We traveled off ta Wembdel, a decent sized town, lookin' fer history n' work. We found out again that we'd been gone under tha ocean for over a year or so, n' folks din't have much idea nor concern 'bout what had happened in Rosebay. Now, maybe I'm just more curious than' most folks, but I was purty s'prised that most folks din't seem to mind it none. They apparently were rebuildin' n' Rosebay n' we considered headin' down there, but its quite a trip. So instead we decided to ask 'round 'bout the Dark Rider.
My memory ain't so good, either we bumped into a feller named Sorn who took us to the Magistrate first, or we found the Magistrate by rec'mendation n' saw Sorn there, but we met 'im at similar times. The magistrate feller had information on the Dark Rider. Sorn's some sorta oracle, says he's been followin' the Dark Rider for a long time. Tall feller, with tattoos o' them time clocks with sand in 'em. Them tattoos light up when he's castin' spells. Kinda weird at first, but mostly in'neresting.
Anyhow, this magistrate feller said he had some good information for us, but he wanted a favor first. Course. After we grilled him a bit ta somewhat validate he had valuable information n' askin' where he may have heard this information from, we agreed to do his favor. Turns out, he's got this big ole' plot o' land n' there's some bandits in the woods o' it n' there's some skum, evil fish folk, livin' down by his lake.
Now, I ain't one for property. If ye can't carry it on yer back or if it can't come with yer herd o' goats, then it aint worth it. But other folks aint like that.
That reminds me, a story about goats, as I forgot 'bout it in my last journal entry! There was a goat inside them undead caves, I aint got no idea from where, but he had some sorta lamp round his neck. This goat feller followed us 'round them caves the whole time, n' when Rayden nearly died his soul somehow got trapped in that thurr soul lamp. Zuzmo smashed the lamp n' saved the spirits o' Rayden n' the goat. I still ain't got no idea what he was doin' there. End o' side story.
Property. I aint one for it, but this magistrate feller wanted us to clear it out. So we went off.
First, we were in some thick woods, so Zuzmo went scamperin' up a tree to see where we waz in relations to the rest o' the forest n' this magistrate feller's mansion, which he was buildin' off in the distance. Unfortunately, some large spider types had set up camp round this spot. Sorn showed us he was a bit of a marksman, Zuzmo reminded us that he can summon lightning tridents to fight, Clount showed some agile prowess, n' the rest of us tried our best to help though we din't help all that much.
After awhile we found a camp, a big ole' camp, but only one feller was in it. He was a singer o' sorts. Sorn n' I snuck around the perimeter, but there wasn't anyone creepin' out there. The feller in the camp was a pretty smooth liar, sayin' that he was just travelin' through, but his story din't quite add up. When I told him I thought as much, he turned himself invisible with a bardic spell. We started pokin' round the camp n' found that one o' them trees had a big ole ladder disguised in the side of it.
So Zuzmo scampered on up the tree, bout 60 feet or so, n' found there was an openin' in the platform. He said he was comin' up, bein' the nice feller that he is. The three fellers on tha' platform weren't so nice. They shot at Zuzmo, hurtin' him decently. I could tell Zuzmo was considerin' doin' somethin' brave, but he was up there all by his'self, n' I hollered fer him to come down. He's a tough lil' orc, or goblin, or whatever, but he ain't one for battlin' three big fellers with bows when he's already hurt. When he came on down the tree, bleedin' n' hurtin' I got purty upset. I like Zuzmo.
So I hollered up that this was their last chance to give up. I waited, n' no response. So I drank one o' my new tricks - invisibility potion, n' I had Mr. Clount follow me up that tree.
Now, imagine you're one of three fellers, you've all got your bows pointed at n' entrance in yer lil tree fort. Suddenly, a half-orc appears outta nowhere, cause he's shoving yer' friend off a 60' platform to the forest floor below, n' he draws a big ole' greataxe from his back n' comes chargin' you. Now, dontcha reckon that maybe when his friend comes poppin' outta that hole you WERE coverin' until you dropped your bow cause o' that angry orc, that MAYBE you'd drop yer weapons n' beg for mercy? These fellers weren't much in'nerested in that. So two took a trip to the forest floor, n' the other got cut up purty badly. To be fair, they did manage ta sink a few painful arrows n' blows into me, but I think I mostly had the leg up in that exchange.
Turns out these fellers had n' entire tree village up there with ropes connectin' amongst all them platforms. Most o' them had a death wish, but there were three fellers who were wise enough to actually agree to leave. We found out from them that their village was burnt down to make room fer some barracks o' some sort. Now, I ain't think thats right, but I aint livin' in these lands neither. Back in Suuldra, that would never fly with folks, but folks wouldn't live along no public road, neither. So we told these fellers that we felt sorry for 'em, but lootin' n' plunderin' wasn't really the appropriate way to win any kind o' hearts over.
There was some more folks, n' one was this woman 'zerker type who hit pretty hard. I went ta fight her, n' she took me out pretty quickly. Fortunately, by the time I went down, the rest o' my friends had scared off or beat up most o' the other fellers round there, n' were able to save me n' eventually overwhelm. She sure packed a wallop though. I'm still achin' a day later.
Havin' dispersed most o' them bandits, we found 'nother rope ladder headin' down n' spotted a cage to take shelter n' for the night. There was a feller there with some wolves, n' he was some sort o' wild feller who'd been livin' out here for awhile, but he was nice 'nuff, so we talked to him about the land n' about the skum where the lake was. He pointed us in the right direction, n' we were off on our merry way.
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