Commando Part 15

Having collected seventeen dog tags Maurice stashed them away. He proceeded to snoop around more to see if any of the cabins could be used as shelter. Despite the protests from the zoologists and the elf nobles the party decided to make camp here. For the rest of the day the enlarged party set up their camp in the abandoned Vestrisian base. They had to clean up the base a little making a few of the cabins habitable.

      That very night the enlarged party of twenty six slept in different parts of the base. Most of the fighters slept in the tents and cabins. A few of the non-combatants slept inside the command center whereas the rest stayed in the cabins. All jumbo cat steeds slept against the cabins that felt a little stuffy. For a good seven hours this party of fighters, commandos, prowlers, trackers, scientists, guides, and guardians slept restlessly. Before dawn the commando’s party woke up the others so they could get a move on. Grumbling and unhappy about being roused from sleep earlier the zoologists, guides and elf nobles got up. Oladele Zeim, Eledheim and Pokeha wanted to press on southward to the nearest city alone. Their desires were overruled at breakfast.

      Every zoologist, guide and Dr. Westley urged them not to go out in these jungles without any protection or help. Eledheim did not seem pleased by the overwhelming resistance against her group leaving the party and going alone. According to the guides and Dr. Westley they were eleven or more miles from the bogs and the marshes. To the south, west, and south east of their position lay the bogs, marshes, and the start of the swamps. In order to avoid these bogs, and marshes or at least the most dangerous parts the guides suggested taking the road. Fortunately this camp-base was connected to a few roads one of which trailed to the south.

      Every fighter in Maurice’s party grew impatient with these zoologists, guides, and elf. After a brief argument they were all talked into accepting the tagalongs. Twelve jumbo cat steeds were mounted by two riders each. In moments the large party set off on the road that trailed southward from the Vestrisian Base. This road appeared unkempt and covered in multiple parts by brush. Because of the nature covering the road it appeared more like a badly built path.

      For half the day the large party travelled along this road coming across other paths and trails. If they hadn’t been in a hurry the party would investigate these other routes. The jungle around them covered the skies from view and stood dense enough to act as a wall. Such a thick jungle made the road feel like a maze. Trotting on the path they did stop whenever Maurice spotted whatever he thought was a corpse. A total of nine piles were found along the road spaced out by several miles each. Only about three of the nine piles they found were corpses.

      One of the corpses was a Vestrisian Soldier from the expeditionary force. The other two corpses were an adventurer, and the other one was some long lost traveler. Each of these piles had something interesting or valuable to pick up and even use. Among the other piles they found a few satchels, travelling kits, travelling capes, cloaks, old lanterns, explorer’s pack, a few bags of coins and other jewels, boots, staffs, and flasks. Most of the things they found in these piles were torn, eroded, very filthy, tore upon touching, and broken or cracked. These items were left there deemed useless and unusable. On the corpse of the Vestrisian soldier aside from the dog tag was his helmet, cap, tattered uniform, boots, a pistol with little ammunition, combat knife, and two flasks was some object wedged in his head. Inside the skull of the explorer they discovered a strange figurine of a god of some sort. Its head was larger than the carved body and looked more like a mini tribal mask. Whatever this was they assumed it must have been a depiction of a tribal deity turned into a dagger.

      Several more days on this road witnessed a few more of these discoveries which they either ignored or scorched after looting. As they progressed further on signs that they were nearing the bogs and marshes showed with every step taken. Less and less of the jungle showed with the boggy marshes increased each mile. The road began to twist and turn wrapping around muddy marsh land. Some parts of the road turned into a path made from planks of wood or large flat stone slabs. Every bit of the wooded planks appeared old but still sturdy enough to hold anything heavy. Many travelers, explorers, adventurers, or regular expeditionary forces would assume the roads were well kept. Many of these people would have it believed that the natives or someone was taking care of these roads. This seemed too hard to imagine anyone else trying to create civilization in this part of the world.

      Within another day’s worth of travelling the jungle abruptly ended. To the party’s fortune they came across an outpost or a large tavern like lodging. A few other structures and homes nearby branched off the road over the marshes. Not too far away rested three settlements built upon connected platforms raised by dock posts and stilts not too different from pile dwellings. A couple of average sized stables located parallel with the large tavern sat on their left. Flanking these stables stood sheds, shacks, and other structures one would find in a small village or town.

      None of the fighters believed any settlements could exist this deep in the wilderness of the Unknown Lands. They did acknowledge the settlements and cities along the edges of these lands and in the Sarcagos Mountains. However any shred of what they considered civilized couldn’t exist in this bog or marshes while hundreds of savage tribes lay to the north, south, west and east. Nonetheless the large party entered the large tavern. The Tuxir and Ranger took the steeds over to the stables.

