make a stretcher usin sticks an a blanket.”
”Naomi, maybe find out who this guys foreman is. Someone is going to want to help this guy out.”
”I say we try to take him back tonight. We can’t spend the night out here. We are too far from the safety of town. Kreed’s letting this man die. If he knows we are going to help him he might let him die before we come back.”
”Plus, we are sending a message to the loggers. We’re the good guys here. What you heard about us is true.”
”I want to know why he was going so far into the forest, and truth be told the dwarf roads, but is there more to this darkwood thing? Why would he be sent so far in by himself? What’s he supposed to do chop it down by himself? Is kreed trying to claim more land?”
Helgrim looks about at his companions having heard no answer back.
”Meh. Fine! Let’s find some cots. If he is alive in the morning we can see about it then I guess.”
Resigned to that course of action he starts looking for a place to sleep.
...
"Don't be throwing everything away now," she scolds you, her voice cracking slightly. "If you want to worry about us, then don't forget to take care of yourself. You're all we have left to lose," she says, taking her niece and nephew's hands and escorting them away to pack for the trip.
...
"You folks don't look like new axe-swingers," calls a voice from the bunkhouse door. A lean, hawkish woodsman taps his boots against the door frame before stepping inside.
"If you need a bed that badly, I won't say nothing," he says, noticing how Helgrim seeks a cot, "But if the foreman catches you, he'll slap you with enough fees and taxes that you'll wish you'd just stayed at Jak's place."
"Now I can't do this with you guys here. If something happened to you guys while I was trying to do good I will break."he says knowing full well if Kreed was responsible for the deaths of his family he would go to war, a war that he wouldn't come back from.
"So please go, I'll be fine. I trust my abilities and these other folks seem trustworthy enough." He says with a smile before he laughs.
"Besides Ma and Dad want to see the grandkids, they'll love you"
Liam nods to the lean woodsman, then turns to the others. Quietly, he says "I know that man. Milon. He knows the woods like an otter knows swimming. He works for the Consortium, so I wouldn't completely trust him, but he's no pawn of Kreed."
"Milon, is it? Please, if you would make sure this injured man is not harmed, we will be back in the morning with medicine to make sure his infection does not spread." He fumbles about for his belt pouch. "I can reward you if that is required," he says, pulling out a couple of silver coins.
"Reward?" Milon asks incredulously as he sits upon a cot and shucks off his boots. "And here I thought you'd be the ones asking after a reward for saving Ben's life."
He waves his hand dismissively.
"If you can keep Ben alive, that'll be reward enough for me. He's an overly ambitious whelp, but I don't want to see him die. Hells, I'm the reason he's lasted this long. I did what I could, wrapped some bandages on his leg and boiled some Ash bark for his fever, but then the foreman threatened to dock my pay if I didn't get back to work.
"If you have coin to spare, by all means, please buy some real medicine from Miss Gebre, and in the meantime I'll try to keep the poor spit alive through the night."
...
Boggel gives the man a respectful nod. "He should be feeling much better already. Come, friends. Let us return to town."
As he walks away from the Goose 'n' Gander and prepares to head home, Timothy finally espies Naomi returning to town via the north gate.
The rest of the party returns to their homes and attends to the rest of their day's business without molestation by man or beast.
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Timothy spends the rest of the next hour hiding out, watching unseen from the back alley behind the Goose 'n' Gander. Mostly, he sits in silence, but on occasion, his thoughts drift to Milara and others of the cult. As such, he's pretty decidedly morose, and as the hour draws near, he begins contemplating returning home to a stiff drink.
Instead, almost as he begins to stand up, he spies her. Incredible timing, that. Saying a prayer to his god, he waits for her to walk by, then quietly calls her name.
"Naomi."
He beckons down the alleyway, removing the hood of his jacket just enough for her to know who it is.
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Timothy looks pretty surprised that he's never given his name to her. Thought I'd done that already, he thinks to himself. "You know me," he says.
He gives a quick look, to make certain no one is watching, before continuing on.
