The trio- quartet if you count Aramil’s horse- walks towards Savanacum.

By late afternoon they are in sight of it.  It’s not as Aramil remembers it.  It was never a large town, just a few dozen farms scattered around a “central business district”.  It didn’t even have a wall.  But it does now.  A low earth wall topped with a wooden palisade and nasty looking spikes.  And the outlying farmhouses and barns are gone.  They’ve been leveled!  No farming is happening here anymore, it looks like the Orcs have turned Savannacum into a front line fortification.

When anyone else builds a fort, a little village usually pops up around it, because a fort means security, and peace and the soldiers will be spending money.  When the Huns build a fort, villages vanish.

It’s even got a moat.. well, sort of.  It’s not a complete wrap around moat.  Just big trenches, like they started on a moat and haven’t finished it yet.  But there’s an awful stink coming from the moats.

”I don’t want to go near them,” Flitter says.  The Pixie coughs, and her little eyes are watering.  “Let’s go around, please.”

Once they get a good view of the fort, Aramil rears his horse back.

"Honestly, I don't want to go their either, and we should make haste around. What is in those moats? Its vile, but its not like the pitch, it just is. I wish I could get a better look, but I have been reckless enough for one week.

When Rhys sneezes, he gets the hint. "Yes, yes boy, we are getting out of here."

"Something more, though. Why here? Why build a fort here? They are not using the farm land, and the road has not seen much traffic judging by the lack of tracks. Why put such a force here?"

Oh, this is bad.  he thinks to himself without relaying his ideas just yet.

"Well, let us be off, and fast."

Mia looks a touch upset seeing the fort and getting a pretty good idea it meant bad things. The smell wasn't something one wanted to remember either. "Alba and the others are going to need to know about this soon. I hope Corbilo is holding up well."

They bypass the old crossroads village of Savannacum, swinging north, where the great forest has been slowly reclaiming old farmland.  Up ahead, there is an old walled farmstead, and their course will take them close to it.  They watch it carefully as they approach but there seems to be no sign of Huns there.  But that makes sense- Savannacum is surrounded by cleared fields and it has a good view.  This place is surrounded by growth, and troops in an outpost here wouldn’t have a view at all.  But all the same they are careful.

There is a sharp cracking sound, and Mia feels a sting… but nothing worse than that.  But there is a broken arrow nearby, on the ground where it fell after bouncing off Mia.  A moment later, another arrow zips past overhead.

The arrow is of Hun style, and coated with the black pitch.  It would poison a Fey being, if it hit.

Reflexively, Flitter sends out a barrage of little sparkly lights in the direction from where the arrows came, and Aramil sees a trio of shapes in the woods, about two hundred feet away, off to the left, and not near the old walled farm, which is about the same distance up ahead.    They are wearing dull grey-brown cloaks- Aramil knows that not many Orcs know to pay attention to camouflage, but some do.

"Ouch!" It was more startlement then anything else although it does sting!  "A hun arrow and it looks poisoned. Don't let the arrows hit you!"

Readying her shield she speaks softly to Flitter. "Go invisible flitter. Your going to have a better chance of blinding them if they don't see it coming. Aramil I am going to charge them unless you have another plan."

Aramil is the ranger and this is his element. She's willing to defer to his choice as long as it makes sense to her. Seeing that they have camouflage style cloaks her instinct is to close the distance and take away that advantage from them. Somehow she felt trying to escape wouldn't help. If this wasn't a accident and they were being tracked the Huns would not leave them alone.

Flitter turns invisible, heeding Mia’s advice.

“Hey, they can’t see me now!” the Pixie says, as if she has only now realized what invisible actually means.  There is the sound of tiny wings flapping, and a puff of air.

In the forest, shadows move.  With all the trees in the way, neither side has a clear view of the other.  There is some cautious maneuvering, and a minute later the party hears Flitter again.

“There’s only three of them, but they look really mean and they have big bows.  And arrows.. some have the thorns, like the ones you had once, Aramil!   I think they are hunter Orcs!”

