Otter Pond Chapter Two Glug wouldn't be finished until next week, great. It didn't bother Bud as much as I, he had taken to sparring with a few fellow dwarves, and I think he enjoyed being around his kind, though he too would like to get home soon. Screech and I were going hunting just about everyday. We would fly around, and I would try and shoot game with my bow. We weren't too successful, but we did manage to get enough food for Screech and the hatchlings. We had spent four days, since we had gotten back, in this fashion. Tonight we were all going out to dinner with Chargoth, he was bringing us to a tavern that he claimed to have the best food in Inder. Glug and Bud met me at Chargoth's, and we headed across town. Inder wasn't exactly a city, so it was only a few minute walk to get there. Most of the buildings were stone and earth homes with sod roofs. The richer folk and taverns were stone and wood with either thatched or slate shingled roofs. We arrived at the Brass Hammer Tavern, and were seated among a cleaner looking crowd than Bud, myself, and Glug were used to. The table next to ours, appeared to be full of merchants and caravan owners. "Why is everyone looking at us?" wondered Glug. "Cause you're an orc, stupid." quipped Bud. "Just relax, they'll get used to it." Chargoth said. Trying to calm things down. "The food here is great, and the women are nice to look at too." As if on cue, a scantily clad Dwarven female came over to our table and we ordered a round of ales. Chargoth ordered the food, and in moments she was back with the drinks. "See what I mean," said Chargoth "that is one nice looking maid." Bud was grinning in obvious appreciation, and Glug was even watching her make her way across the room. "I don't know how you dwarves can stand furry faced women." I said. "Women should not have beards." "An Elven woman can't stand up to the kind of loving us dwarves give." Stated Bud. Both he and Chargoth laughed mightily at that. Glug even laughed, though he wasn't sure why. Bud and Chargoth started telling stories about Dwarven maids, so I leaned back and slowly drank my ale. I overheard the table next to me talking about gnolls raiding a caravan. The person talking was a dwarf, and from the way he was talking, the raid seemed to have occurred recently. I nudged Glug and directed his attention to the conversation. By the time the food arrived we had gotten most of the story. Our maid set plates filled with carrots, potatoes, and steaming hunks of meat covered in a thick brown gravy in front of us. "Did you two hear what the table next to us was talking about?" Glug asked. "No, why?" wondered Bud. "It seems some gnolls wiped out an entire caravan just outside of Criad, that's only two or three days from here." I added. Chargoth raised his brows, "Gnolls you say? We had a problem with gnolls here last spring. They raided Inder one night, caught us by surprise, killed some people, raped some women, and stole some horses, including all of mine. It was pretty scary. Our army followed them north to the Plains of Kael, but never caught up to them. After that they figured it was the humans problem, and came back home. The scum must be returning to their homeland for the winter." "You think they'll attack Inder again?" asked Glug. "Doubt it, this time we'll be ready for them if they do, though." Claimed Chargoth. Bud, Glug and I looked at each other, we weren't so sure. "How many of them were there when they attacked Inder" asked Bud. "No one knows for sure, but estimates are at least forty, that's about the usual size of a gnoll raiding party anyway, and they had to have at least that many." "Hopefully they lost a few over the summer" added Bud. Glug looking excited, "Lets go kill them!" "Why don't you go kill them Glug, when you're done, come and get me, I think I have some fishing to catch up on" I said. "You boys would be better off leaving them alone. Not much the three of you can do against a band of gnolls, except maybe get killed." Advised Chargoth, looking a little concerned. Bud had a smile on his face at the thought of real adventure, "You haven't seen us in action, we wouldn't attack them in force, we'd maybe sneak around and take out a few at a time. Eventually there wouldn't be any gnolls left." Glug and Bud were both grinning now, I wasn't so confident, and Chargoth just shook his head. "I'll finish up my lessons then we can go after them" said Glug smiling evilly. Chargoth changed the subject and we finished our meal. I have to admit, the food was pretty good. After that we went back to our inn for a nights rest. The next day Glug went to finish up his lessons, Bud went to the outfitter to buy heavy furs and any supplies he thought we might need to chase after some gnolls. I went fishing along the edge of Scebec Lake. Scebec Lake is a pretty large lake. Inder sits along a small bay in the lake's southeastern corner. Inder is bordered