Cara Newsman

UP: Great Lakes

    Travel throughout the lands can be dangerous at times, especially with the recent rash of brigand attacks that are going on. So it was not surprising when the Britain Town Crier started to call for a party to gather at the Public library to escort Brother Blaine to the guard tower north of the swamps near the desert. A large group of people arrived, eager to help the scribe safely deliver his books. I grabbed quill and parchment and followed along, scenting a story in the air.

The group wound its way through town and eventually made its way cross-country to the road leading up to the swamp. Wandering bands of orcs attempted to stop the group, but were swiftly overcome. In the swamps the lizardmen and ratmen took offense at people trespassing on their lands and showed their displeasure with an all out attack.

Having dispatched these beasts as well, the party safely arrived at the healers� station within the guard post where Brother Blaine handed over the books to Brother Dittimus, who was to take the books to Empath Abbey. The group from Britain agreed to stay on and continue the journey with Brother Dittimus, who was suffering a limp as a result of a wolf bite a few days earlier.

Trolls beset the travelers as they crossed the bridge north of the desert. Among their number were a few odd albino-colored ones, but no one was able to come up with a theory as to why these odd looking trolls had joined their more common relatives in attacking.

The journey west was not swift, nor easy. A wild forest of reapers seemed to have been planted along the roadway, blocking the entire area. Another band of orcs attacked the group when they stumbled upon a forest camp the orcs had set up just off the road.

The worst came, however, when the party was passing by the Training Tower, where new guard recruits train. Brigands poured from the building and spilled out of the woods, laying sword and staff to any and all. What made the situation truly dire was that after a brigand was struck down, his body would twitch violently and rise up as a skeletal knight who then proceeded to wade right back in to the fight. It was agreed that the cause of this was the Gypsy curse that some of the folk had heard of.

Editors note: For more information on these cursed brigands please read the news articles submitted to this paper by reporter Quill McMartin.

The remainder of the trip was almost uneventful, other than some restless undead that came out to accost the travelers as they passed the cemetery outside Yew. Once at the Abbey, Brother Dittimus thanked everyone for their assistance and offered some of the Abbey wine and a few rounds of cheese made by Sister Brie.

Quill McMartin, who was visiting the Abbey, waited for Brother Dittimus to finish handing out his thanks before asking him how Cutty the Brigand was doing. Dittimus replied that the man was still raving, attacking the walls and going through periods of demanding IT back. IT is thought to be a ring Cutty owned and recently lost.