The Journeys of Barak

Part 6

Riding through the forested hills of Gnomish your small band attracts quite a bit of attention from the scattered settlements you pass. The villagers happily re-supply your party and wish you luck in your upcoming battles.

While you travel you continue to read the book of strategy that Master Hilo provided and translate the tactics there into northmen ideas. As time passes you come to rely more and more upon Fraeth, she takes care of all the little details the you never think of.

"Fraeth sure is helping out a lot isn?t she Barak?" Talus asks you one evening as your troops set up camp for the night.

"Yes she does. I never realized all the little things that could go wrong when you have to deal with all the problems of 20 other people. When Bear calls me away she will take charge of this little group, "You reply watching as she helps one of the other gnomes unpack his gear.

"Do you think Bear will call you away soon?"

"Possibly after I confront the dark warrior in my dreams."

"Do you know what you are going to do after that?"

"At this point, anything is possible. I?m sure Bear will show me the way. I may search out my companions I parted ways with those many moons ago. Why do you ask? Do you have something in mind?"

"Uhm?well no, not really but, I think I?d like to go with you when we get done helping the Hessians. Do you think that would be okay," Talus asks with a hopeful look on his face.

"Of course you can go with me Talus," you reassure him. Grabbing his shoulder you say, "I?m sure my friends would be honored to meet you."

"Great. It sounds like fun. See you in the morning, "He says as he rolls up in his blanket and quickly falls asleep.

Listening to his quiet snores for a time you whisper, "If we survive this coming battle Talus, if we survive."

The days pass quickly and your intrepid band soon reaches the Gnomish capital, Centertown. This bustling community is the largest collection of gnomish people you have seen yet, Talus confirms that this is as many gnomes as you are likely to ever see in one place. He also warns you to stick close as it can be pretty confusing for humans.

You soon realize that he wasn?t joking. The streets seem to run in random directions, stopping and merging suddenly. To your eye this place is more unorganized than Delving Bay. Talus tries to explain how everything is organized but you soon realize that it is the same brand of organization as how their government works and soon give up trying to understand and just enjoy the ride.

Fraeth leads the way to the center of the Centertown so you can speak to King Trina. Riding up to the capital seat of the gnomish people you are awed by its size and complexity. The building is a big as an eisfesh that could feed your entire tribe for a month. There is no one dominating style of construction throughout the entire building. It appears that as soon as a new idea in architecture came along they decided to try it out and just added on to the original building. Some of the sections even appear to have been blocked off by the additions.

Fraeth sends Kalick, one of the younger gnomes, to announce your presence and after a surprisingly short wait you are escorted into King Trina?s receiving room.

You had thought yourself inured to the strange ideas of the gnomes but this one causes you to pause for a heartbeat before you continue walking. King Trina is sitting in silken sling suspended two man-heights above a shallow pool that appears to have small brightly colored fish swimming in it.

"Hello," she calls cheerily, waving a bright yellow silk scarf. Noticing the banned held by Fraeth she says, "You must be the Company of the Bear and," gesturing at you, "that would make you Barak, Shaman of the Bear from the North. Word travels fast around here."

Recalling Giovanni?s instructions on how to properly greet people, you bow at the waist and say, "Greetings your majesty. Yes, I am Barak Moonshadow and these are my squad leaders Fraeth, Higgins, Yolli, Deram and my friend Talus. We are on our way to Hessia to aid the halflings in their battle against the unliving spawn of evil defiling the Great Mother?s heart."

"I commend you and your mission Barak. It would be a terrible shame if those dour halflings were defeated by the skeleton armies," she says shaking her head sadly. "Unfortunately we have not had much information from the front line as of late. General Meros left with the last of the available soldiers over three months ago and up till a few weeks ago everything seemed to be going fine. The messengers he was sending back just suddenly stopped coming. We don?t know what happened. Could you try and find out what happened to him for me?"

Spreading you arms to indicate the heavens and earth you say, "If the Great Mother wills it that I meet General Meros I will pass along your concerns to him and do what I can to assist him. Could you provide food and shelter for my troops for the night and we will continue our journey tomorrow at dawn."

"Of course, of course. Please accept my hospitality and take whatever goods you need to replenish your supplies." Clapping her hands she summons an aging gnome, "Cedrinn will see to all your needs. Please come visit if you ever come this way again," kicking her feet she begins to swing back and forth as Cedrinn leads you away.

Cedrinn turns to you, "She has quite a bit on her mind. She only swings when she is deeply troubled by something. Here are your rooms. You can get supplies from the storehouse in the morning." As he turns to leave he says, "Ring the bell if you need anything else. Good luck."

With a good night?s sleep and packs bulging with fresh supplies the Company of the Bear resumes its journey to the lands of the halflings. The rest of the journey to the border between the halfling and gnome lands passes uneventfully until you are a day?s travel from the border.

"Commander Barak! We?ve found some unusual tracks to the south of here," Deram reports as he brings his pony to an abrupt halt in front of you and Talus.