This message was deleted by the player at 20:55, Sat 08 Sept 2012.

I have no choice but to assume that Aramil does not like this encounter!

The party decides that not every battle is necessary.  The important thing to do is get the news to Corbilo, where they have been holding out against the Huns for two years, ever since the fall of Namnates.

And for that maneuver, they have the services of Flitter.  It's an easy thing for Flitter to distract Orcs.  All she has to do is stay invisible, and keep making suspicious sounds, in the wrong direction.

The Orcs don't like people sneaking up on them.  Eventually, they pay more attention to the Mysterious Noises than they do to Aramil and Mia, and the two are able to slip away, going into the forest.

Once in the deeper forest further north they are safe.  The Orcs are not stupid.  They know never, ever chase mysterious things into the forest, when there are only three of you.

Making a wide detour, the party resumes its course for Corbilo.  A day and a half later, it comes into view.  Like Namnates, it is a port city, but much smaller.  The river, though, is wider- this is where the Liger River finally finishes its journey and empties out into the Atlantic.  Aramil knows the land here well.  He's ridden over it many times, and he knows the scouts that come out to intercept the party- he used to do a lot of scouting here himself.

In fact, Aramil lived here for a while.  After almost a year, he is home, in a way.

Nearly ten months ago, Aramil left this city to takes what would be an adventure across almost the entire west of Europa. The road was more of home than Corbilo, but a familiar sight is a welcome one.  The normal comings and goings seem not to have changed much over time.

He checks on his old lodgings, mostly to sedate Flitter's curiosity from after mentioning that he lived here. The barebones rooms were covered in dust, while most of the metal work showed tarnish and rust. He also made the mistake of opening a cupboard, a mistake that lead to a quick evacuation of the residence.

Deciding he wasted enough time, Aramil goes to see Hekram. There was much to discus and he was losing time.

With two scouts on horseback accompanying them and asking questions all the way, the trio arrives at the east gate of Corbilo.  It hasn’t changed from the last time Aramil saw it- the people must have been two busy to do any serious construction work.  And it’s not damaged, either- a good sign.

Aramil’s return is not going to be a quiet one.  The scouts announce it as loud as they can:  “Aramil’s back!”

People gather, dogs bark- a large shaggy haired looking dog even seems to recognize him.  Flitter does not like large, shaggy haired dogs and makes an immediate dive into the familiar haven of Aramil’s hood.

Mia, of course, is not back.  She can’t be back, because she’s never been here before.  She’s just “here”, not “back”.  But there is a lot of curiosity over who this pretty girl traveling with Aramil could be.  And why does she leave such deep footprints?  Very, very strange…

They pick up more people accompanying them as they head towards Hekram’s house.  One is a familiar, perky looking half elf girl.  Farafei.  Way back then.. she was Aramil’s “fellow half Elf”.  Everyone wondered if maybe they were related.  Neither had a clue.

But of course, she wants to know about Mia, just like everyone else.  She grabs onto Rhys’s reins and asks “So who’s this?”

Mia follows Aramil looking around with interest. "So this is your home Aramil? Didn't you have someone who could look after your place while you were gone?"

She gasps quickly leaving the residence when she see's Aramil's reaction to opening the cupboard. Mia gives him a look shocked that he would leave something like that in the Cupboard. "You really didn't make any arrangements when you left did you. Oh Aramil at least give the food to someone that could use it."

She shakes her head then smiles chalking it up as a live and learn experience. Aramil would definitely be better off once he was married she thought. Someone would be there to look after the details he didn't. That or help him learn to do so!

Mia smiles at the people feeling all the eyes on them. It was strangely familiar even if she didn't remember why. She takes a few moments to offer her hand to the large shaggy haired dog. Affectionately and gently running her fingers through it's fur. That is assuming the dog is fine with the attention! If not she leaves well enough alone.

