In the elven forest-kingdom




The weather was lovely on the next day and I felt rested, ready to start a new day. We soon reached the forest village of Woodsinger Elves. It was just astonishing. Everybody in the world knows that dwarves are the greatest builders and can construct any building, anywhere... but I think that even we can't create such a place of natural beauty as the elves did here in the Harken Forest. Their houses looked just like parts of trees, skilfully and masterfully woven with branches, ornamented in an unique way. I just can't find the words to describe it. We were received in a very hospitable way, though the food was not as tasty as at home. Only vegetables and fruits, nothing really filling. Ah well, can't have everything, can we?

The elves told us about the old Mystel Ruins and about some wolves... or maybe werewolves... that roamed there. It seemed that if we were to get rid of those foul evil creatures, the elves would help us. Without further ado, we decided to go there as soon as we could. The elves showed us a magical way to travel between the trees, covering huge distances with one step. They called it, uh, pele... tele... portation, or something. I'm not a big fan of magic myself, but this idea sounded well. We could save so much time!

When we arrived to the ruins, we observed the area and I smelled the air... Everything became clear to me. Those weren't real wolves, they smelled orc! YUCK! I HATE ORCS! Even my urgrosh Orcbane became somewhat warmer and started... um... shaking a bit, as if it was getting ready to battle. I was so relieved knowing that I won't be killing any creatures of Gozreh, but foul unnatural creatures. And then I saw the first wereorc... I couldn't stand it any longer! Before I knew it, I was running forward, it felt like my urgrosh controlled me, trying to bury its blade into the orc skull. But I didn't mind, I wanted to kill the unworthy creature as soon as I could... And that's how the fight started. We walked around the deserted ruin, searching for more enemies. Then Brayden's blade started shining and we knew this meant trouble (for orcs).


We decided that it was time to get into the building. Fighting the werewolf orcs wasn't an easy task, but we managed to pull it through, not hesitating, not even waiting for the foul creatures to go out from the darkness, changed into even uglier monsters than they were... if it's even possible. Erik started his battle song and a new strength filled our hearts. Wic was sending her silver arrows one after another, wounding and killing our foes. Brayden showed what he could accomplish with his sword, and he could a lot, as I could observe. Pavane was busy casting protective spells and other mysterious incantations that probably put fear into the smelly hearts of our foes (I don't know about magic, so I am not sure... but it looked spectacular!).

After clearing the top level of the building, we decided to go down. I thought I smelled more orcs there. I was so excited that I ran down through the stairs and into the big catacomb... and suddenly I got hit by a bolt that was hidden in a trap. Ouch, it hurt! But who gives a damn about some traps when there are orcs ad other strange creatures to kill! There was one very old, mummy-like orc, probably a shaman - who would give a rats ass who he was? - that cast a spell on me and suddenly I felt much eeaker... but still I managed to kill him together with my brave companions.

And suddenly, everything was finished as soon as it started. The foes were not a match for us! It was until after the fight that I realized that I, on my own, just with my urgrosh, killed three orcs! When I look at it now, I think it looks a bit different, as if it was glowing or something...



It turned out that the orc-shaman-whatever had been guarding some orc treasure. They robbed everything from humans, elves and Gozreh only knows from whom - because it is of course not possible that they would create such magnificent magic items and treasures on their own. We packed everything that seemed of value, we even found some spare weapons that we plan to give to the good people of Albridge and to the freedom fighters in time for the battle with Iron Circle. I hope they will know how to use these rusty weapons.
And after a good deed done, the ruins finally cleared of these stinking orcs, praised be the name of Gozreh, we decided to leave the place and return to the elves. I hope they will praise our victory and our names for everyone around to hear!


A peculiar night at the Albridge Inn...

Notebook:

"Today is a good day to get up from the bed, finally!", I thought. I felt much better, my wounds have healed and it seemed like my strength decided to come back to me. I wasn't sure where we were, but Wic explained that we traveled all the way to Albridge already. To think that I was ill for such a long time! Our foes are stronger that I expected. I'm happy, because that means we have some serious fighting ahead of us, the opponents being not as easy to eradicate as we thought. The Blades of Anthar shall however prevail, no matter how strong or vicious the foes are!

 The inn in Albridge.

We met other guests in the inn, Brayden, Lilith and Pavane. They seemed nice and friendly (especially Pavane who offered us a very tasty wine to drink - even though I like the dwarven spirit best, I have to admit, this particular wine went well with the dinner). It turned out that our three new friends have heard much about the Blades of Anthar (sure thing! it'd been suspicious if they haven't heard about us at all! Us, the brave heroes, the saviors of the Dalelands!). After hearing this, I started liking them even more. Not everyone around us was so likable, though. There were some other guests in the inn, I haven't noticed much of them but I was convinced they were Woodsinger elves. They kept to the dark corner of the room and went to their rooms early in the evening. I saw Wic looking at them suspiciously, I guess she didn't like them much for some reason... which I found rather odd, since we were to go to Harken Forest and try to convince the elves to help us fight the Iron Circle. Little did I know that I was to get acquainted with both the reason behind Wics cautious stares and the real nature of those strange guests later in the evening.
Our new friends turned out to be Iron Circle's enemies, and everyone knows that the enemy of my enemy is my friend (it is a dwarven proverb, by the way, didn't you know that?) so we decided to travel together to the Harken Forest. Especially since Ilorath and Willem have been attacked by some severe mysterious illness and had to stay in the local lazaret untill they got well. I bet this disease is Iron Circle's doing!

