"So, where to next? Do we head east then south to 'finish' that section. Or strike out in another direction?" Says the Gnome as he sits with the group.
"Yes. East, then South. I want to keep us between the Stag Lord and Oleg's while we explore the area."
Kesten's ears pick up at the mention of the Stag Lord. "That is the bandit's leader? We have been working on short patrols just to be visible, hoping to be a deterrent. So far we have not had contact with any threats, just a... unusual civilian. Still, I am always interested in any intelligence you can provide that keeps me and my men alive. Other than bandit's, are there other dangers close to Oleg's we should be aware of?"
Aleksara sighs a bit.
"There is a tribe of Mites we have encountered...they probably don't like us much now. On the up-side we met some friendly kobolds."
"Just how was this civilian unusual? Tenze asks the officer.
To the party."Do you think we should bring the prisoners back now that the troops are here?
"They'd have to build somewhere to keep all of them, but I have no better suggestions at this time."
To Tenzi's question Aleksara waves him off.
"I think they are learning much from the kobolds. I'm sure they need the help too for now."
Kesten takes a bound notebook from a belt-pouch and flips through it. He finds the page he is looking for and reads aloud. "Civilian: found foraging a half-day's travel from HQ to the east. Appears to be a hermit. First glance: harmless. Eager to speak to others. And himself." He flips to a fresh page and withdraws a wax pencil to make additional notes before asking for more information on both the kobolds and mites.
Oleg arrives at the table just ahead of his wife and dinner. "Bokken's a bit of an odd duck, but he's an alright sort. Comes through every once in a while and trades me potions he's brewed up."
Kesten scrawls in his notebook furiously through the course of the dinner. He is focused on locations and numbers of both the kobolds and the mites, including their specific locations, names of leaders, and preferred methods of communication. Everyeone is amiable and Svetlana's stew of wild hare, carrots, and moon radishes is full of flavor and spice.
The skies are clear the next morning when the group sets out to the east. For the most part the terrain is flat and open terrain, filled with tall grasses and random copses of trees. In the afternoon smoke is seen a few hills away. A couple of hours later the source is located. A small hut made of mud brick and straw with a single chimney sits on a small green hill, surrounded by wildflowers and thickets. A wild haired man carries water from a nearby stream back to the hut.
Aleksara waves at the disheveled man, careful to leave plenty of space to cast a spell if the man charges or respond with hostility.
"Greetings! We are new in the area! We are based at Oleg's place? Can we approach and speak?"
"Ayup. Hell. Uh, I mean, O. No. Hello? Hi! Yes, welcome, you have the berries? The fang berries? I am nearly out you know! Ah, Ma, thank you for teaching me. I'm sorry about me brother mister! Oh. Hi! Yes. Please. I do not get many visitors. By choice, mind you. Still nice to see someone. You have the berries? Come in, please. You have feathers. Gnome. Big guy. Oh, uh. I'm sorry horsies, no room!" He laughs a long, long time before shrugging and walking back into his hut with the water. "Uh, cat? Yes, cat can fit! But that's it! Okay, maybe cat's pet human. If master kittie permits!" He ducks back in laughing uproariously.
Smiling broadly, Aleksara gestures in the hut's direction.
"I like him."
"I do too 'A'. He talks just like many of my relatives. Good sir, I am Tenzekil, who do we have the great pleasure of conversing with? We are indeed new to the area. And as such seeking any information about what might be here or there or maybe even way down yonder. I would like very much to be your friend. Fang berries you say. Perhaps we could procure some for you."
"Well met friend. I am Jerrik, son of Brynjar. Thank you for your hospitality. It is most welcome in these parts."
Thorryn takes a minute to understand what the old man is saying. He signal to Nasze to go on in and stay. Decided on staying out, Thorryn thinks about maybe finding those berry he was going on about.
"Bokken" the hold man tells the gnome. The inside of Bokken's hut is a dark, smokey affair. Dried flowers and small animal bones hang from the ceiling and tall baskets line the walls filled with berries, tubers, and seeds of various sorts. Along one section is the fireplace. It is flanked by two well-used benches with beakers and tubes and flasks of different sizes atop them. A stack of books stands in the center of the hut. They are all related to hedge magic, potion brewing, and the identifications of flora and fauna.
He puts a kettle over his fire. "Tea? Of course tea. Have a seat," he says waving his hand over the dirt floor with his back to you. "If you are hungry there are fang berries. No. I need the fang berries. Uh, if you are hungry...Oh! I have slugs, very bitter and slimy, or sunflower seeds, not as bitter or slimy. Unfortunately." He grabs a handful of seeds and tosses them onto the floor like he was feeding chickens. "Ma always said to treat visitors well. Me brother did not take good care of the cats that visited us though. If I had those berries, oh! I could whip up some new batches. That way I can trade them when I go visitin'!" He turns back around holding a few steaming mugs with freshly steeped herbal tea. "But I talk too much, you got my berries?"
Smiling, Aleksara picks up a sunflower seed and wipes it on her cloak then pops it in her mouth.
She then moves to the door and spits out the seed's shell.
"Thank you for your hospitality."
Tenze happily accepts the tea and sips the hot beverage.
"Bokken, would you like us to get you some of those wonderful Fang berries? We like doing things for our friends. I heard tell that you sometimes make potions to trade with your friends. You wouldn't happen to know anything about someone called the Stag Lord would you?
