In the middle of a dense forest full of swamps that are home to deadly wildlife and even deadlier plant life lay a clearing that looked totally out of place with its tiny cottage and large garden. The cottage was big enough for one or two people and had a garden on the left side and a small fenced-in area to the right with pigs and goats wandering around. Chickens were pecking the ground freely all around the area. There was a large stream running the length of the clearing near the far edge on the garden side with a water wheel turning and pulling water into a trough that overflowed into a wooden channel that led away from the stream and directed it around the back of the garden, cottage, and pen then continued into a small pond on the other end of the clearing. Gibb stepped from the front door and into the morning air with a bucket in his hand and stepped towards the animal pen, overturning his bucket in the trough inside for the goats and pigs to share.
“There you go girls enjoy your slop. Won’t be long before you are ready for the spit.” He continued around the side of the pen and opened the spigot on the wooden channel allowing water to enter the water trough. “I have to go to town for a few hours today, girls but don’t worry, the creatures in the forest know better than to come on to my land.” There was only one way in and out of Gibb’s clearing and it was barely wide enough for a single cart and horse and that was just the way he liked it. Once the water trough was full he used the free-flowing water to rinse out his bucket.
Continuing around the back of his home Gibb walked into the garden and began checking his vegetables looking for any that were ready for picking. After picking all the ripened vegetables and placing them in his bucket Gibb went back to his front door and grabbed the chicken feed and began tossing handfuls around the yard bringing all the chickens running to him. With a quick flash of his senses, he sent out a wave of power and pinpointed the location of all the eggs that had been laid by the tiny spark of life that was in them. “Well at least my powers are good for something….” he said as he began walking around and collecting the eggs in his undershirt. Finally finished with collecting his eggs, Gibb put them in his small pantry with the vegetables and grabbed his cloak.
Gibb walked around the back of his cottage and to the small stable that held his horse and cart. Walking up to his old mare, Gibb said “Well Jessa it's time to take a trip to town for some supplies.” He unhooked the gate and led her out of her stall and towards the cart. The cart was a small two-wheeled contraption no bigger than a single sleeping pallet but more than big enough for Gibb’s needs. He turned Jessa around and backed her into the cart and began to strap her in with her full cooperation. Once she was fully settled in and strapped down, Gibb started walking to the trail that led to the small town about 5 miles from his hidden home.
The trip to the village was as uneventful as ever with Gibb walking ahead of Jessa while she followed dutifully behind without any visible prompting from Gibb. Roughly an hour and a half later they were arriving at the town and noticed there seemed to be some sort of commotion going on. The town guards were more numerous and visible than normal and they were much better armed. The town was bustling with people moving from building to building and loading up their belongings on wagons and carts.
As Gibb entered the edge of town he saw Werg, a man who had only moved here to be near Gibb after an encounter they had with Werg feeling he owed a life debt that he could never pay and deciding to just devote his life to helping Gibb however he could. “Master Gibb, I was just about to come out to your house and tell you the news.”
Looking around at the chaos and then back to the berserker who was sadly his only friend in the world despite them being nothing alike Gibb said “What news Werg? Where is everyone going?” Werg excitedly responded “War is coming! The mad tyrant Aldron has turned his eyes on us and plans to march his army straight through here and your forest is directly in his path. So mighty Gibb do we run or do we fight!?”
Gibb placed his hands over his face and shook his head. Werg was a barbarian and a berserker who would fight his way through an army if he thought it was the best way to glory and the cause was right. The whole reason Werg followed Gibb was that he blindly did the right thing and went into a berserker rage in the process, losing himself in battle only to get captured when he ran out of energy and fell over in exhaustion. Gibb had just been passing through and the army of mercenaries acting as bandits captured him, planning to steal all his belongings and leave him on the side of the road. Gibb was planning on just letting it go and using his mind manipulation on the guards once everything calmed down and leaving the camp as quietly as possible until he saw them attack a caravan carrying women and children with only Werg and a few street toughs as guards. The mercenary turned bandits killed or subdued the street toughs with little effort and almost had Werg surrounded when one of them started to tear off a merchant woman’s clothes and another grabbed a young girl pulling her away from the wagon she was in claiming her as his. Gibb was about to step in when he heard a bestial roar from Werg. Glancing over at the barbarian, Gibb saw a red glow start to emanate from him as his muscles bulged and his shirt ripped. Werg did what berserkers are wont to do and he went berserk. He began lashing out with his weapons, a cudgel, and a small buckler, crushing the skulls of some and the rib cages of others. His weapons shattered after a few hits first the buckler hit a breastplate and turned to splinters then the cudgel snapped in half on a helmeted head. Werg blasted his way through dozens of mercenaries making his way to the man with the little girl first, waves of brilliant red energy radiated out from Werg as he grabbed the man by the throat and squeezed, crushing his windpipe, neck, and spine in his massive hand. Werg turned towards the man still trying to tear the woman’s clothes off seemingly ignorant of the bloodshed around him and began to charge like a mad bull. Werg hit the man with the force of a bear hitting a sapling and snapping his bones like one with a loud crunch. The rapist died before he hit the ground with Werg on top of him. Werg stumbled to his feet and swayed dangerously close to tripping over the dead man and said “Who’s next?” then fell over and passed out completely exhausted. The mercenaries started to rush in so Gibb sent out a massive pulse of his mental energy stopping them all dead in their tracks. “I hate when I have to do this. All of you in the caravan take one of the bandits' horses then get the barbarian on it. When that is done pack up your things and people and get out of here.” one of the men eased his way up to an unmounted horse and took its reins, pulling it over to the barbarian and with the help of 3 of his comrades picked him up and strapped him down to the horse. Gibb walked up to the man in charge of the bandits and said “Give me your horse. All of you will forget you saw all of us and you will STOP robbing people and go back to earning an honest living killing people for money from the highest bidder.” The caravan decided to follow me and told Werg everything that happened after he woke up and he has followed me ever since.
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“Neither Werg, we will go to my home and just allow them to go around us. They will not bother with a single lone hermit in an inhospitable swampy forest with the deadliest creatures in the land as his only neighbors. One tyrant king is as good as another as far as I am concerned as long as they leave me alone I have no reason to bother with them.” Gibb stated resigned and knowing it would not be that simple no matter how much he wanted it to be true. “I guess since you will most certainly be coming to stay with me I will need double the supplies I had intended to buy. Lucky for us, it looks like they are having a going out of business sale.”
“Master Gibb I could not impose on you like that. I can stay here in the town by myself and make do with what I have.” Werg said resolutely showing his less than stellar intellect but more importantly his need to do what he believed to be the right thing. “No, I will definitely need you to be there to parlay with the army leaders for me since I tend to say the wrong thing and end up having to kill people I don’t want to kill,” Gibb said thinking back to all the times his mouth got the better of him and someone decided it would be a good idea to put a knife between his ribs only to learn the hard way how his power worked.
“Well, Master Gibb if that is what you wish then I will oblige. We need to hurry, the army is less than a day's walk away and will be here before the morning. I will gather my things and meet you at the butcher's shop. I hear he has a lot of meat he wants to sell before he leaves to avoid it spoiling on the road.” Werg said over his shoulder as he ran off looking like a 7-foot child far too excited for what was most certainly going to be a messy situation.
Gibb made his way to the Butcher's shop to begin his shopping to prepare for the siege he was all too sure was coming to his forest in the next few days.