From cabbages and ears of wheat
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Full of confidence that they will finally leave the Telzer Moor behind them, our four former slaves march through it. The day at Feandal was longer than expected, however, and so the gathering darkness forces our group to set up a temporary camp in Telzer Moor near the Helenau trade route. A night watch, which is fairly relieved after two hours, ensures that Kel Tuh Las, Theo, Aldric and Löwenzahn are not attacked by any more XXL animals from the Telzer Moor, but instead get a good night’s sleep in peace. The next morning is cool and their provisional beds are soaked through overnight, so breakfast, consisting of dried fish - what else - is quickly eaten and the camp is cleared as quickly as possible to head for a more comfortable place.
They reach the Helenau trade route and head north-east, as Feandal explained to them. Occasionally they come across riders, and a merchant with a cart is also on the road, but he only sells cabbage and more dried goods and does not really cause any euphoria with this offer. After a little over an hour, the group discovers a large farm on the right-hand side of the road. A large sign with the inscription “Wilhelms Farm” leaves little doubt that they have reached their stopover destination. As a month’s ration of dried fish is obviously not enough for the hungry Theo, he decides to pack some of the ripe rye that grows next to the small path that leads to the farm’s main house, just to be on the safe side. Once there, they are greeted by a voluptuous lady who is hanging two beds out of a window on the upper floor, ready to shake them out. Greeting is not the right word, however, as she only grumbles a pissed-off “What do you want?”. Despite her truly monstrous figure and the anything but warm welcome, our four are not intimidated and explain that they are actually looking for Wilhelm. The lady doesn’t really seem to like this, but she obviously murmurs some kind of command into the farmhouse.
A little later, the door is opened for them by a somewhat cowed Wilhelm, who immediately apologizes for his wife’s behaviour. Our ex-slaves don’t really care that the atmosphere between Wilhelm and his broader half is a little tense, as they really only want to blackmail him because of the found pocket watch belonging to Feandal and their information about his sales activities in this regard. When asked about this, Wilhelm reacts sheepishly and explains that Feandal is just a normal customer and not a better friend. He only had to pretend so that he could get better prices from Feandal. Besides, Feandal was always bragging about his oh-so-great pocket watch of enormous value, which really got on his nerves. As his wife was now expecting a big surprise for her upcoming birthday, it had simply made sense to let Emanuel steal the watch and then turn it into money at the party. Emanuel is known for his penchant for stealing things, and he has always had the odd successful collaboration beforehand. None of our four are actually interested in why the whole story is good for Wilhelm, they are much more interested in what he would do if they were to pass the whole thing on to Feandal now. Afraid of losing not only his face, but also Feandal’s friendship prizes, Wilhelm frantically looks around his farm for things he could bribe his unwanted guests with. His gaze also falls on the old barn where his workbench is located. Theo is enthusiastic about the idea, and Aldric also accepts the idea of having his silence bought. Equipped with new hammers, shears and other tools, Theo and Aldric consider themselves sufficiently paid off, and Löwenzahn and Kel are also reasonably satisfied with the equipment they have received. A cold farewell later, they are on their way back to Fichtenstein. But you won’t find out what their arrival looks like and what new tasks await them there until the next blog Arkanthia Pen and Paper.
