SOMETHING'S COOKING
This short fanfiction is based on the Dungeons and Dragons mini-module, "Something's Cooking," a short adventure for four 2nd-level PC's by Andy Collins, available from the Wizards of the Coast website.
CHAPTER ONE
Braun stared glumly into his soup. With a disappointed growl, the big man turned his spoon, watching the thin liquid slide back into the bowl with a plop. "I can't eat this," he said.
"Aw, c'mon, lad," said his companion, Dorin, who was seated across the small table. "A warrior's got to keep up his strength. Eat!" Grinning, the dwarf laid into his own bowl of turnipy stew, slurping it down, then reached for one of the hard biscuits on the plate between them.
"You didn't think that adventurin' was all romance and swashbucklin' now, didya?" Dorin asked through a mouthful of food. Crumbs spilled out onto his beard, but the grizzled dwarf was unconcerned. "Well, it ain't," he said. "Oh, it has its moments, but most of the time its bloody, dangerous work. It can get boring between jobs, I spose. Just gotta keep yer spirits up. Stay sharp. Things'll turn around."
Braun glanced around the common room. The two friends were in a corner table of the Tangled Web, the only inn of the small village of Bryn. "But we've got nothing," he said. "This meal cost me our last copper." He looked down at his mail hauberk, and the heavy battle axe tucked discretely under the table, beside his heavy pack. Braun didn't mind being poor, but completely penniless was something new and worrisome.
They'd come to Bryn seeking adventure. Many were the tales of old ruins in the nearby Forest of Spiders, stories of ancient dungeons full of forgotten hoards just waiting to be plundered by those brave enough- or foolhardy enough- to take them. But the reality was somewhat different. Bryn already had a band of adventurers in residence- four local heroes called the Golden Company. They had already cleared all of the dungeons Braun and his three companions had gone to explore, and the Golden Company was not interested in joining with any upstart newcomers who came into their territory. The older company had more than once saved Bryn from raiders out of the Forest of Spiders, and had made quite a reputation for themselves. Braun and his friends had more than once been politely advised to move on.
Braun glanced over at the stairs. "Here comes Prester," he said.
A young mage came down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His robes looked a little tattered, his hair was disheveled, and he had one of his omnipresent books tucked under one arm. Prester wore a longsword sheathed at his side, hung from his belt alongside all the pouches with his spell components. Braun had never once seen the wizard draw it, and he wondered why a wizard would even carry such a weapon. The man was skinny and bordered on clumsy, and the fighter doubted his friend even knew how to swing a sword. But Prester had never spoken of it, despite the odd looks it garnered from his friends.
The wizard pulled up a chair and sat down. He put his dusty book on the table and helped himself to one of the biscuits. "I guess Embeth isn't back yet?"
"Nay," Braun said. He pushed his half-eaten bowl of soup to the wizard.
"You're not hungry?"
Braun shook his head. "You look like you need it more than I do."
Prester shrugged. "I could eat, thanks." He took a few bites, and they all sat in silence for a while. Then, the door of the taproom opened, and the fourth member of their company walked in.
Embeth was an elf-maiden- wise, beautiful and intelligent. She was the oldest of any of them, even Dorin, she said, but she didn't look it. To Braun's eyes, Embeth looked like a young woman barely twenty, yet he knew she was well over a century old. Her pointed ears and slender build clearly showed she was one of the Fair Folk. Braun watched as she spotted them immediately and crossed the room to their table. She wore a tunic of mithril mail, with a sword at her side and an elven bow across her back, along with a quiver of arrows. She wore a grey elven cloak and boots. Her long blond hair was tied in a single braid and hung over her shoulder. Braun knew Embeth had risen before dawn, to practice her sword-patterns in the courtyard of the inn, before going out into the village to find employment.
"Fair morning, my friends," she said cheerfully. "What a sorry-looking lot you three are. There's sun on the rooftops and wind in the meadows. Why so glum?"
Dorin just muttered something under his breath that Braun couldn't hear, but Embeth's sharp ears must have caught it. She arched an eyebrow and looked at the dwarf.
"We're down to our last coppers," Braun said.
"Well then, we're in luck."
Prester looked up at her. "You found something, Embeth?"
"I have indeed!" She grabbed a chair from the next table and turned it around, sitting backwards in the chair with her elbows across the backrest. "Not much, but it is something."
"Tell us then, lass," Dorin said. "Out with it!"
The elf leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Do you know those wizards who live on the edge of town?"
Prester blinked. "Wizards? I didn't- "
"Yes, I do," Braun said, interrupting him. "Andolyn and Gendrew. They live quietly in a small cottage."
"I'd sure like to meet them," Prester said. "I think- "
"Always brewing up something strange?" Braun continued.
"That's them," Embeth said, nodding. "This morning, one of the locals said he smelled the foulest stench yet coming out of their chimney."
"They're up to no good, I reckon," Dorin said.
"I think we should investigate," Embeth said.
Braun rubbed his chin doubtfully. "I don't know. Doesn't sound like there's much in it."
"Well, maybe there is and maybe there isn't," Embeth said. "But what's the harm in us paying them a friendly visit?" She put a hand on Prester's shoulder. "And maybe our wizard here will get a chance to talk shop with some fellow finger-wagglers."
"Yes, I'd like that," Prester said, nodding his head like a puppy. "I'd love to exchange- "
"What about the Golden Company?" Braun interrupted. "If there's evil sorcery afoot, why haven't they already dealt with it?"
"That's just it," Embeth said. "They've gone off, into the Forest of Spiders hunting monsters. They set out this morning." She beamed.
"That settles it, then," Dorin said, brushing the crumbs from his beard. "Let's go!"
