[center][h3]Turn 3[/h3]

[hider=The Map]
[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/378609594030882816/494982258709626900/Map_03.png[/img]
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[h3][color=crimson]The Levogh[/color][/h3]
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When Célebron stepped out from the crowd of his people, he suddenly found the countless eyes of all the owls upon him. They watched cautiously and with a near statuesque stillness as he spoke to them, and then when he finished, there was utter silence. A few of them then suddenly ruffled their feathers, and seemed to answer, [i]'Hoo, hoot![/i]

It was still perhaps a week from being a full moon, so the night was somewhat dark and the boughs above were shrouded. The majority of the owls remained barely visible up there in the shadowed branches, but then the figure of one massive owl suddenly erupted from the dark and out into the moonlight. That owl came from its hiding place above to land upon a low-hanging branch only a few yards from where Blackeye stood. The owl regarded him strangely, its eyes impossible to read, but it stared for what felt like an eternity. It seemed to size up everything about the king, and then the owl's neck suddenly twisted until it was looking at the elf upside down, and from that odd angle it seemed to examine him all over again. It was all very disconcerting; the owl had strange marks upon its neck such that when it twisted its head upside down, it looked as though a second face had appeared.

[hider=The Great Owl][img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/c/c4/Kaepora_Gaebora_Artwork_%28Ocarina_of_Time%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20110427011406[/img][/hider]

There seemed to be something almost human about this one's eyes (and even its odd eyebrows), now that Blackeye was close enough to see them clearly. But for whatever it was worth, neither this owl nor those above seemed to quite answer what the elves had to say. Instead, when it had finished scrutinizing every facet of the elven king, the great owl's neck suddenly righted itself once more. It looked to the sky and gestured upward with the tip of one of its great wings, then suddenly leapt down from its branch to land upon the soft earth. With one of its talons, it scratched six lines into the dirt, and then it suddenly took flight once more. It disappeared into the forest, and the other owls left their perches and silently followed.

From then on, it seemed as though the Levogh were perpetually being watched by at least a few of the owls, both in day and in night. Some took comfort in it, for the owls never showed any signs of aggression or anger, and indeed they seemed to take a keen interest to that owl-shaped totem that was being carved. The great owl with the markings upon his neck, the one that had come down to regard Célebron closer up, was occasionally seen inspecting the totem from afar. But upon being noticed, it never seemed to linger for long. Taking that particular owl to be the leader of these watchful spirits, the Levogh had begun calling it the Owl King.

A few days after the owls had first gathered before the Levogh, the Owl King did return once more. It landed among the ruins, and before all those around to see, it dug three lines into the soil. That same night, many of the scouts returned after having explored much of the forest. They hardly had time to turn over every stone and follow every creek, but they had still seen much; not too far from the ruins, where the forest was at its densest, there was a great oak tree that was taller than any other in the forest. It was around that massive tree that most of the owls seemed to make their home. The tree was so tall and had so many branches that even the sharp eyes of the elves couldn't see through the leaves well enough to discern whatever the owls did when they flew to the highest boughs, but a great many liked to roost in the shaded lower branches and sleep during the day. Whenever the Levogh ventured too close to the tree it seemed to irritate the owls. That was understandable enough; it was their quiet home after all, and the sound of elves walking below and rustling leaves in the silent forest was probably enough to wake the owls from their sleep.

As with the general vicinity of the ruins, it seemed as though the other woodland creatures avoided that area. But elsewhere in the forest, there was life to be seen nearly everywhere; deer, bears, countless insects, a few wild boars, and even a great abundance of squirrels and forest mice. The presence of so many rodents was surprising, given such an alarmingly high population of owls clustered in the forest. But now that the elves thought about it, none among the Levogh had ever [i]seen[/i] the owls eat anything, or even fly about the skies at night as if on the hunt. By day most of the owls seemed to sleep near the great oak, and by night, they usually just found perches somewhere high up in the trees and gazed upward to the moon and the stars, or sometimes down towards where the Levogh slept.

