A new region

Slightly over half an hour later, Kathariel and Jay dismounted his horse in front of the garrison.

On their way there they had already met the support party. Telling them the threat was gone, they still marched on to secure the vicinity.

Minutes later they stood with Haggard inside the command room with the maps on the table and were reporting what they found. Though Kathariel explained it for the most part, not hiding any detail, Tharynn and Haggard glanced towards Jay here and there.

After the Lieutenant had finished her report, Jay took out the totem they found as well as the collar he took from Hogger.

The quest had updated on defeating the monster and that was the reason why he even fetched the blood smeared metal collar.

It was to be delivered to the commander.

***

Quest:

'Close by Gnolls (3)' cleared!

2000 XP

***

Afterwards he stated his impression to both items:

The totem this time around seemed to have boosted the quality and fertility rate as well, contrary to the totems until now. Some of the monsters they encountered were of higher level than normal in this region.

And as the attacks started to increase not that long ago, the female adventurer they saved shouldn't have been captured that long.

For the collar he delivered, Jay hinted to the engraving on the inside.

Going by this item and the carefully placed inside a tent totem, this whole scenario looked like a set up test.

By whom this was instigated was what they had to find out.

"If what you just said proves true and the reports from Arathor are as well... we need you to continue on as soon as possible." H.

"Yeah, that's what I was tasked to do by Marshal Whitmore as well..." J.

"The Marshal?" K.

"Yep, why?... any locations or points of interest I should go checking first?" J.

"Well, going by that last encounter of yours, the Gnoll camp at the northern long-shore has to be checked. I'd even bet on there being one of those things again..." T.

"Yes, and the Jango-Lode mine! It had been a settle ground for kobolds since it ran dry long ago.

It was tolerated as with this, those rats close to the northern shore were kept away from the fields.

But if one would place a totem there..." H.

"What about the Murlocs on the northern shore?" K.

"I never found a totem with Murlocs, but I think it's worth checking." J.

With this it was set that Jay would travel to Westfield and check on the Gnoll camp, the shore and the Jango-lode mine.

Kathariel was to accompany him and lead the way as Jay had no idea of the region.

As they left the main building and the Lieutenant went off to fetch herself a horse, Jay used the short moment to inquire from Tharynn about the small abode he saw on his flight to Gold Creek.

For all he knew it was abandoned some years ago and shouldn't be inhabited at that moment.

Telling him what he thought to have seen, Tharynn would relay the information to Haggard and send someone to look around there.

Jay might have found another relay post of the bandits.

They said their goodbyes when Kathariel arrived with a white horse that looked familiar to Jay. Summoning his own horse and mounting it, the two rode out of the garrison and towards the right on the main road.

Speeding up their magic mounts as they left the close proximity of Gold Creek, Jay and Kathariel were about to pass the peninsula they defeated Hogger on a short while ago.

They had rode only about an hour as they met a patrol and lowered their speed a bit.

Closing in on the five soldiers, Jay spotted the face of someone he knew.

It was Lourna, the woman he had saved from the Kobolds back then. Giving Kathariel the signal to stop, he dismounted and walked over to the patrol.

"Jay? Is that you?" L.

"Hey Lourna, long time no see. How are you?" J.

"Thanks, I'm pretty fine. A bit lonely at work since I'm the last one remaining of the old team." L.

"Huh? What about the rest?" J.

"You don't know? Riley got promoted to Lieutenant and appointed to a border town called Colhen. That was directly after the party... I thought you'd know." L.

"No, but I was quite busy myself. I'm happy for her and hope she's still alright?" J.

"Yeah, at least three days ago I received a letter from her. The border was said to be pretty quiet at the moment..." L.

"And what about the guys? Weren't you with Marlow?" J.

"Y-yes, I still am! He got his own team now and has been promoted to second Lieutenant. You might see him more often as he's with the town guard now. The same applies to Raynard as he's in Marlows team." L.

"Oh, good to hear. But I guess I won't see him often anymore. We're leaving to Westfield and will be gone for a while..." J.

"Then have a safe trip! I guess we need to get going as well." L.

"Hey, Lourna, please be careful when you get closer to Westfield. There might be monsters incoming from there..." J.

"...I will. Thanks." L.

With this settled, Jay jumped into his saddle and they rode onward to the regions border. Jay had never been in this region until now, where the forest grew thinner.

As they could already hear a river flowing and they rode around a wide turn, Jay saw what marked the border.

It was a truly massive stone bridge over a small valley.

Next to it stood a watchtower the size of the tower of azura.

Riding over the Bridge and watching the wild current of the river below, Kathariel and Jay were halted by the stationed soldiers. The guard Captain greeted them as he saw Kathariel wearing the soldiers armor.

She explained to him about the situation and warned him of impeding threats.

He laughed at it and even joked a little why she was in company of a adventurer.

To that, Jay simply held out his order certificate from Arathor.

Clearing his throat, the guard Captain instantly stopped his laughing and made way for them to pass.

From behind they hear him ordering his subordinates to double the lookout and make ready for combat as they rode on.

On the other side of the river, the vegetation changed drastically.

Though they passed a sparse treeline for some time, it could have hardly been described as forest. Not even five minutes later they found themselves surrounded by fields.

To the horizon only hills and fields were displayed.

Sparse trees and shrubs could be spotted here and there, as well as what looked like a farm in far distance.

It was located on a small hill to the north-west while the road looked to lead straight to the west for quite some distance.

"That up there will be our first stop." K.

"That farm? Why?" J.

"It's a farm close to the northern shore and I was hoping for them to give us shelter for the night as I know them." K.

