-- Prologue --
”Halt who goes there”
”I said halt!”
A city guard outside The Shining City; the functioning capital of Livinia, approaches a human monk of plain appearances; bold head and traditional orange monk robes. “The city is on lock down cause of the party. State your name and business in the city” the guard commands.
“I am Halm a simple monk, here with a gift from my monastery to Allan Grimwald” the monk replies humbly and presents a small wooden box he carried in his bag. He is hoping that this will allow him inside the city for he was told that this was an important assignment.
The city guard inspects the box, finding a small dark symbol on the lit that translates into small dagger. He nods in silent agreement and hands the box back to Halm “DWARF, COME HERE” the guard calls, as a female dwarf is walking by.
“It is Dis and you can’t command me, I am not in the guard no longer and I certainly did not leave the Royal army for this kind of treatment” the dwarf snaps back at the guard as she walks closer. She has had a hard time finding a job she likes after she returned from the war five years ago, she is a highly trained soldier and they all treat her like a feeble little girl. She joined the guards for some months ago expecting them to have some respect and recognition of skills but they treated her like a newcomer who had never held a sword.
Halm eyes Dis with interest to find out who this stranger is. She is small for a dwarf but quite fit and muscular like she has spend most of her life training. She is young, she can not be more than twenty-five years old, in the dwarf cities she would still be considered a teenager. She is heavily armed with a battleaxe, two handaxes and five spear but no armour is seen on her.
“Well you are going to the party right? Then escort this kind monk, he is an important guest” the guard commands. “AND DO IT FAST” Dis hears the guard yelling after her as she walks towards the party with Halm right behind her. The words shivers down her spine and irritated she clenches her fist.
“So you are here for the party?” Dis mumbles “Figures. Humans all over the land comes to the party, you don’t see many dwarfs at this party or even in this city. Only humans and elves everywhere” she continues to mumble as they walk towards the party. Normally she do not mind the city's demographic but she has been commanded around by guards all day and the irritation is building up inside, she just wants to have a relaxing party.
“I am truly sorry my kind dwarf, I am Halm and did not know how bad it was here. I only came on order from the monastery” he replies “Is there any way I can repay your kindness, I don’t have any money but I work hard” he did not want to cause any trouble, he could have walked this street himself if he had to but he must admit to himself that he do like to meet new people.
“Let us just get to the party, we can find an arrangement later” Dis mumbles while leading Halm towards the town square. His kindness soothes her irritation slightly.
Down at the harbour, ships are coming and going at a steady pace with guests and wares for the party. The harbour is buzzing of activity as people run around to help out and earn some money from the strangers that arrives. Every inn is full and every bar is swarming with partying guests getting ready for the party and having fun. From one of the ships, a hardened sailor of a stout dwarf, walks ashore. He is quite muscular with long hair and a beard covering all of his face except his eyes. He is wearing a long sleeved scale mail and pelt bracelets. There is a hint of a tattoo on his neck. He has a bow on his back and two machetes down his side. It is clear he has been on the sea for a very long time as he waddles a little insecure on the solid ground towards a small bar called The Blinded Duck.
“Welcome sailor, how can I be of service” a soft voice of an old barkeeper sounds when the sailor walks in.
The dwarf looks around making a note of the exits and the people in the room, this bar is somewhat empty considering how crowded the other bars are. “Ay, I am Storm and I seek cheap ale” he announces as he walks up to the counter “and tell me why you are calling this bar The Blinded Duck” he exaggerates the tough sailor act a bit to make an impression just in case someone is listening.
The barkeeper fumbles a bit with the tabs before pouring thick golden ale in a slightly dirty jug "I used to be a sailor once but then I turned blind. So I spend my hard earned money on repairing my father’s old bar” he answers as he hands the ale out in the air just beside Storm's head .
“Ay, so you are the blind duck I see” Storm says as he grabs the jug and places a gold coin in the barkeeper's hand. He decides to test the barkeeper's blindness and moves his hand back and forth the barkeeper's face while he empties the jug in one go. “You seem like a nice man, do you have anything you need help with” Storm asks generously to mask the sound of him reaching over the counter and stealing himself another jug full of ale. He is very satisfied with himself for it is only fools that let good opportunities pass them by. Stealing is not the worst he has done and bar prices on ale is at least ten times higher than the production price.
“Well yes sir Storm, I have an elderly customer upstairs who could use your escort to the party” the barkeepers says and points towards the staircase.
“I never say no to a party” Storm says as he agrees to escort the customer, whilst stealing another jug of ale before going up the stairs. The ale is nicely soothing on his throat, the time on the sea really makes him miss the taste of good alcohol.
In a dark alley on a misty night the old wizard Vision finds himself, with no recollection of how he came to be there. He sees a shady character covered in darkness just down the alley slipping around the corner, his movement makes no sound almost like he is floating in the air. Vision hurries towards the spot where the character disappeared from and is now standing on the edge of a harbour. The shady person is talking with a slightly fat man with a beard and hat. The night covers most of them like a heavy shadow closing in around them; it is hard to make out the exact appearance of the two men in the dark. The two men are too far away for Vision to hear what they are talking about, he can only hear the soft sound of whispers. He is about to move closer as a loud knocking echoes through the harbour, penetrating the darkness.
Knock knock knock.
Every knock is seemingly emitting a blinding flash of light and the two men seems to slowly vanish.
Knock knock knock.
Only Vision seems to hear the knocks and see the light.
“Are you ready for the party? I heard you need an escort” a rough crisp voice calls out over the harbour but there is still no reaction from the two persons.
Knock knock knock.
Vision wakes up as it continues to knock on the door and he now finds himself in a dirty old room at The Blinded Duck. He just had another vision and someone broke it before he could find out the meaning of it.
Knock knock knock knock knock knock.
“Yes, yes, what’s the rush out there, I didn’t become nearly two hundred years old by people rushing me like that” Vision calls out. He slowly gets out of bed and onto his feet, though his body is old and wrinkled like ash grey fragile paper and his beard is reaching his belly, he feels as fresh as a teenager “oh come in already and help me” he calls out to the person at his door, he likes to keep up appearance it gives him an unexpected advantage.
The door opens and a stout sailor of a dwarf steps into the room with a bearded face “I’m Storm, here to escort you to the party” Storm introduces himself to the old man sitting on the bed. A sly smile crosses his face as he feels this could be an easy target.
Vision turns his old head towards the door revealing a pair of completely blank eyes, showing no other colours than white “What are you waiting for lad, come over here and help me get dressed” he snaps. He may seem blind but the white blank eyes is only a side effect from an illness that plagued him as a child, his sight is fine. The illness would have killed him but a wizard saved him and moved him outside time and space to study as his apprentice.
Storm walks closer to Vision and helps him get dressed in a dusty purple robe, whilst searching for money in Visions belongings. He finds a small coin pouch full of gold coins and the sly smile falls on his face again. Vision turns his head to stare directly into Storm’s eyes to scare him “are we ready to go?” he proceeds to ask Storm after ten seconds of intense silence.
“Yes, yes we are” Storm answers with a hint of panic in his voice as he thought Vision just caught him stealing “right this way” he says relieved and escorts Vision out of The Blinded Duck. A feeling that Vision knows he stole his money is still lingering.
Storm follows the many people through the streets hoping they know the way to the party and not long after he and Vision arrives at the edge of the city square where a line has formed in front of a guard.
“NO! You can't come in, the party is only for paying guests, Grimwald is a highly respected tradesman and this is business like everything he does. NEXT!” the guard yells at a rough looking old man as he sends him away.
Halm and Dis walks up to the guard as the next in line. “Dis, are you going to the party? Lucky you, well what is your favourite colour?” the guard ask friendly “And your friend, colour and occupation?” he says in a harder tone.
“This is part of my resigning bonus and red” Dis says short from her head “and this is Halm, a monk with a special gift for Allan Grimwald and let us say orange” she continues a little impatient.
“That’ll be two gold pieces for your friend and here are your hats” the guard says as he pulls out a red and an orange party hat and hands them to Dis. Halm pays for entrance and takes his hat from Dis.
“NEXT!”
Vision and Storm steps up to the guard after standing in line for half an hour “occupation and favourite colour” the guard says to Vision and Storm.
“How rude” Vision exclaims as he whacks the guard over the leg with his staff, “I am Vision the legendary wizard who have lived outside of time and space for nearly two hundred years, I have foreseen every death there is, even my own, show some respect” he rambles rudely but enjoys every part of it.
“Auch you old geezer be careful with that staff” the guard starts to yell as Vision whacks him another time over the leg.
“Can’t you see I’m blind you fool and you dare ask me for colour. I have been blind all my life” Vision yells back at the guard and whacks him a third time over the leg, whilst moving his head up close face to face with the guard. He really enjoys making people feel uncomfortable.
“Hold on, hold on” Storm steps in “here is ten gold pieces and give him a red and me a green“ he pulls out Vision’s gold pouch and hands ten gold pieces to the guard “and then no more questions” he says persuading. He is now pretty sure that Vision is not blind and senses they could get a lot of fun out of Vision's little trick.
The guard snarls as he turns around, he pulls out two hats and hands them to Vision and Storm, before letting them into the party.
“NEXT!”
In the mid of the city square the party is heating up. Allan Grimwald is a slightly fat well-dressed fine man, with a beautiful trimmed beard and a fancy hat. He sits on a small plateau placed at the north wall just centre for the party. He is surrounded by guards and with a line of gift givers waiting for their turn to deliver their presents.
Storm drags Vision towards the bar and orders drinks for both of them paying with Visions money. Dis leaves Halm alone and grabs some food at the buffet. Halm walks over to stand in line to deliver the wooden box to Grimwald.
At Halm’s turn he walks up to Grimwald and bows down to present the wooden box “my monastery hails you and offer you this gift in friendship” he says humble knowing his assignment is over when Grimwald accepts the present.
Grimwald takes the wooden box looks at the black sign with slight despair and desperation in his eyes, it is clear he did not expect the box to arrive at such a public place. He then gives sign to a guard to take the box away and whisper a message in his ears. Halm tries to hear what is said but without luck. The guard hurries of as Grimwald stands up “welcome all and let us party to the sun goes down” he yells over the crowd resulting in a great cheer “and know bring in the cake”. Halm stands by Grimwald's side on the plateau awkwardly unsure on what to do now.
Fifty servants bring in a giant table with an enormous cake at the size of two orcs. Guests are awkwardly moving out of the way as the cake moves through the crowd. The cake is placed in the mid of the square and music starts to play. A human woman emerges from the cake and starts singing with a soft and slightly untrained voice. She is covered in big lumps of cake and cream, she has long blonde hair and a smile that says she is never dull. She is wearing a well-fitted and stylish leather armour. While singing the woman starts throwing cake out over the crowd, she hits Grimwald with a big lump right in the face.
At the buffet where Dis is gorging in food, a giant mean looking half orc approaches the table with a bare chest showing off all of his battle scars. As she sees his muscular chest she feels a warmth spreading from her chest. “I am Baron Glubnar the great and you are a fine young thing” the half orc says as he turns towards Dis “If you are not busy let us retreat back to my harem” he continues with a smug smile.
Dis who has lived in The Shining City since the war ended five years ago, knows the reputation of Glubnar. He is a mean brute who has slaughtered and plundered anything that came in his way. He became such a problem for the empire that one of the high Lords, Thomas Athis, bestowed Glubnar the title of baron and gave him land to buy his loyalty. Dis is scared since Glubnar usually gets what he wants, by force if he has to. But she also finds him dangerously attractive, she is willing to go with him though it may have consequences as he is never short of violence. A scream of distress is heard before she can answer, she feels like she better go check it out.
“Uuh something fun” the woman in the cake yells before disappearing into the cake just to re-emerge holding a wooden war hammer with a face drawn on it. Her smile has turned slightly manic and she seems way to hyped by the sound of someone in danger.
Storm grabs Vision's arm and drags him towards the sound "maybe we can get something out of this" he says with a sly smile.
Halm notices that only four people seem to react to the sound of someone screaming and wonders why. He is unsure if he should follow crowd and ignore the cry for help but he needs to know if everything is okay.
The five run towards the source of the scream and ends up in front of the notorious Brute gang led by Bob the Brute. Dis has dealt with this guy several times before in her short time as guard. She draws her battleaxe and jumps into battle making a swing that splits one of the gang members in two. Now that she is no longer a guard she can finally deal with this gang the way she wanted. Vision stands behind the others and casts firebolts at the gang members, he does not know who they are but figures they are the attackers. Three gang members attacks Dis with short swords and she engages them in battle. Bob the Brute runs towards Storm and hits him with a swing from his large club, sending him four meters back. Storm grabs his machetes and jumps right back into battle with Bob.
The woman cartwheels towards Bob intending to finish up with a flip making a hit to his face, but ends up stumbling forwards and hits him she falls flat to the ground. “Bobby, Bobby, Bobby, you want to dance again. I thought I told you to behave” she says whilst getting up and looking smug as if she planned it all.
A fourth gang member runs up to Halm and stabs him in the gut with a clean hit from his dagger. Halm draws a short sword from the gang member’s belt and stabs him back. Dis is finally getting an outlet for the irritation and rage that had built up in her stomach all day and she splits another gang member in two pieces. Blood is flying around as she swings her battleaxe around in battle and the ground she stands on is turning a deep red. A gang member is about to hit Dis with his sword when a firebolt flies right by her ear and hits the gang member in the face. Shocked by the fire flying by her face she turns to look at Vision and gets stabbed in the gut and Shoulder by the gang members front of her; she falls to her knees and is bleeding heavily but the rage starts to boil in her. Bob tries to fight both Storm and the woman at the same time; he swings for the woman and Storm stabs him in twice in his right arm.
“Goodbye Bobby boy” the woman says as she strokes Bob’s left arm lightly and deep wounds appear all over his body turning it inside out with a small explosion of blood. She then turns towards Dis saying “heal” and light pours over her, healing her wounds.
The gang members are shocked and horrified by the sudden turn of events; blood and gore is spilling out in the streets. Halm uses this distraction to cut down the gang member he was fighting.
Dis stands up renewed and decapitates a third gang member while looking the last gang member dead in the eyes and says “run”. The gang member stumbles backwards in fear and starts to run trying to escape the battle. Vision sends a firebolt after him, hitting him in the back. The gang member falls over forward burning and screaming for a second making the woman laugh of joy.
As the battle is over an old woman steps out from behind her street stand, crying and thanking for the help, she collects her belongings and runs of. Just as she disappeared a guard squad comes around and surround the five. A few of the young guards vomits at the gory sight of the bloody dead bodies lying in the street. The guard captain walks up to the five “you five are under arrest for murder and disorderly conduct. Take them to jail” he says and the guards grabs the five. Halm and Dis follows in orderly fashion without complains. Dis knows it is best just to follow, she is sure she will be let out tomorrow. Halm is used to punishment and figures if he has done something wrong, he should at least take the punishment as well.
The woman makes a short spin, pulls her hair in front of her face to make it look like a bushy moustache and turns back to the captain “my name is sir Ramalamadingdong and I just came by here seeing these four taking down Bob the Brute” she says with a deep voice. She truly believes that is great disguise, no one would ever be able to recognise her.
“Cut it out Quinsel, we know you are involved and you are not fooling us again with that moustache trick” the captain says looking at her.
Storm starts to fight of the guards that tries to cuff him; he will not go to jail if he has anything to say, he have seen his share of jails and if they knew who he was he could get hung. Five guards grab Storm and a sixth guard knocks him out with a punch straight to his face, they then carries him away.
"Power abuse, brutality! This is not how you treat the elder. I am Vision the legendary Wizard who has lived outside of time in nearly two hundred years, treat me with respect" Vision yells and whacks a few guards with his staff as he gets escorted away.
Quinsel sees Storm getting carried away, then looks at the captain and yells “I want to be carried”. The guard captain looks at the other and nods, they lift her up and carries her after the others. Quinsel has been arrested a couple of times and the guards knows that she follows quietly if they agrees to some of her wacky ideas.
Storm wakes up in a cell with the others, he automagically grabs his right arm to check if the pelt bracelet is still where it should be, he then checks for his belongings but everything has been taken. A few hours has passed by since they were apprehended by the guards.
“Guys that was soooo fun, long time since I’ve been to such a great party” Quinsel says while stretching and looking around “this is much better than my usual cell” she continues to small talk.
The other four sits in silence tending their wounds as they await what will happen to them. After some time they can hear footsteps sounding at the end of the hallway and short after a small character appears. It is a halfling smaller than most of his race. He is a scrawny person in a nice suit; he is clearly from the finer circles in the city, living a rich life. But he also has an aura around him that suggest he have seen things. “So, uhm, excuse me, uhm excuse me” the halfling starts with a high pitched nervous voice “Excuse me, can I have your attention for a moment”. They all turn their attention towards the halfling as he continues to talk “Uhm, yes, hallo. I am Milo Smallbanks here to offer you a deal".
Quinsel walks over to the cell door and crouches till she is face to face with Milo “uuuuh I like short men” she says with her most sly smile as she winks to him and fiddles with his suit.
Milo blushes, takes one step back and continues “uhm, yeah, well, uhm yes, but first I need to make sure you are who you are. So, uhm, Dis, you were in the Royal army right?” he notes looking at Dis and she nods. “Storm Winterborn, I-I presume” he says and turns his head to Storm. Storm remains silent, he wants to know exactly what they know before agreeing to anything. “H-H-Halm, is that right, no last name?” Milo stutters and looks at the monk.
"I grew up in a monastery, I have no recollection of my family or their name" Halm explains diplomatic.
Milo looks at his paper and sighs “Quinsel Congelavione” he sighs as he looks at the woman right in front of him "you are some trouble maker".
"Only Quinsel, no last name" Quinsel says and sits down with her back to Milo.
"Uhm, yes, and then you must be Vision I presume and you don't have a last name either?” he says looking at the old withered human. “Well the higher authorities are not pleased with you taking out Bob the Brute. He and the higher authorities have, uhm, had a special deal you know” he looks at Dis, who has experienced several times how Bob seemed to always avoid jail no matter the crime. “That is why he never was locked up for long whenever he got caught. But I am here to offer you a deal to give you freedom and you will be highly compensated” he says enticing.
Storm gets onto his feet and walks up to Milo “when you say highly compensated, I wonder how much are we talking about?” he looks down at Milo with a smile saying he is ready to strike a deal.
“Uhm, let us just say that it will be worth your while but if you don’t show up a bounty will be placed on your heads. On Thurderday the night to Fridaday, a person will come to the harbour at precisely midnight, he will need your escort, more details will be given to you there. As a reminder to you all, today is Tuearyday. You will receive the reward when the job is done” Milo says with a little more confidence in his voice “do you accept this deal?” he asks but already suspects them to accepting.
Storm immediately agrees to the deal before the others gets a chance to inject. Milo signals down the hallway and a group of guards come and escort the five out of prison, whilst handing them their belongings.
“So… anyone up for a drink” Storm asks while clapping his hands together and rolling his shoulders. He counts himself lucky that he got on such a good deal. Allan Grimwald’s party at the city square is over but people have not stopped partying yet.
“I know a place to go, I have spent a lot of time there during cleric schooling” Quinsel nearly yells in eager and excitement. She starts pulling their arms whilst repeatedly saying “common hurry up, there are lots of cute nurses and cheap drinks”.
"Well it seems like we have a job together now, it is probably wise we get to know each other a bit" Halm says and follows.
Dis and Vision nods in accept and Quinsel leads the others to the nurse school bar The Lusty Nurse. On the way they hear rumours being whispered about Allan Grimwald sneaking out of town, some say by boat and others say by horse. The bar is a cosy clean place booming with young nurse and cleric students, it is blasting with popular music of the time like Move thy rear and She’s a mighty bitch. The five heads straight for the bar counter, but before anyone gets to order something, Quinsel orders strawberry daiquiris to them all and pays.
There are no free tables, but this does not stop Quinsel. She grabs her drink, turns around and sits down beside a cute freshmen nurse “hello there sweetie I’m doctor Jules” she says trying to seduce the nurse. The other follows Quinsel and sits down at the table.
"Maybe we should get properly introduced" Halm says "I'm Halm, I grew up in a monastery placed over in the Fellerani Marches and this is my first time outside of the monastery" he shares openly.
Dis looks at the others and sighs "okay, so I'm Dis, I have been part of the Royal army, since then I have been doing some here and there and now I'm here with you guys" she says unenthusiastically. It is just a simple job they have in some days time and then she will probably not see them again, she thinks to herself.
"I am Vision the legendary wizard who..." Vision starts but gets interrupted by Quinsel.
"Yeah you said that earlier" Quinsel says, the young nurse she was hitting on has left the bar "I'm just Quinsel and this is Doctor Pain" she says with a cocky smile and introduces her hammer to the others.
"Storm Winterborn" Storm says short from his head "I don't know or trust any of you yet, so wont give any more information" he turns to the barmaid and orders a new round of drinks.
After a few drinks a hooded woman approaches their table “are you the Brute slayers?” she asks with a thick northern accent “I am Hejla Ironfist, I have an assignment for you, up at Lord Endrin’s castle. A tense situation has developed between the farmers and Lord Endrin. We hope you can resolve this episode very delicate and we will of course pay you for your troubles. Meet at the castle north of here as soon as you can” she leaves just as abruptly as she arrived, without waiting for response.
The five looks at each other slightly confused of what just happened and Quinsel burst out laughing over how awkward the situation have turned.
"Seems like we just got another job to do" Vision says encouraging as he is sure that this will be an important job for his future.
"I'm in, she said the magic words we'll pay you" Storm laughs thinking of all the money he will earn during his time in Livinia.
"Then we should call it a night and get up early to get things done. The sooner we start, the more time we have to do a good job" Dis says as her military training shines in her eyes "there is an inn just around the corner we can sleep at, this is only for registered students" she continues.
They grab their gear and walk around the corner to The Stout Dwarf to rent some rooms for the night. The team is early up as the nearby church bell rings the sun in at six in the morning and leaves the inn. The Shining City is already buzzing of life; farmers, merchants and adventures are running the streets thin, trying to buy and sell various crops and items. Citizens are rushing around town in an attempt to get to work on time. On their way out of town the team comes by a billboard crowded by at least twenty men and women, mostly warriors and bounty hunters, is trying to read a post on it.
Storm pushes people to the sides and gets up close to the billboard, takes a single glance on the reward and rips down the wanted note, he then signs to the others to move out. One hundred gold is a fine price for a single witch and should be easy money to earn, he thinks as he stops the note down his pocket. The surrounding townsfolk are loudly complaining over him taking the note but he does not care; if they wanted it, they could just have taken it themselves. They walk out of The Shining City through the east exit; the main road in and out of the city. An army of more than ten thousand men has been stationed just outside the city walls. The team walks through the campsites in silence trying not to get into trouble. The last few months as the army got assembled, stories has rumoured about women being harassed and men being bullied, but nothing could be officially proofed. Dis and Quinsel have had many experiences with soldiers in the big war five years ago. Dis fought side by side with them in the battle here at The Shining City and Quinsel treated hundreds of wounded soldiers in the battle at Vigils Keep at the mountain range to the east. After five minutes of walking through the camps in silence, Quinsel is bored and starts howling, hooting and even flashing her breast at the soldiers, which seems to spread great pleasure on the way. She loves the attention she gets from all the men around in the campsite and at least something is happening instead of the constant silence. The team walks north around The Shining City, following the road to Lord Endrin's castle. Just north of the military camps the team comes by an arena where a young man at most eighteen years old is fighting three older warriors; he is elegantly dodging every hit thrown towards him and with one elegant swing of his sword disarming them all. The young man's sword glows with a toxic green light as he swings it. The team stops for a moment to look at the training and how the young man elegantly keeps throwing around with a bunch of big men. Quinsel starts hooting again and as she gets the young man’s attention she flashes him, which results in him taking a few hits. Storm glances at the check-in list to find out, who the young man is. It is noted that Sir Owen Vander is the last person to check-in and that he has been training for two hours so far. Next to the check-in list is a note about a simple weapon tournament including an open participation list. Only weapon categorised as simple weapons are allowed to be used by the participants. The tournament is to be held on Fridaday at noon and currently only two names have been signed; Baron Glubnar and Sir Owen Vander. Storm and Vision signs up right away without giving it another thought. Dis on the other hand considers it for a while, she knows of how brutal Glubnar can be, but she also signs for the fun of it all.
Quinsel turns to the face on her hammer and with a baby voice starts asking “are you a simple weapon Doctor Pain, are you a simple weapon?” she then drops her voice to a deep tone “nooo Quinsel, I am not a simple weapon, you can’t fight this tournament with me” to which she continues to reply with the baby voice "are you sure Painy Wainy" and she then replies with the deep voice "absoute Quinsel, this is not a turnament for us". Turned down by her hammer, Quinsel starts to pout. This conversation startles the others and Halm takes two steps away from her.
“What about we go through the forest to the castle? We can find this witch on the way and get some easy money, uhm, I mean help the city” Storm proposes and shows the wanted note, in an attempt to break the awkward silence that followed Quinsel’s conversation with her hammer.
“Well it is nice spring weather we got today and I have heard the forest is quite fantastic here in the mid of my favourite month, Laprilius, with all the flowers and animals coming out and play. So even if we don’t find the witch we can enjoy the trip” Halm says peacefully.
Quinsel is still talking with Doctor Pain and is not paying attention. The others starts walking towards the forest as it seems like the plan have been settled. Quinsel follows still embedded in a deep conversation with her hammer, resulting in the others keeping some extra distance to her. Not far into the forest the team hears a soft growling and footsteps running around them. Storm immediately grabs his bow and scouts the forest for danger. They cautiously walk further into the forest ready for any attacks. Halfway into the forest the trees blocks out most of the sunlight and the undergrowth becomes thick and hard to walk through. The sound of the growling intensifies and three dark wolves appears from a bush and bite after Dis’ legs, making a few scratches. Storm switches to his machetes and attacks the wolves. Dis follows Storm’s attack and swings her battleaxe sending a bunch of pelt flying into the air. An arrow flies from the darkness of the forest towards Vision’s face, he blocks it in the last second with a swift movement of his staff and in same movement he whacks a wolf on the head. Two new wolves jump out of the bushes attacking Quinsel, scratching her legs. Quinsel swings Doctor Pain at one of the wolves, she misses but uses the momentum of the swing to make another swing at the same wolf and breaks its skull, killing it on the spot. Halm has through his time in the monastery learned to use extreme burst of energy to enhance his movement for a short period of time. With this technique he sets of from the ground and jumps high into the air and kills a wolf by drilling his short sword into it as he lands. A wolf bites down on Dis' leg with its sharp teeth and with violent force tries to rip it off. She fights back with all her strength and she can feel her blood start boiling in her veins, she tightens her grip on her battleaxe. The wolf has a strong grip on her leg, blood is flowing and she can her the bone slowly breaking, she pulls her leg backwards and with a precise swing she decapitates the wolf, sending blood flying in an arc over her head. Three arrows comes flying out from the darkness; the first arrow hits Quinsel right in the chest pinning her to a tree making her cough up blood and almost killing her. The second arrow hits Vision through both of his knees, making him fall to the ground in pain. The third arrow flies close by Halm’s face making a small scratch on his chin. Storm pulls out his bow and shoots an arrow into the darkness from where the enemy arrows came from, he then jumps into the bushes to hide from the enemies. Vision crawls towards Quinsel by the strength of his old arms, he grabs a hold on her leg and yanks her down from the tree. He crawls further up to her, then fishes out a potion from his garments and forces the thick ruby red liquid down her throat. A wolf walks closer to them licking its teeth and as the bottle of red liquid is empty, Vision grabs his staff and rolls over to whack the wolf over the head, the movement kills it. Quinsel wakes up as the potion takes effect and heals her, she sits up and sees Vision at her side rolling around, she lays a hand on him and light flows from her and down over his wounds, healing him. She then looks around at the others and sees Dis with a slightly broken leg and whispers “heal” before rolling in under a bush to hide. Light flows down over Dis in a thick stream and heals her wounded leg. Halm runs into the darkness in the direction from where an arrow came, he finds a kobold trying to reload a crossbow. Halm swings his sword at the kobold causing a deep wound across its chest. Storm crawls on the ground in the cover of bushes looking for an, he finds another kobold trying to reloads its crossbow. Storm gets up on his knees and carefully throws both his machetes, piercing the kobold’s heart. Dis can feel her leg become better and follows Halm into the darkness of the forest and as she sees the kobold she splits it in two through the head and down. A third kobold flies out from the darkness, as if it was thrown, then three arrows pierces its body and it falls down on the ground dead. A beautiful elvish woman in foliage clothing walks out from where the kobold was thrown. Storm grabs his weapons and the team reassembles with caution around the elf. Panting they slowly brushes off the dirt from the fight awaiting the elf’s next step. They are sore and hurt, if they are lucky they could probably take her down but it would be preferable to avoid a fight. Halm takes the lead and slowly lowers his weapon and the rest follows.
“Who are you? Friend?” Vision asks in elvish. It is only the elf that understands the words he speaks.
A real nasty witch
She fought the Lords
And lost the war
Sending those she enlist
To sleep forever in the ditch
The team hides behind some bushes waiting to see who the horsed men are. As the horses come near they can see it is Glubnar and four guys bearing traits of those of henchmen. Glubnar is wearing a giant bear pelt on his head and down on his shoulders as a cape.
Glubnar stops and signs the others to do as well as they reach the edge of the forest “so a witch hunt, ahahaha let’s get this done, this a waste of my supreme skills“ he says looking at the men, then grabs a water skin and pours a thick golden liquid into his throat.
The team looks at each other and then on the bear pelt and then on each other again “That must be the bear Aida wants” Storm whispers.
“Yeah but it is on Glubnar, we need a cunning plan for a battle will kill us” Halm replies.
Quinsel crawls backwards into the forest, open her armour a bit, scratches her arms, legs and face and messes up her hair. She then storms out of the forest screaming “HELP, HELP ME, A WITCH IN THE FOREST, SHE ATTACKED ME, SHE IS RIGHT BEHIND ME, HEEEEEEELP” she makes a short stop in front of Glubnar to point towards Aida’s camp and then runs off until she is out of sight.
Halm, Storm and Vision walks out of the bushes short after as they felt their position has been compromised.
“Halt who are you three?” Glubnar says with an intimidating voice and pose, looking down at Storm, Vision and Halm.
“We were out hunting the witch for the gold, but we saw her using powerful magic on a woman and we decided to let a real hero take care of her” Storm answers trying to look defeated.
“Hahaha, little dwarf, I have been send to take care of the witch as I am a real hero, I am the great Baron Glubnar” Glubnar boasts, he commands his gang to ride into the forest and leaves the team behind.
As soon as Glubnar and his henchmen are gone Quinsel comes back to the other while re-doing her armour and hair, “why did you do that?” Storm asks.
“Now the bear gets back to Aida as she wished for and she will either kill Glubnar and his gang or she will get killed. Either way we can go back to get thanked by Aida and loot Glubnar or loot the body of Aida and get the reward” Quinsel explains laughing at her brilliance and how lucky they are.
"You are one crazy woman, you'll end up getting us killed" Storm says displease, but leads the way back.
They walk back through the forest with great caution to not get noticed and endanger themselves. Near the camp they hide behind some bushes and observe the situation.
“There is no one here” they can hear Glubnar tell his men “this is getting boring; I’m going back to the city for a drink”.
“But, but, but Sir” one of the henchmen says, nervous that Glubnar will punish him “we can’t go back yet, we need to find the witch, we got orders”.
“Ha ha ha, you puny human, there is no witch here, why should we wait. If you want to wait, you can wait, I want to drink” Glubnar laugh, saddles up and rides back to The Shining City, leaving his henchmen alone.
Storm prepares an arrow on his bow waiting for Glubnar to be gone and then shoots it right into the shoulder of the nearest henchman. Halm follows the arrow out of the bushes and stabs at the henchman that just got shot, but misses. The henchman retaliates by stabbing Halm in his left shoulder. The two henchmen furthest from the team draw their bows and shoots two arrows at Storm, both hitting him in the chest. Vision walks out of the bush onto the camp ground, making a quick turn of his hand that sends three magic missiles flying each hitting a different henchman. The fourth henchman draws his sword on his way to Halm and stabs him in the gut. Quinsel stumbles over some roots on her way out of the bushes and falls flat on the ground, she looks up on Halm and whispers “heal” the light covers Halm for a second healing his wounds. Storm puts away his bow and grabs his machetes, walks up to the henchmen at Halm’s side and with a double swing he kills one of the henchmen. Halm turns to the other henchman stabs him in the chest with his short sword, he then makes a back flip, kicks the henchman in the face and rips out the sword, sending the henchman to the ground. Aida makes a swan dive from a tree, firing two arrows; one arrow kills the man Halm just kicked. The other arrow kills the henchman the furthest from the team. As Aida lands the last henchman alive, starts running but Vision casts a firebolt towards him. The firebolt misses and sets fire to the forest, which starts to spread quickly. The team begins to run away from the fire. At the teams left side, just out of the camp are four horses bound and act up as the fire is nearing them. Quinsel and Halm runs towards the horses to free them, but Aida is faster and frees them first. The fire is spreading far at this point and everyone now runs as fast as they can towards the outskirts of the forest. The horses runs by Halm and with a burst of energy, he jumps elegantly onto a hazel brown horse and rides it out of the forest. Quinsel is too far from the horses to get onto one and they run too fast for her. She casts sacred flame on the left side of the horses in an attempt to steer them in her direction. The heat from the fire makes sacred flame start a new fire to the left of them. The fire now move towards them from two sides. The horses changes their course and runs in front of Quinsel, where she grabs hold on a dark brown stallion and rides it to safety. Storm is nearing the end of the forest as he looks back to make sure everyone is out and safe. He sees Vision sending a ray of frost towards Aida, freezing the ground under her, trying to slow her down. Aida is burning with rage as her forest is burning and Vision tried to kill her, she retaliates by shooting an arrow that critically wounds Vision. Storm runs back into the fire, passing Aida on the way, looking right into her eyes for a second, seeing both hatred, fear and a bit of admiration for his gut to go back in an hopeless situation. The fire is consuming the forest and dark smoke is spreading. Storm reaches Vision, grabbing his limb burning body and pulls him up on his shoulders. Storm runs out of the forest in a steady pace with Vision on his shoulders, the heat and fire is causing severe damage on both of them. As Halm is out of harms reach, he turns the horse around and sees Storm coming running carrying Vision. Halm rides back towards them and picks them up as they reach the end the forest. Halm get Vision and Storm to safety their hair and clothes are burned and Vision’s face is now half melted.
"Where's that elf" Storm coughs.
"Don't know, Aida must have escaped in the smoke" Halm says looking around.
As the four sits in safety and gets their breath, Quinsel heals up Vision, but his face and body is permanently scarred. Villagers from the nearby villages are running to the burning forest trying to safe it but it is too late.
Some guards approaches the team “are you alright? Did you see what happened here?” a guard asks the team.
Halm and Quinsel gets up to talk to the guards “yes we are alright now, but it was a close call we almost got caught in the forest” Halm says in a diplomatic tone.
“We were passing by, when we saw smoke coming from inside the forest. We went in to investigate and heard some horses in distress; they were bound to a tree near a camp. There were three dead men; they probably encountered the forest witch we have heard about. We managed to save the horse but nearly lost a man in the process” Quinsel followed Halm’s answer to the guard.
“If that’s the truth we thank you for the help in this situation, here take some water and food you look like you need it” the guards say as they nod and moves back to help out with the fire.
After a short rest the team gets back on their feet and pack up getting ready for their meeting at Lord Endrin’s castle. Quinsel names her horse Cinder to match the situation and the colour, Halm can however not decide on a name for his horse. Quinsel and Halm saddles up and then the team takes off towards the castle, it is a short travel. It is six in the evening and the sun keeps shining bright it is very warm and dry. Tents have been placed with military precision outside Lord Endrin’s castle and military forces are standing by waiting for orders. The team walks into the camp and finds a big tent with ten guards posted outside. Halm and Quinsel ties their horses to a post and the team approaches the tent’s opening.
Storm takes the word as the guards blocks their way “Helja Ironfist has sent us to help resolve this situation” his says with authority.
A guard disappears into the tent and after a minute the guard comes back with an old man with thin light grey hair, he is slightly overweight and in the finest of clothing, it is clear he is of high status.
“Welcome! I am Lord Oscar Vander, so you are the team coming to help out? Well you are not what I hoped for, but you may do. The situation is like this; at the castle is the young Lord Endrin, he has barricaded himself with an army prepared to deal with the peasants if they start rebelling. In the town are the peasants and commoners, they have gathered and are talking about creating a union because Lord Endrin has been collecting more taxes and pushed the peasants harder. Also here in the camp, you can find Lady Talina Athis who has some experience in a situation like this. I suggest that you seek her knowledge and maybe her resources but beware, she can be quite the bitch” Lord Vander explains to the group.
“Who is this Talina Athis?” Storm asks with an interesting mine.
“You must be new around here. It is about a year ago, when Glubnar rode through the land rampaging as he saw fit, Lady Athis’s uncle Lord Thomas Athis bestowed Glubnar with the title of Baron. At the same time many of the nobles started to raise the taxes, making it hard for the peasants to get by. Lady Athis wanted to help the peasants and create better conditions for them, but it escalated into a terrible civil war between noblemen and peasants. Lady Athis were winning, until the Royal army lead by, the King's brother, Commander Garthak Urdun joined, after many deaths she surrendered and made a deal to be pardoned ending the war. The peasants went back to be oppressed by the lords and she got a small castle up north in Ivaris” Lord Vander told with a sympathising tone for her cause and then walked back into his tent.
“Vision and I will go to the town, get some new clothing and see what we can do there” Storm says looking at the others.
“Take my horse, then you can move faster” Halm suggests.
“I’ll take the Lady, I always wanted to bed a noble, let’s go Doctor Pain, you can watch” Quinsel says with a sly smile on her face.
“Halm you better keep an eye on Quinsel, just in case” Storm says worried.
Storm and Vision saddles up and rides to the town a few kilometres from the camp. Every shop in town is closed and the streets are completely empty. It looks like a ghost town, they wonder if they are too late. They gets of the horse and walks from window to window, looking for anyone to talk to and new clothing. After walking for a while without any luck Storm stumbles over a small pile of rags.
“Hey, hey, watch your feet, watch your feet” an old man yells from inside rags, where he was sleeping.
“Sorry my good man didn’t see you. We are just two travellers on our way through, we have just been in the forest fire and wonder if you could tell us were to get new clothes” Vision explains to the old man.
“Well, who cares, nobody can afford to work with that bastard Endrin's high taxes. But try the town square, everybody is down there” the old man snaps, still grumpy after being woken up.
Vision recognises the old man from an earlier vision, he turns to Storm and whispers “this guy is important, I have seen him in a vision, let’s keep him near”.
“Well if everybody is there, let’s get going all of us” Storm says and impatiently pushes the old man to show them the way.
The old man stands up and grabs his belongings "I ain't going nowhere" he spits and starts to walk away.
Storm is impatient and knocks the old man out, ties his hand and feets and places him on the horse. They walk down to the town square where they are met by the sound of chanting and singing and even the sound of a person speaking to the masses. The town square is full; about a thousand people have shown up and gathered around a stage, where three men are cheering on the crowd.
As they reach the crowd a few people turns around and looks at the newcomers, then one shouts “it’s the Brute-slayers, the Brute-slayers have come to help us against the tyrant”. Short after everybody joins the shouting and pulls Vision and Storm towards the stage. Storm resists the pull just long enough to tie the horse with the old man to a street post.
They are lifted onto the stage and Storm looks out over the crowd “WE ARE THE BRUTE-SLAYERS” Storm yells and the crowd goes wild. ”WE ARE HERE FOR YOU. AFTER WE KILLED BOB THE BRUTE WE WERE TOLD THAT A TOWN WERE IN NEED OF OUR HELP, SO WE CAME HERE. BUT FIRST TELL US, WHO IS THE TAILOR?” Storm goes on.
“HERE, THIS GUY IS THE TAILOR, OVER HERE” someone yells and the crowd pushes the tailor towards the stage, while chanting.
The tailor is also lifted onto the stage, slightly perplexed and excited over meeting the Brute-slayers “thank you, hello, thank you” he greets Storm and Vision.
“Hello, as you can see we are in of some new clothing, can you bring us some” Storm says to the tailor and the tailor nods and bows happily and rushes off.
“NOW THAT’S TAKEN CARE OF, WHAT ABOUT THOSE NOBLES, AM I RIGHT?” Storm yells out over the crowd and they start cheering again. The more the crowd cheers, chants and goes wild, the more Storm and Vision feels like it is the right thing to do.
“THEY COME HERE, TAKES OUR MONEY, PUNISH US, STARVE US AND THEN ASK US TO WORK HARDER FOR THEM. WE WORK HARD EVERY DAY AND NOW WHEN WE WANTS TO BE TREATED FAIR, THEY GATHER AN ARMY, I SAY WE AIN’T GONNA TAKE IT” Storm yells, grabbing his machetes and cross them over his head.
Vision steps forward “I AM VISION, THE LEGENDARY WIZARD WHO HAVE LIVED OUTSIDE OF TIME AND SPACE FOR NEARLY TWO HUNDRED YEARS, I HAVE FORESEEN EVERY DEATH THERE IS, EVEN MY OWN AND I HAVE FORESEEN THIS DAY. WE WILL BE VICTORIOUS AND THE FUTURE WILL CHANGE FOR ALL OF US” he yells out over the crowd, resulting in the crowd going wild once again, this time grabbing their weapons and starts marching.
Meanwhile Quinsel and Halm looks around the camp trying to find Lady Athis’ tent, which to Quinsel’s surprise turns out to be the white tent tagged with the word bitch and with the Athis’ family crest on; a blue bull skull. Two soldiers are stading guards in front.
“Well who would have guessed that the pretty white tent with the word bitch written on it were the right tent” Quinsel laughs “stay here, I’ll handle this one” she says to Halm.
Halm steps to the side, trusting Quinsel, hoping she knows what she is doing.
“Halt mam, state your business” the guards stops Quinsel as she approaches the tent opening.
“I am Lady Jitters, sent by Lord Vander, here to talk to Lady Athis about this situation” Quinsel says with a serious face and what she thinks is a noble voice.
“Sorry my lady, you are welcome, but please leave your hammer behind” the guards says and opens the tent for her.
Quinsel turns around and whispers “you stay out here and be good” to Doctor Pain and throws it to Halm.
Halm looks curiously on Doctor Pain to see if the hammer really is alive and with a careful whisper says “hello Doctor Pain” wondering if it will answer.
Quinsel hears it and in her deep Doctor Pain voice she whispers to Halm “hello Halm” before going inside the tent.
“Greetings Lady Athis, I am Lady Jitters here to talk to you about this rebel situation” Quinsel greets Lady Athis as they meet in the tent.
“I have never heard of a Lady Jitters and why do you care about the peasants, most nobles don’t” Lady Athis replies back in a cold tone.
“I am very interested in these peasant, uhm, things, hahahah” Quinsel loses control over her act and breaks out laughing “haha, alright, you got me, I just wanted to have sex with you, hehe, thought a little noble naughtiness would be fun” she says still laughing.
“How rude, that is not the way you talk to a Lady, GUARDS!” Lady Athis snaps back and then walks back into the depths of her tent.
The guards come and escort Quinsel out of the tent, while Quinsel calls back to Lady Athis “if you don’t want me, I have a monk out here if interested”.
The guards throw Quinsel on the ground and she stands up brushing of the dirt “sooOOoo easy” she says with a confident smile, grabs Doctor Pain from Halm and mounts Cinder, starts riding towards the town with no idea where the rest of her team was. Halm is confused by the sudden take off by Quinsel and runs after her, not knowing what is going on.
As Quinsel and Halm arrives to the town they hear chanting “Brute-slayers, Brute-slayers” coming from the town square. They approaches the square just to see Vision and Storm leading the crowd in a march. Storm is walking with his machetes crossed over his head yelling “FOR THE PEOPLE”.
Halm finds his own horse with the old man, who is still unconscious; Halm looks around to make sure no one is watching before snapping the old man’s neck. An army of about thousand peasants with Storm and Vision in the front and Quinsel and Halm on their horses in the back is now marching to Lord Endrin’s castle. At the castle Lord Vander has his army lined up on the left side of Lord Endrin’s castle. Lord Endrin’s army is placed in the castle yard and out through the castle gate. On the right side of the castle is Lady Athis with fifteen knights on horses in shining armours. At the arriving of the peasant army Halm saddles down and ties his horse to a tree with the old dead man on it. Quinsel rides up to Lady Athis side, with a cocky look on her face.
The peasant army stops and Storm steps out of the crowd “WE ARE HERE TO END THE TYRANNY OF LORD ENDRIN. NO ONE WILL BE HARMED IF YOU AGREE TO OUR DEMANDS OF BETTTER RIGHTS, IF YOU DON’T COMPLY WE WILL TAKE OUR FREEDOM BY FORCE” he yells.
Five minutes goes by and nothing happens, then an arrow flies from inside the castle yard, landing at the feet of Storm. Storm looks back at his peasant army, then cross his machetes over his head and orders for attack. Thousands of men grabs their weapons and charges the castle. The first two waves of peasants falls to the ground running. Vision casts firebolt after firebolt taking down several of Endrin’s men. Storm jumps into a hectic battle dodging blow after blow and retaliating even harder. Lady Athis signals her men and they ride away, after one glance at the battle, leaving it all behind. Quinsel is looking at the battle for a few more seconds and then follows Lady Athis. Halm pushes through the crowd of peasants from the back lines. After half an hour of battle with many deaths at both sides, Vision finds himself in darkness. Flames are rising, people screams and a burning sensation is hitting him, he can see his skin melt in the flames. The flames and pain disappears just as quick as it came. Vision looks around for a second, shakes the vision off and pushes forward with more firebolts flying from his hands. After pushing the fight a few meters towards the castle, Lord Endrin’s men steps back. Burning oil gets poured over the peasant army from the castle walls, burning hundreds of peasants and melting the flesh of Vision just like he foresaw.
Meanwhile Quinsel spurs Cinder to catch up with Lady Athis and her men. Quinsel makes a swing and pulls in front of them and stops “where to now?”
“Lady Jitters, was it? Why are you stopping us?” Lady Athis replies in an annoyed tone.
“Oh yeah that, haha, no I am not Lady Jitters, that was a lie. My name is Quinsel and I just wanted to give you one last chance to do something here” Quinsel starts “don’t get me wrong, I am all in for leaving this place for a nice warm paradise island, sitting and sipping strawberry daiquiris all day long. But you are a noble with a bad reputation and now you are in a situation where you can do anything you want, you can be the hero on any side of this battle, helping the nobles, the peasants or even resolving it all fairly for all. Or we can take off and keep hearing the nice tunes of she’s a mighty bitch, I love that song. But if you help here today, they might write a new song for you” Quinsel says with a smirk on her face.
The knight on Lady Athis’ right side rides up and whispers something to her. Lady Athis thinks about the situation for a while, looks at her men, nods, and then looks at Quinsel “you have convinced me, thank you” she says. They all turn their horses around and rides back towards the ongoing fight.
Storm sees Vision getting hit by the burning oil, he cuts down two men and turns around to look for Halm. He sees Halm standing several ranks back trying to get forward “HALM! VISION IS DOWN, GET HIM OUT NOW!” Storm yells and then turns back to the fight making his kill number fifty.
Halm organises a small chain of peasants to pull Vision and the other wounded out of battle. Both sides are losing men, whilst Lord Vander and his men are observing the battle waiting for it to be over.
“LET’S GO MEN, PUSH FOR THE GATE, WE CAN GET AN ADVANTAGE THERE” Storm commands his troops.
The peasant army rotates, the frontline closes in around the castle gate, forcing Lord Endrin’s army in a tight spot, constricting it to only five soldiers fighting at a time.
“HOLD YOUR GROUND, WE NEED TO FIGHT SMART NOW, IF WE PUSH THROUGH THE GATE, WE LOSE THE ADVANTAGE” Storm commands again, knowing that if back up does not come soon they will lose the fight.
The fight goes on for another half hour, the peasants it getting tired and Lord Endrin’s army is pushing back hard. At this point the sound of horses can be heard in the distance, the back lines yells about Lady Athis coming to the fight. Lady Athis and Quinsel rides up on the right side of the battle field, from where they left in the first place. Lady Athis' fifteen knights storms through the battle field and in through the gate and castle yard, killing every one of Lord Endrin’s men that comes in their way. The knights disappear inside the castle and five minutes later they come out with a small boy bound and captured.
Glubnar Glubnar
The greatest of man
Glubnar Glubnar
The greatest of this land
He never lost a fight
He gives villains a fright
Glubnar Glubnar
The greatest of man
Glubnar Glubnar
The greatest of this land
“Ah ha ha, what a great song, sing it again little man, sing it to all the people, today we will raid all the bars and you shall sing” Glubnar announces to John and the men around cheers.
They all drink some more and then leaves the bar together to find a new one, continuing until nightfall. As the time nears the trial Quinsel, Dis, Lady Athis, Lady Ravenwell and Alistair take their seats in their lounge at one end of the arena. At the opposite end of the arena is Lord Endrin and his escort taking place in their lounge. The whole arena is brimming with people, nearly every seat is full. Centre for the arena sits a judge who started to drink early that day and is having good buzz going on.
The judge stands up “Today we are here because Lady Athis have made a quarrel with the young Lord Endrin. It has escalated to a trial by combat and the losing site will be exiled. The fight is like always a fight to the death, have you chosen your champions?” he recaps the situation for the people.
Lady Athis stands up “I, Talina Athis of Ivaris, have chosen the young cleric Quinsel to fight as my champion” she announces to the crowd and Quinsel walks down into the arena under a big applause.
The young Lord Endrin stands up on his site “I, Lord Endrin, have chosen the great hero of our land Baron Glubnar” he announces and the crowd goes wild once more.
A few minutes goes by and Glubnar is not to be seen, chatter and whispers starts all over the arena; the crowd wants to know where Glubnar is. Lord Endrin turns to his men “where is Glubnar?”.
“We don’t know, he’s not here” one man says.
“I am so tired of him doing this, I am Lord he can't treat me like this” Lord Endrin hisses to his men “I want him hanged for his treachery against me” he then turns to the crowd again “it seems like Baron Glubnar is hindered, so, uhm, my, uhm, my young squire Steven will take the place as my champion” he announces to the crowd, resulting in a slightly forced cheer.
Steven, not much older than Lord Endrin, walks nervously down into the arena and take position with a sword in his hand. He has does not have much combat training is looking around hoping for the fight to be canceled.
“Champions are you ready?” the judge asks to Quinsel and Steven and they nod “then let the fight begin” he announces and drums starts playing.
Quinsel walks up to Steven with a bored expression on her face and reach out her hand to him. Steven looks sceptically at her and hesitantly takes it. A pain starts in Steven’s hand and goes up through his arm and spreads out in his body, opening deep wounds all over his body. He lets out a terrified scream of pain before dropping dead on the floor. Quinsel lets go of Steven, turns to the judge and awaits the judgement. The crowd breaks out in an explosion of noises, combining thousands of people screaming in horror of what they saw and the cruelty and thousands of people screaming in admiration of how fantastic they found the fight.
The judge wakes up “what, what? Oh the fight, I announce Lady Athis and her champion for winners, Lord Endrin get ready for your exile. Can we now get back to drinking?” he says to the crowd and walks off.
Quinsel walks up to Lady Athis and the others and they return to Ravenwell Manor together. As they arrive back a servant walks towards them, with a dark brown horse.
Quinsel runs to it and hugs the horse “Cinder! How you know he was my horse, thanks for getting him” and the servant takes Cinder into the stables.
Down at the harbour, Storm lies on the roof and scouts over the crowd for Lord Endrin and his men. A big group of servants and guards gets closer to the harbour and Storm takes out a few arrows and the poison. He laces one arrow and takes aim, waiting for Halm to make an opening. Lord Endrin and his men are nearing a big boat and a group of guards walks aboard to secure it. Halm spots Lord Endrin in the crowd, takes his backpack in his arms and starts running, acting like a servant in a great hurry. Halm runs into the crowd and deliberately falls over several servants and pushes Lord Endrin out of the crowd.
“I am so sorry sir, so sorry, oh I am late, I am late, they are going to hang me, so late, so late” Halm mumbles as he fumbles around in the crowd of servants, grabs his bag and runs off again.
Storm sees the whole situation unfold and as a clear shot is possible, he shoots an arrow right into the back of Lord Endrin. Lord Endrin’s guards surround him with their weapons drawn and scouts for the attacker. A second later Lord Endrin falls over with froth from his mouth and dies. Storm climbs down from the roof as the crowd starts panicking. He walks calmly back to Ravenwell Manor hidden in the chaos. Back at Ravenwell Manor, a group of seamstress are measuring every part of Quinsel and Dis, finding fabrics and talking designs. As Storm walks in some of the seamstress walks towards him and starts to measure him.
“Sorry, just a few seconds, I have to go talk to Milo first then I come back to whatever you are doing here” Storm says while waving the seamstress away and walks to the first floor.
“Storm, my good sir” Milo greets him as Storm walks into his office, he waits till Storm have closed the door tightly before continuing “so how did it go?” Milo asks.
“It is done, I used the monk to make a scene and let him have his freedom in return, he don’t know what or why, but he is free for now” Storm informs Milo.
“Well done and we will deal with the monk when that time comes” Milo says and throws a pouch of gold coins to Storm.
Storm leaves the office and walks down to the seamstress to indulge in what they are doing. John arrives home at the manor late that evening, quite drunk and completely hoarse after singing all day.
Glubnar walks out to the battleground to a hesitant cheer from the crowd. But as he takes his place in the arena and ominously looks around, the crowd starts hooting and cheering, with a slight hint of fear. Dis walks out of the tent and finds Quinsel between the tribunes.
Lord Swan and Will enters the battleground with a set of finely made weapons, they take their places and wait for the signal.
“So Quinsel, can you spare a healing spell on me, the one potion they gave, wasn’t enough” Dis asks.
Quinsel lays her hands on Dis and light flows through them and heals Dis, she feels refreshed.
A woman dressed in the finest clothing and with two guards escorting her, is nearing them “you there girl” she says arrogantly and with contempt in her voice “please stop your despicable and tasteless action and behave yourself”.
“What! No way woman, you can’t stop me from healing people” Quinsel says with her hands on Dis and her breasts still hanging freely.
“Outrageous! Cover yourself woman. I should have you decapitated, but you of course are in your right to behave like a common street whore. Just behave when Sir Owen Vander is on the grounds, he is uncomfortable with your actions” she says and starts to walk away.
“You don’t like my boobs? I can show my boobs to whom I want, I got great boobs. It is not my fault that, the young man got distracted” Quinsel yells after the woman.
The woman makes a quick glance back over her shoulder in contempt and continues to walk away. Quinsel is annoyed by the woman and creates forty litters of water over the woman’s head and drenches her. She then quickly turns to the game pretending to have done nothing.
“GUARDS! Cease her” the woman yells and the guards grab Quinsel “you are going to jail for the rest of this tournament and you are to pay fifteen pieces of gold”.
“You are one crazy woman, you know that? You can’t just run around and insult Princess Viela Urdun or attack her like that, you are lucky she let you keep your head” one of the guards says while restraining Quinsel.
“It wasn’t me, I didn’t throw water on the Princess and Dis please keep an eye on Cinder” Quinsel yells while the guards drag her away.
Dis gets a young lad to run Cinder back to the stables at Ravenwell manor before she returns to the warrior tent. Quinsel gets escorted to a small jail in the arena; she can no longer see the tournament.
As the guards puts Quinsel in a cell, she turns towards them and coyfully says “I bet you never arrested anyone for making the Princess wet before”.
“Hehehe, you are crazy you know that” one the guards says amused by Quinsel’s comment and locks the cell.
“That was the end of the first four fights with Lord Swan as the last one to proceed to the semi final” the voice announces and the crowd applauses Lord Swan’s victory. “The tournament will continue after a short break, where Lord Swan will fight Owen Vander and Dis will be fighting Baron Glubnar. But now is the time to hit the outhouses and beer tents”.
In the warrior tent Storm hears the announcement that Dis is going to fight Glubnar in her next battle. Glubnar is sitting at a round table with his henchmen, drinking beer and sharing stories of Glubnar’s adventurer.
Storm walks up to them “good tournament huh, can I join you for a drink?” he asks Glubnar a little cocky.
“Ah haha, puny dwarf, you lost to the little guy Owen, take a beer you certainly need it” Glubnar replies arrogantly and laughs at Storm. The henchmen laugh with Glubnar.
“Well after losing to that small human, I could use something stronger than beer” Storm says daringly.
The henchmen look at Glubnar to see if he takes the challenge, which Storm implied. Glubnar looks at Storm for a second, keeping everyone in suspense before bursting out in laughter.
“Ah hahaha, I like you dwarf, let us drink” Glubnar says and turns to the bar “barkeep bring us the bottle”.
The barkeeper bends down under the counter and retrieves a crystal bottle containing approximately one litter of a silver liquid. The bottle is old and full of dust.
“This is a special brew I had with me from my homestead; it is almost as strong as I am. Ahhaha you ready for it dwarf” Glubnar says and pours a glass for them both. The henchmen politely refuse and move to another table.
Storm takes a sniff of his drink and looks at Glubnar “care to make this a bit more fun with a game?” he says and pulls out a dice set.
At this moment Dis walks in through the tent opening and sees Storm sit with Glubnar “oh I could use a drink, pour me a glass and let’s drink”.
“The one that makes the highest hit, chooses who gets to drink, quite simple” Storm explains and deals three dices to each.
They roll the dices, Storm rolls fifteen and wins the round.
“I will give this first drink to you Baron Glubnar” Storm says and Glubnar gladly downs a full jug.
They roll again, this time Glubnar wins with a hit of twelve.
“Ah haha, then you can drink this round dwarf” Glubnar says to Storm and he downs a jug.
They roll a third time, Storm wins the round with a hit of thirteen.
“Oh another win, cheers Baron Glubnar” Storm says and Glubnar downs a drink, Storm gets a feeling Glubnar has figured his plan.
They roll the dices a fourth time and Storm wins with a hit of eighteen, Glubnar looks at Storm with a dangerous glimpse in his eye.
“What about this time we all drink, just to shake it up a bit” Storm says and raises his glass, Glubnar and Dis follows and downs it.
Glubnar does not seem to get any drunker and Storm is starting to feel it, he is glad he has developed a high tolerance through the years. Dis is hit hard by the special brew and her arms begin to feel numb. They roll again, Storm notice that Dis is struggling, so he tries to bump the table to his advantage. The table moves ten centimetres.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING DWARF!” Glubnar yells in a short outburst.
“Sorry, Baron Glubnar, your special brew must be getting to me, I didn’t mean to bump the table” Storm apologises quite impressively “but why don’t I take this drink, you can join if you want” he says and raises his jug in an invitation.
Glubnar Drinks with Storm. They roll the dices again and Dis wins her first round with a low hit of nine.
“So ehm … yeah Baron Glubnar, youses … ehm, youses drinks” Dis says in a blurred voice.
“The first round of the semi final is about to start, it is the fight between Sir Owen Vander and Lord Swan. They are taking their places in the arena” the voice announces.
Glubnar downs his drink “Ah haha, that little guy Owen is going to win easily over that old man, so let us finish this game” he says.
“Okay, okay, one last round, but let us raise the stakes, the looser empties the bottle” Storm dares Glubnar.
Glubnar thinks for a few seconds and then looks at Storm with a big smile “I like you dwarf, one last round we shall play”.
They roll the dices one last time, Storm sees that Glubnar is going to win, so he bumps the table again. This time he is successful and Glubnar does not notice the slight shift in the dices outcome. Storm is making the winning hit of fifteen.
“Well, I won Baron Glubnar, I choose you to drink, beside Dis is barely awake at this moment” Storm says and Glubnar grabs the bottle and empties it in one go. Hereafter he puts his head on the table and falls asleep.
“And that was the fight between Sir Owen Vander and Lord Swan, it was an easy victory for Sir Owen” the voice announces “now the second semi final fight is going to happen between Dis and Baron Glubnar”.
Dis gets of her chair, she is sailing and nervous on her feet, she stumbles out of the warrior tent and out in the arena, burps a bit and draws her axes. She sways in the wind for a few seconds waiting for Glubnar to arrive. Glubnar is fast asleep in the tent, his henchmen is trying hard to wake him, but with no luck. One of the henchmen sticks his head out of the tent and signals to someone that Glubnar is not capable of battling.
“It seems like Baron Glubnar has become too drunk to participate and therefore forfeit the tournament. Dis wins this round and proceeds to the final round against Owen Vander. We will be taking another break before proceeding with the final round, seems like Dis could use some time to sober up” the voice announces and the crowd is booing at Glubnar’s action.
Dis stumbles back into the warrior tent, Storm hands her some bread and a bucket. Dis grabs the bucket and throws up in it, she then grabs the bread and eats it with great joy. Glubnar snores loudly at the table he fell asleep at; it induces fear in Dis for what he will do when he wakes up. Dis tries to get some rest in her break, to get ready for the fight.
