Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 2.22.

Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 2.22.

The journey to Umar Hills takes a lot of time as it turns out - this is the third day we have been walking; yet Imnesvale is not in the sight yet. At least I don’t have any objections to traveling and camping for the night outside, now that Jaheira has set her modesty aside and spends the nights in my tent… Still she insists to set our tent slightly further away from the others… she pretended not to hear my suggestion to hand out a pair of earplugs for everyone of our friends.

The mysterious disappearance of our ex-companion Aerie has not been discussed any more, everyone has agreed with my course of action and as I suspected none of my friends was too fond of the unfortunate elf either… I think that they would still expect me to look for her when we return to Athkatla, and I think I’ll have to agree…

On the third day of walking we finally notice the change of landscape surrounding us. The thick, impenetrable forest becomes thinner and the lowlands are replaced in places by rocky elevations. Our walking path becomes tighter and rockier as we circle around the stone layers, crossing the small hillocks that become steeper and steeper as we move forward. The wild, romantic beauty of the mountains as the rocky cliffs contrast with the green meadows… occasionally the green is in some places sprinkled with tiny white dots – an odd shepherd or two letting their herd out to frolic in amongst the green grass and the wild flowers. Mountain flowers… of course, the large yellow and orange spots amongst the green grass of meadows… and of course the air in this altitude is completely different, so dry and refreshing.

I would actually want to stop and pick a bouquet of rhododendrons, perhaps I should make a wreath for Jaheira… it would look so gorgeous in her hair… After a moment of thought I decide against it – she would likely think that I am sick and cast cure disease on me or kick me in the stomach for killing “innocent flowers”… She has always neglected anything that could highlight her natural beauty and I don’t think that anything has changed in this attitude lately… still, that alone is one of her major charms…

As we have climbed atop of a particularly steep hill and now stand on the edge of sheer cliff, the most wondrous sight appears as we look down. Fully encircled by majestically looking mountain cliffs below us lay the most deliciously looking valley, the juicy green color of grass is mixed with the bright blue of numerous gushing mountain streams and rivers. On the left side of the valley we can spot about a dozen large, dark spots – the village of Imnesvale.

As we descend down the mountain path, I cannot help but admire the imposing and powerful creations of nature… there are a plenty of wild animals around us and they do not appear to act terrified by whatever evil is rumored to stalk the countryside. If what, the animals are not showing any signs of fear in our presence as we see a lot of squirrels, groundhogs, hedgehogs and other… hogs going about their petty little businesses paying no attention to us whatsoever. Once even a large mountain bear crosses our path just a couple of yards ahead of us, ignoring our presence, and I swear that I saw a large snow leopard standing gracefully on a lower branches of a stray mountain pine… after a quick time of deliberation, I assume that it could not have been a snow leopard, they do not inhabit these lands. Likely that it was an albino mountain panther, an even more seldom sight to behold.

We have seen no signs that would indicate any troubles in this little village, true, I did not spot any flocks of sheep or shepherds themselves in the near vicinity of the village, but I have no idea if this fact is actually meaningful.

The village seems absolutely empty as we arrive, only one or two people are hanging around the small fountain in what is supposed to be a town square as it seems…

“I think that must be the Tavern,” I speak pointing at the largest of the buildings, “you three will do some scouting and try to pick on any piece of information, any lead, any rumor… meanwhile, Jaheira and I will go see… eh, who were we supposed to meet here, Nalia?”

“Minister Lloyd,” Nalia giggles, “you seem to have a terrible problem with people’s names, Theodur…”

“Err… never mind that,” I growl, “and where are we supposed to find this Minister Lloyd, smart one?”

“In the house right behind you,” a man, most likely one of the farmers here, interjects in our conversation.

“Oh, thank you,” I’m a bit startled by this sudden interference. “Would you mind telling my friends what exactly is going on here, you seem to be a reasonable fellow… meanwhile, we will speak with this minister of yours,” as we take our leave, we agree to meet in the Umar Inn later to exchange and summarize our discoveries.

 

Half an hour later Jaheira and I are sitting at the table in a very simply furnished room, one that does not resemble a minister’s office at all. True, the man sitting at the table with us does not resemble a minister either – dressed in very simple clothing, his stature and manner of speech seems far from highborn and as we shake hands I noticed how callous was the skin on his hand.

As we speak, his wife brings us a large cup of steaming hot herbal tea and a plate full of deliciously looking muffins, hopefully not turnip muffins, I think… As we enjoy our tea and slowly mellow out the tension of the lengthy trip, the minister Lloyd gives us the short version of the story.