In any case, beyond the strange owls and the ruins by the lake, there seemed to be nothing at all unusual about the forest. There were the sorts of animals that one would expect, and they behaved more or less exactly as animals could be expected to. That only made the mystery of the owls an even more glaring one; there were many among the Levogh who were growing more and more sure by the day that these owls were spirits in the truest sense of the word, in that they were not even living animals or creatures of flesh and blood, so much as divine guardians of the forest that took on the shape of birds.

But there was still work to be done even as the Levogh pondered the mysteries of the woodland and its creatures.

[b]A) Improve food
B) Improve military technology
C) Improve infrastructure
D) Improve culture
E) Explore
F) Improve resources/technology
G) Prospect the land
H) Expand military
I) Take diplomatic action
X) Other[/b]

[b]Population:[/b] 143 men, 140 women, 72 children.
[b]Military:[/b] No standing military. Militia able to be conscripted up to about 30% of adult population.
[b]Food level:[/b] Below Average; improving
[b]Resources:[/b] (Potentially magical) moon fungi
[b]Wealth:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Trade:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Growth:[/b] [i]Very low; impacted by racial traits and from low food level.[/i]
[b]Morale:[/b] Average
[b]Foreign relations:[/b] None
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[h3][color=DarkGray]The Lycan Covenant[/color][/h3]
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The Void Gods answered Vlath's praise and prayers with the silence of the void, as they often did. The dark clouds that he had seen coming from the sea eventually found their way to him, and a light rain was what finally ended his worship. When he returned to Wulfhelm, the rain was heavier and several among the covenant were now grumbling at the lack of shelter. But nonetheless, the rabbit breeding was at least going well and the scouts and hunters could explore the nearby area even in the cold rain; they were used to the howling winds and frigid snows of their old land, after all.

After some time the scouts returned; there were a few small groves here and there by the nearby river, and on the other side of the river were some forested foothills that gave way to mountains. Those areas were beginning to become well known to the hunters already, for that was where most of their game had come from. There were a few good spots along the river or across it to construct logging camps if lumber was needed. As they explored, the hunters did find some things of interest. Farther down the shoreline was another monument just like the standing stone that Vlath had claimed for the void gods, and then farther down from it was yet a third. It seemed as though these magical rocks were spaced out all along the coastline, about a half-day's journey apart. Doubtless Vlath would want to deliver them all into the hands of the gods. 

Beyond that, the nearby area did not seem especially rich in natural resources or things of note and the Goldtooth were left to their own devices, mostly working to help breed the rabbits. Wulfhelm was built upon a strip of shoreline to the ocean, yes, but they were also practically a beach upon the borders of an endless sea of grass. To the south and east the grassland went on and on; some of the hunters had journeyed out there for days without seeing any sign that the grassland might be coming to an end. There was nothing but grass out there, and the only animals out there that the hunters had found were the rabbits. A few of the hunters did report having encountered massive tracks, though. The trail had some footprints still visible even as the rain began to turn them into nothing but mud; the prints were those of huge hooves. The path wasn't especially wide, but it was very long, going deep into the heart of the plains. Where the trails went the tall grass had been utterly flattened, so it seemed as though it had been a sizeable large herd of [i]something[/i] that had trampled that path. But because of how the trail was narrow and the herd seemingly went only three or four abreast, the hunters couldn't determine just how many creatures might have been in the herd.

What would Vlath have the Covenant do in the wake of all these events?

