The party materialized at the edge of a large garden about 80 feet by 80 feet. It was ringed by a circle of short bushes; in the center was a 20 foot tall tree. A neatly trimmed soft grass lined the garden, and a trail led from one of the edges to the tree.

A human female figure had been sitting cross-legged with her back to the party, but turned, stood, and drew two elven thinblades as the party materialized.

"Who are you? What are you doing here and how did you get here?" she asked in a hostile tone. She was 5' 9" with cropped curly blond hair, and looked to be in her early 20s. Errol immediately recognized the person as Tamson.

"Well it's a long story. We're here because of this," Errol said as he carefully drew his elven thinblade.

A look of recognition crossed her face as she said, "Are you friends of Jana?"

The party had no ready answer and in the pause she continued, "There is about to be a fight here, I would advise you to leave if you don't want to get involved."

"Where exactly are we? And who is coming after you?" Errol asked.

The party eventually determined they were in Vertase, the village where Tamson lived before her husband was murdered, and that the militia had conscripted villagers and were coming here to kill her.

"But I still don't understand how you got here or why you are here? And what happened to Jana?" she asked.

Malif replied, "Well it's complicated. You know about magic right? Do you believe that wizards can travel through time? We're from the future. One of Jana's descendents gave us the blade Errol has here, and we wanted to travel back through time to witness the greatest swordsman who owned the blade."

Tamson looked at them dubiously. "So... you're from the future? And you came back to visit... me. Why me? I'm not that special."

"You're known in the history books as the greatest human two weapon swordsman who ever lived."

Tamson turned as if to hear something then said, "The villagers wil be here soon. Most of them aren't really happy to have to do this, but they are being coerced by the militia. The militia wear crimson leather vests. You'll have to excuse me while I defend myself."

"Do you want any help?" Vaugner asked.

"I shouldn't really need any help," she replied.

The party could now hear the roar of the mob as they began to break down the doors.

Vernon had been silent until now. She said quietly to the party, "Why do we even want to help her? I bet she's evil. She's going to kill these innocent people for no reason."

Before a debate could start, however, the crowd rushed in. They were a disorganized group, many with just bare hands for weapons. One of the men in a crimson vest shouted for them to attack Tamson.

Tamson spun and lunged, taking down all of the villagers around her in a succession of blows. Vernon watched as she fought. In a blur of action, it looked like she was killing some of the villagers while merely using non-lethal force on others. Several of them were outright killed, however.

More militia appeared, and the party decided to help Tamson and attack them. Tamson took what initially looked like a critical hit from a militiaman, but she shrugged him off and ran him through with the thinblade.

The mob had ignored the party, but as Kestrel tripped and hit one of them and Malif and Vaugner shot arrows into others, another militia officer shouted for the crowd to attack the party as well. The mob wasn't much of a threat, though. Errol emgaged a rush of them, but made sure to use non-lethal damage.

Two militia appeared on the roof, which was about 12 feet and overlooked the garden, and shot arrows at Tamson but missed. Blink took a running jump and was able to reach the roof and haul himself up. Not to be outdone, Kestrel did the same thing.

Vernon had not drawn his weapon, but instead said, "Anyone that needs to be healed just let me know." He moved to a fallen militia man and stabalized him.

The militia quickly fell under the attacks of Tamson and the party. When most of the militia had been killed, the mob turned on the militia, killing them.

The party surveyed the situation. Tamson was talking with one of the villagers. Vernon, wanting to try and save lives, starting checking the bodies and moving those still alive.

Tamson asked, "What are you doing?"

"Just gathering up the dead," Vernon replied tersely.

Tamson motioned to one of the villagers. "Nikkla, go with him and make sure they are all dead."

Vaugner eavesdropped on Tamson's conversation with the villager.

"I told you I would come back and I have. You'll be safe now, I promise you. I'm going to the castle now to finish the job. There will be no one left to threaten your families," she was telling him.

Most of the villagers had left, and Tamson turned again to the party. "Well thank you for dealing with the archers on the roof. Now that we have a bit more time, why exactly are you here again?"

