Spin Offs, Flint Part A

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Flint

Since the spring Flint had been haunted by the impression that he was not the hero of his own story. The season had turned twice since he had been close to his objective, he thought that helping the caravan from Maldorn would delay him a few days, certainly not more than a fortnight. That had been followed by escorting some of the captured bandits to Carskot on behalf of Marshal Thoddem. Then he had met Priestess Asta and she had told him of her visions, he had felt obliged to help her and Loden reach their goal, only to have them fall to their deaths in an ancient trap. Apparently. The fact that their bodies had disappeared by the time he had returned from getting rope and tools to retrieve them was an oddity he had found no explanation for.

Afterwards he had gone to Thom Drago to let the dwarves know of their slain kin, those he had discovered near Towwit Falls. From the dwarves he had learned of a ruin near their stronghold that may have been ellodran. On investigating the strange cellar, he had discovered a litch or some other powerful undead creature and spent the next couple of days running and fighting a horde of lesser abominations. Thankfully Walker had come to his aid and they had been able to retreat into the Madden Hills. Still, the hordes continued to track him.

In the hills they had run into Ijah and Berri, who had helped fight off an attack from animated skeletons. Then, while waiting for Ijah to heal, they had rescued Sir Gathvion and a number of his people who were being attacked by orc. He and Walker had escorted a few of the women to Madden Bridge and fought more of the undead outside of the walls of the town. Then the two of them had gone back to the metal door that lead down to the litch’s lair, fighting through more animated dead to reach that cellar. The creature had regenerated since the first confrontation, so he and Walker fought it again. After defeating the litch a second time Walker had found the creatures phylactery, the litch was destroyed. Walker had also found the monster’s horde, which contained Elquinian artifacts, likely from the Second Kingdom.

Walker offered to take him through the ways so that he could reach Othi in a timely fashion, but they had been forced to exit the world between earlier than Walker had intended. He claimed that something was preventing him from travelling onward in that direction, a powerful mage was blocking access to the ways along the East Sister River and from the neighbouring regions of the Linklow Forest. Flint suspected that it may have something to do with Othi’s attempts to access the Rover Hall, or perhaps the Forest King’s sudden rise to power in that area, or possibly even the Tannicans.

The moment they had come out of the ways, in an area as close as Walker could reach to Flint’s intended destination, they were caught up in a melee against a number of brigands who had been attempting to recapture a score or so women that Ijah and Berri had rescued from Freeton. He found running into them a second time both weird and unsettling. They had helped get the women to safety and Walker had departed with Ijah, Berri and their companions through the ways, heading back east.

It had been a very busy summer.

Flint had been ready to go directly to Othi after that, however two of the women who had been rescued had asked for his help getting home. Or, if not home, then to Cof Crossroads. The main road in that direction had become nearly impassible due to an abundance of goblins attacking all who travelled the Old Trade Road. Flint had been hesitant about further delays, but the siblings had been capable enough to bring help to Ijah from Potters Bridge. As well, their family homestead was only a bit south of where Othi was.

Willow and Ash, the names the young women had given him, did not slow him at all. In fact their woodland skills were good. They took a few days to gather some food and to make arrows, after which the three of them made their way southeast along a secondary trail. BigNose and Tingy carried most of the food and gear as they travelled at a steady pace, covering as much as twenty yat per day, which was decent given that most of the area was hilly woodland. Although there was some sign that goblins had been moving through the area they did not encounter any. A little less than two eight-days later they reached their homestead, summer had turned into autumn and although the days stayed warm, the nights became increasingly cooler.

Tragically their home had been attacked and burnt to the ground. The two siblings were left homeless with their family having been killed either during their trip to Freeton or here at home in what had likely been an attack by Wol the Fox and her bandits. Willow, the younger of the two, sunk into a despondent malaise while Ash and he tried to salvage what could be pulled from the ruins.

There was little left that was of any use. They found one charred human skeleton, picked clean by the critters that fed on such. Ash affixed the burnt skull to a stick she placed up the lane near the River Trade Road. The small barn had only partially burnt. From the floor boards in the northern corner Ash extracted a small stash, there was a belt, knife, hatchet, sack of preserved food in small clay jars and a large pouch of coin, all wrapped in an oil-skin poncho. From what Flint saw the coins were mostly copper, maybe a couple hundred, not much of an inheritance.

“Do you two know of the foresters camp? It’s about twenty-five yat from here, north up the River Trade Road.”

Ash gave a curt nod, “We know them. They stole one of our ironwood trees a few years back. Pa said not to trust them.”

“Well, it’s where I’m headed. Cof is not much further north of there.”

Ash looked over to her sister who sat despondently near the burnt house, she gave a hopeless shrug, “We’ll head that way with you. Maybe the Erapp homestead is still intact, they’re a bit strange but they’ve always been good neighbours.”

The following morning Ash was able to get Willow on her feet and walking. Flint lead the horses as they went north. Not long before sunset they came to the Erapp property, there was smoke from one of the chimneys of the odd structure that was snugged up against a steep hill. They heard the sounds of people at work. Flint noted the huge slab of finished stone the stack of cottages had been built on, he wondered if it was part of the ruins that ran through the hills of this area.

A dark haired woman stepped out of a door on the third level of the odd house. She had a bow, arrow notched but not drawn, “What do you lot want?”

Ash spoke up, “Where are the Erapps?”

“Don’t know. Who are they?”

“This is their property.”

“Well, my guess is they’re dead then.”

Another woman appeared, stepping out from an open stone doorway at the base of the hill, just off from the stone slab. She was tall and heavily muscled. Flint recognized her, “You’re the smith’s daughter, from Cof Crossroads.”

“I’m Trin. I recognize you. Welcome to the rickety tower.”

Flint looked at the odd structure, noted its slight lean into the side of the hill, “That seems like an apt name for the place.”

She smiled, “Yeah. I take it you didn’t get caught in Carskot then?”

“No. How do you mean?”

“Wol the Fox has the place under siege.”

“I’d left before anything like that happened. Why are you here? Has Cof been attacked?”

“Sort of. Wol has sworn allegiance to the Forest King, whoever that is. Cof is now under the Forest King’s banner. Shortly after that happened my father sent me off, told me to head south and start a new life for myself.”

“You didn’t get far?”

She shrugged, “No, I didn’t. Why don’t you folks stay for a meal? We can put you up for the night.”

“I’d be happy to accept your hospitality.”

“Let’s get your animals looked after. The stable is on the small side, but we only have one other horse and not much for livestock, other than the goats.”

They went in and sat around a crowded table for a simple meal after the horses had been seen to.

Four young women and a juvenile girl now called the rickety tower home. He suspected that two of the women and the girl had been survivors from the Maldorn caravan, though none of them had said much about how they had ended up there. The dark haired woman, Gweth, seemed to be the one in charge and Flint had the distinct impression that she did not trust him. Especially when she asked him to sleep in the stables that night.

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