Day 4 – continued [camping in 3507 (river flowing
from north-east to south-west, swamp on northern half, barren mountain on
southern half), weather worsening, random encounter: Lycanthrope: Werewolf,
party not surprised, creature not surprised]
Cold Fore-Winter rains make the life of the Circus worse.
Pointy Kid is on lookout duty, Callisto cooks, Sheila and Julia Maxima work on
the broken wheel. The party has the tools and some spare materials, but lack
the expertise. It quickly becomes obvious, that even if they manage to finish
the work today, they have to camp here in the wilderness.
Dusk sets in. The wagon is complete, but it’s too late to
move. The troupe huddles around the fire.
“Somebody’s coming!” Pointy Kid points towards the rocky
slope of the mountain.
“Greetings,” the approaching person waves from a
distance. “Can a weary and unfortunate traveler warm himself by your campfire?”
The characters exchange a couple of words, then invite
the stranger over, as it has been the way of Circus-folks for centuries. Only
Callisto eyes the stranger with some slight suspicion.
He is a middle-aged fellow, with greying unruly hair, torn
dirty clothes, a sword on his belt and just a small bundle of stuff. “My name
is Abil Griswold,” he introduces himself. “I was traveling with three
companions through the mountains, but we were ambushed by monsters – I was the
only one to get away.” He speaks in a monotone voice. Grieving his companions,
Sheila thinks.
“Where are you headed?”
“To Tabriz first, then Turachow,” Griswold explains.
“Come travel with us, it would be safer. Of course,
you’ll be expected to contribute something to the performance or the running of
the circus – that’s the Circus custom – do you have any talents?” Julia Maxima
asks.
“I might have a couple of tricks up my sleeve,” says
Griswold, and for the first time his voice becomes lively. He even smiles a
little. “I can imitate the sounds of wild animals. Children love it,” he says,
and does a pretty good growling dog impression.
“We could use that as the sound of the troll, too, what
do you think, Sheila? Maybe in Tabriz, he can play the monster instead of you,”
Julia Maxima offers.
“Yes, I guess I could become a monster,” Griswold nods.
“But let us rest now…”
Watches are set – the night passes uneventfully.
Day 5 [travel from 3507 to 3407 (river makes a bend,
barren mountain on east bank, lightly forested hills on the west bank), weather
neutral, no random encounter]
In the morning, a light mist blankets the area. Callisto
is almost sure that he spies a couple of shadowy figures in the mist… But
perhaps that’s just his imagination running wild, or a bit of contact high from
Pointy Kid’s morning pipeweed.
The Circus (with new temporary member Abil Griswold)
continues its journey along the river. The swamp on the other bank ends and the
river now runs in a valley between lightly forested hills and mountains.
The wheel holds – although one particular bump gives the
whole party a scare – but nothing scary happens. Investigating, they find that
they ran over a slab of stone, half-sunk in the ground: an ancient grave
marker… Now this sends some chills down their spines, especially that the mist
hasn’t lifted yet. The name is unreadable.
But these small things don’t hinder them much.
The river takes a strong bend towards the east, where
more lightly forested mountains loom.
+ [travel from 3407 to 3508 (lightly forested
mountain), weather worsens, no random encounter]
Further progress is hindered by cold rain. The troupe
soldiers on. Just before darkness, they happen upon a cabin – built atop a tall
tree! There are no lights in the windows, nor smoke from the chimney. Nobody
answers their calls. So Pointy Kid throws up a grappling hook, then climbs up
to the little platform at the cabin’s entrance. Knocks – no answer. He opens
the door. A small living room: all furniture and implements cozy and
halfling-sized, but covered by dust. There are books and scrolls, all of
religious and philosophical content. Most of them are signed by a certain
Glomol Glomolkan Glomolklari – the owner of the cabin. A little silver
sea-shell is displayed in a prominent place: proof that the inhabitant of this
cabin made the pilgrimage to the holy site of the Birth of the Goddess, far up
to the north-east [5001]. Glomolklari must be a hermit. But where is he?
Pointy Kid doesn’t want to disturb the stuff of a hermit,
so instead he just climbs down and reports to the others.
They park the wagon under the tree, and camp. Julia
Maxima rations the food pretty strictly tonight: with an extra mouth to feed
(Griswold lost his bag), the Circus is running low on supplies…
The night passes uneventfully.
To be continued!