"I have news. Kreed intends to send a pack of his thugs to grab you, after you find the tatzlwyrm. I'd warn you not to go, for that danger alone, but you haven't been much good at listening, lately. Point is, Kreed wants you gone, and he'll do what is needed to make it happen."
He finishes his speaking, and waits for a reply.
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Timothy starts in shock, first from the attack the small human gives, then from the admittance that Ergin Tock already told the group they'd be followed.
So, Ergin Tock's turned coats. Well, Kreed will be interested in knowing this, he thinks to himself. If I decide to tell him.
He then lays into the girl. "You don't know what you're getting into! You think you're the first to try and 'liberate' this town? The Consortium has more power than you'll ever know, girl, and they don't mess around. You survive this; well, they'll send in a group of sniffers to come in, take you out. Powerful mages, to rip you, and anyone else they don't like, ripped to shreds. You want to help these people? You don't even get it! We're expendable- all expendable- and if the Consortium wants to kill everyone in this town, and hire all new people, well, they won't lack for applicants, let me tell you. I hide in the shadows; well, let me tell you, that's the best way to make difference here. Do just enough to not get noticed, not piss off the guys at the top- that's how you make difference, girl, not that you'll live long enough to understand that."
He takes a breath. "There are no sides here. Just people, trying to survive. You want my help- I'll give it to you. But I'm not going to get myself killed, or anyone else killed, to do it."
He pauses, and swallows a sob as a sad thought overwhelms him. "If you're still alive tomorrow- seek me out at 1109 Wilderness. Ask- ask about Milara. You'll see how Kreed treats those who speak out against him."
He then turns away from Naomi, and heads back out into the night.
he furious, angry, torn up- and he's walking, walking with purpose, to the one place he thinks might stop that naive young girl from being killed, the one place he thinks he can do any good, be of help, as she claims. He's rapidly hatching a plan, not a good plan, but a plan nonetheless.
He arrives back at Ergin Tock's bar. He walks right up to Tock himself, ignoring all the social norms this breaks, and whispers directly into his ear "Tell your assistant to take over. Meet me in the back, right now. We're going to talk; unless, of course, you'd prefer me to talk to Kreed first."
He then heads out the back door of the bar, the one normally only Tock and his assistant use, and waits for Tock to arrive.
Tock attempts to remain stone faced, but you can see through the facade. He is very nervous, and he probably believes you aim to kill him tonight. He likely has a weapon concealed on him, but you can't see it.
"What's this about?" he croaks.
Naomi's walk home to the general store is tense but uneventful. Even under normal circumstances, cleaning and sorting among Brickasnurd's chaotic sense of organization is a trying matter. After the stress of this day, though, Naomi is all the more relieved to go to bed.
...
Naomi casts watchful glances over her shoulder and down the narrow spaces between rambling wooden buildings, but the morning light finds no shadowy figures or spooks following her as she meets with her compatriots at Jak's.
She joins the others at a table secluded in a corner, with a sixth chair left empty.
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Just come out with it, he thinks.
"I know what you did, Ergin, he says. "You spoke to the girl. You spilled it, let it slip Kreed's real plan. Now she knows. The people, following her and Wulf, after they track the tatzlwyrm. That's not good, Tock, not good at all. You know what Kreed does to tattletales."
He pauses. "Lucky for you, I'm more interested in what you can do for me than I am reporting you to Kreed." Another pause. "For now."
"What do you say, Kreed? Will you help your old friend Timothy?"
Wulf sits at the table with regular pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs a few biscuits and a couple of tankards of ale. He is eating hardy as he looks up and nods.
"Seems to be a good plan, but you should eat now you might not know who when the next meal will come if any"
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Helgrim eats heartily.
"Its sure to be an eventful day, Kreed has had a night to sleep on his response to yesterday's events."
"You think we can trust that out lander guy we met in the loggers quarters? Try as I might, I couldn't be too suspicious of him. he mentioned the dwarf roads and that's where I want to go."
He pauses to straighten his beard.
"I been thinking, if the darkwood trees are just 4 miles out from the camp there must be something there besides one Tatzelworm or however you say it guarding the place or it would have been clear cut a century ago."
