Corrin glanced at me and smiled. “Like I said. Goddess of luck; good and bad”.
Laurel reappeared from the kitchen carrying four plates heaped with steaming food – eggs and ham and bread and cheese. My mouth began watering as soon as I saw the contents of my plate. It was only when the first hunk of bread was halfway to my plate when Teren spoke up from his place at the bar.
“We would like to offer you employment”.
Tira looked up from morosely studying her suddenly lightened purse. When she spoke, her voice held none its usual melody and charm. “On what terms?”
Teren whispered with Mathwyn again for a moment, and the sturdy innkeeper nodded. I was quickly beginning to suspect that the true political power in Oakhurst rested at the bottom of a tankard of ale. Teren walked over and stood at the head of the table.
“The people of Oakhurst would like to hire you to scout the surrounding regions, locate and deal with these devils before they can do any more damage to our homes. We can afford to reimburse you 40 silver pieces each, plus a weeks’ stay in the Sleeping Dragon’s best rooms.”
And in that moment I knew that Amanautor’s had not called me from the safety of Kronos Keep for naught. Less than a week after leaving my cloistered life at the temple behind, I was already serving his will. The people of Oakhurst needed heroes, and He had led our motley band to the village at just the right time. I could not help but smile, and in that instant my faith and love for the Lord of Light grew more than it had in all of my years at His Haven in Kronos Keep.
While I was absorbed in self-reflection, Tira turned to Korvald and invited him to join us in our endeavours.
“Me? Oh, I don’t plan to go scouting around in the mud!” he chuckled, scooping up the discarded Three Dragon Ante deck and replacing it in its leather slipcase.
“You’re not afraid, are you?” The musical lilt was back in Tira’s voice in an instant. I could have sworn she batted her eyelashes at him.
“Only for these new boots,” Korvald retorted, and rose from the table.
Teren took the opportunity to jump back into the conversation. “So you will help us?” I glanced around at my companions, who met my eye willingly. I turned to the mayor of Oakhurst and nodded.
In the corner, Picard tutted.
“Excellent!” Teren exclaimed. “I shall go and tell Olvar immediately”. He hurried from the inn and the door swung shut behind him. Korvald watched him go and then bid us farewell, ascending the stairs to the sleeping quarters above.
Tira rose from her seat at our table and moved towards Picard. She pulled out a chair and sat down opposite him, heedless of the fact that he had not invited her to do so. “And what do you know of these creatures?” she asked him.
He glanced up from his meal, and then placed his cutlery among his half-finished repast with a sigh. He studied the four of us briefly. “There will be a lot of them. They are pack hunters. When you track them down, be prepared to be outnumbered”.
I paused with a chunk of fried ham halfway to my lips. It hadn’t occurred to me that we might need to track these creatures. It seemed so obvious now, and I doubted that any of my companions had the ability to do so.
Tira seemed to have an affinity for the wilderness, so much so that she somehow seemed larger when under the open sky and outside comfort of civilisation. But she had never demonstrated an ability to implement that affinity in any practical way. Despite her half-elven blood, she seemed to have grown up entirely within human society.
Corrin was more at home when things got rough, no doubt a result of his nomadic heritage, but we had first met him in a crowded bar and at no stage since had he displayed any great affinity for the natural world. He was perhaps the most coarse Godservant I had ever met.
And Skamos. Skamos possessed a wealth of information about history, magic and the natural world. He had on the journey north sometimes taken grim, almost malicious, satisfaction in proving that fact; pointedly informing us that the green pines along the road were of the pinacae family and pinus genus. Whatever that means. He had also been responsible for picking our campsites, pointing out the good locations that were sheltered from the wind and rain. But, and I write this with the greatest respect for my friend, he was not the most observant of people. I didn’t think we could rely on the tiefling to track these creatures for us.
“Tracking is not our forte,” I confessed. “Any assistance you might be able to provide would be appreciated.”
Picard snorted. “You can’t track?!” Then his demeanour seemed to soften and he rose from his chair. “Very well, come with me and I will show you what I have found.” I glanced down at my half-eaten breakfast, feeling my stomach rumble with protest at the thought of leaving it behind. But then I pushed those thoughts aside. Amanautor had brought me here for a reason. I could not serve his will sitting in an inn feeding my face. Skamos likewise pushed his plate away. He fidgeted with his bracers for a moment and then rose from the table.
As Tira, Skamos and I followed Picard from the inn, Corrin was still seated at the table trying to cram as much food into his mouth as he could. When we reached the door, the others passed through and I held it open, waiting for the halfling to join us. Corrin stared at me with desperation, his hands cupping his plate as a drowning man might cling to driftwood. Then he abruptly stood up and walked away from the table. I smiled at him, and then with a start realised that he still had his plate in his hand. He scooped up a hunk of cheese with a flourish and waved it at me as he passed, taking his food and the plate with him. I glanced worriedly at Mathwyn but the innkeeper only chuckled, setting her ample bosom in motion. Grinning sheepishly, I ran a hand through my tussled hair and let the door swing closed behind us.
Picard took us on a short rotation of the village, pointing out the tracks of the raiders where they had crossed the river to the east. According to the eladrin, a large group of the creatures had then gone north, towards the halfling village of Waymoot. Another group had continued into Oakhurst, where they had wreaked the havoc that we had already seen. Then that group had itself split, with some of the creatures heading south towards the outlying farmsteads. The rest returned to the east.