[b]A) Improve food
B) Improve military technology
C) Improve infrastructure
D) Improve culture
E) Explore
F) Improve resources/technology
G) Prospect the land
H) Expand military
I) Take diplomatic action
X) Other[/b]

[b]Population:[/b] 125 men, 125 women, 54 pups.
[b]Livestock:[/b] Some rabbits
[b]Military:[/b] No standing military. Militia able to be conscripted up to about 30% of adult population.
[b]Food level:[/b] Below Average; being improved
[b]Resources:[/b] None
[b]Wealth:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Trade:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Growth:[/b] [i]Low; impacted from low food level.[/i]
[b]Morale:[/b] Average
[b]Foreign relations:[/b] None
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[h3][color=lightblue]Attolia[/color][/h3]
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[hider=An OOC Note]
The previous turn update did say that the oasis was spring fed. I had imagined it as just being a pool of water that replenished itself through a few small geysers below, but since you mentioned streams, I said that the springs are up on the surface and that some of them flow a short ways before they go into the oasis. Still, they don't lead anywhere far and they aren't true "streams" so much as little trickles or creeks at best.[/hider]

The springs that feed the oasis are not far from its edges, for on the arid plains water cannot flow far before evaporating beneath the sun. Some of the streams are only twenty paces long, with the water welling up from the ground within a stone throw's distance of the oasis itself. That leaves limited room for vegetation to grow, and indeed there only is a small area of lush green grasses and a few groves of trees by the water. The streams are not large enough or long enough to have much vegetation of their own, which left little to gather. But even still, the Attolians knew how to thrive where others could not; certain grasses were edible, and those were harvested from the plains and cooked into soups and stews.

As for the aurochs, the beasts had a herd mentality and they were somewhat unpredictable. There were a few close calls when people ventured too close; irritating just one of the animals was enough to cause the whole herd to stampede and drive off the unwanted nuisance. The bulls were of course violent and would quickly try to drive off any perceived threat, and those females that had calves were especially prone to aggression when one came close to them or their children. That left only the matured females without calves to interact with, but the wood elves somehow managed to accomplish what might have been an impossible feat for any others. Through staying low to the ground so as to appear less threatening and then feeding the aurochs treats, a few became accustomed to the wood elves and would actually break off from the herd in hopes of treats and approach any elf that came close. Upon seeing that happen to no ill effect, the bulls similarly became more tolerant of the elves' presence as time passed. It would be some time before the aurochs could be called domesticated and probably even longer before anybody would even consider the prospect of milking one, but progress was being made quickly.

As for Caelis and his companions, bringing horses turned out to be a wise decision. They continued to follow the spirit west, unsure of where it was taking them or how long their journey would be, much less of what lay at the end. One day passed, and then a second, and the heat proved so taxing for their horses that they dismounted and walked on foot for some time. The third day's heat truly tested their faith in the spirit, but it was on that afternoon that the boar finally brought them to the beach. The steppe's dry grasses suddenly gave way to a long beach of even drier white sands, with only a few palm trees here and there growing in the abscinding dunes.

What catches the eye of Caelis and the other elves is not on the beach, though. 

[hider=There, where the sun sets!]
[img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/47/4c/74/474c745a0c2993a85f30c2e816db1381.jpg[/img]
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Far into the distance, the receding figure of a massive ship slipped into the sunset. The sharpest eyed among Caelis' companions claims that the flag looked as though it bore the likeness of a red flame and something beneath, but perhaps his eyes had fooled him. It was hard to make out so distant a shape upon a flag billowing in the wind. Closer to them were a few objects that stood out on the white beach, beyond the usual clumps of seaweed and flotsam. There were numerous piles of ash and charcoals scattered about, the remnants of recently lit campfires. In other places there were a few empty glass bottles abandoned there.

During all of that, the boar had paid no heed to that ship or the various things littered upon the beach. It trotted onto the sands, then to a large patch that had been recently disturbed, and its incorporeal paws began to make a digging motion. Perhaps those sailors upon the ship had buried something there. But would the Attolians dig it up? What if the sailors came back?

