A Land Far Away

Just before dusk a loud clang of a dinner bell perched on a pair of tall scaffold poles rings over a Dalelands farm. The farm, which lays just north of the Cormanthor forest not far south west of Hillsfar, is smaller than just about every other farm in the area, but is teaming with animals. Pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, are all locked up and well feed. A couple of small planted fields of wheat and a garden of assorted vegetables break up the vast hay and corn meal fields, and grazing land that stretch to the ends of the farms boundary.

The bells rope tenses itself to ring the bell and releases all seemingly of its own power. Only as the light grows dimmer is the faint outline of the ropes operator seen.

Dent Jars comes tumbling across the cow pasture while pulling a small cart full of freshly cut wood. AT just 18 years, he already is as husky and brawny as his father was, and his face is weathered a bit more than his years. He waves to his mother who is standing beneath the dinner bell as its final vibrations hum. His mother waves back, looks as if she is looking at a small boy and walks through the kitchen door of the farmhouse.

Dent, eager to get to dinner, dumps the wood in a pile and leaves it in disarray. His hurried motions are abruptly halted as he jerks on the handle of the locked kitchen door. He fumbles for the key, and opens the door to a warm and inviting kitchen. The smell of stew thickens the air.

"Ma you locked me out again...you do that everyday." Dent says.
"Sorry dear, now go get washed up. Tomorrow is tax collection day, and you will have to get to sleep as soon as you finish your dinner" She exclaims.

The house is spotlessly clean in places, and then thickly dust covered in others. The wood stove simmers a pot of thick stew. Utensils, bowls, and napkins seem to float about and land on the table on their own. The visage of Dent's mother warps from completely visible, to incorporeal, to ghostly as she passes by the window and catches a beam from the moon, then back to normal again. Dent either doesn't notice or is unaffected by the strange activity in the house, pays it no mind and moves to another room to wash up. A small chest sits open on a small table in the corner of the kitchen. Two small bags of gold coins rest within the chest.

"I have counted out the tax coin; it sits there in the chest" the ghostly mother points out. "We don't want those collectors getting mad with us again." She says with a motherly sarcasm.

"yes, ma. Do I give it to them tax collectors tomorrow?" Dent questions.

"yes, tomorrow" His mother answers.

"But that's what you said yesterday and the day before...tax men come tomorrow...that's what you said" Dent continues.

"I have counted out the tax coin; it sits there in the chest. We don't want those collectors getting mad with us again." She repeats the statement exactly as it was said before. Dent enters the kitchen and notices that the bags of coins have formed a layer of dust, but says nothing about it.

"Okay, ma" Dent says as he is sitting down to eat. "Ma, I hear there is a festival for that Chauntea lady...or whatever her name is. You know, the goddess. What god do we follow?" He asked just like he has asked for the last seven years; ever since a group of Red Plumes and a tax collector from Hillsfar killed his father for not having enough for the extra handling tax they were imposing.

The house grew still, cold and lifeless, with the question.

As Dent looks around for his mother, he spots flashes of light out toward the south end of the farm, very near the Cormanthor forest. He snatches up his fathers old adventuring pack and runs out the door to investigate.

Dents mother reappears.

"I will not let that boy find the same fate as you!" She barks toward a grave site out near the road.

Dent and Gill watched the wolf stalk near the small rock outcropping just off the beach. It was the same outcropping that Dent had spotted a ghostly woman while on a trip out to the sea cave with Laque a few days ago. Dent had a bad feeling about this area. He had talked about it with Leigh, and mentioned it to Laque as well. Dent hadn't seen his mother nor even heard her talk to him in a very long time. He toyed with the idea that she was a ghost like Merrin had mentioned, but every time he thought such things his thoughts would wander and some how the thought would be blocked out of his mind.

"Laque says not to kill the wolves out here. So i try not to kill em" Dent told Gill
"But they are wolves, Dent, and they are dangerous" Gill argued.
"Ya, these are alot bigger, and meaner than the ones I would chase away from our sheep on the farm for sure. But if they don't get your scent, you can avoid em easy enough." Dent continued.

The pair then notice a body near the wolf. It may have been a citizen of Baldur's Gate or just a wanderer, but it was easy enough to see that the wolf had killed another meal.

"That one is a killer, and he's very close to the town" Dent thought.

The two warriors agreed that the wolf should be put down. They engaged the wolf and quickly put it down. They looked over the body to identify the dead man. Neither men recognized him. Dent asked that Ilmater aid the dead man on his way in the afterlife. They continued along the shore in search or herbs that Dent could bring to the herbalist, Arsa. He always needed an excuse to talk to her...she was so pretty after all. Dent found a fern, collected it and showed it to the old soldier. They continued down the hill on the far side of the sea cave. While both men are usually very keen and careful they did not notice the goblins who had been gathering spiders and wolves to them, nor did they see the pack of wolves stalking behind their pack leader just to the west of the cave. There were moving toward the forest just where Dent and Gill were about to enter. The wolves stopped and sniffed the air, daring not to go any further in. They watched the two humans go where they dare not.
Just as they started down the hill into the woods near the abandoned cave where rumors and stories about a crazed nymph still can be heard told, a large catlike creature pounces surprising the two fighters. The beast takes a swing at Dent and dig into his leg with impossibly sharp claws. Dent moves even closer into the cats attack and and swings viciously. The cat turns and runs from the assault. Then turns back to bite at Dent; another deep wound. Dent becomes enraged. He continues the chase of the vicious animal. Gill runs toward the pair in an attempt to help, but the wolves and their pack leader where waiting. The cat, a Necrotuar, turned back on Dent, as the wolves, smelling blood, joined in for a meal. They pounce on Gill who had been separated from Dent by the attack of the cat, and a pair of wolves that had joined in attacking Dent. The wolves drove Gill to the ground. Dent turned his back on the animals and poured a potion on Gill. He swung wildly at all the animals surrounding them. Gill went down again, and Dent used yet another potion. Dent finally dispatched the necrotuar, but Gill laid bleeding for a third time. Dent used his last potion to revive the soldier, and told Gill to run. Dent tried to lead the group away, but ran bleeding directly into the goblins, and the spiders they had let loose on the farmer. It was the perfect ambush. The spiders and goblins and wolves surrounded the young farmer who was so far away from his home. They stabbed and bit, and scratched at Dent as he could hear the screams of Gill from the other side of the hill. Dent swung his axe and fought until all went black.....

An apparition of a woman appears, she weeps. She spots a dwarf approach, she wails without sound, and waves the dwarf toward the body of her son, then disappears.

Helm was the word he heard next...Helm? Then light....

What seems to be a courier from Calimshan has been seen asking for the whereabouts of the group "the Swords Edge" or the dwarf known as Ragnus.

The courier is directed to a manor within the city. (pls pm Regas and or JLM)

The adventures of Dent will continue in the ALFA library. Thanks.