We traveled northeast for hours, doffing our armor to make better time for Ygnas’ sake. To be honest northeast was the only real choice for miles. Mountains blocked the north and south, ands to the wet were salt plains. At least in grasslands there would be a chance of water and game, not to mention civilization. Eventually we came across a road, with diverging pathways northeast, northwest, and southeast. We chose northeast again, passing through a forest.
u-Heury noticed blood spots along the trail, along with the howling of wolves in the distance. We stopped to replace our armor. Morin and u-Heury took 15 minutes to scout the trail quietly, finding a dead body with nothing else of interest. u-Huery collected a helmet, after cleaning most of the maggots off and eating the rest for snacks. Barbarians are the worst.
We continued on, seeing no need to follow the trail further and invite a confrontation. At the edge of the forest we met a man on a cart heading the other direction. He was headed south and, when we inquired for directions, said we were headed in the wrong direction. Lindysfar was the only town north along this road, and it claimed a few hundred souls. Thatchem was south, and a little west, but we would need to take the southeast fork in the road to get there. He was willing to offer a ride in his cart, but – after thinking about it – we figured it would be too slow to save Ygnas. We resolved to buy horses in Lindysfar and ride south.
Lindysfar turned out to be a disaster. The small farming town was barely civilized. They had no respect for Denara, thought Rowen to be a witch (and were not necessarily wrong, but she’s a useful witch). u-Huery was no help, talking about how women tended to end up dead when he came to town and partied hard. Morin at least kept her mouth shut and didn’t make things worse. Only one old woman was willing to help us, and she had only one horse to sell. Thanking Denara for her grace in adversity, I paid her, checked our financies, secured Ygnas’ body to the horse, and prepared to ride out alone.
The plan was for the rest to follow however they could manage. On foot, if necessary. I would get Ygnas to Thatchem as fast as possible and meet the rest when they caught up. Only fools would brand themselves as horse thieves in a town full of cowboys.