But before Dis gets to do anything, the announcer starts to talk “we are down to the final battle in the mid spring tournament, where Dis is going to fight Sir Owen Vander. Give them both a big applause” the crowd goes wild while the announcer speaks.
Dis and Owen walks out to their spots in the arena and takes their stances. Dis is still quite intoxicated and her depth perception is a bit off. They both ready their weapons and the fight starts. Dis makes a swing at Owen, but is a meter off from hitting him and he punishes her with a stab in the knee. She makes another swing, hitting the air just above Owen’s head and he stabs her in the stomach as he dodges her attack. The pain, the nausea and a third missed attack annoys Dis immensely, rage starts to burn in her stomach. Her eyes shines in a red nuance and the blood in her body starts to boil, every vain is now giving of a faint red glow. Owen stabs Dis a third time. In her state of rage, Dis is no longer aware of the pain and makes a swing with both her axes. Owen blocks the first axe, but the second axe hits him right in the shoulder, he retaliates with a double stab that just barely hits her in the arm. Dis lets out a roar of anger, headbutts Owen and hits him in the stomach with her axe. Owen is bleeding hard but keeps fighting, he stabs his sword all the way through Dis’ stomach. Dis raises her hand and hits Owen in the face as hard as she can, feeling the nose breaking under her fingers. Owen passes out and as he falls he pulls out the sword from Dis’ stomach. In her rage Dis keeps on stomping on Owen while he lies unconsciously on the ground. A team of guards and nurses runs in and stops the fight. They grab Dis and holds her back, while bearing Owen back into the tent.
“DIS IS THE WINNER OF THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHT MID SPRING TOURNAMENT. I know some of you had bet your money on Sir Owen Vander, I did, so this is truly a surprise, but let us all applause Dis for her victory” the announcer calls out, while Dis bows and wave to the crowd “Dis remember to come by and claim your reward of one hundred gold pieces and now you all should go home and prepare for the great party tonight”.
Storm waits for Dis to be patched up by the nurses and then follows her back to Ravenwell Manor. The nurses gives her an healing potion to go after stitching her wounds and applying bandages.
“Oy lady, the tournament is over and the Princess has left the arena, so you are free to go now, take your stuff and don’t attack our Princess again. You were lucky this time that you only got jailed for a few hours” the guard says to Quinsel as he opens the cell door.
“I must say this is one of the more cosy jails I have been in, thanks for your services” Quinsel says with Doctor Pain in her hands and gives the guard a kiss on his cheek.
Quinsel walks back to Ravenwell Manor, it is now four in the afternoon, the sky is clear and the weather is warm. People have started their own parties in the street and others have started to gather, hoping to see the nobles and royals near the Shining Tower. The Shining Tower is a three hundred meter high golden tower in the middle of the city with a disc of fifty meters radius on top; it is placed on top of the hall of heroes, a museum for the Kings and the heroes of Livinia. Ravenwall Manor is buzzing with activity, all the maids runs around with washbasins and clothes helping everybody get ready. As Storm and Dis enters the manor, they nearly get stripped in the hallway, two maids follows each of them into their rooms and starts to wash them off, trim their hair and put them in their new clothing. The same happens to Quinsel as she arrives a few minutes later, though Quinsel seems a bit more willingly to take her clothes off. The seamstress spent all night creating the clothes and it is made of the finest silk, leather and other fabrics that have been imported from all over the continent of Livinia. Dis is having an awkward time with the maids washing her and tries to fight them off. Storm is handling the situation more professionally and lets the maids do their job efficiently. Quinsel is enjoying the wash and gets a bit handsy, making the situation awkward for the maids. John has slept most of the day and gotten his bath while the others were attending the tournament, he is strutting around in his bird costume singing songs to cheer up the household. Storm is given a deep navy blue captain suit similar to that of the old legend, Captain Crunch, with two rows of golden buttons and golden epaulettes, he even gets a big blue captains hat. He carries his machetes in a fine leather belt with a gold belt buckle engraved with the skull of an ox symbolising the house of Athis. Dis is given a big puffy pink dress reaching a meter in diameter ending in a long frizzled train. The bodice has hundreds of small rosebuds spiralling upwards to the chest and long sleeves with big shoulder puffs. She has strapped both her handaxes to the outside of her thighs concealing them. Quinsel is given an all-white dress of her own specific design, a daring mix of slutty and classy. The skirt is puffy all around except for the front, where it is slim fit with an opening to show a leg. The bodice is tight with a strong push up that almost pops her breast out of the dress and with short sleeves, each containing two rifts. She carries Doctor Pain on her back with his face turned outwards keeping an eye on what happens behind her and to her left thigh she strapped a dagger for emergencies. The team is escorted by; Lady Ravenwell in a black silk dress with a leather bodice with a small raven broche on her right shoulder, showing grace and danger, her hair is braided in a tight French braid. Alistair in white tights, a blue silk jacket with a big silver owl on his back and white silk gloves. Garthak Urdun in a royal commander uniform of white leather with four rows of gold buttons engraved with a sun, on his left side is a long rapier embroidered with gold and small diamonds and on his right side is a rough and sturdy mean looking two headed axe. And lastly Lady Athis in a long thin strapped silvery silk dress with a deep neckline stopping just above her navel, on her right shoulder she is wearing a gold shoulder guard engraved with the skull of an ox. A group of guards leads them through the streets, parading them for the commoners and peasants. They make a few stops now and then to talk to the people and give gold to the needy, it has become a custom for the royals and nobles to do so at events like these to create publicity and strengthen the public relations. At the Shining Tower the group gets a very mixed reception from the people, some are outraged and others almost swoon of joy by their presence. They are lead into The Hall of Heroes, where the guards get stationed with the other guards. The Hall of heroes is a big circular room; the walls are covered with large portraits of the kings through the ages. Under the kings are person sized statuettes of the kings siblings, wives and children placed on a plateau. And on a lower plateau in front of the king’s siblings is a long row of busts sculpting the heroes of Livinia throughout time. There are eight mechanical elevators in the heroes hall to the top of the Shining Tower and as the group is about to enter an elevator a guard stops them.
“Halt. You need to check in first. Let’s see, Lady Ravenwell, check, Lady Athis, check, Commander Garthak Urdun, check, Sir Alistair Felvan, welcome back to Livinia” the guard scribbles their names as he says them and then turns to the rest of the group awaiting an introduction.
“These people are new friends of our houses and are important political assets to us” Lady Ravenwell starts to introduce while handing the guard some money to ensure that he is compliant ”Meet Dis, the champion of this year mid spring tournament, Storm Winterborn, a well-renowned captain, Quinsel, a well-revered cleric and our large pet parrot”. The guard notes their names and accepts the payment, before letting them into the elevator.
As the group arrive at the top of The Shining Tower, they are met with a beautiful ball. Most of the nobles and royals of the land are attending. King Meeras Urdun is sitting on a plateau with his daughter, Viela Urdun to his right and a draconian adviser, ambassador for the Ydrian Empire, to his left. King Meeras looks sick, his skin is greyish and it looks like he is having a hard time staying awake in his chair. From the right side of the plateau is a ten meter long buffet with a large variety of foods. A group of Lords including Lord Thomas Athis is standing near the King’s end of the buffet feasting on a grilled boar. In the other end of the buffet is Baron Glubnar standing near a large cake, eating of a big turkey leg. Many of the nobles are keeping their distance to Glubnar. Opposite of the buffet is a nicely carved wooden bar, engraved with the symbols of all the noble houses, with the sun of Urdun placed in the middle. Storm and Dis walks straight to the bar after leaving the elevator, to get some free beers. They hear Lord Wellby Underburrough, the nobleman of the Halflings, talk about his son’s fight in the tournament. Garthak, Lady Athis and Lady Ravenwell walks up to the King to politely greet him before mingling with the rest of the Lords and Ladies.
Alistair stands at the elevator and glances lungful after Princess Viela and sighs “isn’t she pretty?”
“Uuh you got a thingy for the Princessy” Quinsel teases him.
“Once, before I was exiled, I knew Viela, we were friends, but that all changed. We had even planned a possible future together and now I can’t even talk to her without getting dry mouthed” Alistair explains with a heavy heart.
Quinsel looks at Alistair’s face for a second and then looks up at Princess Viela and then back again. She grabs his arm and pulls him up to the King’s table, stopping in front of Viela.
Princess Viela looks at Quinsel “dad, I want you to execute this woman, she humiliated me in public” she says with a cold voice.
“Oh hello, sorry about that, I was just coming here to apologise to you for my disgraceful behaviour earlier today. I am very sorry to have offended and humiliated you” Quinsel lies to Princess Viela very believable.
Princess Viela is looking at King Meeras waiting for him to execute Quinsel but he barely looks at her. After five minutes of waiting he turns his head towards Princess Viela.
“Relax daughter … this woman is clearly sorry about her action, let it go” King Meeras says with a weak and sick voice.
“But daddy, she made me wet. I could have drowned or something” Princess Viela complains, but after another glimpse on her father’s face she looks back at Quinsel “you heard him, you are forgiven” she says with clear discontent
“Oh gosh really, thanks Princess. Well now that that is taken care of, let me introduce you for your old friend” Quinsel says and pushes Alistair closer “meet Sir Alistair Felvan, he would really like to do a dance with you”.
“Ehm yeah, no wait, ehhh … nice to ehhhh meet you” Alistair stammers and his voice becomes quite high pitched near the end of the sentence.
“Oh come on, woman up” Quinsel says and pinches Alistair.
“Av. Yes Princess, it is lovely to meet you again Princess, you look lovely. Do you think we could catch up over a, ehm, dance maybe?” Alistair says, fearing rejection from Princess Viela.
Just before Quinsel turns to walk away she blows a kiss to Princess Viela that only she notices. Princess Viela takes Alistair’s hand and follows him to the dance floor.
Lord Athis sees Dis in the bar standing with Storm, Lady Ravenwell and Lady Athis. He walks up to them and approaches Dis “I want to congratulate you with your victory in the tournament, it was some fine fighting you did there. I also want to invite you to come serve under me as one of my personal guards” he says, slightly ignoring Storm and Lady Athis.
“I thought I already served under you my lord, I mean I am currently serving your niece as one of her agents” Dis answers a little perplexed and honoured by the offer.
“No, my niece and I, doesn’t exactly see eye to eye on what is best for Livinia. But if you want to serve a cause that has a future, the job offer still stands” Lord Athis says to Dis, before looking at the others and walks away.
“Though we are from the same family our relationship has been a little tense since I, in his words, disgraced the family name and he bestowed Glubnar the title of Baron” Lady Athis informs Storm and Dis.
Quinsel gets her eyes on the cake at Glubnar’s side and walks straight to it, getting between Glubnar and Lord Silas Swan. Lord Swan takes this as an opportunity to get away from Glubnar and leaves the ball by the nearest elevator. Quinsel unaware that she just interupted a conversation, she puts her hands in the cake and starts to eat.
“Aha haha, you must really like cake woman” Glubnar laughs at Quinsel.
Quinsel looks up at Glubnar with her face full of cake and thinks for a second before offering a handful cake to Glubnar “you want some?” she asks with her mouth full.
The Lusty Maidens, a well-known violin trio, starts to play, giving a break to the royal classical orchestra. They open with a ballade called “Raise your class” about people rising in the society, getting more power and a higher status through hard work and good connections. It has become sort of a theme song for royal and noble events.
Quinsel is fan of the song and looks at Glubnar once again “you want to dance” she asks while swallowing the last mouthful of cake and getting a servant to wash her hands.
“Aha haha, you are a funny woman, of course I want to dance” Glubnar grabs around Quinsel’s waist with his left hand, lifting her from the ground and takes her left hand in his right hand.
Quinsel can no longer reach the ground and Glubnar swings her around on the dancefloor.
“So why have you come back Alistair, why risk your life this way” Quinsel hears Princess Viela ask Alistair as she gets swung in their direction.
“I have come to reclaim my title as Lord and I was hoping to resume our relationship as well” Alistair answers.
At the bar Storm and Dis sees Lord Oscar Vander and Sir Owen Vander arrive a little late to the ball. Owen looks quite beaten up, his nose is still broken and he has a gash in the eyebrow, he has a hand on his side and a small limb. Princess Viela sees them as well and leaves Alistair on the dancefloor to greet Owen with a caring hug.
Storm turns to Lady Ravenwell “would you like to dance” he asks and offers his hand gallantly. Lady Ravenwell takes it with a smile breaking her stern expression for the first time this evening and they take their place on the dance floor.
“Hahaha, have you heard of how I became Baron” Glubnar asks Quinsel, and before she answers he continues “when I came to this land, it was filled with thieves and barbarians, plundering and rampaging the land like savage animals”.
As Glubnar takes a narrative break to create suspense and enjoy Quinsel’s full admiration, Quinsel starts to talk “I like the animals we have in Livinia; I really want to see a unicorn”.
The lack of interest for Glubnar’s story of his legendary heroism, stumbles and annoys Glubnar “you bore me” he says and throws Quinsel of the dancefloor towards the bar and grabs another young woman “have you heard the story of how I became Baron?” he asks his new dance partner.
John is doing the chicken dance in the middle of the dancefloor when a loud explosion happens. A third of the disc breaks of, from half of the bar and towards the buffet, falls to the ground. A handful of nobles and servants fall to their death along with Lord Athis. Lady Athis is standing on the edge and falls. At the last second a hand grabs ahold of Lady Athis' hand, Quinsel caught her and pulls her to safety in the mid of the disc. A banner can be seen out through the whole in the wall, floating through the air with the symbol of the Separatist, an anti-monarchist group trying to get rid of the nobles and royals. Three elevators have fallen and fifty hooded attackers emerges from out of the remaining elevators. The King is lead out through a door behind his plateau with the Princess and the draconian adviser by Garthak. Lord Vander and Owen follows them, whereafter the door is barricaded. Panic is spreading; people are storming towards any free elevator they can find and try to avoid attackers. Glubnar saves a group of nobles by grabbing an attacker and throw him into six other attackers and knocking them over. Storm, Dis, Alistair and Lady Ravenwell grabs their weapons and gets ready to fight and defend the remaining nobles. Quinsel grabs a hold of Lady Athis with her left hand and Doctor Pain with her right hand and starts to move across the room to a free elevator. Five attackers runs at the group and two attackers run to Quinsel. Lady Ravenwell throws her dagger into the throat of one attacker, runs over to him, picks up the dagger and stabs it into the heart of another attacker. Alistair takes a direct hit to the chest as he fails to hit an attacker. Dis decapitates an attacker with a single swing of her axe and throws her second axe into the body of another. Storm swings both his machetes into the stomach of the attacker that hit Alistair and kills him. Quinsel body blocks Lady Athis to protect her from harm, she gets hit by the first attacker and avoids the second, she retaliates by hitting one attacker in the head; breaking his neck and with a second swing of Doctor Pain she hits the second attacker in the stomach and throws him over the edge. Glubnar grabs yet another attacker and uses him to beat his way through the crowd of attackers to an open elevator. Lady Ravenwell gets grabbed by four new attackers and pinned to the floor, Alistair runs to her and kicks one attacker in the head while stabbing another. Dis grabs her axe from the attacker, gives him another swing to kill him and then turns around to decapitate a new attacker. Storm gets surrounded by an attacker on each side, they attack simultaneously and Storm parries both attacks and deflects them into each other. Quinsel gets attacked by two new attackers; she sees a free space behind Storm and Dis and throws Lady Athis over to them, before getting hit twice in the stomach. Lady Ravenwell is still pinned down and gets stabbed in the back with a dagger. Alistair kicks the attacker in the head again before getting grabbed by two attackers and restrained. Dis helps Lady Athis up and then throws both her axes into the backs of the attackers holding Alistair. Storm makes two swings with his machetes and kills the two attackers around him. Quinsel lays her hand on her stomach and heals her wound, then grabs one of the attackers and throw him into the other, knocking them over and moves towards Lady Athis. Lady Ravenwell gets one leg free and knees one of her attacks in the crotch while Alistair takes Dis’ axes from the bodies of his attackers and kills two of the attackers on Lady Ravenwell. Storm walks over to Quinsel and kills the two attackers she knocked over. The remaining thirty attackers reach into their robes, pull out two bombs each and activates them then throws them out in the room. Quinsel puts Doctor Pain on her back, walks over to one of the buffet tables, picks it up and with one swing clears a path to the elevator. The floor around the cracked edge is crumbling off and the rest of the bar and another elevator breaks off. Alistair kills the last two attackers on Lady Ravenwell, pulls her up and they run towards the elevator. Two attackers run after them and Dis tackles them, knocking them out in the fall. Storm grabs Lady Athis and John, that has been running around like a confused bird the whole time, and helps them towards the elevator. Quinsel puts the table down as a barricade beside the elevator, to secure the path, she then runs back, grabs Lady Ravenwell and carries her to the elevator. Alistair helps Dis up, hands her axes back to her and runs to help Storm, together the four runs towards the elevator. After dropping Lady Ravenwell at the elevator, Quinsel runs back to Storm, she grabs John and throws him into the elevator. Storm, Quinsel, Alistair and Lady Athis jumps as the bombs explodes and the shockwave sends them flying into the elevator. Alistair hits the wall and gets knocked out. The elevator is freefalling, the cables snapped in the explosion and through the elevator door the team can see the rest of the disc fall and some of the tower is collapsing. The dead bodies of the hooded attackers is falling beside the elevator
Two hundred and seventy metres to the ground. “Do something, anyone, DO SOMETHING!” Lady Ravenwell yells to the others.
Two hundred and forty metres to the ground. Storm examines the elevator and sees that the wheels are still in their tracks. Lady Athis is screaming in panic.
Two hundred and ten metres to the ground. Dis slaps Lady Athis to get her to shut up, so they can think.
One hundred and eighty metres to the ground. Quinsel focuses her sacred flame on the wheels and their tracks melting them together and just barely stopping the elevator. Every one is standing completely still. The elevator gets hit by some debris from the tower and starts falling again.
One hundred and fifty metres to the ground. “SOMEONE WAKE ALISTAIR” Lady Ravenwell yells to the team.
One hundred and twenty metres to the ground. Storm grabs Alistair and slaps him, nothing happens. Storm slaps him again and nothing happens.
Ninety metres to the ground. Storm lifts Alistair and shakes him roughly and he wakes up.
Sixty metres to the ground. “HELP US ALISTAIR” Lady Ravenwell yells as she can see the ground out of the door.
Thirty metres to the ground. Alistair understands what is happening and sends out white waves of magic from his hands. The elevator stops falling and floats safely down to the ground. The tower is completely collapsed around them together with The Hall of Heroes. Lord Athis and some of the other nobles have been crucified on the broken statues with the words “Down with the King” carved into their flesh. The portraits of the kings are burning in a pile in the middle of the room. Dead bodies of servants, attackers and nobles are lying about in the rubbles. The team hurries back to Ravenwell manor, hiding in the dark of the night. They only just get inside the door when Lady Ravenwell looks at them all.
“Grab your gear at once, we must hurry. Now that Lord Athis is dead we must have Lady Athis to Grey Haven up north in Ivaris. You must take your rightful place as Lady of Grey Haven. Glubnar has long planned to take Grey Haven and the land in his command and if he gets there first he can finally do his coup” Lady Ravenwell says to the team and they scatter to their room and grab their equipment.
They return five minutes later in their combat armours and with their backs packed. “Storm, Dis, Quinsel and John, your new mission is to get Lady Athis, to Grey Haven fast and save. A scout has just reported that The Shining City is under lockdown, Glubnar is trapped inside The Shining City. This will give us a head start for Milo knows a secret passage out of this city. Now go follow Milo he will show you to the passage” Lady Ravenwell informs them and they follow Milo out of the room.
Guards patrol every street of the city looking for suspicious characters. Quinsel that has lived in the streets for a few years, shows the team through the best passages and with Dis’ knowledge of the guards routines under a lockdown they get to the secret passage with ease. They say goodbye to Milo and Storm ventures down the secret passage first, then John, Lady Athis, Dis and last Quinsel. The passage is narrow; Storm can feel how the cave wall keeps scratching on his armour. They do not dare to light a torch in case anything should happen. Lady Athis holds Johns hand and Quinsel is holding onto Dis’ shoulders doing the conga dance. Not long into the passage, Storm feels the ground give in as he walks and just as he take another step the ground collapses behind him. Quinsel and Dis falls as the first. John grabs a hold on Storm’s armour and tries to hold onto Lady Athis as well, but the weight of Lady Athis and John drags Storm into the hole. Everyone falls into the dark.
It is a stormy night, Storm is standing on a ship he has known for a long time. It is known as the Nighthag; a smuggling ship sailing on the great sea north of Livinia and west of the entire Ydrian Empire. The waves are ten meters high and crushing in over the railing. The crew is used to this weather; they often sail under these conditions. It is the best conditions for shipping this type of cargo, there are no other ships on the sea, especially not any coastguards or navy ships. Storm walks the deck in a stern pace, controlling that the cargo is properly secured. He feels comfortable back on the sea sailing, it is a feeling he has missed the last couple of days. The wind in his hair and the cold salt water hitting his face, he is free and can do what he wants and go where he wants. All is funded by delivering some slightly illegal goods to an uncontrolled market. He walks by a large pile of crates tightly secured to the deck, it has a dark symbol on it, Storm can not read the symbol but he has been told that it means ’shiv’. This pile of crates is his biggest score on this ship, it is worth at least ten thousand gold pieces, giving his crew a nice earning. He walks to the bow and scouts over the sea, feeling the ship tipping back and fort through the waves.
“Quinsel? Quinsel wake up, wake up!” a deep bodiless voice sounds in the tunnel.
“Just ten more minutes” Quinsel says and wave her hand lazy out in the dark.
“Noooo Quinsy Winsy, you have to get up now and find your friends” the deep voice sounds again.
Quinsel gets up and frowns annoyed, she looks around in the dark tunnel. At one end is a small light shining and the other end disappears in the darkness. Quinsel puts one hand on the wall and follows it towards the light.
“The other way Quinsel, you have to find your friends” the deep voice says.
“But why me? I got you Doctor Pain, it has always been just us, why do we need them?” Quinsel says while pretending to be annoyed in hope that Doctor Pain will cave in.
“Quinsel” Doctor Pain says with deep authority.
Quinsel makes a pouty puppy eyed frown and then follows Doctor Pain’s direction in defiance “you are so boring Painsy Wainsy, I don’t like you”.
“Yes you do Quinsel, get going” Doctor Pain says.
“What’s a nice big juicy bird like that doing down here?” a tall shady tiefling says while walking nearer John in his bird costume “I don’t know how or why I get blessed with such a big delicious bird, but I sure am hungry” he says and stops at John’s side.
John wakes up as the tiefling kneels down by his side; he turns his head and stares into a hungry scaly face. John rolls over and backs away as fast as he can until he hits the wall. “Stop, I’m not a bird!” he says scared and pulls off his hood with a swift movement.
The tiefling follow John with his eyes “a gnome, ugh, those taste terrible, but on the other hand I really am hungry” he says while showing a set of sharp teeth.
“You can have some of my food, just don’t eat me you stupid lizard” John says, his voice trembles with fear.
“Aight mate, give me your food and you’ll live” the tiefling says in a cheerier note and smiles a devious smile “oh and give me your money mate or I’ll stab you”.
“Thank Gods you are just a common thief. Help me find my friends and you’ll get some money” John says relieved and hands some food to the tiefling “by the way I’m John, who are you?”
“I’m Leekon, mate and you got yourself a deal” the tiefling introduces himself “we should tie a rope between us so we don’t get lost, been down here for some time and the tunnels are tricky”.
Leekon pulls out a rope and ties it around his waist before handing the other end of the rope to John, who looks sceptical at Leekon for a moment and then ties the rope around his waist.
“I’m coming from down that road mate and didn’t see any of your friends. So let’s walk this way” Leekon says and leads John down another road.
After a long walk in the dark tunnels, torches start to appear sporadically and the quality of the tunnel increases to a brick tunnel instead of the crude cave tunnel. Quinsel takes one of the torches and keeps on going. Storm is lying on the tunnel road passed out on his back. He is slowly moving along the road, one bump at a time. Quinsel glances at Storm, as she passes him and then stops. She can see he is dreaming while he is moving forward. Quinsel matches her pace to Storm’s movement and follows him down the tunnel. They keep moving like this for about ten meters before Storm wakes up by the sound of someone walking beside him.
“Quinsel? What’s going on? Where are we?” Storm asks Quinsel, while still moving in small bumps.
“We are lost in some tunnels” Quinsel answers Storm without stopping or helping him up.
“Why am I moving? And why haven’t you woken me?” Storm continues to ask, trying to understand what is happening.
“You seemed really keen on moving this way, I didn’t want to interrupt you” Quinsel says a bit unmindful.
“But you understand that it isn’t me that is moving me, but something else?” Storm asks wondering if Quinsel is stupid or just pulling a prank.
Quinsel just looks at Storm for a minute and then shrugs “are you sure?” she then asks.
“It’s something in my backpack” Storm says, sits up and opens his backpack.
Halm’s severed arm crawls out of the backpack and hurries into the darkness of the tunnels. It is gone before Storm and Quinsel can react. Storm recons that it must have been the movement of the arm that lead him to feel that he was back on the Nighthag.
“Well now again, where are we and where are the others?” Storm asks and gets up from the ground.
“Some tunnel I think and we have to go this way to find the others” Quinsel says carelessly.
“How do you know what way we should go?” Storm asks a bit perplexed.
“Doctor Pain told me” Quinsel says and starts to walk.
Storm gives up on getting anything useful from Quinsel and just follows her down the tunnel.
“So mate, who’s your friends?” Leekon asks curiously while fiddling with a dagger hanging from his belt.
John notices the dagger fiddling and understands that Leekon of course is nervous of being led into an ambush “well my friend, we are a group of misfits hired by Lady Ravenwell to escort Lady Athis to Grey Haven before Baron Glubnar arrives. We are currently all traveling outside the law and could easily use someone with a more sneaky skillset, like you have” John explains.
“Aight, this way mate, I think I can hear something” Leekon says and leads John down another tunnel “you’ve guessed correct that I am a thief and I certainly know my way around the law. But mate, tell me some more about the people you travel with”.
“I don’t know much about them, I only met them a few days ago. But we have Storm a dwarf sailor, I think he was a pirate once. He is very motivated by money and lives by his own code. We have Dis another dwarf, very young, former Royal army member and a great fighter, stay on her good site for when she fights she becomes absolutely barbaric. Then there is Quinsel, a human, she is our cleric and healer, she is a bit crazy and I think she has a relationship with her hammer but that isn’t even the scary part about her. Lastly there is me, I am a bard, you may have heard of me, I am here in search of fame and an epic story to tell the world” John tells Leekon as he is lead around in the tunnels.
Leekon and John arrives at a big room in the tunnels. At the entrance to the room is two torches mounted to the wall and it is possible to sense vague lights in the dark straight ahead. They can not see the edges of the room and the ceiling is also out of sight. In the middle of the room are three appearances, bend over something unrecognisable, making loud chewing noises. Leekon grabs his bow and John draws his wooden dagger. Quinsel and Storm arrives to a cave room, the quality of the tunnels is reduced to the primitive crude cave tunnels. The entrance is not human size, Quinsel has to bend her head to walk through. Torches are placed at the entrance and lights can be sensed in the dark at the other end of the room. They stand on a ledge far above the ground and from it, is a very old and unstable rope bridge.
“We should walk this bridge one at a time, it seems like it could break at any moment” Storm says while investigating the bridge’s durability “you go first”.
Quinsel carefully takes some steps out on the bridge, keeping a tight grip on the railing. She is ten meters out on the bridge when she hear voices yell something in a language she does not understand. But the meaning is clear to her. Someone is going to attack and out of the dark comes four goblins rushing over the bridge. Quinsel runs back onto the ledge to Storm and as the goblins gets nearer she lowers her torch to the rope bridge trying to burn it.
Storm knocks the torch out of Quinsel’s hands in the last second “don’t be stupid, we need this bridge”.
The goblins stop up thirty meters from Storm and Quinsel and shoot arrows from their bows. One arrow lands at the feet of Storm but the rest flies down into the darkness. Quinsel magically enhances her voice and lets out a celestial laugh inducing fear in three of the goblins. Storm draws his bow and shoots an arrow into the chest of the nearest goblin. Leekon and John assess the situation, they could probably sneak around the appearances but they also do not know what else is waiting ahead. Before they decide on a plan, they hear the sound of arrows hitting the rocks behind them followed by a high celestial laughter. The three appearances in the mid of the room jumps up, scouts the room, sees Leekon and John and then charges to them. Leekon and John can see that the appearances are goblins with blood and meat hanging from their mouths. John runs towards the goblins and hits the first goblin with his wooden dagger. The rope between him and Leekon is still limb. Leekon shoots an arrow at the goblin John attacked, hitting it in the shoulder. The goblins stop at John and hits him with clubs made out of bones. Two of the goblins make clean hits to John’s torso, the last goblin misses. Storm shoots an arrow with insufficient power to reach the goblins and it disappears into the darkness below them. Three of the goblins on the rope bridge is paralyzed by fear awating their doom from a godlike power. The fourth goblin shoots an arrow directly into the chest of Quinsel. Quinsel stands still and ponders what to do since she is not allowed to burn the bridge. An arrow hits the damaged goblin from somewhere above them and the goblin dies. John continues to fight the other goblins and hits one of them on the nose. Leekon is a bit confused by where these arrows come from. He shoots another arrow at the goblins and hits one in the knee. Leekon then runs back into the tunnel and the darkness. The rope between him and John is now stretched out and John can feel the pull. The goblins retaliate by hitting John with their clubs. Storm shoots an arrow at the goblins hitting the nearest right between the eyes and killing him. The three goblins left, shake off any trace of fear and shoots three arrows, two hits Storm and one hits Quinsel. Quinsel starts to snigger a bit for she got an idea, she creates forty litters of water above the goblins, that pours down over them. The dead goblin and two of the other goblins is washed off the bridge and into the darkness below. The last goblin now hangs from the railing. Water and goblins fall down upon John and the two goblins he is facing. John lies flat on his back whispers “heal” and small birds of light fly from his hands and into his wounds and heals him. Leekon notices that John has taken quite a lot of damage and with all of his strength he pulls the rope and John towards him. The two goblins that John fought are infuriated by the water and goblins that fell onto them and though the falling goblins died from the fall, the two goblins that was on the ground starts to attack the dead goblins. Storm shoots an arrow after the goblin hanging from the bridge but misses. The goblin uses its strength to get back onto to the bridge and as it does Quinsel draws Doctor Pain and runs towards the last goblin. She swings Doctor Pain from above and down into the goblins head with such power that the rope bridge breaks. Quinsel and the goblin fall into the darkness.
“Look Doctor Pain we are flying” Quinsel laugh as she falls.
John hears Quinsel’s laughter getting higher, he gets onto his feet as fast as he can, runs back to the goblins and in the last second he jumps into Quinsel, breaking her fall. A breaking sound is heard as John and Quinsel lands on the ground. Leekon is now really confused about what the hell is going on in this dungeon, he shoots an arrow into the eye of one of the goblins, killing it and leaving only one goblin alive. The goblin makes a swing at Quinsel and hits her hard on the arm. Storm stands on the ledge and looks down into the darkness, the bridge is hanging against the wall. He grabs a torch from the entrance and starts to climb down slow and steady. Halfway down, the rope on the left breaks, Storm slips and falls five meter before getting a new grip on the bridge leaving burn marks on his hands. Quinsel gets off John, he does not move nor does he breathe. She lays her hand on him and light moves into his body and with a quick movement John sits up and takes in a big amount of air and then passes out again. Quinsel then swings Doctor Pain and knocks the goblins head off and into the air. Storm gets down on the ground and takes a second to orientate himself about the room. After a minute where Storm loots the goblins, John wakes up and says “heal” more birds fly into his wounds.
They all move closer and Storm turns to Leekon with a hand on his machete “who are you?” he asks.
Quinsel notices leekon for the first time and in a small surprised outburst yells “lizardman”.
“I am Leekon mate. I’m helping this gnome finding his friends” Leekon then turns from Storm to Quinsel “and we are more like half-demons than lizardmen despite our scaly bodies” he says.
John weighs in a bit disoriented “yeah … yeah, he, he is helping, uhm me”.
“That does not induce much trust. We have already had one backstabber in our team. What are you doing down here in these tunnels?” Storm asks still with a hand on his machete.
“Well mate, I heard rumours of a treasure down here in the goblin city. Found a way down into these tunnels eight days ago but got lost. The tunnels tend to collapse and there are no maps over this place” Leekon explains.
“Whaaaaaaat? You don’t know where we are or how to get out” John asks still disoriented and in disbelieve.
Storm’s face has lightened up by the new information “so there is a treasure down here? That sounds interesting” he says.
“Where is Talina and Dis?” John asks now that he has regained full consciousness.
Storm sighs “you are right; we have to find the Lady first. You can help us find her if you want, there are money in this. Which way should we go and where did you come from?”
“We came from there mate” Leekon points back “so let’s go that way” he points to the light in the other end of the room.
“Lead the way, you know this place better than we do” Storm says and gestures towards Leekon.
They walk down the tunnel, with Leekon showing the way. After walking down several roads, they hear fighting longer down the tunnel. They run towards the sound and in a small opening they find Dis with two dead goblins and a third begging for his life at the end of her battleaxe.
“Don’t kill sme, pleases, don’t kill sme” the goblin begs “sme didn’t knew other goblinses were here”.
“Are you okay?” Storm asks as he sees Dis.
”Yeah all is cool, captured this goblin a few kilometres back, he has sort of learned our language and he promised to help me find you guys and the way out” Dis explains.
“Or we could get him to show us the way down to goblin city and the treasure” Leekon suggests with a greedy smile.
“We have a job we need to do, let us find Lady Athis and get out of this dungeon” Dis says with authority and pride.
“Does it really matter what we are hired for, it is not like we are heroes and the treasure could maybe give us everything we want” Storm argues.
“If there is a treasure” Quinsel says casually “and what about the lady, she could be dying or worse … wait what is worse than dying?”
“Then we find Lady Athis and decide after that” Storm says and turns to the goblin “Where is the pretty lady we had with us?” Storm asks with a condescending tone.
“Sme saws the pretty lady gets moved to the guardian, shes being sacrificeseds to the guardian to saveses some goblinses” the goblin says.
“Then show us to this guardian” Storm says.
“No, sme can’ts take yous there, sme won’ts take yous there. The guardian eatses us all” the goblins says while crouching in fear.
“Either you take us to the guardian or you die now” Storm threatens the goblin and pulls out his machetes.
The goblin is wimping a few seconds before talking “thises way” he says and leads them up another tunnel.
“So we are not going to look for the hidden treasure down here, I mean why seek out this guardian. It sounds dangerous and I haven’t been hired to protect any high society woman” Leekon says while they walk.
“You don’t have to come with us. We are going to find Lady Athis and get out of here like it or not, this is an important job” Dis says still full of pride.
“I agree that we have to find the Lady first, but a quick detour to the goblin city can’t be that bad” Storm argues.
“Shhhss, swe are gettings closer to the guardian” the goblin says, he is shaking more and more the closer they get.
“I don’t like it down here, I just want to get out, besides goblin scares me” John whispers while keeping an eye on the goblin.
The goblin stops at a big metal door “itses here, can sme go now, sme did sme job” he whispers.
“You are not going anywhere, we still need a way out and we don’t know if this is a trap” Storm whispers angrily at the goblin.
Dis opens the door and reveals a medium sized room, a few rays of moonlight enters the room and hits crystals, giving it a green glow. In the middle of the room is a big boulder and Lady Athis is lying just beside it. A few statues of humans and goblins have been placed around the room and moss is growing all over the walls.
“Don’ts wakeses the guardian and don’ts lookses it in the eyeses. The surfaceses is behindses the door overs there. Can sme please leaves now” the goblin begs in a hectic whisper.
“No, you are going to die now” Leekon says and draws a dagger.
“You can’t kill him, you are free to go” Dis says and lets the goblin back out of the door.
“Let us just kill him, he is a goblin and we don’t need him anymore” Storm argues, their voices becomes slightly louder with each sentence.
“Sme is very pleasedses female dwarfses” the goblin says and runs away.
A loud snore is heard from the boulder and Storm realizes that it is a basilisk and not a big boulder. He has never met one before but he has heard tales of it during his travels around the world. It is a large eight legged lizard with rock like skin and spikes down its spine, its eyes glows with a greyish blue colour and a quote comes to Storm’s mind. Travelers that talk about Basilisks often say “no one carves statues of frightened warriors. If you see one keep your eyes closed and your ears open”.
Quinsel has become quite bored by this whole situation and all the arguing, she is slowly moving towards Lady Athis.
“We need to get out of here fast, before this monster wakes up” Storm says and points on the basilisk and the doors.
“Let us go back, find the goblin city and find another way out of here” Leekon says still trying to get some treasure out of his adventure.
Quinsel lifts Lady Athis up over her right shoulder and slowly moves around the basilisk.
“Let us just get out through that door, we can’t know if we find another guide or if there are other exits” Dis argues.
John notices that Quinsel is almost around the basilisk and close to the door “Quinsel, what are you doing” he whispers.
Dis, Storm and Leekon looks at Quinsel and starts to move around the basilisk.
“Look” John points to a ledge above them, where a cloaked person emerges.
It looks like the same dark character that floated over them, in the alley battle back in The Shining City where Halm betrayed them. Halm’s severed arm is lying on his shoulder. The arm jumps down on the ground and crawls to the basilisk and into its mouth, waking it. The basilisk raises its head and stands up, angry to be woken and looks to the people around it. Leekon ducks down behind some statues. John and Storm throws themselves behind some stalagmites. Dis and Quinsel gets surprised by the basilisk and looks into its eyes and can feel their bodies slowly turning to stone. Quinsel is still carrying Lady Athis. Storm blindly shoots an arrow from behind the stalagmite; it hits the basilisk but is reflected off the rock hard skin. Leekon moves around the back of the basilisk to avoid its gaze and from behind a statue of a goblin he shoots an arrow that is reflected off the front leg of the basilisk. Dis calms herself and gathers the willpower to break free of the petrifying curse. She focuses her eyes on the floor and move towards the basilisk until she sees its feet. She then swings her battleaxe into the right front leg breaking off a big scale. John puts his hands on Storm’s back and with an enchanting voice makes a bird call. Storm feels empowered and a bird appears on his hand. Quinsel can feel her legs and arms turn into stone and the curse spreads to the rest of her body, she is unable to move. The basilisk tackles Dis and pushes her backwards; she stumbles and falls down on the floor. Storm blindly shoots another arrow from behind the stalagmite, the bird from his hand disappears and the arrow is surrounded by a bird of green light. The arrow hits the right front leg, where Dis had broken off a piece of scale. Leekon shoots an arrow but misses the basilisk; he keeps on moving in the basilisk’s blind spots. Dis swings her battleaxe without looking at the basilisk; she misses and then rolls away from the basilisk. John runs out from his cover behind the stalagmite and runs to the basilisk, as he gets near he jumps onto the basilisk back but the jump is not high enough and he crashes into the side of the basilisk. Quinsel is almost completely turned to stone and gets really annoyed that she is unable to move. Anger starts to burn in her stomach and her eyes lights up with bright white light. The stone breaks off Quinsel, she stares directly into the eyes of the basilisk. Her white light meets the basilisk's greyish blue light. She screams and from her hand, she casts a bolt of light into the mouth and down to the stomach of the basilisk. The bolt is so powerful that when it hits, the basilisk starts to tremble violently. Deep scars appears on the basilisk with light shining out of them and after the spell has ended the basilisk seems like everything on its inside has turned to mush. Quinsel once again starts to turn into stone, beginning with her legs. Storm and Leekon both shoots arrows from behind cover and misses. Dis gets up to a standing position and swings her axe down into the skull of the basilisk and kills it. Halm’s arm falls out of the basilisk’s mouth. Storm grabs the arm and struggles to keep it still. The person from the ledge above has once again disappeared. Quinsel breaks free from the curse again, her eyes has stopped shining. She sits down on the floor and puts Lady Athis down at her side. Lady Athis wakes up as she touches the ground.
“I am getting really tired of this arm” Storm says and starts to cut the magical tattoo of the arm “I’ll bring the tattoo so we can ask around about what it means”. The arm stops moving as Storm removes the tattoo from it, he rolls up the piece of skin and packs it in his bag.
Leekon cuts open the basilisk with his dagger; the belly is soft unlike the rest of the basilisk. He finds three gold coins and a dagger eroded by stomach acid.
“Have we got all that is useful from it?” Dis asks and walks over to Lady Athis to see if she is okay.
“When I have the eyes I am ready to move on” Storm says and starts to scoop out the basilisk’s eyes very careful.
“Can anybody tell me where we are and how to get out of here” Lady Athis says short from her head.
“We are in an underground tunnel system attached to a goblin city underneath The Shining City and the basilisk here was supposed to guard this world from our world” Storm recaps.
“Goblins? There are no goblins here; there are no goblins in the entire Livinia and especially not under The Shining City. That is preposterous” Lady Athis says.
“I’m sorry to say that you are wrong woman, killed several already. We even got help by one mate, that’s how we found you” Leekon says short from his head while collecting some arrows.
“Those filthy creatures was eradicated a long time ago. If there were any left, not alone an entire city under The Shining City, it would be disastrous for us all” Lady Athis says in disbelieve.
“Let’s get out of here” Quinsel says and opens the door to the surface.
Leekon cast some long looks back at the other door, wondering if he should take it down and find the goblin city. But he decides to follow the others out of the door to the surface.
“Who are you” Lady Athis asks Leekon as they walk through a small tunnel before getting outside.
“He is Leekon, our newest team member, he has skills we can use” John says before Leekon get the chance to answer.
The team emerges from the cave a good way from The Shining City. The sun is rising, it is early Sunaruday morning and a deer herd is crossing a field not far from them.
“It seems like we are somewhere in The Witches Valley it is north of The Shining City so we are on the right way. We should make our way to Swan town north of here, maybe we can get transport from there” Lady Athis says after taking a quick glance at the scenery “Lord Swan is also well-educated so maybe he knows something about the tattoo and Leekon you can travel with us if you like, there is a reward for those who help, if you choose to leave we ask that you do it with complete discretion”.
“Aight, I can always use more money and I have family in Crossington which you are bound to travel through if you want to go to Grey Haven. So I’ll travel with you mate, at least for some of the way” Leekon answers Lady Athis.
Lady Athis gives Leekon a dangerous look for his lack of respect.
“North it is then. We better get as far as we can before Glubnar gets out of The Shining City” Storm says while looking at the sky for orientation and then start to walk north.
Quinsel follows Storm slightly unaware of what is happening, she just looks at the deer “are there any unicorns in this valley” she asks full of hope.
“There are no unicorns in Livinia, there haven’t been for centuries, we don’t really know if they exist anymore anywhere ells” Lady Athis informs.
Quinsels is too busy looking for unicorns to hear anything Lady Athis tells about the lack of unicorns.
“It is an old legend and at first it was known as The Valley of Spirits. This valley has always been very fertile and produced the tallest and greenest trees. For many centuries it was unexplored. Whenever anyone ventured into the forest, they turned up, bound to the trees and gutted. And whenever someone sacrificed and prayed to the forest, their wishes seemed to come true. For many years, it was believed that forest spirits resided in the valley. But it turned out that a family of witches lived in the forest for centuries, using the men that trespassed to secure new offspring and living from the forest and the sacrifices” Lady Athis tells.
“River straight ahead! Is this the right direction?” John asks the team after traveling north for an hour.
Lady Athis looks at the river “we have arrived to The Green-Gold river, a bit too far west but if we follow it we will get to Swan town in an hour or two” she says and start to walk north-east along the river.
John takes out his pan flute plays a few notes and starts to compose “Quinsel is a woman unlike any you have seen, she is a mighty fighter and she is really green. Nope that doesn’t work; she is crazy but not green”.
“So Storm, kindly tell me a little about where you are from” Lady Athis says.
“Why so curious about me and not the others?” Storm asks.
“Well John seems busy. Quinsel has a bit of reputation in The Shining City. Lady Ravenwell told me about Dis and Leekon; I don’t know about him yet. Besides you seem to have leader qualities, so I would like to know more about you” Lady Athis replies.
“If you must know it. I was born seventy-six years ago in Runik up North, rough little mountain island. I'm from a very cold and harsh part of Runik and any kid that survives till the age of ten gets the surname Winterborn. It was a tough childhood compared to human childhoods here in Livinia, we don’t have that much food in general and we get put to work at a young age. There is a lot of toughen up done to the young for they have to be able to handle the weather, the hard work, the trolls and the migrating griffins. I lost my father shortly after my birth, so my mother had to raise me alone. She provided for us through smithing and taught me what she could, but at the age of twelve she had to send me away to serve as a smith apprentice at a shipyard” Storm tells and Lady Athis is genuinely interested.
“I hope that is enough for now, for we seem to have arrived” Storm says as the team arrives at a bridge just a few hundred meters from Swan Town.
“Remember to care for the bridge troll” Quinsel says and laugh.
“Bridge troll, what do you mean with bridge troll, there are no such thing as bridge trolls” Dis says sceptical.
“Of course there are bridge trolls, all bridges have trolls living under them, it’s common knowledge” Quinsel says laughing even more.
“You are crazy, let’s just get over the bridge and into Swan town” John says and takes a step unto the bridge.
“Oooooooooh, who steps on my bridge” a deep slow voice sounds and a big troll emerges from under the bridge and climbs up unto it.
“See, I said there where bridge trolls” Quinsel whispers to John and Dis in a teasing tone.
“We are a small group seeking passage to Swan town” Storm answers the troll.
“Ooooooooooh, to get over, you pay with money or food” the troll says.
“How much does it cost to get over?” Storm asks the troll.
“Oooooooooh, it cost two gold, uuuuh, each” the troll says and stretches his hand towards the group.
Quinsel grabs her purse, pours out three gold coins and place them in the trolls hand “here is three gold coins mister troll” she then starts walking over the bridge.
The troll moves his hand in front of Quinsel to stop her and she walks into it “oooooooooooh, I said TWO gold” the troll says and give her one gold coin back before letting her pass the bridge.
The other team members start fiddling with their purses and coin bags.
John nervously tabs Storm on the shoulder “I don’t seem to have that many gold coins, can you exchange my silver coins for some gold, for honestly I don’t think the troll knows that ten silver are worth one gold” John whispers and hands twenty silver coins to Storm.
Storm nods in agreement, takes the twenty silver and hands four gold to the troll “I pay for the gnome and me” he says.
The troll lets everyone pass as they pay and they walk the last way to Swan town. Swan town is a small town surrounded by a tall wall of sturdy logs. The wall is old and damaged as the town is often under attack. At the towns south gate are thirty people standing in line to get in and ten guards are padding them down and checking the wagons. As the team stand in line they count at least fifteen guards patrolling the wall on the outside. The guards walk around the town carrying spears and tower shields with a Swan in attack stance depicted. Every now and then people get send away from the gate and they walk around the town, some are small women and others are big tough looking fighters.
“Seems like Lord Swan has closed the town, I wonder what is going on here” Lady Athis says as the line moves forward and she through a hole in the wall can see more guards patrolling the streets.
“Next!” one of the guards says and Lady Athis moves up to him “name and state your business” the guard says unenthusiastic.
“I am Lady Athis here with my guards seeking a place to rest for the day and night” Lady Athis says.
“Welcome my Lady” the guards says respectfully “does any of you have tattoos on your arms or body?” he asks to the team.
Lady Athis shows her arms and is let into the town.
John walks up to the guard shows his arms and says “no tattoos here sir” and he too is let into the town.
Storm takes off his pelt bracelets and rolls up his sleeves and reveals several tattoos on his muscular arms. On his right upper arm is a redhead dwarven pin-up girl in sailor uniform. On his right lower arm is a tattoo of the island Runik with a P in the middle covered in ice surrounded by a storm. On his left upper arm is five big tentacles stretching, from somewhere on his back, down around his arm till his elbow; one tentacle holds an anchor, another holds the mast and sail from a big ship, the third and fourth is ripping a ship in half and the fifth is grabbing ahold around Storm’s arm.
The guard stops Storm “you can’t come in here, there is a tavern around the town where you can rent a room” he says scared and intrigued by Storm’s tattoos.
Storm turns to Quinsel “here” he says and hands her a small cloth pouch, she takes it and puts it in her bag.
Quinsel goes up to the guard and takes off her bodice to reveal that she has no tattoos on her body. The guards are surprised by the sudden nudeness and her action, after a few second staring at Quinsel they show her into the town and resume their work.
Dis walks up and reveals clean arms to the guard and is let in. After she is inside the town she whispers to Quinsel “well good I didn’t have to strip down, cause I have a rose right above my ass”.
Last is Leekon walking up to the guard, the guard looks at him “your kind aren’t welcome here, I don’t care if you are tattoo free or not but you have to leave” he says.
“My kind mate? What you mean my kind mate?” Leekon starts to ramble.
All ten guards at the gate put their hands on their swords and the first guard says “back down and follow your friends to the tavern or this will end bad for all of you”.
“Aight mate, I’ll go but watch your back mate” Leekon says threating.
Inside Swan town is Lady Athis showing Dis, John and Quinsel around. Along the south wall is the market and smiths placed in an open space with a small park and pond just opposite. Lord Swan’s manor is in the middle of Swan town with a view over the market place and the pond to the south. The west side of Swan town is for the rich, the houses are white and clean and a statue of Lord Swan’s grandfather stands between the houses and scouts over the people. The east side of Swan town is a big harbour connecting to the Green-gold river, many small merchants and bakers have set up shop between some big warehouses; trying to do business with travellers. Guards patrol the harbour quite often. The north side of Swan town is filled with bars, taverns, temples and the guard barrack is placed right next to the north gate at the middle of the north wall.
Lady Athis leads them to a tavern after spending some time showing the around the town “this is the White Swanling, it is one of the cleanest taverns and they got a high standard for both people and drinks. I suggest we spend the night here” she says and looks at the others.
Dis opens the door and walks inside, it is bright yellowish like a sunny day and a joyful atmosphere is almost pouring over her as she stands in the opening. Lady Athis follows Dis and John, Quinsel is right behind them.
Dis walks up to the bar “we would like four rooms for the night, thank you”.
“Oh honey you’ve come to the right place, that will be seven silver per room” a joyous blond haired man says to Dis with a light and soft voice “and call me Brad”.
Lady Athis pays the man and he smiles a gentle smile, Dis turns to the others “I’m quite beat, think I’ll get some rest, we have been up for a long time” she says, grabs her key and walks upstairs to the bedrooms.
John looks at the bartender “is it okay if I test some new material, I’ll do it for free”.
“Honey aren’t you darn the cutest thing ever, of course you can sing” Brad says “Darleen, Darleen, come down from the stage honey, this cute little gnome wants to perform” he calls to a blond woman who looks just like Brad.
John walks onto the stage and climbs onto a chair “hi all, I’m John Flux Moonthinker and the first song I want to play for you is called ‘Quinsel you crazy woman’. I wrote it on the way here” he plays a few tunes on his pan flute and starts to sing.
She fell onto a creature, as fierce as can be
It was a mighty basilisk, twas easy to seeeeeee
(BASILISK, BASILISK)
Their eyes got locked together, in a frightening stare
(BASILISK, BASILISK)
The power flying between them, gave all a big scare
(BASILISK, BASILISK)
Her body turned to stone, was this the end to be
(Oooooooh, nooo)
Quinsel she raged and let out a big roar
Her eyes started to glow and her powers grew more
With her mighty powers, she shot a bolt of light
In the next second, she ended the fight
(pan flute solo)
“Well” Lady Athis starts but before she says another word Quinsel hands her a drink.
“It’s a strawberry daiquiri, quite delicious, like you” Quinsel says and winks to Doctor Pain with a coy smirk.
“How did you know I love these” Lady Athis says a little surprised.
“Who doesn’t like these, I mean it is Strawberries and daiquiris” Quinsel says with a charming smile.
“You have no idea of what a daiquiri is, am I right” Lady Athis says smiling over Quinsel’s silliness.
“Absolutely not, just want them in my drink” Quinsel says and downs her strawberry daiquiri and orders some more.
Meanwhile, Storm and Leekon walks west around Swan town following the others who got denied access and send to a big tavern an hour north of Swan Town. The tavern is heavily fortified and three stories high, around the tavern is a moat with a dark green bobbling thick liquid in it. They walk through a heavy wooden door with the name Engorged Rooster written on it. The tavern is filled with people who could not get into Swan town. Nearly every table is filled with people talking, drinking and eating, except for one table where a really old tough looking dwarf with small skulls braided into his long silver grey beard sits alone. The left side of the dwarf’s head is shaved and a protection rune stone has been embedded in his skin. Storm walks over to the old dwarf, Leekon follows and as they walk closer they see that the old dwarf has gotten several of his teeth replaced with metal roots and diamond tips. Over his right eye are three deep scars with a purple glow and his left arm looks like it is slowly turning into stone with stone spikes growing out of it. Storm and Leekon sits down and signals one of the barmaids for beer.
“Mind if we drink with you” Storm says with a tough tone signalling that he is going to drink at this spot no matter what.
“Do what you want kid” the old Dwarf snarls while reading and scribbling in his book.
Storm recognizes the book as a Book of Sinners; an item special for members of a dwarven group called Judges. Judges are banned from the continent of Livinia as they act as judge, jury and executioner over targets they choose themselves. They act like independent vigilantes wandering through countries killing those they judge to be unworthy.
“What does a Judge do in Livinia, aren’t you guys sort of outlawed?” Storm asks the old dwarf.
“None of your business kid” the old dwarf grunts.
One of the barmaids brings a couple of beers down to Storm and Leekon.
Leekon turns to the old dwarf “can we offer you something to drink mate, a beer maybe?” he says in an attempt to soften the old dwarf.
“The beer here is nothing BUT PISS” the old dwarf yells out in the tavern “but if you put away those, we are going to get a real drink. Barkeep bring us the troll milk” he still seems grumpy, but more cheerful now.
“Here Griff a bottle of troll milk, warm just the way you like it and remember the rule, don’t talk shit about the beer in here while others can hear you” the barkeep says to the old dwarf as he delivers a bottle with a foaming bubbly thick milk and three glasses.
Griff pours troll milk to them all, downs one glass himself and pours another “ahh this is good” Griff exclaims “so what do you want kid” he asks Storm.
“Well I just wondered what a Judge like you is doing here in Livinia” Storm asks and downs a glass of troll milk without a twitch but his eyes starts to water a bit.
Leekon follows and downs his glass of troll milk and cough and gasp after air for five minutes with tears in his eyes.
Griff laughs “as you may know, we Judges, wander around the Empire to find and destroy evil. Whenever we encounter someone in the act of doing something dishonourable we write their names down in our book and are then bound to eradicate them from the earth. I, after many years of service to my King, the Emperor and the judges, encountered the Emperor in an act of absolute dishonour. So I had to put his name in my book which got deemed as high treason. I got exiled to Livinia and my King, the King of Karak-a-Baraz who has pledged allegiance to the Empire, had to sacrifice many riches to the Emperor in apology. After many years in Livinia I heard of a name from my book entering this continent and have since been on the hunt for Glubnar, I even assisted the Athis family in their fight against Glubnar but with no luck” Griff tells.
“So you worked for Lady Athis? We work for her now and are currently trying to get her up north to Grey Haven before Glubnar gets there, to reinstate her as the heir” Storm says “maybe you would like to help us?”
“I’ll help but only to eradicate Glubnar, he deserves to be exterminated and send to hell to atone for his many dishonourable actions” Griff grunts and drinks another glass of goblin milk.
Back at The White Swanling, John talks to the crowd, many have turned up to hear him perform “thank you all for coming, if someone could let a beer come this way I would be glad. The next song I wanna sing is called The bear and the vulture”.
The vulture (vulture)
The power of the land versus the king of death
Met in battle to crush some heads
The bear ripped up the earth and threw it at the sky
The vulture summoned the dead to fight for his pride
Zombies and skeletons were ripped apart
The earth in the sky turned to meteors and shards
The vulture attacked with claw and beak
The bear grabbed it and threw it at the mountains peak
The bear made a volcano that reached to the sky
The vulture summoned a storm that ripped seas apart
Fight went on for many a days
After some years our earth had been made
Quinsel and Lady Athis have become quite drunk, at least sixteen empty glasses is placed in front of them.
“So you wanna see uhm my room” Quinsel mumbles in between a few burps.
Lady Athis smiles coyly, starts to walk and gives Quinsel a sly smile. Quinsel tries to dismount her chair but as she stands up she vomits all over the bar disk and trips over the chair and knocks her head down on the counter and passes out.
Lady Athis looks back for Quinsel and sees that she is passed out in her own vomit, she turns towards John and waves her hand at him “John can you please escort the young Quinsel to her room” she yells before she walks upstairs to her own room.
John jumps out onto the crowd and surfs all the way to the bar counter, he turns to two strong looking men “you two help me with this one”.
John and the two men carries Quinsel to her room and drops her on a bed before they all return to the stage and John performs till early the next morning before going to bed for a few hours of sleep.
Monaryday morning, John gets out of bed and walks down the hall. Dis is standing guard in front of Lady Athis’ room. As John comes up to Dis, Lady Athis steps out of her room, fully dressed and she hands her bags to Dis.
“Good morning, you look well” Lady Athis greets “let’s get something to eat and plan the day” she says and lets Dis show the way downstairs.
Brad greets them as they walk into the bar “oh hallo darlings, come, come I have prepared a table for you with a healthy breakfast” he bends down and pinches John’s cheek and shows them to a table in front of the scene.
The bar has been cleaned during the night; Quinsel’s mess is completely gone. Every table have been wiped and set with clean white tablecloths, fresh flowers and a platter of fresh fruit, bread and salmon. Young girls in white swan dresses walk around and service the small groups of guests already eating.
“As thanks for your performance last night sweetheart, this meal is on the house” Brad says and smiles to John.
The three sits down at the table and a swan girl pours rose tea to them all. “So what’s the plan today” Dis asks Lady Athis as she butters a muffin.
“We should try finding some means of transport, maybe horses or a ship and get moving north” Lady Athis says and takes a sip of her tea.
John stops his face with fruit and sneaks several pieces into his bag “whamt ‘bout we mmeat up whrith the others brefore decidimng” John says with his mouth full.
Quinsel stumbles down the stairs, drops down on a chair and slurps up a big piece of salmon “we should talk to that Swan guy about the tattoo thing” she says before standing up again and walks out of the door.
Lady Athis looks at Dis “you better follow her; she isn’t exactly good at talking to nobles and John, you should meet up with the others. I am staying here, doing some planning until we leave”.
Dis quickly stands up and runs out after Quinsel, John sits back and eats up before getting his belongings. Quinsel skips her way down the streets to Lord Swan’s manor. There are many guards out patrolling the streets around the manor. A small queue of people is standing in line awaiting audition with Lord Swan. Dis is running behind Quinsel trying to keep up, almost bumping into Quinsel as she stops not far from the line. Quinsel changes her pace to confident determent walk and walks to the front of the line.
“Halt!” the guards command and points their weapons at Quinsel.
The nearest guard leads the word “stand down and take place in the line”.
Quinsel looks at the guard with indifferent “I am sent by Lord Vander for an urgent and important matter, tell him it’s about tattoos” she says dismissive.
The guard tries to stare Quinsel down “I said back in the line”.
Quinsel looks the guard dead in the eyes “just show him this” she says and hands the guard the piece of skin with Halm’s tattoo on.
The guard looks at it, his faces turns slightly pale and he runs inside and returns after some minutes to show Quinsel and Dis inside a wooden hall. Ten guards are placed sporadically between wooden and golden statues of different birds from around Livinia. At the end of the room is Lord Swan sitting behind a wooden desk carved in the shape of two swans. Lord Swan is a short, fat man in a white suit decorated with feathers. He has a big bushy handlebar moustache, apple cheeks, bushy white eyebrows and small blue eyes. He is sweating and seems a bit nervous.
Quinsel suppresses a chuckle as she walks to the middle of the room with Dis at her side, Dis pokes her in the side and whispers “behave”.
“Lord Swan, I have been sent by Lord Vander to ask if you have any knowledge of those tattoos” Quinsel asks respectfully and gestures to the piece of skin on Lord Swan’s desk.
Lord Swan glances at the tattoo with disgust “I know nothing of this and why does Lord Vander think otherwise?” he asks with fear in his voice.
“You are a very wise and knowledgeable Lord and Lord Vander have heard that you have fortified your defences and is checking all for tattoos on the arms before they can enter the city” Quinsel says diplomatic.
“Seems like Lord Vander knows a lot of our situation, we have only just started checking the travellers two days ago and what does Lord Vander know about the tattoos himself” Lord Swan asks while his suspicion is growing.
“Lord Vander is of little knowledge when it comes to the tattoos, he understands that they could somehow connected be to a resistance or political group that is very dangerous and therefore you seek your help. This tattoo was acquired when a lone agent tried to do something in The Shining City” Quinsel tries to argue.
“Well you can tell Lord Vander that I know nothing about the tattoos and he shouldn’t sent mere servants about these matters” Lord Swan says dismissive and sends Quinsel and Dis away.
