"Excuse me,"

[Bungleau]

said the boy as he approached the blacksmith. "I'm new in town, and looking to find my sister. She disappeared a few weeks back, and I've been following her, trying to catch up to her and bring her home."

Smitty looked up at him from anvil, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Making swords was hard labor, and he welcomed the opportunity to stop for a moment. "Looking for your sister, eh? I guess that's as good a story as any. What's she look like? She have a name? What about you?"

The boy gulped. He shifted his ponderous weight from one giant foot to another. "My name's Forest, Forest Lump. My sis is Periwinkle, and she is a bit smaller than me, and a little bit slow, too."

Smitty eyed Forest up one side and down the other. It took two minutes. "Smaller than you, eh? Well, a battalion of ratlings would be smaller than the likes of you. But slow, you say?"

"Yes, sir. She was never the brightest one in our herd, and the other kids often teased her about it. Her and her friends. Two months ago, the teasing got really bad, and she ran off crying. I *" he stopped for a moment, and then continued, his voice wavering a bit.

"I saw her run off, and joined my other friends in saying something mean about her. She gave me a look that I'd never seen before, and kept on going. The next morning, my parents asked if I knew where she was. I didn't know, and told them. I didn't want to tell them about the teasing.

"When she hadn't come back in three days, I had to tell them. They got really mad, and then told me I had to go find her. I checked with her friends, but they had all disappeared as well."

When I came back to tell my parents, the house was locked. From inside, they told me I was welcome back if she came back with me. They left a bag of food on the porch and turned away. I've been looking for her ever since."

Smitty eyed the boy. It wasn't the most original story, but then, hose-noses weren't the most original race. Yet he didn't think he was being scammed... yet. "There's been a lot of folks through here lately, and she might have come through. You got a place to stay?"

Forest shook his head.

"I thought as much. Tell ya what... you look like a strong boy. If you spend some time working this hammer and helping me with this sword, I'll give ya a place to spend the night and some coin. I'll also check with some of the other folks in town to see if anyone's seen her. Periwinkle, you said? She a hos- er, Oomphaz like you?"

Forest nodded.

"All right," said Smitty. "Work this hammer here, along the line of the blade. I need you to hammer each spot two hundred times to flatten it out. Don't do anything else.... just hammer 200 times, then move to the next spot. Work your way down the blade. I'll be back in an hour or so."

Forest picked up the hammer, then started beating away. "One... two... seven... three... eleventy-ten...."

Smitty winced, then left. It was a custom blade for Sir Elgar, so it wouldn't really matter. That pompous windbag hadn't lifted a sword blade for real in two decades.

He came back a couple of hours later, feeling far more jolly after spending time in the bar.

"Sh'okay, boy," he spat out. "Quit hittin' that thing. Yer gonna give me a headache."

Forest looked up at him. The sword blade, having been hit thousands of times, was now a thin sheet of metal some eight inches wide. It would never make it as a sword like that, but he was doing as he was told. "Any news?"

Smitty shook his head for a moment. News? About what? Oh, yeah...

"I checked, and no one's seen a group of hose-noses come through here in months. There was one a month ago, but she was with a bunch of other girls. Every one of 'em different, too."

"That was them," said Forest excitedly. "She didn't hang around with our kind. Kept saying the world was too small, and she wanted to know everyone. Where did she go?"

"Quit yer screamin'," said Smitty. "She and the other ones headed north, toward Ishad N'ha. Some tripe about chosen ones and all that. We didn't pay much mind... there were three other chosen ones that morning before they showed up."

"Ishad N'ha? How do I get there?"

"Head out the west gate, an' keep goin' until you hit water. Then go north until you get to a dock. Ishad N'ha is beyond there."

Excitedly, Forest Lump dropped the sword on the anvil, where the pliable flat metal bent over slightly. He grabbed his meager gear and headed out the door to Ishad N'ha.

[Eagle eye]

I knew you had it in ya...
It's very different from the last ones, but another great chapter as always! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-26-2006, 12:46 AM: Message edited by: Eagle eye ]

[Wyvern]

Hurrah!!!

Fellowship of the Peasants!!!

Return of the Peasants!!!

The Once and Future Peasants!!!

[Bungleau]

It took a couple of days to figure out how to bring them back. Stay tuned... even Forest Lump learned a new thing along the way!

[bsftcs]

Much appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img]

[MJG]

yee haw
the peasants : reloaded


hehe that was great... good to hear they are up and going again

[Law]

I'm glad that the peasants had someone who cares about them.

Looking forward to the rest of their story.

[DrizztNeo]

Hi, i am new here. Was following the peasant story from the start and very glad they can be saved. Good luck for their next adventures. And thanks for the wonderful best tips allowing me to save a lot of time and have great fun.

[bsftcs]

Welcome to the board. [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]