Chapter 1: A dwarf on the road/new threats
Roads are no longer safe, not even for a trained platoon of knights in their shinning armors and steel swords. Those who dare travel are committing suicide. Few rangers and scouts who are light on their feet go out to explore every day. They only dare to do so in the morning because when the sun is up; the attacks only occur at night.
Civilization is retreating, caves and mountains are now crowded with those who lived near the recent breach. Everyone abandoned their homes and hopes for a better life after the recent victory against the dark. The racial tension of the past is gone, fear replaced it along with depression and despair. Dwarves are fixing tools, armors and weapons for free. Elves caring for the weak and wounded. Humans with their unbreakable will are reforming the society broken down by the events.
"Alright! Alright! I know the dangers, I am not a new recruit. Besides, this is not the first time we see something that crazy before. I will go to the meeting….I have to" A voice of a dwarven male was heard he appeared to be talking with a redheaded woman in hiding who clearly didn't agree with his actions. However, he made his way from between the trembling crowds, with wits and his weapon on his back he headed out.
Horses were quite rare as it was almost impossible to protect them from the new monsters. The stubborn dwarf made his way on the bloody road on foot at the break of dawn. "Ah, what did I do to myself now? Freaking global crisis after another, I can't take a break." He said to himself as he walked feeling the awakening sun caressing his head like a worried mother. As he got deeper into the road, the stench of rotting corpses became more significant, the smell of blood defiled the calm breeze and death just ruled over the once alive lands.
"This is new, everything here, it is all new. This is a whole new level of batshit-crazy upon us." He said to himself as he walked among the omens of the impending doom.
He then remembered that his worried redheaded friend had put a map of the area in his backpack. One marked with the sightings of the beasts so he can be as safe as possible. The map showed that he was near what could be considered a safe house, an abandoned hut that was never attacked. "Finally somewhere to stop for a few minutes, I have been walking for hours now and it is past noon" he said as he saw the hut from afar.
The experienced ranger made his way to the hut and made sure there are neither corpses or trail of beasts in the area. But he forgot one thing, a short distance back he tripped into a puddle; one made of blood. He tried to watch himself as much as he could but time was of the essence so he couldn't stop. He checked all the trails around the hut but forgot about his own. "I will just rest up here for an hour" he sat down and barricaded the door and windows and sat down to have a drink and rest.
Despite being a fan of books and novels, where he read that it is never a good idea to rest in such place, the poor dwarf fell asleep. Hours passed and night was almost upon him, sundown was only an hour away. Sadly, he didn't wake up by himself but by being dragged across the hut and almost thrown out of the door by something large and bloody. He came to his senses quickly to find himself surrounded by a whole pack. "Oh fuck…" the classy dwarf said as he watched the humanoid creatures circle him with blood and human flesh still visible in their fangs and claws. He counted his last minutes.
Again, his redheaded friend helped him, she sent one of their friends behind him. He had just returned from another meeting across the realm and this one had a horse. He bolted behind his friend and arrived to him just in time before he was a snack. He jumped off his worse, wielded his wand and showered the beats with bolts of fire.
"I LEAVE YOU FOR ONE DAY AND YOU MANAGE TO GET YOURSELF IN A DEATH THREATENING SITUATION" the man shouted from the bottom of his lungs as he scared away the beasts and approached his friend who was then laughing his heart out. "You…ha…haha…you…can you do that again? Jump from the horse and attack at the same time." The two fellows exchanged slurs and punches in the most primitive fashion of bonding and then they were on their way.
Chapter 2: Meeting in a tavern
It seems that the beasts are avoiding the mage's fire so they are safe for the time being. "How do you know this guy?" the mage asked his friend as they made their way across the road to the meeting point. "We met months back after the small breach. The one that carried humans who spoke in different tongue" the dwarf replied as he saw tavern pumping with life, smoke, smell of mead and laughs. "That's strange, people have gone mad? They forgot the dangers around them. There are freaking undead for sanity's sake." The dwarf continued blabbering until he and his friend arrived to a shocking scene.
The fire glazed pack that attacked them earlier were there. But with more burns and way more cuts. They were actually dead and gutted and set ablaze. "How?!" the mage asked as the dwarf chugged his bottle. They walked in the tavern that gave them a nostalgic feeling. People laughing and eating, drinks all over and songs high in the sky. Their eyes wandered among the crowd till they say a man sitting unamused by the events. "That's strange….." the mage said before the dwarf interrupted, "no that's him, my contact"
The dwarf and the stranger greeted each other warmly, as if they were brothers in arms for eons. Then the two men sat down and the barmaid brought them a round of mead "I am sorry fellas, this girl is giving herself a treat" she said as he turned around and walked up to the upper level. The dwarf and the mage were troubled by the unexplained levels of happiness. "Where is your guy?" the dwarf asked as the mage left to sit at the bar. He needed stronger doses of alcohol
The stranger finally lifted his head from the mead and replied "He will be down as soon as he is done with the women upstairs. Till he joins us, you can tell me why you need our help. You sounded like a damsel in distress in that letter." The strange man laughed as he got on the nerves of the dwarf easily. "Damsel in distress! I am not the one dressed in velvet and have feathers in weird places."
"This is a feather of a very rare creature that you can't even begin to picture. It was a gift from a duchess whom I saved from an impending doom" the stranger replied. The dwarf was silent for a few seconds before he burst in laughter. "Yea yea, I am sure! I am also sure that you didn't do all of that but it was your friend who we travelled all this way to meet. Or he is too fearsome for us humble and weak folk. You call him wolf after all, is there a particular reason?"