Quinsel bows, grabs the piece of skin and walks off with Dis in her heels. John walks out of the White Swanling and leaves Lady Athis alone. As John walks out of the north gate he starts to run north looking for the tavern Storm and Leekon got direction to. It is very quiet, there is no sound except for John’s footsteps on the ground; only a single black crow flies by in the horizon. John arrives at the Engorged Rooster to find Storm and Leekon sleeping at a table. Griff is lying in a corner benching a twelve person roundtable, while maids clean the bar and sets it up for the new day. The barkeeper stands behind the bar cleaning mugs and puts them away.
“Barkeep three beers” John says as he walks in and sits down at the table with Storm and Leekon “wake up” he continues and slaps them.
Storm and Leekon stretches as the barkeep brings three mugs with beer.
“Talina wants us to move out today, she suggests that we either get horses or a boat” John says and starts drinking.
“Hold on a second, let us just” Storm says and drinks from his beer.
Before Storm can continue his thoughts a large group of people comes through the door and into the bar. The barkeep immediately pulls a rope and a large bell sounds as alarm, he then walks around locks the storm shutters from the inside. Griff pushes through the crowd and barricades the front door as the last farmer makes it inside.
“What is happening?” Storm calls to Griff through the noise.
“It’s the wretched Joey Carr gang out on a plunder again. They wreak havoc every now and then to show who the real leader in these parts is” Griff answers and grabs his hammer.
“And they are free to do this, is no one going to stop them?” Storm asks a bit surprised that they all just hide.
“Well mate, you may not be from around here but Joey Carr’s gang is not just a small group of thieves. It is said they control half of Livinia” Leekon says as he leans back in his chair and awaits a long day locked in.
“I can protect the farmers here; they may lose a few crops but get to live. The city guards can protect Swan town for now and hopefully they get new resources to fortify the defences soon” Griff says.
“Well, I am not gonna hide in here, I think we should fight besides we need to get moving today and we can’t wait for some kids to finish plundering” Storm says and looks to his team members.
Storm, Leekon and John are let out through the barricade, Griff looks at them and then turn to the crowd “lock the door after us” he says.
Outside the door, John turns to the others “I’ll go get Dis and Quinsel and then we’ll fight these rascals” he says and runs back towards Swan town.
Storm, Leekon and Griff turns to the horizon and sees hundreds of gang members come running over the fields towards Swan town. Meanwhile, Quinsel and Dis has just walked out of Lord Swan’s manor, when a bell sounds all over town. Guards rushes to the north wall with bows and arrows and gets ready to fight. Quinsel grabs Doctor Pain with eager and runs to the gate, rips it open and storms out to find someone to fight. Dis follows as fast as her small legs can carry her. They meet John halfway between Swan town and the Engorged Rooster.
“Good. You. Are. Here. Joey. Carr. Gang. attacks” John says between breaths.
“Then let’s get fighting” Quinsel says and keeps running towards battle.
“Oh. Great. More running” John says and runs after Quinsel and Dis.
Storm and Leekon are firing arrow after arrow at the gang members running towards them, hitting several and killing a few. As Quinsel, Dis and John gets near Storm’s and Griff’s location, so does the gang members. The Joey Carr gang is a bunch of tough looking dirty men and women in crude armour, most of them carries improvised spears, axes and hammers. Griff runs into battle while throwing his hammer. The hammer hits a gang member in the face, crashing his skull. Griff jumps the adjacent gang member and starts beating him to death. Storm and Leekon both shoot arrows over Griff’s head, hitting two gang members in the eye and kills them. Quinsel runs to five gang members, swings Doctor Pain into the stomach of one, spins around and hits another in the face.
John calls to a gang member with magic in his voice “you are so ugly that your mother tried to trade you for a troll baby, but even they couldn’t look at you without throwing up”. The gang member’s pupils changes to small birds, he falls to his knees crying with his hands over his ears.
Dis runs to the nearest standing gang member, drags her battleaxe from the ground and swings it upwards and splits the gang member’s stomach and nose. Fifty arrows flies from the gang members towards the team, Dis, Storm and Leekon is hit by several arrows. Quinsel gets stabbed twice from the group she is against. More gang members run towards the team and some runs past the team towards Swan town. Griff picks up his hammer, swings it at the head of a gang member. The head flies of and hits another gang member and knocks him out. Storm switches to his machetes, disarms to attacking gang members and cuts their throats. Leekon shoots an arrow at a gang member who is about to attack Griff, the arrow pins the gang members hands together. Quinsel swings Doctor Pain into the head of gang member, knocking into another gang member’s head and they both pass out. John grabs his dagger and hits a gang member over the knee. Dis Swings her battleaxe at gang members who runs past her and decapitates two of them. More gang members run towards Swan town, Quinsel and Dis gets pushed over and falls to the ground. Gang members gather around them and start to hit them. Another wave of arrows is sent flying towards Storm and Leekon. A hazel brown horse carrying a hooded man rides from the fields out west to the battle. He knocks over a bunch of gang members by riding into them and as he gets near Quinsel, he jumps off the horse with a kick to one gang member’s face and with a sweep of his staff he hits another gang member so hard that he stumbles into a third, knocking them over.
Griff runs to Dis, grabs a gang member by the foot and swings him into five other members freeing Dis “you need to retreat back to town and get Lady Athis out of here. I’m gonna slow down Glubnar if he comes by” he yells to the others.
Storm cuts down another two gang members “alright team, this is taking too long we can’t get north by land anytime soon, everyone back to town” he yells and starts to move backwards to town.
Leekon follows Storm and shoot arrows at gang members near Quinsel and the hooded man. Quinsel pushes her way out from the gang members that fell over her. She grabs Doctor Pain and swings him twice into the face of two surrounding gang members and kills them, she then starts to retreat. John sees Quinsel is quite hurt and says “heal” and the birds of light flies from his hands to Quinsel and heals some of her wounds. John then starts to run towards town and hits a gang member over the leg while passing him. The hooded man gets onto his horse and rides to Swan town while tripping gang members with his staff as he pass by them. Griff hits one gang member after another and a circle of knocked out gang members is forming around him. The team retreats as fast as they can to Swan town. Many gang members have already gotten through the gate that Quinsel left open and they are fighting with the guards. As the team gets through the gate, Storm and Dis stops up and shuts it tight, where after they block it with a tipped over cart.
Lady Athis runs toward the team looking perplexed “hurry down to the harbour, we need to get out of town fast. I have heard chatter of Glubnar getting out of The Shining City” she almost screams at them.
They all hurry down to the harbour while more guards runs to the north wall.
“I’ll get us a ship, you just get ready to sail” John says to the others before walking up to the quartermaster.
“My good sir, I believe you have a ship waiting for me. Some of my servants should have anchored it here yesterday or maybe two days ago” John lies with a straight face.
The quartermaster looks in his papers “sorry sir, I am not sure of witch ship you are talking about.
What is the name of the ship you are looking for?” he says unconvinced by John’s lies.
John makes a quick unnoticeable glance over the quartermaster’s shoulder and sees the name Lady Streams on a small beautiful ship “I am here for Lady Streams” John says with an impatient tone.
“Sorry sir, Lady Streams belongs to Sir Duneham, I can’t let you on that ship” the quartermaster answers while continuing to look through his papers.
“Who do you think I am” John says faking annoyance “I want to talk to your superior” he continues to demand.
“You don’t really dress like a sir” the quartermaster starts.
John interrupts “I WANT TO SEE YOUR SUPRERIOR NOW!”
The quartermaster turns around and walks off to his office not far from where they stand. John signals back to the others to board and prepare Lady Streams for take-off. The quartermaster hears the team moving behind him and turns around to see them running for Lady Streams. The quartermaster rings the harbour alarm bell and guards storms out from a nearby building.
Storm cuts the moorings and yells commands to the team “Dis raise the anchor. Leekon set the sail. Quinsel grab something and get on board. Hurry, hurry, hurry”.
The hooded man leads his horse onto the ship and with a trained hand he gets it to lay down, he then helps Quinsel loading barrels onto the ship. Guards are running towards them and start to shoot arrows.
“We need to get her going now!” Storm commands his team “Quinsel and Dis take the oars and start rowing”.
Quinsel and Dis sits down and starts to row the ship moving away from the piers. Two guards jumps after the ship and fall into the river. Quinsel cast a sacred flame on some barrels on the piers, setting of a small explosion that destroys two piers.
John stands at the stern and yells back towards Swan town “today you almost caught the great John Flux Moonthinker”.
Storm takes the wheel and sails the ship out of the harbour. The sail catches the wind and the ship begins to catch speed. Quinsel and Dis stops rowing. Quinsel bends over the railing, cuts a wound on her arm and with her blood she cross out the name Lady Streams and writes The Bloody Wench. They sail out on the Green-gold river with ease and sails north, the team settles down and starts to do some chores around.
At this moment Storm notice that the hooded man still with them “you there, who are you?”
The hooded man stands in the middle of the ship and turns to the wheel, everyone can see him and with a single hand he removes his hood and reveals that he is Halm. Quinsel gives a short laugh before going back to chat with Doctor Pain. John runs to Halm and starts beating him with his wooden dagger. Storm grabs his bow and shoots an arrow in one swift movement; the arrow makes a small cut in Halm’s right earlobe.
Storm readies another arrow “so you dare come back?”
Before Halm gets to answer a man calls to them from a treehouse “looky here, looky here, seems like we got us self some travellers who need to pay the river tax on ten gold pieces to the great Joey Carr and his gang” he says while putting out a basket on a long stick to collect the money.
“You say what mate? We refuse to pay money to mere criminals for sailing on a river” Leekon calls back to the man in the treehouse.
“If you refuse to pay, then we’ll take the money from your dead bodies” the man says and pulls the basket back in.
Ten arrows fly from the forest; three makes holes in the sail, two hits Leekon, four hits the boat and one hits Quinsel. Storm is about to shoot an arrow at the man in the treehouse, but the undercurrent takes hold on the ship and the speed increases, Storm drops his bow to grab the wheel and steer them out of trouble. Dis grabs Lady Athis and hides her under the benches just beside Halm’s horse, before she grabs a spear and throws it after the man who asked for money hitting him in the gut. Leekon climbs up in the mast and starts scouting for gang members, he sees three small boats with three gang members each appear from small streams up the river. The boats surround The Bloody Wench; one on portside, one on starboard side and one at stern. John, Halm and Quinsel grab their weapons, spread out on the ship and gets ready to fight. Ten more arrows flies from the forest, two hitting Dis, one hitting Halm, two hitting Quinsel and five just hits the boat. Dis walks to the bow and throws a spear into the shoulder of a gang member on the starboard side boat and nails her to the mast. Leekon shoots an arrow at a gang member to their stern but misses.
John calls to Dis “next time hit her in the heart” and a bird mark appears on her right arm.
Halm walks to the ships port side and throws two darts and hits a gang member in the back. Quinsel walks to the stern and casts sacred flame at the boat behind them, igniting it. The boat on starboard side rams into the ship and one of the gang members jumps on board. The gang member nailed to the mast pulls the spear out of her shoulder and throws it back at Dis and hits her in the knee. The gang members on the boat to the port side throw spears; one hit Quinsel, the two others only hits The Bloody Wench. The boat to the stern catches on fire, the gang members tries to put the fire out. Another ten arrows is shot at the boat; three hits Dis, five hits Leekon and the last two hits the sail. Dis grabs her battleaxe and swings it into the stomach of the gang member that boarded the ship. Leekon shoots an arrow in between the trees and a gang member falls out into the river. John conjures a minor illusion; a gang member on the starboard side boat sees a spear flying right at him and jumps into the river to avoid it. Halm throws two more darts at the same guy, this time hitting a nerve paralyzing him. Quinsel jumps over board and swims ashore and hides in the forest looking for some gang members. Storm rams back into the boat on starboard side and tries to crash them against the shore. The starboard side boat pushes back into the ship. The captain on the port side boat gives up and sails away. The boat at their stern puts out the fire and two of the gang members throw spears hitting, one hits Storm and one hits the ship. Nine arrows is shot from the forest; three hits Leekon and he falls down on the ship and passes out, two arrows hits John and four arrows hits the ship. Dis spots the gang members hiding in the treehouses; she pulls the spear out of her leg and throws it. The bird mark from her arm disappears and forms a bird of light around the spear guiding it directly through the skull of one gang member and into the heart of another, killing both. John says “heal” and birds of light looking like pirates, with patch for their left eye and wooden leg, flies from his hand to Leekon and heals some of his wounds. Halm jumps to the boat on starboard side and kicks the captain in the head. Quinsel locates a treehouse and crawls up in it unnoticed. She grabbles the gang member pulling her out the treehouse and while they towards the river, Quinsel spin around making a drop kick. The gang member hits the water first and then Quinsel hits the gang member in the head with her foot as she hits the water. Now that Halm distracts the captain, Storm breaks free from the boat on starboard side and turns the ship sideways so the boat at their stern sail right into the starboard side and the gang members trips. The captain on the starboard boat grabs his sword and swings it into the left of side of Halm. The gang members on the stern boat get up and try to climb onto The Bloody Wench. Six arrows flies from the trees; one hits a gang member on the stern boat, through the throat and kills him, one hits Halm, one hits Storm and three hits the ship. Dis grabs her last spear and throws it into a treehouse. Leekon sits up quickly and takes a short glance around before shooting an arrow into the eye of a gang member in a treehouse. John jumps down on the stern boat, runs up to the first gang member and hits him over the knee with his wooden dagger. Halm leans into the sword in his left side, jumps up and wraps his legs around the captains head and with a twist of his body, Halm forces the captain head first down to hit the deck, breaking his neck. Quinsel swims to the stern boat and climbs aboard. She then swings Doctor Pain twice into the head of the captain and killing him. Storm grabs his bow and shoots an arrow into another treehouse, then grabs the wheel and gets the ship back on course. The Bloody Wench is taking water in on starboard side and the sail is full of holes. The gang member on the stern boat sees he is surrounded by John and Quinsel and jumps overboard into the water and swims away. This gives John to opportunity to hit the gang member hard in the stomach. Three arrows are shot from the treehouses but with no reach to hit anything but water. Storm sails a bit further down the river before sailing ashore. Lady Athis crawls out from her hiding place looking quite displeased. Halm and Quinsel sails ashore just beside Storm. Quinsel walks on board Halm’s boat and helps him to down on the grass. She lays her hands on his wound and light transfers from her hands and into his body; healing a broken rib and the flesh wound. Dis patrols the area to see if more gang members shows up, she feels at unease like something is about to come. Storm breaks the gang boats apart with Leekon to repair the broken boards on The Bloody Wench.
John grabs the sail from the boats and cut small patches to stitch over the holes in the ship sail. He sees that Lady Athis just stands there waiting “you could maybe help out or maybe warm some food, it gonna take some time before we can leave”.
“Why did we steal a boat, I don’t condone that we did that, we could have bought or hired a boat instead” Lady Athis snarls at John and pulls out a bag of turkey sandwiches and a bag of apples from the ship “and I got us all this before we left Swan town. Legally”.
Dis gets back to the others and grabs an apple “we are about half a day away from Crossington, let’s rest here for the night and get back on the waters tomorrow”.
“Is the area clear” Storm asks and takes a bite of a turkey sandwich before getting back to working on the ship.
“I didn’t see anyone from the Joey Carr gang” Dis answers and goes to help Storm and Leekon.
“Hello there” a tall brown haired, white skinned high elf male walks out from the treeline. He is wearing leather armour with leather pants and a brown backpack that seems quite heavy. He is armed with a gladius and a cocky smile.
As Dis hears his voice she immediately drops her head and sighs “oh gods” before turning around.
“Wow, Dis, long time no see. I haven’t seen you since, well it must have been back in the Royal army under the war” the newcomer says with his hands in the air.
Storm turns to Dis “do you know this guy?”
Dis sighs again “his name is Stefan, we served together”.
“You do remember me. That is great, why do you sound so down? Rough times?” Stefan asks rhetorical and does a little lift in his bag that makes it sound like it is full of money.
“What do you want Stefan” Dis asks impatiently.
“First I would like you to drop your weapons and secondly Dis, old friend, I just wondered if you have room on your ship? I have been out here, travelling for a long time and if I have to walk to Crossington I’ll first be there some time tonight and the night guards are so full of themselves and then I’ll have to wait for tomorrow to get access. It would really be helpful if you could let me aboard” Stefan says with all his charm.
Storm and Leekon have stopped listening and continues to work on the ship. Quinsel and Halm is both unbothered by the situation, in fact Halm is a bit confused about what is going on.
Dis rolls her eyes and sighs again “a lift to Crossington is all you need? And you won’t try any funny business?” she asks looking to the others for an excuse to say no.
Lady Athis emerges from the cabin, clean and well-dressed like she is about to attend a ball. She looks impatiently down on them all “aren’t we soon ready to get going? We are on deadline” she says.
“Yes Dis, my friend, I promise to behave, I just want a ride to Crossington. I can even pay a bit” Stefan says knowing that this argument is always a sure thing.
At this point Storm reacts again “let’s say fifty gold and we take you with us to Crossington” he says and reach out with his hand waiting for money. He looks to Lady Athis “the ship is ready, let’s sail”.
Stefan counts the money in a small pouch and gives it to Storm before walking aboard following Lady Athis. Quinsel and Dis grabs the oars and begins to row to help with the speed. John sets the sail and Storm grabs the wheel. The rest walks around the ship ready to follow Storm’s commands.
After John have set the sail he takes place on the figurehead and sings The Bear and Vulture song. At dinner time the team sails through the gates of Crossington.
Crossington is located in the middle of Livinia at the point where the Green River from north splits into The Gold-Green River to the south and Setting River to the west. Any travel with ship across the land must cross through Crossington. The city is modern and in constant change; a place where the young, the hopeful and those in need of change comes to seek opportunities. It is almost made entirely of wood except for the richer parts that is built with the finest stone that can be bought. Most of the city districts are bland and boring to look at but some of the richer parts have hired artists to colour up the city. Crossington consists of nine districts, defining the social status of the citizens; Royal, Sky, Blue, Red, Green, Steel, Stone, Grey and Slum. Around Crossington is a ten meter tall brick wall and the city gets locked down during the night in protection of the citizens. The Royal district is in the middle of the city and is an open and cosy plaza, where The Green-Gold River and Setting River runs through parallel. The plaza in The Royal district leads up to Vanderhall; the Vander family’s mansion. Storm carefully sail The Bloody Wench through Crossington up to the harbour in The Steel district, at the point where The Gold-Green river and the Setting river connects. It is a big harbour with room for twenty overnighting ships. Quinsel and Dis moors the ship as Storm docks at an empty space. Halm leaves his horse onboard the ship with food and then walks ashore with the team.
Stefan turns to Dis “my friend, once again thanks for taking me with you. I’ll be off for now, but we may meet again. So long” he says and walks off without waiting for any reaction.
“It’s getting late, we should find somewhere to rest” Storm says while checking the sun’s position “Leekon, you are from here, what would you recommend” he continues.
“There is a place just across from my family’s business. I can show you the way, I have to go in that direction anyway” Leekon says and double checks his equipment.
The harbour master, escorted by two guards, walks up to the team “welcome to Crossington, enjoy your visit but please refrain from engage in any illegal activities. Having your ship moored, costs five gold pieces a day” the harbour master says, and hands Storm a mooring permit.
Leekon leads the team through Crossington, down to The Stone district; the third lowest district of Crossington. It is a small plaza with a dirty hostel called The Dirty Mattress, a small bar called Scales and small café called Stone coffee, all surrounded by three rows of apartment buildings.
“I’m gonna meet my family, mates, you can rent some rooms at The Dirty Mattress, lovely place” Leekon says and points toward the hostel, he then walks over to Scales.
The team walks towards The Dirty Mattress, tired and ready to get some rest for the night.
A young blond elvish girl selling flowers, stops them “flowers, anyone wants to buy flowers” she says and shows a large variety of pretty flowers in her flower tray. She sees Quinsel and gets flustered “y-y-you, do I-I know you? What’s your name?” she says and is clearly scared.
“I don’t think so girl, I am Allia S. Nomen, but I would love to buy some flowers” Quinsel says and hands the girl a silver coin for a sky blue flower, she tangles into her hair.
The girl leaves and the team enters The Dirty Mattress; it is a sleazy and worn down hostel. They walk into a spacious room filled with tables and at every table is one or two promiscuous women. The sleeping areas are upstairs; at least twenty rooms are visible.
Dis walks up to the bar, where a tall bald friendly looking man is wiping down the counter “hello sir, we are travellers and wants to rent some rooms. We were told that this is a good place to rest” she says.
“Ah, yes and welcome to the Dirty Mattress, where we will tend to all your needs with the outmost discretion. The rooms will be five silver each and the girls: two gold for the elves, one gold for the humans and five silver for the dwarfs. Breakfast is served is served at seven, if you need anything ells come see me here at the counter” the bartender says.
“We’ll take six rooms” Dis says and hands three pieces of gold to the bartender.
“Let us all rest and start planning our next steps tomorrow, goodnight” Lady Athis says, grabs a key and walks up to her room.
John turns to the bartender “one beer, thank you” he says.
“That is two silver” the bartender answers and hands John a jug of beer.
John pays and walks over to a table and sits down. Quinsel and Halm follows John to the table. Dis walks up to her room and goes to sleep.
Storm scouts through the room and sets his eyes on a tall beautiful elvish woman standing in a corner. She is clearly the prettiest of all the working girls in the hostel. He walks up to her “what’s ya name sweet thing?” he says in his most charming voice.
The elvish woman smiles flirtatious “I am Gertrudhilde and what can I do for a handsome dwarf like you?” she introduces herself.
“We both know what you can do for me” Storm answers and takes her hand.
Gertrudhilde willingly follows Storm to his room. After fifteen minutes Gertrudhilde walks down the stairs again and hands some money to the bartender. Storm comes down the stairs shortly after, buys a beer and sits down at the table with others “ah, that’s the right way to dock in a harbour” he says.
They sit in silence for a while before they all walks tired to bed, Quinsel is the last to leave the table and instead of walking up to her room, she walks outside and lays down on a bench in front of The Dirty Mattress. The team awakes around seven and walks down in the big hall where the bartender is handing out plates filled with a brown porridge like substance. Quinsel is already eating as the others gets in line.
“What’s on the menu?” Dis asks the bartender as she stands in line for the food.
“Well today is Tuearyday, so a bowl of brown is on the menu” the bartender says and hands a bowl of brown food to Dis. Quinsel is happily eating while the others pokes a little to the food with disgust painted on their face.
“This is some good brown; can I have another serving” Quinsel says to bartender as she licks her plate clean. The others look at Quinsel surprised that she could eat the brown food.
Dis turns to one of the working girls sitting around the table “what is this brown food?” she whispers.
“We don’t know, it is some secret recipe or something. He serves it every day, so don’t get your hopes up about tomorrow if you stay that long. The good thing is that it really helps you getting a healthy body” the working girl whispers back and continues to eat unenthusiastically from her bowl.
While they eat Leekon steps in through the door “master Leekon, good to see you again. What brings you here, I have paid this month” the bartender says in an overly nice tone.
Leekon nods to the bartender and waves at some of the girls as he walks up to the team “I have gotten you an audition with my uncle, he says that he will help you, but it will cost you” he says and sits down.
“what can your uncle help us with?” Storm asks curiously.
“My uncle is a sort of an entrepreneur, mate, he conducts quite a variety of business around Livinia and no matter what you need, he can surely help out” Leekon answers vaguely.
“With Glubnar not far behind us, I need to send a message up to my associates. They need to be ready for when we arrive. I will stay hidden and save here at The Dirty Mattress, you should go meet with Leekon’s family and make a deal” Lady Athis says and retreats to her room.
The team gets up and follows Leekon across the plaza to Scales. The bar is currently empty and Leekon leads the team out into a backroom. A tiefling closes the door tight behind them as they enters the backroom, five other tieflings stands guard around the room and a slightly older tiefling is sitting at a table waiting.
“Uncle Darnoc, these are the people I told you about, Storm, John, Halm, Dis and Quinsel” Leekon introduces “and mates, this is my uncle Darnoc”.
“Thank you for bringing my nephew back. He tells me that you are travelling with Lady Athis herself and that she may be willing to make some deals. I have for a long time wanted to do more business with the nobles and I sense we can build some sort of mutual beneficial partnership. So, what can I help you with?” Darnoc says and awaits a proposition.
The team looks at each other for a second then Halm steps forward “Lady Athis wishes to send a message to some of her associates up north. It is of outmost importance that this message arrives fast and without the interception of Glubnar’s men” he says a little nervous.
“This is a simple task and we can easily do that and in return I will ask of you to go collect a little debt for me. Hugo the Baker, a member of the hunters’ guild, hasn’t paid protection money this month and though we have sent him one reminder he still hasn’t paid. So, go collect his debt, and if he won’t pay, hurt him real bad and then come back to us. Then we will send your letter” Darnoc says “you can find Hugo at his home up in Sky district, he is hosting a pre wedding full moon party for his daughter tonight”.
“Tonigh Mimas, the moon of death, will shine on us signaling that there is only ten days left of the month” Halm says.
Darnoc is about to get up as Storm steps forward “one more thing, do you know anything about a gang with living tattoos?” he says and Darnoc sits back down “Quinsel give me the tattoo” Storm turn to Quinsel and says.
Quinsel hands the tattoo to Storm and then leaves the room as she is bored, she walks out to the plaza and dances in the sunlight.
“We cut this tattoo of one of the gang members, they seem to turn up everywhere on our journey” Storm continues and shows the tattoo to Darnoc.
Darnoc looks at Halm’s missing arm before talking “I don’t know anything about this tattoo, but I know who might. One of our associates, Shiv, knows a thing or two about a thing or two, sadly he is gone. We suspect that the Joey Carr gang have captured him and forces him to work on their behalf” Darnoc explains and pulls out a map over Crossington and the surrounding forest and planes “it would be mutual beneficial for both of us if you could bring back Shiv for us, we would do it ourselves, but we are lacking some man power at the moment and doesn’t know exactly where they are keeping Shiv. We have located the gang to reside at these three places” he continues and points at the map “we think they have a base in Witches Valley down south. Another base in Kobold Valley out west and a third base in Harpy Valley up north. So if you want to know more about the tattoo, you need to help us find Shiv” he says and looks at Storm.
“We are on a tight schedule at the moment, we have to discuss this with Lady Athis. But we will return with an answer when we come back from the other assignment” Dis says and interrupts Storm, there is some discomfort to hear in her voice.
“It is okay, discuss it with Lady Athis. It is important to have the leader’s permission, so we will continue this discussion later. Leekon, I want you to stay with the group, they could be in need of your help with the assignments” Darnoc says and leaves the room.
The team walks out of Scales and sees the young elvish flower girl approach Quinsel “are you sure I don’t know you, you seem very familiar” she says and takes a closer look at Quinsel.
Quinsel is intrigued by the girl’s curiosity “who are you lady and why do you think you know who I am” she says walks around the girl inspecting her.
The girl leaves as the team walks up to Quinsel “buying more flowers? What do you need them for?” Storm teases.
“That girl is really weird” Quinsel says and makes a nodding movement from Doctor Pain.
“Well leave her alone, we need to plan how we gonna deal with Hugo” Storm says, and they walk back to The Dirty Mattress.
“So how are we gonna collect the debt from Hugo” Storm asks the others as they sit around a table.
“Why don’t we just find him and persuades him nicely. He will probably pay his debt if we ask him to” Halm suggest.
“Mate, if he wanted to pay, he would have payed. He needs a reminder, so he won’t forget it again” Leekon argues.
“We also don’t know where he is, we could spend the entire day looking for him. But we do know where he will be, at his party tonight” Dis says reasonably.
“Yeah we are going to the party tonight!” Quinsel exclaims loudly.
“What, no mate, we can’t just crash the party, we don’t have invitations or nothing, plus you guys are on a tight schedule” Leekon argues surprised by Quinsel’s outburst.
“Actually, the party is probably the best place to plan for. As mentioned, we could spend all day looking for him and if we find him we would then have to make a plan on the spot that accommodates any variable. If we plan for the party, we can eliminate a lot of the variables now” Dis says to another outburst of joy from Quinsel.
“The party is well-guarded; how do you suggest we sneak in?” Leekon argues.
“We could hide in a cake, worked last time” Quinsel says to Leekon’s confusion.
“Hide in a cake? Are you dense mate, is that something you guys do” Leekon says, hoping that the team are more professional than that.
“Quinsel has done it, we don’t” Storm says and Quinsel nods eagerly “we just need a distraction, it’s easy to sneak into place where you don’t belong” he continues.
“We are in a room full of distractions. We bring all these girls with us to the party, they get some business and we sneak in” John says, he stands on his chair and leans in over the table.
“But what then, mate, what are we going to do when we are inside, there will be too many witnesses” Leekon says but is starting to warm up to the plan.
“Well then we try to reason with him, maybe get him to go into another room” Halm suggest.
“I can totally seduce him, is he hot” Quinsel says.
“Yeah Quinsel or Dis could seduce him or we could try to eloquently talk him into meeting us” Halm says.
“Trust me mates, no one wants to seduce that pig” Leekon says.
“I think I should try talk to him first, then if I fail, we could try seducing him. That would probably seem less suspicious. But we need to be ready for when it goes wrong” Storm follows Halm.
“Nothing goes wrong, it’s simple, we go in talk to him and then out again, it’s a good plan. Now let’s go out in Crossington spend the day and prepare us for tonight” John finishes the conversation.
Storm pulls out a small bag of coins “we got some money from Milo for our other mission” he says while counting the money and then puts them back in his belt “I’ll keep track of the money, so if anyone needs something let me know”.
“I’ll go inform Lady Athis of our plan, wait for me” Dis says and runs upstairs, she returns after twenty minutes.
The team leaves The Dirty Mattress and walks out in the street of Crossington. The sun is standing high in the sky and it is a warm day. It is about two in the afternoon, they have spent a few hours discussing the plan. Leekon takes the lead and shows the team around in the different districts of the city. The Stone and Grey district is clear lower class, the streets are mostly empty as the residence are out working around Crossington. The Steel district is the army and harbour district, where the guards resides, it is also where most armourers and leather craftsmen have set up shop. Dis and Storm wants to shop weapons. Storm picks up a few swords, gives them a swing and then puts them back down not finding anything he likes.
Dis places her battleaxe on the counter and points at a large greataxe over the smith’s head “I would like to sell this slightly used axe and buy that one” she says confident.
“Aren’t you a little too small for such a big axe” the smith laughs and takes the axe down and hands it to her.
She makes a few swings and manoeuvres “this is a fine axe and great balance, it will do well” she says.
“You know your way around an axe traveller, it will be twenty-five gold coins then” the smith says and awaits payment.
Storm hands Dis fifteen gold coins and Dis finds ten gold coins in her own purse, she pays for the axe and the team leaves the Steel district. Red and Green district are middle class areas, many students and artists are walking the streets, socializing. The Blue district is a city square full of shopping opportunities and bars, it’s mainly the middle class and lower upper class who is shopping here. Quinsel sees a shoe store, she runs inside and buys a pair of booties in black leather and sashay joyful out of the store, showing off her new shoes.
John finds a music store, he tries out a few instruments and then settles on a banjo “I would like this banjo” he proclaims to the salesman.
“Ah, the banjo, a fine instrument and you sure can play. Hmmm, five gold coins, would be a fitting price I think” the salesman says.
John pulls out a large bag of coins, that arouses interest in the salesman “a musician like you, is probably also interested in a special made pipe” the salesman says and pulls out a tray of tobacco pipes in different material.
John picks up a simple wooden pipe with a long shank “this one, I like this one, but do you also have something to smoke on it?” he asks.
The salesman looks around the store to see if any guards is within hearing range “I have just the thing for any musician, we call it the musician herb, it is said that it can make you see and taste music” the salesman says in a lower tone “if you are interested, it will be twenty gold coins for the banjo, pipe and herb”.
John counts his money and then nods “here you go” he says as he hands the money to the salesman.
The Sky and Royal districts is upper class, many guards are patrolling the streets and makes random searches on travellers passing through. The Slum district is dirty and filled with homeless, thieves and hookers. The buildings are dilapidated and could crumble down at any moment and the paved streets are worn down, it is impossible to bring a carriage or wagon on these streets. The streets are free of guards, John pulls out his new pipe and fills it with some of the musician’s herb and lights it up.
Storm locates an alchemy shop down one of the dark alleys “I need some new poison, I’ll be back in a bit” he says and enters the shop.
The door slams behind him and all the shelves starts to shake. The entire store is unstable and rickety, an old man yells from behind the counter “DELINQUENT. Don’t slam the door or the whole place might blow up”.
“Sorry sir, didn’t know” Storm tries to say polite, but the old man snarls “do you have any poisons” Storm continues in a polite manner.
“Poisons? What do you want poisons for? Up to something illegal, are you?” the old man snaps.
“That is none of your business old man” Storm has lost his patient with this old man.
“Well, well. I got something” the old man says surly, he pulls out a small green vial “this can do some harm, it will be ten gold coins”.
Storm pull out the basilisk eyes from his bag “I’ll trade you these two basilisk eyes for the poison” he says.
The old man inspects the eyes “alright rascal, in that case you can have poison and, uhm, this potion of potency” the old man says and spits on the ground. “Don’t come back here again or I’ll turn you in to the guards” the old man says angrily as Storm is about to walk out the door.
Storm slams the door behind him and he can hear vials fall of the shelves and crash against the floor. John is hit hard by the musician’s herb and has gotten high; he is slightly unaware of everything around him. It is early evening now and the team walks back to The Dirty Mattress. Quinsel walks up to the bartender. Leekon sneaks up behind John and unnoticed steals half of John’s remaining musician’s herb.
“Hey barkeep, can we take all your girls with us to Hugo’s party” Quinsel says with a big smile.
“What you going to do at that place? It will swarm with guards” the bartender says while cleaning a jug.
“Just a small job for Darnoc. We gonna use the girls to distract the guards. I know guards and they love us girls and your girls could earn some moneys” Quinsel says in a somewhat serious tone and winks at the bartender.
“For Darnoc you can borrow the girls, but If any harm comes to them, you will be paying” the bartender says threatening.
Quinsel kiss the bartender on his head and then turns to the girls “girls, we are going to a party tonight, go get in your best dresses and get ready to work it” she yells out with joy and the girls rush to their rooms to dress up.
The team steps outside while waiting for the girls and the young elvish flower girl walks across the plaza and up to Quinsel “who are you really lady” she says in a serious tone.
Quinsel has become tired of this game and gives in “I’m Quinsel, what is it to you?” she says dismissing.
The girl turns pale “NO, YOU CAN’T HAVE HIM, HIS MINE, LEAVE US ALONE” she yells and runs off.
“YOU CAN KEEP HIM, BUT TELL HIM THAT I WILL KILL HIM WHEN I FIND HIM” Quinsel yells after the girl.
“What was that about?” Dis asks worried.
“Don’t know” Quinsel says with a shrug.
After an hour the girls meets up with the team outside The Dirty Mattress and together they stride confident through the town up to The Sky district, where Hugo is hosting his party. They huddle up a street down form the party.
“Okay girls your assignment is to distract the guards, be as attractive as you can. You can perform any business you want as long as the guards are distracted” Quinsel instructs the girls.
Storm pulls out the potion of potency “we will make your job a little easier with this, it’s a potion of potency, it will make the consumer horny. We are going to slip it into the guards” he says and divides it in smaller vials.
They walk up to the party with Quinsel at the lead, the rest of the team hides between the girls. “Stop right there, show your invitation” the guard commands.
Quinsel push her breasts forward “I am here with some entertainment” she says with a sensual voice.
The guard can hardly focus on Quinsel’s face “ah sorry mam, didn’t, uhm, didn’t know there were supposed to, uhm, come entertainment” he says.
“Don’t worry sweetheart, and it is also for the guards” Quinsel flirts “Gertrudhilde, this fine man could use some attention” she calls back and Gertrudhilde steps forward and starts flirting.
“Very well mam, you, you can go in” the guard says and lets the group in.
“Okay girls, spread out and do me proud” Quinsel says to the girls as they have entered the tent.
The girls spread out in the room, they easily attract the attention of the guards and other guest in the room. Some women even slap their partners for staring at the girls. Leekon walks down to the back end of the tent, it is attached to a wooden building, he recognises as Hugo’s house. John sees a flow of colours moving like water around the room, he follows the colours around the room and end up in front of the band, that is playing in the corner just across from the entrance. Here John sways around in a trance like state. Halm and Dis walks up to the bar and discretely slip potion of potency in the cups of any guard ordering. They soon notice that it is only a few of the guards that uses the bar the rest is either abstaining from drinking or drinking from their own water skins. Halm and Dis each buys a tray of cheap homebrew shots, spices them up with the potion of potency and begins to walk around the party, offering shots to the guards they meet. Quinsel is about to walk out on the designated dancefloor when her eyes lands on a longtable filled with a large variety of cakes. She walks around the table tasting every cake before sprinkling the potion of potency over them. At the end of the longtable is big five layered cake Quinsel finds especially enticing, she empties her vial over the other cakes and starts to pig out on the five layered cake getting her entire face covered in cream and glazing. Across from the longtable with cakes is a large stage surrounded by guards and on top is Hugo sitting on a throne in a big snow leopard fur coat, having a silent conversation with a younger man. Hugo is short man, not much taller than a dwarf and is almost as fat as he is short. His face is red, round and resembles a pig with a big thick bushy moustache and yellow windblown hair that looks like hay. Storm signals some of the girls to distract the guards around the stage. He then signals to Halm to intoxicate them. After a short time, the young man leaves, and Storm moves unhindered towards Hugo on his stage.
Before Storm gets up on the stage, Hugo stands up and the party goes silent “welcome, to my full moon party in honour of my daughters impending wedding, may it take her far away from here” Hugo laughs pleased. “It is nice to see so many people enjoying themselves and nice to know I won’t have to hear my daughter talking all day, she is now another man’s problem” Hugo laughs again “eat some cake and get something to drink, tonight we have a lot to celebrate” he says and the crowd cheers “but as we all know, we can’t have one of my famous parties without the main event” he says smug and pleased and as he said those words, twenty young fit men enters the tent carrying a big cloth covered square object. The drummer begins a drum-roll. “So here for your entertainment is the newest piece in my collection” Hugo says, and the suspense is rising.
The team looks curiously around, trying to figure out what could be under the cover. Leekon, knowing of Hugo’s reputation, leans back against the wall and waits for the signal. The rest of the party moves in closer to get a better look when the cover is pulled.
A servant runs up to Hugo with a roasted turkey leg and a pint of ale. After ten minutes of Hugo greedily devouring the turkey leg with the entire tent in suspense he yells “PULL THE COVER” followed by a burp and the young men pulls the cover of the square object revealing a metal cage.
The crowd gasps mortified followed by a confused and shocked chatter. In the cage is a dirty naked man with wild black hair and tired eyes. Unsure of what is going on, the crowd and the team is getting uneasy.
“Don’t worry, I am not going to hunt and collect humans. This man got a very big surprise for you all” Hugo calls out over the crowd and cloths from the roof of the tent gets removed, revealing the full moon through windows in the roof.
“No, stop, noooooo” is heard from the man in the cage as the moonlight is let in and falls on him. The man starts to change; his body swells up and hair springs from his shoulders, knees and ankles. His feet turn into hooves, his hands become big and fat and a small curly tail grows from his butt. From his mouth grows two large tusks, his eyes turn small and red and his nose turns into a snout.
The crowd steps back in amazement and shock, a few let out small screams, they have seen many impressive beasts at Hugo’s parties but never had an experience like this. As the transformation is complete they applause enthusiastically and cheers for Hugo.
“That is correct, the newest beast to be part of my vast and impressive collection of beasts, is this wereboar” Hugo calls out over the crowd to wild applause.
After some time investigating the wereboar in the cage, the crowd spreads out in the tent continuing to party. Only a few of the guests are still keeping an eye on the wereboar but everyone ells seems to be unbothered by the wild beast growling and banging viciously on the cage. The party gets louder and more energetic for every minute. Storm sees this as an opportunity to get closer to Hugo and continue their plan.
“Nice beast you got there, it must have taken quite some time to take it down” Storm says as he walks over the stage to Hugo.
“As part of the hunters’ guild there are rich opportunities to get the hands on these beasts. This isn’t even the greatest in my collection” Hugo says smug and condescending, eyeing Storm wondering why he was let by the guards.
“I have seen many beasts on my travels across the sea and even found some here in Livinia, just a few days ago I met a basilisk” Storm says nonchalantly.
“A basilisk? You met a basilisk and survived? You must be on drugs. Leave me now or I’ll call the guards” Hugo says insulted.
Storm leaves the stage and signals to Dis that it didn’t work. The party is getting slightly out of hand, many of the guards have left their posts and gone off with some of the girls. John is making weird noises towards the band and bites out in the air trying to eat the music. Quinsel has eaten half of the five layered cake and is now throwing cake out over the party, she throws a pie directly at the wereboar, hitting it in the face. Small fights are breaking out around the party, caused by the sexual frustration from consuming the cakes and too much alcohol. Leekon keeps his position near the house, waiting for the team to get Hugo alone, but he has half given up on completing this task and is searching for a quick score.
Hugo gets hit by a piece of cake and notice how the party has progressed “GUARDS, SHUT DOWN THIS PARTY, IT IS OVER” he yells, and more guards enters the tent and starts to escort the guests and drunk guards out.
The wereboar has finished eating the pie and the potion of potency is taking effect, he lets out a loud roar as his penis rises to a state of full erection. Froth is coming from his mouth as he tries to break out of the cage. Quinsel laughs at the effect the potion had on the wereboar and throws cake around more furiously as the guards gets nearer. Before the guards gets a hold of her she throws herself in over the table and lands in the five layered cake. John crawls down under the cake table and the end near the band, but he is found by the guards as he laughs over his own geniality. Leekon stealthily hides in the corner behind some of the party decorations. The twenty young men runs in and carefully drags out the cage with the wereboar, who is banging tusks and hands on the cage; one of the bars bends as the wereboar headbutts the cage.
Dis walks up to Hugo “help sir, can you help me? I’m scared” she flirts with a soft innocent voice “can you protect me?”
Some guards chase Quinsel around the party trying to catch her while she still throws cake around. John is dragged out and Halm unsure what to do figures he should probably follow John to keep him save.
“Of course, I can protect you, young dwarf, just stay with me” Hugo says a little smug and gives Dis a greedy and lusty look as he is inspecting her curves.
“You are so courageous and impressive, maybe we can figure a way for me to repay you” Dis says with big innocent eyes and leans into Hugo.
“I know exactly what you mean, I am a great and very important man, why don’t you come home with me and I’ll show you my collection of beasts” Hugo puts an arm around Dis and starts to walk her down to his house at the back end of the party. As they walk, Hugo’s hand finds its way down to Dis well-trained butt and he gives it a greedy squeeze, he is almost drooling over her and she can feel him panting heavily against her neck.
Quinsel sees Dis walk with Hugo and runs towards them “Dis I’m coming, you got him” she calls to Dis as she leaps towards Hugo.
Three guards step in between Hugo and Quinsel and Quinsel crashes into the guards. The four of them tumbles up to the feet of Dis and Hugo making a ruckus, everyone stops and stares at Quinsel and the guards. Storm uses this distraction to hide unseen under the stage.
Hugo looks at Quinsel and then at Dis “guards, take that girl and this scum of a dwarf and throw them out” he says, and pushes Dis to the ground next to Quinsel, his small eyes glows red of betrayal. The guards grab Dis and Quinsel and escorts them out. Hugo enters his home and shuts the door behind him.
Quinsel and Dis gets thrown out from the party and a wall of guards form around the entrance. The tent is now empty except for Leekon and Storm that is hidden inside. The guards chain up the entrance and surround the tent, making sure nobody tries to get back in. The guests disperse in every direction, several are following the girls down to The Dirty Mattress. Quinsel, Halm, Dis and John are the only ones left outside the tent with all the guards. They walk away from the party down to an alley, where they can talk unbothered.
“What do we do now” Halm asks the others.
“I had Hugo, I was almost alone with him but Quinsel ruined it” Dis says and slaps Quinsel on the arm, but she is pleased that she was rescued from the grab of Hugo’s fat fingers.
“Hihihih the moon is just like a big cheese” John giggles.
“I think Storm and Leekon is still inside, maybe we should try go around the house and find a way in” Halm says.
Inside the tent Storm and Leekon emerges from their hiding spots, they walk up to the door to Hugo’s house.
“It is up to us now; can you pick this lock?” Storm whispers to Leekon.
“Aight mate” Leekon whisper and with a swift movement he unlocks the door.
Storm and Leekon enters the house and is now inside Hugo’s living room. It is a simple yet stylish place, the furniture is mainly wooden, carved from a single piece of wood with nice artistic carvings and animal trophies are decorating the room. Though the Sky District is made of stone Hugo has infused wood into his house, like veins in a living organism running all around the house, giving it a unique and artistic look. They search around and finds Hugo in his bedroom with his shirt over the head trying to get undressed.
“Hugo the Baker, mate, you owe money and we are here to collect” Leekon says and points his sword at Hugo.
Hugo turns around in shock, red in the face with his arms stuck in the shirt and his fat stomach hanging loose down over his pants. The sight of Hugo and his fat body provokes both laughter and nausea in Leekon.
“What are you doing in here. Don’t you know who I am, how dare you address me like this” Hugo grunts and spit flies from his mouth.
Storm punches Hugo in the face “as I said mate, you owe money, to my uncle to be more specific” Leekon says.
“I AIN’T PAYING YOUR UNCLE ANY MONEY, I HAVE TOLD HIM THIS SEVERAL TIMES ALREADY” Hugo yells angrily and with some difficulty frees his hands from the shirt “I AM A VERY IMPORTANT MAN AND YOU SHOULD SHOW ME SOME RESPECT” he grunts.
“Mate if you don’t pay, we gonna hurt you, so last chance” Leekon says and moves his sword to Hugo’s throat.
“I’ll have you hung for this, thief scum” Hugo spits, moves away from the sword and throws a punch at Leekon.
Leekon dodges the punch quite elegantly and Storm takes the opportunity to stomp on the side of Hugo’s kneecap, dislocating the knee. Hugo falls to the ground in a scream of pain.
Leekon walks past Hugo up to his dresser and after a quick search finds a coin purse brimming with gold coins “this should cover your debt mate” Leekon says and puts away the purse.
“JUST YOU WAIT, I WILL GET YOU ALL KILLED, YOU TWO, THAT DWARF BITCH, THE STUPID GIRL AND EVERY SINGLE TIEFLING” Hugo yells in pain, he is furious. Leekon takes a piece of cloth and gags Hugo.
“And now for our payment” Storm says and grabs Hugo’s fat hand and starts to pry off every single gold ring from Hugo’s fat fingers, breaking three fingers in the process. Storm hands three gold rings to Leekon and keeps four himself. Storm binds Hugo’s hands on his back. From another room in the house is heard a loud roar and the breaking of a window.
Quinsel, Halm, Dis and John walks around Hugo’s house, with only the light from the moon to show them the way. Quinsel and Halm is almost blind, but Dis leads the way. They hear a loud roar and as they turn around a corner down to an alley bathed in the light from inside Hugo’s house. Something jumps out through one of Hugo’s windows and lands in the light in front of them. Storm and Leekon silently agrees to investigate the sound and walks down the hallway to where it came from. They find themselves walking into a large room filled with beasts and trophies in cages and hanging on the wall. Most of the beasts are either dead or close to, the wereboar is gone but in the corner, is the cage he was in, the bars are bend forming a big hole. Five of the young men who carried the wereboar is lying dead on the floor with their stomachs ripped up and their intestines spilling out. On the wall is two harpies chained up, barely alive and Storm runs up and breaks them loose by hitting the locks with his machetes. One of his machetes breaks on the last lock. Both harpies fall to the ground free from the chains, one of them dies as it hits the floor, the other is slowly getting up. Three guards stumble in through a door across the room, with their weapons drawn; sword in one hand and a net in the other. Leekon grabs his bow and shoots an arrow towards a guard hitting him in the left shoulder. The harpy takes off and flies up, it grabs a guard and flies out through the window and away with her. Storm runs up and shoulder bashes the other guard. The two guards throw their nets, trying to catch Storm and Leekon. The wereboar stands in front of Halm, Dis, Quinsel and John and lets out a terrifying roar. Halm reacts instinctively and performs two kicks and punch towards the wereboar’s face but with no visible reaction. The wereboar swings his left hand into the face of Halm and he flies into the wall of Hugo’s house. The wereboar then moves his head downwards and with a quick movement thrust its tusk into Quinsel’s stomach and rips a big wound. John achieves a short moment of clarity from the drugs as he sees the wound in Quinsel’s stomach and whispers “heal” and the small pirate birds with wooden legs and ships flies from his hand to Quinsel and heals her wound. Quinsel grabs Doctor Pain and furiously swings the hammer into the wereboar’s stomach twice. Dis follows Quinsel attack and swings her new greataxe at the wereboar, hitting one of the tusks and splits it in two. Leekon is hit by the net and struggles to get it off. Storm uses his machete to cut through the net and then makes swings at the guard hitting him in the side. The two guards stab Storm in the shoulder and forces him down on one knee. Halm sets off from the wall and makes a jump kick into the face of the wereboar. The wereboar takes a step back from the force of the kick but he regains his balance and charges Dis and Quinsel and runs them into the wall across for Hugo’s house. John runs up to the wereboar and swings his wooden dagger around trying to hit an illusion of the wereboar the drugs has created. Quinsel and Dis wrests off the wereboar together and swings their weapons into his stomach. Leekon cuts his way out of the net with his dagger and shoots an arrow into the eye of the guard he hit before, killing him. Storm punches the other guard in the jaw and then swings his machete, slicing him across the thorat. Storm and Leekon hears the fighting outside and through the window they can see the team fighting the wereboar. They look at each other and then jumps out through the window with their bows in the hand and each shoot an arrow. Halm flips onto his one hand and then continues to flip, making a double kick to the jaw of the wereboar. The wereboar hits Quinsel in the face with his fist, sending her flying sideways into the wall of Hugo’s house and then thrust his tusks into the chest of John and throws him up in the air. Storm and Leekon lands at Halm’s side and their arrows hits the wereboar in the back.
While in the air John looks down on the wereboar “piggy shouldn’t nono naughty boy” he says uncoherent but the magical properties in his voice still seems to hurt the wereboar.
Quinsel has blood streaming down from her nose and face, her stomach wound has sprung up, her body is embedded in the wall and white light starts to shine from her. She extends her arm, the white light gathers around her hand and she shoot a ball of light in the face of the wereboar, sending him into the opposite wall. Dis swings her greataxe into the wereboar’s stomach. The wereboar falls flat down on the ground and his body stops moving, blood flows out from his wound, creating a red pool around him. John lands on Dis as he falls to the ground. The team gathers around the wereboar lying on the ground. The sound of guards coming closer is heard in the distance. It is about two at night and they are all tired.
Quinsel squats down at the wereboar’s side “I thought these were-creature things turn back to human when they die” she says and pokes him with Doctor Pain.
At that moment the wereboar thrusts its tusks into Quinsel’s chest and throws her into a wall. Dis reacts instinctively and swings her greataxe, decapitating the wereboar and sends his head flying. A group of guards comes around the corner and sees the wereboar head turning back to a human head while in the air and lands in front of the guard captain. Halm grabs John and rushes over to Quinsel, she is badly wounded, and her heart has stopped. Halm tries to remember what he was taught back in the monastery about how to start a heart and he pounds Quinsel rhythmically on the chest. John is hallucinating and is seeing three Quinsel lying on the ground, making it hard to focus his magic. Halm gets Quinsel heart to beat with some difficulties and then guides John’s hands and together they manage to stabilise Quinsel and close up her wounds. John falls asleep from tiredness and the drugs.
Meanwhile the guard captain walks up to the team “give me a good reason not to arrest you all right here, right now” he demands with great authority in his voice.
Dis lowers her bloody axe and looks dangerously at the guard captain “we just stopped a wild wereboar before he could wreak havoc on this city. You saw the head change in the air and if you ask anyone from Hugo’s party they will confirm that this man was Hugo’s newest piece” she says while grabbing the head and shoving it into the captain’s arms “sir” she adds involuntarily out of habit.
One of the guards behind the captain steps up “it’s true sir, I was at the party earning some coins for me family and that man was Hugo’s man” he says nervously and then hurries back to his place.
“Well then, uhm, in that case, we thank you for your help protecting our city, but in the future, you should alert the guards” the guard captain says and then signals his guards to start cleaning up the alley.
Halm picks up John, Storm picks up Quinsel and they walk back to The Dirty Mattress to rest. Back at The Dirty Mattress a small party is going on. The girls are drinking and dancing, they have brought some men back from the party and are persuading them to use their money.
Lady Athis is dancing on one of the tables with a green cocktail in her hand, a girl is dancing with her “you so cool Lady A, why don’t you have a man … or maybe a lady” the girl yells through the music to Lady Athis.
Lady Athis takes a big sip of her drink and throws her arms in the air “no time Brittany, just no time” she yells back to the girl she is dancing with.
“But Lady A, ain’t there someone you like, maybe one from your team” Brittany teases Lady Athis.
Lady Athis blushes “well Quinsel is cute enough” she says and empties her drink.
Storm looks at Dis “we better get her to bed also” he says and Dis walks up and carries Lady Athis off the table and up to her room.
The team turns in for the night.
Dis wakes up with a shock as a suspicious person has entered her room. The person is covered in a dark armour with a white hand on the chest. If it was not for Dis’ ability to see in the dark, the person would be close to invisible. Dis has heard rumours of a special group in the Royal army bearing a white hand; called the Left hand. The group is supposedly an elite taskforce of highly trained assassins used for special missions. The person hands a sealed letter to Dis and she as takes it, the person bows and disappear. Dis wakes up, it is Whenkinsday morning, there is no sign that someone were in her room during the night, except she is still holding the letter in her hand. She gets dressed and walks down in the big hall to get some breakfast. The others are already eating their own bowls of brown; Quinsel has gotten herself an extra portion this morning. Dis gets a bowl from the bartender and sits down with the other.
“Did anyone get a visit from the Left hand tonight” Dis asks around the table.
“What is the Left hand” Halm asks and the others take a quick glance on his missing arm.
“I usually use my right hand or Doctor Pain, but yeah the left hand is fine as well” Quinsel says with a smirk.
“No, not that Quinsel, the Left hand is a secret group of assassins in the Royal army. Milo sometimes uses them to secretly deliver messages to groups around the world” Lady Athis explains to the group “what did they want you?” she asks Dis.
“I was handed this letter, that’s all” Dis says and shows the letter.
“Then what does it say” Storm says impatiently.
Dis opens the letter and reads it aloud.
Hurry to Grey Haven.
Storm takes the letter from Dis as she has finished reading “we better get going then, he is catching up quick” he says and hands the letter to Lady Athis “have you finished the letter we should send for you” he asks her.
“Yes, here it is, you should deliver it to Darnoc and then we should leave Crossington” Lady Athis says and hands a letter to Storm.
“What about the Joey Carr gang? Are you going to help my uncle with that problem, mate” Leekon says a little aggressive.
“If Glubnar is in Swan town, he is less than a day away, we don’t have time to help” Dis says regretful.
“Weren’t one of the campsites almost on our way north” Halm says diplomatic.
“Aight, you mean the one in the Kobold valley to the east of here, mate, it is sort of on the way north” Leekon says a little cheerier.
“We can check it out on the way, but we won’t have time to get back here if we find this Shiv” Dis Says.
“Do you think it is advisable to check out a possible thief cave with Glubnar on our heels” Lady Athis says slightly disapproving.
“Darnoc said that Shiv could have knowledge about the tattoo, so if he is there it could be worth our time” Storm argues.
“Then it is decided, we check out the Kobold valley on the way” John says affirmative, still hungover.
“Well Lady Athis, get ready, we will go deliver this letter and then leave Crossington” Dis says and gets up.
The team walks across the plaza to Scales and walks out in the backroom, where Darnoc is eating breakfast.
“Welcome back, I hear you made quite an impression with Hugo last night, I don’t think he will forget to pay next time” Darnoc greets the team.
Leekon hands the coin purse he stole from Hugo’s dresser, to Darnoc “here is the money, Hugo owed you uncle”.
“You all came back here, I hope that means you are willing to help us with Joey Carr” Darnoc says and weighs the coin purse in his hand.
“We have received new intel that Glubnar is close behind us and our time is therefore short. We have decided to help as well as we can but we won’t have time to come back here after. We will check out the place in Kobold valley and then continue our way north. When we hit the next town we will send a message back to you about how it went” Storm says firmly.
“I accept the terms as it seems like it can’t be different. I wish that Leekon continues to travel with you, to protect our interests. Did the Lady wish to send a letter?” Darnoc says and a young tiefling steps forward.
“Yes here and please be discrete, we don’t need too much attention on the way” Storm says and hands the letter to Darnoc, who hands it to the young tiefling.
The young tiefling leaves Scales and Darnoc looks at the team “is there anything ells I can assist you with?” he asks uninvitingly.
“No thank you Darnoc, we will report back to you as soon as possible” Halm says and bows.
The team leaves scales and walk back over the plaza to pick up Lady Athis before moving towards the harbour. Lady Athis is saying goodbye to all the girls while waiting for the team. Gertrudhilde sends Storm a big smirk as she waves goodbye. They walk to the harbour through the streets that are buzzing with people walking to work and school. Quinsel keeps pulling and readjusting her armour as they walk through the streets.
“What’s with you, why you keep adjusting your armour” Storm says a little annoyed.
“Don’t know, it just feels off today, like it has shrunked” Quinsel says while readjusting the armour once again.
“Maybe you just got fat mate, from all that brown you ate” Leekon laughs.
“Fat? Do I look fat” Quinsel replies and pulls her armour off to get a better look.
“It actually looks like your muscles has become bigger and more toned” Halm says while looking at Quinsel’s body “you just have to get used to your body changes, I’m still getting used to only having one arm” he continues.
“Maybe the brown did work wonders on my body” Quinsel says and puts her armour back on.
A group of people is blocking the street a little further down. They are looking up at one building where a young elvish girl is dancing around alone on the roof. The team walks up to the group.
“What’s going on here?” Storm asks inquiring.
”We think the girl is gonna jump, she’s been up there for a while” a woman from the crowd says without taking her eyes of the girl.
“Isn’t that the flower girl from the Grey district, you know the one that keeps bothering Quinsel” John says squinting to get a better look.
Half of the crowd turns around to look at Quinsel, as new information in the girl’s action has just been revealed.
“Why you looking at me, she is the one dating a man who likes to dump people” Quinsel says defensive. The crowd keeps looking intensely at Quinsel and she sighs “alright, I’ll try” she says and starts climbing up the building.
The building is six stories tall but Quinsel scales it with ease, it takes her no more than five minutes to get to the roof.
Quinsel sits down with her feet dangling out over the side of the building “why you up here” she says with a caring voice.
The girl is crying while dancing slowly over the roof “I-I-I told him that … that you were in town and-and he was really pleased” she cries “h-h-he said he has been waiting for you and-and he wants me to bring you back” she continues and cries even harder “I-I-I asked him why he wanted you, when he got me … and-and he DUMPED me” she wails.
Quinsel looks at the girl “that is what he does. You are not the first to fall for him and you are not the last heart he will break. It’s not your fault and it’s no reason to die” she says with a soft voice.
“YOU HAVE TO SAY THAT, YOU JUST WANT HIM FOR YOURSELF” the girl yells at Quinsel.
“I DON’T WANT HIM, YOU CAN HAVE HIM” Quinsel yells back annoyed that the girl does not listen.
“But he don’t want me” the girl sobs hard and let herself fall to her death.
The crowd gasps as the girl comes falling down and a few screams in fear. Quinsel is not surprised that the girl jumped, she has heard stories about him and what he has done. She gathers the feelings and fuels the fire in her heart that burns for revenge on him. She climbs down to meet the others that look at her with shock. The crowd around them is whispering hectically. Lady Athis face is painted with horror.
“What did you do” Dis asks shocked.
“Why didn’t you stop her” Halm follows.
John is checking the girl to see if she can somehow be saved, but she is dead and her body is broken. On her back he finds some freshly carved wounds, he opens her dress and finds that the wounds spell the words “come east and find me”.
“What does this mean” Storm and Lady Athis says simultaneously.