on the north by Big Tharson Stream, a tributary to Scebec Lake. I fished along Big Tharson Stream, and was able to catch a few trout. There is very little of Inder north of the stream, a few houses, farms and a run down looking tavern "Stumpy's". I went in for some lunch. What a dump, I thought our Horny Mug was a wreck, this place was worse. It looks like they had fights every night, only they never cleaned up afterwards. In the dim light it was hard to make out that the brown spots all over the walls were dried blood. The tables all looked damaged, and it looked like broken chair legs were fueling the fire in the hearth. A couple of lanterns hung from the rafters supplying light. An orc leaned against the otherwise vacant bar. "You run this festering wound?" I asked. "Yup" replied the orc intelligently. "You got any lunch?" "Nope." "Anyone ever come in here?" I wondered. "Nights, dwarves looking to prove something and the occasional orc or goblin looking to do the same." "How come I never heard of this place? I have an Orc friend who would love hanging out here." "Orc friend huh, you must be one of them dudes that brought in the griffons." "Yup. See ya around." Glug would like coming here, Bud too, maybe if they could find a nice fight here, they wouldn't want to chase after the gnolls. I finished up fishing and took my catch home. Damn, my home isn't anywhere near here, oh well, I ended up giving the fish to Chargoth. Back at our inn, I found Bud asleep under a two foot pile of furs. I decided to take a nap myself. A while later Glug came in from finishing his lesson. I told him about Stumpy's, and he got pretty excited. We all napped until dinner time. Bud woke us up and showed us the furs and blankets he got for our trip. I told him about Stumpy's, and both he and Glug agreed to go there for dinner tonight, and maybe kick some butt. I checked my daggers before we headed out the door for dinner, and brought some bread and wine in case the food was inedible. Bud and Glug practically skipped to Stumpy's, if they didn't get into a fight soon, they were going to start hitting each other. We took the road north out of town, across the bridge, and there was Stumpy's, light was coming out of its sole window, my spine tingled as we approached it. "I'm gonna toss some little dwarf through the wall!" claimed Glug. "I hope a couple of goblins come in so I can smash their skulls together and make a little goblin head cheese." Said Bud, smiling quite evilly. Shaking my head, I added. "I hope the two of you get knocked out, so I can slit your throats and live the rest of my life in peace." With great anticipation we eased open the door. It seemed bright inside after walking here in the dark. The same orc was behind the bar, but the rest of the place looked empty. We entered the room, and saw two elderly dwarves sitting at a corner table, they didn't look like the fighting type. Bud and I sat down in the opposite corner, and Glug went to talk to the bartender. He came back with some mugs full of some dark fluid. "I ordered up dinner for us, hope this place gets a little livelier." Said Glug. The ale was horrendous, I drank from my wine skin, Bud even had to struggle to down his first mug. Glug could drink the ooze from a ghouls eye, he was up for another mug in seconds. Our food came out in no time, it was barely cooked, big surprise. I'm not sure what the meat was, but I was pretty sure it had been howling at the moon last night. Bud and I picked through our food, Glug wolfed his down, along with several more of the rotgut ales. About midway through dinner the old dwarves shambled out the door, leaving us alone, with the tender. He assured us that the real crowd didn't show up for another hour or two. Damn. An hour or more later, and Glug was hunched over, his body shaking violently as he vomited on the floor. Then he just lay under the table groaning for a while. Bud was insistent that we wait another half an hour before we leave, Glug groaned in support of Bud. Damn, I had run out of wine and was forced to nurse one of the awful ales. A few minutes later a short creature, with his hood covering his face, came through the door. All six of our eyes, Glug's from under the table, watched him head over to the bar. His back was to us, but we could here him ask the tender about griffons. The bartender nodded his head in our direction and said, "Those are the boys you need to talk to about griffons." The figure turned in our direction, he was a goblin. When he saw us, staring at him, he turned pale and quickly headed for the door. He pulled it open and broke into a run. By this time, we were all getting up from our table, and when we saw him run we took off after him. Glug came stumbling out from under the table, and the three of us broke into a sprint out the door. We spotted the goblin heading for the trees not far away. It took very little time for me to catch up