25th of Ches, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

We go to the Captain's office and are told the bugs are called Ankhegs. Apparently, they burrow and will multiply to numbers enough to destroy towns. And Captain Darren mentioned that if we needed work, he could probably help us out. The wizard that figured out what the heads were, is named Zhartan.

We asked if there was a library in town, and Gilbert said that we should try Stefan Lightseeker, the sage might be good to see.

So we head over to Stefan's, and he says that my research subject is intriguing, and he'll help me find information, if I can get him a book from an Olencamp Ruins in the mountains.

Of course, we say "Sounds good" and head out, with a new helper, Lilac, the donkey.

The book we seek is Treaty on Planetars by Teatron.

 

23rd of Ches, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

We are attacked at the end of the night by 2 bugs. We kill them, and then follow one of the trails to their tunnel. We go through and find a bunch more holes, and a whole bunch of forks in our path. Directions are definitely not my forté. Then we find a chamber, with a big momma bug - I think they are called queens? 3 more of the bugs we've seen and a bunch of eggs. We manage to kill them, and take 2 heads; the little guy and the queen's. Vondal also went and smashed all the eggs, while I gathered the stomach juices of the queen.

Vandederp leads the way out, and we return to our previous camp, just in time for bed.

 

22nd of Ches, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

We continue on and find a farmer who had been losing his pigs instead of cows. There is a hole, and definitely looks like the same bug is responsible. We continue, until night and camp.

 

20th of Ches, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

During the night, Jereth fetches us, saying that the Hughes farm had been hit by a giant bug. We head over and kill it. After we head right back to bed, though we may have left them some interesting topics of conversation, as Vorest turned into a bear for this fight. In the morning, Jereth invites us to breakfast. We thank him and head on our way, for the remainder of the day, it is uneventful.

 

19th of Ches, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

Overnight we were attacked by giant wasps. This is not quite the fauna I was expecting coming up on a bigger city. We beat them, and rest a bit before we continue walking. We start seeing farmland, we must be getting close, it's hard to keep track of how far we have come with the distractions. We also found the road Boris mentioned. As we were walking down the road we heard shouting for help. We head over, and find a couple of farmers (Jereth and William, we found out later) facing a couple of the bugs from the ground. We fought them off, though we could not save their cow. We met a couple more patrols after the fight, Orrig and Sylvia, and they told us to talk to their captain, Captain Darren. Jereth offers us dinner with his wife Anita. It was lovely, and after they mentioned we could sleep in their barn. Vorest was excited to sleep with the cows.

18th of Ches, 1376, Year of the Bent Blade

The hills turn to grasslands. It's a nice walk when it becomes quiet, and a giant bug erupts out of the land, grabs me and bites. I react by setting it on fire. I think someone else also hit it, killing it. A pretty terrible morning if I do say so myself. As we walk along, we see a cloud of dust, which turns out to be a patrol out of Kelethoen. They challenge us, and we explain that we would like to research at their library - and they do not believe us. We also mention the giant bug, and I guess that makes us good guys and that he approves of our work. Said to say Boris approves our entrance.