      Maurice, Brittany, Hilastes, Amonif and the rest of their party sat at their own table. The zoologists Vik, Dr. Evarn, McKeris, Figdius, and their guides sat at another table near them. Dr. Westley talked to the local barkeep. Oladele, Eledheim, and Pekoha asked for a bath. This trio of women had to wait for the baths to be ready for use.

      Sitting down with Brittany, Amonif, Hilastes, Silver Harpy Jode, Onyx Cougars Jenn, Loaket, Flede, plus Macon, Maurice had a few drinks and a hearty meal of roast meat. Whatever this roasted meat was it tasted like fish and something gamy. He looked around this large tavern to get a good look at the inhabitants. These people were brown skinned in hide clothing, grass woven tunics, traditional garb made from cloth and linen. Much of the clothing styles involved vests, loincloths, tunics, skirts, wraps, trousers, strange shirts, and some familiar garb hailing from the east and the allies of Vestrisia. Nearly all the clothing types were made from the hides of reptilian creatures, grass, large leaves, sewn shells, bark and woven fabric. Other clothing were crafted from linen, leather, and cotton cloth.

      Studying these people he saw they appeared more like huntsmen, fishers, skinners, trappers, weavers, tanners, canoe craftsmen, lesser craftsmen, and prowling warriors. In this tavern were also Rangers from other nations and lands. Each one had the standard arms a ranger these days would hold other than the bow. All these native locals were armed with rat knives, wooden war clubs, long knives, hunting knives, spearheads, and a strange machete like blade. Some of them even had old fashioned rifles, revolvers, and Gantronese style weapons. Along the Tavern’s walls tridents, spears, harpoons, javelins, trophies of heads from reptilian beasts, mounted jaws, and netting decorated the establishment.

      Most of the tavern’s patrons had their eyes on the nine armed fighters who came in. Their gaze did not show any signs of suspicions, or hostility. Ever pair of eyes on them seemed more curious. One of the locals nodded repeatedly in approval with a serious face. Another local picked his teeth with a pick while keeping his eyes focused on the new comers.

      After a few long moments of the curious staring the barkeep told the whole tavern who these warriors were. As the barkeep addressed them the Tuxir prowler, tracker, and Ranger entered the tavern. The trio looked at each other confused as the barkeep informed the native patrons in their own language. Ignoring this barkeep the Tuxirs and Ranger approached the table joining their fellow companions. Maurice nodded to the Silver Harpy who slid the rest of the meal over the three new arrivals. Oladele looked over her shoulder at Maurice and his band of warriors.

      Only a few locals who spoke common, said hello to the warriors. Maurice looked around where their other companions sat. Five other locals conversed with the Zoologists and Dr. Westley. Each one of them seemed eager to get a quick ride to the nearest city. One local pointed towards a table in the far corner of the tavern. In this corner sat three short stout looking figures. At first glance these figures looked like short people.

      Maurice squinted his eyes to focus on them more. He realized this trio was not short people but two Dwarfs and a Gnome. The Dwarves wore their beards in the Forkstyle and the single braid beard. Their Gnome friend seemed taller than most Gnomes standing at four and a half feet tall. Gnomes did live in the Vestrisian Republics and served as citizens like everyone else did in the VUVR. Personally Maurice did not know much about Gnomes except about their skills in tinkering, craftsmanship, engineering, and inventing amongst the Dwarves populations.

      A Ranger who appeared Grussian came up to the commando. Forced to turn away from the trio Maurice turned his attention to this Grussian Ranger. Hilastes offered his chair to this Ranger. He stood behind Maurice as did the Tuxir named Eyanosa and Loaket. Smiling with his eyes at this band of warriors from the Sarcagos the Grussian studied them for a few seconds. He introduced himself as Roderic Alin Mandelertz a member of the twenty or so Rangers whom ranged these parts of the marshes. As Roderic began to converse with Maurice, the four zoologists rushed over the Dwarves and Gnome.

      Nine patrons left the tavern beginning the process of emptying the place. Roderic informed the Sarcagosee warriors that a large gang of bandit-raiders were in the region. He also added some information on a few locations of where some Vestrisian corpses could be found. Maurice asked Roderic where these locations were and how far from the villages. Roderic was about to tell his new acquaintance when he was interrupted by loud rumbling engines. Outside the noise from the engines grew louder as the source seemed to draw closer to the villages. Every single local patron and Ranger held a frightened, nervous expression upon their faces.