Quinsel looks at the others, she does not want to talk about this, but they are starring at her with such intensity, she feels that there is no way out. “Back in the war, I was a cleric up at Vigils Keep. I had just finished from school and was recruited to help defend Livinia. I was a good healer but I was young and therefore not allowed to do anything other than nurse work. That was until one night when we got attacked and all senior healers together with a big part of our army got maimed or killed. We were just twenty young nurses and clerics left. Hundreds of injured soldiers were screaming for our help. It was a nightmare with blood, guts, pain and death everywhere around us. And it wasn't made easier by the decree that any non-soldier must help the soldiers with any sexual need in order to lower the growing rape rate. One day I was elbow deep in a soldier fixing her guts when one of the recovering soldiers started to play rough with me and groping me on the ass. Jay came in with a sword piercing through stomach, a broken arm and leg and severe burns on his body. He had just lead an attack that rescued a group of captured soldiers and he pulled the soldier away from me. I was tending his wounds for a month to get him healed up and I fell in love with him; he was my first love. He could talk to my heart in a way no one had done before. We became somewhat serious for the next few months of the war and decided to meet up in The Shining City when the war was over. I got sent home earlier. But he never came home. I waited for him for two month until I received a letter telling me that he had died in an attack. It broke me, I had nothing left. My family was dead, I had no home and now the man I loved had been taken from me. But after some months I started to hear rumours of man by Jay's description. So I decided to find him and I learned that he was alive and had a girlfriend in The Shining City and in Swan Town and in every other town and city he had been to. I even learned that he not only had girlfriends, but he used them, he let them fall deeply in love with him and then he enjoyed breaking their hearts. The letter I had recieved about his death was a letter he had sent me to break my heart. Five of his girlfriends once learned of his nature and together they confronted him, nobody knows exactly what happened but the five girls was found a week later, butchered to death in a small cabin with blood and guts everywhere” she glows brighter the more she talks “he was my first and I loved him deeply but he used me as a mere plaything to entertain his sick hobbies. So I made him and all his girlfriends a promise, that when I kill him and revenge every girl he has used” she finishes.
“How can a bloody bastard like that still be around?” Dis asks.
“He is a very clever and dangerous man. He is a great tactician and he has planned all his actions” Quinsel says and is ready to leave.
“We need to find and stop him” Halm says firmly.
“Look, I’m gonna find him, but not when he calls for me. I ain’t going to meet him now, let’s just get going” Quinsel says and the others can see the pain and anger burnign in her eyes.
Quinsel walks towards the harbour, she is done with that conversation and the others follow her in silence. Storm pays a fee to the quartermaster/harbourmaster and the others walk to the Bloody Wench and prepares it for take-off.
Storm is about to step aboard when a voice calls for him “Storm, my man” a tall minotaur with a broken horn and a wooden leg at the size of a log walks up to him.
“Aye, if that isn’t Jax the tall. How are you my friend, what are you doing in Crossington” Storm greets and does a short series of handshakes. Jax is about twice as tall as Storm.
”I’m just travelling about, looking for some work, you know how it is, they cast one look at our tattoos and suddenly they don’t trust us” Jax says and points on a tattoo on his arm; Bulls isles with a P in the middle and an axe formed as a J going across.
“I was only ashore for half a day when I got recruited for a special mission and the job just keeps giving me more opportunities” Storm says a bit smug.
“Lucky man, now don’t go forget your old friend if you get any more of these opportunities” Jax laughs “where are you off to now?” he asks.
“We are going north, with a small stop in kobold valley, we got asked to check out a possible Joey Carr base” Storm replies.
“Kobold valley you say, I just come from that direction, something suspicious is happening out there. Be careful” Jax warns “well I gotta go, some boats are coming in and they could maybe need a hand” he says and leaves.
Storm gets on the ship and Quinsel and Dis starts to row them out of the harbour and out of Crossington on The Green river. Storm takes the steering wheel and commands the others around the ship. As they get out of Crossington and follow the river east, John sits down and plays the Basilisk song on his banjo but breaks a string. Along the shore are kobold heads placed on spikes and more appear the longer east they sail.
Lady Athis walks up to Storm at the wheel “who was that minotaur in Crossington?” she asks inquiring.
“Don’t worry about him, I have sailed with him for a long time, he won’t betray me” Storm says dismissing.
“So, he’s a pirate like you?” Lady Athis continues.
“And a fine sailor, if I were to hire a crew, I would not hesitate to hire him first” Storm says trustworthy.
Many small rivers split from the Green river and even more kobold heads have been placed down one of the rivers. Storm turns the ship and sails down the small river. The river leads up to a cave opening, some primitive defences has been built around the cave “get ready, seems like this could be the hideout” Storm calls to the others as he slowly sails into the cave. Many torches have been placed around inside the cave and they are still but the light seems strange. At the end of the cave is a waterfall and on one side of the cave is a small wooden pier, but there are no boats to see.
Storm docks the ship “stay here Talina, while we make sure it’s safe” he says and jumps ashore.
The rest of the team gets off the ship slowly and carefully. Quinsel jumps in the water and hides just below the water surface. Lady Athis stays on the ship with Halm’s horse. A road leads deeper inside the cave from the pier, on each side of the road are ledges about four meters above it. Leekon walks close to the left wall and carefully moves further into the cave. The others follow Leekon a little further behind, Quinsel is still hiding in the water.
Storm steps down in a trap, his foot goes through the ground and is stuck in a spiked jar “shit, they have booby trapped the floor, be careful” he says.
As Storm finishes the sentence Joey Carr gang members steps out of the dark carrying bows and daggers; two on each ledge and four right in front of them. Quinsel sees the team are getting a bit far from her and she crawls out of the water, the two gang members on the right ledge shoots arrows down on her. The arrows hit her in the shoulder, she wants to hit them back, but they are out of her reach.
“Is that what you got, come down here and fight me” Quinsel calls annoyed to the gang members and swings Doctor Pain a little. The light flickers.
Dis tightens her grip on her greataxe and runs towards the gang members in front of her. She makes a swing, it gets blocked but the power knocks the gang member of her feet and falls to the ground. Halm follows Dis, sets off on her knee and makes a split kick to two of the gang members. The two gang members retaliate by stabbing him. The third standing gang member near Halm and Dis, stabs for Dis but misses. The gang member lying on the ground stabs Dis in the leg and rolls away from her and stands up. Storm pulls his foot out of the trap and shoots an arrow at the gang members on the left ledge and hits one of them in the knee. And they shoot arrows back at Storm and hit him in the chest. John says “heal” and the pirate birds of light flies from his hand, this time they seem more muscular than before. The birds fly into Storm and heal his foot and his chest wound. Leekon looks up along the wall and can see one of the gang members, he shoots an arrow straight up and hits him through the nostril and splits his nose. The gang members on the right ledge laughs at Quinsel and shoots more arrows down on her.
“Okay this is enough, imagine this is your head, right here in the air” Quinsel calls up to the gang members and she swings Doctor Pain through the point in the air she was pointing at. The light flickers behind the gang members again and a Warhammer of light comes swinging out from it and hits one of the gang members in the head. Quinsel laughs and she swings Doctor Pain once again and the hammer of light hits the gang member in the stomach.
Dis thrust her greataxe backwards and hits a gang member in the stomach with the pummel, she then spins around swings her axe into the chest of the same gang member. Halm makes a backflip, kicking a gang member twice in the head, while he avoids two attacks and as he lands, he punches the gang member in the chest. Dis is attack and receives small cuts on her arms. Storm shoots an arrow at the guy that just got his nose splitted, the arrow pierces the gang member’s throat, ricochets on the wall behind him and hits the gang member in the skull; he falls over the edge and breaks his neck on the ground. The gang member on the left ledge shoots and arrow at Storm but misses. John runs up to Dis and Halm, hits a gang member with his wooden dagger and touches Halm on the knee; a bird appears on Halm’s hand. Leekon kills the gang member Dis is fighting. The gang members on the right ledge are shocked by the sudden appearance of a hammer of light, they grab their daggers and stabs for the hammer but they fly through it. Quinsel is about to swing Doctor Pain again, but just as she thinks of swinging, the hammer of light does precisely as she wanted and hits the first gang member over the head, breaking his neck and hits the second gang member in the chest, sending him over the edge. Dis swings her greataxe backwards, hits a gang member in the arm, she then spins around and with a jump she swings her axe from above and splits the gang member in two. Halm grabs a hold on the head of the gang member behind him, sets off from the gang member in front of him, kicks him in the face and knocks him out. The bird on Halm’s hand disappears and encloses him in a bird of light. Halm continues in a flip, throwing the gang member behind him off his balance. Halm lands on the gang members head and forces him face first down in the ground. Storm shoots an arrow at the guy on the left ledge and hits him right in the chest, he shoots back and hits Storm in the leg. Leekon takes a step out from the wall, takes a deep breath and with great focus, performs a trick shot, sending an arrow in a curve up over the ledge and hits the gang member through the eye.
“Please, please, I surrender” the gang member in front of Quinsel pleads, but she swings Doctor Pain and send the gang member flying into the wall.
Footsteps running towards the team can be heard echoing through the cave and a lot of splashing from the water around their ship is also heard. Three gang members comes jumping down the left ledge and runs towards the ship.
“Back to the ship” Storm calls and they all run back.
Halm gets a burst of energy and runs with exceptional speed towards the boat. Quinsel runs for the ship and swings Doctor Pain at a gang member, sending him out in the river. Storm and Leekon shoots some arrows while running but misses. John and Dis are running behind all the others. Two gang members crawls out of the water and up on the ship and grabs the steering wheel. Halm trips a gang member while running for the ship and jumps aboard. Quinsel tries to follow, but they sail the ship out from the pier, she hits the railing and falls in the water. Halm is ready to fight but they have captured Lady Athis.
“Hahahahahah, well, well, well, you have become stronger” a manic voice sounds through the cave “but let down your weapons or the Lady dies” it continues and a tall slender man steps out on the left ledge. He has crazy eyes and a big grin, his hair is nicely combed back and he is wearing a crude homemade officer uniform “get Quinsel out of the water before she drowns” he orders. More gang members arrive and apprehend the team and fishes Quinsel out of the water.
The team awakes to the sound of fifty gang members chanting “Joey Carr”. They have been chained to wooden chairs and placed around a longtable, set with several freshly cooked dishes. Quinsel sits at the end of the table with the back to one of the cave tunnels out and facing the other cave tunnel out. Above the cave tunnel in front of Quinsel is a balcony. Dis and Storm sits to the right of Quinsel and Leekon and John sits to her left. They are sitting in a big cave room with a very high ceiling. The gang member stands around the wall of the room and continues to chant. A row of barrels connected with a rope has been placed from one end of the room and out through the cave tunnel behind Quinsel. The light seems even stranger inside this room than it did near the pier. The gang members chants more intense and in through the door on the balcony, steps the man with the manic laughter. The gang members become silent as the man jumps down from the balcony and lands besides the table.
“Welcome. It is GREAT finally meeting you all and thanks for bringing Quinsel back to me” the man greets and sits down at the table across for Quinsel.
“Jay are you Joey Carr” Quinsel asks angrily.
“Well the heat got a little too much after the war. They wouldn’t make me general, they said I was too unstable and manipulative, can you believe that? So I got my own army and have been influencing many parts of Livinia, ever since” Jay laughs and starts eating “come, come eat something, it ain’t poisoned”.
John eats some chicken drumsticks and uses the bones to drum a soothing rhythmical melody. The team can feel the music invigorate their bodies.
“Where’s Lady Athis and why have you captured us?” Dis asks aggressively.
“All that anger, WAUW. The Lady is in a cell, I am undecided on what’s going to happen to her” Jay says and throws a big turkey leg over his shoulder. A big cat like creature with tentacles growing from its shoulders jumps out of the dark and grabs the turkey leg. It lies down beside Jay’s chair and looks at the team with big round, cute eyes. “You know, any of you are only alive, as an act of kindness towards my deer Quinsel” he continues.
“Oh Jay really? I have been looking all over for you and I REALLY WISH THAT I COULD TOUCH YOU” Quinsel says angrily and reaches her hand towards Jay, as far as the chain allows. Her hands glows faintly blue.
“Ooh, I wish you could touch me too, but I don’t think it would be wise. For me that is, I have heard that you are somewhat displeased with me” Jay laughs “you have turned out to be the strongest of all my victims and I want you to be my queen and help me get rid of these religious fanatics that infest our land. If you say yes, you and your friends will live, but if not you will be the chewing toy of my lovely Sasha here” Jay pets the cat at his side “she is one of the only displacer beasts left in Livinia” he continues.
“Ahahaha, your queen, you want me to be your queen? You broke my heart and my hammer satisfies me better than you ever could” Quinsel laughs.
“Who are these religious fanatics you are talking about?” Halm asks diplomatic.
“Ah but Halm, you already know who they are, you are one of them” Jay says and points to Halm’s missing arm “through the years, Venkhists, that’s you, have infested the land and governments. They are secretly trying to take over the world in the name of their God Venkha. They say that they want to shroud the land in music and purify it from all that is wicked and impure” Jay says laughing.
“Not all Venkhists wishes that for the world” Halm says offended.
“You are right Halm, it is only a part of the Venkhists who wishes the world purified, but that part, the shadow walkers, are dangerous. Did you know they have an agent at the King’s side, poisoning him and making him weak? But their plans are getting in my way and I am ridding them from our land” Jay says.
”Why should we trust a murderer and thief like you? You have us chained down and threatens to kill us” Storm says bluntly.
“Haven’t you noticed, can’t you feel it? The little gnome here have placed a zone of truth upon us, I suspect none of us can tell a lie” Jay laughs “isn’t that right my dear Quinsel?”
“Your dick is smaller than this butter knife” Quinsel laughs taunting.
“Well, uhm, John what was your plan with this spell you brought upon us” Jay says ignoring Quinsel’s taunt.
“How many of you gang members have been stealing from the great Joey Carr?” John calls out to the gang members standing around the room.
The gang members all starts to confess at the same time “I am”, “I have stolen five hundred gold coins”, “I steal food”, “I haven’t stolen anything” is heard in the chatter.
“It seems like you won’t help me help you save this land, so you leave me no choice. Nice to see you again Quinsel, I hope you survive” Jay says and angrily stands up “Sasha go have fun and when you are done kill them” he orders.
Sasha pounces towards the gang members and starts to kill them one by one. Before Jay leaves the room he lights the rope bound to the barrels and then leaves through the door behind him. Some gang members tries to fight and others tries to run but Sasha hunts down all of them. As Sasha is finished with the gang members she turns towards the team. Storm, Dis and Halm fights to break loose from the chairs and the chains. Quinsel and Leekon take turns to magically create sound around the room to distract Sasha.
“Anyone got any weapons on them” Storm asks while fighting with the chain.
They all collectively shake their heads. Storm breaks one of the armrests off and uses it to pry up the chain on his other arm. The rope burns shorter and the flame gets nearer the barrel. Halm also breaks free of the chair. Storm and Halm run over to the dead bodies and finds several daggers. Quinsel sees that the flame is almost touching the first barrel and creates water over the flame, extinguishing it. Sasha pounces at Leekon but before she hits him, he tips over the chair out of her way and she tumbles into the table. John tips over his chair at the same time, while they fall he can touch Leekon for a second and Leekon turns invisible. Dis is still struggling with her chair and Quinsel starts to break out of her. Storm throws a dagger at Sasha, but it somehow seems to go straight through her, he then runs to Dis and breaks her free. Halm runs to Sasha and slashes her in the face with a dagger and drops some on the ground for Leekon and John. Sasha retaliates on Halm, the two tentacles strikes forward and Halm gets thrown backwards from the power. Dis gets up and breaks Quinsel free, Storm then throws two daggers to Dis. Storm and Dis jumps over the table and stabs twice for Sasha, Storm hits with both stabs, but it seems like Dis’ attacks goes right through Sasha. Leekon grabs a dagger while invisible and uses it to get out of the chains, he rolls to John and also frees him. They run to another set of bodies and throws daggers at Sasha but misses. Quinsel gets up and runs to the other end of the room, making as much noise as she can to attract Sasha’s attention. Halm gets up again and runs to John, he is still hurt from the previous battle. Sasha attacks Dis and Storm with her tentacles and the slaps pushes them aside, she then pounces towards Quinsel. Dis grabs a hold on Sasha’s tail as she jumps by, Dis gets dragged after Sasha and she stabs a dagger into the tail. Storm throws two daggers at Sasha but she parries them with her tentacles. Quinsel send a bolt of light flying towards Sasha as she pounces towards Quinsel, but it flies right through her. John turns to Halm as he walks nearer and says “heal” the pirate birds of light flies from his hands and into Halm’s body and heals him. Leekon runs down to a third corner of the room, while making noise to attract Sasha’s attention and keep her away from Quinsel. Sasha bites Quinsel in the shoulder and throws her to the side before pouncing for Leekon. Dis is still hanging tight on Sasha’s tail and stabs it repeatedly. Storm jumps over the table again and runs towards Sasha and shoulder dash into her side, she tumbles over. Dis lets go of Sasha and flies towards Leekon. Quinsel gets up, she is bleeding and is running out magic energy, she is saving enough to find Doctor Pain when the fight is over. She runs to one of the barrels and sees they are filled with black powder, she cuts a barrel loose and rolls into two middle of the room, near the table. Halm runs back into the battle with Sasha and makes a flying kick towards her face but fall right through her. Sasha grabs a hold of Storm with her tentacles and throws him into Halm. John throws a dagger at Sasha and calls “heal” again, this time the birds flies for Storm and heals his wounds. Leekon finds a shortsword on one of bodies and throws it to Dis which she catches and runs up to Sasha and stabs her twice in the side. Storm throws two daggers at Sasha and they again fly through her. Quinsel gets up on the barrel and makes noise to attract Sasha’s attention, Sasha pounces towards her but Halm grabs her tail and Sasha fall flat on the ground. Sasha turns to Halm and bites him in the leg and throws him into Dis. Storm grabs the shortsword from Dis and jumps onto Sasha’s back and stabs the sword down into her skull and falls over dead. The team is exhausted and falls down where they stand. The light in the room turns normal as Sasha died.
“Well, well, well” Jay’s manic voice sounds from the balcony, as he walks back in the room “that was unexpected, but I sure am glad you are alive Quinsel. I would have loved for you guys to join me but faith intervenes in the funniest ways. You gonna need your belongings for your further travel, so here take it” he says and throws a chest out over the balcony “I wish you luck on your way, you may need it against those nasty shadow walkers” he finishes before leaving with the door slamming behind him.
The team slowly stands up, Dis, Storm, Leekon and John starts by looting the dead gang members around them. There is not much to find; a few gold pieces here and there, several daggers, a bottle of wine and some junk. Leekon is the only one with a bit of luck as he finds a Potion of Diminution; it can supposedly shrink a person in size for a few hours. Quinsel runs to the chest and throws every piece of item on the ground until she finds Doctor Pain; she then proceeds to kiss the hammer intensely like it is a long lost love. Storm picks up his own weapons and helps Halm hand out the weapons to the other team members. As the chest is empty, Storm finds an old forgotten Wand of Detect Magic in the bottom of the chest; he can sense that it is still working. Quinsel finish kissing Doctor Pain and walks over to Sasha, rips the tentacles off the displacer beast and binds them to her shoulders as a visual trophy.
“What way should we go?” Halm asks while the others equip their weapons.
Storm feels for an airflow and investigates the ground before talking “I think the road behind us, is where our ship is, so we should probably try this way first and see if we can find Talina, we won’t get payed without her” he says and points at the door below the balcony.
Leekon tries to move the table under the balcony but it is way too heavy. Instead he grabs the chest, places it under the balcony, climbs onto it and tries to reach the balcony. But it is out way too high for him to reach and he abandons his endeavours “aight, balcony inaccessible” he says and slaps Storm on the shoulder.
Quinsel sees a small passage in the room and decides to investigate, but the further she walks the darker the passage gets. She casts a sacred flame to light up the room; the flame flies forward where it hits and inflames a barrel similar to those out in the big room filled with black powder. She turns on the spot and runs back to the others and pretends that nothing happened. Shortly after a small explosion is heard and Storm lights a torch before leading the way through the door under the balcony. The door leads to large museum like hallway filled with various artworks; paintings are covering the walls and vases, busts and monster skulls are placed on pedestals all the way down the hallway. The floor has been paved with tiles and their footsteps echoes through the room and mixes with the sound of falling water. John stops up to take a closer look on one of the vases, while the others keeps walking. He takes a glimpse around before pushing the vase down from the pedestal with a satisfied smile. The vase hits the floor with a crash, making the whole team grab their weapons in shock over the sudden sound.
Storm walks back to John with a stern face, hands the torch to John and pushes him up in front of him “now you walk front” he says with a bitter voice.
They walk through a door at the end of the hallway and into a small room with three new doors. Quinsel impatiently magically enhances her voice “Lady Athis where are you” she calls.
“The weird spelling woman is sleeping” a small lisping voice sounds.
The team looks around for the source of the voice, while Quinsel confused asks “Doctor Pain is that you, what’s with your voice”.
“Behind this door numbnuts” the voice says and a scratching is heard on the door to their right.
“RAT” Quinsel yells and swings Doctor Pain, Storm and Halm blocks the swing and moves Quinsel away from the rat.
“I’m Shiv little girl, not some stupid rat” the rat introduces and points towards the corner “the woman you seek is over there in the corner” he says while walking out of the room.
“Darnoc has hired us to rescue you, mate, just follow us” Leekon says to Shiv.
“Of course that numbnut send someone to rescue me, he probably just want more of my product. And following you will be easy, you all stink” Shiv says and spits on the ground.
The room is filled with crates containing potions in all sorts of colours; painted on the side of every crate is a symbol that Storm, Halm and Dis recognise. Storm recognises it from his time as a pirate; it was drawn on many of the crates he was shipping. Halm and Dis recognises it from the small wooden box Halm delivered as a present to Allan Grimwald. The team investigates the bottles while Quinsel carefully moves around the rat and into the room to check on Lady Athis. The crates are filled with bottles of a very potent drug, John grabs a bottle and drink some; he immediately becomes intoxicated and can no longer see anything but colours. Quinsel finds that Lady Athis is sleeping but otherwise completely fine, she lifts her up and carries her out of the room.
“Aight, this is legit pure stuff, we can earn a fortune on this” Leekon says after taking a sip and starts filling his bag with bottles.
Quinsel walks back inside the room and starts piling up the crates in one big pile. She pulls out her tinderbox and tries to set the drug on fire, but once again the others stop her and carry her out of the room.
“Stop doing that, Leekon says it is worth a lot, we can sell it” Storm says and packs some bottles.
“But drugs are bad, we should destroy them all” Quinsel says pitiful and tries to push her way back into the room.
“Yes drugs are bad, but that doesn’t mean we should destroy them, we’ll just take some and leave the rest here for our financial security” Halm says diplomatic “I don’t like them either, but they can become useful one day” he continues and keeps Quinsel out of the room.
Dis also takes some bottles and shoves a bottle down John’s bag before closing the room after her “which way is the exit” she asks Shiv and he points to the door right in front of them.
“Well now that we know the exit and we have Talina, shouldn’t we check this room just for the fun of it” Storm says and opens the room to their left. It is a narrow and long room with five chests lined up and a grey sword hanging on the wall. The letters H and A is written repeatedly in green and yellow above the sword. Storm walks inside the room, takes the sword off the wall and feel a tickling running through his body. He then pulls out the Wand of Detect Magic and points it at the sword and it starts to glow for a second. “I will name this sword the Funny sword, for now” he says and packs away the wand, he then uses the sword to pry open a chest, wherein he finds a Potion of Growth; that can increase the size of a person for up to four hours.
John finds his way to a chest in his intoxicated state and fumbles with the lock, after a few attempts he finally gets it open and only finds to arrows inside.
“My turn” Quinsel yells and runs to one of the locked chest after seeing John and Storm open theirs. She eagerly rips open the chest and finds a nice rope in it, with a little tag on it saying Rope of Climbing. She wraps it around her arm, happy that she now has a new rope.
Dis and Leekon figures they as well can open a chest each. Dis finds a Potion of Giant Strength, which temporarily can increase the strength of the user. Leekon finds a staff with a snake head. They both look at their items and pack them without further interest.
“Now let us get out of this cave, I hope we haven’t spent too much time here” Storm says and leads the team out of the door Shiv say is the exit.
As they walk through the door the sound of splashing water increases tenfold. They are above the waterfall that blocked their way back when they arrived in the cave; they can see the small pier where they got ambushed. Their ship has been hoisted up on the waterfall and docked between several Joey Carr ships and boats.
“What’s that smell” Dis says and takes a deep breath, as a wave of warm air comes her way, her stomach growls loudly from hunger.
A fireplace is burning while a dead animal is slowly roasting; it seems like the gang members were preparing a meal before getting ordered away. The smell of grilled meat floating in the air makes the team realise just how hungry they are, like they haven’t eaten for a long time.
“I think it is my horse they have cooked” Halm says and starts to calmly carve the meat of the grilled horse.
“I believe you are right, it sure ain’t on the ship anymore” Storm says chewing on a piece of meat and starts pulling the ship over to the hoist.
Quinsel walks up to Halm with caring and sad frown “are you okay” she asks with more empathy than any of them have heard her express before.
“Well now it can give us some sustenance on the way and I sure am hungry” Halm replies while handing meat around to everyone and packs the rest.
“Your horse tastes like crap” Shiv says while stuffing his face full of meat.
“Dis and Quinsel come and help me hoist the ship down. Halm and Leekon climb down the waterfall with Talina and John” Storm commands.
Dis and Quinsel helps Storm hoist down the ship while Halm and Leekon carries Lady Athis and John down the side of the waterfall. Quinsel swan dives down into the water after the ship has been safely placed at the foot of the waterfall.
“You better carry me down woman, you wouldn’t want me get hurt” Shiv says and pokes Dis with his bony rat fingers.
Dis lifts Shiv up on her back and crawls down with him. Storm takes a last look around to see if they have remembered everything and then follows Quinsel down into the water.
“Quinsel and Dis, get the oars and get us going, Leekon you take the wheel” Storm commands as he crawls out of the water and onto the ship.
They sail out of the cave and Lady Athis awakes as the sunlight hits her face “that is a morning sun” she says while measuring the suns position “how can that be, how long have we been in this cave. We should never have stopped here” she continues with a disapproving voice.
Storm also measures the sun “well that explains why I am so hungry and tired, it is Thurderday morning. We have spent an entire day as Jay’s prisoners” he turns to Shiv “okay rat, we have spent too much time on rescuing you, you better be useful” he threatens and pulls out the skin piece with Halm’s tattoo “do you know anything about these tattoos and the shadow walkers?” he asks in a threatening tone.
Shiv stares blankly out in the air “I have been told that the tattoo is the mark of the shadow walkers you numbnut, it has been bestowed on them by the archpriests as a way to send commands. The arch priests are servants of Venkha and there are four of them in total and one of them is in Livinia. The archpriests control the shadow walkers and can kill them whenever they like, they do so especially when the shadow walker becomes a problem. The smartest part of their system is that no shadow walker knows what the others have been ordered to, that way no one can interfere” he says with his lisping voice and spit flying out of his mouth.
“Have you met with any shadow walkers? Do you know what they want?” Storm continues to ask but moves backwards to avoid more spit.
“Yes, yes, yes, I was ordered by a man covered in robe to deliver a special drug to a wealthy business man in The Shining City. The drug was sublime and the job payed well” Shiv says with a greedy grin.
“So some religious fanatic with and evil religion is trying to control Livinia and we are caught in the mid of it. I need more money for this” Storm says headshaking “Halm, you better tell us some more about your religion, what’s the deal with your God” he turns to Halm and continues.
Halm is standing beside Storm “we got raised with discipline and hard work, up early every morning, training, breakfast, work, training, dinner and so on, day after day. If we failed the monastery or did something wrong, we got corrected with corporal punishment. We were taught to value, hard work, respect, honour and loyalty. Venkha wants to heal the land and protect it from the general misuse of magic. They don’t believe that everyone should be using magic, in my old monastery it was only a selected few who got blessed with magical training. I have no knowledge of how it was in other monasteries but imagine it was the same. The tattoo I got about twelve years ago, one day they said the prophet had returned and we got called to an extraordinary prayer. I don’t believe my religion to be evil, but someone somewhere is corrupting and misguiding the faithful” he says with a calm voice, but the others can sense that he is struggling with something.
“That’s a crappy religion mate” Leekon calls from the wheel.
“Leave Halm’s religion alone, Livinia is a free place where people can believe in any God” Lady Athis says “besides we have more urgent manor, we just wasted a day and Glubnar is getting dangerously close we need to get moving. Hopefully we are still ahead of him and this river can lead us as far as Huntsman’s hall” she continues with an impatient tone.
“Aight, but we should also get some sleep” Leekon says careless and leaves the wheel to get comfortable.
“Yes we need sleep, so what about one stay awake to sail the ship, while the others sleep” Dis says with heavy eyes and grabs the wheel ready to take her turn if needed.
“I’ll do it, I’ll be the captain” Quinsel calls enthusiastically and jumps from the oars to the wheel “ohoy Painsy set the course straight north”.
“Ohoy is not a pirate word but thanks for volunteering” Storm says and lies down in some ropes.
“Whatever I’m the captain now, my rules” Quinsel says and gives the wheel a spin, making the ship turn hard to the left “oh and let’s get that nasty rat to walk the plank” she continues.
“Yes, yes let’s throw him overboard” John calls while dressing up in his bird costume “throw him in the water” he continues and sends Shiv evil eyes.
“We are not throwing him overboard, we have an agreement with Darnoc” Storm says with his eyes closed “John go to the opposite end of the ship and Quinsel, you are only temporarily captain, so don’t crash my ship” he continues and put a cloth over his eyes.
“I will keep an eye on them while you rest” Lady Athis says with impatience.
Halm eyes John “why are you putting on your bird costume?” he asks curiously.
“It is warm, cosy and really soft. It’s not like we have beds on this ship” John says and places his bedroll between two benches.
“Oh yeah like it’s the lack of soft beds that’s our problem and not the maniacs” Dis mumbles sarcastic from her own bedroll.
Quinsel sway her way back out on the Green river while the others sleep. A few small boats have to avoid collision with her. One boat sails up on the side of the Bloody Wench and a voice calls.
“Hallo friends, we meet again, you left so early yesterday I didn’t get to say farewell. But it is good that I found you now, I have news to bring. Sir Owen Vander just arrived to Crossington, he is not looking good, I heard people say that it was Dis who defeated him in combat, and she should stay away from his fans. Oh and Baron Glubnar has also arrived to Crossington, he is not happy, he rode into town with some orcs and started interrogating people about a small group he is chasing. Someone even told him to go check out the Dirty Mattress; you know the place you stayed. It started to heat up, so I left Crossington and now I am here. How come you haven’t come any further, you left yesterday and you are only like four hours away from the town” Stefan rambles in a friendly manner.
Quinsel looks around to see if anyone is awake to answer Stefan, but no one reacts, she places Doctor Pain at the wheel “take the wheel Painsy, I got to answer this one” and she walks to the railing “thanks for the news, I think. Yeah we haven’t gotten as far as we wanted, we got invited for dinner last night and just couldn’t get out of it, you know those really insisting people, so we had to go and it just took forever” she calls back to Stefan. A wave hits the ship and it changes course, Quinsel runs back to the wheel and grabs it before sailing over Stefan’s boat.
“Woaw, careful, you almost hit us. Oh this is our turn, good luck” Stefan calls back as the boat he is on sails down a smaller river.
Lady Athis walks up to Quinsel at the wheel “so Glubnar has arrived in Crossington. This was what I feared, he gets closer and closer for every day, and we need to get to Grey Haven before he does” she says with a worried voice.
“Don’t worry Lady, Doctor Pain and I won’t let you down” Quinsel says and nods with Doctor Pain.
Quinsel sails the ship for some hours and the team wakes up at noon. A cover of clouds has rolled in over the land and blocks out the sun. Storm measures the wind and temperature and then starts to slowly stomp on the deck every fourth second like a slow beat. Quinsel lets Dis take the wheel and goes to lie down on a pile of ropes.
Leekon walks up to Storm “what are you doing mate?” he asks as Storm keeps stomping on the deck.
Storm ignores Leekon, while staring at the dark clouds and as the rain starts falling in the horizon, his deep and rusty voice breaks the silence with a song.
Thy rain has come
Thy rain
To heal our land
Our land
Is black and burned
Our folk
Can do no more
Thy rain
We beg of you
To restore
Our land as before
Thy rain
Please end this draught
It is fire
Burning in our throat
We thirst
For the taste of rain
We hunger
For our land restored
Thy rain
Thy rain has come
Thy rain
We longed for you
Storm continues to sing as the rain rolls in over the land and the ship. Everyone listen to his song and silence follows as he finishes and walks up to the wheel to take it from Dis.
Quinsel looks around and starts laughing “wauw, Doctor Pain sings better than you” she says breaking the silence.
“Be silent Quinsel” Halm says and then turns to Storm “that was a beautiful song, where is it from?” he asks interested.
Lady Athis takes the word before Storm can reply “Centuries ago during the Age of Magi over east in Paharis, the Fire king Al Nedim cast a powerful fire spell to protect his land against attackers, but the spell was too mighty for Al Nedim to control and it unintentionally scorched a big part of the land, leaving it dead. After the spell had ended, as the first rain came to the land, a man stood up and greeted the rain with this song asking the world, nature and the Gods for help. Since then this song has been song every time rain arrived in hope that this would be the time the burned land of Paharis got healed. But sadly the song has not made any change so far, it gives the people hope, but the land is still scorched ” she explains to the others, she has been told stories like this many times during her upbringing.
Storm remains silent on the subject; he sang the song like he has done so often before when the rain comes, but he has no need to explain why.
“Bridge coming up” John calls as they near the ruins of a big old stone bridge, carved with a pattern of magic and dragon. It looks like the bridge was built with magic during the Age of Magi, but both ends have crumbled apart, making it unfit for use; it is still a beautiful piece of craftsmanship.
A big troll emerges from under the bridge; it is larger than the troll they met outside of Swan town.
“HalloooOOOooo, who sails near my bridge oooOOOooo?” the troll greets with its slow deep voice and sits with his feet in the water.
“Good day mister troll” Quinsel greets as she runs up to the ships bow “does passage under the bridge cost anything” she asks with a big friendly smile.
The troll stares confused out into the air without saying anything and the team awaits the troll’s answer in silence. After five minutes Leekon turns to Storm “aight mate, let’s just sail by him, he probably won’t notice” he whispers and Storm nods in agreement.
They slowly sail under the bridge, trying to get by without the troll noticing. They have come half way under, when the troll grabs the ship and pulls it back.
“OooOOOooo you have to pay” the troll says and stretches his hand the size of a hafling towards them.
“What’s the cost then” Storm asks impatiently.
“That big bird, will do fine oooOOOooo” the troll says hungry and points at John.
“I’m sorry, but that is our pet, we can’t part with him. How about we give you some money instead?” Storm bargains.
“Then money must do oooOOOooo, three silver each” the troll says and with great difficult counts the people on the ship “you are seven oooOOOooo, how much is that?” he asks, it is clear math is not the troll’s strong side.
“That is twelve silver for us all then” Storm lies and the troll accepts. He hands the money to the troll, walks back to the wheel and sails under the bridge. “I love how dumb trolls are” he says as they sail away from the bridge on the other side.
“You only think about money Storm” Dis says judgemental while working on the ship.
“Ain’t nothing wrong bout thinking of the money” Leekon says casually and hands out some horsemeat to the others.
“I’m saving up for a ship, when this is over I’m going sailing on the big sea again, so every coin counts” Storm says and pads his purse.
“Don’t worry about the money, just get me to Grey Haven and you’ll get plenty as you were promised. You know what, if you manage to kill Glubnar on the way, I’ll even buy a ship for you” Lady Athis snaps annoyed at Storm and Leekon.
“Aight, that’s a good deal, I’m glad I said yes to this job” Leekon says greedy.
As they continue to sail north, the forest that had surrounded them changes into an open field with farmland on both sides. The rain keeps falling in thick streams, soaking everything that it hits.
“This must be the first day since we started this journey where nothing is happening” Dis yawns while stretching.
Storm looks around at the others “you are absolutely right, we should use the time productive. Dis do some military training exercises with the team and then do some climbing up and down the mast, where after you swim some rounds around the ship” he commands and starts squatting at the wheel “Talina, you should probably do some exercises too, just in case” he suggests in a calmer tone.
“I don’t have time to train, I need to work on my music” John says, pulls out his pan flute and ignores Storm.
Leekon looks at John and then at Dis “yeah I ain’t gonna do that training either mate” he says even more disrespectful than John and gets comfortable.
Quinsel jumps up from the ropes and strips naked and jumps in the water to swim around the ship. Halm stands up across from Dis and follows her instructions. Quinsel crawls back on the ship after a few rounds and joins Dis and Halm; Dis works them hard. Lady Athis follows the exercises as well as she can. Night falls and the rain finally stops. Quinsel and Dis went full out on the exercises and are exhausted from the training and drops to sleep right away, whereas Halm just seems serene.
“Who is taking the night shifts” Storm asks with authority “Quinsel has been up for two days, she needs to rest” he proceeds.
“I can take the wheel, I can meditate while sailing” Halm says and swaps position with Storm.
“Great and Leekon you stay awake with Halm, you’ve been sleeping all day and you skipped training” Storm says, Leekon is about to protest but Storm sends a piercing look.
“Aight I take the lookout, you can go to sleep” Leekon says and crawls up in the mast and sits comfortably.
A few hours goes by with Leekon navigating for Halm and calling warnings every time Halm has to correct the course.
“Over here, hey” a voice calls in the dark and Halm stops the ship. Two hunters; a human and an elf, stand at the shore waving.
Halm wakes Storm “two hunter looking persons are calling for us, what should we do?” He asks.
“I got this” Storm says to Halm and then turns to the hunters “who are you and what do you want from us” he calls dismissive.
“We are two young hunters, from the Hunters guild and we would like a lift towards Huntsman’s Hall if possible” the human hunter pleads.
“But what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?” Halm asks curiously.
“This is our initiation trial to be accepted as members of the Hunters guild, we have to hunt down and bring back a formidable creature to prove our worth” the hunter says with honour but his voice then breaks to a humble tone “we have sadly not succeeded on our hunt and are now to return with shame” he finishes.
“That is of course sad to hear, but what can you offer for a lift on my ship?” Storm asks and sails to shore.
“We have some money left, we can afford paying fourteen gold coins” the hunter replies as he and his friend walk aboard.
“Fourteen gold is fine, you can sail with us to Huntsman’s Hall. I’m Storm, the captain of this ship. You can take place near the bow, get some sleep, there is still some way to go” Storm says and turns to Halm “I’m gonna take the wheel, you can rest if you want” he then calls to Leekon in the mast “if you need to, you can take a little nap up there” he laughs.
“Thank you captain Storm, I am Markus and my friend here is Tom, he can’t talk for he is mute” Markus introduces before he and Tom walks to the bow.
Storm sails the ship until the morning sun wakes Dis from her slumber. He signals her to come up to the wheel.
“We have gotten two new passengers during the night, they are hunters, the human is called Markus and the elf is Tom. I want you to take the wheel for some hours” Storm informs and leaves the wheel to Dis. He walks up to Markus who has started moving “what creature where you trying to hunt?” Storm asks bluntly.
“There was a rumour of a group of perytons in the area; they are big bird like creatures with the head of a stag, they feast on the hearts of humans, elves and half-elves” Markus says, there is a hint of relieve in his voice that they did not find the perytons.
“Yes I have heard of these before. I have had my share of beasts in my life, if we meet some perytons on the way, I will help you” Storm promises.
Quinsel awakes well rested, she sees the two new comers and walks up to greet them “who’s your new friends” she asks Storm with a cocky smile.
“I’m Markus and this is Tom and is that displacer beast tentacles on your shoulder” Markus’s interest has peaked.
“We killed it two days ago, you wanna buy one” Quinsel says and moves closer to Markus.
“It would be some trophy to have, even though I haven’t killed it myself, but I have nothing left to trade with” Markus says regretfully.
“I believe we can find some way for you to pay me” Quinsel flirts with sex in her voice.
Markus stares at her for a second “I can tell you a joke, for a tentacle” he proceeds to say.
“That’s a deal” Quinsel says eagerly and shakes Markus hand.
Surprised that Quinsel accepted the deal Markus clears his throat before telling the joke “what is the difference between a tiefling and Lady Athis? A tiefling doesn’t betray his own people” he laughs.
Quinsel breaks out laughing from Markus bad joke “it’s funny because Lady Athis is on the ship on her way north trying to protect her people” she releases one of the tentacles from her shoulder and hands it to him.
Markus lowers his voice “please don’t tell her I said that but she is classic joke material in Huntsman’s hall” he says and pulls out a brown burlap sack from his backpack to make room for the tentacle. He throws the sack to Storm with a smile “if you are serious about that peryton, you are going to need this” Markus says while putting the tentacle in the backpack.
The burlap sack reeks horribly like old flesh left out in the sun. Storm hands the sack to Quinsel, who opens it and reveals at least twenty human hearts. The smell spreads fast from the now open sack and awakens the rest of the ship. Shiv moves around blind and hungrily tries to locate the source of the smell. Lady Athis can hardly stomach the smell and almost vomits over the railing. John awakes and stares into the face of Tom, memories passes before his eyes. He grabs his wooden dagger and with a quick movement attacks the elf.
“Nooo, nooo, you can’t, not again, I won’t let you” John screams with teary eyes, while Halm keeps him of Tom.
A dark shadow in the shape of a human body has appeared on the ships deck and it seems to become larger. Storm looks to the sky to find the source, but only sees a small black dot fly over them. A swishing sound of something flying by comes from the stern and a large birdlike creature with a stag head flies down and grabs the stern railing and tries to lift the ship out of the water. Halm lets go of John who flies over and hits Tom over the knee with his dagger. Halm grabs the burlap sack with human hearts and throws it at the peryton. The peryton releases its grip on the ship, catches the sack and flies ashore and starts eating the old hearts. Another peryton dives out of the sky and lands on Markus, pinning him to the deck. In one swift movement its beak penetrates Markus chest and rips out his still beating heart, throws it in the air with blood splashing everywhere and eats it. Leekon jumps down from the mast, lands on the peryton forcing it down on the deck. Halm also jumps onto the peryton and together they struggle to bind the creature. Another two perytons dives from the sky and creates two deep scratches on Halm and Tom before flying off again. Dis swings her greataxe into the wing of the bound peryton and helps keep it down. The two flying perytons continues to make swift dive attacks down at the team ripping several deep wounds in the team. Leekon pulls Tom away from an attacking peryton and down on the bound peryton to take his place, he then jumps up and together with Storm, they rapidly shoots arrows at the flying perytons. John stands in the middle of the fight wanting to attack Tom but chooses to help his team with his magical words. He sends wave after wave of magical birds flying to his team mates with every word he calls. The birds now more damaged than ever flies from John’s hands to the others and heal their wounds. Quinsel jumps to attack a peryton as it flies down to grab John, but with a powerful wing slap she is send flying to shore landing on a field. She gets up and cast a bolt of light but the flying perytons are too fast for her. The peryton attacking John lands on him and stares into his eyes with its own big black eyes, it continues to make weird sounds and is about to regurgitate. John wrestles his arm free from under the peryton and hurries to rip the hood off his costume and reveals that he is not a bird in need of feeding. The peryton is enraged by John’s betrayal and rips a big wound in him, blood flows out on the deck. A bloodied peryton with a dozen arrows in its wings dives for Halm, with his fast reflexes he makes a flip over it and stomps it down into the river, he then backflips back to the ship. Dis glows red with anger and froth flows from her mouth in rage, her eyes are burning and she leaves Tom alone with the bound peryton to tackle the peryton standing on John. As John is free he rolls to the side to avoid another peryton’s attack, gets up and continues to use his magical words, while Dis wrestle with the peryton. Quinsel continues to cast bolts of light after the perytons while running for the ship as fast as she can. Tom struggles to keep the peryton down alone and tries to call for help. A peryton drills its beak into the shoulder of Storm and flies away. A strange feeling grows inside him, like a burning anger he never felt before, he needs to kill the peryton, he is compelled to kill the peryton even if it kills him first. He grabs the Funny sword, he can feel it call for him and as the peryton comes flying by again he jumps overboard and stabs the sword into the heart of the peryton in the air, forcing it down into the river. The thirst to kill the peryton extinguishes as the beast drowns. Dis grabs the peryton she wrestles with around the neck with her left hand and with her right hand she swings her handaxe into the peryton repeatedly and the peryton jabs its beak down in the shoulder of Dis. Lady Athis clings to the mas has been standing under it the whole time trying to avoid danger. Halm sees a peryton flying for Lady Athis and makes a jump kick to the head of a peryton. He then pulls her aside and hides her under the benches. Shiv is hiding under another set of benches. The peryton Tom is keeping down, breaks free and sends Tom out in the water, Leekon jumps and grabs his arm in the last second and pulls his hand up to get a grip on the reiling. Dis throws the peryton she was wrestling with into the water and jumps onto the now free peryton and forces it down on the deck again. Quinsel jumps into the water and tries to swim up to the ship, but it moves too fast for her. A single peryton is still flying over the ship and as it dives for Halm, it is hit by a dozen arrows and falls into the river. A group of ships sails towards the team and Storm runs up to take the wheel and let the ship come to a hold.
Storm steps forward to talk “we are on our way to Huntsman’s hall with one of your hunters, Tom and his newly captured peryton” he says and waves Tom forward.
“So Tom, the mute elf, has got himself a peryton, oh and I see your friend Markus is dead. Well then you are officially a hunter now Tom, even though you seem to have gotten a bit of help completing your trial. Go to our ships and join us for the hunt you have deserved it” Lord snide says and claps his hands. Tom grabs his and Markus backpacks and leaves the ship followed by four of Lord Snide’s hunters who carries the peryton and Markus’ dead body. “I’ll pay you a hundred gold coins in compensation for your troubles with the peryton” he says and yet another hunter brings a purse of gold “and I’ll pay you more if you are willing to sell me those two beasts as well” the last part he says in dwarvish, his voice is filled with disgust as he looks at Shiv and Leekon.
Quinsel has caught up to the ship and is crawling in over the railing; she let herself fall down on the deck splashing water all around her. She is soaking and just lies flat on the deck looking up in the sky.
“They are not for sale” Storm replies firmly, denying Lord Snide.
“What does he want?” Halm whispers to Dis.
“He wants to buy Shiv and Leekon, he calls them beasts like they are nothing but animals” Dis whispers back to Halm, she is slowly getting angry at Lord Snide.
“We could sell the rat, we don’t need him anymore” John says stepping forward ready to deal.
Storm stops John with his arm without looking at him “we made a deal with Darnoc to bring Shiv back and Leekon is one of us, they are not for sale” he says adamant.
Lord Snide steps closer to Storm with anger in his face “I wasn’t asking dwarf, hand over the rat and the demon” he snaps.
Lady Athis emerges from under the benches at this moment “Lord Snide stand down” she commands to his surprise “these people are with me, I have hired them to escort me safely and discretely to Grey Haven” she explains with a slight upper-class condescending tone.
Lord Snide signals his hunters to stand down “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding Lady Athis. I was surprised that you had surrounded yourself by this scum instead of some real guards. As a sign of good faith I will let you keep your demon pet but the rat comes with me” he apologizes to Lady Athis “I will leave you and your gang for I have a hunt to finish. Countess Bigsby and Lady Ironfist have both arrived in Huntsman’s hall to discuss your instatement as official Lady of Ivaris, they are both awaiting a visit from you before the meeting” he says and leaves the ship. The last of his men apprehends Shiv and drags him off the ship.
Lady Athis waits till Lord Snide and his ships are out of sight before turning to her team “I’m glad you didn’t fight Lord Snide for Shiv, it would have ended horrible. I suspect we arrive in Huntsman’s hall in about six hours. When we arrive a political campaign begins, Countess Emma Bigsby, Lady Helja Ironfist and Lord Carlo Snide have the voting power to instate me as Lady of Ivaris; at least two of them needs to vote for my instatement. It seems like Lord Snide’s vote is already in jeopardy but I trust that you can secure my instatement. Also Huntsman’s hall is as racist as Lord Snide it is unwise for Leekon and Shiv to go out alone” she informs.
“Alright we have just survived another fight and as she said, there is only six hours to Huntsman’s hall. We don’t know what we’ll meet on the way, so get some rest and something to eat. When we arrive we’ll get some rooms and figure out how to proceed with the campaign. Who takes the wheel?” Storm says and looks at the others.
“Aight, I’ll take the wheel, mate, but remember I’ve been up all night” Leekon says trying to sound self-sacrificing.
“Don’t worry my friend, I will also stay awake” Halm says supporting to Leekon, but Storm sense that it was meant to comfort him.
“Awake us if anything happens” Storm says and finds a place to sleep.
They had sailed for about two hours when a roar is heard from a little longer up the river. As they get closer Halm and Leekon can see a bear caught in a trap and an elvish woman trying to free it. Halm turns to Leekon “let’s sail to them, it seems like they could use our help” he says pointing at the woman and the bear.
“Why should we do that mate, what’s in it for us?” Leekon says careless without changing his course.
“Mainly we should do it, because it is the right thing to do but also because you never know what you will get from helping others. You don’t know if there is anything worth your time if you don’t take a chance now and then” Halm responds calmly.
“Are you serious mate?” Leekon asks in disbelieve and looks at Halm; the determination is written all over his face. “Aight, but you take the blame if this is an ambush” he says and sails to shore.
Halm jumps ashore and walks towards the woman, she turn towards him and aims at him with a bow, while saying something in elvish; he recognizes her as the forest witch Aida. He does not want to fight her but he understands if she wishes revenge on them for Vision’s attempt to kill her in the forest fire. Slowly without breaking eye contact with Aida, he takes his staff, moves it out in front of him and places it on the ground to show that he means no harm. “I don’t wish to fight you, do you need help?” he says with a calm voice and slowly walks closer. Aida rambles a string of words in elvish; Halm does not understand a single word she is saying but he senses a bit of panic in her voice. “I don’t understand elvish, please calm down” he says very slowly, trying to calm her down but Aida keeps rambling.
Leekon can feel impatiens tingle in his body as he looks on Halm’s feeble attempt on communicating with the woman. He steps of the ship to help out and Aida immediately aims her bow at him. Uncaring and dismissive he fishes out a set of thief tools from one of his pockets and shows it to her. She lowers her bow and tries to calm the bear, while Leekon tries to open the trap. The bear roars distressfully from the pain and bites for Leekon every time he fails. The commotion awakens Quinsel, John and Storm.
“What’s that noise” Quinsel calls from the ship “you woke me from a good dream, I was dancing with Doctor Pain” she continues and jumps ashore.
John and Storm follows Quinsel up to where Halm is standing. “Is everything alright Halm? Why have we stopped?” Storm asks inquiring. Aida raises her bow and aims at Quinsel, Storm and John while yelling something on elvish, she sounds more distressed than before.
John lays eye on Aida and runs towards her with a big smile and tears of joy in his eyes and exclaims “Ofelia”.
Surprised and shocked by the gnome’s sudden movement towards her, Aida steps backwards and instinctively shoots an arrow at John’s feet as a warning. The bear senses the sudden change in Aida’s emotion and bites Leekon in the shoulder.
Halm grabs John by the collar of his bird costume and pulls him away from the bear and Aida. “This is Aida, we met her back in the forest between The Shining City and Lord Endrin’s castle. We are trying to help her get the bear free, but I don’t understand her, she keeps saying all sorts of things in elvish” Halm explains to Storm.
“So we don’t know if she wants revenge or anything?” Storm asks and gets ready to grab the Laughing sword if necessary.
Aida changes language to gnomish “who are you gnome and how do you know my sister” she says aggressively; the sound of her words changes from the sound of wind through the trees to the sound of fire crackling in a fire pit.
“I loved her, we were going to elope together but your people found us and killed her” John spits in gnomish.
“So you are the reason Ofelia got murdered” Aida says with tears in her eyes and shoots another arrow at John.
The tension grows thicker; Storm is ready to fight if it comes to it. John is clenching his wooden dagger in his hand with tears of anger in his eyes and Halm is holding him back. Quinsel gets bored; she does not understand what is happening so she decides to help Leekon with the bear.
“I saved her life; she got killed by a group of elves who made me watch” John yells back at Aida.
“I would kill you gnome but you have me outnumbered and Ofelia did love you, she made you family. Your life will be spared in memory of Ofelia” she continues with pain in her voice. With Quinsel pulling the trap open while Leekon releases the locking mechanism, they manage to free the bear and it runs off. “Thanks for releasing the bear for me. You should get moving, a group of orcs and humans are following you” she says and runs after the bear.
“What was that about, mate? The bear bit me cause of you” Leekon says irritated and gives John a slap as he walks by.
“You got something to explain to us back at the ship” Storm says and pushes John back towards the ship.
Lady Athis is awake waiting for her team “why have we stopped here?” she asks as the others walk back onboard.
“This bloke thought we should help out mate, because that’s the right thing to do” Leekon says sarcastically and drops down between some benches and takes some horsemeat. Quinsel cleans the bite wound on his shoulder before healing him.
“There is nothing wrong in helping those in need, besides with our last encounter with her we owe to help her” Halm says and helps Storm get the ship sailing again.
“Aight then next time you can get bit by a bear while you do the work, mate” Leekon snaps.
“Take the wheel Halm. And John start talking, what is your history with Aida, what did you two talk about and is it something we should worry about like Quinsel’s old acquaintance?” Storm inquires and Quinsel sticks her tongue out at Storm.
John looks at the others for a moment before answering “many years ago down south in the land of Sotara near the city New Dunster a child was born, he was an innocent boy who loved reading under the trees. He didn’t spent much time playing with the other kids, he just wanted to read his books, but his dad who was the village carpenter build him a wooden sword so he could go play with the others. As he got older he was forced into the army to help fight the elven threat; the gnomes had been at war with the elves for a long time, no one remembers why, they are just raised with hatred to the elves. One day the young gnome had gone far into enemy territory, he was scared and all alone and there he found a beautiful young elvish girl with a badly strained knee. He raised his sword ready to kill the woman. She looked at him with deep blue begging eyes, ready to get pierced by the gnome’s sword. But alas the gnome’s innocent heart couldn’t let him do it and he decided to help her to safety, where he cared for her until she got better. They shared stories, sang songs and fell in love. When she got better they had to part ways but decided to keep meeting. They secretly dated for many months without any troubles and one day the gnome confessed his love for her and she gave him a ring as a symbol of her love. They planned to elope together and escape the war, escape to a place where they could start a new life and live in peace. But those plans ended before they even started. A group of elven scouts found them kissing in the forest as they set off to find their new life. They got captured, the gnome fought bravely to protect his love, but he stood no chance. He got bound and was forced to watch them brutally murder her. Hereafter they stabbed him with his own sword and left him to die. The gnome’s pitiful scream of pain was heard by a group of gnome soldiers and he got rescued. They found him holding the decapitated head of his love in his arms and as he gave her one last kiss. The soldiers brought him to the gnome leader, who chose to spare his life and instead exiled him for treason. He left his home and his world with two promises; the first was to never hold a real sword again and the second was that he would return to his love when he had seen the world for them both. That young gnome was me and the woman you called Aida is the sister to the woman in the story” he says and ends his tale.
“So Aida blames you for her sister’s death? Is this going to be a problem for us?” Storm asks accepting of John’s story.
“That is a sad story my friend and it is some noble promises you have made for your love” Halm says and pads John on the shoulder.
John shakes his head “Aida won’t be a problem, she said she will let me live because Ofelia made us family” he says. “The last thing Aida said before she left was that a group of orcs and humans is following us, I guess she is talking about Glubnar and his men” John says and the others nods in agreement.
“Lady Athis, it seems like we have arrived to a lake, where are we going?“ Halm asks as they sail out on a big lake.
“We have arrived to Landar Lake, just follow the river to the east. And for those who are interested, if you look to the other side of the lake you find Moat Tollyn. A couple of hundred years ago, the King owned all the land in Livinia. A group of nobles were unpleased and rebelled against the King. Between those nobles were my forefather, Lord Tollyn Athis and they built that fort. Moat Tollyn was the line of defense that secured Ivaris’ liberation” Lady Athis informs.
“Yeah that is fine and all, I’ll be taken the wheel again” Storm says and walks up to the wheel and follows Lady Athis directions. He sails the ship down the river and not far down river they arrive at another bridge. A troll is sitting atop of the bridge stirring in a large cauldron that could easily contain four adult humans.
“Oooooooh another ship to cross my bridge, you want some food” the troll says as they get up to the bridge. Everyone politely accepts the offer for food and the troll hands out small bowls of soup.
They look at the warm bubbling soup in their bowls and then at each other, none of them have any idea of what to expect from troll cuisine. John is stirring curiously in the food and Storm takes a big sniff trying to figure out what the soup is. None of them wants to be the first to taste and the troll is starting to look intensely at them. Quinsel is the last to get a bowl of soup and she notices how the others have been stalling “oh you babies” she says and starts eating “it tastes fine”. But her word does not carry much weight; they know she would eat almost anything she is served.
Halm is the second to taste the soup “it is not bad” he says after a few second and the others then follows and starts eating “mister troll, what kind of soup is this?” he asks and takes another mouthful.
“Ooooooooh, you know it is people soup, when someone comes and tries to cross my bridge without paying they’ll become soup ooooooooh” the troll says and as the words leaves his mouth John, Dis and Lady Athis spits out a mouthful of soup.
“Oh Gods, I think I’m getting a bit sick” Lady Athis says and apologies for spitting out the soup.
Storm pours his soup in the river without the troll noticing and then hands the bowl back “thanks for the soup, but let’s talk a deal, what do you want in exchange for us crossing your bridge” he asks and can hear the others pouring their soup in the river while the troll looks at him.
“Ooooooooooooooooh, I have had trouble with a beast lately, I would like you to take care of it” the troll says and points south in the direction where they met Aida.
“I will talk this over with my friends” Storm says and turns back to the others “he wants us to fight a beast and points towards where we found Aida and the bear. Could the bear be his beast?” he asks the others.
“If he is talking about the bear, I think it would be unwise to take the fight. Aida was formidable the first time we met her she must surely have become stronger, beside she let us live this time, I don’t think she would let us live a second time” Halm argues.
“We don’t have time to go back for a beast, Huntsman’s hall is just past that bridge and we have much work to do” Lady Athis says.
“Don’t forget Glubnar is right behind us” John contributes to the arguments.
“So we agree that we should decline this and try to make another deal with the troll” Storm sums up and turns back to the troll “we have talked it over and don’t have time to go back and find your beast, maybe we could come to some other agreement. Can I offer you gold or anything? Maybe something to put in your soup?” he says persuading.
“I have some old shoes you can have” Quinsel says and pulls out her old and smelling shoes.
The troll takes the shoes and gives them a hard sniff “ooooooh, these are good, but you need more” he says accepting the new trade.
“You can have this sack of horsemeat” Halm says and hands their remaining five kilograms of cooked horsemeat to the troll.
“Aight and to spice it all up mate, you can have these two bottles, one is red and one is blue” Leekon says and hands the troll two bottles of Shiv’s drugs.
“Oooooooooooh this is good, this is good, you can now cross my bridge” the troll says and dumps the shoes, the horsemeat and the drugs into his cauldron.
Storm sails the ship under the bridge and follows the river on the other side. As they sail the forest becomes thicker and the leaf on the trees slowly turns violet, even the sunlight that comes through the thick cover of foliage seems to have changed colour to violet. They have arrived to the Violet woods and they can see the harbour of Huntsman’s hall getting nearer.
A human comes walking towards them as they dock the ship, he is an older man with a patch over his left eye, his right arm bandaged in sling and a metal splinter on his left leg, his hair and beard is silvery white. “Lady Athis it is good to see you have arrived safely, we must announce your arrival at the hall of Huntsman’s hall right away” the man says and grabs some of Lady Athis bags.
“Right but first, team this is Sir Croft, he is an old friend. He has helped taking care of me and trained me in combat and war strategy” Lady Athis introduces.
“That is putting it mildly; I basically raised her after her parents died” Croft laughs.
“While I’m announcing my arrival you should try and prepare as much as you can for our further travels. We still need to get to Grey Haven before Glubnar. So arrange some transport to take us the last part across the land, you can maybe sell the ship for money and find us somewhere to stay tonight. Leekon you are coming with me, we tell people you are my pet; that way you will be safe from harm” Lady Athis says before leaving with Croft and Leekon follows.
“I will go find some horses we can use” Halm says and takes his gear.
“I want to go to the horses too” Quinsel exclaims excited and grabs Doctor Pain and her bag.
“Then I will take care of selling the ship, I stole it, so I will get rid of it. You two can get us some rooms” John says to Storm and Dis.
“Then it is settled, come find us when everything is done” Dis says, she and Storm grabs their things and leave.
Quinsel and Halm also leave and John is now standing alone on the pier. John begins to tidy up the ship by sweeping the floor and collecting their remaining belongings.
The harbourmaster comes by and interrupt his work “excuse me, is this your ship” he calls to John.
“For now it is, I am getting ready to sell it” John says and jumps down to greet the harbourmaster properly.
“Well you can probably sell it to Lord Snide’s fleet but for now you have to pay five gold coins to dock here” the harbourmaster informs and awaits payment.
John pays the harbourmaster “before I leave you, can you maybe point me towards your local blacksmith?” he asks.
The harbourmaster takes the money and points down the shore “the smith is right down there, he is placed out here near the water to prevent forest fires and it is easier for him to trade with ships” he says and then leaves.
Halm and Quinsel walks through the town looking for the stables. Huntman’s hall is unlike the other places they have been to, there are no walls around the town to protect it. Nature is growing all over the town and some of the houses have been created as part of the trees, it is like the trees have grown houses for the people to live in. It feels like they have entered a different world. A citizen points them to the north western side of town, where they find another open field in the forest only separated from the town by a thin line of trees and an open building where the horses can rest. There are at least twenty horses running around in the field and Quinsel runs out to them as she sees them.