"A wolf is always better than a hawk…" the stranger said as he laid back and watched fumes rise from the dwarf's head. "For the last time Dandelion, it is his name, his name is Hawke!" Varric shouted before Hawke returning to the table and silencing him. He then turned to Dandelion, "Can we meet him? The matter is urgent…how lon…" the man couldn't finish the sentence before he was interrupted by the fall of silence on everyone in the tavern. A deep confident voice then continued "Sorry, the girls were grateful after being saved from ghouls." Hawke turned around to see a tall white man, his hair and beard where both white, scar on his eye and his pupils were those of a feline.
"Geralt of Rivia…pleased to meet you" Geralt stretched his hand to Hawke as Dandelion interrupted " The champion of Kirkwall and the Butcher of Blaviken" Varric finished his pint and turned to the men. "Ok guys, sit down we need to talk about this crazy situation we have here." The bantering and glorious moments are now gone and only restless eyes and hearts of four men who have no idea what to do next.
Dandelion then started "It all started almost a year ago. I was sitting near the vineyard of Corvo Bianco; Geralt's previous estate. We had just rescued the duchess and her sister from a swarm of high vampires. Then…"
Varric: "Birdie, get to the point, we need to recap the major and important details"
Geralt: "Dandelion, stop boasting, we have work to do"
Dandelion: "Alright, a portal opened a few feet from me. I yelled at Geralt who has walking Ciri back to the house after they were on a stroll. He came running to me but before we could anything else we were dragged into the portal by immense energy. We woke up later to find ourselves in a strange place about two weeks ride from here. It looked like a small refugee town which was razed to the ground by a fierce battle.
Varric interrupted "That's Haven, what's next?" Dandelion then continued describing the journey the two had until that very moment. Geralt then broke his silence "This sounds like something we had in our world, called the conjunction of spheres. They are not exactly the same but you get the idea; worlds colliding and one world pouring its vermin into the other. Yours, the one you call Thedas is now being infected by monsters from mine"
Hawke then continued, "as if we didn't have enough crap on our hands. We lost track of the inquisition members, they are all in hiding except for the spymaster, Leliana back at the camp. As for the others they are nowhere to be found and recently an ancient god emerged from among us and broke our inquisitor's heart and took her arm that held an ancient source of power."
"Poor Lavellan, she is still troubled by his departure. We don't know what he is planning. We got Vints rumbling up in their realm, cooking all sorts of weird ass magic. They are well fortified against the attacks and they are even thinking of controlling the freaking beasts with blood magic!" Varric said with enough frustration for all of the attendees. He then turned to Geralt "Wolf, we need your help, unknown beasts roam our lands. Our inquisition is disbanded and the leaders are unaccounted for and we have a clash coming soon to take everything."
The men paused for a while to chug down more alcohol before Geralt continued "Monsters are understandable, they are my domain but what do you want me to do with the other two?" Dandelion then broke his silence "They need us, I mean you, to track them down and find where they are and of course your help in any upcoming battles". Geralt had mixed emotions, he didn't like most of what he heard. He couldn't care less about political disputes but that never stopped him from taking a part in major events that changed nations' fates.
Chapter 3: To new friends
The men sat silent at their table, watching the happy crowd around them. Geralt lived by his witcher code as much as he could but the sight of free innocents made him break it more than we wanted. The flowing drink, the laughing maids, the bantering drunks and creaking wood couldn't break the silence. Geralt, who had many questions to hold back, decided to start getting as much information as he could from Varric. "This is not the first time you reached out to Dandelion. He has been nagging me about this meeting way before the monsters came. Why did you need a witcher before that?"
"As I told you earlier, we need an excellent tracker to track down trained individuals who know how to hide their tracks. Dandelion has boasted a lot about your abilities." Varric said in a sarcastic tone and then chugged down more of his drink before he continued "Long story short, we have an ancient god who is hell bound on restoring the world of the elves, a crazy imperium who use blood magic and Lerium to reach whatever crazy goals they have and humanity's last hope is a disbanded inquisition who only now shelter the weak and the homeless. The world as we know it is crushed and being replaced with something I could have never imagined before, even when Corypheus was around." The answers didn't help Geralt at all, they only gave him new questions.
"Listen Witcher, it is best we return to our base and I will tell you everything on the road…only if you accept to help us". "Gentlemen" an old and slim woman interrupted them "Would you mind? Me and the girls had a really long night and we need to wrap up. Follow that maid there, she will take you to your rooms upstairs. And don't worry, they are on the house." she said as she proceeded to lift everything on the table and hand it over to her assistant. The men stood up and walked towards a young elven maid who showed them their rooms. Before they went in, they agreed to go on the first break of day. Geralt also told them that he was able to secure horses after eliminating the ghouls threat in the area. Hawke thanked him after being silent most of the evening and then they parted for the night.
"I know, I know, 'what did you get me into now Dandelion? I don't meddle in politics' I know what you will say my good old friend but you have to hear me out. These people have enough mages between them to help us open the breach again and go back home. I…" before he could continue, Geralt stopped him "There is one thing you are missing, if it is that easy, why didn't Ciri follow us? This is something more complicated than your everyday portal." He continued "I will help them fight the monsters but I don't want any involvement in any political disputes" Geralt then put his two swords aside and retreated to his bed. "Who knows what other monsters followed, necrophages are easy to handle, fire is good enough against them. I can show them how to make oils and bombs only if I can find enough material."
"Don't worry Geralt, You can handle this and Ciri will hear all about it once you get home" Dandelion tried to calm his uneasy friend before they went to sleep.
Next Chapter to be: Those in the shadows