"Fraeth! Gather the company," you call out orders to your squad leaders, "Lead on Deram."

A half-mile to the south Deram dismounts and shows you the tracks his scouts have found, "They look humanoid but some of them I just don?t understand. What do you think Commander?"

Summoning the nose of the Bear you bend down to inspect the tracks. The stench of death and decay assaults your senses and you quickly stand away from the tracks. Rubbing your nose you say, "These tracks stink of rot. They must be from the unliving. We must track these abominations and destroy them. The tracks lead toward Gnomish. Quickly! Mount up, we must find them before they cause any harm." Leaping to Lightstrider?s saddle you yell out, "Deram lead the way."

Your troop quickly catches up to the shambling corpses of the recently dead. After a ferocious charge that decimates the enemy and a short skirmish to put down the remaining stragglers your gnomes celebrate their first battle and victory.

Calming the boisterous warriors you say, "We did well today but not all battles will be this easy. They were caught by surprise and very disorganized. Tend to your injuries and burn those things. We will track them back to where they came from and destroy them all!"

"Well said Barak," Talus congratulates you as he wipes gore from the head of his mace.

"This was their first battle and they need to know that it won?t always be this easy," you answer him. "They did well though didn?t they," you say with a smile.

"Yes they did. Now let?s find some more and put and end to them," he yells out and they rest of the gnomes join in the cheer.

Following the undead trail you travel for three days, deeper and deeper into the Hessian swamps before you encounter any thing other than normal plants and animals. The trail you are following has forced you to travel two abreast and has limited your scouts effectiveness so you are somewhat surprised when a halfling steps out from behind a tree right in front of Lightstrider, causing him to rear up a little.

"What do you do here manling?" the diminutive warriors asks you in broken Imperial.

Answering him slowly in Hessian you say, "We are tracking the walking dead that we destroyed back to their lair to destroy any others we find."

Smiling widely he says, "We were tracking them also. If you have delivered them to Lord Tan you have done us a great service and I am in your debt. I am known as Yuth, Stalker of the Red Adder Kin."

Nodding to Yuth you tell him, "I am Barak Moonshadow of the Kodiak Bear Clan, Servant of the Bear and the Great Mother. These are my companions, the Company of the Bear. We are here to assist you in you fight against the restless dead that are plaguing the Great Mother."

"That is good news indeed, Man of the Bear. Come with me and we will learn of one another at my kinhold," he declares as he turns and begins walking down a path through the swamp you would have never seen if he had not walked down it.

Looking at Talus, who shrugs his shoulders and says, "What are you looking at me for? You?re the leader."

"Alright everyone, form up behind me and keep an eye out," you order the company as you direct Lightstrider down the trail.

Yuth leads you down the twisting trail for several hours before you arrive at a clearing with several mud and grass huts arranged around a large stone altar. From out of the swamp around you step a score of halfling warriors who must have been the flickering forms shadowing you during the short journey.

While Fraeth settles the company you and Talus follow Yuth into his hut where he offers you what appears to be rolled leaves. "I would know your plans Bearman," he says as he lights one end of the rolled leaves and soon a cloud of swirls around his head.

Talus leans over to you and whispers, "They?re called k?gars. Just puff on them, don?t inhale."

Being careful not to inhale the smoke you light the k?gar and puff on it before you answer Yuth, "I have been led here by Bear to rid the Great Mother of the abominations that are causing so much grief in the swamps. I am destined to battle a dark warrior leading these forces. The outcome of the battle will be very important for all of us."

Leaning back against a pile of furs Yuth asks, "Why will this battle be so important?"

Handing the book of Jaeol to him you continue, "This book tells me that the dark warrior is a wraith. Do you know of them?"

As he flips through the book he nods his head and gestures for you to continue.

"My dreams tell me that he controls a large portion of the undead forces and if I destroy him they will become disorganized and will be easy to wipe out."

"Destroying a wraith is very difficult, Bearman. Only the greatest dreadhunters even attempt such a thing. If you believe that you can succeed at this quest I will serve as your guide through this life and into the next if need be." Drawing his bone knife and cutting his palm he says, "I offer blood bond with you to seal this pact."

Drawing your own knife you slash your palm and grasp his outstretched hand, "I accept your offer of blood bond. Together will rid the world of this curse."

Rising he beckons you, "Come. We have much work to do." Walking outside he summons the rest of his group with a few hand signals. "The Great Lord Tan has sent us new allies. We go now to do battle with the restless dead."

The following months are filled with many battles and long arduous treks through the swamps as you follow bits of information relating to the wraith leader. The battles are all fierce with no quarter given or received, some are small skirmishes, some are large scale battles in which you join forces with other gnomes, halflings and reptilemen. During this time period you learn more of how the halflings fight and befriend many of them as well as some reptilemen.

Always you follow the trail of the wraith and finally after many months of hard fought battles and searching your group is able to catch his forces and force a confrontation?.