Feb 19, 2016 5:52 pm
The sun will set in a few hours, in the not-quite-yet-spring air, there lingers a chill of winter. Those from warmer climates most instictivley pull cloaks tighter, or adjust hoods. The party is weary from the long trek. As you come over a rise you finally set eyes on your destination, the village of Woodhearth. Each of you has your own reasons for coming to this village, and now that you are so near you feel like you have truly begun your quest.
The Dark Wood looms close to the village. You cannot help but think of a great predator bearing down on it's intended prey when regarding the woods and the village. You don't know why but it puts you ill at ease. Forests just should not seem avaricious the way this one does.
Woodhearth is something of an anomaly when compared to other small villages in this land that you have seen. One would expect a thriving village, as Woodhearth is said to be, to be sprawling. The surrounding countryside was dotted with homesteads of farmers, but every window you saw was dark. Not a single chimney showed signs of a fire warming the house or preparing the evening meal. The road you travel is wide and well worn by hoof, foot and cart. The ruts left by snow thaw run deep in the hollows between hills. The amount of traffic needed to create such conditions would more likely be found near a large city. The village however is teaming with life. From the top of the hill you can see nearly ten score of people going about their business inside the village. The village is crammed in a shallow valley between two hills. Surrounding the majority of the structures is a wooden palisade, a wall of tree trunks and planks some ten feet high. The wall is intact, completing a full circuit of the town, but signs of construction are evident. You can see that the villagers are expanding the wall. Out side are several sections that are not yet complete, likely waiting for the intervening earth to be prepared. While inside are incomplete portions, likely being taken down and repurpose, now that they are redundant. Several structures, homes and shops are sitting dark and secured in between the new and old construction.
Inside the village there is life though. Abundant and noisy voices drift to your ears on the wind as you approach the gates of the village. The smells also assail your senses when the wind blows in the right direction. You can smell cooking and baking coming from the numerous inns, homes, and shops, but it all pales to the overriding stench of livestock and the unwashed people. Again, malodor of this magnitude would be common in the poor districts of a proper city, not a small village like this. It isn't unbearable of course, but the scale of it is surprising.
As you approach the gate, a bell tolls loudly from the center of town. The gates swing shut abruptly, cutting off the warm glow of Woodhearth and leaving you all in the growing darkness of the evening.
What do you do?
The Dark Wood looms close to the village. You cannot help but think of a great predator bearing down on it's intended prey when regarding the woods and the village. You don't know why but it puts you ill at ease. Forests just should not seem avaricious the way this one does.
Woodhearth is something of an anomaly when compared to other small villages in this land that you have seen. One would expect a thriving village, as Woodhearth is said to be, to be sprawling. The surrounding countryside was dotted with homesteads of farmers, but every window you saw was dark. Not a single chimney showed signs of a fire warming the house or preparing the evening meal. The road you travel is wide and well worn by hoof, foot and cart. The ruts left by snow thaw run deep in the hollows between hills. The amount of traffic needed to create such conditions would more likely be found near a large city. The village however is teaming with life. From the top of the hill you can see nearly ten score of people going about their business inside the village. The village is crammed in a shallow valley between two hills. Surrounding the majority of the structures is a wooden palisade, a wall of tree trunks and planks some ten feet high. The wall is intact, completing a full circuit of the town, but signs of construction are evident. You can see that the villagers are expanding the wall. Out side are several sections that are not yet complete, likely waiting for the intervening earth to be prepared. While inside are incomplete portions, likely being taken down and repurpose, now that they are redundant. Several structures, homes and shops are sitting dark and secured in between the new and old construction.
Inside the village there is life though. Abundant and noisy voices drift to your ears on the wind as you approach the gates of the village. The smells also assail your senses when the wind blows in the right direction. You can smell cooking and baking coming from the numerous inns, homes, and shops, but it all pales to the overriding stench of livestock and the unwashed people. Again, malodor of this magnitude would be common in the poor districts of a proper city, not a small village like this. It isn't unbearable of course, but the scale of it is surprising.
As you approach the gate, a bell tolls loudly from the center of town. The gates swing shut abruptly, cutting off the warm glow of Woodhearth and leaving you all in the growing darkness of the evening.
What do you do?