Graciously accepting the tea, Jerrik leaned against the wall and let the others converse with the strange man. It was telling that the man could survive out in the wilderness alone. Jerrik couldn't help but wonder if the man was dangerous and just how he had managed to stay alive for so long.
"Bokken, are there other dangers around that you could provide warning about?"
Quanah keeps her wings close, almost cloak-like. Her head cranes about the odd assortment of paraphernalia in the hut, but she remains silent in the midst of the conversation.
Bokken holds his hands up and begins ticking things off, using his filthy fingers to count off."Wild animals. Carnivorous plants. Kobolds. Mites. Fae folk. Me brother. Bandits. Dragons. Undead. Bandits. Not me brother, thank the gods!" He thoughtfully scratches his chin. "Not really, it's pretty safe. Now that Stag Lord fella? I don't know her story. It claims to be eternal. Don't know what that means, but their minions sure bring it up a lot. I sell them some potions from time to time. They tried to take them from me, but I wouldn't tell them what was what," he guffaws loudly. "Ah, but you find me berries and I will tell you what's what! Give you a discount too."
Noting the bandits actions with interest, Aleksara nods.
"Berries it is then. Any obvious ways to find them? I know some magic, but not the kind to find something."
"Bokken, your hospitality has been most appreciated. I wonder if you would tell us more about your brother? Is he as accomplished as you?"
"Accomplished? He managed to get away from the watch, so that's something. Lives in a holler somewhere down south. No, I said that wrong. Lives in a holler tree down south. I guess. Me brother's troubled. Used to beat ma. Too dangerous to go after him though."
He chews on his lip. "Think the berries are south too. Not so far south as me brother. Past the radishes, I know that much."
Aleksara smiles and nods.
"Excellent. Not quite as clear as mud, but close! We will keep an eye out Sir."
"Then good Bokken, thank you for the help. We will be off and hope to return with some Fang berries. Unless of course we encounter something nasty that kills us." Says the Gnome tipping his hat.
"You know 'A' I have a cousin who is working on a formula to actually make mud clear."
Aleksara shakes her head.
"You mean extract water from mud? THAT I can do."
Tenze can entertain the group while we travel...
"Okay guys all together...Oh 99 bottles of Grog on the wall.."
"Flying on ahead a bit," says Quanah before launching into the air and out of earshot.
A wide sweeping plain greets the explorers the next morning. Late in the afternoon it becomes obvious that they have found the eastern-most edge of their legally sanctioned grid of the Greenbelt.
They take a southward turn in the morning only to find much of the same again. Open meadows and fields, and long plains, for miles. By nightfall the group is thoroughly bored with the pleasant weather and flat fields.
Sword in hand quickly, Aleksara starts softly kicking blanketed allies.
"Watchit guys! Some Kobolds approaching sneakily!"
Throwing off his blanket and rolling to his feat with rapier in hand.
"Hold dragon kin. Are you Sootscales?" He shouts in Draconic.
The shapes freeze when Tenze calls out. "Dragon kin?" one starts after a hurried whisper with his fellows. "Why would a gnome show respect like that? And know of our tribe?"
Combat stance maintained, Aleksara whispers to Tenzi.
"I thought most of the Sootscales were killed?"
Quanah pipes up in a stern voice, also speaking in Draconic, "We have heard of Sootscales before. We always treat friends with respect... are you friends?"
The kobolds cautiously approach the camp. "For now, at least, we are friends. You do not serve the Eternal." The kobold speaker says as a statement, not a question. "That you know our tribal name suggests you have met other survivors, please, tell me this is so?"
"Food, Bazi, ask if we can trade them for food," says another of the band.
"Indeed. We thought you to be raiders serving the Eternal and thought we could take your supplies. We would be interested in trading."
Sword still out, but held casually Aleksara asks in draconic...
"Eternal? Who is the Eternal?"
"The Eternal Stag Lord. Some cocky pinkskin with muscle. We have come to find out the Eternal was part of the attack on our lair."
"Come friends, share our camp. We would be happy to eat with you, and trade what we can. We are not raiders. And yes, we have met other Sootscales. One called Tip helped us in recovering an idol for your chief"
Nodding at Jerrik's lead, Aleksara puts away her curved sword.
"He was very brave. I offered to see if Tip wanted to apprentice himself to me too."
The kobolds join you in camp, eagerly scarfing down any food offered as they relate how they were part of a hunting party when the mites and pink-skins attacked their home. They returned to find their lair devastated, but noted tracks that looked like some survivors had escaped. They have been searching to the south so far, but began to return to the general location of their lair after encountering a bandit camp a few days south.
Deadly serious now, Aleksara turns to them when they mention a Bandit Camp.
"Bandits? How many of them were there? Could you tell us how to find them easily? Our flyer should be able to spot them with basic directions. We can help you get back to the rest of the Sootscales either way. They will be overjoyed to see their egg-brothers again."
Yes please join us Kin of dragons." Tenze adds.
He quickly hands over some Gnome trail rations to the Kobolds.
"Well friends we are actually here to rid these parts of brigands just such as those of this 'Eternal Stag Lord'.
"There were many. In a well-defended fortress on the coast of the Tuskwater. There is another camp far to the west of here."
"Yes we must reunite the Sootscales. Then we'll see about these brigands."
"Agreed. What say you sootscales? Accompany us to meet your brethren, then show us where this camp is?"