"Like we said, we're from the future. We just got this thinblade and wanted to witness history in the making," Malif said.

Tamson still seemed dubious and asked them to prove they were from the future, which the party was unable to do. She still was unconvinced, but between their help with the fight and the presence of the blade, she seemed willing to talk to them more.

"After all," she thought to herself, "They have the blade I lent Jana and they got back here. Jana wouldn't have told them how to find me if she wasn't on good terms with them. Still that doesn't mean I can let down my guard."

To the party she said, "Well I'm on my way to the castle now. I have work that I need to finish."

Vaugner said, "Do you need help? I can help you if you need any locks picked."

"Hrm... really? That's interesting. That might come in useful. Sure, you can come, but be warned that if you try anything you'll likely come out the worse for it."

Tamson went on to explain that she had learned that under the castle was a dungeon. The dungeon used to be two floors, but the lower dungeon had been abandoned long ago. She believed that there was a way into the lower dungeon and that they could gain access to the castle from there. They would have to navigate a way through the cave maze, but she assured them the elves had provided her with the route before she had left.

"I still don't understand why you call me the greatest swordsman though. While I will admit I'm pretty good with my blades, I always assumed that there were better people in other areas," she said.

"Well you're about to go into a castle full of nobles and kill them all..." Kestrel replied.

"Yes, but while some of the nobles and their guards have been trained, they aren't that skilled really. I just don't think you can call that a major acomplishment."

"Hey... have you thought about what you are going to do after you kill them all? Like any message you'd want to send?"

Tamson turned her head a little to the side and looked at Kestrel quizzically. "Um... no? Why would I leave a message?"

"Oh, no reason, really, I was just curious. By the way, I assume there are going to be innocent people in the castle, like maids and stuff like that. What are we going to do with those people?"

"Anyone in there has been corrupted. The people who are there now got there by wheeling and dealing with the new regime. If they are in the castle and haven't left, they are not innocent and should be killed."

After that statement no one spoke for a while.

They got through the cave complex without any problems. The party had to light torches -- there was some glowing fungus in the caves, but it was not enough for the humasn to see by. Suddenly Tamson stopped and stooped down.

"That just ain't right," she said. "These look like boar tracks, but I think they are actually wereboars. I think there are two of them."

Errol applied his bardic knowledge. "Wow those are bad news. I think you need silver to properly damage them, and their bite can spread the lycanthropy. I think wolvesbane, if applied quickly enough, can stave it off though."

"I think I spotted some wolvesbane in the forest we passed," Tamson said. "It may be a good idea to go back and get some."

The pary backtracked and returned after picking a sprig for each of them.

"I think I hear them around the corner," Tamson said.

Errol started singing lullaby, which did nothing but alert them to their presence. Vernon stepped out and to the side with a torch. Blink carried the other torch as they all rounded the corner.

The boars charged after the light sources. One slammed into Vernon, almost killing him. The other charged into Tamson, who was in front of Blink.

Tamson said, "I can take care of this one, worry about the other one."

Malif carefully placed a web that would entangle the boar but miss Vernon. While the boar avoided being stuck in the strands, it was still surrounded by them.

Vernon took a five foot step and enlarged Kestrel. The party decided to focus their offense on Tamson's boar since the other was stuck. Vaugner was able to flank the boar and did signficant damage to it even though the boar was able to reduce his damage. Tamson struck with both blades. As both blades found their mark, Tamson glided in a fluid motion and twisted. THe boar lost his footing and fell to the ground.

The boar stuck in the web tried to move, but his initial attempt was futile. The other boar rose and turned on Vaugner and gored him.

The party continued to rain blows on the free boar. The trapped boar's second attempt faired better and it was able to move out and hit Kestrel. By this time it was too late, however, as the first boar was killed. The party turned their attention to the second boar. Tamson hit the boar again and attempted to make it fall, but the boar was able to stay on its feet. It gored Tamson, but only did minor damage to her.

"Another thing I learned from the villagers is that the castle has hired mercenaries to shore up the castle. They will be arriving some time tomorrow. I

To be continued...