Halm looks inside the stables and calls “are there anyone here? We would like to hire some horses” his voice echoes through the large empty building.
A short redheaded man with a thick beard comes walking around the stables “so you wanna rent some horses. These are very fast horses, not that strong like other horses, but what they lack in strength they make up for in speed. Normally the horses are reserved for Lord Snide’s hunters but if you really wanna rent them, you can get it as cheap as seventy-five gold coins per horse” he says and greets Halm with a hard handshake.
“Let me see, we are … five, six, seven. We are seven and we will probably need about six horses, so that would be around four-hundred and fifty gold. That is way too much, do you have anything cheaper” Halm says while recounting yet another time in his head.
“We do also have some ponies and donkeys and they are way cheaper. But they are also not that strong, I wouldn’t let any normal sized person ride on a pony or a donkey. The ponies are thirty gold coins and the donkeys are a mere five gold coins but we can’t have any donkeys here before tomorrow” the stable master says and strokes his beard, he looks like he is thinking of something and after about thirty seconds he continues “if you are willing to help me with something, I could probably lower the price by fifty percent”.
“Well I do need the horses, so what can I help you with” Halm says willingly.
“There is this lowlife Venkha worshipper, Fredo, who owes me a big debt and I wanna have you go collect it for me” the stable master says and points towards a small tree hut with rude graffiti painted on.
“We will go talk to him for you” Halm says, his interest has peaked as there is a chance to talk with another Venkhist. He shakes hands with the stable master “Quinsel come we are leaving” he calls and walks towards the hut. Quinsel looks at the horses for a moment and then follows Halm with a sad face.
Leekon follows Lady Athis and Croft to the hall of Huntsman’s hall; it is a big building in the middle of Huntsman’s hall. First they get lead through a purple circular room with stairs leading up to the first floor and a least a dozen doors leading to offices and other rooms. All around the walls is a wide variety of trophies from the many beasts caught by the members of the hunter’s guild. They are lead through another door into a new room where three tables have been placed in a half circle facing a fourth table. A small delegation of people is sitting at each of the three tables. Countess Bigsby and her people are sitting to the left, Lady Ironfist is sitting to the right and a group of Lord Snide’s men sits at the middle table.
“Welcome Lady Athis, Sir Croft, please take seat” Countess Bigsby says and gesture to the fourth table “this meeting today is just a formality for you to tell us the entire story before the real meeting tomorrow” she continues as Lady Athis takes place at the table.
Leekon and Croft follow Lady Athis and takes place on each side of her. Lord Snide’s men are looking at Leekon with intense hatred and he is starting to feel at unease, he wishes that he was somewhere ells. As silence falls and the delegations looks to Lady Athis, she starts to tell the entire story.
John walks towards the smith a little down the shore; his head is spinning with thoughts “they don’t need you. You are only trouble to them. You can’t help them, just like you couldn’t help Ofelia. You promised not to use a sword ever again”. He can feel the cold hand of guilt roll in over him, he is going to break a promise; he is going to get a weapon. He steps into the forge as the smith pulls a sword out of the fire, anxiety sweat is rolling cold down his back. He clears his throat “are you the smith? I want to buy a sword” he says with a firm voice and the thoughts repeating in his head.
“Yeah I’m the smith as you can see” the smith says and shows the red glowing sword to John “what kind of sword do you need” he continues and starts hammering on the sword.
“I want a really great sword like those that will go down in history, it should be recognisable so people know who I am and to fear me just by looking at it” John says and takes a hero stance.
“And who are you supposed to be shortstop. A sword like that will cost you at least five hundred gold coins” the smiths replies bluntly.
“I am the great traveling bard John Flux Moonthinker and money is no problem, I’ll give you a ship for the sword if you want” John says and his ego inflates a bit but in his left ear he can hear the voice of Ofelia whispering “how can you do this to me” and in the right ear he can hear his own voice whisper “you are nothing”.
“You’ll pay with a ship? What ship do you own?” the smith says interested, a ship could be quite the bargain for him.
“In the harbour you will find my ship The Bloody Wench, it is a good and honourable ship and it can be yours” John says ready to strike a deal.
The smith puts the sword back in the fire and walks out of the forge to take a look on the harbour “I think I can see the ship, it looks fine, so you got a deal. I’ll start on your sword right away come back tomorrow” he says and enters the forge again.
John walks back into town with the cold hand of guilt clenching on his chest, it feels like it has become harder to breathe. The ship was supposed to give them money enough for horses but he sold it for his own selfish reasons, how can he face the others. He stops up with more thoughts running through his head. And then an idea hits, he could make it look like he was mugged and without hesitation he bangs his head into a tree, ruffs up his hair and rips the arm of his bird costume. With a black eye and a bloody nose he tries to find Storm and Dis.
Meanwhile Storm and Dis enters the large inn The Quick Camel in the middle of the town; it is quite empty at the moment. A few barmaids are cleaning up and the inn keeper is standing in the bar filling up and sitting at a table is a man drinking from an old goblet; he is wearing a tall wizard hat and a long leather trench coat with a symbol of five stars on his back. Storm recognises the symbol as part of the Lightbringer organization; an extremely religious group not uncommon in Livinia, Fracora and Weissfelde.
Storm and Dis makes their way through the room “welcome to The Quick Camel wanderers” the Lightbringer says as they pass him.
Storm stops and looks at the Lightbringer “thank you, this is Dis and I am Storm, don’t mind me asking but what is a Lightbringer doing here” he asks and sits down at the table with Dis.
“You know official church business. My name is Sigfried and do you want to hear about my religion?” he says casually and relaxed.
“Not right now but if you are interested I would like to sell you some rings and maybe some weapons” Storm says and places three golden rings, his machete and a bow on the table.
“I have enough weapons of my own” Sigfried says and shows a weird looking weapon; it is some sort of a long pipe attached to a handle, nothing Storm nor Dis have seen before “but the rings, I will pay you fifteen golds for them” he continues and takes the three rings.
“That is an interesting weapon you have there” Storm says trying to sound convincing and pulls out the Funny sword and places it on the table “since you know something about special weapons could you maybe tell me more about this sword” he continues.
Sigfried takes the Funny sword in his hands and can feel the magical energy that runs inside it “it is clearly a magical sword. I would need some time with it before I could tell you more and it would cost you about seven gold” he says and places the sword back on the table.
“That sounds like a fair deal, if you start with that, I will go buy some rooms to my crew and some beers, then you can tell us about your religion while you work” Storm says and gets up, he walks up to the bar to the innkeeper “can I get two beers and seven rooms” he says and smiles to a barmaid passing him by.
The innkeeper pours two jugs of beer “that will be seven gold for the rooms and one for the beers. But you will have to wait a bit for the rooms to be cleaned, we are a little behind. Some people from the Lords alliance ended in a brawl with some traditionalists and we have been cleaning up after them all day” he says bitterly and hands Storm the beers and gets payed.
“Are you having any trouble” Storm asks curiously.
The innkeeper continues his work restocking the bar “there is always problems when the factions are meeting. They get in arguments over the smallest things and then the fights break out” he complains.
“That is unfortunate, we will try not to be the cause of any fights in your inn” Storm says and walks back to Sigfried and Dis with the beers.
“So let me tell you about us Galdarians” Sigfried starts “as you may know Galdar, the giver is the God of magic and light. Then we have Bahamut, the first dragon, who is god of justice and knowledge. Pelor is the God of harvest and life and The Raven Queen is the God of death. Then there is the warhounds of Lund; Lund was the God of war but after his demise in a fight against demons, his ninety-nine hounds took his place in the fight against the demons. The Everström is the God of tempest and Tymora, the lady luck is the God of trickery. Moradon, the smith is the God of forge” he recites flawlessly “we Galdarians believe Galdar is the King of Gods and is trying to create order in this world. When the world was created, so was chaos and chaos is naturally spreading throughout the land. If we left the world alone it would regress into chaos and everything we have created would fall apart. We have to fight chaos like Galdar do and create order, to make this world a better place” his voice is filled with passion for every word he speaks, Storm and Dis is trying to look interested “but most of all we need to eradicate Venkha, her shadow walkers are creating chaos everywhere, they want to remove magic as they believe magic is only for Venkha herself. But magic is a divine gift bestowed on us from the Gods and those of us who have magic is closer to the Gods than those who have none” he finishes.
“These church business you were talking of then, what are they? Dis asks, trying not to sound too curious.
“I have heard that there is a shadow walker here in town, he owes a debt and must be punished” Sigfried says calmly.
Storm is sensing that Dis is getting nervous and decides to change subject “what about my sword, have you found something interesting” he asks.
“I am very sorry to say but this is a cursed sword, it seems like a vengeful spirit has possessed it. It will help guide your hand in combat to hit your target but if anyone hurts you it will not rest until you have gotten your revenge” Sigfried says and hands it back to Storm.
Storm and Dis orders some more beers and as the barmaid delivers them, John walks in through the door. "Did you sell the ship” Dis asks and looks at his black eye and bloody nose.
John sits down at the table and orders a beer “yeah but after I sold the ship I was going to find you and then someone snuck up behind me and smashed my head into a wall and stole the money” he lies convincingly.
“WHAT! Someone stole our money?” Storm exclaims loudly ”did you see who it was or where they ran to” he continues and grabs his sword ready to go on a hunt.
“I’m sorry no, it went so fast I didn’t see anything” he continues to lie “and there were no tracks left, it must have been someone professional”.
“This is very unfortunate, we could have used that money” Storm says and sits back down.
Halm finds his way to a small house, branches have grown out over the door like a canopy and a man is tending a small garden in front of the door. Quinsel follows behind and plays with Doctor Pain, she has already forgotten that she got pulled away from the horses.
“Hallo there” the man says and greets as Halm and Quinsel gets closer.
Halm grabs the man’s arms and checks them for tattoos and then proceeds to perform a complicated handshake with the man “are you the one they call Fredo” he asks.
The man looks hectically around to see if anyone saw them do the handshake “yes I am Fredo, let’s talk inside” he says and opens the door. It is a cosy little home; just to the left of the door is a small quadratic table placed between two couches, straight ahead is a small kitchen and besides the kitchen is a door leading out back. Homemade trinkets are hanging everywhere on the walls, they look like skulls on a string of beads with hair springing from the beads. “Sit down on the couches” he says and walks out in kitchen, he pours hot water in three cups and brings them back to Halm and Quinsel.
“Thank you” Halm says when Fredo hands him a cup “I am Halm and this is my friend Quinsel, I was thinking if you could tell me more about Venkha and what it means to be a Venkhist” he continues and sits down at the table.
“What do you want to know, you are one of us aren’t you?” Fredo asks and sips from his cup.
“Yes I am. I was raised in a temple but I am starting to think that they are not very good people. I mean they have always been hard and strict on us but since I got sent on a mission for the monastery they have made me betray my friends and tried to kill me several times. And I do not know what to think of all this cleansing the land, it sounds rather drastically and harsh. I just need someone to help me” Halm explains.
“Yeah, he stabbed me in the back and then his arm tried to kill him” Quinsel comments tactless.
Fredo takes another sip of his cup before talking “the shadow walkers are only one of three branches of the Venkhist religion and they believe that magic should only be used to serve Venkha. Then there is a branch of Venkhists who are completely against any use of magic and lastly there is the branch that accepts the use of magic but wishes that it is controlled and regulated. The first two groups are willing to kill any magic user that is not with them in the name of Venkha and they are extremely dangerous to be against. But on the other hand, magic can also be extremely dangerous especially in the hands of the inexperienced or the evil. That is why the last group want it to be controlled; they want magic users to be trained and certified in order to make the world a safer place” he says and then drinks some more from his cup “as you know, Venkha just wishes to make our world better and fight the chaos that is spreading, that is why she banished the other Gods. The other Gods were weak and created chaos, now she alone with her followers is correcting their mistakes. There is nothing evil in making the world safer and better, but some have just lost their way in doing so. I were also about to lose my faith once and I got help by a church up near Grey Haven. You should go there if you need more guidance” Fredo finishes and sips from his cup.
“Thank you that helps a bit and I think I will seek out this church, I am already heading that way. But Fredo, I was asked by the stable master to come see you about a debt, he said he would reduce the cost on the horses to half the price if I did” Halm says apologetic.
“I am glad to help but I can’t pay my debt as I have already done so; he has imposed an interest rate that I can’t keep paying. I do however know some other way to help you, my cousin is a horse smuggler and he can get you some cheap horses, way cheaper than what the stable master offers. You can find him north of here, just say I send you and he will happily help you” Fredo says and stands up “I need to get back to work now, thanks for coming by and I hope you find your way again” Halm and Quinsel follows Fredo out of the house and leaves him to his work.
Halm is thinking of the things Fredo just told him, while Quinsel once again is talking with Doctor Pain “Quinsel, what do you think about what Fredo told us. Am I doing the right thing? Is Venkha good or evil?” he asks hoping she can help him.
“I don’t know. I burned my tongue on the water so I didn’t hear what he said” she says to Halm’s disappointment but then continues “but Doctor Pain says that you shouldn’t spend so much time thinking of what a God wants you to do. There are many Gods out there and it is hard to know which is real and which is not, the best we can do is try and do the right thing wherever we are and then hope it works out for the better. Nothing is in itself good or evil; it is our intensions with our action and the context that surrounds it that will define the outcome. Whatever that means” she finishes and looks confused and baffled by her own words.
On their way to the inn Halm and Quinsel runs into Leekon, Lady Athis and Croft, who have just finished their meeting. Croft leads the way and tells a few tips to navigating in this town. They walk inside and find Dis, Storm and John drinking at a table. They sit down as Storm starts explaining the situation with the money from the ship to the others. A handsome male half-elf sneaks up to their table and pokes Leekon on the shoulder and gestures to follow him to another table. The half-elf is wearing a stylish roguish outfit; he has slick long black hair, deep green eyes and a big red scar right across his throat.
As Leekon and the half-elf have come a little from the table Leekon smiles a big smile “Fathil, mate, what are you doing here? It has been a long time since last we saw each other” he says and they greet each other with a big hug. Fathil continues to give him a quick kiss on both cheeks; he finds it weird and uncomfortable but he knows it is the common greeting in the Esterlands, where Fathil is from.
“Aight but why are you in Huntsman’s hall?” Leekon asks.
“I come to extend business for your uncle here in Huntsman’s hall, my friend. But right now I bring sad news, it seems like the brutal Glubnar came to Crossington and he killed your uncle and the others, he even went in and destroyed The Dirty Mattress. Only a few of the girls survived, those poor angels, may the Gods watch over them” Fathil says in serious tone.
“Are they all dead, mate?” Leekon says in disbelieve but he knows Fathil would never pull a joke like this.
“I don’t know my friend, I don’t know, but it did sound like it. You are the last of your family left” Fathil continues.
“Aight, then I must avenge them. This group I am with have been running from Glubnar for some time and they are bound to run into him soon. Staying with them will be the best chance to avenge my family” Leekon says and stands tall “I want you to sell these drugs mate, we are gonna need the money and we are gonna need to rescue Shiv from Lord Snide for future investments. Also if I don’t make it mate, there is a cave not far from Crossington with a great supply of drugs and treasures” he whispers and hands the drugs to Fathil.
Fathil does a slight bow “as you wish my friend” he says and leaves the inn.
Leekon walks back to others, Dis stands up, she looks irritated “I’ll go and secure us some horses, this town is already getting on my nerves with the constant violet light and I ain’t going to wait around here with all these racist” she says and leaves the inn. Leekon sits down, it seems like they did not notice he was gone.
Croft comes from the bar, he has a map in his hand and a bar maid follows him with two decanters filled with wine. He spreads the map out on the table for them all to see; it is a map of the entire Ivaris region. The bar maid place the wine and a set of glass. “The situation is this; first of all we need the political support, then we need an army and some money” he starts pointing and drawing on the map while explaining “Northshore and Ostbarrow are strong supporters of Glubnar. Maryn town is poor but they support Lady Athis. The Hunters guild needs to be persuaded to side with us, they can help with an army and with money. Lord Snide supported the late Lord Athis but so far is not a fan of Lady Athis, though it is to our advantage that he is a racist and hates Glubnar more. Countess Bigsby is willing to support Lady Athis and she can help with an army and the support of the people but she is also without monetary means. Lady Ironfist will not help us with an army, she has some money and she has big pull with the unions, but she is not happy about the last time she worked with you guys” he explains “to get the votes we need to work out a plan that includes the following points; taxation, Venkhist temples and what Ivaris will do if and when a future war breaks out. I want you to take out tomorrow and talk with Countess Bigsby, Lord Snide and Lady Ironfist to find out how we get their votes” he finishes and pours vine up to everybody “for Lady Talina Athis” he says and they all drink except Halm.
The inn became more and more crowded during Croft’s explanation and a party is slowly starting. Storm stands up and raises his glass anew “tomorrow we work but tonight we party!” he yells out in the inn to a loud cheer. Halm politely declines and walks up to his room to contemplate what Fredo had told him.
John can still feel the cold hand of guilt clenching hard on his chest and the thoughts in his head have grown louder after he got drunk. First he figures that he maybe could silence them by drinking even more but after an hour he have drunken his size in beer and feels liquid and nauseated the thoughts are screaming in his head. He runs to his room with tears in his eyes; he just wants the thoughts to stop, he wants to breath freely again. He hides in the closet and as the darkness engulfs him in this small room in this small confined space, the thoughts disappear and he falls asleep. Storm enjoys his various kinds of alcohol by the window, he orders a bit of everything, for it is not him paying. As the party progress and night falls over the town, the violet light from sunlight turns into a darker shade as the moon takes over. The violet light combined with the orange light from the torches burning around the town, reminds Storm of the northern lights he used to watch back home as a child. Lady Athis is feeling an increased urge to dance; she grabs Leekon and pulls him out on the floor to dance with but after some minutes he leaves. She then finds Quinsel walking across the room for the door, she grabs Quinsel and spins her around and they dance for a few songs but then she too leaves her. Croft offers to take the next dance as he sees Lady Athis look around for a new partner but he can not keep up with his leg and arm. She then dance a little with some strangers but her wears off and the tiredness creeps in, so she retreats to her room for the night. While dancing with Lady Athis and he looks at this woman who is the last of her family, Leekon realizes that he could be the last tiefling left in Livinia. He is all alone, yes these people around him can sort get called his friends and he have known Fathil for a long time, but he do not actually have anyone in his life; not a love nor a real friend and now not even family. He sits down at a table grabs some more to drink, this loneliness in his stomach need more alcohol and after some time he falls asleep with his head in his hands, drunk at the table. Quinsel sees the dark violet light fall over the town when she looks to the door at the moment a person is leaving. She gets excited by the magical colour outside and runs out through the door to dance through the streets. She dances her way back to the stables, where she finds a silvery horse standing in the door. She hugs the horse and saddles up; she rides the horse drunkenly through town. Quinsel is loudly enjoying her ride and a guard squad arrives and makes her come to a hold; they help the horse back to the stables and Quinsel gets escorted back to the inn. Annoyed that have been interrupted her fun she walks up to her room and out on the roof where she falls asleep, naked. Late at the night as the party is slowly dying out and elven man arrives to the inn, he walks straight to Storm and hands him a letter from Lady Ravenwell, he then leaves again.
John is the first who awakens the next morning; he gets out of the closet and gets dressed in a hurry. He sneaks down stairs and out of the inn hoping that none of the others sees him and then runs the last way back to the smith.
“Good morning” John greets as he meets the smith in the forge “it is the next day, is my sword ready now” he asks eagerly.
“You are an optimistic little one aren’t you? The sword isn’t ready yet, come back around midday, then it should be finished” the smith laughs at John and lights the forge.
John walks disappointed back to the inn and takes place at a table, where he plays a few songs on his pan flute while the barmaids clean after the night’s party. Leekon is still sleeping with his head in his hands at the table. Lady Athis, Halm and Croft arrive a little later as breakfast is being served. Storm and Quinsel are the last to come down; Quinsel pushes Leekon on the ground as she walks by him.
“I will talk to Countess Bigsby alone” Storm says while they eat.
“I think I should go with Quinsel and keep an eye on her, we can’t have her ruining it all by insulting someone” Halm says reasonably.
“Hey I don’t ruin things that often” Quinsel exclaims with slight indignation.
“Calm down, mate” Leekon says to Quinsel, as the hangover hits.
“Then you can go talk to Lord Snide, he is probably more compliant if two humans comes to talk with him” Lady Athis says.
“That leaves Lady Ironfist to Leekon and me” John proclaims and gets up, while Leekon moves slowly.
Storm finds Countess Bigsby in the outskirt of town just as Croft had explained to him before he left; it is a big house and two guards are standing in front. The guard’s shields and the banners have a picture of two olive branches on a celadon coloured background; he guesses it’s the symbol of Countess Bigsby. “Good morning, I am Storm Winterborn associate of Lady Athis, here to request a meeting with Countess Bigsby” he greets with a proper diplomatic tone as he approaches the guards.
The guards looks tired and confused, like they did not expect anyone to come here “what? A meeting? Well uhm, yeah of course yeah, this way” the guard says perplexed and shows Storm inside the house. “Countess Bigsby, this is Storm, an associate with Lady Athis, here to meet you” the guard introduces Storm to Countess Bigsby.
Countess Bigsby is sitting on a flower patterned couch reading a book; she is an overweight woman, with hair bound in a bun and small cat eyed glasses. She puts her fat hand forward and awaits Storm kissing it in greeting and gesture storm to take a seat across from her. “So Lady Athis have finally sent someone to try and win my vote” she says with a smile in a very snobbish and superior tone.
“Yes we are currently finishing the details on our campaign and wanted to hear what we can do for you, in order of securing your vote” Storm says in his most polite tone.
“How quaint of her” Countess Bigsby laughs “firstly we would like a more homogenised taxation system throughout Ivaris. Currently tax rate is set separately for each town after the special deals they have made, for example is Lord Snide paying nearly nothing to Ivaris while I pay a reasonable amount that leaves me with very little. This forces me to raise the taxes for my people, which further on raises the prices in town. My people will need to spend their money in a town with low taxes to survive which again makes it harder for them to pay taxes as our money flows out of town. Secondly we don’t like the Venkhist temples, we don’t trust them. We would like to see that their temples get restricted so there won’t just appear new temples everywhere. And lastly we want Ivaris to join alliance with the Royal army, if we stand united, we can all get a better army and we would be better prepared for future wars. The Empire is still growing and threatening to invade our land and we need to be prepared for when that happens and if that happens we want Ivaris to join in the fight to protect all of Livinia and not just Ivaris” she says while Storm writes down her demands.
“If the case is such that we can’t comply with all your wishes, what point would you then be most flexible about” Storm asks.
“We don’t really wish to be flexible about any of the points. This is for the people and our lands future, this is how we can secure a strong welfare and safety for all” Countess Bigsby says firmly.
“I have some news I already now can share with you” Storm says and pulls out the letter from Lady Ravewell “Lady Ravenwell, a friend and supporter of Lady Athis is calling for Ivaris to join up with the Royal army and stand by Garthak’s side when the time comes” he says while Countess Bigsby reads the letter.
“This is good news” Countess Bigsby says and hands the letter back to Storm “were there anything ells you wanted?”
“No thank you Countess Bigsby, I will bring this back to Lady Athis” Storm says and stands up, Countess Bigsby puts her hand forward again for Storm to kiss it before he leaves.
Leekon and John find Lady Ironfist down the river in a hollow tree that’s been reconstructed to a home. The guards and banners here are carrying the black bull of the Vander family on a moss coloured background; it is commonly known that Lady Ironfist is working under the Vander family.
“Halt, who goes there” the guards calls as John and Leekon approaches.
“We are here to talk with Helja Ironfist” John says demanding and dismissive to the guards.
“Such insolence, how dare you utter such disrespect” the guard says and moves his hand to his sword to threaten John to better manners.
“Now listen here guard” John says with clear disrespect on the last word “we are here on official business to secure the future of Ivaris. I will have you fired for preventing this union in happening” he threatens loudly. Leekon notices that a shady man with leathery skin and a visible hole in his right cheek is watching them; he drinks a foamy greenish white liquid from a glass bottle.
John’s threat is working on the guards, they turn around and whisper something before turning back to John “you are lucky, Lady Ironfist will see you now” the guard says and opens the door.
The shady man leaves as the guards opens the door “you take this one alone mate, I just saw something worse investigating” Leekon says to John and follows the man.
John walks inside the house to a simple office looking room; Lady Ironfist sits behind a big iron desk looking through a bunch of papers and on the wall behind her is a plaque with a sword hanging from. John takes seat on the chair opposite Lady Ironfist.
“So Lady Athis has sent people to come see me” she says with her thick northern accent “make it quick, I am a busy woman with work to do” she continues without looking up from the papers.
“We want to know your opinion on taxes, Venkhist temples and participating in wars” John says bluntly.
“Yes, I would imagine that is why you are here. So listen up, firstly I don’t care about the temples, people can build temples if they need them. Secondly taxes are very important for the future of Ivaris and Livinia, we should have a high set of taxes in order to provide for new houses, roads and social benefits. Lastly we should not join in any war. War is a waste of resources and is unnecessary, if the King or anyone ells wants to attack the empire, we should stand our ground and secure Ivaris survival” she says while sorting through some more papers
“So your standpoint is you support taxes and not war” John recaps in a single sentence “then I got what I needed” he says and leaves.
Leekon follows the shady man down a few streets and into an alley, where the man is awaiting him “aight mate, why you looking at us like that” he says as he finally caught up to the man.
The man spits on the ground “I don’t care much about you, but that damn wench stole my job” he snaps.
“What you mean she stole your job mate, she got title of Lady, why would she care about your job” Leekon asks no believing the man’s story.
“I was once the leader of the union of seafarers, I secured work, good relations and a reasonable price for fishers, tradesmen, shipbuilders, harbour workers and many more. But then came Helja Irofist” the man spits in contempt as he says her name ”she came here with all her might and power, she used her influence and her money to take my job”.
Leekon can sense that this man is clearly carrying a grudge against Lady Ironfist and he does not want to provoke this man any further “sorry to hear that mate, we are just trying to get her support in instating Lady Athis as Lady of Ivaris” he says and is about to leave.
“Well if it doesn’t work, I can maybe help you with the people. If you remove Helja from the post as union leader and instate me, I can get you the peoples support” the man offers “I am Fishhook by the way”.
“We will take that to consideration mate” Leekon says and leaves. He walks back to Lady Ironfist’s house and finds John waiting for him.
Halm and Quinsel finds the hall of Huntsman’s hall in the middle of the town. At least six guards are patrolling the building and two are standing at the main entrance, they are carrying purple shields with the white bow on.
“We would like to get and audience with Lord Snide” Halm greets the guards and they open the door for him.
“Follow the stairs up and walk through the big double door, that is his office, he have been awaiting your arrival” the guard informs as Quinsel and Halm walks inside the circular purple room.
They take the stair up to the big double door and Halm knocks it twice.
“You may enter” it sound after a short moment and Halm opens the door to an impressive office. On the back wall is a large bookshelf with at least five hundred books on. In front of the bookshelf and right under the window is a table, where Lord Snide is working. To the right of the window is a big silver bird sitting on a pole looking at them. On the rooms left side is a big purple curtain pulled in front of the wall, as if it is hiding something. “So what do you want” Lord Snide says impatiently as he looks at Quinsel and Halm.
“We know that we have come off on a bad foot and were wondering what we can offer to get your vote” Halm starts diplomatic.
“The big discussion points at the moment are war, taxation and temples. I don’t want to pay taxes to Ivaris or the King. I don’t want to go to war under the King, he is a weak man. And lastly I don’t want any Venkhist temples anywhere” Lord Snide says concise.
“If you had to compromise on any point, what would you, then be most willing to compromise on” Halm continues trying to build some sort of cooperation.
“I will not compromise on anything” he says firmly “unless. I have been thinking for some time on how to secure my future and a good marriage could do that. I am willing to forget all of this, if Lady Athis takes my hand in marriage” he continues.
“Why would you do that, how can that help you, aren’t you already a Lord?” Halm asks confused.
“Yes I have the title of Lord and I am Count of Violet woods, but if I became Lady Athis’ husband, I would become Lord of Ivaris, ruler of one of the four regions of Livinia. That would be what I could gain from this” Lord Snide says with a smug smile “now I have something to do, let yourself out” he says and then leaves the room.
Still standing in the room, Halm and Quinsel is about to leave as Aida knocks on the window. She is hanging from the roof and gestures to let her in. Quinsel opens the window and Aida crawls inside, frees the bird and then crawls back out of the window without saying anything.
Quinsel waits for a few seconds before she walks out of the office “thievery, thievery, Lord Snide’s silver bird got stolen” she yells and short after Lord Snide and a group of hunters comes running to his office.
“What, my bird have been stolen?” he asks infuriated and looks around the room.
“An elvish woman came in through the window, grabbed your bird and took off again” Quinsel says and points on the window.
“This time we got that witch” Lord Snide says and storms out of the hall with all of his guards and hunters.
Halm looks at Quinsel “why did you do that” he asks confused that she would help commit a crime and then report it at the same time. Quinsel just shrugs without answering. Halm follows Lord Snide and his men out of the hall to make sure Aida gets away.
Quinsel is left alone in the office and looks at the wall of books behind Lord Snide’s desk. Before leaving the room she flips every book upside down. She walks back through the purple room and all the way back to the inn, where she sits down at a table and starts a date with Doctor Pain. The others comes back about an hour later around noon, Halm is the last one back.
“What can we do to secure Lady Athis victory in this” Croft asks around the table, ready to hear what they have to report.
“Aren’t you coming over to help?” Lady Athis calls over to Quinsel at the other table.
“Just ask Halm, he knows what Lord Snide wants, I got a date right now” Quinsel says and turn back to dating Doctor Pain.
“Well then, Storm what did Countess Bigsby tell you?” Lady Athis says resignedly.
“Countess Bigsby wants a unified taxation for all of Ivaris and for Ivaris to stand united with all of Livinia. She wants you to join Garthak with an army when you can. And about the temples, she wants them to be regulated and controlled” Storm reads from his notes.
“What about Lady Ironfist, what are her viewpoints?” Lady Athis asks John and Leekon.
“Helja wants high taxation to better improve the land and create social benefits to the people. She is against war and doesn’t care about the temples at all” John says.
“Aight in addition to that; I met this bloke called Fishhook or something, he seemed a bit unstable, but he told me that if we had problems with Lady Ironfist he could take the job as union leader and get us the support of the people. He said he done union work before for the union of seafarers” Leekon informs.
“And what about Lord Snide, was he any useful?” Lady Athis asks without getting her hopes up.
“He doesn’t want to pay taxes to Ivaris or the King. He doesn’t want to fight a war in the King’s name and he is against Venkhist temples” Halm says and he can see Lady Athis expected this “but he made another offer, he will forget all of this and support you, if you agree to marry him” as he say these words, Lady Athis cringes at the thought.
“I have been wondering about something. How can Glubnar threaten your position as Lady of Ivaris?” Halm asks Lady Athis pondering.
“As you may know Lord Athis bestowed Glubnar the title of Baron and gave him a piece of land to go with the title. The land he owns is residing here in Ivaris; he is Lord of the Northshore. And if Lady Athis doesn’t get instated, he will instate himself through violence and power” Croft explains
“Thank you for your work, I will retire to my room and make a plan for tonight, Sir Croft will you accompany me?” Lady Athis says and leaves the room with Croft.
“Aight what now?” Leekon asks as they just sit silently around the table.
Before anyone answers, Sigfried steps in through the door and walks over to Storm and sits down “I think I have found him, I think I found the shadow walker, I saw some trinkets that looked like shadow walker trinkets. I got him now” he tells, Storm is unsure why he is telling him this.
Quinsel hears talk about the shadow walkers and calls across the room “tell him about the flying man who controls the arms” she says.
Sigfried looks at Quinsel like she is crazy and then turns back to Storm “I’ll be off again, going to find that shadow walker soon” he says and then leaves the table to buy something to drink before leaving the inn.
After Sigfried have left the inn, Halm stands up “I have something to do” he says and runs out of the door to find Fredo.
“Well if we have some time off, I also have some things to do” John says and then hurries out of the door and runs to the smith.
Leekon stretches “aight then mates, I’ll find the smith, got some crap to sell” he says and grabs his bag.
“You know what, I also have things to sell I will go with you. Besides in this town, it would be unwise for you to walk around alone” Storm says, grabs his own bag and they leave.
John arrives at the smith shortly after he left the inn, he ran as fast as he could. Out of breath he asks “so … smith … is my sword … ready yet?”
“There you are shortstop. Your sword is done and I thank you for such a fine ship” the smith says and hands John a fine short sword; the pommel has been formed into a very detailed two mast ship with canons and mermaid figurehead and down the side of the blade is written the words “you never walk alone” in gnomish.
John takes the sword and gives it a few swings, while the thoughts whispers “betrayal” in his ears. “Thank you, this is beautiful sword, the ship is officially yours” he says and swings the sword a little more “can I get a cloth to carry my sword in” he asks and the smith hands him a large piece of felt. John wraps the sword in the cloth and walks back to the inn. On the way he meets Storm and Leekon and quickly hides the sword on his back.
“What are you doing here mate?” Leekon asks surprised to see John on the way to the smith.
“Oh I was doing the thing I uhm had to do, so I’ll be going back to the inn and do something ells” John says awkwardly, he was not expecting to meet anyone.
“Why are you acting so strange” Storm asks, a suspicion is taking root in his mind.
“I-I’m just surprised to run into you. It’s nothing, meet you back at the inn” John says and runs off.
Storm and Leekon looks at each other for a moment, then shrugs and walks the last way down to the smith. Storm sells his armour with the dragon scales shoulder pads for a big pouch of gold and restocks his arrows. Leekon sells some rings, a sword and two bows and then buys a new rope and an extra set of thief tools.
Halm finds Fredo at his home, he is working in his garden again today “Fredo, you are in trouble” he whispers as he greets him.
“What do you mean, is something wrong” Fredo asks baffled by this statement.
“I just learned that there is a Lightbringer in town and he has gotten wind of a shadow walker. Since he didn’t pay any attention to me, I suspect that he is here for you” Halm whispers hectically.
“If this is true, then I am in trouble, I will try and keep a low profile but you have to go now in case he is near. If he suspects me to be a shadow walker and he sees us talk, he could start suspecting you too. This will be the last time we talk” Fredo whispers and then walks inside his home.
At three in the noon the group assembles around the table at the inn. “In a few hours the meeting will start” Storm says as they sit down.
“Aight, I think we should go and secure the area mate, we have no idea of the dangers here” Leekon says thinking that they then also can take the time to look for a way to save Shiv.
“That is not a bad idea, we know Glubnar is right on our tale, but we have no idea of where he is or if we are still in the lead” Halm agrees.
“Look, look, look” Quinsel exclaims excited “this rope I found, I can control it” she says as the rope is rising from her hand.
“Not now” Storm says short from his head “so we go over and do a quick recon of the area. Where is the meeting anyway” he asks as a sudden realization hits him, they never said where the meeting will be held.
“It’s over in the hall mate, right through the purple room and out in the back. That was where we were yesterday” Leekon informs.
“Halm, you and Quinsel met with Lord Snide in the hall right, what can you say about it” Storm continues in order to make a mental picture.
“We came into the purple room and walked upstairs, there is a double door that leads to Lord Snide’s office. There seemed to be quite a lot of guards” Halm says and Quinsel starts giggling for herself.
“Aight I saw those double doors, they were right above the door I went through, so Snide’s office is right above the meeting room” Leekon says.
“If this is all we know at the moment, it doesn’t really help us. Leekon, Quinsel and John you go over and get a better look on the situation. Halm and I will stay here and wait if Lady Athis comes down” Storm decides.
John, Quinsel and Leekon leave the inn and walks over to the hall of Huntsman’s hall. A new group of guards are patrolling the area.
“Mates, I’ll sneak around to the back and try and find a way in, just to see if there are any weak spots to look out for” Leekon says and disappears behind a tree. Unseen by any of Lord Snide’s men, he gets around the hall and finds a door on the backside of the building. He stays hidden for a few minutes to see if anything is happening with this door and to count the time between the guards passing. A woman opens the door and empties a bucket filled with kitchen trash, in a small heap to the left of the door. When the guards have passed by, he walks up to the door and knocks on it twice. Another minute goes by as he waits for someone to open the door, he is counting the seconds; the next guard will be by in a minute. He knocks again and the door opens and the woman pops her head out to look at who is knocking.
“What do you want” the woman asks sharply, she clearly does not have time for this.
Leekon thinks fast to come up with a lie that would let him in “I am the new food tester, mate, I was sent here to be of service and secure that no one got any poisonous food” he says with his most trustworthy tone
“Food tester, we don’t do food testing. Lord Snide himself, have personally found the best and most loyal chefs to serve under him. There is no way anyone could ever poison our food. Be gone foul creature before I call the guards” the woman bites and walks back inside.
Leekon grabs the door before it slams shut and places a dagger in the opening, preventing it from closing. He then runs back in hiding and waits for the next guard to pass and let the woman leave the room. The guard walks by without noticing the door is slightly open and as he turns around the corner Leekon runs up and sneaks inside. He is now in a large kitchen with eight fireplaces and at least six meter of table in the middle of the room to work on. There are two doors in the opposite end of the kitchen. He sneaks around to the nearest door; it leads into a large food storage with deer, pheasants and pigs hanging from the ceiling and many barrels with various kinds of vegetable. He walks back into the kitchen and the other door opens. The woman from before enters the kitchen and he quickly hides beside a fireplaces.
“Now I told you to be gone vermin” the woman says, grabs a broom and starts swinging it at him “guards” she yells and Leekon runs out of the door and back outside to hide.
Meanwhile Quinsel looks down at John “my turn” she says and arranges her breast a little before walking up to the guards “well hallo, aren’t you a handsome guard, oh I just love the purple shields and these uniforms. You look so masculine, would you mind showing me around for a moment” she puts her arms around the neck of one of the guards and flirts in a deep sensual voice.
The guard looks at Quinsel, he almost drops his jar as she runs her hand through his hair and with the other grabs his butt. He glances to his buddy “can yOu” he clears his throat and tries again “can you cover for me?” he asks and his buddy nods with a big smile. “ThIs wAy” he clears his throat again “this way miss” he says and leads Quinsel inside the purple room and out a door and down in the cellar “this is the barracks” he says and opens the door to a large room with hundreds of beds.
“Wow that is a lot of beds, how many are there” Quinsel asks surprised.
“There are at any moment one hundred men on guard duty here in Huntsman’s hall and there are five hundred on guard duty out through all over the Violet woods” the guard says and tries to impress Quinsel.
Quinsel kisses the guard on the cheek and whispers in his ear “can we maybe find somewhere more private” she asks and the guard gets soft in the knees.
“OkaY, I mIght know some place” the guard says, he is about to lose his cool. He leads Quinsel back up to the purple room and up the stairs to Lord Snide’s office. He slowly opens the door and looks inside and as he is sure the room is empty he takes Quinsel’s hand and leads her in behind the curtain to a small room with a bed.
Quinsel has now successfully infiltrated the hall of Huntsman’s hall and she should be looking for dangers against Lady Athis and the meeting. But it have been some time since she last have had any sex and this guard is here and willing. Without hesitation she starts to kiss him and take of armour to let him have his way with her and he lets no time go to waste.
Leekon sneaks back around and finds John standing alone looking at the hall “where is Quinsel mate” he asks.
“She walked over and started flirting with some guard and they disappeared together. She got inside but I don’t think we will be seeing her any time soon if you know what I mean” John says and winks to Leekon.
“Really mate, she gonna hook up with someone now” Leekon says impatiently “I almost got beaten and it is not wise for me to be outside in this town” he continues.
“You are right, wait here” John says and walks up to the guard at the door “hello, I am one of Lady Athis servants, she believe she may have dropped something here yesterday, can I take a quick look around” he says and the guard opens the door without a word. John comes into the purple room and looks at the many doors leading out of it. He opens one and sees a long hallway, he then opens another and finds a closet, and the third door leads to a kitchen. Just as he thinks that this will be an impossible situation, he can hear Quinsel giggle from Lord Snide’s office. John walks upstairs, stops up in front of the double doors, he clears his throat a few times and in perfect imitation of Lord Snide’s voice he calls “I’ll be down in a minute, just need to grab something from my room”.
The guard and Quinsel have just gotten naked and are lying in Lord Snide’s bed as the sound of Lord Snide’s voice echoes through the room. The guard becomes all stiff, his face turns white and the blood seems to run cold through his body. In the next second he jumps through the room, grabs his clothes and with one leg in his pants he jumps out of the window. Quinsel is quite disappointed that she gets interrupted just as they were about to begin, but Lord Snide is a handsome man and she takes an inviting position. If she can not have a guard maybe she can have a Lord instead. She waits for Lord Snide to enter for a few minutes but he never does. Annoyed she gets dressed and walks out of the hall to meet with the others, she has lost interest in whatever she was supposed to do. Down on the ground the guard gets dressed as fast as he can; he is dirty and filled with mud, he sprained his ankle in the landing and hit his head on some rocks. As he runs back to his post, he sees a gnome run out of the hall laughing. He takes stance and pretends that nothing happened. When Quinsel walks out of the hall, she lays eyes on the guard and gives him a cold shoulder as she walks by him. The other guard is trying hard to suppress laughter. Quinsel meets with John and Leekon and they walk back to the inn together.
“What can you report” Storm asks as Quinsel, John and Leekon walks through the door to the inn. John and Leekon are still laughing.
“Actually not much mate, I found a back door couldn’t come further than five meters inside before getting thrown out. But these two both got in” Leekon laughs.
“Why are you laughing” Halm asks surprised as it seems like a weird response.
“Well our good friend Quinsel here, seduced a guard and where about to hook up with him in Lord Snide’s bed” John begins to explain and also starts laughing “but I got access to the hall shortly after and scared the guy. He jumped out of the window and ran back to his post with a bloody face, strained ankle and mud all over his uniform, trying to act like nothing had happened”.
“I actually learned that there are one hundred guards on duty at any time here in Huntsman’s hall. And that is more than what you two got from it. If you had done your job, I could have had sex and we might have learned some more” Quinsel says and pushes John.
“I have to say, Quinsel is right, she is the only one with useful information from this but let that be so. We don’t have time to go back again. Let us wake Lady Athis and hear what she wants us to do” Halm says and Storm looks disappointed on the three.
They walk upstairs and down the hall to Lady Athis room; the door is slightly open, Croft is lying unconscious on the floor and there is a blood trail leading to the open window. Storm rushes to the window to look for the culprit and Halm sits down at Croft’s side. Quinsel touches Croft and the light from her hands flows down over him, he awakes and sits up with a rush ready to fight.
“What happened? Where is Lady Athis” Halm asks Croft.
Croft is looking around trying to remember the situation “I’m not entirely sure, I think it was Glubnar’s men. They came barging in, took Lady Athis and knocked me out. We need to get going” he says trying to stand up but then falls back down due to dizziness.
Quinsel’s hand starts to glow and the light is forming a faint arrow pointing a direction “I have a sense of where she is” she says and the others looks incomprehensible on her “it’s a spell that can point you in direction of an item; I learned it back before I met you guys. I almost lost Doctor Pain once and I ain’t going to do that again” she explains “but we have to go now, I only have a faint sense of her direction they are still moving and if they get too far away I can’t track them”.
“Then let us get going and rescue Lady Athis” Halm says and is about to leave after Quinsel.
“WAIT!” Croft yells before they can leave “some of you have to attend the meeting in place of Lady Athis. If you don’t, she will lose the vote and Glubnar will have succeeded. She trusts you, so you have to take her place” he says as they look at him.
“Okay, Halm, Leekon and Quinsel you go find Lady Athis and hurry back. Then John and I will take the meeting and stall it if we have to” Storm says and helps Croft up standing.
Quinsel, Halm and Leekon follow the guidance of the spell out into the woods; they run as fast as they can in an attempt to keep up.
“Wait, what exactly is it you are tracking” Halm ask Quinsel as they are running.
“Her dress, have had lots of time to study it or at least parts of it” Quinsel laughs.
Storm and John does a quick clean up and combes their hair and beards before they arrive to the meeting with Croft. They are lead through the purple room in the hall and into the room with the four tables, where Lady Athis told their story. Countess Bigsby sits at the table to the left; she has three old looking men at her side. Lord Snide is sitting at the middle table; he has one elven female with him to write for him. And Lady Ironfist sits at the table to the right; she has a mix group of men and women at her side. Guards and citizens are standing at the wall all around the room and a few of Lord Snide’s servants are running back and forth with drinks and other requests. Storm and John sits down at Lady Athis table and the room comes to a silence.
“Where is Lady Athis” Lady Ironfist says with her thick accent.
John stands up on the chair to get in eye height with the others, he drinks a bit from his cup of water as his throat feels dry “Lady Athis” he clears his throat “is unable to be here…” he says and people starts booing. John raises her voice “it is very unfortunate, but she has send us to talk in her place. We will conduct this meeting for her” he finishes.
Lady Ironfist and Countess Bigsby looks at Lord Snide “I’ll allow it” he says after thinking for a moment.
The harbourmaster steps forward “then let the meeting begin. Here today to vote for Lady Athis instatement as official Lady of Ivaris, are Countess Bigsby, Lady Ironfist and the Union guild and Lord Snide and the Hunter’s guild” he introduces “and to talk in the place of Lady Athis, we have…” he says and lets Storm and John introduce themselves.
“I am John Flux Moonthinker” John says and drinks some more water, his throat feels like a desert.
Before Storm have sat down again Lady Ironfist stands up and yells “we want the taxes harmonised for all of Ivaris”.
“We agree, the taxes should be fair and equal for all. Lord Snide should no longer be able to take advantage of an unfair taxation system” Countess Bigsby yells.
“I am not taking advantage of an unfair system; you just don’t understand the way it works. We have made a deal with Lord Athis to pay less based on the services we can provide him. There are many variables to consider in order to set the taxation rate. Why should I both provide a great service to our society and also pay a high tax” Lord Snide argues.
“And what services do you provide, that can lower your taxes by this substantial amount? We are all providing Ivaris with important and necessary services. We should all pay the same tax, that way we are all equally helping to provide for this society” Lady Ironfist yells back at Lord Snide.
“You are undermining the system. Lord Athis has provided you with many benefits over the years that have helped you grow Huntsman’s hall into such a fine town. But when you don’t pay taxes, the money is taken directly from every other town in Ivaris. We experience maintenance problems that we don’t have the resources to fix because you won’t help out with taxes. We have had to raise the taxation on our own people to perform the required maintenance, while you thrive on our money” Countess Bigsby also yells at Lord Snide.
John empties the last water on their table before taking the word “silence” he calls and the others turn their attention to him “first, can we have some more water over here. And second we were out talking with you all earlier today to find out your viewpoints on the various situations. We discussed these viewpoints in lengths with Lady Athis to try and find a solution that would be most beneficial to all of us” he just keeps talking hoping that someone would come and rescue him “and as Prince of the southern city New Dunster I have personal experience of matters like these that I have shared with Lady Athis. And there seem to be a request for a harmonized and equal taxation system to support the further development all over the land and to provide social benefits to the people. So we have agreed that in order to provide the requested services and secure the land we need a united front and steady income. Therefore a homogenized and harmonized taxation of all of Ivaris seems like the most promising and logical way to go. But it will be set at a fair rate that should be payable” he finishes as he ran out of ideas to drag out the speech.
The light in Quinsel’s hand fades out after they have run for some time. They look around trying to find some tracks but without any luck. They must have walked another route than the kidnappers did but they figure that if they just try to continue in the last direction Quinsel’s spell showed, they would probably find something. And sure enough, after a little they can hear someone whistling for them. They look around and see Aida sitting in a tree some way from them. She is signing that they should stay silent and then points a direction for them.
Leekon turns to the others “aight, now that we have found them, I will go back and bring backup. If Glubnar is as brutal as you say mate, we can’t take him down alone” he says turns around “just keep eye on him and if they leave, put down a track to follow, aight mates” and then he runs back to town.
“Ahahaha, who have come to my camp” Glubnar laughs at Halm and Quinsel “are you here to save your puny Lady” he continues to laugh and all his men follows.
“A Lady, what Lady? We are just simple townsfolk, we thought it would be great to go on a romantic honeymoon out in the Violet woods because of the magical colours” Quinsel lies and lays her arm around Halm.
“You know how women are, they love that romantic thing but the purple light is driving me crazy. We have been out here for some days and we think we are a bit lost, when we saw your camp we weren’t even sure it was real” Halm continues the lie.
“Ahahaha you puny man, your woman should have found a real man like me, the mighty Baron Glubnar. But I do know what you mean, I recently found myself a new wife down in Crossington” Glubnar says and pulls on a rope. Gertrudhilde stumbles forward, she had been sitting between the horses, she looks like she have gotten a few beatings on the way and she is all muddy and scratched up.
One of Glubnar’s men steps forward “uhm, Baron Glubnar, isn’t that one of the girls we been chasing, you know the crazy one” he says carefully “and aren’t we also looking for a one armed monk?”
Glubnar looks down on the man and then stares hard at Quinsel and Halm “you are right it is the puny crazy one and the monk” he says and his voice gets deeper and more dangerous “you lie to the great Glubnar, puny humans this is what I will do to you” he says, grabs his waraxe and with one single swing of it, he splits Gertrudhilde in two.
Leekon can feel the exhaustion kick in on his way back; it stings in his lungs and his eyes are tearing up as his leg cramps. But he fights through the pain, he needs to go on and get help.
“Lady Athis have stated her standpoint on the taxation Lord Snide, let’s move on to the next point so we can get home sometime soon” Countess Bigsby replies to Lord Snide after yet another outrage on John’s speech.
“It is the matter of the Venkhist temples now, should they be allowed or not. Personally I don’t really care, people can pray to whoever they worship and they can do it in a temple or in their own homes” Lady Ironfist says.
“Venkhist temples should be banned and that’s it” Lord Snide exclaim in a short outburst.
“I agree. We are experiencing too many problems with religious fanatics at the moment; especially the shadow walkers who possess a threat to us all” Countess Bigsby says.
Storm empties another can of water; they have now drunken at least seven cans of water “the problem isn’t the temples but the people who misuses the religions for evil. They will keep doing evil even if there are no temples left. I have met many people of many religions throughout my travels and they have always have temples and banning temples would surely result in far worse than letting them have temples. But I think we can find a compromise on this. We will put down restrictions; it will no longer be legal to have a Venkhist temple within ten kilometres of any town or city. Then they can have their religion in peace. Religion and temples however isn’t the real problem in this situation. We are currently under a threat from Baron Glubnar, who is coming to Ivaris to take the title as Lord of Ivaris instead of giving it to Lady Athis. If this should happen, none of us are safe; he would surely abuse power and deplete this land from all resources to use it on alcohol and women. His violent nature would result in genocide over all of Ivaris as he would kill and torture any he sees as enemy. That is the real problem in this case, we need you to stand united against Glubnar and support Lady Athis for only then can we secure the future of the land” Storm performs as well as he can and then drinks some more water, his legs are shaken he was sure they would give in.
All of Glubnar’s men grabs their weapon and closes the circle around Halm and Quinsel, they are ready to fight as soon as Glubnar gives the command. Glubnar swings his axe a little.
“If Baron Glubnar is as great as they say, why is he hiding with such a big group of men to fight his battle? Shouldn’t two puny humans be easy enough for Glubnar to defeat on his own” Halm says mockingly as the men come closer.
Glubnar thinks for a second “ahaha you have courage monk, I like that, but don’t mistake courage for the ability to win. Men stand down these two are mine alone” he says and charges at Halm and Quinsel.
Halm runs towards Glubnar, jumps over his first swing of the axe and kicks him in the head. Glubnar swings his axe again and in the movement he dodges a guiding bolt from Quinsel that flies off behind him and burns off the face of a man. Halm moves under the axe as it flies through the air and punches Glubnar in the shin. Glubnar fakes a swing with his axe and as Halm tries to dodge it, he punches Halm right in the face with his left hand; the nose is breaking under his fingers. He then leaves Halm alone and runs for Quinsel before she can shoot another guiding bolt at him. Halm follows Glubnar and jumps to make a flying kick to his back and Quinsel tries to lay a hand on Glubnar’s skin to hit him with a spell. But Glubnar sees Halm in his peripheral vision, he grabs him by the foot and swings him into Quinsel, just as she hits him with the spell; deep wounds starts to open on Glubnar’s arms and down his torso.
Leekon has finally gotten back to the town and his lungs are burning; he can hardly breathe. Fathil comes by and sees him standing with hands on his knees trying to catch his breath “what are you doing out here my friend?” he asks Leekon and looks around to see if any guards sees him.
Leekon takes two deep breaths, stands up straight and slows his breathing before talking “the Lady have been kidnapped mate, we can use this opportunity to rescue Shiv from the prison. I’ll run into the meeting and yell for backup and all that and in the commotion we sneak off to free him, are you with me mate” he says.
“Ah yes my friend, that could maybe work, I have been snooping around, I think I know where to go” Fathil says and they walk the last way over to the hall.
“Glubnar is a problem for us all but as soon as he is dealt with we have to face the fact that the Empire is constantly threatening to invade us. And that the shadow walkers are trying to destroy our way of life. Therefore we should let our armies stand together with the King, if Livinia falls so do we” Countess Bigsby says.
“The King is a weak man and we should use this opportunity to claim our own sovereignty. We need our armies here close to home to protect our land and our people when the time comes. If we send our armies to support the King in a war, we will be unprotected. You saw what happened at Vigils keep. They sent all our men to the defend the keep and the Empire sent a fleet towards The Shining City to attack, then Garthak pulled the Royal army from the keep to protect the King. They let Vigils keep fall and we all lost many good men in that war. We need our armies here” Lord Snide argues.
“We should not waste our money on financing another war. It takes too many resources from our people, resources we could use improving our land and helping our citizens. Of course we need to be prepared if we get attacked by making private armies that protect our cities and our people. But going to war when the King calls is not a priority to make a better future” Lady Ironfist says and slams her fist in the table.
John empties yet another glass of water and waves to the servant once again “can we have some more water” he says before standing up on the chair “I come from a land that have been in war for longer than anyone can remember; they don’t even know what they are fighting over just that elves and gnomes are supposed to hate each other. A war should never be the first solution. I can support that you want to protect your homes and save your people from going into yet another meaningless war. But as it is mentioned we are also standing in front of an even bigger threat from the empire, a threat that we most fight. We should not bring the war to them as it would make us no better than them. But if and when they attack again we must remember that we are not only citizens of Ivaris, we are citizens of Livinia. If we want to protect our way of life, we must stand with the King when our land is attacked. But we will not stand with the King when he is the one to attack” John says and the rooms is going crazy by people booing and cheering.
“How can you talk about our land, when you are not even a citizen of here” Lord Snide yells back at John.
“Lady Athis is having my vote” Countess Bigsby calls to a lot of cheering.
“We are here as officials for Lady Athis, we only speak her words” John yells to Lord Snide.
“This meeting is over! Everybody out” Lord Snide yells furiously “you have made a mockery of the process”.
“I Lady Ironfist also support Lady Athis, she has my vote and will receive her title as Lady of Ivaris” Lady Ironfist yells through the crowd as the doors behind flies open.
Leekon and Fathil runs inside “Lady Athis has been kidnapped” Leekon yells “Glubnar and his men are out in the woods holding Lady Athis as prisoner” everyone turns their heads towards them with a shocked expression.
“Guards go save Lady Athis” Countess Bigsby yells and tries to follow as fast as her fat body can move.
Everyone except, Leekon, Fathil, Lord Snide and his men run out and into the woods in the direction Leekon and Fathil pointed. Fathil got pushed outside by the crowd but Leekon managed to stay inside.
Lord Snide looks at Leekon with the eye of a hunter “guards close the doors” he calls.
Leekon runs as fast as he can, he sense that there will be no time to save Shiv. He jumps out of the door right before it closes and he runs outside.
Quinsel and Halm gets up and together they run to Glubnar. Quinsel Swings Doctor Pain at his face and Halm goes to punch him in the stomach. Glubnar grabs the hammer and throws Quinsel away but gets hit by Halm.
The army of men and women runs through the forest trying to find Glubnar and his men.
Quinsel runs to touch Glubnar with her spell once again, it seemed to work the first time but as she gets nearer Glubnar turns his axe around and impales her with the small spear that is its pommel. She falls to the ground bleeding violently. Halm jumps up and kicks Glubnar twice in the head; he fears that they will not be able to win. Glubnar punches for him and he dances around him to dodge the attack. Croft steps out from the bushes right behind Glubnar. Halm’s hope is for a short moment renewed now that Croft is here to help but he walks right into the battlefield between Glubnar’s men without them trying to stop him. It seems like time is slowing down as Croft walks closer to Halm and Glubnar. He fiddles with his bandages and pulls them off, revealing a tattoo on his lower arm. Halm is shocked by the quick turn of events; he can feel anger and betrayal burn in him. He runs right by Glubnar towards Croft. Glubnar swings his axe into Halm’s shins making him trip. Croft steps in over him and as he looks down on Halm lying flat on the ground, he stabs him remorselessly.
The small army arrives at the scene of an empty campsite, it looks like someone has warned them and they left in a hurry. The only things left behind is a still smouldering fire pit, the two halves of Gertrudhilde and two large pools of blood with no bodies. Storm and John looks at the big blood pools; they were too late.
Glubnar Glubnar
The greatest of man
Glubnar Glubnar
The greatest of this land
He never lost a fight
He gives villains a fright
Glubnar Glubnar
The greatest of man
Glubnar Glubnar
The greatest of this land
As the man walks out of the shadows John can see he is thin and handsome with blond hair and covered in tattoos. He is almost naked as he stands here in the cells, only wearing thin ragged jeans and a purple shawl over his shoulders. “To betray ones team like you did today witness cowardice and weakness in a man. It is quite natural to feel ashamed. How will your team ever trust in you after this especially in times like these where evil and danger lurks around every corner” the man says in a judgemental tone but his voice is soft and pleasant like the music he was playing.
“There was not much I could do…” John says a little defensive.
“I understand why you did it. You did it to stay alive. You did it to fulfil a promise. You did it for love. Not love for your team but for a love you once lost. You have to stay alive in order to keep your promise to your love” the man continues and interrupts John “the world is a cruel and evil place that constantly tears lovers apart because they deem the love to be wrong. I once lost someone I love myself and it almost killed me. Every day was agony, there was nothing to soften the pain and in the end I was willing to do anything to make it stop. You could say I had gone mad from suffering, I was only moments away from killing myself when I learned of a way to be with him” he berates.
John feels more and more enthralled as he listens to the melodic words the man speaks “you found a way to bring someone back?” he asks doubtful but interested, if this is true he can finally get Ofelia back.
A rattling sound comes from the corner farthest away from John, he turn his head for a second to look for the sound and when he looks back at the man, he is gone. Shortly after Storm and Halm climbs out of the sewer. The stench of shit fills the room and the air feels like a musky old sock, John’s eyes tears up and he fights to not vomit.
Guards are running through the tower below them. Quinsel, Dis and Fathil can clearly hear the sound of metal boots and silently agree to barricade the hatch. They have finished moving a barrel over the hatch as a loud bump and the rattling of iron is heard. Someone just ran into the hatch and fell back into another guard. “In the name of Lord Ostbarrow, you are under arrest. You are surrounded, so put down your weapons and surrender” a guard calls while knocking on the door.
-- Session fourteen: Dangers of Grey Haven --
John
The crowd in front of Skullrall’s hall slowly disperses as Lady Athis finishes her speech. Some leaves to get more sleep before they start their day later on, others starts their day right away as they are already up. John takes a stroll down the main street to the first inn he finds. He wants to stay and hear what Lady Athis wants with him and the others. It could lead to a great adventure and if it does not he can always go his own ways. But until then he wants to spend some time working on his music. Beside he has no other plans. The inn he finds is the Raging Ram and it is one of the bigger and more popular inns in Grey Haven. Inside is already crowded with soldiers in line to get a room for the day before they head back home. But this is not of John’s concern; he walks straight to the counter and jumps up on a chair to be in eye height.
“Hello, I am John Flux Moonthinker. Can I play my music here while I wait for a room?” he asks the maid. He knows he can easily get a room if he uses his connection to Lady Athis or he could probably even stay at the manor. But then he would be no better than the greedy nobles who use their name to get anything they want. No he wants to earn his stay and these soldiers deserve a room just as much as he does.
“Let's 'ear what you got then” the maid replies without even looking at him as she is busy focussing on her customers.
John crawls up on the counter with his lute in his hand “good morning everyone. I am John Flux Moonthinker and I will play a song for you. Some of you might have heard Glubnar's song mentioning how great he is. Well the truth is that I wrote that song to distract Glubnar from participating as champion in a trial by combat. And now that he is gone I will sing it as it truly should have sounded” he loudly informs the crowd waiting to get rooms.
He was a greedy Baron
Who lied about his haram
Glubnar Glubnar
A really great buffoon
Glubnar Glubnar
Nothing but a goon
Glubnar always cheated
And still he got defeated
Glubnar Glubnar
A really great Buffoon
Glubnar Glubnar
Nothing but a goon
Now Glubnar is no more
Come celebrate with a roar
The crowd cheers for this new version of the song and applaud him loudly as he finishes. The maid turns to him on the counter “that wasn't bad. You can play ‘ere during your stay. There's a stage in the bar room. Go and play and I will inform you when a room is free. If you need anything come find me, I'm Jillian”.
