A surprisingly peaceful trip

Contrary to their previous rush inside, the group watched out for traps or ambushes on their way out, but encountered not a single monster. It looked like they all fled once the Chieftain had died.

Jay thought it might have to do with the totem as well, but either way welcomed the smooth journey back. That didn't mean they let their guard down a single second though.

Once they reached the riverside, everyone's tension faded and they all sat down. Cerea had fetched some blankets for Clodagh to lay down onto, then went to make a fire.

The men used this moment to wash up in the river. They dried themselves in the sun afterwards and later began to split the spoils.

While the mercenaries kept their parts together as one, they wanted to give Jay a fair share. In the end he took less than they wanted him to as he had no use for old or simple weapons.

Still not too sure about it, he accepted some leather and meat though, together with the two items from the Chieftain and a Dagger Jagged Tooth has had.

During their sorting, Adohan had asked Jay to report to Brightwood once they were done. The Guild and military had to learn about the ruins, but the small group would directly travel back to Colhen once they were ready. It was certain that Clodagh needed some more treatment and a peaceful environment.

Jay doubted that Colhen, a border town in a war region, was a very peaceful environment but didn't hint on that.

He had also already cast healing on her while carrying the unconscious girl.

Though he has had the feeling she had woken up once in between, Clodagh remained sleeping the whole time since they had arrived at the river.

After saying their farewell and promising to meet again, Jay took one of the canoes to cross the river. He could already see a pier and roofs of the small town a bit down the river, and asked why the mercenaries wouldn't rest there.

They stated that they wanted to go home where Adohan would report to the families of those who died. At the same time it would be too hard for Clodagh to get questioned.

Jay used the time in the boat to check on his gains and the notifications he had only seen in his log as they came mid battle.

One was the information of a finished quest that he didn't even remember taking while the other was a new one he had to accept. At least the latter had come up the moment he had agreed to Adohan that he would report to Brightwood.

***

Quest:

'Free the Perilous Ruins' cleared!

8200XP

***

***

Quest:

A woeful report

Object:

Report to the town elder in Brightwood.

***

All together the Experience gained was quite a lot, even enough to level up once again, though his loot contained mostly materials this time. The giant hammer he had fetched when nobody was looking, as well as the Dagger made from some monsters fang were both of rare quality, even if Jay doubted their usefulness for him.

Only minutes after he left the mercenaries, Jay docked at the wooden pier he had seen from a short distance. Glad that no one was there, Jay climbed onto it and simply stored the whole canoe that he had cleared before.

From there he went along a small dirt road between two simple houses and arrived on a small town square.

It wasn't paved and the buildings around it mostly made of wood, but at least a couple of villagers crossed his way. Though eyeing him a bit curious, most of them greeted Jay friendly.

He directly went towards the biggest and only made of stone house. Jay hadn't even needed to ask for the town hall as he long had learned that the biggest house typically is the town elder's or the town hall, often even both.

In this case it was just so and upon knocking on the door a young man opened up. Jay was first a bit surprised, but the about twenty year old man introduced himself as the town elder's son.

Jay got led in after stating he had to report about the Perilous Ruins and that something happened there.

Thanks to some villagers having seen smoke rising up there, Jay got to report immediately. The town elder was like the name suggests quite old.

Jay wondered how the young man could be that ones son but soon erased this thought. He reported about most of what had happened, leaving only Clodagh and his fights while he was alone out of it.

The town elder had made notes on a simple sheet while listening and even written down Jay's name. He promised to relay the information to the Guild and military as soon as possible.

Then the old man thanked Jay for his help and that he made the region more safe again, asking how he could repay the youth.

***

Quest:

'A woeful report' cleared!

2500XP

***

Jay stated that he would receive his reward from the Guild and that was enough.

As he rose from his chair he only asked if they had an Inn or a resting area where he could camp. To his surprise the elder's wife, not as old as him but at least fifty years of age and quite plump, rose her voice from the side instead of the elder.

