I have not wrote down my thoughts in a long while. Nor wrote about my ventures at all in even longer times.
So I think it best to start simple....
Now that we have found more peaceful days I have found myself hunting for the local peasantry in Breeland. It is good and enjoyable work. I get a contract, I hunt down what is asked of me and then I deliver that which is requested and I get paid. Simple as that.
Mostly it consists of game such as deer or boar. Rabbit is also in high demand these days. As such I have signed myself up at the Bree-town Hunting lodge and there I have quickly become known as a highly skilled huntsman. I help the youngsters there learn the trick of the trait and I find that most enjoyable of all. To teach what I have been doing for so many years.
Then there are the bounties, such as the one I am on now.
Bounties seem to be the best way to get a good lot of coin rather quickly, but as one may figure they are not without risk. Therefor I found it interesting to get myself some help. I found these in two women of the mark.
The first one I employed is Maeredae. A young girl with quite the hunting potential. She also seems to be quite the linguist for her age.
The second one I employed is Eliandre whom was already more experienced on the matter of hunting and use of bow and arrow.
Both of them have proven good fellows in the wilderness and good friends around the drinking-table. I am glad to have met them for that.
Aside from my new job as a hunter, I also figured it was time to lay down an old one.
I have not been a ranger now for quite some time. Still I find it difficult to not fall back into those old ways that have always been my life. The solitude sometimes calls for me more then I wish it would and I still prefer to be alone when I am in the woods. But the company provided on days is welcomed as well.
As to not get back into my old ways too much I decided to leave Fiontann and the Black Steel behind me. They are still good friends and they may always call upon me for aid if such is needed but I believe it is time for those youngsters to find their own purpose in life without me being around to tell them what is wise. I've tried that too often now and most of them are too stubborn to listen anyway. Not that I am one to talk about stubbornness of others......
I do miss the company on some days, as it has been quite recent that I left and I have been roaming with Fiontann in particular for quite a long time now. But I have also come to find it brings me peace of mind. I always feared to lose those friends to any danger they headed into. I always wanted to protect them from everything. I now come to see that I simply can not do that and that I should not fear it either. It is their choice to live a life of adventure and dangers that come so with it. I have lived that life far long enough to learn it will not bring the fulfillment one seeks out of it.
Now that I can live a simpler life, I will try my best to do so.
And so now I sit here at my camp. Under an old crooked oak in the southern parts of the Barrow-downs. In search of a man that went in here to seek fortune and fame among friends, but made no return. A storm has come in from the south-west, darkening these already dreadful hills.
It feels like this is no normal storm. It feels like it carries a dread with it.
A cold wind blows on this late spring eve. Colder then it should.
I wonder if this storm will bring something to us. Or maybe this place is finally getting to me as well.
I suppose only time can say for certain.
