There is blight upon this land, just last season I heard of a tale from a young elf from Lemnock. Have you heard of that village? Well supposedly the whole village had been sacked one night. You see I used to travel up that way on a regular caravan. I traded Tskrang spices for Elvin weave. 2 months ago upon reaching the village, I found just smoldering buildings and a field of graves. Upon the gravesite a lone elf was arranging stones. He was of average build for an elf, and really aside from his hair was unremarkable for their kind. His blood red hair however made me uneasy about approaching him.
I cautiously approached the elf and asked what became of the village. He looked up at me with grey eyes and seemed to be in another place, another time. After several heartbeats he stated he had not eaten in several days and asked for food and water in exchanged for his story.
His name was Dharlomei, a young archer whom had lived in the village since birth. I vaguely remembered him, as his mother was an exceptional weaver. He had left the village one day to go hunting. He had been gone for an evening when he noticed smoke on the horizon. He ran back to the village and found the forest and the entire site in flames. He could not approach as the west winds were spreading the heat and he could not bear the intensity. He circled around and approached from the east, downwind. He noticed hoof prints in the forest floor. Their village had no horses. Yet he could not find signs of a battle there were no shouts, no arrows, and no bodies. All the young elf could do was wait for the blaze to die out.
In the morning the blaze had died. He searched the village and found many remains, but it was only a portion of the people that had been in the village. He could not find anyone else, and there were signs of a fight, but it seems that it was a massacre. The young elf told me he was convinced that the ork raiders to the north had come down and sacked the village. I think differently though. I think that slavers showed up and took the young. The bodies left behind were the old and the weak. That is the only way to explain the missing bodies. The orks don’t take slaves and would never work with slavers. Ork raiders wouldn’t attack in a forest either, horses cant maneuver there, and the guerrilla tactics of elves would have picked them apart. I could not convince Dhalomei with my logic though. He harbors a grudge against orks.
Well it could have been something worse though. Maybe it was one of the horrors. You can never be sure of these things. I gave the elf a ride back on the caravan and gave him some supplies. It was the least I could do after all the years I worked with that village. Last I heard he was headed toward Barter Town. To find some tales about the Ork raiders in the north lands. Poor fool, still thinks the orks are responsible. These kinds of things happen more often than not in this corrupted world. He would do well to grieve for his lost, and start anew.