"You stay here! Fester, get a guest room ready, Walden, you fetch some ale from the basement. As if we let the boy who saved us so much trouble rest on the roadside!"

Completely befuddled, Jay had no time to react and got led to the dining room.

On their way over there, he learned that this morning a hunter had arrived and reported about another Gnoll encounter and that a small group had gone on an emergency mission. That was the reason he got believed directly in the first place.

Though he hadn't noticed it, he really had gotten hungry.

The smell of something delicious wafted over from the kitchen as the three men sat down and drank a mug of bitter tasting ale. About half an hour later the elder's wife and two other guests joined the dinner.

The roasted boar was quite delicious and in this combination the ale worked really well. Jay learned the other guest had been peddlers and then got some information about the region. His trip for the next day should bring him to his set destination what Jay was really glad about.

As it had already turned dark outside, Jay got shown his room for the night once dinner was over. Like this he really had no more room for discussion and thanked them for their shelter. Truth was he would have preferred his comfy bed in the tent, but reluctantly laid down on the hard one stuffed with straw he got offered.

Even his camping skill didn't help in this situation as it was indoors…

.

.

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Glad his young body was so sturdy, Jay woke up the next morning as the sun peeked over the forest on the other side of the river and shone into his room. He rose up and got dressed, wondering how he could have no aching back but at the same time he was happy about it.

Another long ride awaited him that day and a sore back was the least he would have wanted.

As Jay left his room he was glad that he wasn't the only one awake. The houses helper was also up and already at work. He notified Jay that he would have to wait a bit until breakfast would be served.

Not sure what to do with the free time, Jay was about to leave and look around in the town as he heard someone descending the wooden stairs.

It was the towns elder who got surprised as well when he spotted Jay at the door.

The two greeted and after clarifying that Jay was not going to leave but only trying to spend some time outside until breakfast, they went together to the aged man's office. There Jay got a signed report of what happened and a hint that he should stop by at the big watchtower.

There might be some open requests from the military stationed he could pick up there.

Ten minutes later the two men of completely different age had a short but good breakfast. By the time Jay was about to leave the house again, most of the other inhabitants had also woken up. Jay said his goodbyes and thanked them, then left he town on foot along the main road leading through it.

He only summoned his horse once the wooden walls around the town got smaller.

The road led along the relatively wide river for a few miles and then gradually got deeper into the woods again. Jay's trip went on without any incident. Aside from a few merchants and a single patrol he had been mostly for himself so his progress was quite fast.

As the forest around him cleared up a few hours later he came to a forking in the road with a grassy hill behind.

A small signpost with three directions was placed there and when Jay reached it the one pointing rightwards read "Hilder Forest" while the one pointing ahead said "Stillwater". On both of them, as well on the one pointing back with "Brightwood" carved on it, where again no distances mentioned.

Behind the signs on the slight hill stood a big tower with at least thirty yards of height.

Jay rode over to it and got greeted by a military officer standing on guard duty. Jay dismounted to show the man his badge and directly got asked to follow him inside. There he got welcomed by a middle aged man named Lieutenant Parker.

"Welcome to Three Corners young man! How can we help you?" P.

"Greetings sir, I came here to see if you have any open quests available and report about our findings in the Perilous Ruins…" J.

Following this Jay reported about what had happened and hinted the man to double the patrols. Though downcast as he already was short on hands, the Lieutenant thanked Jay and reached him a couple of papers.

As Jay read through them he saw it was two requests and a report. The first one was about Gnolls getting more active in the vicinity of the lake what had to get checked and possibly got taken care of.

The other one was about the also reached over report that had to be delivered to Stillwater. As Parker had his hands full with patrols and lately even Gnoll attacks, he simply had no man to spare for that.

Jay accepted both requests and then left he tower again. It was already past noon and he wanted to reach the town before nightfall.

As he rode away from the tower he finally understood it's name:

On the other side the path split in the same fashion like where he arrived, resulting in the hill getting surrounded by roads in a triangular shape.