Though it is still very early the bar room is filled with soldiers drinking. Many decided to just get drunk and pass out instead of trying to get a room. John climbs up on the stage and a barmaid brings him a beer. He plays all of his songs and every once in a while he calls out a joke or two to the crowd.
As he is finished performing and enjoying some deer stew dinner Jillian approaches him. “A room 'ave become free. 'ow long do you intend to stay?” she asks.
“Until the tenth” John mumbles with his mouth full
“With meals that will be twelve gold coins, drinks are not included. But we liked your performance today so if you pay 'alf now and the rest later. We will give you a discount on the rest for every day you play” she informs him.
That sounds like a good deal John says and pulls out six gold coins “where's the room?”
“It's room number five. It's upstairs, walk a little down the 'allway and look to your right” she instructs before leaving.
John finishes his meal and walk upstairs to his room. He is tired and exhausted from the long day and is really looking forward to sleep in an actual bed now. It is a standard small room, it got a human sized bed and a desk and just enough room to walk back and forth. He throws his stuff on the desk, locks the door and jumps into the bed. The room is uncanny dark but he shrugs it off. He is soon long gone standing in a forest opening holding hands with Ofelia. They just stand there looking at each other.
He wakes up standing on the floor holding hands with Ofelia. She is standing right in front of him but she is not real. It is like his dream has left an echo in his room. A transparent picture that he can not touch standing in the middle of his room. He quickly exits the room and is almost blinded by how bright the hallway is. He walks down to the bar to have some lunch before playing. The day and evening runs by with music and drinking. By the time he goes back to his room he has forgotten about the fata morgana of Ofelia. And as he drunkenly passes through it her head falls off and lands in his hands.
Ofelia's head turns around to look him in the eyes “look at what you did” it says and starts screaming.
John sits up screaming. He is in the forest back home. Ofelia sits by his side looking at him worried. Confused he looks around to find a clue of what is going on.
“That seems like a horrible nightmare you just had, are you okay?” Ofelia asks while stroking his hair.
“I … I don't know” John is quite sure this is not real even though it feels like it is “where and when are we?” he stands up to get a better look around and starts feeling the grass and trees to make sure it is real.
“What do you mean?” Ofelia is very concerned and worried about this odd behaviour.
John kneels in front of Ofelia and takes her hands “please just answer”.
“We are in the northern Kjeerrimg forest and it is the nineteenth the month of Magi and the year is seven-hundred and eighty-nine. Why are you asking?” Ofelia looks even more worried than before.
He remembers the date; it is six years ago and the day Ofelia died. How can he be back on that day? Was it all a dream? Her getting killed by her own people. Him getting beaten and left for dead on the ground. Him getting disowned, dishonoured and exiled by his own people. He packs his stuff; they need to get out of here before they are found. “Grab your things we have to go. I will save you this time” he says and turns around to face her but they are suddenly surrounded by elven soldiers.
“Save me?” Ofelia laughs “you can NEVER save me”. The soldiers start laughing with Ofelia as they cut off her head.
He runs towards her but the distance between them grows bigger for every step. And thump. He ran into the door in his room and falls down on his back. Beside him lies Ofelia without her head. He walks out of his room with no idea of the time of day. But he is hungry and very unsettled.
Down in the bar room Jillian walks up to him with some food “we were starting to worry about you. You 'aven't been out of your room for three days and we 'eard both screaming and crying. Are you okay or do you need a doctor or maybe a priest?” she asks conversationally.
“Three days?” He is sure that was just one night. How could three days have passed? “Just been busy writing on new songs and lost track of time. Do you know if there is a history of hauntings in that room?” he asks casually.
“Not really, why?”
“Oh nothing. I'm gonna go play after I've finished eating” he dismisses.
That night John passes out drunk on a table in the bar. He figured that if it is not a haunting he can escape the nightmares by drinking. Ofelia walks up behind him and whisper in his ear “you left me behind. You forgot about me”. John jumps up as he is suddenly awoken. “You run around playing a folk hero for people you don't care about and forgot all about me” she continues.
“I'm collecting stories to share with you for when we meet again in the afterlife. Just as I promised I would” John says defensively.
Ofelia flies around the room with lightning shooting from her body and a forceful wind starts whirling up the room. “If you loved me you would find a way to bring me back and experience the stories with you” she screams.
He takes cover under the table “I didn't think it was what you wanted”.
“LIES! I know it is something you have thought about. I know you even made plans. You don't want me. I died for our love you didn't” Ofelia screams. The room lights up and then turns completely dark.
“I want to bring you back. I want to be with you. That is all I want. But who can help me?” he calls to her in the dark.
“You know who can help you” her voice sounds in the dark “a man will come and give you an offer. If you truly love me you will make a deal with him”.
He wakes up back in his room unsure how he got there. The echo of Ofelia is gone. The nightmares felt so real and have taken their torn on him. He just lies in his bed all shook up and confused. He wants to lie here and do nothing. He is too scared to close his eyes as it might take him into another nightmare. After some hours of bundling up he gets out of bed hoping that smoking some herbs will help him calm down. He finds the last bit of the musician's herb he bought in Crossington and smokes it. It kicks in right away and he immediately feels more at ease. He grabs his lute and starts playing to see the colours of his music flowing around him. And before he knows of it he is back in the bar playing.
“Your dinner is ready” Jillian informs him after he played a more psychedelic version of the Vulture and the Bear. She leads him to an empty table and places the plate in front of him “'ere you go, enjoy”.
“That was some impressive lute performance. Especially by a one armed man” a voice comments after ten minutes. On the opposite side of the table is a man sitting like he appeared out of nowhere. It is a thin and handsome man covered in tattoos. John remembers him from back in the jail cell in Ostbarrow. “How are you doing John? You look a little tired, like you have had some tough nights” he says all friendly.
“Who are you?” John asks not entirely sure that he is there or that it is a hallucination.
The man smirks “I have had many names, but none that really matters to you. But what matters is that today I come with an offer. Do you remember back in the jail I told you I was ready to end my life because I had lost someone I loved? My associate wishes to extend the same deal to you that were given me”.
“Are you saying what I think you are saying? Do you know someone who can bring back my Ofelia?” he asks hesitant. The nightmare Ofelia was right but how could she possibly know.
The man smirks again and gets up “follow me if you please” he says and walks out in the kitchen.
John follows him a few steps behind. Nobody is noticing them like they are invisible to people around them. And nobody is stopping them, not even as they walk down to the cellar storage room. But instead of finding crates with food and barrels of beers and wines they are in a room covered in darkness. It is impossible to see the edges and even the stairs behind them is gone. In the middle of the darkness is a group of robe covered cultist chanting, only lit up by the candles in their hands and on the floor. They stand in a circle around a small podium. He is pushed towards the podium and as he touches it a light comes down from above.
The light takes the form of Ofelia “you found the one who can help you bring me back. Now give me your hand” she says and John reaches forward with his good hand “no, the other hand”.
John is a little confused but reaches forward with his missing hand. Ofelia touches his arm and a shooting pain runs through his body as ice starts growing out of the stump. It takes form as an arm and hand. From inside the ice he can see bones, blood vessels, muscle and lastly skin forming. The ice slowly disappears and left is a full functioning arm. Ofelia is gone and in her place is a scary woman shrouded in darkness, holding his hand. She looks really creepy with manic eyes and the skin stretched over her face like she had borrowed it from someone else.
“John Flux Moonthinker” her voice is hoarse and rasping. It makes it run cold down his back. “I have bestowed you, your arm as a sign of good faith. And I can bring back your beloved Ofelia. But first you must prove yourself worthy. You must prove your loyalty. If you accept my offer I will give you powers but in return you will serve me”.
John thinks about it for a second with the woman’s cold clammy hand holding on to his. He knows that it would be wrong to accept. That this cult would use him for evil and the others would not understand. But he has to do it for Ofelia and once he gets her back he will turn on them. “I accept your offer” and as he utters these words the room bursts into flames and the woman dissolves into dark sludge in his hand.
“You will be called on when you are needed” the man with the lute says and then the room turns black.
John wakes up in his room with both his arms. The room seems more lit than before and he feels happier and refreshed. He jumps off his bed inspired to write a new song and ready to seize the day.
John stands on the stage ready to perform once again. The last few days since he got his arm back flew away with fun and parties. People liked his performances before but now it seems like he is a local star in Grey Haven. Over three hundred have turned up this evening to hear him perform; people even have to stay out on the patio and look in through the windows. The barmaids can hardly move around.
“Thank you for coming. Tonight I will start with a new song that I have just finished writing. I call it Paradise Bird” John announces to the crowds applaud.
They took away my Paradise bird
Told me the love was forbidden
I got beaten up
And broken down
Exiled from all I have known
I travelled far
And lost an arm
Life kept trying to take me apart
My Paradise bird been gone so long
I miss you wherever you are
I’ll find a way to get you back
Paradise bird just you and me
Now I take up the fight
And cut down evil
Stab tyrants in the back
I’ll break through the dark
And rise from the shadows
Make deals with the devils
And betray him in the end
I’ll stab you in the heart if you’re in my way
My Paradis bird I’ll find you
Bring you back
The world can’t deny you
You and me together again
After the show Jillian comes up and finds John sitting at a table eating a late dinner. “You ‘ave outdone our expectations and we ‘ave earned a good amount during the last couple of days. I was told to give this pouch with gold and tell you that your room ‘as been paid” she says and hands him a pouch with fifteen gold coins “if you don’t mind me asking, ‘ow did you get your arm back?”
John shrugs “a fan wanted to help. But thanks for the money” he says dismissive.
Dis
“Lady Athis, can we talk for a moment?” Dis asks as she follows Lady Athis back inside Skullrall’s hall at the end of the ceremony.
“Of course Dis but I have much to do” Lady Athis says as she walks with Countess Bigsby and Lady Ironfist towards her office.
“I was wondering if you needed any help with things until the tenth?” she asks but she is unsure if Lady Athis heard her.
“I'm relieved Glubnar didn't take the time to go through this room. My uncle had many important documents that will make this transition easier” Lady Athis says relieved as she takes place at her table. Lord Bloodhammer is looking at some documents waiting for them. “In a few hours I’m leaving with Lord Bloodhammer and a small delegation. I have to meet up with lords, nobles and household heads from all over Ivaris to talk about taxes, unions, armies and much, much more” she says and starts looking through the documents Lord Bloodhammer hands her.
“Sounds like you could use some help, when do we ride?” Dis tries to offer her help again.
“I thank you for your offer but you have already done so much these last couple of weeks. You deserve some time off, besides this would be of no interest for you. But you can stay here at Skullrall’s hall while we are gone, the others too if they want” Lady Athis reads a letter that Countess Bigsby just handed her.
“It will be very boring and political” Lord Bloodhammer agrees.
“Maybe Halm is going to need help with his temple” Lady Athis suggest not even looking up from the papers anymore “if that's all I really need to get some work done”.
Dis understands that Lady Athis would like to get back to work “see you when you get back”.
She leaves the office to find an empty bedroom. A little sleep would not hurt and a bath could probably be nice. A servant leads her up to one of the bedrooms. She undresses and lies down on the big and soft bed. But it is too soft just like it was back at Ravenwell Manor. She feels uncomfortable sleeping on anything this soft. It feels like she is slowly sinking through a thick cloud and she will be trapped there forever. She grabs the three thick blankets and crawls down on the floor. This is better, firm and slightly uncomfortable just like she is used to. It also reminds her of back home in the mountains where her parents live. She has not seen them since she left to join the army at the age of eighteen. She wakes up just a few hours later at ten, still feeling tired but unable to sleep as she can not waste the day laying around. She goes to find the bath room. This room is something quite different from the public bath houses but instead of a standing wooden tub, there have been carved two holes into the rock floor and smoothed out with soft marble. One of the holes is big enough for a single person to lie in and the other can fit at least four people. The holes are just next to the outer wall except the wall is mostly gone. It has been cut out to give the bathers a view over the sea. Wooden blinds stands ready on the sides to cover the view in case of bad weather. A young boy sits at the side of the room tending to a fire under a large metal tank.
“Do you want a bath Miss?” the boy asks politely and stands up.
“Who are you?” Dis says slightly surprised and a little confused about why the boy is there.
“I am one of the bath boys Miss. I make sure that there is hot water for baths here at the castle. Do you want a single bath or a group bath?” the boy asks, awaiting orders.
“Just a bath for one” she just needs a bath to get clean.
The boy pulls out a pipe from the water tank over to the small hole, he then pulls a lever and water runs from the tank down into the hole. It takes a few minutes for the hole to fill up; he then pulls the lever again and slides the pipe back into the water tank. “Do you want me to wait outside while you bathe Miss?” he asks.
“Where do you usually wait?” Dis asks conversationally as she is unsure how it usually works.
“Sometimes I wait outside, sometimes I wait in here Miss. Lord Athis, may he rest in peace, often needed help scrubbing his back clean which I would help with” the boy says politely.
“You can wait outside today. I’ll call if I need any help” Dis says and the boy bows and leaves the room.
She undresses and sinks down into the water that sort of burns comfortably. Sitting in the bath she ganders out over the sea where she can see some ships in the far distance. But other than that nothing happens. She has barely been sitting there for a minute and she is already bored. This relaxing bath thing may be something for the nobles but she can barely move around and she does not know what to do with her arms. Above the water is too cold because of the wind even though it is a warm spring day. And under water she feels like she is being squished. She decides to just get clean and find something else to do. After a quick scrub with the scented washcloth she is cleaner than she has been since back in The Shining City.
“That was a quick bath Miss” the boy comments as she walks out of the bath room.
“I couldn't relax” Dis answers dismissive.
Wearing the same dirty clothes she arrived in Dis leaves the castle to go for a run. She runs through the city, past the Raging Ram where John's voice sounds from the bar room and out of Grey Haven with no destination in mind. She just wanted to do something. She spends the whole day running around in the Flatlands and does not return until nightfall. She feels pleasantly exhausted and happy knowing that she got some good training out of the day. On her way back she decides to get something to drink and try to have some fun celebrating. And if anyone knows how to celebrate, it is the sailors. She walks down the worn stone stairs to the Harbour bar. A small greasy bar cut out in the cliff side next to the harbour. As soon as she enters she can see Storm sitting in the corner huddled over a table with Jax and two shady guys. Otherwise the bar is semi crowded with drunken soldiers and sailors.
She walks up to the counter “one beer”.
An ugly toothless drunk sailor grabs her on the ass “whats a prettey thang… pretty thang, like you... whats you doing down here” he manages to say getting too close for comfort.
She grabs her dagger and points it at his crotch “grab my ass again and your little thing becomes half the size it use to be” she whispers threating. She knows very well that guys like this need to be handled with a firm hand.
The sailor slowly moves away while scanning the room for another target. Dis grabs her beer and walks towards Jax and Storm. “Room for one more?” she says.
“Leave us” Storm commands her as she is about to sit down.
Surprised and confused by this blunt unfriendly response she leaves the table. She really wants to punch him in the face for his rudeness but she steps away to find others to drink with. The table keep silent until she is out of hearing range.
“Now Claire, what about we find a room and practice a little one on one combat” a soldier says to another soldier. His hand is resting on her hip and she looks conflicted and uncomfortable by the situation.
Dis stops at the table with the soldiers. She knows from her personal experience in the army how soldiers can be. “You soldiers always try to abuse the female recruits. If we don't want to sleep with you, you get us punished for insubordination. And if we do want to sleep with you, then all the others think they are allowed as well. Guys like you are the reason there aren't more women in the military” she burst at the soldier groping Claire.
“You should stay out of this” the soldier chuckles. He looks to his friends with a grin and then turns back with a punch.
She grabs his arm and with a quick twist she dislocates his shoulder and slams his head down into the table. The other male soldiers jump up ready to fight. She was not looking for a fight but now that she is in one she can not help but feeling slightly euphoric. She grabs a chair and swings it into the head of one soldier. Another soldier tackles her and they bump into a table spilling the beers of a group of sailors. She grabs a mug and slams it into the soldier's head. She then grabs him and throws him over at a third table. The sailors get up and grab her arms. She shakes her right hand free and breaks the nose on the sailor holding her left arm. The soldier she just threw on a table comes back with a punch to Dis’ face and she falls into a second group of sailor who throws her back into the fight soon most of the bar is brawling.
”Stand down or I'll give ya eh real smacking” the bar owner calls out in the room. He is a bald muscular dwarf with a big red beard and several tattoos written in dwarvish.
People scatter immediately to avoid the bar owner. Many have broken limbs and bloody faces. Dis and the soldiers are the only one still fighting. One by one the bar owner grabs them by the neck and gives them a few strong slaps across the face.
“She was interfering with official military business” the soldier with the dislocated arm says.
“I knoe of ya military business” the bar owner snarls disapprovingly at the soldier “but there's no fighting at me bar, ya banned for eh week” he calls at them as he throws them out.
“You better keep your nose out of other people’s business or you get in trouble” the soldiers call to her as she is leaving.
“And you better start respecting women or I’ll give you real trouble” she calls back ready to give them some more beating but they are already turning around a corner.
“Hey Red Star, how did you like training today? What about you come by my tent and I'll show you some one on one combat technique” a soldier says as he comes up and lays an arm on the shoulder of a young Dis.
“I just want to go back and rest in my tent Chadwick” Dis says “and stop calling me Red Star, it’s not my name”.
“Come on Red star you should start showing some team spirit and help out a fellow soldier” Chadwick pulls her closer and lets his hand wander lower.
“Why don’t you go copulate with a rock. I’m here to serve the country not your personal need” Dis pulls his arm off her. She is starting to get a faint red glow.
“Serving me is serving your country. You are nothing but a simple woman and this is a man’s place. The only worth you have in the army is to serve your male commanders. And if you don't learn that soon I'll have you punished for insubordination” Chadwick threatens.
With a quick snap she breaks his hand “I said no” and then she walks away.
“Red Star. Enter” Commander Erodin Stern yells to let Dis now she can enter his tent “what is it I hear from Legate Chadwick. You assaulted a superior and disobeyed an order. I don’t care what he wanted from you. You were disrespectful and disobedient. This must be punished” he says as Dis is about to complain “we soldiers help each other out when asked for it. For the next week you will serve as the moving target for arrow practice and tomorrow you have ten hours of one against five combat training”. Her blood is boiling for this unfair treatment but she keeps silent. She does not want to give Commander Stern more reasons to punish her.
Memories of her time in the army have been running through her head all night interrupting her sleep. It gets her blood boiling every time she thinks of it. Just like yesterday she grabs her clothes and runs out of town to run off her energy before she destroys the whole room. She received so many beatings and punishments for standing up against the unfair rules. It only got tougher day by day as her anger became harder to control; one day it got so bad she broke the arms and legs of ten of her fellow soldiers. She had to deal with shit like that until Lady Ravenwell got her into the Royal army and she got trained in the way of the barbarians. Knight Commander Garthak Urdun had much tougher rules but at least they were fair. On her way back Dis walks by the blacksmith and an idea hits her. She used to work at her parent's forge before she joined the army and maybe she can spend her days working here until the others return. It is a good muscle workout and it can keep her mind busy. She walks inside where a big muscular orc woman is working.
“Hello” Dis greets.
“Greetings 'ow can I 'elp you?” the blacksmith says with a flawless Ivarisian dialect.
“I’m Dis. I’m gonna be in town for some days and was wondering if you could use some assistance. I used to work in my parent’s forge” she introduces.
The blacksmith sizes Dis up for a moment “I could use some ‘elp...” she says hesitatingly while thinking over the offer “…But I need to test you first. You can start by making a thousand nails. We sell many nails a day and it will give moi more time to work on bigger orders. I am Anvilla”.
“Thank you” Dis grabs a rod of iron and puts it in the flames “can I ask you about your name?”
“My parents found moi in the wild when I was around two and my dad was not that creative with names. My mom told moi that he was considering calling moi ‘ammerella and Smithsina” Anvilla converses while they work.
The first few nails take her some time to get done but once she is in the rhythm she makes a nail every two minutes. The melodic sound of hammers against metal and the heat from the forge feels almost soothing and reminds her of home. But as the hours goes on and the small mistakes accumulates so those Dis anger. At the end of the second day she has ruined two hundred nails, broken four hammers and made a hole in the wall from throwing a hammer through it.
“I’m sorry to say this but I ‘ave to let you go” Anvilla stops Dis at the door as she is about to leave for the day.
“Are you firing me? Why?” Dis asks surprised “I just made you eight hundred nails”.
“You also threw a ‘ammer through my wall and you ‘ave scared away more than a couple of customers. It is not a beneficial arrangement for moi” Anvilla explains calmly. “I will pay you a few gold for the work you ‘ave done but ‘ad to take a little for repairs. I ‘ope you understand that this isn’t personal” she hands Dis a little pouch with seven gold coins.
Dis takes the gold but she had hoped that she could have worked in the forge until the others come back. Now she will have to find something else to do.
The next day she wakes and jumps up full of energy ready for her morning exercise. She has decided to try the sailors today. She wants to learn more about sailing. It could be a useful skill to master for future quests. At noon she is down at the harbour looking for a ship. It is buzzing with activity; Ships are stocking up on supplies, creates and barrels gets moved around, people are yelling all kinds of orders, merchants are bartering, there is a fight going on and some people are fishing. Dis walks from ship to ship to hear if any of them can teach her how to sail. But the larger ships are either going on a month long trip, not returning or not leaving during the next week. And the smaller ships either does not like her because of the bar incident, ask for a lot of money or just do not want to risk it.
After asking around at more than twenty ships a shady windblown sailor stops her. “I hear you want to go on the sea for a couple of days. I have a small ship, fifteen men strong. We are salvagers and are going to visit the three small isles Latai, Choa and Salia” he informs.
“That sounds great but how long will it take? I have to be back by the tenth” Dis asks just to make sure.
“It normally takes four to five days so there is plenty of time. Are you in or out?” the sailor is ready to strike a deal.
Dis grabs his hand with a strong grip “I'm in. When do we sail?”
“We are just about to. I'm Captain Targen and welcome to the Shipwreck” he says and shows her the ship “do you have any sailing experience or are you completely new to sailing?”
“I’ve been sailing a bit on rivers but never at sea” Dis says as she looks around on the ship “I’m Dis by the way”.
The crew all look as shady and windblown as Captain Targen. Some have scars and others have severe burns like they all have survived something horrible. When Dis pass them they look at her with something similar to disgust but she is not sure why. Captain Targen takes the ship out of the harbour and waits till they are way out on open sea before he hands over the wheel. The weather is great and the sailing goes smoothly, Captain Targen yells orders at the crew while Dis steers. They sail all day towards Choa.
“Rise and shine murderer!” someone calls as Dis is awoken by hands grabbing her, throwing her down on the deck and tying her up before throwing her overboard to the sand beach of Choa.
“You gonna pay for what you did murderer”
“Yeah you gonna die tonight bitch”
“Burn like my people burned”
She turns around in the sand to see who is talking. Captain Targen walks up to her with his crew behind him. He kicks her back in the sand “you might wonder what is going on” he says and crouches down with a dagger near her face. “I was the sole survivor after the Royal Army annihilated Angberg Town. You came in, rounded up everyone, killed not only the men and women but also the children and the pets. And then you burned down the entire town all because of information that stated an evil cult was controlling the town. I was left bleeding to death where I was cut down. And with my last strength I crawled into the high grass only to see the town burn to the ground. I managed to survive and have spent the last seven years traveling around trying to find every single soldier who killed my friends, family and town and get my revenge. On my travels I collected a crew of survivors who all have been left for dead by the Royal Army. And then much to my surprise the warrior dwarf Red Star of the Royal Army, a murderer of Angberg and slaughterer of Carmenstad walks into the bar I was having a drink at and starting a fight. And a few days later she came looking for a ship. It is like the Gods are on our side blessing our quest”.
While Captain Targen talks the crew, one by one, cuts Dis with their daggers. And with every word and every cut the anger inside Dis grows and she shines a little brighter.
“I remember Angberg Town” Dis spits at Captain Targen “did you tell your crew how your people had to sacrifice their first born and how the Major ate their flesh and captured their souls. We found more than fifty baby skeletons in her yard. We came to arrest her but she used her magic to use you all as a puppet army. I also remember Carmenstad and how they had destroyed and enslaved the neighbour towns Wallenshill and Gorn Field. I also killed the werewolf of Lordent, stopped the bandits in Murkenwood and the child army of Challins. I remember it all vividly and relive it over and over again every time I close my eyes. But come again tell me how I am the evil one, the murderer and the slaughterer” she says while her anger grows stronger.
“Kill her now Captain”
“Yes kill me Captain Targen. Kill me now” Dis taunts.
Captain Targen puts away his dagger and grabs his sword. He gets in position to strike but Dis sets off and headbutts him in his stomach. Surprised he drops the sword and she quickly rolls over to it in the sand and cuts her hands loose. Her red glow lights up the beach and the fourteen crewmembers stands around her and Captain Targen ready to fight. She throws the sword into the chest of one man. Grabs two handfuls of sand and throws it in the eyes of the crewmembers right in front of her. Targen stabs her with his dagger. She grabs his arm and jerks him around. He falls face first down in the sand and then jumps on his head. She grabs the dagger and viciously stabs the next guy ten times in the chest. A rope lands around her neck and someone behind starts pulling hard while two guys grab her arms and a third starts stabbing her. She knocks the two guys holding her arms into the one stabbing her and instead of pulling against the rope she turns around and runs towards the guy strangling her. She tackles him to the ground and beats his face in with her fists. And that is the last thing she remembers before blacking out and waking up on a bloody beach with fifteen dismembered dead sailors scattered around her. She is still bleeding heavily and help is far away as Choa is an inhabited island. With much difficulty she climbs up on the ship to find some medical supplies. This is the first time she really wishes Quinsel was around. She bandages her wounds as well as she can and passes out in a hammock. She awakens a half day later very sore but alive. The bandages are still holding but she has to get back to a healer or she might not survive. Unfortunately the ship is too big for her to sail alone so she lowers a dinghy into the water and fills it with food, water and blankets. It took them about fourteen hours with the ship and now she only has a dinghy which she has to row alone. She rows as hard as she can manage but she has to take more and longer breaks than she wanted. The wounds are exhausting her. On the third day she can finally see the harbour getting nearer. Her arms are burning from the constant rowing but she pushes on. She can relax when she reaches land. The waters are busy near the harbour; several ships are arriving and departing from Grey Haven. She rows hard to avoid a large ship sailing straight at her but the waves are too big and the dinghy gets turned over. The wet blankets are weighing her down and restraining her movement. Her arms are heavy and she is too exhausted to fight herself free. She always thought she would die in combat but never by drowning.
She awakes at Skullrall’s hall in her bed all dry and safe. Her bandages have been changed and cleaned. She can hardly move partly because it feels like the bed is swallowing her and partly because her body is all sore and exhausted. The door opens and in comes Lady Athis and a young maid.
“You have come to yourself” Lady Athis states as she takes a seat at the bedside “a couple of fishermen saw how your dinghy got turned over by the ship and rescued you as fast as they could. They recognised you from the ceremony and brought you up here and my people saw to taking care of you. I recommend you resting for the rest of the day but first I would like to hear the story of why you were sailing in a dinghy all bloodied”.
Halm
Halm would have liked to thank Lady Athis for his new temple but she seemed very busy when she left the ceremony with Dis in her heels. Instead he goes to check out his new temple, located near the other temples. It is a small worn down and abandoned building that has not been used for years. It will take a lot of work to fix it up. The front door is binding and he has to force it open. The hinges are so old and rusted they break as he finally gets it open and the door falls off. He is met with a thick wave of a damp and mouldy smell. But otherwise the temple looks fine. It is old but nothing that a little cleaning and paint can not fix. In the back of the temple there are two rooms, a small empty library and a bedroom. There is a little furniture left but he got four sturdy row benches with room for five people on each, which means he will be able to have sermons for up to twenty people. But first he needs somebody to help. Lady Athis did them to return the tenth and if he is going to be away on missions somebody needs to take care of the temple. He needs a priest; someone to spread the word of Venkha but without promoting Shadow Walkers and evil doers. Luckily Fredo from Huntsman’s hall told him about a priest of Venkha near Grey Haven. He also needs someone to help fix up the temple; it is too much work for him alone. After a few hours of rest and meditation he leaves the temple to find someone in Grey Haven to help him renovating.
“Excuse me, do you know of any carpenter in town good at renovating houses?” he asks the first local citizen he passes.
“You want to 'ire Linus, 'e and 'is crew are the best in town, just 'ead towards the gate till you find a big beautiful 'ouse. You can't miss it” the stranger points out a direction.
“Thank you very much and have a nice day” he does a slight bow of gratitude for the stranger and heads in the pointed direction.
Just as the stranger said, the house was not to be missed. It stands out two floors tall shinning like it had just been build. He walks in through the door to a nicely crafted counter where a butch woman stands fiddling with some planks.
“Hi I am Halm the new owner of the old temple. I am looking for someone to renovate it while I set out to find a priest to run it. I was told to find Linus and his crew” Halm introduces politely.
“Yes this is the place you want Honey. But you don't look like you can afford Linus. We can hook you up with one of our less experienced crews for a more reasonable price” the woman says while chewing on something.
“One of your less experienced crews will do fine, thanks” he says accepting, any help he can get is appreciated “when can I meet the crew?”
The woman turns around and calls “hey Petor! Honey, come out here!”
A very short human with receding hairline and a heavy moustache walks in from the adjacent room with a sandwich in his hands. He almost looks like a dwarf except, he is not as compact. “What is it Marge?” Petor asks as he comes closer. He sounds impatient and grumpy.
“We have a customer who wants to hire your crew for a renovation” Marge points at Halm before she turns back to what she was doing
“Yes I have just been given the small old temple and I want it renovated for use…” Halm starts but Petor interrupts him.
“So you came to hire Linus but since you are a monk you can't afford him and now you are stuck with me and my crew” Petor says bluntly “my crew consists of four young trainees who are still learning the trade. If you catch them doing something stupid you tell it to me and I will handle it. I won’t tolerate other than me punishing or teaching my crew”.
“I understand. I am also planning on being away for a few days looking for a priest. So I put my temple in your hands. When can I expect you to begin?” Halm would like to offer his help but he understands the importance of not interrupting apprenticeships.
“Let me gather my crew and I'll meet you up there in an hour” Petor says and shakes hands with Halm.
While waiting for Petor to meet him at the temple, Halm walks around Grey Haven having small chats with whoever he meets on his way. He quite likes this city, it feels idyllic and warm compared to his old monastery.
Petor meets him at the temple. His crew consists of two halflings, an elf and a human. “This is my crew Galio, Galia, Al'thazar and Morgan. They have come from all over Livinia to learn from us” he introduces his crew and they one by one come to shake hands with Halm. “And this must be the temple you want renovated. We clearly need to redo the exterior with all new boards and give the entire temple a mould treatment. But you are lucky, the skeleton is holding and there are no termites. So it shouldn't be that big of a problem” he says while inspecting the temple and showing a few things to his crew.
“If you have this under control then I will take off. I have much to do” Halm says with a bow and leaves them to work.
He has no idea where the priest Alberto is, except that he is near Grey Haven. But he believes the other priests will have some knowledge and therefore enters the temple of Pelor. It is a much bigger temple with room for a hundred people. And a giant statue of Pelor in a field stands at the altar. He has wheat in one arm and bread in the other. A handful of farmers are sitting on the benches praying for their harvest. He respectfully bows to Pelor before he heads to the priest at the speaker chair.
“Are you the priest of this temple?” Halm asks in a soft and friendly voice.
“Yes my child I am. Have you come to receive the blessing of Pelor?” the priest asks.
“Actually I am searching for another priest and I was hoping that you might be able to point me in the right direction. I have heard that he lives near Grey Haven. Do you know of an Alberto?” Halm knows seeking a priest of Venkha is most likely going to be met with dis-contempt.
And just as he expected the smile fades from the priest's face “and why do you wish to find a Shadow Walker priest?”
“I seek to learn more about the Shadow Walkers and Venkha. Knowledge is an important tool in the fight between right and wrong” Halm says diplomatically.
“If that is the case there is a small temple a day’s walk east of here. That is where you will find Alberto. But be warned, associating with known Shadow Walkers is a dangerous path” the priest says.
Halm bows for the priest and then for Pelor before he leaves the temple. He passes through the market to buy some fruit and bread on his way out of Grey Haven. He greets and talks with every citizen on his path. He likes to meet new people and if he can help them in any way he gladly does. The evening is slowly falling when he finally leave Grey Haven. He takes the trip on foot with a horse by his side to carry his supplies. And just as the priest of Pelor said, it took a day to walk the distance. The evening is falling as he arrives at a small lonesome temple out in the flatlands. The walls have been painted with words of hatred to warn travellers that this is a temple of Venkha. Several signs have been placed to tell people to stay away. Halm knocks on a heavy door that has clearly been fortified. At first nothing happens but after a long moment the door opens and a priest emerges. His hands are hidden. Halm guesses he has a weapon ready to defend himself.
“Welcome to the temple of Venkha, how can I help you traveller?” The priest asks politely and welcoming.
Halm makes sure that the priest can see his missing arm “I am seeking Alberto. I was told he could help give me answers”.
The priest takes out his dagger and sheathes it “I am Alberto and welcome to my temple of Venkha” he greets in a friendlier tone and lets Halm inside. “So what is your story?” he sits down at a table and signs Halm to join him.
“My name is Halm. I am a monk raised to follow Venkha in a monastery far from here. But a few months ago I was chosen to leave on a mission. They told me I had been chosen by the Prophet himself to do Venkha's bidding. But on my mission they ordered me to betray my friends, to kill innocents and turn my back on those who needed me. And when I failed them they used their magic to force my own arm to strangle me. They tried to dispose of me as I had served my usefulness. I was lucky that my friends chose to save me even after I had betrayed them. They have even forgiven me. My friends are not perfect, they are greedy, selfish, they have murdered without remorse and use magic with no regards for anything. But they have also showed more compassion, love and loyalty in this short time than my monastery ever has. I still believe in the teachings of Venkha but I have lost faith in her followers. I believe we need a new and fourth branch in her teachings” he tells Alberto who listen with great interest.
“It sounds like you have come to the right place then. I too believe that Venkha's followers are lost and misled. And that is because no one knows or remembers the true teachings of Venkha or what domain she is the Goddess of. The Shadow walkers want to enslave and control the world in her name. The old Venkhists are ready to eradicate magic at any cost and even the progressive Venkhists wants to harshly regulate magic. And they rarely preach about her other values like hard work, loyalty, compassion and protecting the innocents. I believe Venkha was inherently good and wanted to help others. Not by restricting their freedom to believe, choose or use magic but by teaching and guiding people to be better” Alberto talks while he pours them some tea.
Alberto’s words bring Halm great comfort but it also raises a question in him “if no one knows her true teachings then how can we be sure that we are on the right path?”
“We might never know that is why it is a belief. But if Venkha one day shows herself and tells us that the Shadow Walkers are right then we should re-evaluate our believe in her. You would not blindly follow a king, a leader or a friend if what you believed of them turns out to be wrong. You would reconsider whether or not you could stand by this person. And we should do the same with our Gods; follow their words as long as we believe them to be just and stand against them when they are not. But luckily my research, though limited by the destruction of all texts about Venkha, has not given me any reason to believe the Shadow Walkers are right. And if Venkha was evil, why would the other Gods let her get powerful enough to banish them all?” Alberto argues reasonably.
Halm needs some time to think it over but he is confident that this man could be the priest he needs for his own temple. “How is your life out here away from everyone?”
“Truthfully? It is quite lonely. I rarely meet a friendly face. And though I have no neighbours the people who live around these parts will do anything to get rid of me. There have been many raids and episodes of vandalism on my temple. I try to provide a safe haven for weary travellers who need it. But people would rather risk death than staying here. Luckily Grey Haven is only a day away so it is very few who actually risks their life. And it is hard to be good and help people when there is no one around. But if this is what it takes for me to serve Venkha my way, I will stay here ready to help whoever might need it” Alberto says with pride.
“I have just received a temple and the right to practice my religion inside Grey Haven. I need a priest to manage the temple and I want to offer that job to you. It is not safer than out here and there will be many who want you gone. But it will give you the chance to be around people and help them in any way they need it. It might be your chance to show people that not all Venkhists are Shadow Walkers” Halm offers.
“That is a generous offer but before I give you an answer I want to test you. I want you to spend forty-eight hours meditating in silence. And now it has become quite late. I will retreat to my chamber to pray. You can rest in one of the chambers down the hall and there is food in the kitchen if you need any” Alberto says and leaves Halm to himself.
Halm accepts this test in silence. He knows he can do it. Back in the monastery they often had to meditate in silence for weeks. He finds some bread and water before he goes to rest in the first bed he can find. The next two days goes by in complete silence. He sits on the floor without moving just meditating. He only interrupts the mediation for food, sleep and the bathroom.
Tuearyday morning Alberto joins him for breakfast “good morning Halm and congratulation on completing your test. I had to make sure you had the patience and resolve for this path you are on. It will take a lot of hard work to change the world’s view on Venkha and I just needed to know you had the perseverance” he greets casually and starts brewing some tea “this means that I will be going with you to Grey Haven. Venkha would not want me to sit out here in nowhere waiting for people to need me. She would want me to go with you; she would want me to seek out people in need”.
“I appreciate that you are joining me and I know that in doing so you put your life at risk. I do not have much to give you in return but what I do have is yours. What do you need for your new accommodation?” Halm asks as he picks berries from the small garden inside the temple.
“You do not have to give me anything else. It is an honour to serve Venkha and it will be nice to hear the laughter of children playing in the streets again” Alberto smiles as they both sit down to eat.
As they reach Grey Haven that evening Alberto stops for a moment to enjoy the sound of the city. “I have missed the sound of life so much” he says as a tear rolls down his cheek.
“How long have you been living out there?” Halm asks as he shows the way to the temple.
“I found the temple fifteen years ago. I had to leave my old temple behind because of religious disagreement… Is this your temple?” Alberto asks as they stop in front of the old worn down temple.
Petor and his team have gone home for the day. They have already finished working on one side of the temple and started on another.
Halm nods “it is not much but it will do fine for now. And I have hired someone to help renovate it” he opens the door and walks inside “you will be able to do a small sermon we just need some people to attend it. In the back there is a room for you and a small library. And we can start a small garden for fruit or vegetables”.
Alberto sits on a bench and unpacks some food “where are you going to stay if you give me the only room?”
“For now I will sleep on the floor. I am used to sleeping on the ground. But with time we will add another room over there and maybe even cut out a cellar in the cliff underneath us” Halm says and starts eating “though I may go on quests from time to time. Lady Athis is a friend of mine and I have a meeting with her at the tenth of Magi”.
“So that is why you needed a priest” Alberto says understandingly.
“That is one of the reasons. But I also need your help to understand how to best serve Venkha. I need your help to figure out which of Venkha’s teachings that is hers and which is Shadow Walker propaganda. I can not change the way the world views Venkhists alone. And I can not teach what is right if I do not know what is wrong” it would all be easier if there were books and texts he could read.
Alberto stands up “That is a wise position to take. Well I want to go to bed. It has been a long day”.
After breakfast Alberto performs a practice sermon. He stands in the speaker chair with Halm sitting on the first bench listening “...and one of Venkha's teachings is that magic needs to be controlled. Not because magic is evil or wrong but because magic is a powerful force that if used wrong or without complete control can do terrible harm. One proof of this is to be found in Paharis where Al Nedim the Fire King let loose a fire spell so powerful he lost control and it scorched the land laying it completely barren. And Al Nedim was the most powerful and skilled magic user at the time, he only tried to protect his people. All over the world are unskilled magic users who accidentally let loose magic they have no control over. Children accidentally hurt their parents while throwing a tantrum. People who tries to take a magical shortcut to make their jobs easier ends up ruining everything they have worked for. We need magical control not because magic is evil or dangerous but because everyone should learn how to practice magic with safety and responsibility in mind” he finishes preaching “what do you think? It felt a little too pious and zealous when I said it. I wish to promote compassion and safety not fear and hatred”.
“When preaching ideas that others has used in order to oppress people, it can easily come off as pious. It is therefore important we emphasize the good we want to bring to the world. Also we should make it redundantly clear that we are not here to enforce a strict regime but only to suggest what could make our lives safer” Halm says after a short moment.
Alberto scribbles down some notes on his paper knowing that even if he perfects his sermons there could go generations before anyone will hear them.
“It sounds like Petor and his crew has started todays work” Halm says as hammering sounds from outside “we should also get some work done. We have a lot to clean. Your room and the library could use some refurnishing. And Petor could probably use a hand”. He grabs an old broom and starts sweeping the floor.
After finishing his notes Alberto drags his old bed outside to work on a new one. “Hi I'm Alberto the new priest here” he introduces himself to Petor as they meet “can I borrow some tools and planks to construct some new furniture?”
“I have some spare tools over at the table” Petor grunts without taking his eyes off his work.
Alberto grabs some tools and start working. First he builds a bed, then a table and as the evening falls he begins on a closet. Halm has been sweeping and washing all the rooms and are now returning from the market with some fresh food for them and the crew. He is about to set up the table when the priest of Pelor walks towards them.
“SHADOW WALKER!” the priest of Pelor yells as loud as he can. “How dare you bring a Shadow Walker into our city?” the yelling attracts people’s attention and they come closer to see what is happening.
Halm calmly meets the priest eye to eye “Alberto is no Shadow Walker. He is my new priest”.
“He is a known priest of Venkha and we all know that the followers of Venkha are Shadow Walkers” the priest accuses as more people gather around.
“Yes he is a priest of Venkha. This is a temple of Venkha and Lady Athis has personally given me the right to have a temple of Venkha in this city. But you are misinformed, not all who follow Venkha are Shadow Walkers. We are trying to start a new path of Venkism with no affiliation to the Shadow Walkers and other hateful or oppressive followers” Halm explains.
The group around them is murmuring loudly discussing what is happening.
“You didn't say this was a temple for Venkha. We don't want any part of this. And we don't want your money” Petor says and protectively steps in front of his apprentices as if he wants to guard them.
“It is not allowed to have a Shadow Walker temple inside the cities. Lady Athis promised that she wouldn't allow Shadow Walker temples inside of the cities if she got instated. You two can leave on your own or we will throw you out ourselves” the priest says loudly and the crowd shouts in agreement.
Halm takes out his documents from Lady Athis “this is not a Shadow Walker temple and you have no right to remove us from this city. We accept that you do not like us and that you will not help us. But we will not move. We are not your enemies. I have killed Shadow Walkers. I have fought a Shadow Walker priest several times and I will protect you if I can. No matter if you like me or not” his words drowns as the crowd is getting more vocal.
“You have the right to dislike us. Many have used Venkha's name for evil but she is not a Goddess of evil. We will not take action against you. We will not interfere in your life. All we want is a chance to prove that not all who claim to follow Venkha is dangerous. All we want is a chance to be good helpful neighbours in this city” Alberto calls out over the crowd. He then turns to Halm “let us eat inside. It does not sound like they will give us any peace for the moment”.
Halm and Alberto calmly takes their food and furniture back inside the temple. The crowd keeps yelling at them and demanding them to leave. But they ignore it. They have explained themselves and know that any further engagement will have no effect.
“And so the truth has come out. The entire city will know about us by tomorrow. I had hoped we could have done more good before this but it is as it is” Halm sighs.
Alberto drops Petor's tools on the table “Petor left in such a hurry that he forgot his tool. I suggest we use them to finish working on the temple and then drop them off with a little payment for his work and rent of tools”.
“That would be the right thing to do” Halm agrees.
Halm and Alberto gets up before the first morning light and continues the work on the temple. It is not easy to work while missing an arm but Halm finds a way to manage it all. And luckily Petor had chosen to keep most of their planks inside the temple so they have everything they need. As the day progresses more and more people join up to protest the temple. Except for a small vigilant group most of the protestors are only present for a short period at a time. It is hard work standing under the burning sun while fifty people protest your right to be there. But Halm and Alberto decided that the best course of action is to not engage with the people. The people will not listen to words of reasons at this moment but they will understand actions. Therefore whenever they have to get water they make sure to also get water for the protestors. Whenever they make food they offer food to the protestors. And whenever someone needs help they offer their services. For this is his temple. This is his new home. And so Halm spends his days humbly working on his temple.
Quinsel
Quinsel rides Cinder as fast as she can and Grey Haven is soon far behind her. She has no plans for where she is going she just felt like riding south.
“Where are we off to Quinsel?” Doctor Pain asks.
“No idea, try ask Cinder” Quinsel aswers.
“What about a short vacation at Lake Vander before we return to our friends? I could surely go for a swim” Doctor Pains suggests.
Quinsel looks at her hammer “can you swim? No, wait. You think we should go back to them after this?”
“Of course we should. They are your friends. And Lady Athis asked us to return on the tenth” Doctor Pain reminds her.
“She said what? When?” Quinsel she asks confused.
“It was literally the last thing she said as you rode out of town. You might have heard it yourself if you had bothered saying goodbye” Doctor Pain says.
“If I'm going to see them again then why bother. And if I'm not it doesn't matter” Quinsel shrugs.
Doctor Pain sighs “it is the polite thing to do”.
“That polite thing again” Quinsel says thoughtful “what do you know about politeness, you're just a hammer”.
“I know it would be polite of you to help that old couple over there” Doctor Pain says referring to an elderly couple who have stopped in the middle of the flat lands.
“Alright I'll help them. But only if you promise to be more fun” Quinsel teases and stops by the elderly couple “you guys need any help?”
“Yes thank you dear. A wheel fell off our carriage when we hit a rock” the elderly man says and shows how the fourth wheel just lies on the ground.
“I'll lift, be ready to put the wheel back on” Quinsel crawls in under the carriage.
“Be careful dear. It is very heavy…” the elderly woman says but stops herself as Quinsel easily lifts it “hurry put on the wheel dear”.
The elderly man quickly gets the wheel and with much effort lifts it and gets it back on the carriage. Quinsel puts down the carriage and crawls out from under it. She takes a splinter wood and jams it into the axel to secure the wheel.
“That was quite impressive dear. We would like to repay your kindness but we don't have much…” the elderly woman looks through their things in the carriage. She pulls out a small jar “how about some cookies? It is my own recipe”.
“I love cookies!” Quinsel exclaims as she receive five cookies the size of her hand “thanks” she says with her mouth stuffed full with the first cookie.
She quickly stuffs the cookies down her bag and jumps back on Cinder to resume her travels. At sundown she arrives at the edge of the Violet woods and a few hours later she has reached Lake Vander. As soon as she sees the water she strips naked and jump into the lake for a swim. The water is refreshing and the moonlight hitting the algae makes the lake shimmer purple. After the swim she creates a bed of some moss, her clothes and her bedroll where she cuddles up with Doctor Pain under a thin blanket. She sleeps till late noon; something the others have prevented her from doing on the entire trip from The Shining City. She has absolutely no plan for her time at the lake but she knows it will not involve wearing any clothes. She gives Doctor Pain a kiss and throws him out in the lake and jumps in after him. While out playing in the water and teasing the ships, she notices two men at the shore chasing a young girl. The girl screams for help as they catch her. Doctor Pain gives Quinsel a stern look hinting that she should help the girl. She rolls her eyes before she swims ashore to where the girl was caught. It is easy to follow the sound of the men dragging the girl. They clearly do not expect anyone to be out here. As she comes closer she can hear the two men talk about what they are going to do with the girl.
“... another young stray. This one is real pretty, we can earn good on her if we sell her to a brothel or some slimy old man”.
“I wouldn't mind keeping her for myself”.
“You already have two that you haven't paid me for. If you want this one you better pay full price”.
“I don't have that kind of money”.
“That's why we gotta sell the kids so we can get some money”.
Quinsel can feel that the more she listen to the men, the angrier Doctor Pain gets. Also she does not like getting captured, abused and sold herself so she decides to save the girl. But mostly she is doing it for Doctor Pain. She puts the hammer down in the grass and steps out in the light behind the men “why don't you try a real woman” she says posing her naked body.
The two men stares surprised at her for a moment. “My pleasure” one of the kidnappers says greedily and walks closer to her while pulling out his knife. “You got a nice body. Really firm and nice” he says and runs his hand down her chest.
“You know what else is nice?” Quinsel says and steps away from the kidnapper and bends down “my hammer” she picks up Doctor Pain, a light hits her and before the kidnapper can react she has smashed the hammer it into his stomach. He is hit with such force and momentum that he is lifted off the ground and flies into a tree.
“You shouldn’t have done that bitch” the other kidnapper says and throws the girl to the ground. He draws his sword and gets ready to fight Quinsel. The girl quickly crawls away trying to get to safety.
Quinsel smirks “come and play big boy”. She dodges his attacks as he swings his sword wildly at her. At a swing of the sword she jumps backwards but is stopped by a tree and the tip of the sword hits her ribcage. “That hurt” she says and the kidnapper grins satisfied. She swings her hammer from below and hits the kidnapper on the chin. His head and body is yanked up and backwards and he falls flat on the ground.
“Stop right there bitch or the girl is gonna get it” the first kidnapper has gotten up and is standing with a knife to the girl’s throat.
Without a warning Quinsel fires a guiding bolt and blast off the kidnapper’s face. The spell just misses the girl and only a little of her hair is seared. She then hammers the face in on the kidnapper that is lying on the ground. She hits him four times in the face just to make sure that he is dead.
“Are you okay?” Quinsel finally asks as she notices the girl is still there “are you hungry?”
The girl is just a young teenager in dirty torn clothes. Her dark hair is all tangled, her nails are frayed and she is covered in cuts and bruises. She looks like she has been living in the forest for a long time. Terrified she jumps up and runs deeper into the forest before Quinsel can get close to her.
Quinsel shrugs “I'm hungry, maybe I should find some food” she thinks out loud and leaves the two dead men on the ground.
“Where will you find food? You ate everything last night, you only have two cookies left” Doctor Pain asks.
“I only have one cookie left; I ate the other while you were sleeping. And I will fish and hunt” Quinsel says proudly.
“But you suck at fishing and hunting. You have no patience for it” Doctor Pain comments caringly.
“Oh yeah? Watch me” Quinsel crouches down and starts looking for tracks determined to prove Doctor Pain wrong. Five minutes later she stands up exclaiming “this is so boring” as she has not found anything. “Maybe the men have something on them” she mumbles and walks back to the dead men where she finds a coin purse, a dagger, a sword, and a mouldy piece of bread.
“That is not nearly enough but you can maybe find someone to trade with on the lake or you can swim all the way over to the small village on the other side” Doctor Pain reasons.
“You are so smart Painsy” Quinsel runs back to the lake. Except for one small boat with an elvish man fishing the lake is empty. She drops off the new things at her camp before she swims out to the man. “Can you spare some food” she asks as she crawls up in his boat.
“What are you doing? Who are you?” the fisher asks shocked that a naked woman suddenly boards his boat with no warning.
Quinsel looks confused at him for a second “oh yeah sorry, we haven't met. I'm Quinsel and this is Doctor Pain” she introduces “can you spare some food or something. I'm hungry and I suck at fishing and hunting”.
“I can't just give you my food. I need it to feed myself” the fisher says while looking well-nourished.
“What if I trade you for it? I got some money in my camp or maybe you want to have some fun. I'm real bendy” she pushes her naked body against the fisher and whispers the last words in his ear.
“Well uhm yeah, maybe, hhhmmm, maybe I could uhm spare a fish or uhm two” the fisher says flustered.
“I would appreciate that very much. If you come by my campsite over there with some bread and food you can get whatever you want” she grabs the fisher's ass.
“I will definitely come by your camp” the fisher says more confident “but what about you give a little demonstration of what you can do?”
“If that's what you want” she starts kissing him passionately while taking off his clothes.
An hour later the fisher drops off Quinsel at her camp “I'll bring you some more food later but here take a fish for now” he says with a big smile “and you can call me Calathay”.
Quite pleased with her little setup Quinsel overcooks her fish. Cooking is another skill she is lacking not that she cares about it.
Calathay returns later that day with some more food and another round of wild sex and again in the morning. “You are quite the interesting woman, why don’t you come and stay with me instead of out here” he says as he is getting dressed “I would certainly like to get to know you”.
Quinsel kisses him “that’s not part of our deal and I like it here for the moment”.
“Do you have other men coming around here?” Calathay asks, trying to sound casual.
“That’s none of your concern” Quinsel says dismissively. She leads him to his boat to send him off “this is how it’s gonna be or nothing at all”.
Calathay sails away slightly hurt but too proud to show it. And he is certainly not going to ruin this thing yet; it has been a long time since he last met a woman like her. While he sails away Quinsel is thinking about leaving the lakeside. It is not like there are much more to do other than swimming and having sex. And Calathay is already starting to get a clingy and it ruins her fun. She pulls out her last cookie and sits down to eat it when she hears a branch snap between the trees just behind her. She glances over her shoulder and can clearly see a person lurking around. A teenage girl jumps out with a loud whine as she just got doused with forty litters of cold water.
“Haha got you, look how wet you are” Quinsel roles over laughing. She recognises the girl from the kidnapping yesterday.
“Why’d you do that?” the girl asks while keeping her distance.
“I wanted to” Quinsel shrugs laughing.
“It’s not funny, I’m all wet now” the girl complains.
Quinsel found it funny so she does not really care what the girl says “What do you want kid?”
“My name is Qita” the girl says defensive while keeping her distance “you said something about food”.
Quinsel looks at the cookie she is still holding “yeah, yeah, you can eat what you find” she says looking at Doctor Pain and throws the cookie to Qita.
“Really?” Qita exclaims disbelieving and slowly starts looking for food. “Why are you naked lady?”
“Cause I love my body, just look how nice it is” Quinsel poses and shows her toned muscular body “you should always love your body. Most people only get one body for the rest of their lives. If you are unhappy with your body you should do what it takes to be happy with it. If it's about your weight you should work out or eat more until you are happy. If it's because you want to be a man instead of woman then you can start dress, look and act like a man till you find someone who can help with some powerful magic. If you want to be a dwarf, gnome, elf or something else then you also need some powerful magic. But it is only you who knows what body you like to have. And I love my body. Also Painsy really loves my body”. She lifts Doctor Pain and talks with his deep voice “it's true. I find her really beautiful and sexy”.
“Why’d you talk to your hammer?” Qita says unsure how to react to it.
“You mean Doctor Pain here? He’s my boyfriend and he’s a Doctor, a really good one. He takes care of me” Quinsel introduces her hammer proudly.
“I’m more like a split of her ego projected onto an inanimate object as a defensive mechanism for her to avoid dealing with both emotional and physical traumas she has experienced in her life. She is completely unaware that we share the same conscience and mental capability. The interesting thing is that she has developed a co-dependent emotional attachment to me that could be considered highly narcissistic...” Doctor Pain explains.
“You say such silly things” Quinsel interrupts Doctor Pain as she finds the explanation a bit dry and boring.
Qita understands nothing and nervously tries to change subject “can... can you teach me magic?”
“I LOVE magic! I’ll teach you all of it” Quinsel says all excitedly and starts impatiently teaching Qita all she knows. Except she gets bored and distracted every tenth minute. She teaches magic until evening when Calathay comes by for another visit and Qita runs off.
The following days Qita comes by the campsite just after Calathay has been sent away. She comes by to learn more and Quinsel teaches her about healing, fighting, being a woman and how to manipulate people with her body. She also wants to teach about sex Doctor Pain stops her saying she is too young. She does her best but keeps confusing and mixing up subjects. Luckily Doctor Pain is there to correct her and remind her of the things she forgets. Qita enjoys having someone around again and Quinsel feels like an older sister.
“Good morning Quinsel” Doctor Pain’s deep voice sounds early in the morning on the ninth of Magi “remember you have to get back to Grey Haven today. Lady Athis expects to see you tomorrow”.
Quinsel jumps up from her bed “is it time to leave?” she asks and starts packing.
“Remember to get dressed. You know how people are when you walk around naked in the cities” Doctor Pain reminds her. “You know I’m right. We don’t want to spend the night in some jail and miss out on a new adventure” he continues as she is about to argue with him.
In just twenty minutes she has packed everything and whistles for Cinder who has been running freely in the woods since she came. She saddles up and rides towards Grey Haven without looking back.
“Did you remember everything?” Doctor Pain says in a knowing tone as the Violet Woods disappears behind them.
Quinsel does a quick mental check up on her belongings “I think so. I got you, Cinder, my clothes and a bunch of stuff”.
“You are incorrigible” Doctor Pain sighs.
“I love you too”
Storm
Storm grabs moves determinately through the dispersing crowd and straight down to the harbour bar. He wants a drink and it looks like the best place to look for a crew to his new ship. But before he can hire anyone he needs to earn some gold. He could try and sell the drugs in his back; he others have probably forgotten all about the drugs. The bar is already half full of soldiers and sailors getting drunk. Storm walks straight towards a table in the corner. It is the best table for making deals; it provides privacy and makes it easy to keep watch.
A barmaid walks up to him “welcome to the Harbour bar, how can I help you?” the barmaid says politely and wipes the table.
“Aye gorgeous bring me a beer and let’s get to know each other” Storm says charmingly “also I have some unregulated items of a sensitive nature if you could let the right kind of people know” he whispers the last part.
“Toss anchor there sailor. There is a strict no ‘romancing with the barmaids’ policy here. If you want a woman's touch then try the brothel, they work hard for their gold” the barmaid says before leaving to get him a mug full of beer.
He sits back and watches the people get drunk. He does not want just any sailor in his crew. He wants someone with ambiguous morals and various skills. Someone who can defend themselves but also knows how to have a good time. And it is essential that he can trust them in all situations. He could hire the others, it would be cheaper. Dis is a good fighter and soldier; she would be a valuable member. But imagine stuck at sea on a ship for months at a time with Quinsel around, it could drive anyone crazy. John got some good songs but there is something fishy about him. And then there is Halm. He does own his life and he has proven himself a lot since The Shining City. But his morals are way too high for a criminal lifestyle. He scribbles some notes on a few sailors he thinks could be worth talking with. After some hours at around noon Jax steps through the door. He did not expect to see Jax here but if there is a person he wants on his crew it is this minotaur. He is strong, trustworthy and a good sailor.
“Yoho Storm” Jax calls out in the bar as he sees him at the table “thought this would be the place to find you” he laughs and sits down at the table “just came in with the tide and heard what happened so thought we should celebrate”.
“Aye let’s celebrate” Storm cheers “I’m looking for sailors. Athis has promised me a ship. Do you still need work? Cause I’ll need a good First mate”.
“It would be an honour, Captain. When are we gonna sail and how big a crew?” Jax asks ready to get to work.
“I’m told the ship isn’t ready yet. But Athis has asked that I meet her on the tenth. If it isn’t ready by then we’ll take one as we see fit. And depending on the ship, we’ll need at least ten sailors and then we’ll figure out the rest. We are going back on the sea one way or another” Storm cheers the last part.
The two drinks and talk about their past adventures and their future plans for a couple of hours and two shady looking characters walk up to their table.
“We received a message that you were looking for someone who could handle unregulated goods” one of them says and they sit down.
“I got some bottles of a very potent drug right here. They were created by Shiv for the bandit leader Joey Carr. Just a single sip will make you hallucinate for hours. I want a good price for it. If you try anything I’ll kill you” Storm says in a hush and ominous tone to ensure these two understands him.
“We get it. We don’t trust you either” one of the shady men scuffs “but before we can make any deal we need to sample the product”.
Without breaking eye contact Storm slowly reaches down in his bag for one of the bottles. He carefully shows it to the shady guys and then pours some up in an empty mug and hides the bottle again. Just as one of the guys takes the mug Dis shows up and tries to sit down at the table. Storm can see the two guys signalling that he either gets rid of her or the deal is over.
“Leave us” Storm commands. He has no time for her and he might never see her again anyway.
“You know her? Is she gonna be a problem?” one of the shady guys asks after Dis is gone again.
“She’s just a travel companion, nothing to worry about. Can we get back to business?” Storm dismisses impatiently.
“Woah, this is great. This is real quality stuff. We’ll give you ten gold per bottle” one of the shady guys says. “And if you got anything to sell in the future just come to us” the other chimes in.
“Make it fifteen” Storm says and stares down the one who did not take the drug.
At the other end of the bar Dis is getting in a fight with some soldiers and it quickly evolves into a big bar brawl.
The guy nods in agreement “show up tomorrow night at the docks and you get your money” and then they leave just as inconspicuously as they arrived.
Jax orders another round of beer from the barmaid “aye that will be enough to hire a small crew and get us out on the sea pirating”.
The two drink into the middle of the night sharing stories of piracy and adventures. At two in the morning they drunkenly stumble their way down to the Seafarer’s rest, an inn on the harbour.
Storm sleeps until mid-day and finds Jax sitting at a table. “Morn' Captain” Jax greet mumbling while eating “what's the plan for today?”
“I’ll prepare for the deal with those two guys tonight. I want you to talk with some sailors and hire those you seem fit” Storm says and takes a piece of bread before he leaves.
