It wasn’t long until they found a road. It wasn’t much, a pair of dusty ruts that ran along the edge of the river, but it appeared to know more about where it was going than either Lefty or Feathers did, so they each picked a rut and followed.

One look at the water told Lefty the river was running high. The dark blue water rushed over the rocks and frothed at its edges. He wasn’t much of a outdoorsman, but he knew this could really only mean one thing: It was spring and the winter runoff was flowing down from the mountains.

They were rounding a bend when two men stepped out from the trees. Each man wore patchwork leather armor. The nearest man held a hunting spear while the other held a bow.

“Hold right there, traveler,” said the man with the spear. Lefty held, while beside him Feathers came to a stop as well. The man with the spear looked like he knew how the thing worked. “My name is Brethard and this is my man Grant. We’ve been keeping watch on the road here to Southwood for these last seven nights. Tell me your business on this road traveler and we may let you pass.”

“Er …” Lefty had not considered that he might need to justify his presence in the village. He thought back to his stat block where he had a diplomacy skill of 15, but no bluff skill to speak of. Honesty it is then … He took a deep breath and tried to look as non-threatening as possible. “Well, we were hoping to reach the village to find a place to stay for the night.”

Brethard gave him a cool look, “You don’t have any goblins in your party, do you?”

Lefty took a long look behind him just to check that, indeed, there were no goblins with him. “No,” he shook his head, “I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean, ‘You don’t think so?’” Brethard said.

“Uhm …” Lefty scratched his head, “Honestly, we were attacked by horde of goblins earlier today and were hoping to surround ourselves with a little more protection than trees and an open fire tonight.”

Brethard gave him a cool look, “And by ‘we’ you don’t mean you and the duck, do you?”

“Uhm …” Lefty looked down at Feathers. The duck appeared unconcerned. “… This is my traveling companion.”

Brethard looked at the duck. “Does your traveling companion have a name?”

“Yes, his name is Feathers,” Lefty replied.

Brethard looked as if he were wondering at Lefty’s grasp on reality.

Beside Breathard, Grant kneeled down and looked excitedly at Lefty. “Would Feather’s be okay if I petted him?”

The duck straightened himself proudly. Lefty nodded, “Feathers says yes, you may pet him.”

Grant walked forward and gingerly stooped down to stroke Feathers on the head. “Aw, cute little fella, aren’t you?”

The duck responded with a satisfied quack.

After a few more pets and quacks, Grant returned to Brethard. “I think we should just let them through. It’s a wizard and a duck. What harm could they be?”

Brethard sighed and pointed down the road. “Alright, the two of you seem okay to me. Southwood’s just down the road. If you’re like to stay the night, there’s the river lodge where most of the fishermen stay, or there’s Abby’s where most of the fishermen go to drink. Your choice. It’s one of those two or you can find a place to pitch your tent.”

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“Yes, well thank you.” Lefty gave the men a bow. “Before we leave, I must ask: Do you two normally guard the road? Or has it really become that dangerous of late?”

“Bagh!” Brethard spat. “Normally, Grant and I trap and hunt up and down the river, but three days ago Larismore was put to the torch by goblin raiders. So now they got the whole town up in arms.”

“How far is Larismore from here?” Lefty asked.

This time it was Grant who answered, “About four miles, and it wasn’t just Larismore, it was Trostad and Harva as well.”

Lefty clutched his staff. “Well, we just encountered near a hundred of the monsters up in those hills.” He pointed to the ridge behind him. “They chased us until we were able to escape down into the valley.”

“Aye,” Brethard nodded. “That’s where the nearest tribe is hiding. Or so we’re told. I have half a mind to scout the area, but the mayor keeps us here to watch the road.”

The hunter’s eyes then traveled to the hillside from where Lefty and Feathers had just fled. The rest of them followed his gaze and for a moment they all looked up at the tree covered hilltop. Clouds were rolling in from the west and just then a roll of thunder echoed in the distance.

Brethard broke the silence. “Well, you had best be getting along. The roads are dangerous at night. Not just the goblins, but there’s packs of wolves and worse out there.”

“Ah, thank you sir.” Lefty replied. “Which of the two inns are closest?”

“Abby’s, but I’ll warn you that we’ve had other dangerous folk enter our village of late as well. So if you ask me, you best keep your business to yourself.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Lefty.

