We get shown to a belcher. It seems to be a form of artillery, mounted on a wagon. Not portable.
We decide to head there. We will hire Hari for the duration. The fee he charges is 100 gold per day, starting tomorrow, when we leave.
We head towards KrikkÕs territory.
Travel starts to get slower this day, as the terrain gets increasingly rugged.
We observe that the terrain to the west gets increasingly bad and less hospitable, just as it did to the south.
We enter a rocky desert.
During travel, we get attacked by three green quadrupeds. We kill them off easily. Even Lani engages in melee.
The creatures have serpent heads, tortoise feet, thick green fur (which conceals spikes), and horses tails.
We travel through more border badlands.
That night, a bad sandstorm hits us. Those of us who donÕt have tents, namely Lani, Roland, Safranna, and Zim, head back to Serraine to wait the storm out.
About mid afternoon, we reach the edge of the plateau. We find a place to head down.
We start to look for villages. We are now in KrikkÕs territory.
The climate is milder here than it was on the plateau.
While making camp, we hear the sound of someone approaching the camp, stealthily. Then the person approaches noisily. A male, early twenties in age, clearly lived a rough outdoor life, no armour, an unstrung bow, and a couple of hunting arrows.
He speaks Sindhi.
WeÕll accompany the fellow to a village three days distant. His name is Lajos, the village traveller. He speaks Sindhi as a native tongue.
He gets his horse Ð itÕs laden down with cooking equipment.
We supposedly looking for a place called Talt.
Apparently, only those who are village travellers are allowed to travel Ð Maximus decides who can travel.
We are not meant to be here. Something we said seemed to scare him off, and he leaves.
Things seem well set up Ð we will stand out, and finding out information will be very difficult.
We decide to follow Lajos, to see what he says about us, and to see what news he relays.
We catch up to Lajos relatively quickly. He seems very unconcerned about being attacked. Perhaps the dragon keeps the area very safe?
Hari comments that heÕs seen no signs of any monster tracks Ð only natural animal tracks and the like.
We arrive at the village. ItÕs situated in a green valley, next to a stream Ð itÕs very picturesque. People come running out excitedly to greet Lajos.
Zim sneaks in and starts spying.
The village seems quite prosperous, but distinctly lacks in metal goods. Apart from hunting weapons, none of them are armed. They maintain several fields of cattle.
He goes and speaks to an old woman about a girl, and how many cows she has.
He then goes and catches up with his family. He does talk of us, in shocked tones. He believes that Maximus will get us, and grind our bones.
Then, in early evening, the villagers go to the centre of the village, and cook and share food. The traveller then gives news from the other village, mostly gossip. The old woman is then brought out, and a young fellow (nervous) moves up next to her. She then gives the match her seal of approval Ð clearly the young man and the girl from the other village are to be married. HeÕs to travel to the other village, and stay there for a month. People are happy for him, and then they ask Lajos what she looks like. Not long after dark, the village retires to sleep.
Zim also finds a graveyard, within which are many small graves. There are a few hundred markers, indicative of a well established village.
Lajos did not speak of the party, except to his wife.
We decide to do a commune, to try and find out more information.
The terrain is tis region is generally hilly Ð to the southwest are some low mountains, and a river.
Is or has Maximus been recruiting soldiers within last year? Yes.
Unknown if Maximus recruiting is recruiting for the purpose of invading Sind.
Maximus is not within fifty miles.
Maximus is within 100 miles of here.
Maximus is west of us.
Unknown if Maximus is aware of us.
Maximus is not NW of us.
Maximus is SW of us.
Maximus is travelling south.
Maximus is within 75 miles of us.
Maximus is travelling in the company of others.
We head SSW, to try and intercept Maximus, who is between 50 and 75 miles away, to the SW, and who is heading in a southerly direction.
At lunch, we come to a broad river. We fly and swim across.
There are several villages on this river.
We leave the valley, and enter the foothills.
We come across the tracks of perhaps 300 people, wagons and horseshoe shod hooves included. These tracks are heading south-west.
We follow them.
We see signs of fires in the distance. Some kind of fortified encampment is ahead.
We get to within five miles of the encampment. ItÕs much larger than it needs to be for just 300 men. They have horses, people practicing sword work, and more. They have blue flags. The encampment is on top of a hill.
WeÕve probably travelled about 70 miles to get here.
Zim sends Leo out to scout, whilst acting like a bird.
Leo spots some people very well camouflaged in a hill. They know weÕre here, because theyÕre looking straight in our direction.