He walks down the harbour to the place the guys mentioned. It is an isolated spot. The only ways away from there is either by jumping into the water or walk back the way he came from. There are no buildings this far down and it is clearly only used at rare occasions. This means it is unlikely that he will walk into an ambush tonight as there are next to nowhere to hide. But just to be on the save side Storm finds their dinghy from the night before and rows it a little way out and anchor it to the cliff side. He hides some basic medical supplies in it. He does not count on needing it. If it is just the two guys he is confident that he can easily kill them. When he is comfortable with the setup he swims back to the harbour. And with some hours left before the trade he walks up to the harbour bar to find the barmaid from yesterday. She might know something about the two shady guys. Information is always a good thing to have when dealing with others. She is standing at a table taking orders from a couple of sailors.
“We gonna talk” Storm says firmly and pulls her to the side interrupting her conversation.
“You better let go before Gregor sees you” the barmaid threatens.
Storm slowly lets go off her arm as he talks “the two guys you contacted for me yesterday, tell me about them”.
She takes a quick look around the bar to see if anyone is listening and starts acting like she takes down an order before whispering “you should be more discrete. You never know who might be listening”.
“You better start talking or I'll make things even worse for you” Storm threatens.
“They are called The Two Guys and are just some low life scum willing to buy anything they can sell. I wouldn't worry about them if I were you” the barmaid leaves him and walks out in the back.
He wanted more information than that but it will do. He feels comfortable that the two guys would not dare try to double cross him. They could come in handy when he needs to sell loot in the future. He stops at the inn for something to eat and prepare for the trade. As the time comes he walks down to the far end of the harbour with only the moon to light up the area. The Two Guys are already there waiting for him.
“Do you have the drugs?” One of the guys asks.
“Of course. But first show me the gold” Storm demands knowing that he got the advantage in this situation. A little part of him is hoping that they will try something stupid; something that will give him an excuse to just kill them and take the gold.
The Two Guys pull out a pouch “forty-five gold coins as agreed. Feel free to count them”.
He knows it is the right amount just by looking at the size and weight of the pouch. When it comes to gold he can tell the amount just by a quick glance. But he opens the pouch anyway. You never know with people like them; they might try anything to trick you. “It's all there” he says and hands over the drugs and leaves. He really expected something to go wrong but everything just went as it should. He goes to the brothel to celebrate.
“Morn' Captain” Jax greets as Storm sits down at his table “how did the trade go last night?”
“They were eager to trade and didn't even try to double cross me. They will be good to have for future trades” Storm grabs some bread and starts eating “how did the recruiting go?”
“Not that well. Many of them have heard stories about you” Jax laughs “some don't wanna work with pirates and others fear it will be their death when you'll try to hunt down a monster. I did get one recruit, I think. I don't understand what he said as half his tongue has been bitten off by a shark”.
“Then we'll just find some men who aren't complete cowards” Storm laughs.
They spend the next few days roaming the harbour interviewing and recruiting sailors. But the lack of interest forces them to accept more young and unexperienced sailors than they wanted to. At the end of the day on the fifth of Magi they have only managed to recruit six more sailors tallying the crew to a total of nine. They are all drinking together up at the Harbour bar where Storm and Jax entertains with some wild stories from the sea.
“So Captain Storm, I hear you are putting together a crew for your new ship” a man with a scarred face slurps as he stands near the table. It looks like one side of his mouth has been forcefully pulled backwards by a large hook.
Storm recognises the face from back in the Violet Woods “you must be the one called Fishhook, has Snide sent you?” his hand is down on his sword.
“I have no allegiance to that scum that is Lord Snide. And since you guys failed to reinstate me as the leader of the seafarer’s union I have left the Violet Woods” Fishhook says “I want to get back out on the sea”.
“Why should I hire you? It sounds like it could bring issues” Storm says still with a hand on his sword. The other crewmembers are watching the situation with great interest.
Fishhook gives the crew a glance “your crew seems weak and inexperienced; you need some good officers to manage them. I have been sailing for twenty years and I still have good relations in harbours all around Livinia”.
Jax leans closer to Storm “he’ll be more useful than any of the others and that’s including your friends. Also we’ll have to hire your friends cause we aren’t getting enough to sail the ship like this” he whispers.
“Aye you are hired. Jax here is the First mate and you’ll be the Second mate” Storm says after considering Jax’s words. “Then we have Sharktounge, his tongue was eaten by a shark. Pete and Michael are brothers. That one is Fred and then Squid, Callahan and Jynx. The ship will arrive in a few days but until then I want you to start them on some basic training”.
“Pstt. Captain Storm” the Two guys stands in the corner by the door in the Harbour bar and calls him over as he is about to leave. “You said you had more of the drug in a secret storage right? We want to buy all of it”.
“That’d be an expensive investment for you two. There were drugs worth more than two-thousand gold. Get that kind of gold and I reveal the location” Storm says before he leaves.
He wakes up in a dark room. His hands and feet are bound and he can hardly move; it feels like he has been drugged. They must have taken him while he was sleeping. Next to him lie the Two Guys also bound and still sleeping. With a lot of effort he rolls to the side of the room. The wall is made of stone that has been crudely cut. He figures he must be inside the cliff. Slowly he moves around the room feeling the wall for a sharp edge. Half way around after passing the door he finds a somewhat useful place and starts cutting the rope tying his hands. It takes him twenty minutes before the ropes finally break. The drugs have completely worn off him now but The Two guys are still heavily sedated. Footsteps sound from outside the door and then rustling of keys. The door opens and he immediately feels and intense anger towards the person entering the room. It is like nothing can satisfy him until that person is dead. The person walks closer with a wooden plate and puts it down near the Two Guys. It is at this point he notices that Storm is not where he was left. Storm jumps up on the back of his capturer and forces his face down into cliff floor. Sitting on his back Storm bashes his captures faces into the floor several times until he stops moving. The anger leaves his body. Cautiously he sneaks out in the empty hallway. No one guards the door. The hallway stretches in both directions. He takes a torch from the wall and walk down the path to his right to another door. He cracks the door slightly open and sees what looks like a living room. Whoever kidnapped him is living here. The room is simple decorated; the dining table is to the right, in the middle is a small comfortable seating area and to the left is a bed. The only thing that seems odd about the decoration is the huge stack of crates that have been placed around the dining table. The only sound coming from the room is the crashing waves from the ocean. It could mean that there is a way out. He walks inside the room to check it out. Inside the crates he finds various kinds of alcohol as if it were the stock for a bar. He is about to pocket a bottle when a voice sounds from the door.
“Calm your sails sailor” it is the barmaid but this time she looks more fierce and dangerous “you are about to steal from Under Haven”. She walks inside the room followed by the bar owner and six brutes carrying the Two guys.
“Captain Storm, nice to finally meet ya. Ya just as skilled and dangerous as I’ve heard but I didn’t ‘xpect to ya kill one of me men trying to ‘scape” the bar owner says.
“Who are you? And why have you captured me?” Storm asks wishing he had his sword with him.
“Straight to the point” the bar owner says and nods. Two of the brutes grab Storm by the arms and the group walks through a hidden path at the corner of the wall. They now stand under the moonlight on a small plateau looking over the sea. “When ya first came to me bar ya asked for someone to trade with and I sent you the Two Guys. I needed to test their loyalty to me and I didn't want to ‘xpose me ‘xistence to ya just yet. The Two Guys bought eh drug from ya but instead of selling it to me customers, they used it all themselves. Then this evening I heard they asked ya for the location of eh secret storage and ya wanted two-thousand gold for the information. But they never came to me with this information and they didn't ask for me permission. So it was clear they had become eh greedy liability”. He walks over to the first of the Two Guys and pulls him up into a kneeling position. “Me names Gregor and I’m the leader of Under Haven. We are the ones who controls everything here and not them pesky Athis family. Me family have been controlling Grey Haven long before them Athis came and we will control it again when they are all dead” he breaks the neck of the guy he was holding and throws him over the edge “if ya want to sell or buy anything, if ya are going to earn some gold or ya want to kill someone ya come to me, got it?” he walks over to the second guy and breaks his neck and throws him over the edge “we take forty percent of everything but ya can keep the location of ya secret storage”.
“Aye I understand that I won’t be making any deals around Grey Haven no more. You can have this city I was only passing by anyway” Storm says giving Gregor a firm handshake and then he jumps into the sea.
He swims around to the Seafarer's rest to get some sleep. The last days goes by with training off the crew and getting them into shape. And everywhere he goes he can see a member of the White Shadow keeping an eye on him.
-- Session fifteen: Alque Ra --
“Thanks for staying ‘ere and ‘appy Alque Ra” Jillian says as John leaves the Raging Ram.
All of Grey Gaven has been decorated with banners and lanterns. Magic merchants and street artists have appeared all through the streets. They are selling books, spell scrolls, potions, ingredients, components and magical items. There are tournament for Wizards and Sorceres where they can show their magical cunning with difficult spells. And everywhere you can hear magic users share their personal techniques. Kids run around playing with magical tops, lanterns and paper birds. John plays a small tune as he walks but gets interrupted as a horse jumps over him and stops.
“I love the festival of magic. It’s so much fun” Quinsel laughs as she dismounts Cinder and sends a cascade of sacred flames flying across the sky.
“Could you not jump over me” John yells still startled. He is sure that it was more luck than skill that Quinsel did not hit him.
Quinsel shrugs apathetically and continues to play with her magic. “What do you think Lady Athis wants?”
“Hopefully she sends us on a new adventure. Something epic I can write songs about” John says and is suddenly aware of his new arm. But Quinsel does not seem to care that his arm has been restored or maybe she has not noticed. The others will probably not be so carefree about this.
Quinsel leaves Cinder to run around the city as the two walk towards Skullrall’s hall together.
Lady Athis sits on her throne in front of a big window looking over the sea. Three banners hangs above the throne, one with the Athis family crest of the bull skull, one with the colours of Ivaris and one with the colours of Livinia. Storm and Halm stands to her left and Dis has just finished telling the others of her adventures when John and Quinsel arrive.
John has barely stepped inside the room when Storm points to his arm “how’d you get your arm back?” he asks. He was the one who took John’s arm in the first place as punishment for betraying the team.
“A fan liked my music and offered to restore my arm as he hopes I will be able to make even better music in the future” John says dismissively.
“Someone restored your arm without asking for compensation? That sounds odd as restoring body parts are some powerful magic. I do find your songs pleasing but it is an exceptionally kind gesture to just restore someone’s arm” Halm says pondering John’s answer.
“That is nevertheless what happened but we are not here to question the act of strangers. Lady Athis you wanted to see us?” John can feel everybody looking at him but he can not tell them the truth of his new arm.
“Yes, thank you all for coming, it is nice to see you all again” Lady Athis greets taking the word and attention away from John. “First I must apologise Storm, your ship has not arrived yet. But I strongly expect it to arrive in three days’ time. And now to why I asked you to come today. You are the reason I made it here and I could not have done it without your hard work, friendship and support. So I want to share with you how it is going. The last ten days I have been meeting with the Lords and Ladies of Iveris taking care of the political transition. Countess Bigsby is currently driving out the last of Glubnar’s followers. Those who do not pledge loyalty to us have been decapitated for their crimes against the land. Lord Snyde is refusing to pay taxes and it rumours that he once again will try to challenge me for my position. The decision to support Venkhist’s right to practice their religion and the fact that I broke my promise of no Venkhist temples inside the city walls, by giving Halm a temple inside of Grey Haven, is also generating a lot of tension but I stand by my and your choices” she informs them “so as you can hear I have much work in front of me and I would therefore like to officially ask you all to be part of my counsel. Halm I could use your help to smooth out the Venkhist situation and together we can work towards changing the view on your religion. Storm I hope I will be able to hire your ship every now and then for trades and naval missions. Dis I want you as one of my generals. Together we can make a better army free of the old ways with deeply seeded sexism and racism. John your music has become quite popular here in Grey Haven and we would like to hire you for events and entertainment. And Quinsel I would like to keep you around as a trusted friend and hear about your adventures and ideas” she looks at the group one by one to hear their reactions.
“Aye as long as there’s gold involved we can probably find an agreement. But you do not want to make it an official partnership” Storm says with a slightly ominous tone to make sure she understands him. Official affiliation with Lady Athis can hurt his reputation as a pirate and Under Haven will be able to use it against him.
Dis bows deep for Lady Athis “it would be my honour to serve and protect you”.
“I would love to come play my music but I don’t want the job because of our friendship. I want an impartial committee to decide who will be playing at what events. It should be the quality of the work and not ones relations that matters” John says and Lady Athis nods understandingly.
“I am sorry that my religion has brought you problems but I look forward to working together with you on creating a better future” Halm is happy to have the support of his friends.
“Are we done yet? Let’s go celebrate” Quinsel moans bored.
“You are absolutely right Quinsel. Alque Ra is an important day to celebrate and I would like to invite you all to come with me for the traditional Alque Ra sermon in the temple of Galdar” Lady Athis says smiling at Quinsel’s impatience.
“It will be an honour. We would love to come with you” Halm replies before any of the others can make an excuse.
Outside Jax has been waiting for Storm and they step into a dark alleyway “I was eating down at the Seafarer’s rest when some guy came up to me and said he had heard some information that he wanted to share with you. He said it was about the tattoos. He wants to meet you behind the Raging Ram later today. Thought you might want to know”.
“Aye, thanks for the tip my friend. Did anybody hear you” Storm asks as his eyes falls on a hooded figure near the fountain in the middle of the plaza starring their way. “They are still watching us, be careful who you talk to. Also Talina has informed me that the ship will be here in three days. Check our supplies on last time and get the things we need” he leaves Jax to catch up with Lady Athis.
At noon two bells starts chiming echoing through Grey Haven to inform everyone that the Alque Ra sermon is about to begin at the temple of Galdar. As the bells chimes most of Grey Haven closes up shop and moves towards the temple hoping they can get a seat for the sermon. In front of the temple is a fifteen meter tall golden statue of Galdar standing showing how he brought magic to the world of mortals.
On the way Halm stops by at his own temple to see how it is going. When he left this morning there was a new group of people waiting for the doors to open; they were all robed and hooded trying to hide their faces from the rest of the city. Halm wanted to stay and help but Alberto assured him that he could handle it. The people are still in the temple and Alberto is walking around talking to the one on one. Some of the people have taken of their robes and Halm recognizes them from around Grey Haven.
Halm walks straight to Alberto “did the sermon go well?”
“It went very well. They like our new path of Venkhism and our ideas. Some of them have felt for a long time that the old ways are too extreme but feared speaking their mind for retribution from both sides. They only dared coming here today as they know everyone will be attending the sermon at the Temple of Galdar and they can sneak out unnoticed” Alberto shares while a couple of the still hooded persons comes over and thanks them for the sermon.
“That is good to hear. I also bring good news. Lady Athis has just asked me to officially be part of her counsel and help her deal with Venkhist situations in all of Iveris. It is going to take much work but life is getting better” Halm says loud enough for all in the temple to hear and the people applaud him. “Well I have to go again. The others await me at the Temple of Galdar, Lady Athis invited me to attend the sermon with her”.
Together they are escorted inside the Temple of Galdar to a private lounge looking out over the many people crowded together to hear the priest talk. There are a few other lounges to both sides but the Athis lounge is the nicest. A choir of young people are singing The Hymn of Magic, an old elven song about the feeling of using magic. Their technique is flawless but they sing completely devoid of emotion and Quinsel is lulled into a deep sleep before the priest starts the sermon.
“…At the dawn of the Age of Magi, when the sun himself, Galdar the Giver, landed on these shores at the first day of summer. He saw in us a need; a need to defend ourselves from the fiends, from other worlds, from within. He saw in us a purpose; a purpose to bring order and justice to all mortal people of the world. He saw in us an ambition; an ambition to see his divine will done. For need, purpose and ambition, he gifted us with but a drop of his divine power. And so today magic flows through our land, though our brothers and sisters, through our sons and daughters, to remind us all, every child of Livinia, that we are chosen; chosen to strive for the good and just, to defeat the foul chaos, to deliver the will of the Sun himself…”
Halm is listening intensely to every word the priest says. He has never heard this version or any version of the world’s creation and where magic came from other than what he was taught in the monastery.
Four uninterrupted hours of preaching and emotionless choir music later they leave the temple together. They are the last to be let out in order to avoid the crowd. “Aye that calls for a drink” Storm says while stretching. If he had known it would take four hours he would have brought beer or something stronger.
“Thank you all for joining me. I will return home as I have much work to do. But you should all go celebrate Alque Ra” Lady Athis says a little sad that she is no longer able to just hang out with the team at a bar. She has grown quite fond of them over the last month. There was something freeing about being on the run and traveling with friends.
“I’ll escort you back” Dis says and then turns to the others “where are we meeting for drinks?”
“I got a meeting at the Raging Ram later. Some guy with information about Shadow Walkers” Storm informs the others.
“See you later then” Dis says and leaves with Lady Athis and the others starts walking towards the Raging Ram.
“Does that mean you will continue the fight against the Shadow Walkers even after you leave?” Halm asks interested. He sort of figured Storm would just leave all this behind him.
“Aye those fresh dung piles will be sent right to Hades if they cross my path...” Storm pauses as they walk by a mob standing around a newly built podium. Sigfried the Lightbringer is preaching on top of it. “Quinsel, take Halm to the bar. John and I will check this out”.
As they walk closer they can see that a group of guards are trying to handle the situation but without any success.
“Aye what’s going on here?” Storm asks with a tone that demands attention.
One of the guards, only a teenager, walks over to Storm “this guy says he has come to burn heathens on this podium” he points to two women and a child bound up “but it’s against the law to burn people, so we are trying to stop him”.
Sigfried calls to them “these heathens Storm, these unrightful people are the servants of Venkha and we are going to burn them to free their souls from their tainted bodies and let the world know that Shadow Walkers are not welcome here”.
John pushes through the mob and climbs up on the podium “do you have any proof that these three are Shadow Walkers?” he asks.
“Of course I have, I saw them serve Venkha and all Shadow Walkers serve Venkha” Sigfried argues.
“It is true that the Shadow Walkers claim to serve Venkha. But not all who serve Venkha are Shadow Walkers. And it is not illegal to serve Venkha. Lady Athis have just ten days ago granted a temple to the servitude of Venkha. You can’t kill people just because they believe in something that you don’t agree with. You have to judge them on their actions” John argues back and the mob starts to murmur pensively.
“You can’t kill people just because they believe in something that you don’t agree with? Didn’t Lady Athis just have soldiers killed for serving Baron Glubnar instead of her? How can you support that and then argue against what I am doing?” Sigfried asks.
“Those soldiers weren't killed for serving Glubnar. Those soldiers were executed because of the crimes they did under Glubnar’s leadership. They were given a choice of exoneration if they denounced Glubnar as their leader. Many of them did not follow Glubnar willingly and regret everything he had them do. But some of them were pleased with Glubnar’s brutal ways and took pleasure in the crimes he allowed them to commit” John explains to the crowd. Though he is not completely sure that it is true, he strongly believes it is.
Sigfried can see the crowd’s support turn “of course you would say that. You two are nothing but pets of Lady Athis and we all know that she is affiliated with that scum of a Shadow Walker Halm. You are all heathens”.
Storm has also made his way up on the podium “shut it Sigfried. You are nothing but a self-righteous prick” he grunts and knocks him down with a punch to the face. “Guards take him away” he orders. The guards move through the small crowd and apprehend Sigfried as Storm ordered.
John releases the captives and points towards Halm’s temple “if you need protection and help then there is a temple to Venkha up there. It’s not that big but the priest will help you with food, a place to sleep and travel arrangements”.
Three orcs from Glubnar’s army has formed a band called the Orc-chestra are playing at the bar. Halm sits down at a table near the scene and listens to them while waiting for the others. Quinsel sits down with a small group and joins their poker game. She keeps making things light up in different colours with her magic instead of focussing on the game.
After some hands Jillian comes over to her with a note “I ‘ave been told to give you this note, ‘ere” she says and hands a small piece paper with a message on.
Quinsel takes the note and leaves the poker game to read it at Halm’s table.
Silly how an orphan plays cleric.
Like a medic playing a folk hero.
Like an accountant playing herbalist.
She flips, turns, re-reads the note, groans deeply and then bangs her head into the table. She has no idea what this message means and it hurts her head. Not even Doctor Pain understands what it means.
“Aye, the sound of Quinsel thinking” Storm says as he walks up to the table with John “what’s the problem?”
Quinsel raises the note in the air for Storm to take. He reads it a few times and then hands it back to her.
“I know nothing about poetry. Who gave you this?” Storm asks and sits down as Dis joins them with beer and troll milk for them all.
“The maid, she must have given it to the wrong person” deafeated Quinsel throws the note away over her shoulder.
Halm picks the note up and reads it “I think the second line is about you. It must be important for some reason and you should keep it”.
“Enough about that let’s party” John downs a shot of troll milk and runs up to the stage to perform a song with the Orc-chestra. He heard them playing while he stayed here.
As the evening progresses the bar gets more and more crowded. And several faces they recognize even shows up at the bar to participate in the festivities. The Judge, Griff, sits alone at a table in the corner drinking. He lifts his mug in a greeting to Storm but otherwise does not engage in the party. Jax has brought the crew up and is sitting spread out in the room, ready to step in at Storm’s signals. Brigitte is sitting next to Jax talking and making him laugh. Stefan is having an unusually lucky night playing poker at the table just next to them. He keeps turning around to Dis with a quick comment on his winnings. She suspects he is cheating and is about to confront him when Fathil walks in through the door with a small group of people. He leaves them at a table and walks over to the team while he is clearly scouting the room.
“My friends, good to see you again. You look as lovely as ever my beautiful Dis. Is it going to be you and me tonight?” Fathil says and sits down between Dis and Storm. Before she can decline him again, he leans closer to Storm “I hear you have gathered a crew for your ship and rumours are that you going out pirating. At least that’s what I hear from Gregor. And you know what my friend, I want in. I have business to do outside of Livinia and I got many powerful connections that could be of great use for us both” he smiles.
“Aye I could use more sailors and good contacts. We’re leaving as soon as the ship arrive” Storm signals to Jax who comes over “Jax meet Fathil, he’ll be joining our crew”.
Jax makes a quick greeting and then leans closer to Storm and whispers “Captain, it’s time, go out the back door”.
Storm signals to Halm that he should follow and they walk to the back door “guard the door; don’t let anyone in or out”.
Outside is a half-orc in ragged clothing pacing nervously back and forth in the moonlight from Hadeon, the moon of life which is full tonight. He is visibly relieved to see Storm and Jax come out through the door. None of them notices John has snuck outside with them and is standing behind some barrels full of trash.
“Are you the one who asked for me” Storm says bluntly with a hand ready to grab his sword. This could very easy be a trap.
The guy walks closer “were you followed?” he asks clearly afraid of something “they are after me. They want to stop me from telling the truth”.
“Who are you and what truth?” Storm’s voice is demanding with authority. His hand is now on the handle of his sword.
“I am … I was one of Grimwald’s bodyguards. I saw you at his party. He received a present with a message from the monk. An order he said. Days later he ordered me to move some suspicious crates from the harbour to The Shining Tower. The explosion was our doing and we left the City before they could close the gate. We rode towards Vigils’ Keep but they found us in the middle of the night. They caught him and killed the others. I ran. I have been running ever since. You need to find Grimwald...” the bodyguard suddenly stops talking.
He had nervously paced by some shadows as he was talking. His face turns pale in the moonlight and slowly pierces through his chest. Another knife appears from the shadows and slices his throat. Two hooded figures walk out of the shadows. The hooded person pulls his sword out of the bodyguard and a big grin can be seen under his hood. Without a warning he lunges towards Storm but before he hits he suddenly dashes sideways into the wall.
“Ha did you see how he hit the wall” John laughs as he walks out from his hiding spot “can’t we have one party without a fight? Well at least there are only two …” A cold hand grabs him around the neck. The guy who ran into the wall is lifting him from the ground before he could finish talking.
“Your small tricks won’t save you” the guy whispers in his ear.
John looks to Storm for help as he can feel the magical energy penetrate his skin. But Storm is completely focused with anger on the other guy who has grabbed tight onto his arm where deep wounds are forming. John can barely breathe and is about to panic when bright red flames in shape of a demon’s head shoot out from his body and consume the hooded guy. Storm grabs the Vengeance sword and cuts off the hand of the hooded guy to free himself from the spell. Without even reacting to losing his hand, the hooded guy immediately reaches for Storm’s face with the other hand glowing sickly pale.
“Do that and you end up like your friend you twat” John taunts with gasp from the ground. He landed on his back in the ashes of the other guy when he fell.
For half a second the hooded guy is distracted by John’s taunt. Just long enough for Storm duck under the spell and stab his sword up through the stomach and chest of the hooded guy. The hand stops glowing the guy dies and Storm can feel the anger fade back into his sword.
“What was that fire?” Storm asks as he helps John up from the ground.
“I… don’t know” John says. But he does know; he could feel the fire came from his arm. He knows the spell is called Hellish rebuke; a dangerous fire spell taught to the mortals by demons and fiends. And this scares him; why would they give him an arm with demonic powers.
A loud thump and the sound of swords hitting ground sounds behind them and they turn around ready to continue the fight. They sheathe their weapons as they see Jax standing over a hooded person the size of an orc. John is about to say something when they hear screams from inside the bar.
Siegfried is standing in the middle of the room. At least twenty five armed followers walk around the bar checking the arms of different people. Everyone with anything that resembles a tattoo on their arms are pulled to the middle of the bar room and thrown down on the ground. “SHADOW WALKERS HAVE INFESTED GREY HAVEN AND THE REST OF LIVINIA. THIS PEST, THIS DISEASE NEEDS TO BE ERADICATED BEFORE THEY TAKE AWAY OUR FREEDOM AND OUR RIGHT TO LIVE OUR LIVES AS TRUE LIVINIANS. BUT LADY ATHIS HAS ALLOWED THESE HEATHENS TO HAVE A TEMPLE IN GREY HAVEN. SHE HAS ALLOWED THEM TO SPREAD THEIR DANGEROUS IDEOLIGIES. SHE HAS ALLOWED THEM TO WALK AMONG US BE NEAR OUR CHILDREN. IT IS TIME WE TAKE MATTERS IN OUR OWN HANDS AS WE CAN NOT RELY ON OUR LEADERS TO PROTECT US ANYMORE. IT IS TIME WE STAND UP TO THIS PLAGUE AND DESTROY BEFORE THEY DESTROY US” Siegfried preaches.
“Let these people go Sigfried. You have no proof that anyone here is a Shadow Walker. You are just as delusional and fanatic as them. This is not the way” Halm says as he steps forward. He could easily have stayed hidden at the back door but this is his fight. He will not let innocent die at the hands of fanatics no matter whose side they are on. He needs to be part of it.
“SEIZE THAT SHADOW WALKER” Sigfried commands, pointing at Halm.
Quinsel throws her mug at Sigfried “you are the one Shadow Walking all over this party” he calls annoyed for she was just about to have some fun with one of the women Fathil brought to the party.
“IF YOU DON’T COMPLY, YOU WILL DIE” Sigfried says. He pulls out a weird looking metal staff and fires an explosion at Quinsel and she is knocked backwards into a table.
Quinsel gets up with a manic grin on her face and fires a guiding bolt at Sigfried. He was just about to take aim again when the spell hits him and he falls to the ground. His weapon goes off as he hits the ground and blows off the top lintel of the patio door. The followers are surprised by this sudden attack and looks to Sigfried for orders. Griff, Fathil and everyone off Storm’s crew takes advantage of the chaos and starts fighting the nearest followers.
“All who can’t or don’t want to fight, please exit the bar now” Dis yells as she pulls two followers of a woman.
Three followers has Halm surrounded and is about to grab him when he vaults over them and runs to kick the weapon away from Sigfried before he can make more things explode. He lifts his staff to knock Sigfried out but gets tackled and pinned down by the three followers. Jax runs in and throws the followers of Halm and helps up. A chaotic brawl has broken out and people can hardly move without risking getting seriously hurt.
“Jax, Fishhook, get everyone out of here” Storm commands and with great precision shoots an arrow through the crowd into the face of a follower
Two followers are holding Dis down while a third is stabbing her in the gut. She recognizes them as the soldiers she fought at the harbour bar. He is about to stab her again when the arrow pierces through his skull and out of his eye. Dis laughs a little and glows up red; she pulls her left arm free and starts punching the follower to her right in the face. Quinsel dances around swinging Doctor Pain into any follower that gets in her way. She is just about to bash someone’s face in when she gets tackled and falls into the light of the full moon, that streams in through the broken patio door. As the light hits her, her muscles starts swelling up; her armour becomes tighter and starts tearing, she rips it off as fast as she can. Her hands and feet take the form of cloven hoofs and her face sprouts a snout with two sharp tusks. She is significantly larger and hairier than before and with incredible power she throws the follower back through the room.
“You brought a monster with you, Shadow Walker. May Pelor show you mercy” Sigfried says and smites Halm. The sword hits Halm with a holy light and he is thrown backwards into a cabinet “you and your beast will die tonight”.
John calls bird and from his hand forms small fiery demon birds that flies to Halm and heals his wounds. Sigfried and five followers surround Quinsel; they stabs and throws ropes to restrain her. A rope lands around her neck and a follower starts choking her with it but it gets severed with an arrow and the follower falls flat on his back where Fathil stabs him.
After beating the two soldiers unconscious Dis flips a table into another two followers, knocking them out. She runs over to help Quinsel against Sigfried. But Quinsel no longer has any control; there is only a primal rage and she Dis and a follower out on the patio.
“In the name of Pelor you will die monster” Sigfried calls and smites Quinsel.
Quinsel lets out a piggly roar of pain; she lands on all four, gores her tusks into Sigfried’s chest and rams him across the room into the wall. As she leaves the light of the full moon she slowly turns back into her human form and passes out naked on the floor.
Halm walks over to Sigfried who is coughing up blood “look at what you have done tonight. This is all on you and not the Shadow Walkers” he points to the destruction in the room and all the dead followers.
The city guards arrives as Sigfried dies in front of Halm. “Stand down everyone. The Grey Haven guards will be taking over now” the captain announces as he enters the bar.
Storm walks up to the captain “why was this guy free? I dealt with him earlier and ordered your guards to take him away” he points angry at Sigfried.
“It turns out some of my guards shared his views and let him go but it will be dealt with now. You should take your team and get out of here” the captain dismisses Storm.
Storm is about to punch the captain when Halm stops him. “Help me cover Quinsel up so we can get her out of here without her turning into a monster again”.
While the guards round up all the surviving followers, Storm and Halm cover Quinsel with some thick blankets and carry her out of the door.
“I saw John use demon magic earlier. We should keep an eye on him” Storm whispers to Halm as they wait for the others outside.
Dis collects Quinsel armour and Doctor Pain and John picks up Sigfried’s weapon. As they leave the bar they can hear the captain command that all the followers should be executed. As they walk John is examining Sigfried’s weapon.
Storm grabs the weapon “I’ve heard rumours of these weapons. They are called boomsticks; you load them with black powder and pellets and then fire explosions at your target” he says handing it back to John.
John and Dis takes Quinsel to Skullrall’s hall to rest while Halm walks back to his temple and Storm walks down to the Seafarer’s rest.
“Get up! Get your things. Lady Athis wants to see you in the throne room now. It’s an emergency”
The sun has barely risen as Lady Athis’ personal guards in much haste are escorting the team to the throne room. Lady Ironfist is angrily storming out of the throne room as Storm and Halm enter. Most of Lady Athis’ court has been gathered in the room. Quinsel is barely awake sitting on the ground.
Lady Athis looks slightly distressed with Lord Bloodhammer standing at her side. “An hour ago I received some distressing news” she hands two letters to Storm.
To the true sons and daughters of Livinia
I, Lord General of the Royal Army, Garthak Urdun, have with the forces of Lord Alistair Felvan, reclaimed the region of Blaufelde and Vigils Keep in the name of Livinia. But it is only a matter of time before the Empire will return with reinforcement. I therefore request that all men and women, nobles and peasants of all races, to join the fight against the Empire. Vigils Keep shall stand once more.
FOR LIVINIA
After reading the first letter, Storm hands it to Halm who reads it and hands it over to Dis.
Honoured Lords and Ladies of Livinia
Lord General of the Royal Army, Garthak Urdun, has betrayed the Kingdom of Livinia. In coalition with Lord Alistair Felvan he attacked the region of Blaufelde to reclaim it from the Empire. This unsanctioned attack on the Empire is an act of treason against the throne of Livinia. This attack has violated and broken the peace treaty formed by the Royal Council of Livinia and the Empire.
Therefore, from hereon by the order of King Meeras Urdun, Garthak Urdun will have his Titles and privileged removed. Furthermore will Garthak Urdun be known as a traitor of Livinia together with his companions and conspirators. This includes Alistair Felvan, Ingrid Ravenwell, the entirety of the Traditionalist party, every high ranking commander of the Royal Army, the group known as the Left hand and the infamous group of criminals known as the Brute Slayers.
Of my good heart I, King Meeras Urdun, give the before mentioned traitors two days to acknowledge their crimes and surrender in The Shining City or Crossington. If any traitor wisely chooses to surrender themselves, their punishment will be considerably softer.
Lord Oscar Vander has temporarily been bestowed the title of Knight Commander in the fight against Garthak Urdun and his alliance of traitors. Lord Underborrough and High Cleric Aldun have declared their loyalty to the King in this matter.
King Meeras Urdun of Livinia
While they read the letters Lady Athis takes the word “King Meeras has declared the Brute Slayers and allies of Lord Garthak for traitors of Livinia and the Crown. I have not been mentioned by name but I recommend my staff and my guards to consider denouncing your loyalty to me and declare your loyalty to the Crown. Do what you need to, to stay save even if you have to leave Grey Haven and find work elsewhere. I will stay here as long as I live and fight for you all. I will parlay with the crown and try to secure your safety. My friends, now officially known as the Brute Slayers, you should immediately ride for Vigils Keep. Lord Garthak and his army will protect you and help you escape Livinia and cross the border to Weissfelde. They expect you to leave by ship and that means the navy will be on its way and it will be a certain death by drowning. I will have three decoy ships set sail to buy you more time” she is sad that her trusted friends have been declared traitors for something they had no part in.
“What about my crew and my ship” Storm asks bluntly.
“If you wait here for your ship, you will with certainty be captured and executed. But I will have a trusted guard with your crew to make sure they get your ship ready even if I am captured. When you have reached safety in Weissfelde send a message of a place to find you and my guard will instruct your crew on how to safely find you. I will also have a trusted guard inform your priest of what is happening Halm. And my guard will stay with him and help him protect your temple or get away safely if he wishes to. It is time for you to leave. Farewell my friends and I hope we will meet again” Lady Athis says and shakes their hands one by one before they are escorted out of Skullrall’s hall and down to the stables.
-- Session Sixteen: Vigils Keep --
As they leave Grey Haven behind them, the team agrees that it is best to avoid towns and people until they reach Olmstad. It is unsure how fast the news of their alleged treachery has travelled and therefore they can not trust any stranger on their way. To avoid any complications they ride straight southeast through the region of Blaufelde and the thick blooming fields of violet poppies, that it is famously named after. The legend says that a long time ago, before the Age of Magi, a god was slain on these fields and when the blood of her body mixed with the soil violet poppies started to grow as tears from the earth. The fields stretch as far as the eye can see, like a sea of flowers between the cities. There are not many houses build on the land for the poppies grow thick and strong. The few houses that was managed to be built near the fields are now covered in poppies like they are one with the earth. Dis knows the land best and leads the way. The late spring weather is hot and dry making the days excruciating long and the fireless nights in the wild growth very comfortable. It takes three and a half days of tiring travels with the Silver Mountains watching over them to the east before they finally arrive at Olmstad. The Silver Mountains, named after the many mines in them, are the tallest in all of Livinia, there is only one way over the mountains and this town is the last stop before the climb towards Vigils Keep begins.
Dis stops them before they enter Olmstad “there is still a day ride up to Vigils Keep. We should rest here for the night and with Garthak’s men patrolling we should be save”.
“Aye, let's get something to drink and eat. Who knows when we’ll get the chance again?” Storm agrees.
“I think we should keep a low profile and get back on the road as soon as possible. Garthak might be our ally but we do not know whom else we can trust. And let us not forget about the Shadow Walkers either” Halm reminds the others as Quinsel is already pulling off the torn pieces of her armour and drawing attention from the soldiers.
“That’s reasonable. We should resupply and get some rest and then leave early tomorrow morning. And Quinsel, try to behave until we have crossed the mountains” Dis says and starts leading them through town.
Olmstad shows clear signs of having just been through a small war. Armed soldiers carrying the insignia of Lord Garthak walk the streets looking like they are searching for something. It reminds Quinsel of six years ago when she joined the battle against the Empire as a young newly graduated medic. Every road in Olmstad leads through the market place; a large square in the middle of town decorated with a fountain of people trading. The town’s economy and survival is highly dependent on the flow of travellers. Merchants used to come from both sides of the mountain to sell their wares. Then the war broke out and the supplies for the army deflated the market. Following the loss of the war, the access to the region got limited and the flow of travellers and merchants diminished greatly. Lean times fell on Olmstad and the people were struggling to survive. For the Olmstadians, the signing of the peace treaty was a sign of better times to come. Travellers and merchants started to return and the town was on the verge of flourishing again. That was until Garthak and his army decided to take back the region. Now most of the shops stand empty and abandoned. Yet the market place is still the most vibrant place, swarming with citizens going about their everyday lives. Even though Olmstad used to be a busy town it only has one inn left, located at the southern side of the town and the other side of the Silver River, which runs from the mountains splitting the town in two. Before the war, there was an entire district of inns with stables capable of hosting hundreds of people but now most have closed down. On their way through town, the team passes the town hall where they can hear a group of Garthak’s soldiers talking with the town lord, a slender and fancy looking gentleman in a purple suit, requesting access to a church. After lodging their horses in the stables, they meet the innkeeper at the kitchen door, loading bread and dried meat into a small wagon. He is a very plump man with a round face; decorated with a fine thin moustache and a smile that says he was something of a charmeur back in the days.
“Are you the innkeeper? My friends and I want some rooms and food for the night” Storm greets.
“Ah yes ‘day to you too. Bit odd to rent a room, or five I presume, from the kitchen door but that will do. It will be … hmm … yes it will be five gold in total. Come in when you are ready” the innkeeper says and nervously pulls on his left sleeve.
“Thank you sir” Halm says ready to go round to the front and inside but Storm does not move.
“What’s with all this food?” Storm asks, estimating that there is enough to feed at least twenty people “is it for someone important?”
The innkeeper casually keeps on loading his wagon “oh no, no, no, it’s nothing. Just a small delivery for the church of Pelor, nothing special”.
“There’s a party at the church? I want to party. We should go too” Quinsel exclaims.
The innkeeper starts scratching on his left arm “sorry but there is no party. If you wait inside I will be back to serve you in ten minutes. Yes, go unpack and I will see you later” he takes his wagon and starts walking into town.
“Well it has been a long trip. Let's go inside" John says and leads the way.
Storm stares at the innkeeper walking away “there’s something about this man”.
"Painsy says he probably have a tattoo on his left arm" Quinsel says as she passes Storm to follow the others.
"Aye was just thinking the same. Let's stop him" Storm says and charges after the innkeeper.
Quinsel follows Storm without question; she has been very bored on their trip through Blaufelde and can not help but to let out a joyful laughter. Halm, John and Dis turns around knowing that the sound of Quinsel laughing is often followed by troubles. Her hand glows white as she stretches it out in the air towards the innkeeper and clutches it tight. Nothing seems to happen but a guard further down the street stops moving for a moment. Storm tackles the innkeeper and pins him to the ground.
"What are you doing?" Dis hisses at Storm and Quinsel as she catches up to them.
Storm knocks the innkeeper out and pulls up his sleeve and reveals a small tattoo reading, Do it for Darryl. “He’s a Shadow Walker and I think that is a delivery to other Shadow Walkers”.
“And your plan was to just attack him in an open street with guards walking around in the middle of the day? If we get caught now we will never make it out of Livinia” Dis quietly scolds.
“Yeah and what do you think would happen if he got to tell his friends that we are town. They’ll probably come murder us in our sleep” Storm snaps back at Dis.
Halm steps in between them, he can see that the exhaustion from the last couple of days is getting to them “you both make great points. We need to be careful but we can not let the Shadow Walkers know where we are either. We can use this to our advantage; his friends are waiting for him to make a delivery and will suspect something if he does not show up. So if one of us makes the delivery in his place we can also learn what they know” he says to calm them down.
“Already on it” Quinsel says as she with some difficulty pulls the innkeeper's clothes off and wears them herself. The clothes hangs loose on her body and she has to use a rope as suspenders to keep the pants up. With John’s disguise kit, she draws a small moustache on her lip and a tattoo in the shape of a smiley on her arm. “What do ya think?”
“This plan is idiotic” Dis sighs as she looks at Quinsel.
“You are right. I will escort Quinsel and help if necessary. You take the innkeeper back to the inn and hide him. But try not to draw any attention” Halm says.
“Three people carrying a naked man through town would surely draw attention but I can help with that” John says smirking at the idea. He lays his hand on the innkeeper’s body and it turns invisible “now this is better”.
Dis feels around for the innkeeper’s feet to lift him up “don’t do anything stupid. Just find out what they know and come back; we don’t have time for trouble” she says.
Storm takes the other end of the innkeeper and the three walk back to the inn while trying not to look too suspicious. They gags him with a pillowcase in the first room upstairs.
Quinsel pushes the wagon towards the church of Pelor with Halm walking by her side. They walk straight up the stairs to the front door and Halm presses himself up the wall to hide for whoever is inside.
Quinsel knocks the door and waits but no one opens. She knocks harder and calls with a bad impression of the innkeeper “come on open. I got your food. A bit odd to order food and not answering the door”. Still no one opens.
She is ready to knock the door down but Halm stops her and tries the door. He can neither pull nor push it open. It is clearly barricaded from the other side to prevent people from coming in. “It is blocked. That may be why the soldiers asked the mayor permission to enter the church because entering with force will undoubtedly damage the building. But maybe there is another entrance the innkeeper was supposed to use” he says and walks around the church, returning a couple of minutes later. “I found a slightly hidden door on the backside to the church cellar. That must be the right entrance”.
They take place around the back door just as they did before. Quinsel knocks and a moment later, the door opens ajar. "Have you brought the stuff?" A voice asks.
"Odd, but yes I have brought the food" Quinsel says keeping up her impersonation.
The door opens fully and a green Dragonborn is standing in the opening. Quinsel recognizes the insignia of the dragon God Bahamut on the armour. She saw it on many dead and wounded soldiers during the battle for Vigils Keep. It is the insignia of the Imperial army. The Dragonborn is a soldier left behind. She pushes the cart closer to the door and together she and the Dragonborn carries the food down into the basement.
As Quinsel and the Dragonborn disappears into the church, Halm sneaks a peek. Besides the Dragonborn, he can see three Human soldiers all wounded. "You are not Shadow Walkers, are you? You are just soldiers hiding for your lives?" He asks and steps forward.
The three men jump up with their weapons drawn ready to fight as they see Halm. "We said come alone. Who is he?" The Dragonborn commands as he threateningly moves his sword to Quinsel’s throat.
“I have never seen him before. I’m just here to bring your food as ordered” Quinsel says, staying in character.
“You can drop the act, Quinsel. You are not who we thought we were looking for and we mean you no harm” Halm carefully walks into the basement with his arm over his head to show he is no threat. The men closes the door behind him.
“Quinsel, who is this Quinsel? I know no Quinsel, what an odd thing to say” Quinsel continues.
"I am Halm and this here is my companion Quinsel. We have had some trouble with a group of religious fanatics who wants us dead. So when the innkeeper started acting strange and suspicious we thought we had run into one of their sections. We thought we might be in danger and wanted to find out if they knew of our whereabouts" Halm explains the situation calmly.
"So you are not with the soldiers?" The Dragonborn asks.
"No, we are just travellers passing through. We have no affiliation with the soldiers. Why are you still here in town?” Halm finds a place to sit to further show he poses no threat.
The Dragonborn carefully takes place across from Halm with his sword at his side “when the soldiers attacked and broke the peace treaty some of our people had to go into hiding to stay safe. My men and I were ordered to stay behind to try and help them back across the border…”
While Halm warns the Dragonborn about the threat of the Shadow Walkers, Quinsel tends to the other soldiers and heals their wounds. There were a time where they would have been enemies forced to fight until death but at this moment, they are all strangers trying to survive. She had become a healer hoping to cure her mother from a degenerative disease. However, by the time she had finished her training, the disease had killed both her parents. She had then joined the war hoping to save good people from a horrible death, no matter which side they were on.
“…I believe it is time that we get back to our friends and you too should consider leaving soon. The soldiers are demanding entrance to the church” Halm says and stands up.
“The warning is appreciated” the Dragonborn opens the door for Quinsel and Halm.
Storm, Dis and John are the only people at the inn. They are sitting at a table drinking. Dis is taking note of their inventory and packing supplies. None of them knows what will wait for them on the other side of the mountain. None of them has ever been to those parts of Weissfelde before.
Halm sits down at the table and takes a piece of bread, as they return “they were not Shadow Walkers. It was just a small group of Imperial soldiers in hiding, trying to help those left behind back over the mountain. What did you do with the innkeeper? Has he shown signs of being a Shadow Walker?”
Quinsel finds a bottle of wine and pours it in the biggest glass available. She then places some money on the counter before she joins the others.
“We left him tied up and knocked out in the first room. We haven’t heard from him since. So what happened?” Storm asks.
“We talked and came to an understanding that we are not enemies and then we left them alone” Halm gets up again to find some clothes and some blankets.
Dis looks frustrated at Halm “you let them live? They are Imperial soldiers. They are our enemies; you should have killed them all”.
"They are not your enemies any longer Dis. We have been exiled from Livinia and are about to cross into Imperial territory. At this moment they are our allies and we need allies where we are going" Halm says and walks upstairs.
Dis looks to Quinsel to ask why she did not kill the soldiers. She too has lost friends during the war. She too must feel the burning hate towards the Empire. But Quinsel looks unbothered, drinking wine while she is still wearing the innkeeper’s clothes. "Why are you so calm? And why are you still wearing those clothes?" she almost yells at Quinsel.
Quinsel looks confused at Dis, then the others, then Doctor Pain and lastly at her clothes as if she had forgotten where she was. "I don't know" she finally says and takes off the innkeeper's clothes and throws it on the table. A small clonk sounds as the pants hit the table. In the pocket, she finds an empty bottle. It has a disgusting smell, like nothing she has smelled before.
Dis, not getting the support from the others she wanted, takes a few deep breaths forcing herself to calm down. “I have finished taking inventory and we need supplies; mainly food but also ropes, blankets, healing potions and maybe a new armour for Quinsel. We should buy as much as we can now, so we don’t also have to spend time at Vigils Keep” she says.
“Aight, then let’s go shopping” Storm agrees and grabs another mug of beer.
A sudden feeling of something cold pulls at John. He turns around to look for the cause and there half hidden on the stairs is Ofelia standing, drawing him closer with a finger. As they lock eyes, she points upstairs and disappears. “I will inform Halm” he says and jumps down from his chair.
Halm finds the innkeeper knocked out and naked on the floor. His hands and feet are bound. There is no way he can lift the innkeeper onto the bed with only one arm, so he pulls the worn mattress off the bed and places it on the floor. He then gently rolls the innkeeper onto it and ungags him. Lastly, he covers the innkeeper in blankets and places a piece of bread near him. This man might be their prisoner but they can at least treat him with decency.
As he is about to leave the room the innkeeper wakes up. "What happened?"
"We are sorry for the inconvenience. My friends thought you were a Shadow Walker and knocked you out. But as we made the delivery in your place, we only found Imperial soldiers in hiding. We are going to let you go when we leave tomorrow morning. Until then you will stay up here. This is an unfortunate situation and can not take more risks” Halm explains calmly.
“So the soldiers got the food?” the Innkeeper asks.
The question does not sit right with Halm. He seems a little too focussed on the food considering he was just knocked out and tied up. When he thinks about it, it did not look like they needed it. They are just a small group and the amount of food provided can easily sustain them for up to three weeks if rationed properly. “Why do you care so much about whether or not the Imperial soldiers get the food?”
The innkeeper shrugs "the Imperials have been good customers, odd people, but good customer. So when the Royal Army attacked, a group of locals hid and helped those they could. They hired me to make deliveries. Then yesterday, a cloaked fella came and gave me a bottle marked Shiv and told me to pour the foul smelling liquid into the delivery or he would expose my treachery to the world. I have no personal interest in what happens to the soldiers as long as I get paid. So I did what I had to do".
Halm has gotten the information he needed from the innkeeper. This man is neither an ally nor an enemy. He will serve whoever pays and remain neutral. Unless someone pays him, they should be safe for now. And whatever is happening in town is purely coincidental with them passing through.
Meanwhile Ofelia awaits John in his room as he walks in. She runs her ghostly hand through his hair but still it feels like it did back then. “My love, I have come to inform you of your first assignment. This is the first test for you to prove your worth”.
The fear of what the others would say had been growing inside of him. He almost confessed to the others about the deal he made during the last few days on the run but Ofelia’s presence and melodic voice washes all his doubts away. He can feel how her touch renews his strength and fortifies his confidence that this is what he has to do. “What do I have to do?” he asks with determination.
“You have to kill a man whose knowledge of their existence is a constant threat to their organization. And you have to do it alone; the others can not know what you are doing. No one can know that it was you or the deal is off” she kneels beside him as she whispers the last part.
“Is there a specific target or would killing Storm satisfy them? He is suspicious of me and is without doubt a threat to them” John says and unconsciously grabs his arm where it was cut off.
“They have other plans for Storm. No, your target is a former ally to them, who has been exposed and captured. His identity and whereabouts will be revealed as you get closer” Ofelia gets up as if she is about to leave.
John grabs her hand, he is not ready for her to leave yet “how am I going to find him?”
“Just be ready, things are in motion that will bring you to your target” with the last words Ofelia disappears.
On the way back down to the others he stops outside the first room where he can hear Halm talk with the innkeeper. He leaves a quick note on the door stating they are going shopping.
Dis leads the way through the town back to the market square where soldiers are standing guard at every entrance checking the visitors. It is mainly young Olmstadians and Garthak’s soldiers at the square right now. The few shopkeepers who have opened their stands are looking hopeful at everyone passing them by, desperate for a sale.
“Aight, I’ll be selling this cursed sword at the smith” Storm grunts and leaves the others.
The smith has a small forge and a grindstone at his stand ready to service travellers. A couple of soldiers are standing around admiring some blades but the smith looks more bothered than pleased by their presence. His face lights up as Storm approaches “welcome traveller, are you looking for a new blade or maybe some repairs” he greets hopefully.
Storm places the Vengeance sword on the counter “I’d like to sell this sword”.
The smith frowns but picks up the sword to examine it. He runs his finger down the edge of the blade, then gives it a couple of swings and bites the metal. “Interesting sword. It has a good sharp edge, a little used, could use a good sharpening. It is a simple metal sword, is it magical enchanted? Yes, I think I smell something magical” he mumbles as she sniffs the handle.
While the smith examines the sword, the soldiers start casting interested glances at it and a weird feeling grows inside of Storm. The feeling grows stronger and more intense for every second the smith examines the sword. It is a longing, a need for the sword, as if it is pulling at him. He can not sell this sword; it is too great a sword for anyone other than himself to wield it. It is his sword and the smith is smudging it with his clammy hands. And the soldiers, oh these damn soldiers, they want it bad. He grabs the sword out of the smith’s hands. “I changed my mind” he says coldly “it’s not for sale”. The feeling slowly fades as he walks away with the sword at his side. He finds Dis and John standing at a potion seller. John is just about to put a small elegant wooden box and a bottle of perfume into his backpack.
Dis hands Storm a healing potion “here, I bought four healing potions for emergencies. One for you, me, Halm and John. I also got us some rope and a vial of acid. We stock up on food at the inn. Did you sell the sword?”
“Oh he would’ve liked that, cheating bastard. He wouldn’t know a good sword from a stick” Storm grunts and makes sure the sword is secured to his belt.
“If you really want to sell it, I’d buy it. It would be a fine addition to my weapon collection” Dis offers, weapons has always been an interest for her. Her parents taught her about the finer details of weapon smithing and how much work it takes to make a weapon magical.
Storm keeps his hand on the sword and looks suspiciously at Dis. Why does she want his sword? “I’ll just keep it for now” he says cautiously.
“Look what I got” Quinsel exclaims loudly as she joins them carrying two sets of hide armour and nine sets of leather flip-flops in her arms. She looks very proud of the deal she just made. With a bit of trouble she forces her new keepsakes into her backpack.
Dis sighs at the look of Quinsel “look there’s Halm”.
“The innkeeper informed me that he was paid to poison the delivery for the soldiers” Halm informs bluntly, as he reaches the others.
“Well it’s just Imperial soldiers” Dis whispers dismissively and looks around to see if anybody heard them.
“Imperial soldiers who helped innocent people avoid getting killed and tortured. They may be YOUR enemy but they are good people. We should help them” Halm argues.
“We have our own problems” Storm grunts.
“Quinsel is gone. I think she ran towards the church” John interrupts the discussion.
"May the Gods damn that woman. We better stop her before she does something stupid" Dis exclaims.
As they get closer to the church, they find that several soldiers have started patrolling the area and two stands guard at the door. It looks like they are getting ready to raid the building. There are citizens standing at a distance watching the situation and the priest is yelling at the captain. They have to find Quinsel before something happens. Dis leads them on a detour around the plaza to the backside of the church. The door has been smashed open and Quinsel alone in the cellar. The Imperial soldiers are gone.
"We got to go" Dis hurries "they are just about to knock down the front door and we don't want to be found down here".
Quinsel scavenges through old books and rubble hoping to find any information of where they would go. “We should warn them”.
Halm lays a hand on her shoulder “there is nothing we can do right now. We don’t know where they have gone and it will not help them if we get caught”.
"Aye agreed" Storm says and leads the way back to the inn.
Everyone except for Quinsel has gone to bed early. She sits on the floor in her room and talks with Doctor Pain.
"It's not too late to find the soldiers. They are going over the mountains just as we are and they will be going slow to stay out of sight. We might pass them tomorrow and then we can destroy the poisoned food before any child or animal eats it" Doctor Pain reassures Quinsel.
"I got an idea" Quinsel says and places Doctor Pain up against the table so he can watch. With her palm facing upwards she focuses her mind on the food, how it looked and smelled. A small arrow of light forms in her hand. It spins around a few times before it dissolves into a thin mist spreading out in an east-ish direction.
"They are too far away for your spell to find their exact position. But now we are certain they are going over the mountain" Doctor Pain concludes from the spell.
As the first rays of sunlight passes over the mountains, the team has already packed and is out on the road to Vigils Keep. They have a long steep climb in front of them; at best, it will take them twenty-four hours before they reach the top. Quinsel walks with Cinder in hand while the others left their horses behind. Dis explained that the mountain is too steep to ride and most merchants only uses the metal tracks beside the road to transport their wares over the mountain. Unnoticed by the others Quinsel tracks the soldiers with her spell but after a few hours, they have passed them by. The soldiers must be travelling on rougher terrain trying to stay hidden. The beautiful nature around them almost makes them forget about the problems of the world and for a moment, they feel at peace. The road gets smoother and better paved the closer they get to Vigils Keep. On the last stretch of road, they find large statues, dressed in warrior caste armour, stand every tenth meter with swords crossing over the roads. The statues were made centuries ago in honour of the great warriors of the keep, ancestors to the Felvan family, now many are worn down and crumbling. On top of each statue is a flag with a silver owl on a blue field; the Felvan family crest flying. The same flag is flying all around the outer walls of Vigils Keep, signalling to the world that the Felvans have returned.
Alistair Felvan walks towards them as they near the large wooden gates of the keep. With a big smile he greets them welcome “good to see you again my friends, we are very pleased that you have arrived safely. We received a dove three days ago, from Lady Athis, stating that you were on your way to Vigils Keep. Come now, they are expecting us at the castle.
“Who is waiting for us Alistair?” Dis asks a little cautious. She does not expect him to lead them into a trap but at this moment, it is hard to know whom to trust.
“Lord General Garthak of course, he has some big plans and you are part of them. Now please follow me” Alistair leads them through the fort towards Vigils manor.
Vigils Keep is much larger than what Storm expected; it is not just a defensive fort but an entire city is within these giant walls. Judging by the large field of plant beds they pass by, the fort can house and support at least ten-thousand soldiers. And by the looks of the crowded streets and the many soldiers on the training field, the fort might be at full capacity. “Aye, this fort is quite impressive. Strong sturdy walls, well structured, unreachable and easily defendable. How did you lose the war?”
Quinsel jumps forward with her hand in the air “I know this one. It was a dark night, one of the darkest nights in a long time. The war had dragged on for many months and the morale was low. The soldiers had just gotten back after a long day of defending the keep from yet another brutal attack and the healers were exhausted. Then it happened. Three assassins disguised as our soldiers were brought to the medic tent. They maimed and killed many of the healers and burned down the tent before escaping back to the empire. Half the medic squad died in the attack and we lost a big amount of our healing resources. The nurses and apprentices had to step in as healers. We asked the King for more resources and men but they never came".
"I was still exiled during the war but I have been studying the battle after I returned. Yes the attack on the medics was very unfortunate and a great loss. However, it was manageable with rationing and by only using healing magic on serious emergencies and using more medical healing on lesser injuries. All it did was forcing our forces to take a more defensive and reactive stance. The real reason Vigils Keep fell was because King Meeras, who against Lord General Garthak’s advice, retreated the Royal army and the supplies to defend the Shining city from the sea. They had to send many volunteers and soldiers home to ration the food. In the end, only a thousand men was standing against the entire Imperial army led by Lord Arif Beltrin. Many good people was lost in the war. My entire family died defending this place. I am the only one left" Alistair explains.
On the plaza in front of Vigils manor is a large statue of a woman dressed in the same armour as the statues outside the keep, with an owl on her shoulder, a patch over her left eye and her sword drawn for combat. The plaque on the rest reads Anna Feltalon, hero of Vigils keep, ancestor to the Felvans. Alistair shows them through the manor to the war room where Garthak stands bend over a large map of Vistera.
Garthak turns around to greet them "Brute Slayers, you have finally arrived. Good to see you alive, Dis. Now, we are just waiting for Lady Ravenwell so we can discuss our next steps. I need her guidance in times like these. For years, I have been planning to reconquer Vigils Keep and free all of the Summerlands from the grasp of the Empire. With Emperor Caltiburim Blackmouth, succumbing to old age the time seemed right to finally liberate Fraccora and Weissfelde. Unfortunately, just as we were about to set the plan in motion my senile brother turned his back on us and made us into enemies of Livinia. Many of our allies and their military support have cowered. Our forces are now only one fifth of what they were and my dreams of uniting the Summerlands is crumbling. Either we continue our attack into Weissfelde and leave Livinia and our homes behind us or we march at the Shining city and we liberate Livinia from my brother, our King” he looks burdened with the situation. “But for now, I will ask of you to take on a small task for me. There are rumours that a small group of Imperial soldiers are trying to cross the mountain. It is said that they are carrying information of most detrimental nature to our kingdom. I trust you to deal with it”.
“Consider it done. We will be back later” Dis says and signals the others to leave.
They find a table at Anna’s Rest, the nearest inn, to discuss the situation. “Are we going to help them or should we just continue our journey out of Livinia?” Halm asks in a whisper.
"I say we bloody get going and find a port. There's a ship and crew waiting for me" Storm states bluntly.
“We have to help. They are the only allies we have left here in Livinia. If we leave, we will never be able to come back. Garthak will declare us for deserters and he doesn't treat desertion lightly. And you heard him, they may be leaving Livinia too. We would only be fleeing into a land he wants to conquer and we would still be traitors. However, if we stay and help, then we will be free and we might even get a title, land or riches. Our best choice is to join him” Dis whispers to the others.
“Doctor Pain also thinks we should stay. He says this is our home and even though traveling through the Empire and killing bad guys sounds fun, he wants us to be able to return whenever we feel like it” Quinsel says and orders some food.
“You had me at riches but they better pay” Storm agrees.
“Then it is settled, we will join Garthak” Halm settles the discussion.
“After we have gotten something to eat we should split up and talk with the locals to figure out where to look for the soldiers” Dis says as the waiter serves them fresh bread and fruits
Ofelia appears as soon as John is alone and leads him down a dusty old street to a small alchemy shop. "Inside that shop you can find everything you need for you assignment. Your target is the merchant Allan Grimwald. For a long time he has been important to the organisation and enjoyed the benefits but now he has failed them and been captured. You can find him held captive in the dungeons, kill him without being caught" she says and disappears.
John steps inside the alchemy shop where a very inconspicuous man is crushing flowers and putting the dust in a beaker. The alchemist looks so unnaturally average that it feels like he has already met him at least five times today. John walks past shelves stocked with all kinds of potions and glass jars of the weirdest ingredients. He can see dried toads, cut off toes, living eyeballs, skin of a basilisk and a tightly sealed jar of white larva trying to break free. Behind the alchemist are glass jars with foetuses, flowers of all kinds, a still beating heart and something that looks like a fart. It is clear that this alchemist is dealing with dangerous and illegal objects and John feels comfortable that he has something useful.
