Chapter 1: The beginning

#### Fleeing

On a night that promised to be a special one for there were many guests in the inn of Moshiba’s Point, the army of the duke of Demaf, also called One-eye (1), came looking for new soldiers for the army. As there was an early warning, all the young people of the village were taken away into safety, except for us. The many guests in the inn were not the only people that arrived that day in Moshiba’s point. Two lonely horse riders also entered the village, although unnoticed. They were Cistor and Alfor, two mercenaries with very bad tidings.

We were taken to Eleisa, the wise old lady that lived in the forest near the village. There we met Cistor and Alfor and our lives were changed forever, for Eleisa and Cistor were badly in need for a couple of young people to help them. Cistor tells us of a siege going on at Galdan Castle, the residence of the Baron of Saruth. In the night we leave Moshiba’s Point we encounter some strange group of people in the forest. One is a priest or cleric of some sort and performs a rite to call his evil spirits. Others are soldiers, among whom is the orc Grak, who discuss things that sound like dirty politics, treason of the empire and especially plans to destroy our village. Concerned by this news, we rush back to find the deed already done. After some investigation, we stumble upon a hidden compartment in the backside of the fireplace in Eleisa’s hut.

In it we find a message that directs us to a village where we would find an old man. Unfortunately, as we arrived some barbaric people were torturing him, and we were too late to save him. [ ] Our journey to Galdan took 6 days, mostly through deserted country and forest. The last few days we travel through terrain already ransacked by the enemy. Fields and houses are all burnt and people have either fled or are lying dead and rotting in the sun – this looked more serious than the “normal” disputes between Hafanese nobles. During the journey Cistor tells us that he is “a professional soldier not working for the Hafanese army” – a mercenary. He also tells us that he comes from Groger. Where that place is located is not known us, but it seems to be an important place to Cistor. Alfor is his close friend and trusted comrade-in-arms.

We arrive at Galdan Castle in the beginning of the evening. The last part of the trip into the castle was made blindfolded through a secret passage. There was heavy fighting going on around the castle, but Cistor, Alfor and us are taken to the Baron of Saruth immediately for a meeting. During this meeting we hear that large groups of the enemy have moved away to the south, while fresh groups from the west have replaced them. Most of the enemy are orcs, but there are also humans among the enemy armies, as well as dwarves, elves, gnomes, gnolls, goblins and many other races. Cistor thinks that the groups that moved south are heading for the mines of Sirion and he insists that messengers are sent to the Margrave of Sirion. He himself has to go on to Demaf and Saruth needs every man he has at his disposal. We apparently are the only ones available to deliver this message to the Margrave of Sirion. After an initial hesitation we accepted this job and it was agreed that we should leave the next day in the early morning.

#### Messengers

Our journey takes us through rough forest for the first part to evade the main roads on which the enemy is likely to travel. It takes 13 days to arrive at our destination on Galadrad 3, during which time quite a lot happens. The first few days are quite easy. On Galadrad 43 we cross the Southern Old Trade Road and spot a large group of enemy soldiers moving along this road towards the east. All orcs have bald heads with a large red tattoo of a red dragon. Luckily, they don’t see us and we travel on. Two days later spiders attack our camp, but we chase the beasts away.

It is Galadrad 46 when we reach the old Oreway, on which ore from the mines of Sirion has been transported to Hafan for centuries. At the end of the day we reach the River Saron and make camp near the river. However, that night is not used very much for sleeping, for a small enemy army comes across the river during the night and travels west past our camp. While the enemy troops are passing, we are able to overhear a piece of a conversation between an orc and a human: “...will be arriving at the new road in about two hours.”; orc: “That is good. We will make camp there. Because you stupid humans are tired already. We will reach Grak tomorrow. He will not be pleased by the delay.”; human: “Stop talking like this, your bunch of drunk so called champions is tired also. But come on, we must go and see the...”

We quite naturally wanted to see who these persons are and what they were doing at this time of night. After about two hours, the caravan suddenly turned away from the main road. When we wanted to follow the caravan a small, and quite beautiful young women appeared out of nothing and demanded us to stand still. She made herself known as Tunika from Sirion (2), who prompted us to come there with her and tell the Margrave what we had seen. This being our original goal, we went with her.

The remainder of the journey was quite uneventful and we arrived safely in Sirion. Just after arriving we had a meeting with the Margrave and the city council of Sirion. We delivered our message and were promptly “rewarded” with a new mission; to scout the new branch of road that the caravan had turned into towards the West – the “new road” that the orc and human from the passing army had been talking about. We would leave Sirion on Galodrad 4, with the company of Juneeka. The last interesting thing during this episode is that there apparently is some disagreement between the Margrave and the imperial army commander in Sirion, Winslow. The latter had sent several messengers to the emperor already but received no answer until now. He wants to wait.

#### Scouting

The trip to the new (secret) road is quite uneventful until we are ready to go back. We discover a secret mine (3) that is in full use by a mixture of orcs, humans, dwarves, elves and a few other unidentified groups of creatures. On our way back, however, we are discovered and during the escape Tunika is left behind – presumed dead. When we bring our report back in Sirion, where we arrive on Galodrad 15, the Margrave launches a full-scale attack on the mine, taking most of his army. After a few days Winslow sent an imperial detachment to help the Margrave, but they arrive too late, the first army had already been defeated and the Margrave has been killed.

After this everybody in Sirion expects a siege, and that is what we get. We fight bravely and are the ones that get out of the city after a few days to start a counterattack on the enemy in their own camp, only to find it empty. They had set up series of drums and other items magically enchanted to give the appearance of an inhabited and lively encampment. The enemy has left suddenly – for no apparent reason.

#### To Hafan

On one of our sailing trips (was it to Hafan?) we were attacked by pirates and earned the eternal gratitude of the captain (for what that’s worth, gratitude doesn’t buy you healing potions) by more or less single-handedly countering the pirate’s attack. Possibly the crew helped a bit, but more likely they simply were in the way and only blocked a few blows by chance – leaving all the hard work, and fun, to us. Druw has made serious attempts at learning more about the nature of the Order of Samui (4). He came close to enrolling, since that appeared the only way, but common sense prevailed at the last instant.

1. We have serious doubts about One-eye’s motives, didn’t we overhear those soldiers in the night near Moshiba’s Point mention him? Is he involved in the treachery?
2. Tunika is another one for whom we hold reservations (at least, Terrak does). True, she saved our butts once, and helped us a few times, but something about her is simply a touch too convenient.
3. Supposedly this is the abandoned mine to which the ‘Southern Old Oreway’ leads
4. Since the Order of Samui is associated with Purple, we suppose it could be “The Purple Empire” mentioned in The Book.