"I'm actually not too worried about the beast if it lives a hop skip and a jump away from camp and has never bothered anyone."
"Truth be told, I am more interested in making Kreed's goons disappear. They'll probably have coin purses and provisions on them. Heh heh heh, I could use both and the way I see it . . . If they have a bounty on my head I figure that gives me the go ahead on theirs."
"I am bettin their arms and weapons could come in handy for armin folks."
Helgrim pauses to down a mug of water.
"But yeah, we should be seeing to Ben first thing."
He winks at Naomi.
"Well my god wants me to eat to keep my strength up, so anytime you don't want your food you can pass it this way. Har! Har! Har!"
The dwarf elbows Boggel.
"Heh heh heh, human females like to starve themselves as a part of the courtship ritual. Then after they mate for life they start eatin. I've seen this before."
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"I just learned in the army to eat when you can cause you never know when you'll eat again." He says as he then laughs at the comment.
"No, women do not fast for courtship. At least my sister didn't she did try making herself more attractive." He said looking up at her.
"She is more getting ready for battle. Which is great"He said smiling."I like the change. I wore my leathers, let's get ready for this"
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Boggel has brought a few other herbs and mosses which he drips syrup on in addition to the pancakes. He's learned that most people aren't comfortable when he eats bugs in front of them, so he's limiting himself to food without legs this morning.
"Yes, we can get the medicine on the way. I am interested to challenge this wyrm. It will be a good hunt. Ketephys will be with us," he assures them.
He chews his food thoughtfully. "We should try to do our best not to kill any workers who ambush us. I feel as if this Kreed has them in a spot in which they are not free to choose to oppose us." He considers for a moment. "Well, except for that big man. The one who threatened the sheriff. I believe he has made his choice."
”Liam, are these wyrm things running all over the forest? Or is this something out of the ordinary?”
Tock takes a seat, buries his face in his hands for a moment, then wipes streaks of sweat into his hair.
"I just want to keep running the Duck," he says, his voice cracking. "I'm sure it sounds stupid to you, but I've come to love this work - and my customers. I don't want to lose it all."
He pauses for a moment to better compose himself, then continues.
"What would you have me do?"
Also, this stand of darkwood trees was probably only exposed as the forest has rapidly shrunk over the years, thanks to the Consortium.
Until recently, these trees were likely very secluded.
Between bites of food, Liam shakes his head. "No, very rare. I only know of a couple in the whole Vale. Until the Consortium desecrated this area, this stand of darkwood was probably very isolated, even just a few years ago."
He continues eating, but chimes in when the others talk about how to handle the ambushers. "Anyone comes at me with a weapon dies. I'm not big on being nice to folks who're trying to kill me. Nature can be a harsh mistress, but she teaches well. Anyway, I say we dispose of the bodies. Let Kreed wonder if they were killed or just abandoned him. Maybe he'll even waste manpower trying to track them down."
”I think they will agree to fight the wyrm, then put a dagger in your back at first opportunity. If the men are the same that were with payday they will be merc’s plain and simple. Idealism is great, but it can get you dead right quick.”
Helgrim sighs.
”I we embarrass Kreed, he’s just gonna get a bigger stick. If we let him get to those dark wood trees, we are going to give him the capital to get really good big sticks.”
”But, if it’s locals or loggers he sends, I’m willin to let you take a crack at something. You and Wulf might convince them of something less violent.”
"I am not for fighting neighbors, but if they are with Kreed and taking his money to hurt us then I can at least pull my punches"He says eating some more as he looks at the others.
"A trap would be good." He says looking at Helgrim.
"We could knock them out if they are folk from Falcons' Hollow. I doubt he would do that as he would want to keep the Hollow folk who work for him a bit more placid for now." He says tapping his chin.
"We could get them to follow us to the Tazleworm and then let it attck them, save them and then give them options"
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'I..... understand, Tock," he says. "Truly, I understand."
That's exactly how I was after Milara died, isn't it? Timothy thinks to himself.
