3,377 Thriambion 3
Dear mom,
Another follower of Heliod, a cleric named Pericles, joined us on our hunt for the hellspawn harpy.
Together, we all travelled to the hill and searched the area, but we found nothing new.
While we were waiting, a man rode by on a mule pulled cart. He seemed to have partaken heavily on the wine he was carrying, and indicated that he was headed toward Neolantika.
We waited for dusk and took our positions around the large stone slab. Using half of my rope, I cast Snare where the creature had previously emerged, and waited to face it head on, spear in hand. Belisarius waited atop the slab to attack it from the rear. Nox climbed atop one of the stones on the far side of the slab. Pericles and Sephiro took shelter behind me.
As soon as the sun set, the stone slab began to rise and I saw the creature's glowing red eyes peer out, but as soon as it spotted me, the slab fell. Before we could react, the creature emerged from the opposite end of the slab. Nox stuck some arrows into it and it quickly disappeared. Belisarius managed to bash the invisible creature with his hammer, and I leaped across the stone slab, but it was already fleeing. We gave chase and soon it was dead.
Using our collective ropes, mules, and might, we managed to lift the stone slab enough to crawl inside the creature's lair.
Inside, the air was putrid. We followed the slippery sloped ledge down to a pile of bones where we found a brass trinket carved to look like a bull, and ten bone figurines carved to look like bulls. We also found a scroll, which read:
one days march east of from the
archons forest to the watch lands
another day north to the sunset hills
can the abomination be found
Look east from he fingers of the smith
to seek its lair in the barrow of the bull
One of my companions had to read it, because it was written in Minotaur and Sylvan.
We made camp on the hill, and in the morning we heard music coming from further within the Eldenwood.
Eventually we came across a Satyr, like Sephiro. She led us to their camp where we discovered that they were recruiting humans to join them in a never-ending celebration. I was sceptical of their intent, but most of my companions took them at their word. Two of the alpha males tried to belittle us and challenged Belisarius and I to a tug of war competition, but it was not much of a contest. We learned from their leader, Dimi, that their special wine, which they use for some ritual, had been stolen. He offered to reward us if we could return it along with the thief who stole it.
Knowing that this must have been the drunken cart-man we had encountered, we agreed and returned to Neolantika, along with the beheaded corpse of the hellspawn harpy.
We went to the temple and showered Eudoxos the corpse. He seemed amazed at our accomplishment and paid us 300 gold coins.
Then we went to the Sward & Board, where we had told the drunken cart-man we would be. Inside, the innkeeper didn't seem to recognize us. I assume that this must be related to the special wine the drunken cart-man had stolen. But he did tell us that we could find the man upstairs.
We confronted the man, Eolis, and after some insistent negotiation, he agreed to return with us to the Satyr camp.
Back at the camp, Dimi was grateful and gave us a barrel of silver--4,000 coins in all!
It seemed that Dimi was going to kill Eolis, which didn't sit well with Pericles and me. We confronted the old Satyr and Pericles convinced Dimi to instead make him keep his oath by accompanying them to their destination.
Sephiro and I tried to convince some of the humans to return with us, promising them better lives. We managed to convince two of them, but the rest were committed to their journey.
We brought them to Lord Periandros, to help with his farm.
I've been training the children on the estate, showing the boys how to fight with a spear, and in games of skill. I know the eldest is being groomed to take over the Lord's holdings, but I'm hoping some of the others might show some promise and might want to venture out into the wild one day.
I think we might try to find the abomination mentioned in the scroll. We might also find a use for the bull shaped carvings.
Your son in search of glory,
Aribantes
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