36. June 17, 2017

We head north; Ghard leads us to a bridge to cross the river into Honol. It's a clean, well-organized country. It's the most densely-populated place we've been to so far, we see buildings in the distance everywhere. We hear rumors that the Healing Woman is on the northern border, healing soldiers wounded in skirmishes. We decide to travel west along the road by the river. We have an uneventful journey to the lake, and no more undead appear each evening. Honal has franchise inns, they're all called the Loyal Hound, and have the same logo and menu geared toward travelers. It appears that each of the inns and other places with travelers has cleancut constables/militia everywhere, keeping an eye out for anything unusual. We sail north on the lake, and as we are preparing to dock we see a commotion at the port. There are Honol guardsmen arming and preparing to get onto a ferry up the river. One is an old friend of Ghard's, his name is Rhedoran. He tells us that the Healing Woman, who is a national treasure of Honol, has been kidnapped or taken prisoner by the Ærden militia on the border. Rhedoran's unit is leaving immediately to lend aid to rescue her, and asks Ghard if he's still a private contractor and willing to come. We all agree and within 10 minutes are on the ferry.

During the trip, Rhedoran tells us not to panic, and tells us to sit down and prepare for a shock--magic is real, he says. And Honol has magicians working for them. They have magicians relaying messages magically and also scouting for her. But Ærden also has magicians, and they have more than Honol has. Apparently, Ærden doesn't recognize the current borders, and are trying to claim land they say is theirs. Rhedoran says the Ærden have in the past taken hostages, and sometimes hold them for ransom, sometimes exchange them, sometimes sacrifice them to their god to try to aid them in their feud with Kirenweld (which took a holy mountain that their deity lives on, and their deity has not manifested since Kirenweld has held it).

During the boat ride north up the river, late at night a few times, we see large birds land on the boat, turn human, quietly consult with the military men in Rhedoran's unit, and then become a bird again and fly away. We are seeing Honol's magicians in action!