29 Pflugzeit
Did the honorable thing and got married in Tahme (when the locals say the word it sounds like Dahme, which feels more natural). The local priest of Randal tied the knot. We're Wigmar and Isolde von Liberung now. Spent the day wining and dining and the wedding night wasn't half bad. The blushing bride wasn't a virgin but I already knew that. If we don't get an heir soon it's not for lack of trying. Nothing wrong with my lovely mistresses, fine women both, but I have to say those young women of noble birth are something special. So slender and supple, so eager.
It'll be a good marriage, I'm sure.
30 Pflugzeit
Departed Tahme accompanied by a fellow whose name eludes me. No matter - undoubtedly a false name. He offered to make us a trade: our little wagon for a much sturdier one that he had stashed just outside town. When asked about his motivations he explained he only had the one horse and couldn't afford to get another. A smaller wagon would be a boon. So pretty much a brigand getting rid of his ill-gotten gains.
Half expected to get attacked by those very brigands but I supposed our weapons and armor convinced them otherwise. Just as well. We would have fought them off, certainly, but being taken in ambush is always an uncertain thing. And with so many women to protect, including my lady wife...
We barely made it to the little town of Havelfurt before dark. Other than having a road leading to Bögenhafen it was a very nice place. Cleaner than most places. There was a feeling of safety and something else I couldn't put my finger on. Peaceful maybe?
31 Pflugzeit
Another day spent on the road, another roadside inn. We're making slow progress, getting up late and eating a hearty breakfast. No wonder, given the amount of night-time activity. Being newly-wed I'm giving my wife all my affection, but I can hear A&A on the other side of the wall. They are quite loud sometimes. Come to think of it, Isolde gets loud at times too. And not only when entertaining in the common room, if you get my drift.
But there is no rush, is there? The road is going nowhere and neither are my lands. We'll travel at our leisure and enjoy ourselves rather than rush along the roads like common merchants.
32 Pflugzeit
Around midday, we came to a stone bridge crossing a tributary river. There was no shortage of water in this one, coming down from the Hägecrybs, but not enough of it to matter in the grander scale of things.
The ravine was too steep to cross without the use of said bridge. There was something of a traffic jam on both sides. Turned out horses wouldn't cross for no reason I could determine. Magic? Troll piss? Who knows.
Men could cross just fine though. So we made a deal with some traders on the far side to switch our horses for some of theirs. With some effort, we man-handled the wagons across and that was that. Better than turning back or taking the long way around through the hills.
I later learned the bridge acted like that every year around the same date. Something to do with a dwarven curse or some such nonsense. I'll make a note to avoid the bridge around the end of Pflugzeit - problem solved.
The affair with the bridge slowed our progress and forced us to spend the name at a ghastly inn called the Hooded Man. Or was it the Hanged Man? The name eludes me, but no matter. Long story short: we were attacked by mutants. They had murdered the innkeep and his people and were posing as them. The handful of locals present turned out to be mutants as well. There was quite the fight but we put them to the sword.
33 Pflugzeit
In the morning I and the big guy took a little detour to check up on the village of Osterndorf, the only settlement nearby. I had a mind to see if there were more mutants about.
That's when things took a turn from bad to worse. A boy of ten or twelve or eight or something - I'm not good with kids - came running down the rutty road with a babe in his hands. Not far after came a dead man walking. It took quite some effort to put down dead flesh. I suppose being dead makes it hard to kill them again.
The kid explained the villagers had pulled a strange black stone out of the dried-out river. Not long after the dead had risen from their graves to murder the living. As far as the kid knew he was the only one to get out alive. Him and his dear baby brother, who had died of a fever in the winter. I'm not often moved but it was a sad thing we had to do. And the only thing we could do.
We headed back to the others to get some backup and to get the boy out of harm's way. Then we returned to Osterndorf to set things right. I'd rather not write about any of it. Suffice to say we took the stone from the dead and hurled it into the river. The dead are now gathered around it, waiting for the waters to rise.
We reached the town of Jettenberg in the evening and reported our grizzly findings. The powers that be bade us remain in town until they could get their Graf. So we threw a party at the town's best inn (such as there was) to pass the time and unwind.
I did the thing with Thesalva. I figure it's not infidelity. We were merely doing something we should have done already before I married. Plus I'm a nobleman. Nobles do stuff like that all the time. It was nice but frantic, almost mechanical. She's a good warrior but I don't think she's spent much time practicing her bed skills. For all her lack of finesse: how can I go back to my human women after this?
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