"You're one of the main sources of information around here, Tock," he says. "For me, and for Kreed. So, the next time you hear anything- and I mean anything- you're going to come to me with it. Not Kreed. To me. Is that clear?" He glares at the man, before continuing.
"Second- the men who are going to be trailing Old Wulf and the rest up to the taztlwyrm. I want you to invite them for drinks before they go out. Give 'em something, anything, on the house if you have to- whatever you can do. If they get hammered, the better."
He pauses for a long time, before resuming. "Look, I don't want to get you any more involved. Are we clear?"
"It is for a good cause. We do not wish him to suffer."
"Sure, sure," he eagerly agrees. "Those folks actually cornered me into coming along with them. I don't think they trust me much. They knew my history with Kreed and the company.
"When I gather the boys together to explain the job, I'll do it here."
"Of course I remember you," Laurel says pleasantly as you walk in. However, with talk of a favor, she offers a sigh, and she turns her eyes to the ground when you explain.
"I'm grateful for the help you folks offered me, but I'm still not in a position to be just giving anything away.
"How about this? I know more than a few of you are canny out in the wilds. While you're out hunting this wyrm, see if you can gather some harder to find herbs and roots for me. The more dangerous parts of the forest always hide the best ingredients. Bring something back for me, and we'll call it a trade."
Laurel begins busying herself with her cluttered workspace, pulling down bundles and jars to mix some medicine for Ben.
"I'm no more a wizard than I am a physician, so I can't make any real potions. However, I can give you something that will help a body fight off infection."
Boggel nods his head. "Of course. Fair trade." He assumed they would have to purchase any medicine anyway. This is even better.
Liam nods. "I can certainly keep an eye out."
”Oh alright, you seem to have covered all points Naomi.”
The dwarf nods in agreement.
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"Good," Timothy replies to Tock's brightened face. "Remember our agreement, Tock, and be good."
He begins walking away, then, almost casually, as if he'd forgotten, he hollers back "Oh, and just in case you were thinking of telling anyone about our little exchange here- don't. I'll find you, Tock. I always do."
And with that, Timothy walks into the night.
Smug bastard will do anything for Kreed, he thinks as he walks off. Well, he's smart enough that with a little pressure, he'll tell me what I need to know.
Timothy will go to sleep, then wake back up early in the morning. He'll sneak over to Tock's bar, and find a good hiding spot in an alley, and wait. Watch. See who comes to the bar.
Six men gather together at a side table Tock reserves for them. You do not know them by name, but they are familiar enough that you recognize them as thugs and legbreakers on the Consortium payroll. Tock explains Kreed's orders for them, drawing out the briefing as he keeps their mugs topped off.
The same sort of foot and wheel-worn trail that leads from Falcon's Hollow to the logging camp also leads northeasterly towards the forest's edge. However, at a point where the cleanly cut stumps end and the bastion of the outlying trees begins, the trail blends into an ancient dwarven highway.
The broad stone slabs - almost choked over by grass, moss, and creepers - cut through the forest and, presumably, wind for miles towards the mountains.
Between Ben's directions and Liam's familiarity with the local geography, you are able to find the point where an overgrown, almost invisible trail branches off from the old road, deeper into the forest.
From here, though, finding the exact location of the darkwood grove will require a bit more wilderness cunning.
You suspect these were left by Ben and the other loggers before him who stumbled upon the darkwood trees. Following these tracks, you are able to lead the party to the grove.
"Sounds like a plan" He says stoically as he leans on his staff just waiting as he is more akin to working alone in the fields and pastures than back in a small unit again. He was a bit rusty but he should get back into the swing of things soon.
Liam is easily able to pick out the spot where some boot prints leave the road, heading into just the sort of topography where darkwood trees thrive. He looks around, just in case Kreed's thugs are nearby.
Liam quickly spots boot prints, probably left by Ben and other loggers. Boggel follows along, helping where he can. It's clear the man needs little help.
When they reach the grove, he moves around quickly, looking for signs of either the wyrm or Kreed's men...
but doesn't see much of interest.