The Journey Begins (pt 7 - The Sellen River)

The drifting and waves of the river are a new thing all together, and one I find I am not as settled by as the rocking of the waves at sea. There never seems to be any consistency to the movements of the water on this river. Indeed...it's hard even to tell that we are moving sometimes, and others it seems we must certainly be drifting backwards along the river. We stayed a few nights ago in the village of Riverford...I asked about the name of the village, if there was indeed a ford across the mighty Sellen there, and one of the old men in the village explained that the name was somewhat of a harsh joke that stuck. Apparently, the man who founded the village believed that a ford could be created across the river, and meant to capitalize upon the trade it would open up... When that proved impossible, the nearby towns began calling the village Riverford and eventually the original name of the village was forgotten.

We departed from Riverford the next morning early, heading Northward again, along the Sellen. A rockslide of an outcropping near the west bank of the river meant we had to swing close to the eastern edges, and we encountered the first significant troubles of the trip. Goblins apparently had been setting up ambushes along the river, knowing that the narrowing of the river meant that more boats would be in range of their attacks. I did what I could to aid of course, after all, if the boat were captured I would be as well. I grabbed the bow of one of the guards who had been struck already, firing back. I haven't had much cause to use bow in the past, preferring my blades, but I have to say I'm rather pleased. I managed to score two of the little beasts before we were past that ambush and through. Two oarsmen and a guard were down though, and at least half the crew were wounded. We limped north to the next village on the eastern side and made port around four candle marks past sundown.

Two days recuperating in the village have given me time to consider my plans to travel by boat. It had seemed to provide a safer, quicker means of travel..but I'm finding that it's no quicker to go upstream by boat than by horse, and if we do come under attack, fighting on a boat gives considerable lack of options should things seem overwhelming..

In the morning, I have to decide whether to continue on the boat or take horse out of the village.

I apologize for the lack of update for a few days, my computer has been having some issues. Hopefully I will be back on schedule now.