to him, goblins are not known for their foot speed. He gave it all he had, but I leaped on his back and drove him into the ground. I was able to get my dagger out and put it to his throat. Bud and Glug arrived shortly after. "What are you running from, goblin" I asked. He just begged us not to hurt him. Bud, Glug, and myself were all hurling questions at him. After a little bit he said he was just asking about the griffons, because he had never seen one before. He could be telling the truth, but he acted pretty guilty the way he bolted for the door when he spotted us. We realized that we weren't going to get anymore out him like this, so Glug decided to go back and get his torture equipment. Bud and I tied the ugly little monster to a tree a short distance into the woods. Hopefully no one would be able to hear him screaming out here. Glug got back shortly. Now the serious questioning began. Glug began operations with a light beating and threats of more to come. No answers were forthcoming, so he took out the thumbscrews. A couple of those, screwed under the goblins fingernails, and the he started to talk. He had been sent by the leader of the gnoll raiding party to investigate rumors of some griffon hatchings. Apparently this gnoll was interested in obtaining them for his own purposes. He said he was to meet this gnoll at Otter Pond. Several hours had passed, and a light snow had started to fall, before the interrogation had ended. It was early in the morning now. We decided that this goblin would bring us to Otter Pond. Glug and I went to get our gear and steeds while Bud watched the goblin. I started packing our gear into the saddle bags and packs, Glug went over to Chargoths to get our horses. He was back shortly. "You see Chargoth?" I asked. "Yeah, he asked where we were going? I told him, Out." Responded Glug. We finished packing up everything we had, including our plate armor. Glug and I put on our leather, as travelling in the plate is pretty uncomfortable, especially if we had to walk through the woods and mountains. We loaded up the horses, and I got Screech on the way back to Bud and our little tortured friend. Bud put on his leather when we got back. We were finally ready to go find some action. Glug untied the Goblin from the tree and pushed him forward. "Okay you little piece of dung, take us to Otter Pond". The Goblin lead us back across the river and we followed the road south of Inder into the Inder pass. Our excitement slowly faded, as the day wore on. We were walking along the trail, it was two wagon ruts winding between the hills. Trees were everywhere, and tried to recapture the roadway in many places. Visibility off the road into the trees was not very good, and being surprised by something hiding in wait seemed almost certain. I asked the goblin, "How long is it going to take to get there?" "We won't be there till tomorrow sometime." "Just make sure you let us know before we get there, I don't want to walk right into an ambush" I said. "Yeah Goblin, if you lead us right to them, I'll make sure you are the first to die" threatened Bud. We traveled south through the Inder Pass for the rest of the day. The sun was setting and it was time to make camp. We settled down around a camp fire, and made our dinner. It was getting colder. An hour after sunset and it was below freezing. We huddled in our furs and blankets, snow started to fall for the second time in two days. I had the first watch. The other three, including the goblin fell asleep quickly, we were all tired, as none of us had gotten any sleep last night. It was difficult staying awake for five hours, I was exhausted. I paced our camp in circles, bow in my hand with an arrow nocked, and my sword at my hip. I sat a while with Screech, we kept her on the opposite side of the camp as the horses, but even she too deserted me for sleep. I sat against her warm body and watched the snow fall. It really made everything quiet, yet could also unnerve you when enough snow would build up on a spruce tree's needles and drop to the ground. An inch had accumulated by the end of my watch, I woke Bud, assured myself that the goblin's hands were still tied, then climbed under the furs next to Glug. They were still warm from Bud, you get used to sleeping in leather armor, with your sword in your hand and your shield by your head. It was a matter of survival when in the wilderness. "Goodnight Strongbow." "Stay sharp Bud, the snow can play tricks on your ears." "Hopefully Screech will hear something if I don't. See you in the morning." And with that I closed my eyes, and sleep came quickly. "... is it?" I awoke to Glug's voice, next to my head. "Two big dudes coming our way" whispered Bud. At that point I quickly came to full awareness, Glug threw back his blankets, hefting his axe in one hand and grabbing his shield with the other. I climbed from under my furs just as two giants came charging through