The journey to the next village on their list, Gerron’s Vale, was thoroughly uninteresting. It could’ve even been somewhat enjoyable if not for the light drizzle that accompanied the adventurers from the moment they set foot outside the inn. Being able to stay on the road, even if it was only a trail of packed dirt, meant that they didn’t need to navigate puddles hidden under leaves or mud spots that were deeper than they seemed, and with the rain not being very strong, Edwin’s boots and cloak kept him reasonably dry. It was just unpleasant and annoying.
Walter didn’t think about this part when he decided to become an adventurer from the dry comfort of his townhouse.
Rain or not, they made reasonably good time and reached Gerron’s Vale with daylight to spare. They took a look around the town, and much to Bordan’s joy they found that the village had its own blacksmith. With the rise of large smithing workshops in the cities, like the ones in Pel Darni’s western quarter, many blacksmith’s apprentices sought their fortune there instead of plying their trade in the outer villages. Currently it was mostly larger towns that had their own blacksmith, so finding one out on the fringe was lucky.
Although the Master didn’t have any experience with weapons, he quickly agreed to attach the tip of Bordan’s broken spear to a new handle. It wouldn’t be as sturdy as it was before, as he was literally going to use a handle meant for a farming implement, but it would do until they got back to Pel Darni. Hopefully. Hearing that they were adventurers, here to help with the monster problem, he promised that it would be done before noon the next day. They also purchased a quiver of arrows for Salissa, as Leodin had looked as if they’d demanded he part with his first- and second born when they asked if she could borrow some of his bolts. As it turned out, he made the bolts himself especially for his crossbow, and with several bolts being damaged upon impact or lost in the forests during the fights, his reserves were not what they had been.
Headwoman Morna, a matronly figure with a steely gaze and commanding voice, informed them of a bit of news that was a slight hitch in their plans: While yes, the request had spoken of a singular direwolf, the townsfolk had since then counted a total of three of the beasts. The only good news was that Morna was quite confident in that number, as they had gotten close enough to the walls to be identified with a degree of certainty several times over the last few weeks. When it came to a location, she sadly wasn’t all too helpful. ‘Between us and the border of the Woods’ was as good as she could do.
Remembering the mess they’d made of fighting two of the creatures, the adventurers were understandably apprehensive. However, they soon agreed that with their improved teamwork and prior warning of the true numbers, they’d be able to take the monsters on.
Gerron’s Vale had a small guesthouse they could stay in. The structure surprised Edwin, as it seemed reasonably new.
“We built that a few seasons back.” Morna told them when asked. “We get traders down here rarely enough, and sometimes they decided to just turn back early instead of coming down all the way to us. Something about bad roads and no accommodations, prissy buggers. Anyway, we put up this lodge to make it more attractive for them to come here because we rely on their trade. We only open it up when we have guests, which is maybe once or twice per season, so don’t expect too much.”
It was really just a bunkhouse, but it was dry, and it beat sleeping on the ground. With just the four of them, they had plenty of space too.
They were up early the next morning, as per usual, but they had some time to kill while they waited for Bordan’s spear. Salissa practiced with her new arrows, with mixed results. As she was trying to end the conversion close to her body to keep the mana drain low, aiming the arrows was quite hard. She ended up shooting them along an outstretched arm as guidance, looking almost like a weird parody on an archer without a bow. At least she was getting to the point where she could reliably link something within a few seconds, slightly faster than Leodin reloaded his crossbow. She still had trouble regulating the power of her shot, but it was working.
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As promised, the blacksmith finished the spear before mid-day. It looked weird, the shaft was of lower quality wood, but thicker, and once out of earshot of the smithy, Bordan groaned that it looked like he wielded a one-pronged pitchfork. Despite his protests, Edwin could tell that he was glad to have his spear back, being forced to rely on his backup sword had put the former soldier on edge.
Now newly rearmed, the adventurers set off into the wilderness. Fall announced itself with grey clouds and a persistent rainfall that didn’t want to stop for anything. Now off the roads, Edwin thanked the gods, his cobbler and Olin who’d delivered Edwin to his doorstep, as his boots continued to keep his feet dry yet again. Salissa’s didn’t, and judging by the curses she muttered under her breath, she was starting to get sick and tired of wet feet.
They started their search close to the town and snaked outwards in a similar pattern to the one they’d used to find the boar, trudging through the soggy forests and fields with their heads on a swivel. They sun rose higher, then sunk lower – at least that’s what they assumed, they couldn’t see the damn thing behind the clouds – and they hadn’t seen so much as the tip of a wolf’s tail. Defeated and sodden, they returned to the town. The guest house didn’t have staff, but Morna had organized one of their neighbours to bring them a pot of hot stew with bread, which tasted heavenly after being cold and wet the whole day.
They started the next day with reluctant confidence: They’d scouted some areas the day before, now they could skip those and start searching in earnest. They’d done their best to dry their clothes, and they marched out of the gate with vigor. That only held until the rain started again, though. It was stronger than the day before, and around noon it started to leak under Edwin’s cloak. Being on the hunt for dangerous monsters meant that they couldn’t draw their hoods as deeply as they’d have liked, and a slight wind blew the rain down his collar. Walter had always considered teaching classes a punishment, but oh, what Edwin would’ve given to change his current situation for a dry classroom in the College.
By the time they called it a day in the evening, several days of non-stop rain had softened up the soil so much that they regularly sunk in over their ankles or slid in hidden mud, fighting for purchase. When they made it back to town, they had to spend a few minutes by the well, washing off their boots and clothes with cold water before they dared to enter the guest house. The food was still good, but the mood was getting more somber. Headwoman Morna dropped by to ask about their progress, but soon excused herself again. Bordan took the whole thing in stride, the former soldier clearly used to worse, but even Leodin was starting to lose his patience, let alone Edwin and Salissa. A life at the College had prepared neither for the situation they found themselves in.
Day three was much of the same, with the notable exception that they finished their search of the area with empty hands. They had canvassed the entire area between Gerron’s Vale and the edge of the Clawed Woods, moving north to south in a zig-zag pattern. The question now was: Did they go further north or south, expanding their search area, or did they go back and search the same area again in case they’d missed something? After some deliberation they kept going south for the rest of the day, finding more nothing until they trotted back towards the town when it started to get dark. Having completed their search pattern wore on them, and even Bordan lost the last vestiges of his cheer. While the weather didn’t faze him much, the responsibility of being the party’s semi-official leader and as such being in charge of planning their hunt seemed to weigh on his mind.
They still managed to dry most of their clothes by the fire before the next morning, though Edwin worried that he’d never get the smell of smoke out of his cloak. Once they started their search again, he got used to it though.
For day four, Bordan had decided to re-search the area they’d already completed, starting at the halfway point between the town and the Woods. It was still raining, with large puddles now forming on the muddy ground. The walked through areas they’d already been in, trudging on mindlessly as the hours ticked by, and noon came and passed. Days of being on the lookout had dulled their senses and their concentration, which was why Edwin, who walked in his regular spot in the back, only noticed the direwolf when it was almost on top of him.