As we knew already, they have had a streak of killings and disappearances, but some gruesome details were unknown to us… for example that bodies of the murdered people disappeared only to be found later with theirs skins inside out. And the local ranger-protector by the name of Merella has disappeared as well… likely to be amongst the victims, I conclude. Then he proceeds to list all the possible villains that could be behind this…

“It’s them ogres, my dear… you know it,” his wife, who has been listening in silence so far, interjects.

“Thank you, dear, I was about to tell that…” Minister Lloyd seems to be slightly put off his thoughts, “yes, many blame the ogres that moved here before the killings began…”

”Hmph, from what I have heard so far, about the treatment of the corpses – does not seem to fit the brutish ogres,” Jaheira remarks and Lloyd nods, as his wife seems slightly morose after her version has been rejected.

”Besides, it seems that this is a work of some cunning creatures that do not leave many traces behind… ogres cannot be called exactly cunning…” I have to agree with Jaheira’s version.

“Well, others blame a large pack of wolves that have been stalking the country side for years,” Lloyd continues.

“For years? And have they ever killed like this before?” Jaheira asks, suddenly a spark in her eyes as she feels that she has to step in the nature’s defense.

“Well… no,” Lloyd replies, slightly taken aback by the change of tone in Jaheira’s voice, “aside from the odd sheep now and then, no… never…”

“I thought so,” Jaheira snorts and Lloyd continues to speak, his voice now even more subdued, “Well, there are also rumors about the Umar herself returning…”

“Who is this Umar?” I ask.

“Ah, Umar was a great witch of the hills, but she is supposed to be dead for 500 years now… according to legends, she was responsible for deaths very much like these… If you want to learn more about her, you better ask Vicenzo, the innkeeper, Umar is his specialty… Also a note of caution – perhaps the seriousness of the situation is illustrated by the fact that I have already hired a group of adventurers lead by the famous and valiant Mazzy Fentan and they have not returned yet…”

“Mazzy Fentan? Never heard of her,” I smirk at Lloyd’s flattering description.

“Oh? She’s a famous halfling paladin, one of the bravest souls and purest defenders of everything good and righteous on the face of Faerun!” Lloyd proudly announces.

“A halfling paladin? Now I’ve heard of everything… I thought paladins don’t accept those with hairy feet amongst them…” Lloyd seems to be a bit disappointed with my lack of ecstasy about his hero.

“Yes, well… so will you be helping us then? I see that you are a woodsman yourself and the proud lady beside you has bearings of druid about her… I would thought you being interested in helping us…”

“I don’t see why not, we have nothing better to do anyway,” I sigh, but in the same time feel a bit intrigued about what exactly has happened, “the question is where do we start?”

“Well, I think you should check Merella’s ranger cabin, just a little west of the village, perhaps you will find some leads there,” Lloyd suggests.

“I still think you should investigate those ogres,” minister’s wife adds acidly.

After having finished off our tea, we say goodbyes to Lloyd and his wife and walk over to the Inn. Our friends are there already, sitting around the table and arguing. As we come closer I can hear what it is all about…

“It must be the work of the wolves, I tell you…” Nalia squeaks.

“Pardon me, but I think that the fact that ogres moved in just prior the killing began is a telling fact,” Yoshimo disagrees.

“Don’t be daft, Yoshi! Ogres would not do things like that, you should now that!” Nalia retorts angrily.

“Daft? Am I? And why would the wolves suddenly be attacking and killing people, even sneaking into their houses, with such subtlety?” Yoshimo counters.

“Eh, you remind me of my cousins Niffus and Naffus…” Jan is about to uncover another dazzling page in the family history, “they always seemed to argue about everything… about who has the largest turnip cellars, which years turnip wine has the most exquisite taste, whose nose the best resembles a turnip and other important things… now once they were standing in the yard and arguing about whether the griffin hunting season has been declared open or not, when suddenly “whooosh”,” Jan complements the last word with a sweeping motion of his hand, toppling Yoshimo’s half-full mug of ale… “Oops… anyway, so where was I? Ah, yes suddenly a griffin swooped down from the sky and took them both away… poor Niffus and Naffus…”

“I suppose that was your way of telling that they both are wrong and actually the Umar Witch is responsible for these occurrences,” I laugh as we have made our way towards the table and joined them.

“What? Oh, that too, my Worship…” Jan chuckles, “but it is true… I have the scoop from the trustworthiest source; see the man behind the counter? That’s Vicenzo, he is a wise, wise man… Wise enough to buy from me the Evil Witch Detector device, Uncle McScratchy’s patented Witch Repellent and the “50 Ways to see a Witch and live to tell the tale” manual… he even gave me this for free,” and Jan tosses a large tome named “Umar Witch Project” on the desk…

“It seems we have once again ended up in a nuthouse,” I sigh heavily hearing Jaheira’s groan…