the trees. Bud was waiting for them with his great axe at the ready. Glug was also poised for the attack. I was just getting my shield on and sword out when the first blows fell. They were hill giants, not too large, too smart, or too tough, but damn dangerous none the less. They weilded giant clubs, that looked like small tree trunks. Bud dodged the first blow, and was able to get underneath the swing and strike with his axe. The giant fell back blood pouring from a wound at his waist. The other giant landed a blow on Glug's shield, Glug held, and coutered with his axe, taking the giant in the side. By this time I was able to get in on the second giants flank. I could hear Screech behind me, she was up and ready to kill. Bud and I danced around with the giant, blocking and dodging blows, and piling up wounds on his thick hide. He soon went down, and Glug finished him with a blow of his axe to the head. I turned to see how Bud was fairing, just as he landed another chop, and Screech dove onto the giants flank. It went down, and didn't move anymore. Our goblin captive, awakened by the combat, took off at a run. I quickly caught him, and dragged him back to our camp. Glug kicked him hard in the stomach and yelled something in Orc at him. The goblin just lay in the fetal position whimpering after that. Glug was a little shaken from taking the massive blows on his shield, and Bud had taken a shot to his side. If Glug's shield weren't magical, it surely would have been smashed to pieces by that club. Glug checked out Bud's injury, no broken ribs, but there was some nice swelling and bruising. Glug did what he could to help Bud, and he seemed to feel better afterwards. Screech enjoyed feasting on the giant's carcass. We checked the bodies, but found little of value on them, a small supply of food, and some copper coins. "Why did those dumb bastards have to attack us?" asked Bud. "If they had any brains they would stay away from us." "Well consider it a good deed, weeding out the less intelligent of the giant species" I added, "the race of hill giants should thank us." "Hargh!" laughed Glug. We dragged the other body away from our camp, and I had Screech finish her meal further away. Glug and I went back to sleep, after calming down, and hoped we would not have anymore excitement this night. When I woke again it was morning, Glug had gotten a fire going and was heating up some water. There was about two inches of snow on the ground, but none was falling. It was cold, but had not gotten any colder since my watch. We ate a warm stew for breakfast, rechecked our wounds, Bud seemed to have been healed just fine, and packed our stuff and departed. The goblin continued to lead us, around mid-morning the snow had begun to melt, and was dropping from the trees all over. The sound of the falling snow had everyone on edge, it sounded like a footfall in the leaves, we surely would never hear anything moving near us. The goblin assured us that we were almost there. An hour or so later, and Screech, who I was walking ahead of, as is our usual custom, let out a short squawk and peered into the air. One advantage of having a griffon with you, is that they are always looking for danger from the sky, while us creatures of the earth rarely look upwards. We all stopped and glanced heavenward. Sure enough, up high, we could see a large flying creature. We all jumped off the path, closer to the trees. It was a dragon. As it wheeled in the sky circling to our right, the sun shown through its leathery wings, it was a green. "Holy shit" said Bud quite calmly, as we all stared upwards, mesmerized by the sight of the beast. We had slain a dragon before, a large red dragon in fact, much larger than this one, but that had been with considerable aid from a powerful adept, and a lot of luck. If that dragon spotted us, we had no chance. Just as the dragon began circling overhead, we witnessed something far more incredible than we would have ever thought possible. The dragon looked as if it had spotted us, its head was down and staring in our direction, when from out of nowhere a shape as much larger than the dragon as it was larger than us, slammed into the dragon from above, in a full dive. It was an eagle the size of a mountain. It pulled out of its dive with the dragon clutched between it claws, spread its massive wings, blocking out the sun, and lifted up and away out of our sight. At the same time, a shower of blood rained down. Gallons of it must have splashed onto the path in front of us. We backed away, we knew that dragon blood was like acid. We were totally stunned by the spectacle we had just seen. Bud, Glug and I exchanged looks of awe, no words were required. The goblin was staring at the blood, then slowly began to move towards it, Glug grabbed him. