Uzoma it was, he who sits by the great river Koros and trades with
passing boats, who fished the body out of the river. At first he thought she was dead for her body felt cold but
having left her for a few minutes while he mused on what the discovery of the body might portend the corpse suddenly started
coughing up river water.
There were many in the village who thought that if the crocodiles had rejected her the village should too but the
elders overruled them and, once the herbalist had pronounced her well enough to meet the village council, they offered her sanctuary as their forebears had to many others in the history of Selimbe.
Tiramba, the village children called her, the 'Weird One', but she accepted the name as she did not appear to
remember if she had another or indeed anything else about her past. The herbalist said she had been severely beaten
before she had been thrown in the river and in particular had taken a blow to the head. She had clearly
been robbed for the her only possession was a comb. The herbalist said she was not human but an elf, one of the
Elder Folk who were the older cousins of humanity. She did not, however, conform to anyone's idea of what an elf
might be being somewhat sullen of nature and tending to be awkward when she was spoken to.
The herbalist, however, got on with her well and appeared to understand her moods.
Several weeks passed and the elders were discussing how to usefully deploy a group of village teenagers
who would surely get into mischief if not given more responsibility. Although they were all apprentices some thought they should take over the part-time role of foraging for herbs for the village healer. In the end the
decision was taken to send them as a group into the forest as soon as they were all declared proficient in the basics of Sanguar, the subtle martial art taught throughout the republic of
Koronande. To everyone's surprise
Tiramba declared that it was about time she played a useful role too and that she would join the group given foraging duties. At the last moment the group was also joined by Aya, the daughter of the village witch Ayo, and like
her a servant of Mawu, Queen of the Night and sister of M'pimpi.
The foraging went well but was not without incident. Among the highlights were
- Getting chased by a boar.
- Being attacked by a large constrictor.
- Treading on Violet Fungus.
- Dancing with a Dryad.
- Fending off aggressive bushes.
- A fight with Possessed Jackals.
- Talking to a Jaguar.
- Tiramba being yanked up a tree by some vines.
- Discovering an ancient graveyard.
- Discovering the ancient graveyard contained an undead skeleton and a zombie .
- Tiramba falling into a pit full of snakes.
- An encounter with some goblinoid creatures.
- Disturbing a nest of Giant Centipedes.
In case one was to think that this young party had been unlucky they also had some remarkable luck. As Tiramba
desperately hung on to the vines on which she was suspended above the snake pit she noticed a sword at the bottom
of the ancient well. Although the hilt broke off when the party tried to recover it, its bejeweled elaborate design mean that it was valued at 25gp. Further investigation of a neighbouring mound suggested it was an ancient temple built it seemed
in an age when dragons were the dominant power. Excavation of the floor (greatly helped by having a large bear cub in the party) yielded a gold signet ring. The ring, the village elders considered, would cover the costs of the
second stage of the party's Sanguar training.