Friends in a Foreign Land

Eventually, the party made it to the gates of the village only to find no one there.

Nolan rapped his staff against the gate and called out, “Hello in there.”

The party waited, but nothing happened. They looked at one another for a moment then Hazel’s face lit up. Her hand started to move in a complicated pattern as she muttered a couple magic syllables then she slammed her hand into the gate. All of them grabbed their ears in pain as thunder boomed off the gate and echoed into the distance.

Arden started waving his hands around, and a glow began to emanate from them. Arden then went to everyone, including Arlo, one by one and healed their hearing.

Once everyone could hear again, Nolan looked at Hazel, “Let’s not do that again, please? That was a bit much.”

“I agree,” said a voice from above them. They look up to see a man leaning over the palisade next to the gate.

“Apologies sir, we were merely trying to get someone’s attention so that we might request they open the gate. Our knocking had gone unheard, so my daughter was just attempting to help. Do you think you could open the gate for us?” Arden said.

“No.”

“Might we ask why not?” Nolan questioned.

“Nothing comes from the south except goblins and trouble. So the southern gate stays closed. If you wish, you may go around to the northern gate. But seeing how you aren’t goblins then you must be trouble so it is my hope that they don’t let you in there either.” The guard replied.

“We’re here to help, don’t kill the dumb ass. We’re here to help, don’t kill the dumb ass.” Arden started repeating to himself as he turned and walked away.

“Sorry for the noise,” Hazel said to the guard before turning to follow her dad.

Nolan stood there for a moment before loudly proclaiming, “I fart in your general direction!” He then turned and followed the others leaving the guard to stand there confused by his parting words.

As they walked around the village Nolan noticed something. “This area used to be a killing field. If they’re having problems with goblins, why would they let it get grown up like this?” Nolan pointed out. “It just gives the goblins more places to hide.

“Good question. I haven’t a clue, though.” Arden said.

When the party reached the north side of the village they find the gate open and two guards waiting on them. “You the ones making all the racket on the south side?”

“That was me; I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how loud that would be.” Hazel quickly answered.

The guards who had been staring holes into Nolan and Arden finally looked behind them at the girls following them. Their facial expressions softened until they saw Arlo.

“Wolf!” one guard yelled as he lunged forward, drawing his sword. Before he had taken three steps Arden had thrust his staff out between his ankles causing the guard to trip and fall. When he looked up he saw that Willow had stepped in front of the wolf and raised her staff in a threatening stance. The guard stood with a confused look on his face. Before he could collect himself Willow spoke up, “This wolf is my companion. His name is Arlo.”

“Simon, get back here!” hollered a female guard that was just walking up. The one that had rushed forward, Simon evidently, quickly moved back into line with the other guards. Evidently, she was in charge.

Nolan stepped forward, “It seems that you are all on edge. Perhaps there is somewhere in your town that we could all sit and speak in a more relaxed environment?”

“Town? Wildemill is barely a village anymore. But I would hear your story, so follow me. We’ll get you set up in the inn, and then you can tell me what’s going on in the woods to the south.”

“That sounds like a solid plan ma’am. I’m Arden, and you are?”

“Forgive me. I am Guard Captain Christi Oddo. You met Simon, and this other fella is Daw.”

“Nice to meet you all. This is my brother-in-arms, Nolan, my daughters Hazel and Willow, and my grandson Ewan. And you’ve already met Arlo.”

“Daughters? Grandson? Other than the child, you all appear to be within a few years of one another.” questioned Daw

“What can I say, good genes” Arden replied as Christi escorted them to the village inn.

Turning to Simon, Daw whispered, “What are jeans?” Simon just shrugged and followed along.

As they walked up to the inn Hazel noticed the sign above the door showed an ax with a broken handle on it and asked about it.

“Tis the name of the Inn ma’am” said Daw. “The Busted Ax Inn.”

Once inside, the group was introduced to an innkeeper by the name of Jacob. After some back and forth, Arden negotiated the rate down from 4 silver per day to 2 silver per day. Then Jacob saw Arlo and demanded extra for letting a beast stay in his inn. The eventual total price they settled on was 3 silver and 5 copper per day, three days paid upfront. Arden handed over the 1 gold and 5 copper before turning to see that his group had found a table with the guard captain and were already deep in conversation. Joining them, he asked, “Glad to see everyone getting along. Have I missed anything?”

“Miss Christi was telling us all about the town,” Willow said.

“Great!” Arden said

“We would have waited for you, but you and Jacob seemed to be having such fun. Jacob hasn’t had anyone to haggle with in quite a while.” Christi said

Arden laughed, “Well, he hasn’t lost his touch any.”