[b]A) Improve food
B) Improve military technology
C) Improve infrastructure
D) Improve culture
E) Explore
F) Improve resources/technology
G) Prospect the land
H) Expand military
I) Take diplomatic action
X) Other[/b]

[b]Population:[/b] 123 men, 124 women, 63 children.
[b]Military:[/b] No standing military. Militia able to be conscripted up to 30% of adult population.
[b]Food level:[/b] Below Average; improving
[b]Resources:[/b] Horses (A small number)
[b]Wealth:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Trade:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Growth:[/b] [i]Very low; impacted by racial traits and from low food level.[/i]
[b]Morale:[/b] Average
[b]Foreign relations:[/b] None
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[h3][color=darkgreen]The ap-Cantar[/color][/h3]
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And when the ap-Cantar finally marched upstream with spears in hand, they found the nearest of those little huts and adobe hovels near the river to be abandoned. Many of the so-called "villages" upon the Tala were in fact no more than a small cluster of homes inhabited by one extended family that would on occasion visit the larger settlements for trade; it seemed that now, with tensions on the rise, those smaller communities had all dispersed. Still, seeing nothing that was all that surprising, Miksuin and his scouts continued farther upriver. They came across more and more riverside homes emptied of their inhabitants and of all their valuables, until they finally came upon the village of Sit. That settlement normally had about a hundred souls, and even in the times past when the ap-Cantar had been wont to raid these parts, its inhabitants had stubbornly stood their ground and kept to their position of strength. In that way they had always behaved just like the snapping turtle.

But now the Sittites were behaving like some other sort of animal--the hare, or perhaps the flightiest of birds, for Sit was more than abandoned with its wooden huts given to the torch, as well as the thatch roofs to its adobe houses. The riverpeople had all fled north and Sit had been reduced to waste, that the ap-Cantar would find nothing there to claim save for ashes. It was not until Furrayn's scouts journeyed a few more days upriver that they finally came to discover where all the riverfolk had fled; one larger settlement had been where the riverfolk had chosen to make their stand against their hated enemies, and around the town's hovels were arrayed the countless tents of those refugees that had fled here either for protection or to combine their forces.

When the ap-Cantar sought to reason with the riverfolk and Furrayn sent word that all would be well if Mewar was surrendered to their hands, they were faced with the shocking news that Mewar was now the leader of this new confederation, and that there now existed no authority that could surrender him. Indeed it seemed there was no chieftain or voice of peace that could be reasoned with, only their sworn enemy who had spat upon Cantar and his legacy. There were many, many people in Mewar's camp, and their numbers seemed to grow with each passing fortnight. Memories of the horrible Cantar and his people's perpetual raids remained in the minds of the elders among the riverfolk. That was why Mewar's numbers swelled with even some of those who lived so far upriver that Tilaticantar was no threat.

Truth be told, Mewar's name had grown. Where at first he had been seen as a mere criminal, now the spark had become bonfire and was threatening to spread and consume the entire grove; though he was a young man indeed, Mewar already stood nearly six feet tall and his form was as tough as the adobe itself. Coupled with the spreading word of just how well he had taken to the art of war when the best among the ap-Cantar had sparred and trained with him, that made him a real threat in the eyes of even the greatest warriors. And word was said that as Mewar trained the formerly peaceful riverfolk to use their slings for war and to bear spears as their enemies had formerly wielded against them, he would go on great monologues as if possessed by the burning fires of the Yellow Scourge itself.

"I know that our enemies will come here to face us, but we shall be ready for them! I await the coming of the ap-Cantar! I welcome them here to these lands, where they love the earth so much that they would live upon it and till it with their own hands; it is good that they love this place, for we shall bury them here! I remember my niece who they threw into the Tala when they raided their village; I saw her face even as they tried to rob me of her memory and insist that [i]they[/i] were my true kindred. For their crimes I will slay them in this life, and then spend every day awaiting the time that I will get to move onto the next; there, in the next world where they will be my slaves, I shall be a most cruel master! I shall drive a spear through the skull of Tiwcantar each morning, and cast the broken tip aside. Each afternoon I shall spend knapping a new point, that he and I may rise the next morning that I can repeat the act, on and on until the sun soars upward from the west and falls down in the east; I shall keep track of the days by counting the piles of bloodied and broken spearheads."

