Saturday, 11 January 2025

Into the Sackwald .... Day 1: There wolf !

After a nights rest the expedition prepared to depart; the pack horse attendants and the two guards hired in Eisern refused to go any further - they left taking the donkey cart back with them and anything that was surplus to the expedition's needs. 

Carla Cranz, who was one of Madame Givenchy's adventurous Irregulars, decided to go on into the forest and changed her cantiniere's outfit for some more appropriate attire. The two pack horses were led by private Limburger and the Woodsman.

The expedition formed up with Scharfe and Big Hans leading the way. It was slow progress as they moved along the pathway into the forest; they took a small rest in a little clearing mid-morning. Randell and Hopkerk took bearings and updated their notes.  An hour of or so later they reached a large clearing...

"There wolf !" shouted Big Hans; three wolves bounded out of the forest heading towards them.... everyone tried to get off a shot at them before they closed...

One of the wolves went down and Big Hans finished it off with his sword.... the other two closed with the expedition; they tried to fend the snarling wolves off ....Sgt Harfenist got bitten... others had a few scratches...

After the wolves got hit a few times, they ran off into the forest; 

They paused for a while, while Esme the witch put a poultice on Sgt Harfenist's wound. After an early lunch they started off again following the path. The afternoon was uneventful; at one point the pathway skirted a small rocky knoll. Randell and Hopkerk used it to look for some higher points in the landscape they could use for surveying reference. 

After some hard work in the late afternoon cutting through some thick brush that had grown over the path in one place, they stopped and made camp.  The night passed without incident, although in the early hours they were disturbed by the sounds of some large animal moving nearby.

to be continued

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