Dragon Warriors

You make your goodbyes and are off upon your next adventure.

You make your way to the village of Norham. The road is a treacherous muddy track at this time of year, and as you pass the village pond you begin to savour thoughts of a hot bath. Perhaps one of the good people of Norham will take you in. They are stout-hearted folk, proud of their freedom and the living they eke out in this tiny farming community. You have heard that they always help wayfarers out of the kindness of their hearts, and never accept payment.

You must have heard wrong. Three men strolling in from the fields glower at you coldly before disappearing into a wide building of stone and timber.
You make your way inside. The air is smoky from the fire in the middle of the building. A cow has been slaughtered and is slowly roasting over the hearth. There are several people here, and among them you quickly pick out the men you saw outside.

“We cannot welcome vagabonds,” declares one, stepping up to you. “These are lean times and we are honest working folk. Toil is the most respected virtue in
Norham; idle mendicants are given short shrift.”

Everyone in the room has fallen silent. They watch you with sullen expressions.

"Speak up," says the one who stepped up to you. "What business have you here?"

The surly stocky fellow awaits your answers.

In response, Max, his hands raised away from his weapons, steps slowly into the room’s centre to address those present. ‘Vagabonds we be not but servants of Sir Beorn. We mean no harm by our presence, but as a show of our intentions, I’ll happily stand you each a drink. That is, if they be served at this establishment.’

"A drink you say? Well, it's like that you're not vagabonds, nor mendicants to boot. Scripps!," he shouts to a dour looking barman. "These uns want to buy us a drink. Make sure it's the good stuff."

He leads you to a table near the fire. "Now that we're fast friends, and that you told me of Sir Beorn, I can guess why you're here. I'm Hyple, by the way. I'm the fellow who gets stuff done around here."

The ale arrives and with a swig, his throat clears and he sets off in earnest chat.

"The tax collector rode through here just before dawn a few days’ back, as though Old Nick himself were behind him. Only a short time later, two men on frothing chargers came pounding through. They must soon have caught up with the first fellow. Some time later, the tax collector’s horse came limping back into the village.”

A bedraggled chap wanders over with a mug of ale in his hand and takes up the story: “I caught the poor beast’s reins myself. It was stumbling about and rolling its
eyes—shivering like it’d been ridden hard all night. Its saddlebags had been slit with a knife, cleaned out but for a few copper pieces.”

“The other two men rode back just after that,” says Hyple. “They paid none of us any heed, just bantered with one another in the nervous manner of men who’ve done an evil deed. They glanced at the horse as they rode by, and one of them grinned at the other and patted his saddlebag, but they didn’t stop.”

"Big fellows. Gaunt with it. They looked ill-omened. Dark stringy hair. One of 'em had an eye patch."

He swigs.

"When they chased the tax collector, they were headed the Saxton way, n' they came back, toward Egham."

"The look on that poor steed's face, appen it had been rode up near the Dell."

_________________
co-author Fury of the Deep
co-author Friends or Foes
co-author Dragon Warriors Players Guide
co-author Cold Fury
co-author Cadaver Draconis
co-author Ordo Draconis 1 and 2.

‘I reckon we’d get better information from the living culprits then a cold corpse, besides the body’ll like it be well hidden giving us the Devil’s own job to dig it out.’

_________________
co-author Fury of the Deep
co-author Friends or Foes
co-author Dragon Warriors Players Guide
co-author Cold Fury
co-author Cadaver Draconis
co-author Ordo Draconis 1 and 2.

>Sorry for the delay in posting but I have just got a new job and the old brain is taxed to its limits. I'll try to get us back in the saddle towards the weekend<