Chronicles of Athiria     Creation Story Discovering Athiria Face to Face Outpost Truskar Trolling for Information Outpost Truskar    he Andwir Mountains are one of the most dominant geographic features on all of Athiria.   Stretching north and south along the entire eastern coast of the largest Athirian continent, the Andwir features the tallest snowcapped peaks on the planet.   The rugged terrain is home to a few hardy species, but mostly the Subadi. Andwir’s foothills are much less harsh, providing sustenance to a variety of plant and animal life.   The jewel of the Andwir range, however, is the largest peak, named Rol Wegir.   Within is the home of the Subadi capital city of the same name. The Subadi have made their home within Rol Wegir ever since the first exodus from Caluvia, taking the knowledge learned from Kitrus and Aravaine to build themselves a self-sufficient home and legacy.   The Subadi mastered living among the mountains, and eventually expanded out from Rol Wegir with outposts along the entire length of the Andwir range.   Nothing traveled an Andwir mountain pass unnoticed by the Subadi. ne such outpost was Truskar, far in the south of the Andwir range.   As with all outposts, Truskar was originally a natural cave, sculpted and expanded as necessary with expertise typical of Subadi stonework. Manned with a commanding officer and several veteran hunters, each outpost was secluded, defensible, and had a varying complement of personnel.   Messengers were always coming and going, keeping news and supplies flowing throughout the entire mountain range.   Few amenities existed, but everyone was guaranteed a cot to sleep upon and plenty of ale. rinking one of those ales was Hannar, recently returned from a patrol with his partner Raugin. Hunters usually traveled alone, except during times of conflict or when they were training a new hunter.   Hannar was a hunter-in-training, but almost at the end of his apprenticeship to Raugin.   Hannar had a natural aptitude for hunting and tracking.   His parents, both hunters themselves, were very proud of him. When combined with Raugin’s excellent leadership and training, he was highly thought of and would soon be on his own.   Thus, nobody was surprised to see him return early and alone from his patrol.   The news he brought, however, was very surprising. he commander of this outpost, Captain Thalig, merely raised an eyebrow when Hannar told him of the advanced party of goblins. It was quite an accomplishment to get any reaction at all out of the normally dour-faced Captain, but this news was unexpected.   They normally had advanced warning of these types of incursions from outposts closer to the foothills.   News of this particular group had not made it to them yet, however, and he silently worried about that. itting at a table in the common area of the outpost, Hannar drained the last spot of ale from his cup and finished his report.   "So there it is, Cap’n. When we knew it was a scout party, an’ that more was comin’, Raugin had me come straight back ‘ere to tell ya. He was goin’ to stay hidden an’ count the lot o’ them so we’d know how many t’ prepare for."   The Captain stood up from the table, patting Hannar on the back.   "Good job Hannar. Rest up a bit while ya can. I be sending ya back out after hearin’ what Raugin has t’ say."   While the Captain went over to stand, leaning, against the cave’s entrance to the common room, Hannar got up to refill his cup from the open ale barrel at the back of the common room. he few hunters currently at the outpost were tense with anticipation, anxiously awaiting a command for what to do next.   A couple of hours passed before a lookout spotted Raugin making his way back up to the secluded outpost. Unusually out of breath, he entered and went straight to the ale barrel and threw back a quick drink before making eye contact with the Captain.   "Trouble be brewing, Cap’n sir. Did we get reports from the lower outposts about local goblin activity?"   Captain Thalig shook his head no, "Not since a month ago."   Raugin moved over to a table and sat down with the others.   "Well now that’s just odd! Y’think they’d know if five score goblins came strolling up the hill, wouldn’t ya?"   A couple of gasps could be heard as the Captain stood up quickly, knocking his chair over backward.   "Five score?", he half-screamed, incredulous. Raugin continued, "Aye, five score. An entire clan of ‘em, an’ with their chieftain! Moving fast they was too. Is prob’ly why we hadn’t heard ‘bout it yet."   Captain Thalig leaned over to pickup his chair and sit back down. “Might want to stay standin, sir, cause there’s more."   This time both of the Captain’s eyebrows rose as Raugin finished his cup of ale and continued.   "Not only was the chief goin’ with ‘em, but there was six cloaked things too. They wasn’t goblin, too tall. Don’t know what they be. After they was gone, I checked their tracks, an’ I ain’t never seen nothin’ like ‘em, sir, not in these parts or any where else I been." eemingly unphased by that last bit of news, Captain Thalig sat back down at the table.   Decisively, he gave his orders, addressing all of the hunters.   "We can worry on those new things later. Can’t do nothin’ ‘bout them now, but we can do our jobs an’ tell other outposts and the Commander back at Rol Wegir."   Motioning to each hunter as he spoke, the Captain explained his plan.   "Aur, Tulan, get on the trail o’ these things an’ see where they be goin’. Don’t follow past the foothills if they be just passin’ through. Undal, you heard as much as I did, head off to the other southern outposts an’ tell ‘em ‘bout this. Kinan, same thin’, but go north an’ make sure this goes all the way to the Commander."   Finally looking back to Raugin and Hannar, he gives them a task.   "Both o’ ya, get back to their trail, an’ find out how they got up here without us knowin’ it. Follow ‘em down to where they entered the foothills, then backtrack to the closest outpost an’ see if they still be alive down there." augin noted that the Captain just gave travel orders to the entire complement of hunters currently in the outpost, which was not supposed to happen.   "Cap’n, sir, that would leave ya all alone up here, ya sure that’d be safe?"   Captain Thalig shook his head.   "You all go on as I said, I be left with plenty o’ company", and pointed over to the ale barrel. Next .... Trolling for Information Copyright © 2002-2007 Elysian Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.