Road to Kiev, Chapter Two

Decision Made

After much discussion, we finally agreed on what to do with our prisoners, and that was to pop all of their shoulders so that they would be unfit for fighting for a long time to come. Also, Eddel, the man with the daughter, was left with the group, as we saw no way of helping him with his problem. Which was okay because he probably didn't have a daughter anyway. Right before we left the oasis where the battle had taken place, a pack of oversized wolves came. We fed them the dead bandits. We stripped the Bulgars, dead and alive, of everything of value, packed their horses with it and rode off.

Unfortunate Tumble

While we were riding away, some of the horses started to spook. Reynaldo's spooked so badly, that it bucked him off and he nearly got trampled. Stupid horse. We assumed it was the howling of wolves that got them so riled.

Wolves, part I

We rode into a smaller oasis for the night, where we were attacked by a pack of wolves. All of the magic users jumped up into the trees, and the fighters and priests stayed below to meet the onslaught. All went well, except when Reynaldo accidentally shot Edward in the back and downed him, and the horses and supplies were saved. We rested and Kai, the Buddhist priest seemed to get more power from his god.

Mongol Traders

During the day, we met a riding party of men that looked like Kai and Wong, but had thin mustaches that drooped down very far. Even though we didn't understand each other, Gunther was able to figure out that they wanted to buy one of our excess horses. Gunther, ever the enterprising young man, sold it for seventy-five gold pieces. Reynaldo has yet to receive his share.

Wolves, part II

After another day's riding, we attempted to rest in the tall grass, as no oasis could be found. During the first watch again, wolves attacked. The party once again defended the horses, but we realized that this was getting ridiculous. We must get out of wolf country, and quickly.

Bullshit

After a few hours riding this day, we came across a large herd of cattle. A bull noticed us and charged us. Thalia, Gunther, and Thorvald set up to receive the charge with some spears. They got him good, but it nonetheless trampled poor Gunther. The fighters end up killing it, but not before it winded Gunther something fierce, and downed Wong.

Scouts and Swamp Thing

A few hours later, we noticed that the ground is getting a little marshier. We assumed that we were nearing the Euxine Sea. Before this hypothesis could be tested, Reynaldo and Gunther noticed two men horseback off in the distance. Evidently, they noticed us, because they rode away back the way they came. Gunther said they were probably scouts, so we rode deeper into the swamp because we thought it would be harder to follow us in there. Once in the swamp proper, Reynaldo went into the treetops to see which direction would lead out of the swamp the quickest. We decided on continuing northward. While trudging in the swamp, we noticed a light in the distance. It tried to get us to follow it a couple of times, but we ignored its call and continued forward. Then it charged us. A little ball of light began to zip around us with amazing speed. Catarina said it was a Will-o'-the-Wisp, that dealt electrical (whatever that is) damage, making most armor useless. In fact, while fighting this thing, Reynaldo's magic assisted armor was the best. It downed Gunther, Edward, and Catarina before the rest of us finally put it down. We continued as best we could out of the swamp.

Wolves, part III and the Armed Forces of Bulgaria

We emerged into a forest and set up camp. We heard more howling and decided to get everybody into trees. Those hurt and the magic users and priests (except Reynaldo) attempted to rest. The wolves came and slaughtered many of our horses before Reynaldo, Thorvald, and Thalia drove them away with arrows. Everyone except Catarina was able to rest in the trees. In the morning, while Reynaldo and Gunther were on watch, a commander of the Bulgarian army stepped out of the bushes into our area. Gunther woke up everyone else and shot an arrow at the commander's feet. Kai cast tongues on himself in order to understand the Bulgar language. He told us we were to drop our weapons and come with him to see his commander. Nicolae cast sleep, and two more soldiers came out of the bushes to tell their commander that one of their companions fell asleep. Reynaldo sent his cat, Isabela to see how many soldiers there actually was here. There was only one remaining in the bushes and he was asleep. Nicolae cast sleep again and a second one fell asleep. A Wyvern watch that had been cast the night before finally went off (there was a delayed response for some reason) freezing the third soldier in place. This left only the commander. Reynaldo summoned a swarm of rats that quickly enveloped the commander. As he tried to get them off, Edward cast hold person. The commander froze. Reynaldo broke his concentration, letting the rats go. He jumped out of the tree and began to slit the throats of all of the soldiers. After searching them and finding some gold and some documents that we decided to keep with Reynaldo, since he was carrying all the important documents already, Gunther and Reynaldo buried the soldiers. When noticing that the soldier no one had seen was only thirteen years old, Gunther silently agreed not to tell anyone that Reynaldo had killed a child, realizing that he could not be allowed to live as he would have only run back to his army and told them what had happened.

Riding Away

We rode away from that area on our five remaining horses, leaving the dead ones behind with the unmarked graves of the soldiers. We encountered a few roads but decided not travel on them after noticing a few peasants going to and fro. We traveled for a few hours and decided to rest.

End Chapter Two
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Next: Road to Kiev, Chapter Three