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" he asked. "I'm going to drink the dragon's blood" responded the goblin quite matter of factly. "Why the hell would you want to do that" asked Glug, "that stuff can kill you." "Not a green dragon" replied the goblin, "if you drink the blood of a green dragon, you gain the ability to speak with animals." We all looked at each other, unsure if this were the truth. I remember hearing something like that, but such stories I always dismissed as old wives tales, plus who ever thinks they'll have the chance to drink dragon blood? "Let him try it, I think he's telling the truth" I said. Glug didn't look convinced. Bud added, "Yeah, I've heard that before, let him drink it, then we can too." Glug let the goblin go, and we all watched as he bent over picked up a leave with a blood drop on it and put it to his tongue. Just then I remembered the rest of the legend, it had to be the blood of a green dragon, within one hour after its death. The goblin dropped to the ground convulsing and clutching his throat. He continued to shake, and in a minute was still, a white froth foaming out of his mouth, his hands clutched to his throat, and his eyes bugging out of his head. "I guess the dragon isn't dead yet" I said "Well this goblin sure as hell is" said Glug nudging him with his foot. "What do you mean the dragons not dead yet" asked Bud. I told them the rest of the legend, then we all stared at the blood. "Hey Glug, I'm sure that dragons gotta be dead by now, why don't you go try it" Bud said. Glug looked at Bud not sure what to do, "You really think the dragons dead?" "Sure" I added, "go ahead and try some." Glug looked at both of us then slowly bent and picked up another leave. He ran his tongue the length of it and gave a swallow. I smile crept across his face, just when a rack of pain swept his body and he dropped to the ground and curled into a ball with his hands clutching his gut. Glug writhed and groaned for several minutes, before finally stopping. He lay there panting with sweat on his brow, but obviously still alive. He slowly got back to his feet. His face showed signs of pain, but his eyes were darting about and a smile crept across his face exposing his hideous set of teeth. "Do you hear that" he asked. "I know what the squirrels are saying!" Glug started squeaking and chattering in horrible imitation of a squirrel. "I can hear them, it really worked!" He glanced at the horses and let out a snicker. Now the horses looked confused. "It really works, you gotta drink the blood, hurry!" Bud and I looked at each other still not sure whether Glug was just pulling our legs and trying to get us to do something as stupid as he just did. "Oh, what the hell" said Bud, and grabbed a handful of red snow. He threw it back and quickly dropped to the ground into a now familiar position. In a few minutes he too was up and chattering like a squirrel. "It really is true Strongbow, you have to drink some." Well since these idiots had done it, I better take a chance. I scooped up some red leaves and snow, hoping to outdo the other two, if possible, and sucked it all into my mouth and swallowed. Pain exploded in my stomach, it felt like I had been run through with a sword, a pain I have felt before. The hole world became pain, my entire awareness became centered around the pain. It seemed like an eternity, but it eventually began to subside. As the pain dissipated, the world came flooding in like a tidal wave. With it came the crisp awareness of the cold snow against my face, the smell of the air, and the sounds of the forest, the animals, I knew what they were saying. I rose to my feet in complete awe of what I was now hearing. Every chirp of every bird was a call to a mate, a proclamation of danger, the cry for food. I slowly turned taking it all in, I stopped when my eyes fell across Screech. "How are you doing" I asked her. "Squawk" Good, she replied. Only then did I realize that I had squawked my question to her. I looked at Bud and Glug, they were both grinning quite foolishly. The display of bad teeth was sickening, but even that could not dampen my mood. "Wow, this is incredible" I said. "It sure is." "Grunt" Yup After coming back down to earth, we realized that our guide was dead, and that we really didn't feel all that great. A dull pain still lingered in our throats and stomachs. "Anyone have any idea where Otter Pond is?" I asked. "No" said Glug, "why don't we ask the animals?" "I don't think they read maps you moron" said Bud. "Maps, you mean we could have looked at a map" I asked. "No, we don't have one, I'm just saying that Otter Pond is just a name people gave some pond, the animals won't know the name." "Maybe they'll know where some otters are" said Glug. We began interrogating the squirrels and birds. Most just screamed danger at us, didn't reply, or ran away. We were finally able to get a crow to point us towards a body of water. We walked about half a mile off the trail and came upon a lake. "This does not look like a pond" I