Seeing the perky looking half elf she glances at Aramil curiously as she can tell the woman seems to know him rather well. "My name is Mia it's a pleasure to meet you. Did you know Aramil didn't make arrangements to have his home looked after?"

Aramil is a little embarrassed by all the attention. e didn't think taht he would be missed. It was an appreciation that he was surprised he enjoyed so much.  "No, Mia, I didn't make arrangements because my leaving was not something I planned. I can still recall that day as clear as the sun, and it was right after a request from the King himself for his fear for the fate of Morgan, before I even knew her, I left with barely a word and a thought of what was behind me."

Aramil greets everyone proudly, as a warrior returning home would. Proud salutes, grasps of the forearms and a few courteous bows. Though when they young lady half-elf greets him, he gives her a playful strong hug, lifting her a few inches off the ground as he does so. Seeing this, one would think of how an older brother treats a sister.  Since for reasons obvious (and speculation beyond), as much as Aramil saw Jorrin as a brother, Farafei was like a sister, one that he was quite proud to know.

The subtle act of her grasping the reigns of Aramil's horse, and Rhys having no protest, shows a past trust that was there.

"Farafei, this is Mia. She is a friend Jorrin and I made in Lutetia Parisiorum. And this," patting the bottom of his hood, "is Flitter. Come on out and say hello. She won't bite and I'll keep the dog away."

"It's good to be back, but tell me, have I missed anything important lately?"

Farefei and the others are much more interested in whatever Aramil has to say, but she figures he deserves an update on the local situation.

“It's been raids back and forth, the whole year,” she says.  “But bit by bit they've been slowing down.  They were sending groups into the forest for a while.  We heard,  they were trying to capture Fey creatures.  They caught some, but it cost them a lot of warriors.  And they kept trying, and trying.  They must have been desperate or dumb to keep it up even though they must have lost over a hundred Orcs in the forest.  And the more they lost, the weaker their hits on us became.  They did a few- they burned Hekram's boats, you know- but for the past few months they've just been working on their defenses.  They built these special motes around Savanacum.  Our wizard- you remember Seirgens, right?  He says they put something flammable in the moats, and the smoke would be poisonous.

But with the her reports out of the way, Farafei is intent on getting the news from Aramil.  Where has he been?  What has he done?  And importantly- tell us more about Mia?

Flitter stomps around frustrated for a moment- Aramil feels the commotion in his hood.  Pixies can be shy creatures, and he hears a squeaky little voice:  "Out there?  With everybody?"

When her little head appears over the fold of Aramil's hood, people are surprised and impressed.  Most have never seen one of the Fey folk before, and as they continue on to Hekram's house, they barrage her with questions.

Are you real?
Can you fly?
Can you get bigger?
Can you cast spells?

Pixies do not like rushed attention like that.  She ducks back down in the hood.

Hekram's  home is naturally on the water- he's take over one of the corner towers of Corbilo and added to it, and now it's his home and the unofficial court of the town- officially, it's still in the main town forum.    Farafei stays with Aramil and Mia all the way there, eager for answers.

"Hmmm I can understand that since it was a emergency. It's going to take a bit to clean that up though! Please fey are mostly shy it's best if you don't ask her a lot of questions at once." She shakes her head with a warm smile for her friend. She glances at his hood her eyes softening with a look of compassion. She understood that fey seemed to be shy.  For the moment there wasn't much she could do other then distract people.

"Farefei Aramil rescued me from the Huns. They were holding me as a prisoner in the dark tower or whatever they called it. Unfortunately I don't remember much about my life before that so I have been traveling with Aramil off and on since then. He does a lot of important things so he goes other places sometimes. I am priestess of Venus and a dancer. To be honest I love dancing so much I think that's what I did before we met."

Aramil keeps the people at bay that try crowding the little pixie. He dismisses them and assures there will be time later to find out more about her.  He hoped Flitter would be used to people by now, but apparently its still a learning process and he will apologize profusely when the time was right.

