Thursday, November 1, 2018

“There They Are!” - A Tale of Heroes - Scene 73: Granthurg

Here's how you can read the story a week (two scenes) ahead of everyone else!

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Antonerri pushed the plates, dishes, and food aside to clear a space on the table. He wasn’t too gentle about it, as plates clanked and bits of flatware clattered onto the floor. With a thump and a slight grunt, Granthurg dropped an armload of books and half-loose scrolls onto the table. He began rustling through them as everyone gathered behind him.

After a moment, Granthurg found the particular scroll he was looking for and laid it onto the table, rolling one end out. He paused, then rolled the other end up, and scooted the scroll back to do it again.

“There we go!” He stood up, looking down at the drawing on the table. It was a map, and fairly detailed.  “So, this is Wynne. It’s a really old map, but it’ll help. This is Twynne Rivers, and here are the two branches of the Greater and Lesser Wynne Rivers. All over this area, you can see that land dotted with manors and villages. Over here is the southern part of the Umbrawood forest. If you follow the northern Wynne River along here, you’ll get to Dirae. That’s where we are right now.”

He spun around, trying to orient himself, and mumbled, “Which way is East?”

Antonerri jumped up, too, and pointed, “Well, that door leads into the main sanctuary, so, the front door would be--” He turned a little, “--there.  Then--” He turned a little back the other way, “That would be East.”

Granthurg nodded agreement, and leaned back over the maps. He took the two scroll sticks, lifted the map, and oriented it on the tabletop to line the map’s Eastern direction to the way Antonerri had been pointing.

Antonerri joined him at the table. “Thissraelle! Which way to DeFrantis again?”

Everyone looked at Thisraelle as she pointed out the south window of the hall, toward the river, and the forest. Then he she closed her eyes and took deep breaths. After a moment, she adjusted her arm slightly. “That way.”

“Hold that!” Granthurg said, and began tracing a line from Dirae that followed the general direction of Thissraelle’s arm.

“Just a minute.” Antonerri drew his sword and laid the straight edge of the blade at Dirae. He turned it, glancing up to match the direction as close a he could to Thissraelle’s arm. “Like this?”

Thissraelle looked down and nodded.

They all looked as Granthurg’s finger followed the edge of the blade across the river and into the forest. Soon it touched a spot marked with a shield and some small writing. Granthurg squinted close and read, “Barony of Westwood.”

“What’s that?” Thissraelle asked. Everyone looked at each other, but nobody, including the friars, had ever heard of it.

“Hold on...” Granthurg moved a few of the scrolls and grabbed a tome he’d been reading. It was labelled “Wynne”. “This is where I found out about the dagger!” He began flipping the pages.

Antonerri glanced over at Thissraelle with a hopeful look. “Is this where DeFrantis is?” Thissraelle just shrugged, but smiled, anyway.

“THERE! Oh, by the Creator!” Granthurg called out, and pointed at the page. It was full of shields, coats of arms, and at the top was the title “Heraldry of House Twynnham of Wynne”. Granthurg was pointing to a crest. The others looked at the page, at his insistent finger, then up at Granthurg. They didn’t share his moment of clarity. “That crest was carved into the side of the wagon we took from the slave market! I didn’t think much of it at the time, because the wood planks were weathered and it was hard to recognize the charge. I assumed it was a gryphon or a lion or something. But I’ve figured it out! I know where they are!”

Antonerri glanced back down at the page, at the crest under Granthurg’s large tapping finger.  “It’s a dragon!”

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This continues the story of the heroes in Wynne, in Twynne Rivers, in the world of The Hero's Tale, Family Friendly RPGs. Here's more info on The Hero's Tale, and family friendly RPGing. If you like this story, support us at our Patreon!
Thank you: Chet Cox!

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