It is the week of the Alda Chur Fertility Flame Festival, and traditionally, the Karanen bloodline have the rites of passage for their young warriors during this week.
Kemal and Drayin befriend young Indra, the daughter of the Karanen Head Thane. This strong willed girl is also performing her rite of passage, and she is put into the same group as our two cottars. They must head south into the wilds, to Pig Hollow, on the frontier of Black Spear territory. Their mission is to bring back a decently processed wolf skin each, so our party must find a wolf pack.
The trio sets out from the Karanen stead. The Colymar wilds are normally off limit for non-adults, so it is for the first time that our three Hiording venture into the dark forests south of Apple Lane. The weather is cloudy but dry, and not too cold. For over an hour they advance, and when they arrive in a clearing amidst several mounds covered with underbrush and shrubs. They are alarmed by a sound up ahead, but cannot make out any threat. Once they advance into the small clearing, a group of trollkin tries to ambush them. Kemal is hit by a rock from a sling.
Indra Karanensdottir is young, but well trained with the bow, and her first shot pierces the head of the apparent leader. Drayin and Kemal charge towards two other trollkin that appear, while Indra tries to get into position to take out the slinger. The trollkin turn out to be no match for the party, after the leader is killed. The party salvages a nice set of brigandine armor and some other goods.
They continue towards Pig Hollow, and around noon they decide to try and hunt some game for lunch, but without success. They end up eating some wild carrots that Kemal finds.
Once into the Hollow Indra starts tracking wolf trails, and they quickly pick up a pack. All of a sudden they find themselves under attack by a group of 8 wolves, that are closing in fast. Good ranged fire thins out the pack somewhat, but the party still are faced with 5 hungry wolves. It takes a determined defense and some serious healing to best the hungry canines, but in the end the party prevails. It takes a lot of effort, and some help from the gods, but the three manage to produce three decent wolf skins, and they head back home. It gets dark early in Earth Season, so the group decides to spend the night in the field. During the night a goblin notices the skins, and manages to steal them without Drayin noticing, so that morning they are in for an unpleasant surprise. Luckily, the tracks of a goblin draggin about 3 heavy wolf skins are easy to recognise, and the culprit is quickly found and justice is swiftly and brutally dealt.
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