"Yes, the new pitch. The smell was rank and caustic, but we were unable to gather a sample on our way past. It seems as if it is another form of the pitch they have been using to harm the fey. It is not like them to turtle themselves in like that. I hope Seirgens is available to discuss such matters, too."

"It would be a shorter list to tell you where I haven't been, it feels. Without fail, everywhere I would find myself, there would be a calling to carry me away to another land to do something dangerous. Luckily for me with friends by my side, we have fought battles across the western lands of Europa. There are more threats out there than we first thought, as you have probably heard by now, such as demons and the un-seelie fay. Please, come to the court, and listen to our reports with Hekram."

* * *

When they reach Hekram's court, Aramil re-introduces himself to the servant as well as introduces the others as he makes his way in to the main way. Last time Aramil was in court with the new Warlord, he was but a second to Maleqwn, and though a sergeant to the troops, still eager to prove himself. Something has changed. If Hekram looks there is something strikingly different in the scout.

Aramil steps into the hall with full sense of authority, his steps firm and disciplined so that each hit nearly as strong as Mia's (emphasis on nearly). His stance is strong, but not with false pride, but with a strong confidence hard earned from thousands of miles traveled and lived hard. He looks on to Hekram with eyes that have seen true joy and loss, and salutes with a hand that has held countless lives within it.

With a sharp smile, he finally speaks up, "Lord Hekram, Sir Aramil Ap Fynn reporting with news of the War in Europa and the status of the newly liberated city of Namnates."




[Post One Thousand!]

Hekram is not startled to see Aramil.  Word has flashed quickly through the town.  Aramil... and a dancer.  That part sounds puzzling.  And he brought back a Pixie!.  The people of Corbilo have a discussion topic to hold them for a week or two, and they don't even know about Namnates yet.

Hekram decides he must host Aramil for dinner.  “And whatever other meals you'll need, until you settle in.  There are a dozen or more young women in the town who would gladly cook for you... but they might not be bold enough to offer, since word has gotten around you have brought one yourself.  A dancer... and a priestess of Venus.  Didn't the whole mess start with a priestess of Venus?  She ended up marrying Jorrin, I recall, and Jorrin ended up with a holding of his own, on Brittany's north coast.”

Hekram talks about the town has fared since the time of Aramil;s departure.  Raids and counter raids, and the attack that burned his boats.  He wasn't a happy camper after that.  Corbilo's identity as a “warrior town” has solidified- the Saxons, once considered more outsider than anything else, have been blending in well.  Hekram's family is growing- his wife is expecting- and he is happy to say that on the whole, with births and immigrants, Corbilo has gained more than it lost.

“Still,” he says, “it presses on us, here.  Knowing that we must always be on our guard, that the enemy will always try again and again.  It presses.  But.. you've heard the news of Corbilo.  We've held out, we've survived another year... I would like to say we have prospered but it has not been easy.  What news do you bring us of the war?”

Mia speaks softly to Farefei before the part. "I think Aramil is distracted with important matters. I am sure he will have more time later." She whispers to her later. "Aramil's house needs tending while he's away. Maybe you should gentle suggest that to him later. I am sure he would appreciate a friend helping him out."

She leans close to Aramils hood whispering to Flitter. "If you want to come out Flitter you can go invisible. That way you don't have to stay in his hood all day. Unless you want to that is." She smiles slightly for her tiny friend hopping to improve her mood. Perhaps a little freedom of movement would cheer her up. She could even land in his  hair while invisible and no one would know it except for Aramil of course.

Mia blushes when Hekram talks to Aramil about how popular he is with the townsfolk. Well more because they likely thought she and Aramil were possibly a couple. "Oh Aramil and I are just traveling companions. We have been fighting the Huns for a while now. We just came from the battle of Namenates where the Hun army there has been destroyed. I helped to lead the fey army while Aramil led the human army there. I aided Aramil in the fight with the Hun commander Longtusks. Unfortunately although Longtusks was defeated he managed to escape and he's still got more troops.

