From the desk of Hinnerk.

Dear Cinders,

This is my what? 8th letter to you? Have you got the others? Sorry this one’s messy, I think I once wrapped a pork pie in this paper so I’ll have to write around the grease spots. Anyway, quite the adventure we’ve been on recently! After we’d spoken to the Krood (did I tell you I sang to some of their little ‘uns?), we went back to see Mad Maggie in her shop. We asked for some clarification on this map and we were able to borrow a car from her. Well, we rented. It cost us a couple of soul-coins and couple of our friends volunteered to act as collateral too. We’d best come back in one piece then, I hate the thought of any decent soul being in hock down here.

She showed us the contraption and since Reya has had some experience moving vehicles around she jumped in the front seat. She was told the controls and started moving it but she didn’t have much finesse The controls reminded me of when I saw a Dragonborn and a gnome, working a skiff around Finback in The Whale Bones, off Waterdeep. They had this system where we provide forward motion, would provide sideways motion, and they both worked together on the steering. Anyway, I asked her if I could have a go at it, and yeah, it seems that’s how this thing works, sort of.

One of the reasons we’ve got this car is to get us around this infernal plane a bit quicker. We’re off on some collection thing where we gotta go all over the place. It took us a while to figure out an order to get stuff in and we also needed to update our old map a little with a new bridge, and that there’s a ship due at the dockyards from the Blood Wars soon. Eventually we set off Abyswards before turning contra-Dis to avoid a swamp and a main road which was likely to be covered by nasties. As we were heading along the plane we noticed a path alongside us but up the side of the mountain. There were six hobgoblins on three vehicles, but theirs only had two wheels, who had spotted us and were keeping pace. They gave some sort of signal and then started riding down towards us. I’d seen an attack like this before when I was under Captain Longfellow on the Bitten. We was moving some maybe-legitimate cargo past The Nelanther islands when a couple of smaller ships started making towards us and the captain spotted battering-rams on their front, so he ordered that the sheets be taken-up and the rowing stopped to allow our attackers momentum to carry them forwards. Then he made a deal with the wizard that was on board to harden the ship and after they collided afore us Captain drove us straight through their middens. I think it cost him an eighth of his profits to the wizard, but he gained that and then some back in the pride and respect he got from his crew. So I figured maybe try the same thing, only it turns out, and I don’t want to bore you with details here, land is different to water. These Hobgoblins were planning an ambush ahead of us, so all we did was allow them to fortify their position. I only noticed just as I was coming round the corner they had these weird sort of bugs buried under the ground to attack us and a sudden fireball attack threw my plan of backing out of range out the window. Crossbow bolts, javelins and eldritch blasts started flying about the place, mostly doing more damage to the hobgoblins than to us, and I’ll tell you those two-wheeler make a helluva bang when they go! Since I was still uncertain of how this machine works I didn’t want to start driving over mysterious buried things in an ambush so decided to bring the buggy to a halt, open up the back and engage him hand to hand. Just as I was about to lay into him Reya takes him out from the other side of the battlefield. She’s great to have around, I can tell you.

One of the little buggers ran away down the mountain, and Lulu could’ve gone after it but don’t like sending her off into a fight without me or someone else to help her out. We picked up some of their kit, including some of the stuff they’d been laying as traps in the road. We’ve strapped a couple of them in a net to the back of our buggy so anyone who starts trying to follow us a little close should have a pretty little surprise. And that’s not to mention one of the two-wheelers that didn’t blow up is on our roof!

This machine of ours is fun, in its own way. I’ve been as fast (and sometimes faster) out on the sea, and I’ve had moments where I’ve been piloting around Orlumbor and felt that sense of connection to the vehicle, like the ship is responding to me thinking about the movements rather than the steering. But on ships the motion is coming from the currents, and the wind and maybe some rowers. With this jalopy I’ve got control of the speed and the power too. It’s louder than a military parade so it can’t compete to the peace of the sea but it don’t have get the pulse racing as you hurtle around faster than a horse can run!

Hopefully Nick’s passed on my message to you (we sent him back up before we went to see Mad Maggie) but in case he didn’t I’ll tell you here myself: I miss you, your token’s keeping me safe morning noon and night, and I’ll be back to you soon.