"...May I ask how you got to the army? I don't want to pry into private..." J.

"Then don't. It's neither of your business nor has it anything to do with the mission!" K.

With this, their small talk came to an abrupt halt. It wasn't like Jay was interested in the cold elf.

He simply found it irritating that a elf was part of a human army and even that devoted to it. Now hearing she knew the farmers had made him ask about herself.

But he wouldn't ask again.

After a uneventful journey to the next crossroad, slightly to the south, and from there up the hill, it took them another thirty minutes in silence to get to the farm. Stopping at the big yard, Jay looked around.

The two farm buildings looked neatly tended to, though they weren't that big.

They were built in an L shape and connected, but the smaller one had more windows and gave the better impression. To the right of those buildings was a big barn and a similar sized paddock.

Through the trees behind the buildings, Jay could see the northern shore.

A slightly aged couple came out of the smaller buildings door and waved them over. Kathariel jumped down her horse and walked over, greeting them friendly.

Jay went after her but instead of fixing his reigns to the fence like she did, he simply dismissed his horse.

After a short hello he learned of the couple being the Jansens. Agnes and Ole Jansen had taken over the farm over a decade ago and knew Kathariel since then.

With amusement, Jay watched as the older couple talked about even all to superficial things of her past, the elf was so eager to hide.

To her request to stay there they gladly complied and told them that dinner had to wait until the workers com back from the fields.

It would take another hour as they only returned when the sun was setting. The harvest was sparse anyways, so they had to watch out nothing spilled.

"The fields didn't look that bad to me, though I don't have much knowledge of vegetables and harvest." J.

"Well, the fields ain't the problem, at least for us. But the demands we get that are rising each year are hard to come by, even with this much land..." A.J.

"Demands?" J.

"The kingdom requests higher supplies each year with the reason of growing population and the war at the southern border. As their prices are fixed and barely enough to meet the production costs, our lives get harder each day..." O.J.

"How is that possible? I am sure I had seen ships getting loaded with field crops..." J.

"Don't ask me! All I know is the rising taxes in this dukedom are taking what's left of our profits. But I guess we're still better off than other farmers to the south?" O.J.

"Why is that? Did you know about that Kathariel?" J.

"N-no...how would I?" K.

"As I already said, our fields are still good. May be thanks to laying close by the shore or the nearby river, our fields are still fertile. But most of the fields to the south are nothing more than barren earth by now." A.J.

After some more inquiring about the risen taxes and when it started, the first workers came back from the fields, pulling carts filled to the brim with vegetables. Jay and the Lieutenant used the time until most of the workers came back, to have a look at the shore.

As the farm was built only a few hundred yards away from the shore, atop a small cliff, they had a perfect view over the surrounding area.

The sandy beach was completely vacant. In the far distance to their right, close to the horizon, Jay thought he could see the silhouette of Arathor beneath the mountains.

After some time, Auntie Agnes asked Kathariel and Jay to come in and went on into the kitchen.

They were given two simple rooms in the adjoining building. It was the one all workers resided in, as well as where the big table was were all would eat together.

After putting down his fake backpack, or better the one he wore just not to stand out, Jay went down again and towards the kitchen.

He helped Mrs. Jansen preparing the dinner, leveling his cooking skill and taking some of her workload at the same time.

The result was a really tasty vegetable pan and two farmers, 15 field workers and one female elf so overeaten, no one wanted to move.

During the tasty meal, Jay asked about sightings of Gnolls or bandits in the region. Some of the workers told about single sightings of Kobolds a week prior and a single shady person sneaking around, but that was all they could tell. They hadn't heard something like sightings from other farms as well, what would normally would have instantly transmitted.

Even the murlocs at the coast seemed to have pulled back. The beach in the north had seldom been populated, but in the last weeks not a single one of those monsters had been seen.

When they finally went to their respective rooms on the first floor, Jay saw Ole giving Kathariel a thumbs up while Agnes whispered something to her. From her lips movement and the little his good ears could pick up, it was only the last word he really got "- ----- --- ----- – - -------t match..."

Seeing the glint in her eyes as she noticed Jay was trying to eavesdrop, Jay rushed out of sight for the elf.

The slight blush she showed at that moment didn't get missed by him though.

Getting to lay down on the hay stuffed bed after washing himself with cold water from a bucket, Jay rested his weary body. It had been a long ride and he still wasn't really accustomed to that kind of travel.

Thinking about what he learned that day and that something in this Kingdom really was off, he slowly drifted to sleep.

It was not even two hours later that he got woken up.

Slightly after midnight, Kathariel stood at the door with a empty bucked in her hands as jay shot up from the sudden cold.

Throwing the soaked blanket to the side, he threw an reproachful glare to the small elf.

She still stood in the door frame, adoring the sight of his chiseled looking body.

"What was that for?" J.

"Hurry!" K.

Kathariel didn't explain further but simply left and rushed down the stairs.

Doing as she said, Jay donned his armor and was glad at least his shorts were still at least half dry. Going down the stairs he spotted the Jansens, Kathariel and two men he hadn't seen until now.

One of them was severely wounded, but not life threatening.

Arriving next to him, Jay used a covered [Heal] that no one saw in the brightly lit room.

They were discussing what to do and that the farm would have to be prepared. After standing back up and going over to them, Jay asked what exactly happened.

"The Furbow's Farm is under attack. We need to assist them or this farm is the next one!" K.

"Attack by what?" J.

"The bandits. It's the bandits that are trying to take over the farm..." came from the worn out worker that had fled them.

"Please, alert the army or the Furbows are going to die!"