So Mewar had said, Miksuin and his scouts reported back to their chieftain. Both of Hiwcantar's [i]qoljulas[/i] now seemed eager to bring retribution upon the speaker of such words and smite him down in brazen Cantar's name, but the scouts had reported that Mewar now had amassed a great deal of support and had levied a great many warriors, more than the ap-Cantar had been able to muster. Never before had the riverpeople banded together in such numbers; by some counts, Mewar had as many as 300 men at his command, though their training, skill, and perhaps even equipment were surely inferior.

[b]A) Improve food
B) Improve military technology
C) Improve infrastructure
D) Improve culture
E) Explore
F) Improve resources/technology
G) Prospect the land
H) Expand military
I) Take diplomatic action
X) Other[/b]

[b]Population:[/b] 227 men, 249 women, 109 children.
[b]Military:[/b] No standing military. Militia able to be conscripted up to 40% of adult population.
[b]Food level:[/b] Average
[b]Resources:[/b] None
[b]Wealth:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Trade:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Growth:[/b] [i]Average[/i]
[b]Morale:[/b] Low, from the burning of the storehouse and sudden loss of much food
[b]Foreign relations:[/b] None
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[h3][color=purple]The Mustaqilun Tribe[/color][/h3]
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Rukdug and his party set out as quickly as they can, before rain or time can wash away whatever might be left of Morog's trail. In the days that they're gone, Nyorgha looks into how the tribe has been subsisting so far. The hunters have had reasonable success in the area, because even in this treacherous and rocky terrain there's enough of a forest to support a reasonable population of deer, boars, goats, and even some bears. All of them make for good eating, but of course the tribe will drive off or kill all the local animals and then starve if they rely solely upon their hunters forever. The foragers have had reasonable success gathering various nuts, roots, and berries; a few have even brought back (presumably safe) mushrooms that they had seen the local animals eat. Though there had been fish in other parts of the river, one unfortunate aspect about choosing the eastern fork was that it was so rocky and had so many waterfalls that it seemed devoid of anything save the smallest of minnows. They could perhaps set up permanent fishing operations downriver at the confluence where the two forks met, but if paranoia had kept them from settling there to begin with it seemed unwise to leave signs of their presence in such a place.

With all of that in mind, it seemed hard to create any sort of sustainable food supply. Even agriculture would be limited, as what few flat spaces were available near Riverforge were rocky and had a very thin soil. It was only after an entire day of thinking that Nyorgha devised a plan. She had the hunters cease shooting the local boars as they had been, and instead begin building traps. Sure enough, in the following days they caught a few of the animals live; Nyorgha saw the black, hairy beasts with their vicious tusks and wild temperaments and realized that it would be a daunting task to domesticate such animals, but for now that seemed like their best option. Trying not to get gored as they did so, the orcs brought the boars back to Riverforge and trapped them in one of the small caverns. Now they only had to continue foraging to feed themselves as well as the new livestock; the boars were not picky and ate nearly anything, including barely edible foodscraps. Soon enough the boars would reproduce, and then a few could be slaughtered.

Meanwhile, after several days trekking through the mountains, Luza and Glomp announced that they were at the place where they had parted with Morog all those days ago. They pointed out the direction that Morog had ventured, and Rukdug and his best hunters immediately set about looking for a trail to confirm the information; it was difficult because the tracks were already about a week old, but they eventually found what could have been signs of a careful hunter's path. They followed it for a half day before losing the trail. The going had been incredibly slow as they tried not to lose the tracks, but then the seemed to simply vanish as trails were wont to sometimes do. After a few more hours combing the vicinity, Rukdug found a place where the tracks picked back up, and then their trek resumed. As night was beginning to fall, they once more came to a place where the trail seemingly ended.

