Chapter 0: Introduction

An introductory chapter before the prelude of Hrothgar: Slayer of Gods

It's a cold, sunny morning in the small village in the Western Heartlands. It's early Kythorn in the year 1351 DR and the village is prospering with the Spring growth and bounty. The people are tenacious and hard-working; the village is busy as people get to work farming and crafting. Trade caravans would pass through occasionally that they could trade with for supplies that they couldn't produce themselves.

With shuffly footsteps down the stairs of their cottage, Tanis makes his way to the main room while holding his blanket around his shoulders. His mother is already there, working hard scrubbing dirty clothes. She smiles as he comes down the stairs and indicates to the table with a tilt of her head.
"Good morning darling. Your breakfast is on the table."
A wooden bowl, filled with steaming porridge, sits there waiting for him on the table. Tanis is a little sleepy and stands there watching her work for a little while. She is a short but powerful woman and is used to having to work hard daily. Her long black hair is tied back to avoid it falling into the washtub and she has the sleeves of her shirt rolled up as she scrubs. She is in her late 20s and quite pretty. Tanis resembles her, with black hair and blue eyes. His hair is short and his face chubby.

Tanis eventually continues shuffling to the table and sits down on the bench beside it. After a little struggle he manages to manoeuvre one arm out of the blanket so he can eat, and picks up the wooden spoon to have breakfast. He eats in silence, playing with his spoon and watching the boiled oats flow around it as he stirs while he chews and swallows a mouthful. It isn't very appetising, but he's hungry and they don't often get much luxury of choice.
He wonders who he will meet today. He likes his mummy and daddy, but they spend their days ploughing and harvesting and cooking and repairing and washing and Tanis doesn't find that very interesting. He likes Jan, the medicine man, he's clever with his herbs and potions and not many people understand him well and Tanis finds that interesting. He likes Holly, she's a little bit older than him and they play together even though she's mean sometimes. She likes climbing and is good at it, she's faster than Tanis. Tanis likes Robin, he always has a story to tell about far off lands and adventures and dungeons and magic and dragons and Tanis finds it all very interesting. Robin said he was once a ranger, though he has given up that life and become a farmer. His animals always seem to like him and some people say he talks to them!

His mother spoke as he ate.
"Don't forget to wash your bowl when you're done."
He nods but doesn't say anything back.
"Then I want you to help me at the well. We need to water the crops."
He washes up when he is done and they head out to the well and get on with the work of the day.

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The sun is high overhead as Tanis and Holly run through the village square, laughing and weaving around the other people in the village as they go about their work.
"There's Robin!"
Holly shouts suddenly as she takes a sharp turn. Tanis turns to follow her and the two of them run up to the big, muscular farmer. Tanis always thinnks Robin looked a bit mean, with the huge brown beard hiding most of his face and the steady focused eyes looking into his own. But Robin is a kind man and his huge beard breaks into a smile at the sight of the children running up to him. Holly jumps up on him, she's bigger than Tanis but Robin is a strong man and he easily catches her without stumbling.
Tanis stops short of Robin and watches Holly climbing the man like he was another tree. Robin laughs deeply as the girl makes it to his shoulders.
"Ok Hol, you've made it to the top. Now what?"
Holly looks around, her head above Robin's as she supports herself on his shoulders. Then she looks down at him and shrugs, before jumping to the ground beside Tanis.

"What are you two up to then?"
Robin asks, looking between them.
"We're adventuring!"
Tanis speaks up with a big grin. He likes adventuring stories with Robin, it's always exciting.
"We found a beast in a dungeon and it scared Holly off!"
Holly gasps and shoves Tanis hard, knocking him over.
"It was gross and wet! You didn't even touch it!"
Tanis grins and started getting back to his feet.
"Did so! I touched it after you ran away!"
"Did not!"
"Did so! Look!"
Tanis reaches into his pocket and pulls out a frog. He holds it in both hands and thrusts it towards Holly's face. The frog squirms in his hands, it's legs kicking wildly.
"Eww!"
Holly jerks back, eyes wide, throwing her hands up to cover her face as she gives a  squeak of surprise.

Robin laughed at the antics of the children. Then he kneels down beside Tanis and reaches forward with one rough, scarred hand.
"That's a mighty horrible beast you found there, Tanis. Can I see?"
Tanis thinks about it a moment then puts the frog in Robin's hand.
"Why did you take it away from it's dungeon?"
"We didn't find any treasure so I wanted to show you the beast I caught!"
A moment of conflict passes over Robin's face. He doubts sometimes whether he should tell Tanis about his adventures, but the boy means no harm.
"Well done, lad, you caught it. You should take it back to it's dungeon now though. I'm sure it wants to be back home again."

Tanis smiles at Robin's praise, then nods. He doesn't have any more reason to keep the monster. He shows the frog to Holly again.
"It's ok Holly, it's not a mean monster."
Holly watches it suspiciously, but seeing both Tanis and Robin handling it encourages her that it's safe even if it is gross. She reaches out and touches it with one finger. She is hesitant, but doesn't flinch back as she feels it's damp skin.
After a moment she pouts at Tanis, annoyed with herself for making such a fuss over it. She calmly takes her hand back and wipes it on her tunic.

Tanis smiles at her and nods back where they came from.
"Come on, we'll put it back in it's dungeon."
Robin gives them a nod and smile, they wave at each other then the children run off back to the riverbank.

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