Ham-Ham the Wandering Black Hamster
Book 1: Journeys
Arc: Journeys in the New World, Chapter 4: Rebirth of Mystery
It has been just four days since Ham-Ham has left the village of Beron. While Shoutaro went west to the village of Foret, Ham-Ham went further south. The road was much straighter than the road that led to Beron, so he managed to make it to the small town of Noctal in two days time sometime in the afternoon.
When Ham-Ham set foot into the village, he felt an odd chill enter his body; it reminded him of the wolf head that he saw in the cave. Since Ham-Ham's money problems have been solved in the earlier town, he decided to stock up on supplies. He saw a weapons store while he was browsing the supplies he needed to survive. On one of the shelves was a book about stave combat. Thinking back to the Razgriz incident a some days ago, Ham-Ham decided to buy it for four gouls because he realized that he needed to better defend himself. As he finished his shopping, he could see the worried looks on the locals' faces.
While Ham-Ham was walking toward the tavern, a young girl hamster recognized him. Her name was Leliel and she was the hamster that he saved in Tippen. She went up to Ham-Ham and said,
"Hi, do you remember me?"
"Yes, but I never did get your name. What are you doing out here?"
"I'm on a pilgrimage to learn about politics, meet other leaders, and to just explore."
"Oh," was Ham-Ham's simple reply.
"Anyways, I just talked to this village's leader and there is a problem. There has been no word from the iron mine up northeast and we fear for the worst. Will you come up there with us?"
Ham-Ham replied, "I don't see what I can do to help with missing people."
"Please, it will make me feel safer."
"No."
Not even Ham-Ham could escape from a girl's puppy-eye begging technique. He finally relented and said,
"Fine."
"Sweet, meet in front of the town hall next morning at 9, the walk will take a few hours."
The next day Ham-Ham joined the group of able-bodied hamsters in the town square. Mayor Humberg came in front of the group and announced,
"We will go to the entrance of the mine and try to find anything suspicious; keep on a lookout for the other miners."
As they started toward the cave, eventually Ham-Ham fell in next to Leliel. Once they reached the cave, it fell eerily quiet and the ominous chill that Ham-Ham felt earlier increased. There was not a single hamster in sight and the mine looked deserted. The mayor rallied the group and said,
"Spread out and search the surrounding area while half of us go inside the cave."
Six of the hamsters were outside looking around for clues while Leliel, Humber, Ham-Ham, and three unimportant hamsters went inside the mine. The mine was dark so they lighted a few torches as they descended. They went through the entrance hallway and when they reached the first shaft, the area was also completely void of all life.