“Why would they have gone east?” I wondered aloud.
Picard shrugged. “Who knows? There are a few things out that way. They were probably headed for the old tomb or Cragg’s Keep.”
“The old tomb?” Tira asked.
The hunter nodded. “It’s an ancient tomb in the foothills to the east. The locals say that it’s full of treasure. And of course haunted. They say that many have gone to investigate it but none have come back”. His tone made it clear that he put little stock in the rumours.
“And Cragg’s Keep?” I asked.
“It was a small fort in the mountains twenty or thirty years ago, but it’s nothing but ruins now. And like any ruined structure left alone in the wild for long enough, it seems to have attracted new inhabitants. People claim to have seen creatures roaming the ruins at night, although what people were doing at Cragg’s Keep at night I don’t know”.
He turned to the south. “There are a few big farmsteads to the south. Ubler owns the big sheep farm and I think there’s another farmer down there that grows some sort of crop. When Lassie wasn’t curled around that fop Korvald’s finger, she mentioned that no one’s heard from the crop farmer for a while. It might be worth checking out.” The ranger ran a hand through his wispy hair and squinted into the morning sun. “Best of luck, friends. My breakfast is probably cold by now.” He flashed a hesitant smile at Tira and then returned to the Sleeping Dragon, leaving the four of us standing in the street.
“So, which way first?” I asked my companions.
Corrin gulped down a mouthful of bread. “We should head to Waymoot. If these creatures went that way, the villagers will need our help”.
There was obvious truth in what my undersized companion said, but I could not help but think that he would not be so keen to head north if Waymoot were a human village. I also felt it unwise to launch into a headlong pursuit of the largest group of these creatures before we had some measure of what they were, their motives and their capabilities. I said as much.
“Erais is right”, Tira agreed. “Picard told us that the smallest group was the one that headed east. We should head that way first and see if we can find them. It’s our best chance to get some good information about the raiders.”
Although Corrin continued to plead Waymoot’s case, we eventually swayed him around to our plan. He shrugged disconsolately. “Ok, let’s get going then.”
“Not just yet”, I replied. “I want to speak to Olvar first”.
I crossed the village square and made my way up the steps into Oakhurst’ shrine of Amaunator. I found the old man kneeling before the altar, and laid a hand on his shoulder. He jerked as if struck.
“Oh! You startled me, brother” he grinned ruefully as he struggled to raise, grasping my offered arm with relief. “What can I do for you?”
I told him that we had decided to investigate the old tomb to the east, but that before we headed off, I had a question for him. “Who was that woman that was harassing you when we first entered town?”
He jerked again. “Sybil? Oh never you mind about her, young’un. She’s harmless”.
Despite myself, I bristled at being referred to so. I gathered my composure and he moved around the shrine tidying and cleaning. “How can you say that when she demanded that you abandon your devotion to Amaunator?” I asked him.
He stopped fussing over a crooked tablecloth and turned to regard me solemnly. “Don’t judge her too harshly, brother. There is history between us. I had feelings for her once.” He exhaled dispiritedly. “But I don’t want to talk about that. History is history.”
I moved closer and tried to meet his gaze. “Indeed, but sometimes it helps to revisit the past”.
He did meet my gaze then, and his searching eyes were like flint. Finally he shook his head, grey hair wavering in the light coming through the shrine’s stained glass window. “No. I don’t think so. Not here. Not now. Maybe some other time, when I know you better.”
His back was suddenly straight, and his normally relaxed visage a study in stone. I knew I would get no more from him on the subject. I blessed him with the sign of Light, and he favoured me in return. And then I returned to my companions, and we set out for the tomb.
It turned out to be a stone mausoleum maybe 10 feet high and 50 feet long, swathed in carved icons. As part of my training for Amaunator’s clergy, we had studied the rise and fall of religions. Rector Bermensch maintained that it was to remind us that others had come before us, righteous and proud, only to fall into extinction through vice or hubris or sloth. I recognised some of the mausoleum’s icons, but I could not recall from where. They had not formed part of my formal study, so they could not be from any religion that had been active in the last two hundred years.
We scouted around the outside of the tomb and found a small campsite covered into three-toed tracks. Obviously the raiders had camped here, but there was no indication that they had entered the tomb itself. We gathered at the stone doors to decide what to do. I am ashamed to admit that, although we had no valid reason for entering that seemingly sacred place, our curiosity got the better of us.
Skamos used his magic to make Corrin’s shield glow with an intense white light. We drew our weapons and readied ourselves as the paladin stepped forward.As Corrin pushed on the massive stone door, it swung open on impossibly fresh hinges. And then we were bathed in fire. It happened so fast that I did not even see where it came from, but fortunately Corrin and I both had our shields up as the door opened. The flame trap scorched our skin and blackened our armour, but the fire was gone as quickly as it had appeared. In the sudden quiet afterwards, we were all still standing.
Corrin patted himself down, as though making sure he was all still there, and then stepped across the threshold into the tomb. From my position behind him, I could see inside. The mausoleum was brightly lit, despite the absence of any light source that I could see.