Anything he saw ahead was wide and relatively flat plains until the road once again got close to the river. It ran slightly below in a canyon, only a few feet though.

The current had sped up as well but Jay guessed it was mostly due to it getting more narrow.

It was more than an hour later when Jay spotted something on the other side of the river. A small Murloc settlement had been formed over there, but probably due to the current or the cliff up to the road, no one seemed to have taken care of it. At least Jay though so as he spotted numerous of the small and weak monsters there.

About another hour later, Jay finally left the plains behind. The cliff to the river at his right had grown a bit higher when the road went down into the small canyon as well. It was not a steep slope, but the bulls pulling a cart that Jay met had a hard time moving it forward.

Once the road was again at about rivers height, Jay noticed the cliffs rising to both sides were pretty high in this wide canyon.

But the path didn't continue like this for long.

Three wide turns around rock formations later he saw yet another slope, upwards this time.

Even half way to the top of it, Jay saw that the foothills of the mountain range that lay in the west ended in this canyon and the hill that the road went over. It made a slight turn to the left while the river went straight. But it was only a single rock formation at the end of the hill that lay between both.

The moment Jay reached the top of the hill, a spectacular view presented itself to him:

A gigantic lake lay in silence, slightly to his right in still some distance. The other shore was barely visible, but thanks to his skills he saw the lake was surrounded by high mountains.

The road he was on led down a winding slope towards relatively wide plains he had to cross. They were framed by the river to the right side and a small forest further away on the left.

Straight ahead, the plains and road ended at an offshoot from the lake that went westwards. A wide and long looking bridge span over it and connected to the other shore where the small and peaceful looking town called Stillwater lay to the left of it.

It still took Jay over half an hour to finally reach the bridge, though he of course didn't dare to ride at full speed.

He greeted the guards to both sides of the bridge that was at least wide enough for four carriages to pass each other.

From what Jay heard this was the sole connecting route to the norther lands of the kingdom aside from sailing or flying, making the size and sturdiness it was built with reasonable. It was possible to see this as some places of the bridge still needed repair of were broken off.

Jay had learned from Haggard that it got attacked in the last war and damaged, but none managed to break it.

Though he glanced over onto the wide and flat lake in between, Jay's eyes were. mostly glued on the bustling Stillwater.

At the few piers where boats lay, he saw only a few getting worked on. But the other streets and few stalls close to the main road were really lively.

Finally on the other side of the bridge, Jay jumped from his trusted mount and walked into the town on the left. He startled some passerby's as he dismissed his horse, but the guards only looked over in admiration as he passed the towns border.

The path he stepped on was made of wooden planks, though that only was true for the one along the shore. The paths leading to the houses in the back he saw, once he passed the smithy and the stables, were all not even paved.

Jay passed the stalls on his left and another big building to his right until he reached the town hall. It wasn't hard to identify as it was one of the biggest houses in this small settlement.

Further more it was the only one with a clock tower.

Looking at it he got surprised by the time, but then again he had noticed the sun had already wandered to the west and kept hovering over the mountain range there.

Thinking that the reports could wait a day longer as any courier wouldn't have arrived there this fast as well, Jay decided to call it a day and look for the inn.

He walked on over the wooden path and watched some men fishing on the pier. Glancing down another path leading to the back of the town, Jay estimated it to be about thirty houses big, fourty at most.

Two houses further, Jay found the wooden building with a "Fishing Narnie" sign that was the inn.

Not waitinh he entered the two storeys high building and looked around in the already pretty crowded dining hall.

At the bar on the opposite side Jay spotted a free spot. Directly walking over there he asked the bartender called Wental if they got a room left for the night.

"Sorry boy, you gotta have to wait for the Innkeeper.

'Should be back in a couple of minutes… How about a beer while waiting?" W.

Nodding to the man, Jay directly received a not that clean beverage filled with a strong smelling beer, then he turned around, leaned onto the bar and watched the bustling in the tavern.

Of course he analyzed a few guests here and there until his surprisingly tasty drink was empty.