Rauko

[JEB Davis]

They travel along the river, which is about 1/2 mile to their right, taking advantage of high-ground to see the surrounding land and look for signs of any villages. Once they see an elk in the distance and then further on meet some foreigners who have some very interesting items to trade. Rauko finds something that should be very useful indeed.

[JEB Davis]

A bit further along the river Rauko climbs a rocky hill and a surprising sight greets his eyes!



He's certain there is much distance still to reach Kuikka territory. Who are the people living here?

[JEB Davis]

Caution prompts him to arm himself with his mail and new helm before heading down. He finds the man that was seen in the distance and discovers he is a Sartolais adventurer. But the man is confused and is acting strangely, talking about being lost when Rauko could see the settlements not more than a mile away. When told this, the man says he must be under a spell, covered by the forest mists that led him astray from familiar paths. Rauko says he can help get Heikki to a village.



They find a small settlement near the river, and Heikki is relieved to have that ordeal over with. He teaches Rauko a couple of tricks to use when knife-fighting.

[JEB Davis]

Rauko visits two more Sartolais villages and finds they have no weapons or armor to trade, only food and crops. So the journey continues along the river until weariness forces him to stop.

The next day, he becomes certain that he's not traveling the same route as when he came down the river, this is unfamiliar land. After skirting around the large lake, he finds yet another very large lake, and is a bit lost, not finding the river again.

Badgerbane chases a hare, but can't catch it. She followed its scent in and out of spruces, startling it out of hiding, but was not able to find it in the end.

[JEB Davis]

Rauko decides to turn back north, hoping to find some territory that is familiar.

Suddenly, traveling through a large forest mostly of spruces, a dirty-looking wildman sees them. By the time Rauko can drop his heavy gear and arm himself with shield, axe, and knife, Badgerbane has run to attack!



Rauko runs to the fight and is halfway there when his dog is hit two times by the man's two-handed axe and has trouble staying on her feet. By the time Rauko closes with the man, she has been knocked down and isn't moving.



Angered, Rauko stabs the red-clad man in the hip with a knife thrust, then moves over to protect his fallen companion. The whistling axe strikes Rauko in the side, but the wound is minor thanks to his mail. After trading blows a few times, the man stabs him deeply in the leg with a knife.



Wounded, and with his shield seriously damaged by the axe, Rauko is worried. As the fight goes on, he struggles to overcome the intense pain of his wounds.



The man strikes a blow to his shoulder, but loses his grip on the axe. Rauko's shield also slips from his grasp.






Both retrieve their dropped weapons and the wildman is quicker and Rauko sustains another hit to his thigh.


They trade blows a few more times and Rauko is knocked down, blacking out only for a moment. He rouses himself quickly and struggles to get up as he is hit again.



Blood on his hand is slippery and he can't hold his handaxe.







Rauko sees his father's face, calling to him...







He goes to be with his father.

[aat]

 
oh damn, such a pitiful end for such a long-lived, hardened character....

[Dungeon Smash]

RIP, Rauko!  All great adventures must some day come to an end.  Rauko's life was greater than many.

[JEB Davis]

Since tinypic.com is shutting down soon, many of the pictures in this story will be lost August 26, 2019. 

[JEB Davis]

Now all the pictures have been restored 

[Brygun]

Huzzah!

I always appreciated the extra effort for the pics. I'm more of a writer myself (see Novrus etc). Glad you managed to keep it.

Query: Wonder if Saami can archive the thread in such as way as to store the pics? Its a good example play for his game.

[Sami]

Huzzah!

I always appreciated the extra effort for the pics. I'm more of a writer myself (see Novrus etc). Glad you managed to keep it.

Query: Wonder if Saami can archive the thread in such as way as to store the pics? Its a good example play for his game.

The work with the pics here is indeed absolutely fantastic. The forums don't support archival of threads with automatically fetching and storing pics (at our servers). That would be super cool option, though.