Near The Marches of Farmoor
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 25551
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In the northeastern reaches of Allaria the hilly, dry land of the Duchy of
Farmoor stretched out wide and stony. To
the north was the Calamari Desert. To the east was the country of Lux,
along with a few, small, independent
fiefdoms that had not been absorbed by either of the larger nations in
that region; city-states like Verboten and
Haunt. For years the area had gone about its business, drowsily and
without any urgency. Duke Roger Farmoor
was not a harsh taskmaster and the people were free to do what they would;
farming and ranching and drinking
mostly. As for Lux, it too was not in any hurry to get anywhere in
particular. The old grudges against Allaria
slumbered and were not of much account. Duke Ridley Fallon was more then
content to enjoy his estates while he
oversaw his Luxian people in peace and quiet. And the free-cities too
harbored no ill will toward their neighbors.
Verboten was a thriving center of higher learning in the land; scholars
and clerks and historians walked her streets,
not warriors or adventurers or rabble-rousers.
And so, when the forces of war began their long march across those lands, it came as a great shock and surprise. And there was much confusion and uncertainty; like a wind before a storm, rumors and stories and outrageous lies spread through the villages and the cities as the soldiers drew near and no one knew what to believe... "Verboten is no more!" a frightened voice cried out as the people in the village of Bonwich flung open their shutters and craned their necks out into the streets. "That fair city has been burned to the ground!" The Crier was racing along the narrow avenues, his torch held high in his shaking hand, shouting out the "news" even as the few guardsmen of that town assembled on the battlements of the lone keep-tower that overlooked the quaint and quiet farming village. A rider had come in the middle of the night from out of the east, his steed slick with sweat. He had traveled hard and fast and, waving his mark of authority at the guardsmen of the tower, demanded he be given a fresh horse. They gave it to him along with a flagon of mead which he downed quickly before he pulled himself back into the saddle and raced off toward the capitol city of Farmoor. And though his words to the guardsmen had been short and quick, soon the entire village was roused by tales of bloodshed and horror. The army of Hespan was on the march, the soldiers of Lux by their side, and they were coming straight for Bonwich. Meanwhile, in a pleasant room in a fine house within Verboten, Cristobal Borrar, Commander of the Hespan Army of the Dorado, stood over a map with his captains beside him. Pointing far to the south of Verboten, Cristobal said, "The Army of the Malorcas should be within Fenring by now and on their way to attack North Umbria. Also, Collinsport is, I am sure, in flames even as we speak. But our first target is Farmoor. I doubt it will be much of a battle, but it is of the utmost importance that we conquer it quickly. We'll have a day or so to rest after we take the capitol, but then we move on. We don't have any time to linger here. The Luxians will take care of pacification as well as guarding our rear, so it will be with our full force that we move on to our next target. As for these small villages, like Bonwich for instance (he motioned at a small dot on the map), they can be completely ignored. We don't want to get bogged down in small fights all over the place. Does everyone understand?" Cristobal's captains nodded. They understood exactly what was required of them. "Good," Cristobal smiled. "We leave tomorrow morning." And then the Commander and his captains exited the room. As for the city outside, there had been no fighting, no burning, no pillaging. All in fact was quiet. Verboten was not a fighting town and it had seen wars before. Her citizens had no desire to raise up arms. All they wanted to do was quietly go about their business until the soldiers went away.
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WolfRun
4/2/2003 12:34:56 PM
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