The Ravenwood Chronicles: The Pilgrim’s Betrayal

Springtime brings with it changes and shifts. After the darkness that the year prior brought to the folks of Ravenwood, many of the people of the town hoped for a fresh start as the days begin to lengthen again. This certainly seemed to be the inclination of the day, with its copious sunshine and forgiving weather. The folk of Ravenwood gathered together in high hopes.

That is, most of them did. Due to some loss of structural integrity, perhaps a result of an extended absence of Thokk Earthbreaker’s load-bearing noggin, a corner of the hut had collapsed. Given the costs of labor and major financial losses over the past year, Ada and Ivan found themselves destitute. Ivan took to operating his gambling table with a renewed fervor, and the habitually homebound hobbit made use of herself in a series of quests, aiding warriors of the wood such as Arkham, Imira, Matthew, and Ujel.

Mail arrived in town, bearing with it interesting news for different townsfolk. Particularly, two letters addressed to Ivan and Meldryn, the wizards in the wood. The letters requested assistance in the research of a West Anglian student of magic who was seeking to perfect a truth potion. Both wizards commissioned the assistance of townspeople in procuring the necessary ingredients, leading to competition among the wizards as well as the questers to be the first to complete the potion. In the duration of this, Ivan’s list of ingredients mysteriously disappeared.

Monsters roamed the woods, their numbers bolstered by a mysterious family of feral woodpeople. The antics of these creatures in the woods kept the town’s warriors busy, but never too busy for some amiable tests of prowess in the form of combat tournaments. Bets were made, steel met steel, and the warriors of Ravenwood again proved themselves as the mightiest in the land.

The reappearance of Ivan’s letter planted suspicion in the half-elf’s mind as the day wore on. This suspicion took the form of an accusation against Imira, who had taken a particular interest in collecting the supplies for the potion. He posited this suspicion to Marshall Law – who had coincidentally received a message that morning from an East Anglian Lord General suggesting that he increase his arrest quotas – and the law was quick to come down on anyone potentially responsible. This took the form of an arrest warrant for Imira, and just for good measure, Marshall Law detained Ilyn as well- one can never be too careful. The truth potion, more powerful than one’s run-of-the-mill truth crystal, was utilized to determine that neither Imira nor Ilyn were responsible for taking the letter. His arrest numbers sufficiently increased, Marshall Law dropped charges, satisfied.

The townsfolk enjoyed dancing in the fine weather of springtime. The appearance of a new movement in Ravenwood occurred afterward with the arrival of a strange man known only as Master Peregrinus. He preached strange, wise ways, though much of his philosophy seemed simple in construction. He taught in the way of the Toad, and gave his followers little musical toads to punctuate his sage edicts. Attempting to be more welcoming under the burden of his newfound role as protector of the town, Meldryn accepted this strange philosopher with open arms.

Alongside this strange occurrence, the hut’s inhabitants held an auction for charity, raising funds through the donations of the kind townsfolk. The shillings earned were poured into a handsome little wooden chest for safekeeping. They achieved enough funds to support the erection of a new support beam for the hut- now, just to find a beam! While Master Peregrinus led his acolytes unarmed into the forest to achieve enlightenment through a mysterious meditation, Meldryn took another band of townsfolk on a hunt to find an appropriate support beam.

The thrills that this lumber hunt excited would only be limited by the capacity of words, and so its details will be left to the imagination of the reader. Simultaneously, Master Peregrinus led his followers deep into the woods- and directly into the open hands of armed slavers! These bandits overcame the townsfolk and shackled them, in spite of the most valiant escape efforts of those captured. Disheartened, they were led away, to such horrors as few can fathom.

On their way with an impeccable support beam, the lumber committee stumbled upon Master Peregrinus himself. Finding him alone, and suspiciously in possession of a handsome pouch of silver, the group soon came to understand what had transpired. They took Master Peregrinus into custody and threatened him to expose the truth of their friends’ location. He asked for the chest of charity shillings in return for his services, but Meldryn was less than amenable to this suggestion, irate at the betrayal of trust that had occurred. In exchange for his life, Master Peregrinus agreed to lead the little band of warriors to the location of the slavers.

Ilyn, Meldryn, and Peregrinus led the little band in a mission of stealth, scouting out the whereabouts of the slavers. They waited in admirable silence for them to pass by, ensuring that the hostages could be freed before raining fury and steel down upon the slavers. Only their mysterious leader, a half-giant by the name of Albertus, managed to escape the barrage. The other slavers were laid low, and the people of Ravenwood freed at last.

When the dust cleared and Meldryn lamented his willingness to trust the pilgrim to the recovering townsfolk, they searched for the man in question, but found him long gone. His robe was left behind, and the last sign of him was a dwindling figure disappearing over the crest of the far hill. Should he ever return, the townspeople agreed, they would not be so hospitable again.

The slaves were rescued, and the day seemed salvaged in spite of the hardships it had brought upon the townsfolk. Upon returning to town, the citizens of Ravenwood found their spirits again. In fact, they found everything in town precisely as they had left it- excepting, however, the little chest of shillings from the auction. If this is all that was lost in the encounter with the traitorous pilgrim, however, then most of the Ravenwood folk would count themselves lucky. Everyone, that is, aside from Ivan and Ada.