Smaed's Scouting Reports

Angst · 30-08-08, 07:11 AM

Looking for young Jern

*copies left in the mailboxes of The Silverleaf Tavern and Inn and The Trinsic Rose*

29 September 368 SR

Quote:

Dear Gwen and Aegnor,

I gave Jern a short-bow for his 15th birthday and taught him the basics of how to use it. Since then he has gone further afield and camped away from home for longer periods, several days at a time. But 6 days ago he was due to report back to me for more instruction and has neither turned up nor left a message.

I hoped to visit The Trinsic Rose yesterday but was unexpectedly held up and so couldn't arrive in time. So early this morning I began to search and this is my report.

I started at The Travellers Inn where Moll lives. She wasn't there but her mother was, who usually looks after the children while Moll is training her wolfhound pack. She told me she last saw him leave with his new pet dog a week ago. So I went via Westgate to Ye Olde Poste Office which is usually his first landmark, and began to search.

The first clear sign I found was west of there, a dead mongbat with a short-bow arrow in its body. I recognised the arrow by its feathers and binding as one I had given to the lad. I then worked out from there in widening circles to pick up tracks. I soon found what I was looking for – a set of footprints and paw-prints, leading down to the river. The tracks continued to the entrance of the tunnel to the Hidden Valley. He had clearly gone that way.

It had been many years – another lifetime, it seemed – when I had been here. The palm trees, exotic plants, parrots and gorillas give it a special atmosphere. But I was surprised to see that a hamlet now nestled in the valley. It appears to be called Ravenscroft. The first building was a tavern called The Raven and lo, on the noticeboard Jern had pinned up a note of greeting, so he had been here! It was hard to follow tracks in the dense tropical undergrowth but I found the ones I was looking for again at the southernmost building. It seems the lad had walked back and forth here.

The hamlet has a dark feel to it and hidden as it is, protected by rock walls like a fort with just two tunnel entrances it would be a perfect secret and defensible place for a nest of thieves or smugglers. So why was Jern so interested in it? I couldn't help a feeling of disquiet creep over me.

There was no more to be learned here so I returned through the tunnel.

Outside the tunnel entrance I found an empty lantern oil refill, in the grass to the right of the two sets of prints going downstream. This probably meant the lad and his dog had passed here when night fell and he filled his lantern, discarding the empty refill bottle, so there was a good chance his camp would be nearby. It did indeed prove easy to find, at the nearest log, perfect to sit on. By it was the remains of a camp fire, some breadcrumbs and an area of beaten grass where a bedroll had been slept in. The grass around was well-trampled, but then it often is at a campsite...

I don't want to sound the alarm to his father, the lad seems to be managing, but I want to find him. If there is news of him or if he turns up either at the tavern or at my cottage please let me know. All being well, I will make it a priority to come to The Trinsic Rose next Friday at 7.30 for a brief visit.

Namaarie,
Smaed Halfelven,

Fretting Cottage,
Silverleaf Village,
Yew