Urdnot_Wrex
Habitué
- Messages
- 609
After our recent experience with the giant rats in the basement, I decided to explore the area to the north of our Tavern a bit more thoroughly. After all, this place has been built very recently and we still need to establish a secure perimeter and make sure the roads are reasonably safe for travelers. Most of them approach from the other direction, and I was wondering why.
Gathering some berries, nuts and mushrooms (mind you, I checked to make sure they're not sentient first, of course) for the kitchen, I didn't pay much attention to the road. After all, why be overly careful if I assume I'm the most dangerous creature out there at the moment?
After about two hours walk straight uphill, the road bent around a large boulder and I suddenly found myself facing a tower ruin.
There was no sign of bipedal creatures, and half of the tower was gone, but the fence was still intact and the ground showed traces of wagon wheels and footprints. Not fresh, but no older than a month either.
I remained quiet and observant for a few minutes, and when nothing rustled or moved, I decided to take a closer look at the tower. From the sheer size of the damage, I would have expected a dragon or perhaps magic, but there were no scorch marks to be seen, and we would certainly have felt an earthquake or similar forces strong enough to bring down a massive stone tower only two hours away.
So I climbed up on the lower part of the remaining walls and this was the view from there:
The way the parts of the walls are tossed around there looks rather deliberate, not like the result of a natural fall. That's when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eyes. When I looked straight at it, it stopped, but I'm sure it wasn't my imagination. Do you see the three trees in the upper left corner of the image? See how they are frozen in an unusual position, as if suddenly stopped in the middle of a step?
They were quite big, too, and the forest around me was full of similar trees, so I decided to back off instead of getting closer. Natural curiosity has its limits. Better safe than sorry.
On my way downhill, it was getting darker, and when I reached the bend in the road again, I was facing this!
The road was blocked, and those huge trees, covered in dark, shimmering ivy, were looming over me, waving their branches, creaking in a menacing way.
Now I'm no coward, but I heard roots ripping up the ground behind me, so I charged through a gap in the underbrush and ran as fast as I could, until I reached the end of the forest, and then some more. In the bushy grassland covering the lower hills, I finally stopped to catch my breath and look behind me.
I saw a few dark trees retreating from the edge of the forest, wavering up the slopes of the largest hill that hides the destroyed tower.
Now, my good friends and our estimated visitors, believe me or not, this is what I saw this afternoon. I'm not an expert, I don't know if those were Ents, Treants, or something else entirely, and I can't say for certain if they destroyed the tower and if it was still inhabited at that point. What I know is that they seemed to be rather territorial, so I suggest avoiding that area unless you have a very good reason, and if necessary only go there under very good disguise or venture out in groups of three at least.
We might also want to use other sources of firewood.
And if anyone has more knowledge of these creatures, their behaviour, or even a means of communication with them, I would appreciate advice how to further investigate and handle this situation. We must evaluate a potential threat, ensure the safety of our guests, but also try to establish good relations to any sentient species in our neighbourhood.
Gathering some berries, nuts and mushrooms (mind you, I checked to make sure they're not sentient first, of course) for the kitchen, I didn't pay much attention to the road. After all, why be overly careful if I assume I'm the most dangerous creature out there at the moment?
After about two hours walk straight uphill, the road bent around a large boulder and I suddenly found myself facing a tower ruin.
There was no sign of bipedal creatures, and half of the tower was gone, but the fence was still intact and the ground showed traces of wagon wheels and footprints. Not fresh, but no older than a month either.
I remained quiet and observant for a few minutes, and when nothing rustled or moved, I decided to take a closer look at the tower. From the sheer size of the damage, I would have expected a dragon or perhaps magic, but there were no scorch marks to be seen, and we would certainly have felt an earthquake or similar forces strong enough to bring down a massive stone tower only two hours away.
So I climbed up on the lower part of the remaining walls and this was the view from there:
The way the parts of the walls are tossed around there looks rather deliberate, not like the result of a natural fall. That's when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eyes. When I looked straight at it, it stopped, but I'm sure it wasn't my imagination. Do you see the three trees in the upper left corner of the image? See how they are frozen in an unusual position, as if suddenly stopped in the middle of a step?
They were quite big, too, and the forest around me was full of similar trees, so I decided to back off instead of getting closer. Natural curiosity has its limits. Better safe than sorry.
On my way downhill, it was getting darker, and when I reached the bend in the road again, I was facing this!
The road was blocked, and those huge trees, covered in dark, shimmering ivy, were looming over me, waving their branches, creaking in a menacing way.
Now I'm no coward, but I heard roots ripping up the ground behind me, so I charged through a gap in the underbrush and ran as fast as I could, until I reached the end of the forest, and then some more. In the bushy grassland covering the lower hills, I finally stopped to catch my breath and look behind me.
I saw a few dark trees retreating from the edge of the forest, wavering up the slopes of the largest hill that hides the destroyed tower.
Now, my good friends and our estimated visitors, believe me or not, this is what I saw this afternoon. I'm not an expert, I don't know if those were Ents, Treants, or something else entirely, and I can't say for certain if they destroyed the tower and if it was still inhabited at that point. What I know is that they seemed to be rather territorial, so I suggest avoiding that area unless you have a very good reason, and if necessary only go there under very good disguise or venture out in groups of three at least.
We might also want to use other sources of firewood.
And if anyone has more knowledge of these creatures, their behaviour, or even a means of communication with them, I would appreciate advice how to further investigate and handle this situation. We must evaluate a potential threat, ensure the safety of our guests, but also try to establish good relations to any sentient species in our neighbourhood.