“The goblins burned out the farms we saw on our way in. Evidently, more and more sightings over the last year and about five months ago, they started attacking the village itself.” Nolan summarized for Arden

“Really? Did you tell her we came across two parties as well?”

“Yes, they did. What they didn’t say was why you were in the Great Woods in the first place.” Christi said.

“They didn’t?” Arden responded acting aghast before smiling, “Honestly, we were trying to not be in the Great Woods. My daughter Willow is a druid and said she needed to go into the woods in search of some plant or other and so we went” Arden looked around as if to make sure no one was close by before he dropped his voice and added, “And our guide never showed so we went by ourselves and we got so lost that when we first found the goblins we were happy just to see some sort of intelligent life.” The guard stared at Arden for a moment as if trying to decide if to believe him are not. Not wanting to give her the chance to make a wrong decision, Arden continued on, “Then we noticed that goblins had found our guide. We’ve brought his body back with us but we’re not sure what the local custom is for last rites. ”

Hearing this Christi got a suspicious look on her face. “Who was your guide?”

“We never got his name. But I believe he was a priest here in Wildemill.”

Christi swore before looking back at Arden, “His name was Ernis. He left out yesterday, saying the gods were sending someone to help us, and he was going to go meet them. Damn fool, he was. Everyone knows the gods don’t care about us but he wouldn’t listen. You say you have his body?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Daw. Simon.” The guard captain called out. The other two guards were a few tables over with a drink in their hands. They immediately jumped up and answered, “Yes captain.”

Follow Arden outside. He’s going to give you something. Take care of it.

Arden hurriedly went outside with the guards and came back in a couple minutes later. The table was quiet and his family were eating while Christi was sipping a drink and staring off into space.

“Thank you guard captain. We wanted to make sure to be respectful of his beliefs.”

“You’re hiding something. You say you were suppose to meet Ernis but you didn’t know his name. How is that possible. We’ve had not couriers in town in months.”

Arden took a breath and let out before looking the guard captain with a slight grin, “You said Ernis went out to meet someone the gods were sending. That’s us.”

The captain held Arden’s gaze for a moment before replying, “We’ve lost nearly all of our second tier guards and citizens over the last year. The former to the goblins and the later to fleeing Wildemill. Now, I can’t sense levels but I can tell that all of you are extremely low first tier. What exactly is it that you think the gods sent you here to do?”

“Our quest isn’t specific. It simply says we are to help people. What does your town need us to do?”

“Need? We need a company of tier two soldiers to protect this town. We need a regiment of tier two soldiers to wipe out the goblins at their home. We need more people to keep watch, more people to hunt for meat, more people to clear the killing fields, crops to eat, seed to plant, farmers to plant it. My home is dying and you tell me the gods sent me four adults, a toddler, and a wolf. And Ernis died believing in them. You can tell your useless gods they can all die.” With that proclamation Guard Captain Christi stormed from the inn.

“Betcha hoped that would have went better!” called out Jacob from behind the bar. “You serious about being sent by the gods to help?”

Arden chuckled, “Yeah, definitely could have gone better. But it could have gone worse, too; I suppose. But yes sir, we are here to help.”

“Well, I could use someone to do some hunting for me. As Christi said, the town is running low on food. If you could bring me some deer meat that would be great.”

Arden looked over to Nolan who shrugged and nodded.

“Yes sir, we’d be willing to give it a try. Does Wildemill have a church or temple by chance? I’d like to pay my respects to the gods for helping us find our way to your village.” Arden said

“Nothing as fancy as a temple, but we do have a shrine. Head north two streets and take a left. The shrine will be down on the right. But be careful. Most here don’t truck with the gods anymore, so some are likely to say something if you’re seen.”

“With all the goblin problems, wouldn’t people be more likely to pray for help?” Nolan asked

“The general feeling around here is more along the lines of, 'if the gods are so great, why is everything we’ve worked so hard for being taken away?'” Jacob replied.

“Both statements seem logical,” Arden said as he tried to keep the peace. “But then, faith is probably the most illogical thing I know.”

Jacob nodded his head before adding, “If you plan to go to the shrine, do it before dark. People have been drinking more of late, and drunk folks are more likely to start trouble.”

Arden stood, “Well, I want to go see our rooms and drop off this pack before it becomes a permanent part of my back. Then I’m going to head to the shrine. Anyone want to come with?”

Nolan nodded his head, "Yeah, I'll go."

“I don’t want to get up,” Willow said

“Same. My feet hurt,” Hazel joined in.

“I wanna go with Opa,” Ewan said, calling Arden by the family moniker for Grandpa.

“That okay with you, Hazel?” Arden asked

“Yes sir.”

"Sounds like a plan, then."