said "Nope" added Bud "Why don't you fly around and take a look." Not a bad idea. I mounted up on Screech and told her to fly. It was strange, being able to ask her what she saw. Her speech was very limited, as was her intelligence, I realized, and had to reduce myself to asking yes or no questions. From in the air I could make out our position. To our southeast, a large mountain rose up, we had been traveling along its base the last few hours. The lake we were at was also at its base. A little further to the west was a pond that was connected to this lake by a stream. And further north and west of that were two more ponds. On the eastern side of the mountain I could make out the glimmer of another even larger lake. We could be searching for this pond for days, I realized. We flew back down to the rest of them, and told them what I had seen. We decided to circle this lake looking for any sign of gnolls, then head for the nearest of the ponds, to the west, if we found nothing. A couple of hours later, we were heading west. There was no sign of any humanoids around the lake, except the remnants of a campfire that was probably months old. We scouted around the pond, and found even less. Not even any otter. By this time it was getting late. We set up camp, had some food and tried to dry our clothes by the fire. The snow had been melting all day, and we were cold, wet, and miserable. Glug was able to heal the pain in my stomach, as well as his own and Buds, so at least that wasn't bothering us anymore. Dinner was jerked beef, cheese, and hard bread. The other two were soon in bed, leaving me with the horses and Screech. As I stood the first watch, the temperature began to drop and whatever hadn't melted was soon frozen, including the ends of my ears. I was able to spend more time trying to talk to the animals on my watch, but very few were out and about, and those that were, didn't much feel like talking. I was able to understand the hoots of the occasional owl. It seems those things are constantly looking for a mate, that's all they talked about. I woke Bud and climbed into the sack for some much needed rest. The night went without incident, and I woke to Glug's bad cooking and the frozen ground. The cold conditions made my rest somewhat less refreshing than usual, but I certainly felt like getting moving soon. We decided to go investigate the ponds to the north. We decided to go back up the trail to a place where a trail branched off and headed west, it should head towards where I spotted those ponds. A quick aerial recon affirmed this idea, and we were off. It only took two hours to get to the ponds, the trail lead right between them. Both ponds had beaver dams, and the one north of the trail had two beavers working away at some trees. We did a quick scout around and found nothing. This could be the place, the gnolls were last seen near Criad, and probably wouldn't be getting here till today anyway. We decided to backtrack down the trail about a mile, to an area where we could climb up on a ridge and watch over the trail. The top of the hill we went up was about 100 yards off the trail. We parked ourselves in a cluster of evergreens, and had a decent view of the trail. Only leafless hardwood trees obstructed our view. The day slowly dragged by. We saw one deer pass by, it wasn't even close enough to bother shooting an arrow at. The sun started to set, it had never gotten above freezing today, at least we weren't drenched today, but sitting and waiting sure was cold. We ate without a fire that night, and decided to camp where we were. My watch was boring as usual. "You're up Bud" I shook him awake. He clambered out from under the furs, put on his coat and stalked off to an upturned pine. "Wake up" whispered Bud in my ear. It was dark, calm and dead quiet. "something's coming." He woke Glug as I prepared my shield and sword. I could hear the sound of heavy footsteps coming in our direction. They were coming along the top of the hill from the direction of the ponds. Glug got ready too, hopefully they wouldn't notice us hidden in the evergreens, and continue on their way. As they got closer we could make out voices, sounded like two more hill giants, just our luck Just then one of the horses snickered. The giants froze, then started to sneak directly towards us. Now we knew conflict was imminent, we crouched in preparation of the fight to come. The giants came through the trees into our view only a few feet away. They spotted us just as we leapt to attack, the battle was on. It was over quickly, Screech joined in immediately, and the giants were simply out manned. They had little of value on them, and appeared to be very similarly outfitted as the last two. Everyone was a little bruised, but no one had taken any serious injuries. Screech didn't even bother to eat much. We went back to sleep and left Bud to finish his watch. Morning came, cold and crisp, like