Luza and Glomp were growing anxious now; they insisted that when Morog hadn't met back up as agreed, they had come this way and combed the area...but then one of Rukbug's trackers lifted something up for the others to see: a broken hunting bow. That didn't bode well for Morog, but in truth most had already accepted him as dead. Though hardly any evidence of Luza or Glomp's innocence, it would have been sloppy if they'd killed Morog, broken his bow, and then left it behind. But perhaps that [i]was[/i] exactly what they'd done, just to cast suspicion upon something else. But before accusations could manifest, Rukdug found another trail. There was one single footprint in good condition, and though it wasn't deep, it was easy enough to make out the shape of a massive, clawed paw. So a predator had killed Morog after all, in all likelihood. But was it worth tracking down the beast, with the sun setting and the sky rapidly darkening?

[b]A) Improve food
B) Improve military technology
C) Improve infrastructure
D) Improve culture
E) Explore
F) Improve resources/technology
G) Prospect the land
H) Expand military
I) Take diplomatic action
X) Other[/b]

[b]Population:[/b] 184 men, 186 women, 84 children.
[b]Military:[/b] No standing military. Militia able to be conscripted up to 60% of adult population.
[b]Livestock:[/b] A few untamed boars
[b]Food level:[/b] Below Average; improving
[b]Resources:[/b] River stones (moderate amount; being gradually depleted)
[b]Wealth:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Trade:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Growth:[/b] [i]Low; impacted from low food level and morale.[/i]
[b]Morale:[/b] Slightly shaken; mostly due to Morog's disappearance, also due to lack of food
[b]Foreign relations:[/b] None
[/hider]

[h3][color=orange]Orr'gavol: The Hammersworn[/color][/h3]
[hider]

The gathering of food was conducted in an orderly fashion, as befit the dwarves. The Unions of Earth and Stone organized dozens of teams and set them about in every direction to comb the forest. At first they would come back to the longhouses with fish, meat, berries, tubers, and nuts that they had harvested, but soon such resources began to grow low. For fear of winter, they then started to gather even the nettles and the acorns and the pine cones; all of those could be made into edible food, even if it was unpalatable. And after that, they even began to strip bark from some of the trees. They were not to the point of needing to cook the bark into soup, but if that time came, they would be grateful to have more than mere water for sustenance.

And on the topic of water, concerns were raised over just what would be done when the creeks and mountain streams froze. As things stood, they would presumably have to resort to melting snow and ice to get water to drink, cook, and wash with. It would be a terribly slow process that consumed lots of fuel for the fires, so there were some that argued for the digging of a well, others who wanted to begin brewing beers and wines to drink, and still others that shrugged and suggested there were greater issues to face.

And as in for the Unions that had spent the last autumn days prospecting the land, word eventually came to the foreman that some prospectors thought they'd found signs of a coal vein. Excavations were begun in short order to confirm such a find, only to be met with disappointment. Instead of the jet black bituminous coal that they had formerly dug beneath their mountain halls, the veins of these hills had a dirtier brown sort of coal that sometimes seemed to be half dirt and water. The lignite burned cooler and dirtier than the coal of their former forges, but at least it burned, and there was plenty of it to be had if the foreman was willing to order mining operations to begin in earnest. So long as they could suffer the smell and they weren't trying to create strong steel or work metals at too high a temperature, it could perhaps suffice. Was it worth exploiting?

The Steel Union still searched some other hills, hoping for iron; they had yet to have any fortune in the matter, but the soil beneath their feet had a red clay in it, and such dirt was often correlated with the presence of iron. Many among them remained optimistic even as the first few light snows began to fall, but now the question was whether it was worth the resources to support their ongoing search. What was to be done?