With that they took their leave. The two woodsmen disappeared into the trees as Lefty and Feathers continued down the road.

The sun was fading over the treetops as they entered the village. Along the river, a boy was watering a pony and Lefty and Feathers came up the path, the youngster turned to watch the odd couple pass by.

“Are you a wizard, sir?” the boy asked.

Lefty stopped. “What makes you say that?”

The boy pointed, “Well, you got the robes, sir, and the staff and you got a magic looking book strapped to your pack and so I figured you looked like one, sir.”

Lefty straightened himself proudly. “It just so happens that I am.”

“That’s good, sir,” the boy said. “If you find yourself headed to Abby’s, sir, there just happens to be a party of folk who are looking for a wizard. I would bet they might be plenty happy to meet you.”

Lefty gave this a moment’s thought. “And just why are they looking for a wizard?”

“Well sir, I think they mean to go on a quest or something about the gobbers, sir. They’re rough folk, by the looks of them. I figure they could use one of you if’n they happen to know what they’re about and they look to me like they do.”

“Ah,” Lefty nodded, “thank you for that. Which way is Abby’s?”

The boy pointed down the road. “Two more buildings in and you’ll see it. Just around the bend, it is. Big two story job. Not much room with all the folk from Harva and Trostadd, but I’m sure Abby will find room for you if’n you’re intending to go after the gobbers, sir.”

Lefty looked back at the hills. “Right, the goblins. Well, thank you for the tip, little guy. We’ll just be heading along now. Thank you. Good bye!” He waved to the boy as he continued down the road and then took a sharp turn right for the river and away from Abby’s.

Behind him, the boy piped up, “Sir, Abby’s is the other way, sir!”

Lefty waved, “Yes, you said that. Thanks so much!”

The boy looked confused. Lefty did not. Beside him, Feathers quacked assertively.

“Yes, I’m sure you think going after the goblins is a good idea, but might I remind you that I’m a level one wizard? I have absolutely no business going anywhere near that many monsters. Not on my life, thank you very much. I happen to like breathing. Now, what do you say we try to find a bit of civilization where we can settle down, maybe open a shop or find a job that doesn’t involve any violence or danger of any kind, and just kind of try to ride this whole thing out. What do you think?”

Feathers quacked.

“You say that, but I don’t see you jumping up to volunteer either.”

Feathers quacked again.

“Well then they’ll just have to come find me. I’ll tell them off, you know. I’m not interested in charging into a goblin mob any more than I am in trying to get lucky with a succubus1.”

The duck let out a huff and said no more.

They found the river lodge nestled in the woods along the docks. A pair of men were bringing in a boat as they approached. As they passed, the nearest man gave Lefty a funny look, but the wizard ignored it and made for the front door of the lodge.

Inside, the smell of freshly cleaned fish hit his nose as he noticed a man standing over a table with a stack of gutted skins and guts to his left and a stack of freshly cut fish fillets to his right. However, as Lefty walked to the counter and rang the bell, the man paid him no mind.

After a moment of silence, Lefty tried to get the fisherman’s attention, “Say, do you happen to know where …”

He was interrupted as someone behind the counter pulled up a stool. A moment later, the head of a halfling man, red haired with a small pointy beard, popped up. “Hey,” said the halfling, “what are you doing here?”

Lefty was confused, “What do you mean, ‘what am I doing here?’ I just got here. I need a room for the night.”

The halfling shook his head. “No, what I mean is you’re clearly an adventurer. By order of the mayor, you’re to report to Abby’s tavern with the other adventurers so that you can do something about all these goblins.”

“Uh …” Lefty was taken aback, “… Look, I don’t know what you think is going on, but I’m literally not capable of killing even one goblin, let alone the mess of them that are out there right now, so how about we just forget about the ‘adventurer’ part and you get me a room.” And at that, he unslung his pack, pulled out a fist full of the gold coins he had looted off the dead ogre and set them on the counter.

That halfling picked one of the coins up, held it to the light, and then bit it for good measure. He then swept the coins into the pocket of his apron. “Right. Second floor, third room on the left.”

1This last bit was, in fact, not true as anyone who has read the first book ‘Sable Unlimited: Morphic Dungeon of the Mad Mage’ knows.