the food Glug had for us. We stay on the ridge all morning, but nothing goes by. At this point we begin to think that the goblin was leading us on a wild goose chase. I take to the air and see another small body of water to our north, on the other side of this hill, as well as a trail running parallel to the one we are guarding. We pack up our things, and head north. After an hour we intersect the second trail, we don't see any sign of gnolls. We are hopelessly lost. We investigate the body of water I saw, but it's just a huge bog. "Who's idea was it to follow that stupid goblin" I ask. "Shut up, Elf" Glug spits. "Who was stupid enough to follow an Orc" asks Bud. He's right, I went along with this dumb idea, I'm at fault just as much as anyone. Maybe next time I will go fishing and let these two idiots chase after gnolls. The trail we are on starts heading north, it looks like it is heading for Scebec Lake, we decide to follow it, then go along the south shore of Scebec back to Inder. We don't make it up the trail very far before nightfall forces us to camp. We set up off the trail and start a fire for the first time in days. The night passes as eventfully as the day did. The next morning we break camp and continue along the trail to Scebec Lake. We get there a little before lunch, and begin to follow the shore to the east. Soon after we smell smoke, the smoke of a campfire. We all become cautious, and pick our way slowly. After a few minutes, we get to the point, where we can see up the shore, and there is a dwarf cooking at a fire. We relax and walk towards him. He sees us soon afterwards. "Hello there travelers, you heading for Inder?" asks the dwarf. Bud does the talking, "Yes, we are Bud, Glug and Strongbow, we have been staying in Inder for a couple of months." "Well come, sit, have some lunch, I've got plenty of fresh rabbit. By the way, I'm known as the Mystic Poacher." "Mystic Poacher?" asks Bud. The three of us look at each other, slightly confused. "You've heard of me I see" he says. "No, just can't believe anyone has such a stupid name" answers Bud. "Oh." The mystic poacher looks a little let down upon hearing that. "Well I'm legendary in these parts. Have a seat anyway, I haven't seen anyone in weeks." We sit down and enjoy some fresh cooked rabbit with the man. "Excuse me, Mister Poacher, but do you know where Otter Pond is?" I ask. "'Course I do, but it ain't anywhere near here. Its on the southeastern side of Lake Ona'wak. You could take Ship Pond Stream right up there, its only a day or two away." "Does everyone around here know where Otter Pond is" I wondered aloud. "Only if they're from around here, I don't expect visitors like you to know where it is, but I just told you so now you do." Volunteered the Poacher. Glug holds his head in his hands and groans. Bud smacks him across the top of the head and mutters something about the intelligence of orcs. The poacher gives us directions to Ship Pond Stream, it dumps into Scebec Lake, and is on our way back to Inder. We thank the poacher for the food, and continue our trip back to town, its only about a half day away, and we are running short on food. We cross Ship Pond Stream a couple hours later. It heads up stream in a general southeasterly direction. Night falls before we get to Inder, so we are forced to camp out another night. I'm tired of the cold, and can't wait to be warm again. I wake Bud for his watch and sleep beckons like memories of a past lover. I am soon asleep. The sound of conversation slowly wakes me, its still dark, I'm still half asleep, but I here several people talking about hunting deer and food. I open my eyes and see Bud surrounded by furry shapes. Then I realize that he's talking to wolves. Looking around I see that there are at least a dozen of them. They are eating some food, Bud must have given them, and seem to be deep in discussion with each other and Bud. I glance over at Glug, and notice that one of the furs he is sleeping under is breathing on its own. What is this an animal shelter? I fall back asleep, and have nightmares of wolves chasing me through the woods. A bit later I hear Glug yelling at Bud. "What the hell are they doing here? Did you feed them? I hope you didn't give them our food." Must be Glug's watch. Bud just ignores the questions. "Goodnight Glug, I'm going to bed." I take a quick glance around, all the wolves are sleeping soundly around our camp. The horses are keeping their distance, and don't look to happy about the situation, and the wolves seem to have steered well clear of Screech. The next morning we have breakfast, throw some scraps to the wolves, and continue back to Inder, an hour later and we break from the trees onto a farm on the edge of town. The wolves decide to part company with us here, and we head across town towards Chargoth's, he'll probably have a map of the area.
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