Invalid characterset or character set not supported More Mouse Guard





More Mouse Guard
September 12, 2009

The second adventure began about a week or two later. Storms have raged against the coast of mousedom and are moving inland. Fallan ran into an old friend, a mouse who had served alongside him in the war by the name of Patrick Delaney. Patrick's hometown was the port of Sumac but with the storms he couldn't easily return there. While at war's end, Fallan had been determined to join the guard in order to bring peace to mousedom, Patrick had tired of fighting and had taken up trade as a merchant, his dead father's business. Fallan often wondered if his friend had made the better choice of them.

In a meeting with the head of the Guard, Lady Gwendolyn, Fallan was told that these storms were more than a general hindrance. The port town of Sumac had been flooded and the Guard patrol sent to help out had not reported back. Fallan was to take his group and head to the port town to give any aid they could and ascertain what had held up the other patrol. Before leaving, Fallan tried to find Patrick and inform him of the town's danger, but his friend had disappeared into the general bustle of Lockhaven and there was no time to search him out. However, knowing that Patrick's family lived in Sumac, Fallan made a personal oath to ensure their safety.

The going was not easy. Freya was the group's scout, but she was young yet and her abilities were not fully developed. Still, determined to impress Fallan, she pushed the group onwards, never losing spirit. Abram chipped in with his cooking skills, keeping the party well fed throughout the wet journey. In fact, it was Fallan who seemed most distraught. Several times he tried to lead the group to higher ground to trace a better route through the jungle, but failed every time. With each failure, he became more despondent and the others more concerned.

Such was the state of mind they were in when they came near to Sumac. Here they found several tracks leading away from Sumac towards the beach. Fallan and Abram were reluctant to follow them, but Freya adamantly argued that the tracks could very well belong to mice in need of aid. Abram was more convinced they belonged to looters who had fled the town. In either case, Fallan ultimately felt it was their duty to follow them, though he said they would do so for only an hour and then turn around.

An hour brought them to the shore. Here the tracks headed to the beach and then circled around, crossing the beach back towards Sumac. Figuring that at least the tracks were now headed in their direction, Fallan ordered that they would continue following them. This resolution brought them, at last, to a cave. But the cave already had a denizen: an angry crab.

As usual, Fallan's first reaction was towards diplomacy. While he knew it was pointless to try and communicate with a crab, he did know that it was not necessary to kill the thing. With this in mind, he ordered the group in formation and the three rushed the beast. Freya fought more fiercely than any of them and it was mostly due to her relentless attacks that the crab left its home and scuttled away into the surf.

The cave turned out to contain a nasty surprise. Here the group found three tattered Guard cloaks. Fearing the worst, Fallan took the cloaks and the party continued on their way to Sumac.

The town was in a state of disarray. A dam was quickly being built to prevent the tide of water from encroaching any further on the town, but it was obvious the workers were understaffed. Reports of crab sightings along the coast worried the town mayor. Then, too, several townspeople had gone missing. Among them was Patrick Delaney's sister, Serah. "Red" volunteered to search out the missing townspeople, while Fallan and Abram stayed behind to help build the dam. Though their efforts were successful, Fallan's mind was constantly on Patrick's sister and he had just decided to leave Abram to finish the work and go look for her when "Red" re-appeared. She had Serah, though she had found no one else. Also, Serah was ill from exposure and dying.

Having experience with the healing arts, Fallan brought the mouse girl to her parent's home and made preparations for curing her of her illness. His skill, however, failed him and the young girl died in his arms. Cast out by Patrick's mother as a failure to the Guard, Fallan called an end to the mission and the troop returned to Lockhaven, altogether a dejected party.

How does Fallan's failure affect the party on their next mission? Stay tuned to find out!

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