SESSION 17: THE SANDBOX OPENS
The next morning Halee and Risandor get up and after looking after the wounded start to make a plan to go out and start scouting around. Thomas overhears the conversation, quietly rises and puts on his armour. Risandor and Halee try to stop him but he continues to get ready. Risandor suggest that they should go and see where these goblin and hobgoblin slaves are. Maybe they could get some intelligence about the caves. How many tribes are there there, how many members to a typical tribe etc.
Halee goes down stairs to get their morning breakfast from Eldred. Whilst down there Halee asks Eldred about the local area. Eldred tells her that there are a number of farming hamlets only a couple of miles from the Keep. That's where most of the local goods come from that the traders and caravans come to buy from the bonding house he informer her.
After making some small talk for a while longer Eldred asks about Risandor. "Your halfling, Risandor. You know he is very good at singing and entertaining. I'd sure like to have him entertain for me at nights. I think it would really add something to the place and make more people come in for a meal."
"Ohh yes," Halee responds, "Risandor is a great bard. Singing, dancing, playing the tambour and telling tall tales. He keeps us entertained for hours sometimes. Such a jovial little fellow too."
"He's quite the find." Smiles Eldred. "And a real pleasure to have around. If you don't mind me asking, where did Thomas find him?"
"Ohh I don't know. I've never enquired how they all met up."
"Well if you don't mind, I might ask Thomas the next time I see him how much for the little fellow. Thomas is the owner right? I mean dwarves don't normally have slaves so I'm supposing that Thomas would be the owner. Next time you see him can you tell him to come and see me. I'm sure we can do a good deal," smiles Eldred.
"Errr" stammers Halee, "yeah sure, no problem. Okay. Got to go. We're going to go out for a walk today. Talk later."
Halee grabs the tray of breakfast porridge and bacon and slowly heads up the stairs to their common room while she mulls over the conversation.
As she is arrives she is warmly greeted by the party that quickly wolf down their food. As Cord, Uthalin and Ansic retire back to bed, Halee, Risandor and Thomas gather their items.
Halee relays to Risandor and Thomas that there are a number of farms that she thinks they should investigate. She also tells them that Eldred thinks that Risandor is Thomas' slave. She doesn't know if this is a good thing or not. It provides a level of protection for Risandor but at the same time people are obviously supposing that Risandor is the property of Thomas or the group. They let it go for the moment and grab their stuff.
Leaving The Salty Tusk they quickly walk out the door, not leaving enough time for Eldred to engage Thomas in conversation.
Over the next couple of days, the trio make day trips to the west of Keep Greylock. They find that there is a local patchwork of farming communities. Most of the hamlets are only ˝ a day's walk from Greylock, perhaps 3 to 4 miles.
In each hamlet there is a large manor house, or chateau, which is semi-fortified, and a number of small squalid humpies. Surrounding the manor and humpies are rich fields full of wheat and cotton. Some cattle and pigs are penned in yards and sties and chickens roam free range. Horses and working dogs are stabled and walking around the compounds.
The manors tend to consist of two or three large buildings. One is always a large private residence, perhaps two or three stories high. It is accompanied by a secondary residence for staff and a large barn to house the most valuable of livestock. Connecting walls between the buildings and a gate help in keeping the local Master, his family, staff and valuable livestock safe at night.
Most of the humpies are only 8ft by 8ft or so in size. They have filthy dirt floors and are made from any cheap local materials. Most seem to be made of mud and straw construction with loose thatched roofs. There are no sanitation facilities and these abodes stink of sweat and urine. They are always located several hundred meters away from the Master's compound and down from the prevailing wind direction. Depending on the hamlet, there may be 2-6 humpies in each hamlet.
As they approach the first manor house, House Worishofen, they are warmly greeted by Frau Worishofen. She is accompanied by her 12 year old son, Junker Amwolf. The Frau is surprised and a little excited to see guests this far out from the Keep. She invites them in for a refreshment.
Over refreshments she explains to ‘Master' Thomas that her husband Elder Worishofen is with her son tending the fields. It's summer, the crops are ripening and the weeds are growing.
The Frau asks what they are doing so far from the Keep and the local road. "Are you lost she enquires?"
"Ohh no," Thomas responds, "we've been hunting the beasts from the Caves of Chaos on commission from Markis Greylock. We're out here checking the local district."
"Ohh, ohh you're the heroes," she claps her hands excitedly. "We've heard about you. My husband was at The Salty Tusk just yesterday. Eldred told him that you killed a massive ogre and a whole heap of orcs and goblins. Well done. Well done we need all the help we can get here. Markis isn't as young as he once was and he cannot patrol all the lands by himself any more. We get raided every now and again. Mostly by orcs but sometimes by goblins. Every so often some of our stock goes missing. It's usually one of the halflings that they take, like your little fellow there. My sons and my husband do their best to keep the vermin away but it's hard. They come at night mostly, mostly. It's like they can see better in the dark you know. The cowards."
"Right," Halee mutters to herself. Raising her voice, she asks, "So how many stock do you have, you have a very nice manor. Are the lands fertile?"
Junker excitedly responds "We've got lots of stock. Daddy has a dozen cows, a score of pigs and sheep, fields as far as you can see and two or three dozen halflings and goblins. My daddy is the best."
The blood drains from Risandors face as he realises that the goblins and halflings might be housed together in the humpies.
"Shoosh child, run along now." As Amwolf runs off the Frau turns her attention back to her guests, "He's such a wonderful child. So much pride in his father. Ohh yes the lands are very productive and we've been on this land for four generations now. Elder Worishofen is a great man. He gives generously to the church and we've had the Curate Heinrich out here many times to bless us and our lands." The Frau points to the inverted five pointed star, the symbol of Asmodeus, proudly displayed on the wall.
Thanking the Frau for her hospitality the party go to return to The Salty Tusk.
Over the next few days they map out the local area. They visit four hamlets over four days and they are mostly similar. Large manor houses, humpies, fields and ‘stock'. Amongst them they find that Friedberg is unusual in that it has a number of hobgoblins as slaves and Julich also farms crocodiles for their skins. Whilst being shown some of the skins by Frau Julich, Halee notices that some of the scaly skins look a little more man shaped rather than crocodile shaped.
Halee updates her map for the four hamlets and for some other features told to her by the locals including the Ravensburg Mountains and Oslsnitz Cain. She realises that they aren't in Cheliax anymore but rather are just east of the border, in Isger. It's so remote here though that there is no official form of the central Cheliax government except Lord Markis Greylock.
Guys I've run out of a bit of time this morning and need to head off but in the next session I'll detail a bit of shopping and local interactions.
DEW
