27th Hematite, 11
We wake up really early in the morning, before the sunrise and say our farewells to Zoku. I pick up her crossbow and empty quiver, and fill it with the 8 bolts I had collected earlier. We get back on the journey and cross a frozen river. I know humans can't swim well so we have to try crossing the rivers at night when they're frozen. The sun rises and we come across another river. This one has already thawed so we have to go around it. We follow the river south as I think I saw some snowy areas there earlier. Ettad finds and kills a turtle. What is it with humans and wildlife creatures?
It seems the snow has already melted and the river isn't frozen in the south. But after a short walk we find that the river has turned into a shallow brook and we can now cross it without the fear of Ettad drowning.
We are halfway to the outlaw camp. This area is filled with boars and Ettad wants to run after each one of them. While I'm waiting for him to come back I spend my time wrestling with one of the boars, not harming it. Then Ettad shows up, hitting the boar into its mouth, smashing its teeth into million pieces.
Later, Ettad runs off after a pack of horses. Luckily the horses seem faster than Ettad, so I wait for him again. I'm having a nice shield sparring session with a weasel when Ettad comes back limping, bloody and bruised. He seems to be in great pain and collapses into ground. I take a look at him and I think he's got a broken arm and a shoulder. He seems to have lost his halberd somewhere. I sigh at the stupidity of human beings.
We rest for a few hours until Ettad feels a bit better. We search for his lost halberd and find it near a pack of horses. I see the anger in his eyes growing and I have to hold him back. I tell him to calm down and pick up the weapon.
We continue towards the outlaw camp and suddenly find several dead vultures. I wonder what happened here. Maybe another crazy human went on a rampage here? That kind of makes sense since the human outlaw camp is near.
Later in the evening Ettad runs off again. Worried, I go after him and I can't believe my eyes. The damn human is fighting with A CAMEL. The camel charges at him and he's thrown into a river. Ettad is clearly in trouble, stunned, drowning and being assaulted by the big animal. I throw my rocks at the camel but only miss it. So I jump into the river and bury my pickaxe into its skull and then help Ettad back up into dry land. Luckily he's only bruised.
Soon after, I have to put down another camel that Ettad beated to a pulp. Sigh. We are getting close to the outlaw camp and the sun is already low. We set up a campfire for the night and plan to sneak into their camp really early.
28th Hematite, 11
We wake up in the night and continue towards the camp in the darkness. We find more animal remains, this time dingoes. Some of them have been butchered. This is very strange indeed.
In the darkness we hear some noises of badgers. Once again, Ettad runs away from me. I have no idea where he is, I can only hear the noises of a battle. I find an injured badger and mercifully put it down. And then another. I don't know how many badgers he ends up killing.
At sunrise, we find the outlaw camp. I've got my crossbow readied, hoping that I could take them down from distance. Ettad of course charges towards the closest target. Ettad quicky disarms a human lasher by slashing him in the weapon arm. I don't want to waste my bolts so I get closer and help Ettad by beating the outlaw with my crossbow.
As we get closer, I start shooting at the leader of the outlaws with my crossbow. He's got a crossbow too and I want to disable him as fast as possible. Ettad kills a human maceman with a single slash of his halberd.
Ettad gets into a close combat with a human swordsman and is doing a good job until the leader shoots him in the leg. Ettad falls into ground.
I get a few shots at the leader, who continues shooting at Ettad. Luckily Ettad manages to block the flying bolts and finishes the swordsman.
I get another good shot at the leader while Ettad crawls closer and mows the outlaw leader down. All that animal abuse has paid off after all, he's a killing machine.
The outlaws are finally all dead. After looting some useful things from their camp, we head back.
Ettad's injured leg is getting better and he can walk again. Soon he's back to his beloved hobby of killing things, and dives straight into a river, after a ....CARP?! Clearly he's learned how to swim!
On our way back, Ettad again runs off after a horse and gets himself injured. We rest for a while until he's again capable of holding his shield. Sigh.
We're halfway back to the town as the night falls, so we set up a camp. Some unwanted visitors wake us up only a few hours later. Goblins!