After Nix woke up, we left the Guild, and returned to the inn. Nix began to explain her dream or vision, whatever you want to call it. From what she explained, the suit was meant to store energy passively and then use it to heal any injuries inflicted. Sounded cool to me, but Nix was more wary of it. It being cursed and all, well that and the fact she now had an appetite of several large men. She was complaining about it while she ate her third plate, something about her figure. I told her not to worry about it, money would likely never be a problem between the three of us. But Morganna was interested in see the armor in action, so after Nix was done eating we left for Garrison Point.

Fenris could carry all three of us with ease, but I decided to run with him instead. Being in the city meant I had tt hold back, so it's nice being able to let loose out here. And since I lost the last race with Fenris, he decided to cash in on it, and I was carrying all of our supplies. A tent and other essential camping gear, as the journey to Garrison Point would take us about five days.

Garrison Point was actually a ways north of Burke, the village with the wolf problem, so it would be a bit of a tavel. On the way Nix told us about Garrison Point, or atleast what she knew. Garrison Point was an old keep from before the Great Walls construction, and like most of the keeps built by the now dead northern kingdoms it feel to the demons. It was built along one of the few still maintained roads going to the Gaurdian Mountains and the Dwarven lands within. In its hayday it was an impressive fort with a bustling trade town built near it, now the keep was mostly in ruins and the town a mere village, making Garrison Point little more than a resting point for travelers going north.

Who knows, there might be a thriving community built around the castle again. We'd see when we got there.

And it being one of the few (if but barely) maintained trade routes to the Dwarves, bandits were a problem, which is why most caravans are in groups with armed escorts. We ran into one of them after a while, I got on Fenris to avoid suspicion of myself. Seeing Fenris' size not many people would doubt he could run fast. With the supplies now strapped to Fenris we slowed to a comfortable pace.

We were in such a caravan now, though it was a small group of three merchants, plus their wagons and about thirty guards. Their cargo was apparently time sensitve and they couldn't wait for the larger caravans that normaly went this way.

There were also a dozen adventurers that tagged along with them. The merchants were paying them to help protect them, not alot, but since they were going the same way, no one turned down the money. So we agreed to the same deal, but only as far as Garrison Point. Myself and Fenris took up positions at the rear of the convoy to avoid having to talk too many people, while Nix and Morganna were offered seats on one of the carts. Of course some of the guys immediately tried to get cosy with the two beauties. Not that they got anywhere.

Not long into the journey, one of the merchants introduced himself and tried to strike up a conversation. Though he just keep talking on and on, so the conversation was one-sided. His name was Mer A'mor and he considered himself primarily a luxury trader. Trading rums and spices from the jungle of the Empire of Helena, to the peoples north of the Great Frontier Wall. Mer was a bit skinny and bald, but other than that he was average looking. Though he was wearing some colorful garmets, a robe of yellow with a purple sash going from shoulder to the waist. Odd colors going this far north, even the other merchants wore browns, greens, or grays to suit the enviroment. 

They also seemed to have known him from previous trips, because they kept a distance from him and gave me pitying looks for enduring his lenghty talking.

On the few occasions that he had to catch his breathe or someone from ahead interrupted him, I asked about the clothes and their odd coloring. His reponse was that he hailed from a colorful people, a tribe that lived in the south of the Empire of Helena. Bright colors there usually meant something was poisonious, so the people started dressing like that thinking predators would stop trying to eat them. They were wrong, but they still dressed that way, now it was simply what one did.

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 He was quite curious about Fenris' origins, size and his seemingly intelligent behavior. Where did I acquire him? Where there more? How fast can he run? On and on he asked, so in order to shut him up I proposed a trade. I would tell him about Fenris and he would tell me about creature in the south, or sell me some beastiaries of monsters and other creatures. I also needed to know where to find them, their behaviors, habits and anything else a book might have on them.