"King Theoderic is doing very well although perhaps it's better if Aramil talks about that." She pauses wondering if Aramil would talk much about the King. They couldn't talk about any current battle plans they might know. But there was no reason he couldn't share what knowledge he had of past victories.

Of all the things Hekram learns from Aramil and Mia, he is most impressed with Flitter.  It takes the usual coaxing to get Flitter to appear.  She realizes this is important- this man is the head of the town of Corbilo!  But she still does not like being examined, as if Aramil had captured some kind of fascinating bird.

She crosses her arms over her chest as Hekram studies her.  The Saxon strokes his beard, and looks closely.   “You are a gorgeous little thing,” he says.

Flitter blushes and gives him a questioning look.

Hekram has questions… “Do you mind if I ask, I’ve never heard of Pixies striking of friendships with people, traveling around with them.  Why would you leave your home to ride around in a hood?”

Flitter takes a deep breath and sighs.

“First, it doesn’t matter if I mind, you have already asked!  Secondly we are people, just a little small.  And thirdly, not any hood.  Aramil’s hood.  There’s a difference.”

“Of course,” Hekram says.  “Aramil’s hood.  Your home away from home?”

“I left home,” Flitter says.  “Bad things happened.”

“What bad things?” Hekram asks.

“Please do not make me think of them,” Flitter says.  “A Pixie’s strength is happy and playful thoughts.  That is why I had to leave.  Humans can think of their losses in life, Pixies should not.”

“I see,” Hekram says.  “Little winged playful folk… yet among us you have a reputation for nasty tricks on people.”

“Fun tricks,” Flitter says.  “Pixies only do fun things, unless we have no other choice.”

She's only a little surprised that Hekram has focused on flitter. Fey are a rare and magical being right out of stories and myth. Mia pauses when he mentions a reputation for nasty tricks. "Hekram Aramil and I have encounted dark fey that are I think evil in nature. Like the red caps nasty dwarf like fey. Flitter is a light fey for lack of a better word. They are good and I think live freely enjoying life like children do. Full of joy, happiness and wonder for the world always. Their tricks hold no malice towards those they play them on. Though I think they could get very dangerous indeed if the target was something evil harming the forest and the fey inside it."

ARamil can tell Flitter is being pressed a little too hard, so he does what he can to steer the questions off of her. "Mia is right, there is a subdivision of fea, but things are different lately. The unseelie are wicked, but divided. We have formed alliances with the Seelie. Reidonica now has a symbiotic relationship with the brownines. Aletum, with Jorrin's recognition as a champion for the fey, is the gate for Mont Tomb. It has become a gathering and meeting place for them for a new kingdom."

"It is amazing what we can do together. In one day, a force of humans and seelie, we took back Namnates. Unfortunately, there are still problems I would imagine, since its been back under our control for but two days. With the sea port recovered, perhaps we can blockade and siege the town of Savannacum and force them out. If they would go as far as to put a toxic moat around the town, there must be something big going on in there. With everything I have seen, it is all too easy to imagine the worst."

“Well, it's good to know the Fey hold nothing against us,” Hekram says.  “At least, Fey like the Pixies.  I myself have seen Sea Sprites from my boat, but they were never close.”

They talk about Namnates for a while, and they come to a few key issues.  If there is a Hun  garrison at the town of Savanacum, that garrison is now sitting on the route between Namnates and Corbilo.  Obviously the two towns should be linked again, but Orcs in the way complicate things.  And with the ships burned...

“Revenge, for us doing that to their ships,” Hekram explains.  “If there were no Huns between here and Namnates, it should be obvious- we should move our defenses to Namnates, because that's the front line, now.  But with Savanacum...”

He thinks on this, and concludes:  “If I am thinking of this, it is likely that the Huns are thinking of it.  So the questions are, do they intend to hold that place?  And what will they hold it with?  Although it might cost us, a driving them out of there, now, before the winter, would put everything between here and Namnates under our control.  The Huns do not take to the river, and they've suffered in the forests to the north, all we would have to hold is Namnates.  Corbilo could relax at last."