The alchemist puts down his beaker and turns to John "welcome to The Potion-man. Here you can find any kind of imaginable potion and if I don't have it, I can make it or get it for you. You will find no potion better anywhere else unless it is made by my former master the mysteriously and evasive Shiv".
John looks around to make sure he is alone "I am looking for a poison strong enough to kill a man just by spraying it on him" he says in a hushed voice.
“Then I have just what you need. This is the Burned Order Fumes. A poison so potent that just the vapours can kill a small target as yourself. Spray it in the face of a Minotaur and they will die within half an hour. You can get this small bottle for the very low price of five-hundred gold coins” the Potion-man talks as loud and clearly as if, he were selling food on the street.
Five-hundred gold is much more than what John is carrying and more than he wants to spend. However, the poison sounds like just the thing he needs for his plan. He has to have it no matter what; there is only one thing to do. He looks around the small shop again. They are alone. Without hesitation, he runs around the counter to tackle the Potion-man and starts beating him op. “If you tell anyone about this I'll be back and I will destroy you. I will burn down your shop and tear your face up so bad that you can never hide in plain sight anymore” he says standing over the Potion-man lying on the floor. He takes the poison and throws five gold coins on the ground before he leaves.
He runs away from the shop as fast as he can and finds a dark corner in another alley where he sits. He is not proud nor happy about what he did. All he wanted was to make music and live with Ofelia and now he is beating up hardworking people and stealing their product to help an evil cult. But he has to do it; it is the only way he can get Ofelia back. “The Potion-man was a bad and dangerous man. It is a good thing that I beat him and stole from him” he whispers to himself, trying to justify what he did as he pulls out the perfume bottle and pours out half of its content. He then covers his face before carefully pouring the Burned Order Fumes into the perfume bottle
Quinsel walks out of the keep and down to the cemetery not far from there. It has grown much larger than she remembers it. She reads the names on every tombstone as she walks by them. Many of them she knows. Taslo Underwit, died the day he arrived, he was hit in the head by a piece of flying debris. Margot Taylor, they graduated as healers together, she died from a magical disease while trying to save a soldier. General Armros the Third, jumped alone into a group of twenty Imperial soldiers to make sure there was time enough to close the gate. With every name she reads, she sees their ghost take place beside their tombstone. Some greet her with a friendly smile, others bow their heads and some ignore her completely. At the end of the graveyard on a small hill are five larger tombstones. One for each of the Felvan family members who fell in the war. There is even one for Anna Felvan, Alistair's sister, who disappeared during the final battle and was never found. Quinsel sits down in the middle of the graveyard and tells Doctor Pain stories of the people she once knew.
Dis and Halm walk around the town together asking people for rumours of Imperial soldiers nearby. It all brings back childhood memories, Dis has spent much time running around and playing in these streets. Everything looks just as she left it ten years ago, though it feels like a completely different lifetime. She remembers many of the faces they meet; some she grew up with and others used to trade with her parents but they do not seem to remember nor recognise her. Somehow, it makes her feel a little sad that she is a stranger to all these people, a mere ghost haunting her old life, even though she never planned to return.
“Little Dissella Argentiers is that you? You’ve grown so big. What has it been, ten years since you left?” the baker exclaims as Dis and Halm approaches him. “Your parents have missed you a lot since you went to join the Royal Army. And then they received that letter with a medal of honour but you never returned home. There were rumours that you had died in service but we never really bought into those. Then suddenly, the last month time, travellers brought stories of a group called the Brute Slayers with a young female dwarf traveling across the country with Lady Athis and beating up bad guys. We just knew it had to be you. You are a real hero to us no matter if the King has declared you all as traitors. How long are you going to be in town? Have you visited your parents yet? They are going to be so happy to see you. Oh and do you remember my son Ingfried? He has become a fine baker. He is still single and is looking for a wife, maybe he would be something for you” he rambles off.
A little surprised by the sudden bombardment of questions, Dis takes a closer look at the baker. She knows this man. He is Alfried Baker. He hired her parents to help build a metal bread oven, instead of the conventional stone oven, when they first moved to town. Her parents since then became close friends with the Bakers. The son Ingfried was one of her best friends growing up. They were often playing together and their parents joked about them marrying each other. “We just arrived in town today. And we don't have much time. We have been asked to find a group of Imperial soldiers hiding here in the mountains, have you heard any rumours of that" she dismisses Alfried. She had hoped that her parents would not learn that she has returned. They were better off believing her dead.
Alfried thinks about it for a moment and then shakes his head "no, not that I can recall. They all retreated in a hurry when Lord Garthak came with his army. But if there are some soldiers hiding in the mountains, you are probably the one to find them. You kids always loved exploring the areas and camp out".
"Well, thank you for your help. We must be going" Dis leaves with Halm.
"Dissella? Was this your home?" Halm asks, interested. Dis has been very vague about her life before the army.
"It's just Dis now and yes I grew up here but it is not my home anymore" Dis does not want to talk about it. To be honest she misses her parents very much and it has been very painful not to return.
"You should go and see your parents while we are here" Halm says supportively.
Dis sighs "I can't, I'm not their little girl anymore. I have done horrible things and made dangerous enemies. Their lives are better off without me".
"But you are also their daughter. They love and have missed you since the day you left. And if you are not coming back to them, then they deserve a proper farewell…" Halm stops talking as Storm approaches. If Dis wants the others to know about it, then she will tell them.
"The library was a bust. Every book and map over the mountain has been bloody destroyed and that old crone of a librarian should be hung" Storm spits in anger.
John opens the heavy wooden door to the dungeons; a young boy pointed him in the right direction. The plan is easy; he just needs to get past a few guards and spray Grimwald with the perfume and it is all over.
“Who are you and what’s your business here?” A guard sitting at a table asks him as he approaches. She is sitting with a big ledger in front of her, ready to note down John’s arrival.
John places a few coins on the table “let’s just say my name is Sparrow. And I am here to deliver a bottle of perfume to Grimwald from some of his concerned friends”. He says hoping the guard will let him through.
The guard stares John straight into the eyes as she pushes the coins back to him “Mister Sparrow. Grimwald is a traitor to the throne, with vital information about a great threat to all of Livinia. You should leave before we cut your head off for trying to bribe your way down to his cell”. The four guards standing in each corner of the room simultaneously grab their swords.
John has made a big mistake thinking it would be easy to get down to Grimwald but he can not turn around now. He needs to finish the job or he will never see Ofelia again. He just has to double down on his bluffs. With ease, he climbs onto the table to be at eye height with the sitting guard. “I am a Brute Slayer, asked by Lord General Garthak himself, to discreetly meet with the traitor Allan Grimwald to interrogate him. All under the pretence of delivering a bottle of perfume from concerned friends, so to not alarm any allies he might have” he threatens with an intense whisper inaudible to the other guards.
The guard continues to stare John deep in the eyes trying to discern if he is lying. “You get five minutes Mister Sparrow” she signals the others to stand down. “Escort Mister Sparrow down to Grimwald’s cell”.
Two guards silently escort John three stories down into the dungeons through several fortified gates and past many empty jail cells. Except for the thirty systematically placed soldiers guarding the corridors, the dungeons are entirely empty; there are no other prisoners down here. He is escorted all the way down to the last and most secure cell where an extremely thin man is lying on the ground chained by hands, feet and neck to the wall. This famished man covered in dirt and blood is supposed to be the renowned and highly respected tradesman. He does not look like the elegant and corpulent man John has heard so much gossip about from his travels. The guards lock the cell tightly behind him as he enters.
“Are you Allan Grimwald, the famous tradesman turned traitor of Livinia?” John asks as he stands inside the cell looking down at the man. He has to know if it is the right man, he is killing.
“Yes” Grimwald gasps through wheezing breaths “who are you?”
John takes a step closer “I am here to end your suffering. Is there anything you can tell me about the Shadow Walkers before I do?” he whispers.
“I know nothing. I told the guards this many times. I was just a young man when a hooded stranger approached me saying they could provide me with resources to help topple the monarchy and create a republic. In return, I was to help them out when they asked for my help. I accepted and within a few months, I had a trading empire with a small fleet of ships. Just as promised I came into wealth and resources that could help me achieve my goal and all I had to do was make some special deliveries from time to time. I never met the hooded stranger again, it was always someone new” Grimwald whispers with fear in his voice.
“They send me to kill you because they think you know too much. So tell me something I can use against them” John threatens.
“Every delivery and every location are noted in my ledgers and I know many of their faces. But I have no information that can help you. They are everywhere. You can’t trust anyone.” Grimwald warns.
“That is unfortunate” John sighs. He takes a quick glance at the guards to make sure they are not looking before spraying Grimwald in the face with the perfume. “Guards we are done here” he calls and the guards lets him out of the cell, not taking notice of Grimwald gasping for air, and escorts him back up to the entrance.
“So Mister Sparrow, were you successful?” the guard at the table asks.
“We won’t be getting anything useful out of him” John replies and leaves to find the team.
After staying at the graveyard for a few hours paying her respects to many of her fallen comrades Quinsel finds her friends back at Anna’s rest sitting around a table. Dis has drawn a crude map of the mountains from memory.
“...A couple of hunters said they saw a small group of people further down the mountain heading towards this area. It is a rough area with many wild animals and caves. They will be able to stay hidden there for a long time. We should get out there and search for them right away. The area gets very dangerous to travel through when it gets dark” Dis explains with the map.
“Aye, then let’s go” Storm agrees and grabs his bag and weapons.
“I don’t feel so good. I better stay back and rest so I won’t be a burden” Quinsel lies as she does her best to look queasy and sick. She wants to help the soldiers rather than kill them and with her tracking spell, she should be able to find them before the others.
“You are right. You should stay here. We don’t want to carry you around on the steep mountainsides” Dis says and leads the way out of the keep.
Quinsel follows them to the gate and waits until they are far out of sight. “Now Painsy let’s find those soldiers” she whispers to Doctor Pain. She stretches out her hand with her palm facing up and focusses on the armour the Dragonborn was wearing. A vague arrow of light points her in the same direction Dis leads the others.
After some time of difficult trekking through the wild mountain nature Dis and the others are finally able to see the soldiers scaling the mountain below them. They look unwell and weak on their legs as they stumble and crawl forward. They would have trouble walking even on flat terrain but they continue adamantly.
“They must have eaten the meat. It doesn’t look like they have much time left. The poison will kill them before long” Dis says with compassion and admiration in her voice.
“Then it’ll be easy. Dis, you and I flank them; I go right, you go left. Halm and John, you meet them head-on” Storm grabs his sword and circles the soldiers.
From a plateau a little further up the mountain, Quinsel can see her friends surround the soldiers. She is too late to warn them but she might still be able to save them. If she can get to them in time there is a chance she can heal them after the combat.
The soldiers grab their weapons as Halm and John walk towards them. They can barely stand but they are ready to fight to their end.
“I do not wish to fight you. You are unwell and weak but my team and I have received orders to find you. Please give us a reason not to kill you and lower your weapons” Halm says calmly, trying to deescalate the situation. It is true he does not want to fight them. They are not his enemy nor do he believe that they are evil. He believes they are good men caught in a bad situation.
The Dragonborn takes a step closer and uses his sword to lean on. “If you don’t want to kill us, then let us go. Capturing us will only result in our death”.
“Let’s just fight him. There is no way out for us anyway” one of the soldiers says. He can barely lift his sword.
“Yes, let's fight. He was the one who brought us the meat. He poisoned us” another soldier agrees.
“We didn’t know the meat was poisoned and when we figured it out you were already gone. We tried to warn you. Let us help you” Halm says as the third Human soldier falls flat to the ground and stops moving.
The Dragonborn looks to his fallen comrade and lifts his sword for battle. “It doesn’t matter. We are dead no matter what. So let us die like warriors in battle”.
Dis and Storm closes in on the soldiers with weapons drawn. “Aye, if that’s what you want then so be it” Storm says and faces the first soldier waiting for him to make a move.
An echoing laughter sounds above them all. Quinsel feels a hard shove in her back. Something has pushed her of the ledge and she slides down the mountainside to the others. The Shadow Walker Arch priest floats above them in the air and a creepy whisper sound in their ears. “Oh so easy you are to trick”.
Storm quickly grabs his bow and shoots two arrows at the Arch priest but he carelessly floats out of the way. The soldiers fall to their hands and knees coughing and grunting. Foam forms in their mouths and their eyes turn red. The fallen soldier starts twitching.
“Guys, what the hell is happening to them?” John asks concerned.
“Come down here and bloody fight us you dick” Dis angrily yells at the hooded figure. Her body is starting to glow red. She is tired of him always showing up and creating problems.
Skin and flesh falls off the soldiers bodies and as they rise again, they have turned into monsters with blood flowing from their pale grey corpses. They no longer have a nose or lips or hair and their teeth have turned sharp. Their fingers have become longer with claw like nails. The Dragonborn is much larger and bony spikes grow from its body. Its claws and teeth are longer and sharper as if the spell mutated with his draconic body.
“Shit, he turned them to bloody ghouls” Storm has barely finished talking before a ghoul jumps him and they roll a little further down the mountain side.
The laughter echoes again and the Arch priest disappears into the thin air.
“John, help Storm” Dis commands as she swings her sword, Chillwind into the nearest ghoul. The sword cuts clean through the ghoul’s flesh but the wound instantly heals. Surprised by the swords ineffectiveness the ghoul catches Dis off guard and with its long nails rips deep wounds in her arms.
“Alright, cover me” John runs straight through the legs of the mutated ghoul. He slashes its legs with his dagger and zigzags between the other ghouls avoiding their attacks. The mutated ghoul turns around to slash John with its claws but misses as Halm makes a jump kick to its face. He runs down to Storm, where the ghoul has him pinned down, trying to bite his face. With a hand on its neck, Storm barely keeping it away, beating on it with his other hand. John jumps onto the back of the ghoul and jams his dagger into its back repeatedly. Every single stab leaves a wound that instantly heals as soon as he removes the dagger.
Halm moves around fighting the mutated ghoul and avoiding its attacks. With every punch and kick he lands, he can hear the bones break inside its body. Yet it continues to move and attack him as if nothing is happening. “It’s no use, our attacks are ineffective. They are protected with magic…” he calls to the others. The mutated ghoul lands a hit with the backside of its spiky arm straight in the chest. The sheer force sends him flying backwards crashing into a tree.
“Magic, that’s it! I know what to do. Come on Painsy” Quinsel swings Doctor Pain above her head and power poses. A shimmering aura of white light emits from inside of her and engulfs the others like a sheet of silk.
The light attracts the ghouls’ attention and a ghoul leaps towards Quinsel. Its long claws is just about to touch her face when something flashes by her eyes followed by a searing sound. The ghoul jumps away screaming with its right hand lying on the ground. Dis kicks the hand away and steps in between the ghouls and Quinsel, she had cut of the hand with a single swing of her sword. “Ah magical courage, I have missed that feeling. Now let’s kill these bastards”.
The ghoul jumps away from Storm and throws John to the ground as the lights starts burning its flesh. It runs in between the trees and hides in the slowly growing darkness from the setting sun. It is circling them like a predator on the hunt, every now and then it leaps out to scratch them with its claws.
“Where is it?” John asks turning around on his heel as he hears a branch snap.
“Duck!” Storm pushes John to the side as the ghoul leaps at them and then returns to the trees. “We have to get back to the others, keep an eye on the trees” Storm says and slowly backs up the mountainside. They are merely twenty meters away but with the loose surface and the steep incline it will take them some time.
John can hear fighting behind them getting louder as they get nearer, he glances quickly over his shoulder to see how far they are from the other ghouls. In that split second of inattentiveness, the ghoul leaps out from the trees. Startled, John slips on the loose ground and falls. Storm swings his sword but the ghoul evades him, it drills its long claws into John’s leg and drags him back in between the trees until they are out of range of Quinsel’s aura. John does his best trying to fight it off but it pins him down with its full body weight and sinks its teeth into his shoulder. He can feel it pull at his flesh and an explosion of hellfire erupts from his body sending the ghoul flying into the air. Meanwhile, the mutated ghoul grabs Halm by the throat with its left hand and pins him up against the tree. With its right hand, it pierces his rock hard abs as if it is trying to reach through his stomach to his intestines. Halm takes a couple of deep breaths to block out the pain and focus his chi into his fist and with a precise strike; he hits the tree just above his head splitting it in two. The tree trunk falls down on the mutated ghoul releasing him from its hold. Halm immediately follows it up with a full crescent kick to its head. The power from the kick throws it sideways into another tree.
“Resilient bastards. Why won’t they just die?” Dis yells annoyed as she cuts of the legs of a ghoul.
“You need to hit them harder” Quinsel laughs as she, with a great swing of Doctor Pain, knocks the head of the ghoul Dis has been trying to kill.
“Hey, that was my kill… Storm watch out!” Dis calls.
Storm turns around just as a ghoul bites him in the neck. With its teeth, it rips out a big chunk of flesh and eats it. Blood sprays everywhere. Storm grabs the ghoul and drills his sword up through its ribs as he is filled with an unrelenting rage. The ghoul, intoxicated by the taste of fresh flesh, vigorously claws Storm’s arms and face trying to get more. The pain no longer matters to Storm, only the ghoul’s death matters. He pulls his sword back out and slams the ghoul against a tree. A thick broken branch pierces through its abdomen and it is stuck hanging there trying to reach Storm, while he swing for swing chops away on its body until there is no more left and its dead quenches his rage. Free from the consuming pull of revenge Storm falls to one knee and takes a deep breath to gather himself, when a bright green flash followed by a crackling noise sounds behind him. He turns around to see a dismembered ghoul flying through the air. A bloodied and exhausted John walks towards him with a smile. Together the four join to help Halm with the mutated ghoul just as it pierces its claws into his chest and repeatedly smash him down on the ground until he stops moving. It lifts his unconscious body to its mouth ready to take a bite when a bolt of shining white light blasts through its arm. Halm falls to the ground still with the claw in his chest. Dis tackles the mutated ghoul forcing it away from Halm, giving space for Quinsel to heal him. John places a hand on Storm’s shoulder as he takes aim with his bow. A green mark in the form of a bird forms on Storm’s hand. As he lets go of the arrow, the mark disappears from his hand and a magical green bird takes shape around the arrow. It forcefully hits the mutated ghoul right between the eyes knocking it to the ground. Scratched up and bloodied Dis places her steel boot on its head and stomps its skull in.
“Next time I see that bloody cunt, I’ll goddamn kill him. I’ll stab him through the dick and watch him bleed out…” Storm curses falling back to his knees lightheaded from the loss of blood
“Feeling sick, huh? Where the hell were you sneaking off to?” Dis is annoyed with Quinsel; if she had not been there, the battle could have turned ugly for them all. They are all pretty beat up but without her magic, they would surely be dead.
Quinsel helps Halm up unbothered by Dis slightly accusing tone. “Painsy and I wanted to help the soldiers. We thought we could find them before you and warn them” she says unapologetically.
“You were trying to warn Imperial soldiers? They are the enemy” Dis exclaims loudly.
“I was trying to help some good men who had stayed behind to rescue innocent people and who had been poisoned. Now you all look hurt. Heal” Quinsel dismisses and white light flows from her body to the others and slightly heals their wounds.
“It doesn’t matter now. Let’s burn these monsters and get out of here before anything else happens” John says and starts piling up the ghouls’ corpses.
The night has fallen upon the mountain as the team once again walks up the paved road between the big statues. Large braziers at the feet of each statue lights their way. A horn echoes, announcing their return. Alistair is running towards them as they walk through the gate. “Welcome back my friends. We have been looking for you” he greets but his voice sounds sad. “Lord Garthak wishes to see you all in the war room right away. We have received some devastating news”.
They had hoped to get some rest before meeting with Garthak again. The fight against the ghouls was challenging and they could use some time to recuperate. However, there is an urgency in Alistair that they can not deny and follows him to the war room.
Milo Smallbanks meets them outside the room “you found them, great. Good to see you again Brute Slayers, though I wish it had been under better circumstances. We should get inside; Lord General Garthak is waiting for us”.
They open the door to find Garthak sitting alone in a chair with a letter in his hand. He looks like he has been crying but puts on a stoic face as he greets them. His voice is burdened with sorrow and guilt. “Welcome back, I suspect your mission was a success. Here is a little compensation” he says and throws a purse with gold on the table together with a letter declaring the citizens of Livinia. “Now, you are all free citizens of Livinia. Unfortunately, while you were out we received a letter informing us that Lady Ravenwell is dead. She was found murdered in her manor together with all of her servants. We suspect my brother had learned of our relationship and had her killed”. Pained he slams his fist down onto the table “he killed the woman I love. I have sacrificed so much and this is how I am repaid. I used to believe that it was worth it, that I did it for Livinia. But in truth, it was all for him, for my King, for my brother and for his weakness. Our father saw it long ago, yet I refused to see it. He was my King after all. When he ordered me to abandon this castle to its fate five years ago, I obeyed. When he ordered me to send my only son into exile for worshiping a strange god, I obeyed. I gave him everything, my life, my honour, my love... No more. No more shall the fate of Livinia be ruled by weakness. No more, shall the Empire whisper words in our ears, dictating the future of our land while our great heroes are declared traitors. This is the first among the Kingdoms of Summer, this is the homeland of Galdar the Giver, this land must be ruled by the strong, by the brave and the honourable. We the children of Livinia shall rise up and liberate the land. It is time for my brother to abdicate the throne. I, hereby, declare myself the new King of Livinia. Tomorrow we will prepare the army and overmorrow we will commence our march on the Shining city. Now go and rest, we have much to do”.
-- Session Seventeen: Purroth --
As the first rays of the morning sun breaks over the mountaintop, Vigils keep is awoken by the sound of soldiers being called to action. Food, weapons and other necessities are effectively collected and organized, ready for transport. The soldiers are sent down the mountain in groups, to a camp a little outside of Olmstad. Their husbands, wives and children stand at the gate saying their teary goodbyes. In the camp is General Erodin Stern awaiting their arrival with another eighteen-thousand soldiers preparing a fleet of two-hundred and fifty longboats. By Garthak’s order, three thousand soldiers are to stay behind at Vigils keep to protect it from both sides of the mountains. The team is to walk down the mountain at noon, together with Garthak, Milo and Alistair as the last group. Waiting for their departure, Quinsel is having sex with the maiden who took care of Cinder. John has joined Storm in the bar, drinking and trying to forget that he once again is forced to fight a nobleman’s war. Nothing more than a pawn in a disagreement that has escalated out of control. No one truly knows why they are fighting or what they are fighting for, except they have been told it is for the good of the Kingdom. It all reminds him of his life back in New Dunster. How the nobles let thousands die in a never-ending war. The rich profits and the poor suffer. He did consider sneaking away and leave it all behind but he could not. He has come to care for these strangers he travel with, his friends, and once he has saved Ofelia, he might be in need of their help. Therefore, he sits at Storm’s side and orders another beer. Dis is on her way, with Halm by her side, to see her parents at their forge near the Silvermines, Livinia’s greatest source of iron and silver production. She has been tossing and turning all night thinking about them. For ten years, they have been hoping for her to return. They were waiting for her to come back, even when everyone else thought she was dead. It does make her happy to know how much they miss her, that she is still loved and wanted. However, they have to let her go for their own safety. She has to warn them and make them understand, for if Grey Haven taught her anything, it is that there are many people out there wanting revenge on her. For thirty minutes, they walk north, following the tracks used to transport wares between the settlement and Vigils keep. The miners and smiths built this settlement to secure the mines from intruders and shorten the distance between home and work. It consists of about forty houses and ten forges connected with tracks for the mining carts. Between every house lies large piles of ores and stones, mined by the owners and even larger piles lies outside the forges. A small moat and a couple of watchtowers surround the settlement for protection, though an attack is unlikely as long as Vigils keep stands.
“Is this the Argentiers’ forge?” Dis asks loudly as she enters a forge, she remembers as her home. It looks just the same as back then with the silver statue of a dwarven smith she was told was her great grandfather, the practice forge where she learned to smith and on the wall is the first sword she made hanging together with the first swords of all her ancestors.
Two dwarfs enter from the backroom with an expression of both joy and disbelief on their faces. They look exactly as they did the day she left. Her father with silver braided into his long black beard and glasses that makes his eyes look as big as fists. An expert in engraving and has a keen eye for the finer details. Her mother, larger and more muscular, with long red hair and the most loving face. The fastest sword smith in all of Livinia. It is good to see that they are doing well.
“Dissella? Is that you?” Ms. Argentiers asks with tears in her eyes.
“My little girl has come home!” Mr. Argentiers exclaims joyously and embraces her. “And you have brought a Human man with you, is he your partner?”
Halm steps forward to introduce himself “hi, I am Halm, one of Dis’ friends”.
“Oh we knew you weren’t dead Dissella but you look a little thin. Are you doing well? Have you been eating enough? You aren’t sick are you?” Ms. Argentiers takes Dis face in her hands and examines her closely.
“I’m fine and I go by Dis now” Dis says, a little overwhelmed by her parents. It has been a long time since she last experienced unconditional love and affection.
“Yes we heard but we love your name Dissella. It is a strong dwarven name going back thousands of years” Mr. Argentiers is still not letting go of his daughter.
Dis pries herself free of her parents “I know you love that name but I am no longer her. I tried to keep you safe by not coming back but I heard from Mr. Baker, you have been talking about my adventures and me. So I came here to warn you. You have to forget about me for your own good”.
“What are you saying, baby?” Mr. Argentiers is looking at Dis with a worried expression.
Dis sighs deep “mom, dad, I love you, but the girl who left here ten years ago is dead and in her place is a monster. I have done horrible things and killed hundreds of people during my time in the army and on my travels, all for the sake of the greater good. But, there are many people out there who wants to make me pay for what I have done. If they learn that you are my parents, they will torture and kill you, just to hurt me”.
Ms. Argentiers takes Dis’ hands and looks her deeply and lovingly in the eyes “we will never forget you honey, you are our daughter and we are so proud of you…”
“... and don’t you worry about us. We can handle ourselves. You don’t live for one-hundred and seventy years without learning a thing or too” Mr. Argentiers adds with a confident smile.
“You just go save the world and when you are ready, we will be here welcoming you home. You will always be our daughter” Mr. and Ms. Argentiers embraces Dis.
Once again, Dis has to pry herself free from her parents. She knows they mean well but she wishes they would understand the dangers they are putting themselves in. “Dissella is gone, you have to bury her”. She turns to the door with tears in her eyes. It is too hard to say goodbye again but she can not stay here “we have to go and I’m not coming back again. Lord General Garthak needs us for his plan” she says before she leaves.
“Dissella wait…” Mr. Argentiers says but Dis does not stop.
“I am very sorry Mr. and Ms. Argentiers. I believe Dis can only go on being a hero to the people by letting go of the girl she once was and preserving the memory of her. But I promise that I will do my best to protect her and maybe one day she can come back to be your daughter” Halm says and leaves to follow Dis.
“I should never have come back here. It was a big mistake” Dis says as they leaves the settlement. She is almost running away trying to fight the urge to turn around and apologies. “They don’t understand and now I have brought them in even more danger. What if that archpriest was following us? And did you see their faces, they looked so hurt”.
Halm gets up in front of Dis and stops her. He can see that she is hurting. “You had to come and warn them and now they know why you stayed away and why you can not come back again. They are not hurt, they are just sad to see their daughter go away without being able to help her. They love you and are proud of everything you have accomplished”.
“Let’s just get back to the others and don’t say a word to them” Dis says and continues to walk.
At nightfall, the team arrives to the camp where their escort starts loading their belongings onto one of the boats. Dis, Halm and Storm follows Garthak to the war table where his generals are waiting, while Quinsel and John finds a place to sleep.
General Stern is the first to speak as they arrive “Lord General. The boats are ready to sail at your command. We await your orders”.
“My generals, the plans have changed. There will be no invasion of Weissfelde at this time. This decision did not come easy. I was ready to lead this army into the Summer lands and liberate them under the flag of Livinia. However, my brother has made it clear that he will do anything to stop us. For too long I have stood by, letting my brother rule our kingdom with a weak hand and let the Empire slowly take our land and our freedom. The time has come for me to claim the throne. I, Garthak Urdun, second son of King Gerald Urdun, brother of King Meeras Urdun, is from here on the true King of Livinia. First, we will conquer Crossington under the light of Mimas, the moon of death. We will bring down the Vander family and show the world, that my brother can not protect anybody, not even his greatest allies. Then we will sail to the Shining city and demand my brother to abdicate the throne or we will take the capital by force. Give the orders” Garthak decrees and the generals salute Garthak with a long live the King before leaving to inform their battalions. “General Stern, a moment, you have always been my most trusted soldier and friend. We have fought many battles together and you have more than once proven to be my right hand. Therefore, it is my greatest honour to bestow onto you the rank of Lord General of the Royal Army”.
“Thank you my King. It is an honour to serve you” General Stern says and kneels before Garthak.
Dis turns to Garthak, she has been thinking about Quinsel and their upcoming travels and she has concluded that she has to warn him. She had hoped to avoid it, as she knows that he has strong feelings against Were-beasts. There have been many stories of Garthak hunting down Were-beasts that have terrorised Livinia. She has even been part of one of these hunts herself. “We have a problem. Last we passed through Crossington we encountered a Wereboar. Quinsel was hurt in battle with the beast and is now cursed. There is a cave in the Harpies valley we can bring her and keep everybody safe”. She points out the cave where Joey Carr had his hideout.
“You are right Dis, we can not risk her turning near any of the men. We will have your boat drop you off for the night” Garthak looks very displeased by this information but he does not say anything else. Dis does a slight bow and leaves him.
Moments later the camp is packed down and everything is loaded onto the boats. A horn blares to signal take off and in a long single line the boats sails down the river. The Brute Slayers are sailing with Alistair and ninety-three soldiers under the command of Captain Kloane. Dis quickly falls back into the rhythm of the army and Halm helps wherever he can. Storm and John straight up refuse to follow orders, they may be here on the boat but they never signed up to be part of any army. Quinsel on the other hand has been confined to a corner with Cinder; after five minutes on the boat, she had created so much chaos and disruption that Captain Kloane banned her from helping or engaging with the soldiers. After nearly two days of sailing the team disembarks the boat inside the cave as the night starts falling on the twentieth of Magi. Captain Kloane looks almost pleased to be rid of them as he sails away. Dis suspects he might not come back for them.
“Be careful where you step. Joey Carr had a lot of traps here” Storm says as he lights a torch to disperse the darkness.
“Wow look at these footprints, they are almost as big as me” John is pointing at some large tracks heading further into the cave.
“We can just stay here, Quinsel is out of the moonlight. There is no need to disturb the cave’s new inhabitant” Halm reasons to the others.
Storm is already making his way past the traps “suite yourself but I’ll have a look at the beast and there may be treasures we missed last time”.
“Maybe it wants to be our pet. A big fluffy beast to ride on” Quinsel says and runs after Storm.
Dis lights another torch and examines the footprints “I have never seen footprints like these. Whatever made them must be quite big. I think it would be smart to at least see what kind of creature is living here. We have to know if it will be a danger”.
“Then we better keep up with them before they get into trouble” Halm concedes.
Except for some broken furniture and the sporadic bones, the cave is desolate. Both the sleeping chamber, the prison, the storage room and the kitchen has been stripped for anything of value and emptied out. The tracks leads straight to the main chamber. “Who is walking through my cave?” a loud roaring sounds as they get closer. “I can smell you. You have been here before, has he sent you?”
“I told you we should have stayed outside and not disturb the creature living here” Halm whispers.
“Yes, you should have stayed outside but now you are here, come closer and state your business” it roars again.
Dis is the first to step into the main chamber “we are sorry to disturb you. We were just looking for a place to stay for tonight” her hand is nervously hanging ready to grab her sword.
The bones of Sasha the displacer beast lies halfway into the room; the meat has been eaten of the corpse. Something large and silvery moves around at the far end, it is barely visible as the light from the torches reflects of it.
“You came to hide from the moon? I can smell it on her, there is foul magic in her blood” the roars softens to a conversational volume as the creature moves closer. “I am Purroth the Treasurer and if you want to stay in my cave, you will have to pay” a silver dragon steps into the light. It is about twenty meters long and four meters tall, from what Storm knows about dragons, this is one of the smaller.
“How much gold do you want for allowing us to stay?” Halm asks, hoping Purroth names a fair price they can pay. He does not want to fight this magnificent dragon.
“I seek not gold, silver nor jewels. My treasures are items of magic. Show me your offering or leave my cave” Purroth demands.
Dis and Halm turns around to huddle up with the others. “Do we have any magical item we don’t need?” Dis asks, looking through her own backpack.
Storm pulls out a Wand of Detect Magic from the bottom of his backpack “Aye, I have this. Completely forgot about it”.
John shakes his head, he has nothing he wants to offer “I got nothing”.
“Let’s hope the wand is good enough” Halm says and takes it from Storm. He turns to Purroth and presents the wand “will this Wand of Detect Magic be enough for us to stay?”
Quinsel takes place at Halm’s side “if not, I would like to offer you seven pairs of leather flip-flops”.
Dis grabs Quinsel’s arm “what are you doing?” she whispers annoyed.
Purroth laughs “I like the cursed one, she is funny. Your offerings will suffice for tonight. Now come see my treasure hoard”.
They follow Purroth to the other end of the room where a treasure chest lies inside a nest of stones and bones. With its front claw, he lifts the chest and places it for them all to see. One after one, he picks up an item from the chest to show them, holding the items carefully between the tips of his claws. “This little boat figurine will grow to a full size boat when placed on water. This little stone is full of luck, by carrying it you are more likely to succeed. And this plate of armour is made of adamantine, its magic extends its protection to the wearer's critical areas. With the wand and the flip-flops my collection is growing”.
“Those are some impressive items, but isn’t your hoard a little small” John says, admiring the treasure.
Purroth carefully puts away the chest “sadly it is. Before I came here, I lived in the mountains you call Midheim with a treasure hoard three times my own size. I had flown all over the world to find these magical items. Then one day Ymrad the Deceiver glimpsed my treasures and decided it was his. We fought in a great battle but ultimately I lost. He took my cave, my hoard and my egg before he banished me from the mountains”.
“Then what brought you to Livinia?” Halm asks interested and prepares his bedroll for the night.
“A small hooded man with powerful magic found me and offered me the adamantine armour and a cave in a land with no other dragons around, in exchange he asked for a favour in the future” Purroth informs conversationally.
“This hooded stranger, did he mention what you could help him with or why he wanted you to come to Livinia?” Dis inquires. It might not be the archpriest but if it is, they could get some insight in his plans.
Purroth shakes his big head “he only said that he has big plans for the land and I will be a crucial force in reshaping it”.
“We have had some run-ins with a mysterious hooded stranger with powerful magic. We believe him to be an archpriest of the Shadow Walkers, a cult who wishes to control all magic. If it is the same man that you met, then he is very dangerous and is going to use you for his evil plans” Halm warns.
“Ah, I see. Do not worry small ones for I have no quarrels with the likes of you. The squabbles between your races are beneath me” Purroth says tired and closes his eyes. Within a few minutes, the cave vibrates from the soft snoring of the dragon. It is quite peaceful.
“So you found my dragon. I had hoped to save it as a surprise for later” the archpriest’s voice resonates through the cave, waking the team from their slumber. The wall sconces magically lights up with bright orange flames bathing the cave room in warm light. A weird humming sounds as if the air itself is vibrating with energy. He floats through the room like a black ghost, waving his hands.
Storm grabs his sword and stands between the archpriest and Purroth “this time you are too late. We have warned him about you”.
“I am no one’s dragon” Purroth rises behind the team, towering threating, ready to fight.
The archpriest laughs. “You fools. It is you, who are too late. I do not need to persuade this dragon into doing my bidding. My powers are far beyond your comprehension”.
“We will stop you” Dis says and signals to Storm. Together the two run to attack but the archpriest carelessly floats out of their range.
“Come back here you coward” Storm yells.
“This is not the time. Besides it looks like you got your hands full” the archpriest says and throws a tattooed arm on the ground before vanishing in mid-air.
“Stop that arm” Storm yells as he swings his sword at it.
The arm scurries across the cave floor avoiding blades, feet and claws.
“It’s too fast” John gasps as he lies on the ground after having jumped for it.
“I will slow it down” Purroth says. He plants his feet steady on the ground and stretches his body. The air around him chills and ice forms at his claws. He opens his mouth and breath in ready to hit the arm with his breath of frost.
“No don’t…” Halm calls just as the arm throws itself into Purroth open mouth.
The team stares at Purroth in anticipation with their weapons ready but nothing seems to happen.
“Are you okay, Purroth?” Halm asks and slowly moves closer.
“Maybe it doesn’t work on dragons…” John says hesitantly.
In a sudden movement, Purroth jerks his head backwards and lets out a deafening roar while flapping with his powerful wings. The forceful gusts blows the team backwards, John flies through the cave and is pinned against the wall. With great difficulty, Dis and Halm manage to brace against the wind and slowly step closer to Purroth. As they are finally within weapon range, Purroth ceases flapping his wings and instead begins stomping around in blind rage. In the last second, Dis and Halm, throw themselves sideway to get out of his way and avoids getting trampled. The weight and power in Purroth’s wild movement violently shakes the cave, breaking the stalactites loose from the ceiling, raining large stones down upon them all.
“We have to stop him before the cave fall down upon us” John yells from his cover behind a large stone that just barely missed him.
Purroth plants his body again and draws in air. Storm pulls out his bow and readies an arrow but releases it too early and hits the wall, as he has to jump to dodge the breath of frost. “I can’t get a shot. You need to draw his attention” he yells back to the others.
Quinsel dashes between stones all the way to Purroth and is about to make a hit when Halm pushes her to the side just in time to avoid being hit by large stones as the ceiling collapses. They all run to find cover. As the dust settles, they are bathed in the morning light that shines down on them. Purroth roars again before he flies out of the cave.
“Are everybody okay?” Dis asks. She can hardly see anything for the stone dust in her eyes.
“We need to go after Purroth and stop him” Halm calls back, standing with Quinsel.
“Aye, grab his treasure and let’s get back to the boat. I got John” Storm calls and digs out John from under some rocks. Luckily, he is unharmed due to his small size.
“I agree. Everybody to the boat. Let’s hope they have returned for us” Dis commands.
Halm quickly hands the four magical items to Quinsel before they run back through the cave to the harbour. However, the harbour is empty, there is no boat waiting for them. Dis grabs the boat figurine from Quinsel’s arms. She is just about to place it on the water when their boat appears in the cave entrance.
“Morn…” Captain Kloane greets them as they run aboard. He and a couple of oarsmen are the only ones left.
“Did you see a dragon?” Halm interrupts.
“A dragon? There are no dragons in Livinia” Captain Kloane looks at them a little sceptical.
“Aye, a silvery dragon just flew away from here. We need to know in which direction” Storm says impatiently.
“Can’t help, we haven’t seen any dragons, silvery or otherwise. But King Garthak is waiting for us” Captain Kloane says as they sail out of the cave.
Dis scouts the sky as they are back out on the Green river heading towards Crossington “I can’t see Purroth anywhere. If he isn’t heading for the city, it will be impossible for us to track him down”.
“It won’t be a problem to track him down; he will create a path of destruction wherever he goes. But we were barely able to get close to him in the dungeon, killing him will be much harder” Storm says as he puts on the Adamantine armour and it magically fits itself to his body. The lucky stone and the boat figurine he gives to Halm. Quinsel keeps the Wand of Detect Magic.
It does not take long before they arrive at Crossington. There are many Boat wrecks and dead bodies floating around near the edges of the river. It looks like a brutal battle has unfolded here during the night. The docks are equally as bloody and destroyed. Dead soldiers are piled together and the barricades looks like they have exploded. A young soldier is waiting for them at the docks “Captain, your orders are to join the battle right away. Brute Slayers, please follow me”. The soldier leads the team to Garthak’s boat, where he is sitting with General Stern, Alistair and Milo.
“Brute Slayers, sit. Tonight we initialized the attack on Crossington. As expected, the city is heavily fortified and we are meeting a lot of resistance. We are slowly taking over the city, one district at a time but we will not win this battle before Lord Oscar Vander is captured. An elite squad with formidable combat abilities are guarding Lord Vander and therefore I want you to take him down. We are just about to commence an attack on the Royal district, they are waiting for you at the frontline” Garthak briefs them of the situation.
“Your excellence, the Shadow Walkers has just let a dragon lose on Livinia. We should take a team and go find it before it is too late” Dis warns.
“A dragon? There are no dragons in Livinia and these so-called Shadow Walkers does not have that kind of power. I have read the reports from Lady Athis about your encounters with this cult and we will deal with it once we have taken over Livinia. They are no threat to the might of my army. However, this is not the time nor place to talk about this. Now go and capture Lord Vander” Garthak dismisses the team.
Dis stops Storm, before he can say anything to Garthak. Going against his orders would only result in their capture or worse, death. A group of soldiers joins to escort them through the streets of Crossington. The sound of weapons hitting metal and screams of pain are carried in the wind. Garthak’s soldiers are slowly securing the streets and marking every house they have searched with a large red cross. Any resistance is met by brutal force, soldiers are captured and civilians subdued.
“What do we do now?” Halm asks.
“We do as we are told and follow orders. We were barely able to get close to Purroth and without Garthak’s army we won’t be able to take him down. Just pray that nobody is going to die before Garthak realises we were telling the truth…” An explosion behind them interrupts Dis. The houses collapse and block the street, cutting them off from the other squads. Several explosions sounds around the city.
“Ambush!”
“Get out of here!”
“Run!”
Vander’s soldiers emerges from houses, side streets and behind barricades, swiftly killing their enemies. It is a brutal and bloody display of military precision. The team watches as thirty of Garthak’s soldiers are slain further down the street. Somehow, these soldiers have managed to stay hidden during the first search of these houses and now they have cut off a good part of Garthak’s army from the rest. A moment later, Vander’s soldiers turn and run towards them yelling for attack. Garthak’s soldiers, spreads out and retreats in any direction they can.
“This way” John calls and leads the team down a side alleyway. They can hear the soldiers following behind them as they turn a corner.
Running footsteps sounds from all around them. “We are surrounded. We need to hide” Storm whispers and breaks open a house door. Halm and Dis follow him inside where they barricade the door. A family of three is hiding behind a turned over table, clutching their daughter between them. Halm signals them to be quiet while Storm threateningly draws his sword.
John crawls into a rain barrel and places the lid ajar. From a small hole in the side, he sees Quinsel jump through a window across the street and closes the shutters. A second later he watches as a group of Vander’s soldiers turn a corner and walk down the street towards them. “I heard them run down this street. Check the houses” a soldier commands and the others spread out, forcing their way inside every house on the street. Civilians are pulled outside and forced to their knees in the middle of the street. The commanding soldier checks them one by one.
They are slowly but methodically making their way towards the houses where the others are hiding. John take his dagger in the hand, ready to fight if it comes to it. He does not know what to do or how they are getting out of this. Fighting sounds from one of the houses and more soldiers hurries inside. A moment later is a dead soldier with Garthak’s mark carried out. Another woman is brought out after her, crying over the dead soldier.
Three soldiers in deep moss green armour walks down the street, every soldier they pass salutes them. “We’ll be taking over now” the leader says and the commanding soldier steps back.
Quinsel is sitting by the window spying out on the street, trying to see what is happening, when a familiar voice sounds from deeper inside the house. “I found you”. She turns around to find who is talking. The house is dark and empty, it looks like it has been abandoned some time ago. “He said you might come this way”. Carefully she walks into the kitchen. She touches Doctor Pain and he lights up with magic, casting a bright shining light out in the room. “He told me to bring you a message”. Something grabs her by the arm. She turns around swinging Doctor Pain, smashing a hole in the wall, missing whoever touched her. There in front of her, is a girl, a young teenager, smiling.
“Did I scare you?” the girl asks, grinning.
“Qita, I could have taken your head off” Doctor Pain says, reminding Quinsel who this girl is.
“I’m so happy to see you” Qita embraces Quinsel in a big hug “he said that you are in danger and that the King wants you dead”.
Quinsel feels a kind of unfamiliar joy as she embraces Qita. She barely knows this girl; they only spent a week together. Yet here she is crying into her stomach with tears of happiness. “Don’t worry; I got Painsy to protect me. But who is this man you have been talking to?”
Qita wipes her eyes “he found me just after you left. He said his name is Joey and that he is a friend of yours. He said I should go find you, because you are in danger and that I should deliver a message for him”.
“Joey is not a friend of ours; he is a crazy and dangerous man. You should stay away from him” Doctor Pain warns.
“You left me and he helped me get down here, he helped me find you” Qita snaps back.
“You can come with us now, if you want. We are on our way to kill the King, so his brother can take over” Quinsel smiles at Qita, she kind of likes this little girl. “Now what is the message?”
“Botanical for Beginners Vol. 3 will help in your fight against the Shadow Walkers. I tried looking for it in the library but they said it doesn’t exist” Qita says.
The front door opens and the heavy footsteps of soldiers walk inside the house. Quinsel quickly extinguishes Doctor Pain and signals Qita to be quiet. They can hear at least three soldiers walk around, searching. She covers just behind the wall with her hammer ready, waiting for a soldier to show their face. With held breath, she listens to the floorboards creak as a soldier walks closer to the kitchen, but they stop right before the door. Suddenly an arm punches through the wall, grabs Quinsel by the neck and pulls her back through the wall. Another soldier rushes through the door and tackles Qita.
One of the soldiers in deep moss green armour, a large and muscular man, is holding Quinsel. “You thought Vander’s elite squad would be so easily deceived. I can sense any nearby threats and you smell dangerous” he smells Quinsel’s face before slamming her to the ground, knocking the air out of her.
A smaller and much younger soldier in the same deep moss green armour drags Qita out in the living room. “Do you think these two are with Garthak’s army?” he forces her head around so they can get a proper look at her.
“Doesn’t matter Caden, we get rewarded either way but let’s find out. Start with this one Bruke” the leader says after expecting their faces. The big guy, Bruke, lifts Quinsel up and slams her against the wall. With one hand, he is holding her by the throat, choking her and the leader comes closer. “Tell me who you are with or we will kill you both” he says menacingly and gently runs a knife down her face.
Even though she can hardly breathe, Quinsel smiles at the leader, this is not the first time she has been in a position like this. “You better kill me for this is not going to end well for you” she laughs. “Come on, choke me harder”.
The leader forcefully stabs Quinsel in the side before moving to Qita whose head is lifted from the ground exposing her throat. “If you don’t talk bitch, I’ll kill your little friend”.
“If you touch her, I will break every single bone in your body and leave you to die slowly in this house while the rats feast on you” Quinsel threatens with a smile.
“Boss, I still sense a lot of danger coming from her” Bruke comments with a slight tone of worry in his voice.
A loud commotion starts outside, it sounds like a battle has broken out. “Boss, should we go help them?” Caden asks. He sounds like he is quite new to the squad.
“Why, it’s just about to get fun in here” the leader grabs Qita’s face “look at her, see the fear in her eyes”. He runs the knife down her face leaving a thin trail of blood “you need to remember that the mission is everything and sometimes you have to use a little violence to get the information”. He jams the knife down into Qita’s hand, pinning it to the floor.
A white light flies across the room just above the leader’s head, blasting a hole in the wall. “You are right it is just about to get fun” Quinsel says taking a step closer to the leader. Bruke is on his knees red in the face, desperately trying to remove a rope running from his neck to her wrist. At her command, the Rope of Climbing had slithered up and wrap itself around his neck.
The leader punches Qita in the face and stands up, drawing his sword ready to engage Quinsel in a battle. But before he can make his first attack, the door is kicked open and Dis, Storm, John and Halm rushes inside, surrounding the leader. “Hold it right there Chadwick” Dis says, recognising his face.
With a quick glance around, he sheathes his sword again. “Seems like it would be wise to retreat for now” he says and throws something on the floor, the room is filled with smoke. A second later, it clears up and the Chadwick is gone together with Caden and Bruke.
“Vander’s soldiers retreated back to Vander hall as soon as our soldiers broke through to this street. Are you okay?” Halm asks, looking at the human shaped hole in the wall.
Quinsel shrugs “I had it under control”. She pulls the dagger out of Qita’s hand and heals the wound.
“Who’s the girl?” Storm asks.
“I’m Qita. I’m Quinsel’s apprentice” she proudly introduces herself.
“You have an apprentice?” John asks in disbelief. The idea of Quinsel having an apprentice seems worrisome. She is a good fighter and healer but with her mental state, it feels less than sensible to leave a child in her care.
“Painsy and I found her in the Violet woods where we saved her from some slave traders and now she found me saying that finding Botanic for Beginners will help us with the Shadow Walkers” Quinsel recaps.
“Botanic for Beginners volume 3” Qita corrects “after Quinsel had left me, Joey found me and told me to tell Quinsel that, that book will help in the fight against the Shadow Walkers, but I can’t find it. It is not in Crossington’s Library”.
“We can talk about that later. Now there is a battle waiting for us” Dis dismisses the conversation. This does not feel like a safe place to talk about the Shadow Walkers.
The streets are painted red with the blood of Vander’s soldiers, many killed as Garthak’s army forced their retreat. They turn a corner to the plaza, where it used to be a big beautiful open space with flower stands, performers and large stone carved statues, it is now a grotesque battlefield with spiked barricades, dead mutilated corpses and the statues lies in ruin. The melodic sound of the Gold-Green river running through the plaza has been swapped with screams of pain and the repeating sound of metal hitting metal. The last of Vander’s army is doing their best to prevent anyone from reaching Vander hall but they are vastly outnumbered and it is only a matter of time before the battle is over.
Dis leads the way into battle, looking at the fallen soldiers at her feet some are barely adults. “Try not to kill anyone; they never had a choice in this battle. Let’s just capture Lord Vander and end it” she commands to the others as she knocks down a soldier charging at them.
John pulls out his lute and starts playing a medley of enchanting tunes that bolsters their allies and lulls Vander’s soldiers to sleep.
“We need more power to push through their line of defence. Don’t you have some magic that can help” Storm yells at Quinsel after killing the fifteenth soldier and snapping out of the overpowering anger, fuelled by the Vengeance sword.
Quinsel knocks out a soldier “I have been working on a spell that might help”. She slams her hand down on the ground, bright light shoots out, four meters, through the earth in four directions and as she stands up so does four humanoid muscular spirits with hammer for heads. The Doctor Pain humanoids circles around her and attacks any enemy getting in range with their hammer heads. With the spirits by her side, Quinsel breaks through the phalanx, pushing the soldiers back. Thick smoke suddenly surrounds them, completely blocking their vision. They can barely see each other.
“I told you she was dangerous boss” Bruke’s voice sounds from somewhere in the smoke.
“She won’t be much longer, not when we are done with her” Chadwick laughs. The smoke disperses, revealing the leader standing with his sword pressed against Quinsel’s back and Bruke is holding off two of the spirits with his bare hands. Caden has tackled John and is pinning him to the ground while a woman the size of Bruke is crushing Dis between her bear arms. “So you are the infamous Brute Slayers. You don’t look that impressive. Except you Red Star, yes I remember you too. Make sure not to let her go Valery. It is going to be easy to claim the rewards on your heads”. With nine lightning fast strikes of his sword, he stabs Quinsel, Halm and Qita three times each.
“Aye, you might want to kill us before counting your money” with a quick draw of his bow, Storm shoots two arrows into Bruke’s knee pits, making him collapse and taking a beating by the two spirits. He then lunges at the leader forcing him away from Quinsel. Meanwhile Caden is sent flying into the air as an explosion of green fire erupts from John’s body.
Dis glows bright red as she uses all of her strength to pry open the Valery’s bear arms. Holding on to Valery’s arm, Dis lands on the ground and uses the momentum to throw Valery over her head. Valery gracefully twists her body in the air like a cat and lands elegantly on her feet while her arms changes shape into long tentacles that grabs Dis and wraps around her body. Halm throws John into the air, where he fires a beam of green crackling energy down at the leader, while Halm performs a powerful jump kick to the Valery’s head. Chadwick just barely manages to block the energy beam with his sword, but the force from the spell pushes him backwards into Quinsel’s spirits. Bruke yanks the two arrows out of his knees. He gets up, runs straight through a spirit, tackles Storm to the ground and hammers his hand down at his face. Storm swiftly grabs a shield from a dead soldier and blocks the punch. Quinsel jumps onto Bruke’s back and places her hands on his head, ready to let her magic tear deep painful wounds through his skull when a deafening roar sounds and a large shadow glides across the plaza. Immediately the fighting ceases and everybody looks to the sky, trying to discern the creature casting the shadow. However, there is no doubt within the Brute Slayers they know Purroth has arrived. As the dragon lands the ground shakes from the force and with a single breath he freezes hundreds of soldiers where they stand. Calls for retreat sounds from both armies and every soldier hurries to evacuate the plaza. Shocked by the sight of Purroth, Valery’s arm turn back to human and drops Dis on the ground, while Caden who, unseen, were just about slice Qita’s throat disappears in a cloud of smoke.
“Retreat, protect Lord Vander” Chadwick commands his team, who immediately runs up the many stairs to Vander hall, where Lord Vander and his son have been spectating the battle. “You are lucky that dragon came” he says before follows his team.
“Now Garthak has to believe us” Halm grabs his staff, from the straps on his back.
“We have to take him down before he destroys the city. Halm and John, you draw his attention and don’t get hit by his breath of frost. Quinsel and Qita, be ready with healing and try to help the wounded soldiers. Storm, shoot him, aim for the eyes and nose, those are his weak spots. I will try and do as much damage as possible” Dis commands. They all nod agreeing to the plan and runs across the plaza towards Purroth.
Able to run faster than the others, Halm reaches Purroth in no time. He circles the dragon hitting it on the legs with his staff trying to get his attention. Every slap with the staff feels like hitting a solid cube of hardened steel. Storm draws his bow and starts shooting arrows that bounces off the metallic scales on his head. Dis, Quinsel and John spread out and attacks Purroth from every side but neither their weapons nor Quinsel’s spirits seems to have any effect. The scales are too thick and strong to penetrate and with a swipe of his tail, Purroth sends them flying backwards together with many of the dead soldiers on the ground. To avoid the tail sweep Halm jumped high into the air and as he falls back down to the ground he puts all his weight behind one powerful whack of the staff, hitting Purroth over his silvery snout, splintering the staff into many pieces. A claw, the size of himself, slams Halm to the ground as he lands, pinning him down. Purroth’s head is merely two meters away as he opens his mouth, revealing at least thirty razor sharp teeth the size of a foot. He takes a big breath, ready to release a heavy stream of freezing cold air down on Halm, when a green bird shaped enchanted arrow pierces into a scale just below his left eye. The force knocks his head sideways releasing the breath of frost in a straight line away from Halm. Roaring in pain Purroth sets off, pushing Halm down into the paved ground. He flies across the plaza releasing a thick stream of hyper-cooled water in its path, covering everything in solid ice. Storm throws himself sideways trying to avoid getting hit but too late. Frozen solid he lies on the ground, only able to watch some of the battle, while he can feel the cold slowly permeate his body. Meanwhile the cursed rage from the vengeance sword grows inside him, using all his strength he tries to break free from the ice. He needs to kill Purroth and exact his revenge but the ice is too strong. Quinsel and Qita run to Halm to help him up and heal his wounds. John runs back to Storm and begins chipping away on the ice with his dagger. Inspired by the Brute Slayers bravery, archers from both armies take place at the outskirts of the plaza, hoping to be just out of reach of the dragon, trying to find a shot. Dis brushes off some dust and charges at Purroth with Chillwind raised. The fight is not going as she had hoped, they might not win this but she is not ready to give up yet. She slides on the now icy ground, dodging the sweeping tail and in under Purroth, cutting a long wound on his soft underbelly. Nothing more than a light scratch, barely deep enough to draw blood but a wound nevertheless. She rolls sideways to avoid the claw smashing into the ground, leaving a deep hole in the paved plaza. She jumps up and swings her sword, breaking off one of the nails. Pained, Purroth flaps his wings creating a wind that blows Dis backwards together with stones, ice and dead bodies. Unable to break Storm free from the ice, John runs to join Dis together with Quinsel and Halm.
“I made him bleed and broke one of his nails. His belly is softer and easier to cut” Dis says and stretches her sword arm. Her muscles are getting tired; the many swings and blows are starting to hurt. She grabs into the potion pocket and pulls out a potion of giant strength. She needs some more power if they are to win this battle.
“You go for the head, I go for the belly. Quinsel and John cover us with some magic” Halm says.
Purroth plants his feet on the ground and stretches his body, drawing in air, getting ready to hit them with another breath of frost as Halm and Dis once again charge at him. A green energy beam flies across the plaza and explodes on Purroth's body with enough force to knock him backwards. A bolt of bright white light follows right after, breaking a handful of scales on impact. While Purroth is momentarily stunned by the powerful concussive energy blasts, Halm swiftly grabs sword after sword from the ground and jams them into the exposed underbelly. Purroth shakes his head to regain focus and bites at Halm but makes Dis makes a running jump and slashes him across the snout. In one powerful movement, that shakes the entire plaza, he sets off from the ground and once again flies across the plaza hailing large shards of ice down on everything underneath him. Quinsel shoves Qita and John out of the way just as a piece of pale blue magical ice pierces her left eye. The ice spreads across her face, slowly covering it in frost as she falls to the ground. John lights up, in the shape of a magical green parrot as he draws on all the powers the cult bestowed on him. From each hand, he fires a beam of green crackling energy straight up at Purroth. The beams explodes on impact, blasting his wings to shreds. Blood, flesh and dragon scales rains down on the plaza as Purroth crashes to the ground. Drained for energy, John falls at Quinsel’s side. Qita kneels by Quinsel, focussing her magic, trying to remember what she was taught and pours light from her hands down on Quinsel. Bloody and exhausted, Dis and Halm runs across the plaza, careful not to slip on the frozen ground. Purroth crawls out of the crater, screaming in pain; he has a large wound on his neck, his scales are crushed and his wings mangled. His tail flails around, smashing whatever it hits and he desperately freezes everything around him. Halm feels sorry for him, controlled against his will by an evil cult, as a tool in a needless war. If only they had had a way to save this magnificent dragon from this horrible fate but it is too late. He dodges the freezing breath and jumps over the whipping tail to once more stab Purroth in the underbelly. With all his strength and effort, he cuts a deep wound. Purroth screams in pain and slams Halm with his claw, giving Dis an opportunity to stab her sword into the wound on Purroth's neck and slice his throat open, killing the dragon. With Purroth dead, his magic slowly dissipates and the warm late spring sun begins to melt the ice, freeing everyone from their glacial prisons. Many have died from being frozen for too long. Finally able to break free, Storm runs to Qita to help save John and Quinsel. With a quick glance, it is clear that John is fine; he has just passed out from exhaustion. However, seeing that the ice in Quinsel’s eye does not thaw, he knows something is wrong; he grabs a potion of healing and forces the red liquid down her throat while Qita pours the last of her magic down on her. Moments goes by without a change and Qita throws herself onto Quinsel’s body with tears in her eye. With a loud gasp Quinsel sits up, alive, but her left eye remains pale blue and frozen. Supporting each other, Halm and Dis limps back to their friends, while both armies, unsure of how to proceed, cautiously walk out on the plaza. Some investigate the dragon to verify that it is truly dead. Others begin to collect the dead and help the wounded. But most gather around the Brute Slayers to thank them for saving them all.
A cloud of smoke surrounds them and the elite squad appears before them. “Brute Slayers, for your crimes against Livinia and for treason against King Meeras, I Captain Chadwick Greythorn the third of Lord Vander’s elite squad, hereby arrest you. Seize them” Chadwick announces and the elite squad forcefully detains the team. He smiles victoriously as he looks down on Quinsel and Qita. Garthak’s army draw their weapons ready to resume the battle for Crossington.
“Halt” Owen yells as he hastily marches in between the elite squad and the Brute Slayers with his father right behind him. “Let them go” he commands the elite squad.
“My lord?” Chadwick says, looking at Lord Vander who slowly nods, confirming the command. “As you wish. Release the Brute Slayers” he says begrudgingly.
“I, Lord Oscar Vander, hereby surrender myself, my city and my army to Lord Garthak Urdun, the new King of Livinia” Lord Vander’s voice magically resonates over the plaza. “Many good men and women have died today fighting for King Meeras to protect our land against his enemies. Yet, it was his enemies who came to our rescue. If it had not been for the Brute Slayers, a small band of heroes who have been declared traitors by our King, our city would have been left in ruins by the fierce dragon over there. The Brute Slayers saved us even though they did not have to. They could have retreated. King Garthak and his army could have retreated and waited for the dragon to lay waste to our city and our people. Yet they stayed. They defeated this threat of ours and won the battle. LONG LIVE KING GARTHAK. LONG LIVE THE BRUTE SLAYERS”. Both armies echo Lord Vander’s finishing words and bow to the Brute Slayers.
Owen turns to the team “Brute Slayers, thanks for saving our city, you are heroes and I bestow on you my sword, Fang. It is the last of the original family swords left” he bows to the team and hands his sword to Halm.
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