Brussels Snow, my apologies for mangling your name sir, has hired myself and some other adepts to look into some missing caravans. It seems that he is attempting to start a regular route from Thoral through the villages of Crasmere and Aempleforth and then returning to Thoral. He had two caravans that were past due on returning, and a third that had just left Thoral.
We decided to leave immediately and attempt to catch up with the most recent caravan. We managed to catch up with the caravan. --One immediate note for Mr Snow, you should send some actual guards with your caravans.-- We located the caravan, and confirmed our identities with a letter from Mr Snow. Before we made it to the first village, we were set upon by a group of large, poisonous rabbits. I am told that they are called Preces, and that for much of the year they will flee from danger. This was not that time of the year. They attacked and we were able to fend them off. The caravan team, while good with a caravan, were of no use against the wildlife.
We reached the village of Crasmere. It is a small but slowly growing settlement of mostly humans. Their only trade goods came from a mine of Elemental Earth, and they were glad to receive supplies from Thoral. They claimed that both of the previous caravans had made it there and continued onwards. They seemed like decent and honest folk, giving us no reason to investigate further.
We continued onwards to Aempleforth, a slightly larger and more prosperous village. Their goods for trade consisted mostly of Elemental Wood. Much like Crasmere they were grateful for the trade, and indicated that the previous caravans had come and gone without incident.
We left the village on the return leg to Thoral. Early into this part of the journey our path crossed that of a mother elk and her young. While I have heard about not getting between a mother bear and her cubs, it seems that the same holds true for elk. They were aggressive, and while once again we managed to fend them off, the mother elk was the only survivor. I do not like the idea of killing families who are just doing what is in their nature. Then again I was not fond of the walking dead nor did I enjoy viewing the abattoir where they were created. An adept’s life is not pretty.
Further on down the trail we were accosted by a Beastmaster, his Huttawas, and an archer. The Beastmaster identified himself as waiting for the caravan on behalf of the owner. He was willing to produce a letter such as we had to identify ourselves, but it was a fake and they attacked. This was a much harder fight, and we did manage to chase them off as well, but not before the Beastmaster was able to grab some of the cargo. As he fled I managed to note a tattoo on his arm of a ram’s head. That may be significant, or not only time will tell there.
We made it back to Thoral, where our efforts were judged a success. We did get the caravan through alive and with most of its cargo intact. We were unable to definitely end the raiders, and likely did not see all of them. We found no evidence of the two missing caravans. Regardless of the raiders, it would seem that the wilds are still no so tame as to allow unguarded caravans to pass through. When you include the possibility of a few bandits, or an organized group. Caravans should not be traveling without some protection.Statistics:Posted by Brian L — Sun May 24, 2020 5:29 pm
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