[b]A) Improve food
B) Improve military technology
C) Improve infrastructure
D) Improve culture
E) Explore
F) Improve resources/technology
G) Prospect the land
H) Expand military
I) Take diplomatic action
X) Other[/b]

[b]Population:[/b] 209 men, 207 women, 95 children.
[b]Military:[/b] No standing military. Militia able to be conscripted up to 30% of adult population.
[b]Food level:[/b] Average; food stores decreasing
[b]Resources:[/b] Lignite coal (low grade; small quantities right now, but potential to mine much more)
[b]Wealth:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Trade:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Growth:[/b] [i]Average[/i]
[b]Morale:[/b] Slightly above average (order restored)
[b]Foreign relations:[/b] None
[/hider]

[h3][color=aba000]The Aedelfaari[/color][/h3]
[hider]

For some time, the forest taunted Eric and his men with silence. As they laid down their weapons and Eric produced an offering and began to speak to the trees of whatever force permeated the forest, there was a nervous air. They waited, and waited, and soon began to feel foolish for it. Even the birds had stopped singing; the silence was so absolute that it seemed almost mocking, perhaps even menacing.

Then there was a faint rustling, and a large wolf emerged from the undergrowth. It eyed the Aedels cautiously, slinking halfway back into the cover of the leaves. But then there were heavier footsteps, and from somewhere behind them a bear appeared. It was of course impossible to know for sure, but something made them think that this was the same bear that they had first seen enter the forest, the same bear that had scratched the pictures into the tree. Seemingly emboldened by the bear's presence rather than afraid of a fellow predator, the wolf came out from its hiding place and picked up the sack of food with its jaws, then it turned around and disappeared into the forest. The bear stayed for a while, smelling the air around and eyeing the humans cautiously. Even with their weapons on the ground, the bear maintained a respectful distance of several yards, but of course that was still far too close for comfort and it took all of the Aedels' willpower to not pick up their weapons once more.

Some time passed, and every tense moment felt like an eternity. Finally, the bear stood up on its hind legs and balanced one paw upon the trunk of a tree, then used the other to claw a picture into the bark. It worked quickly, and the work was somewhat crude, but the images were still recognizable: high up on the trunk there was that same picture of the strange bipedal, deer-faced, antlered being, but this time there were more details. Below it the bear drew much smaller pictures: there was one of a normal deer, and then a bird, a wolf, a bear like itself, what looked like tree, and then lastly...what looked like a man. Then it turned to look back to Eric, searching fo some sort of understanding in the human's eyes. After only a few moments, it shrugged and disappeared into the forest.

Some time later, another piercing note of music reached their ears, and this was a most pleasant one. Perhaps the wolf had delivered their offering, and the musician found it satisfactory? The trees seemed to hear it and sing back, and as they did so they twisted and bent to reveal a wide and easily traversed path. One way led deeper into the forest, to the parts that they had previously been unable to reach. The other way went precisely the opposite direction, back towards Waebury. The choice was the King's to make; he had already made his offering, and the bear had given them something to ponder. Perhaps that was enough for now and they should be content and return to their homes, but on the other hand, it seemed as though the master (or masters?) of the forest were now willing to grant the Aedels an audience.

[hr]

In Waebury, the smokehouse was built according to plan. The people were anxious for their king to return, but their fears were not yet so great that morale had suffered for it. Their food supply was in much better order now that they could smoke the fish, and even though they were afraid to fell trees or hunt in the forest to their north, there was still some meat to be found hunting in the grasslands around Waebury. Now they were free to focus on other things, the temporary lack of lumber permitting.

[b]A) Improve food
B) Improve military technology
C) Improve infrastructure
D) Improve culture
E) Explore
F) Improve resources/technology
G) Prospect the land
H) Expand military
I) Take diplomatic action
X) Other[/b]

[b]Population:[/b] 185 men, 184 women, 78 children.
[b]Military:[/b] No standing military. Militia able to be conscripted up to 30% of adult population.
[b]Food level:[/b] Average
[b]Resources:[/b] None
[b]Wealth:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Trade:[/b] Nonexistent
[b]Growth:[/b] [i] Average[/i]
[b]Morale:[/b] Average; will decrease if Eric does not return soon
[b]Foreign relations:[/b] [color=Green][i]Creatures of the Forest[/i]: ???[/color]
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