Day 1.2 - Strangers

The boat finally landed and the visitors and the strangers stepped upon the beach. There were four sailors and two travelers: a man and a woman. The woman wore a heavy cloak with the hood obscuring most of her features. Nonetheless, I could tell she was young and attractive. The man had a very serious nature about him, but was kind in his interactions with our villagers. One of the elders, Jonus, asked where they were from and the man responded "the mainland, from Baulder's Gate." That caused some confusion since no one has heard of anyone named Baulder, let alone the need for a gate, but let it pass. The answer to "how long was your journey?" caused more consternation. "Six days at sea." Even though Norland is a six day journey, it is almost completely deserted and no one ever sails at night. Finally, comfort was found by the villagers when the man asked "Does Arcos live on this island?" "Yes! Of course he does! Are you relatives?" "Sort of." That convinced everyone that they were from the far side of Hope's Island and had just gotten lost in an unusual spring storm.

Talia, Chupa, and I all followed the procession from the beach into the village. The closer we walked to the village, the closer we got to the strangers. Unfortunately, they were taken to a private hut to bathe and change. Just before they retired to the recently emptied hut, I heard Elder Kayla invite the travelers to a meeting with the Council before the evening feast and festival. The travelers retired to Old Man Minow's hut (he passed away last harvest). I stood "guard", watching for them to emerge again while Talia and Chupa went to see Arcos.

I'm not entirely sure what happened while my friends were away; Arcos lived outside of the village and was considered a hermit. Talia later recounted that Arcos hinted that he was expecting the travelers, he wasn't going to meet them, it was time for him to leave, and that everything in the hut belonged to Talia. I guess Chupa passed out when Arcos cut his hand with his hunting knife (he always seems to get queasy around blood). I guess right after Arcos left the hut, his things in his hut started to catch on fire. As Chupa and Talia tried in vain to contain the fire, some other villagers finally noticed the smoke and came to help.

Chupa and Talia finally found their way back to me, but I had nothing new to report. Shortly thereafter, the male stranger came out and introduced himself as Gaius. I guess he overheard a few pieces of our conversation, since we couldn't speak our secret language inside the village. He couldn't keep his eyes off of Talia, which made me more than a little uncomfortable. While we chatted outside, Gaius' companion, Rain, walked out from behind a nearby tree. She was quieter than a warm breeze and said almost as much. When Talia told Gaius her full name, I thought his eyes were going to fall out of his skull. He insisted that he show us something he had inside the hut. Talia followed him before Chupa and I could even try to stop her.

Day 1.1 - Arrival

Strangers arrived today. Now nothing will be the same.

Talia, Chupa and I were discussing the contents of one of my grandfather's books in the hidden glade deep in the forest. Talia had some trouble with some of the places I mentioned, although the name Faerûn gave her only the slightest pause. Chupa couldn't accept anything I told him and insisted I stop contradicting the teachings of the elders and "Lady Hope". Instead, I told him about some of the old gods of our world: Torm, Tyr, Shallya, and Talos. Talia was most interested in Tyr. She seemed to have, at least, heard the name before.

Kaima burst into the clearing and distrupted our discussions. I don't know how she found us, but she didn't seem to hear us speaking in our secret language. "A ship is approaching from the south-east!" she yelled at us. That's almost impossible, according the the elders. Llewellyn is supposed to be the southern-most village on the eastern-most island of the Isles. "Nothing but the edge of the world and a horrible death await those that sail south or east," they teach.

Knowing that Kaima wouldn't leave us alone if we didn't follow her, we ran back to the shore to see the new arrivals. Neither Chupa nor I could see anything at first, but Talia immediately saw a ship far on the horizon. We sent Kaima back to fetch the elders while we waited for the boat to draw closer. Soon, all of us could clearly see the boat and the tiny figures standing on the bow.

After a time, some of the older villagers arrived and assessed the situation. They insisted that the boat most have gotten lost in a storm or swept away by the currents. All agreed that they were lucky to still be alive. We were shooed from the shore, but knew we could hide in the treeline to see the new arrivals. The wait seemed to last forever.