Since I felt sufficiently drunk at that time (that means, being still conscious and feeling that nice tingling in my body, having however problems keeping balance...), I decided to go to bed together with everyone else. It's not what you think, we didn't get together to the same bed, you're having very filthy thoughts, my dear reader! Everyone had their own beds and we slept in double rooms. I stayed with Wic, of course, so we wouldn't get woken up by some male snoring. I know how loud dwarf males snore, so the human males snore probably even more, since they're taller. I'd rather have my peaceful beauty sleep tonight, I thought. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep, because someone was... snoring. Maybe it was Wic, since she drunk a bit too. Of course it wasn't me, everyone knows I don't snore!
Anyway... I was laying down, awake, when I heard some strange sounds, as if someone opened the door to our room. I hugged my urgrosh tight (I feel defenseless going to sleep without it... what if they had rat infestation in the inn?) and waited... it was quite dark, the only light, the moonshine, was coming from the outside, through the window. In the spooky light I saw a strange shape:


First it looked like an elf... but then it started changing shape. Then I finally understood.

The other guests, they weren't peaceful elves, they were evil shapeshifters! I shouted to warn Wic, jumped out of my bed and stroke the first blow. The fight wasn't easy, but we manage to kill the foul creature, thank Gozreh for Wics bow and arrows! Then we jumped out of the room and continued fighting the two other shapeshifters who attacked the other members of our group. Everyone fought bravely and we destroyed our foes, as always. Our new friends could admire our strength and fighting prowess... okay, maybe they helped a bit as well. I think that they may be of use to our group, they just need a wee bit more experience, that's all.

In the morning, after eating a proper breakfast, we started our trip towards Harken Forest. It wasn't the first time we were there and everyone hoped in secret that this time we won't get lost, like the last time... wait, we didn't get lost, we just found another route, perfect for sightseeing, that was it!

Our trip into the enchanted forest didn't start very well... We found our way this time and were moving towards the woodelves' village, but we encountered another peril... Our group of brave heroes came to a halt when we found a suspicious clearing in the forest. There were three dead trees in the middle of the clearing... and I think I saw some bones, too... or maybe it was my imagination. Or the hangover from the last night, who knows? Now I know those spooky, dead, mossy trees were Ghostwood trees. Dryads or some other magical forest creatures used to live in them, they say, and now they are gone, so the trees wanted new companions... Me, Wic and Erik became enthralled by the harsh beauty of the trees. I heard a voice in my head inviting me into the wooden arms, promising unending unity with nature, telling me what bliss it would be... Oh, Gozreh would be so happy, I thought... And by that time I started walking towards one of the strange trees, getting entangled by the branches and roots...
Luckily, Erik woke up and managed to shake off the spell somehow. He understood what was going on and grasping his instrument, he started to sing. Suddenly I felt awake and was able to disentangle myself from the dangerous grasp. Wic was free as well, helped by Brayden. I was glad we had our new friends with us and that they all turned out to be a great help to us and our cause. I still do agree with what Willem said before he was taken ill, they should pay some kind of "enrollment fee" if they want to be members of our elite group. For some reason, no one has taken Willem nor me seriously. Ah those humans, they don't think practically, do they?

And then we heard a strange noise, like... very, very heavy thumping. At first I thought it sounded like Chubby Hodor, one of my cousins who spends his days mostly eating wild boar roast and drinking beer... when he finally gets up from the table and walks to his home, it sounds just like that. This time, however, I was mistaken. It was something, or rather someone, else. A treant, a real treant! I only read about those creatures in books, now I could see the legendary Clement, the oldest treant, the ruler of the Harken Forest treants, they say! For some reason, there were several owls flying around his hear, or rather green crown, it looked like they had their nests and hideouts there.
We had a nice talk with Clement, first he seemed to be angry at us, destroying his tree friends (really!), but then Erik sung another beautiful song of his and Clement seemed finally to understand our position... and he even excused for the behavior of trees! Then he told us how to find woodelves and went on... probably to pass the message about the coming Iron Circle attack to his brethren. I think they would talk about it and think what to do. I had a feeling it might take days...

As you can see, dear diary, it was a very eventful day, so we decided to stay for the night in a nearby glade, a much safer place that the one before. And then, finally, the brave Blades of Anthar started enjoying their well-earned rest.