Ofcoures I was interested in any books of that nature and I was also willing to pay for the books, for a fair price ofcourse. Seeing an opportunity to make good money, Mer hurriedly ran to his cart and then to the other merchants. After some haggling with the others, he returned with four books in hand. He wanted a total of 24 gold and fifty silver for them, which wasn't unreasonable. Considering most books are  hand written and then just copied by others. Assuming that some heroes hadn't brought the printing press around. And even if they did, it would be a while till the invention caught on out here in the Frontier, plus carrying books this far out was an iffy investment. Not everyone had that kind of money to spend, and those that did would probably spend it on something else.

The books I had purchased were.

Beasts Of The Frontier : Common Beasts And Where To Find Them.

Beasts Of The Frontier: Rare Beasts And Where To Find Them.

Tastes Like Chicken!: An Adventurers Guide To Outdoor Cooking.

 Who Ya' Callin' A Midget?!: A Guide To Dwarven Manners And Their Soceity.

I was guite satisfied with the books, so I began to tell Mor a mostly true story about Fenris. The Old woods, a chaos temple, and some stupid story about how I had ran away while my village when it was attacked and found Fenris. I raised him and cared for him, now he was loyal companion and had helped me fight many things. By the end of my tale Mor was rather curious if I knew where more like Fenris were, they would apparently be worth a fortune. I told him that I doubted it, but he was always welcome to look where I found Fenris.

Unfortunately that would mean risking poking around soon to be imperial territory.

 This set him on another long rant about tariffs from the Golden empire and how it was killing business from the little guys like himself. Unfair markets and merchandise seizing from imperial officers and lords. On and on again, all the way till we made camp for the night. The merchants set up in the middle with the adventurers in a loose circle around them, and a watch was established around the camp. We set up on the outer ring with the adventurers, but made sure there was some space between us and them.

Ofcourse we, being the new guys, we were assigned the task of hunting dinner. I assume it was some sort of joke or ploy to get the girls to stay behind, cause some of the other parties offered to help me if the girls would keep them company. What I found amusing is that the two adventurers who suggested it got dropped by Nix and Morganna. With them out cold and their buddies hurriedly carrying them back to their tents, we went hunting.

Nix grabbed a bow and some arrows she got with the other supplies, and went with Morganna to hunt small or medium prey, while Fenris and I went in search of large prey. I made sure to tell Fenris that he could consume some of his prey, but he still had to bring some back. He could drop one or two deer at the camp and hunt the rest for himself after. He was happy with the arrangement and took of into the woods. 

After some time we came back to camp, two of the merchants had guards that doubled as cooks, and delivered our gains. Three two headed deers,two does and a buck, a dozen rabbits and a boar. The adventures stared at us, and the guards were guite joyous at the haul. When I asked the cooks about this they said that the last two nights  the adventurers were responsible for hunting and their haul was barely either barely enough, or not enough. When they failed to procure enough last night, the merchants had to cut into their supply to supplement dinner.

Thus the stares and the happy guards. The adventurers were then told to help dress and clean the animals so the cooks could start cooking. While they weren't enthused about it, they understood and complied. Fenris though took the one of the does and dragged it a little ways from our tent, and began eating it. Not consuming it but eating it like a natural wolf. He, like me, sometimes found pleasure in eating things and savoring the taste.

 Seeing how Fenris was ripping the doe apart seemed to make it clear to all around not to bother our tent. Though I stayed by the small fire Nix had started, I needed no rest and therefor I took watch and read from one of my books. Most eveyone turned in for the night, waking up for the changing of watch, there wasn't much going on. And it stayed that way for a while, until I saw a guard the was patroling catch an arrow to the face. 

"Attack! We're under attack!" I yelled as loud as I could, which was very loud. Something had snuck up on me! Nothings ever done that before! I looked to the direction the arrow came from, and I noticed short figures coming towards the camp fairly guick like.

One of the guards looked towards and shouted,"Goblins!"