Well… here we are… sat in the cart on the road to… hang on…

  Dwynfel: “Agaroth… what is the name of this village?”

  Agaroth: “Aegis.”

  Dwynfel: “Odd name… why is it called that?”

  Agaroth: “I dunno, maybe cause it’s fuckin’ aegis away. Why the fuck would I know that?”

  Dwynfel: “Fair point.”

  So yeah… we are travelling to the village of Aegis to see if Svampe can heal their village elder. The village is a couple of days travel to the east. From what I have been told, they mostly farm wheat and barley there. They have their own windmill for grinding down the wheat for flour. Quite a lot of the flour that is sold in Kataravonia comes from there.

  Apparently, the village elder has been ill for quite some time and conventional healing magic has failed him. They haven’t even been able to work out what’s wrong with him.

  Based on what happened with Grant, I think it is safe to assume that Svampe has inherited Flora’s healing abilities… although they don’t seem to be as fast. Grant still wasn’t mobile and had the flower on his head when we left on this expedition… but still… he was conscious… so the healing is definitely working. Although it will likely go even slower now that Svampe has travelled away from the city.

  I know that I was against this initially, but after we got back from town after the incident with Grant, we had a long talk with Svampe about it and I do now think this is the right thing for him to do. I saw a light in his eyes that I haven’t seen in years. Since before his kingdom was destroyed, in fact. He says he feels like this is his purpose… to help people… to heal people. He has been so depressed… for so long… him finally feeling like he has a purpose… it has changed him… he has hope… and I am honestly… just… so glad.

  He's not the only one who seems different… Agaroth also seems different lately. Not specifically since the incident in town. I just didn’t really pay much attention to him then as I was a tad distracted by… well… everything else that was going on. But recently he has been putting much more effort into his appearance. His hair actually seems neat. His beard is well maintained… and doesn’t have any food stuck in it. He seems to be having his clothes washed on a significantly more regular basis.

  I assume this is to impress Cathy. I mean… well… it has to be because of Cathy… he’s looked like a scruffy tramp the entire time that I’ve known him… even when he had to wear a suit to the ball, it looked like his head had stolen someone else’s body. But now that he has a woman that he genuinely likes and is interested in spending time with in a not entirely sexual capacity… well… he seems to be putting in the effort, which is nice to see.

  Anyway… back to this whole village thing. We decided to bring the whole party… in case this is something like a curse or anything. If some insane wizard or something has decided to curse the guy then we may have a fight on our hands. I grant you, that is fairly unlikely… but you never know. Besides… the reward is quite good, so we can easily share it out.

  We did have to register Svampe as an adventurer the morning before we set off, which didn’t take long. Vanessa didn’t even bat an eyelid at his appearance. That woman never has been fazed by much. I don’t intend to make a habit of taking him on adventures… but if this one works well, and another similar one pops up, then I am happy to do it again.

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  Of course… if he does really enjoy this, then who knows… maybe he’ll make some connections and join a party of his own. I really do want him to make some friends. It would make me feel so much better knowing that others are out there looking out for him.

  Damecus coming is also to act as a backup. If Svampe’s healing doesn’t work, then maybe Damecus can find a botanical solution to the problem. With Chlamydia’s backing he has researched all sorts of medicinal solutions to all sorts of problems. So maybe he could help with this. But of course, the Svampe option will be much quicker, if it works.

  Agaroth: “What’re your wee lads doin’ while you arseholes are all the way out here then?”

  Dwynfel: “Huh?”

  Kiyui: “Well, today they will just be doing their jobs on the farm. But yesterday was their little wilderness survival training day.”

  Agaroth: “They still doin’ that shit…? After what happened to that wee lad? Not tae mention the baker.”

  Dwynfel: “I didn’t think they’d want to do it anymore either. But it seems that it has just made them more determined to learn.”

  Agaroth: “Will big red no’ struggle wi’ the lot a them on his own?”

  Kiyui: “Charlie’s dad has stepped in to help.”

  Agaroth: “What? Old Cunty McNulty?”

  Here we go with the bloody nicknames again.

  Dwynfel: “If by that you mean Charles McNulty, then yes. He knows how to hunt and his butchery skills are also useful.”

  Agaroth: “And what aboot the other bairns? Their parents no' pissed aboot the whole shit show?”

  Dwynfel: “Their parents looked on it more that Charlie and Tadwick survived because of the training, rather than Isaac died as a result of it.”

  Kiyui: “The boys are getting older, they keep sneaking off to places that they shouldn’t. They are going to get into dangerous situations. None of us could have predicted the crocodiles. But the boys adapted, they handled the situation way better than most kids their age would have.”

  Dwynfel: “And not just Tadwick and Charlie. Olmo managed to take charge and get all the younger boys in the boat to Fort Bracken. Thus, the general consensus was that the sessions are actually of great benefit to the boys.”

  In all honesty… I was incredibly surprised that the parents wanted to continue it. Nomius didn’t think they’d want to either. He went round all of the families with Alexi and personally apologised to them all for what had happened. He told them all how proud he was of the boys for how they responded to the situation, said their quick thinking and adaptability did them credit, but that he felt awful for the fact that they ended up in that situation in the first place.

  He hides it well, but I could tell that he was happy when he found out that all the parents had got together and decided to keep going with the sessions. They are right of course. Those boys survived because of the skills that they had picked up from these outdoor training sessions.

  And taking boats up that river isn’t exactly an uncommon thing. The river has been considered safe for as long as I can remember. If they had just been a bunch of random kids on a swimming trip then chances are, most… if not all of them, would have died.

  Agaroth: “General consensus, you don’t half speak like a twat.”

  Dwynfel: “I apologise for having a decent vocabulary.”

  Phoenix: “Ignore him, Dwynfel. He is just jealous because his language skills are so stunted.”

  Agaroth: “Posh words help no fucker in a crisis. I know loads a words. Ma vocabulary is perfectly fuckin’ sound. There are thousands a words that a could use in any given situation. I just like the word fuck. It’s a good word. It’s adaptable, and it gets ma fuckin’ point across. Now I hope you cunts are ready for this… specially flower power over there. We’ll be pullin’ into the village in aboot ten minutes. So be ready, alright.”

  I looked over at Svampe… he seemed nervous. So nervous that I don’t think he even registered what Agaroth said. I suppose I would be if I were in his shoes… this is when he finds out if this is a viable path for him to take… hell… I’m nervous on his behalf. I really hope this goes well.