From the Journal of one Wigmar Heck, pt 14 (Spring in the Vorbergland)

 

Emmaretta

In my haste to put the living dead behind me, to forget their very existence, I forgot to mention the newest addition to Wigmar's Marvelous Menagerie: Fraülein Emmaretta, the Crazy Cat Lady!

Sometime after crossing the Bridge of Terrified Horses (I was busy chatting with Thesalva and the hours flew by), we came across four unpleasant fellows that had a noose around a girl's neck - and were slowly strangling her. A couple of big forest cats were lurking in the undergrowth and the men were keeping their crossbows ready.

Words were exchanged and the unwashed simpletons chose to leave the girl in my care. Good for them, or we would have shot them all dead. Emmaretta, a girl in her 20s (she seems about my age, maybe younger, definitely older than Isolde) with ha the color of beaten copper. From the hill country, a ranger by vocation, beloved by cats. Not household cats, but those forest cats that grow the size of a hunting dog.

We agreed to help her get her cousin, Karl, out of jail in Jettenberg. It seemed a job well suited for von Liberung. A just and noble task. Seeing as he had been imprisoned, for no reason at all, by the same folks that had tried hanging Emmaretta.

But would you believe: no sooner had I convinced the magistrate to unshackle the man before the wretch fled for the hills. Emmaretta did not follow. She's a good sort. Loyal and trustworthy. She fits just fine with A&A and my lady wife. I think I'll ask her to come to my lands and work for me. I've got hills aplenty up there if the map doesn't lie (I should probably learn to read maps - I think that's something nobles know how-to).

1 Sigmarzeit

We spent the first day of the month of Sigmar waiting for the Graf in Jettenberg. It's a smallish walled town, on the eastern side of the Tahme. We might have missed it entirely if we hadn't been looking for it: you have to take a side road, cross a bridge, and then some distance up the valley.

Gert Krügdel, Graf of Jettenberg (and the surrounding hill country) looked and acted the part of a true Reikland noble. He is what von Liberung needs to be. He listened to our tale, offered us an escort (we declined), and then we parted ways on good terms. Next time he's in Übersreik he'll call upon my home. Better get my affairs in order before that. having a real graf over will be great for von Liberung's status and credibility.

2-5 Sigmarzeit

We left Jettenberg and rejoined the main road south. Slow going along the western banks of the Tahme, the Hägercybs looming on our left-hand side. Reminds me of the Five Sisters up near Neue Etzel, only bigger and more forbidding. You could lose an army in those mountain valleys and no one would ever find the remains. Maybe there are cults to the Ahalt, the Drinker up there? I shudder at the thought and hope never to go there in person.

On the 5th we came to the trading town of Schrabwald. We've left the Reikswald forest behind. From here on we'll follow the hills of the Vorbergland down to Übersreik.

6 Sigmarzeit

Schrabwald is not much different from other Vorbergland towns. Except for one thing: they keep their dwarfs locked up inside a ghetto. They are only allowed into the town on market days or under escort. And the most insane part: the town council says it's for the dwarfs' own protection. Meanwhile, the good citizens are busy peddling fake "dwarf" goods to unsuspecting travelers. What a dump!

We met Brunda Gromsdottir, a smith and artisan of some skill (she also has impressive biceps - but no beard), in the dwarf ghetto. convinced her to come along for the trip, to see the Liberung lands with her own dwarven eyes. If she likes what she sees, I could have an entire group of mangy-looking hard-drinking dwarfs on my lands...

7-15 Sigmarzeit

We departed Schrabwald in the company of Brunda. Of the rest of the journey, I write but little. Four days to Siedlung, five more to Ubersreik, and that's all there is to it. I've rekindled my affair with A&A but that's fine by my wife. She's got an affair with them as well. And Emmaretta is mixed up in it too. I try not to let it get out of hand but so many women...such intoxicating music, the wild dancing, and the drinks...it's hard to behave the proper gent, I tell you that.

In the afternoon of the 15th of Sigmarzeit we finally gazed upon the walls of Übersreik...