It was a strange air in this city of Braseath, and I was sure that I had never seen this many elves at once. They didn't seem too wary of humans like me, but the guards did eye my weapons, suspecting bad intentions. Well, I did have some of those, but they left me alone without question. Hopefully coming here would be rewarding and I would find some good jobs here.
I found a room in an inn – in the city slums, not that it would bother me – but inside the walls of the city were the really profitable clients waiting. My money was to short for the gate fee, and they were wary of humans. Especially those without merchandise and with a bunch of weapons.
At least I thought that those were the clients to look for, until the huge figure waiting at the back of the inn's tavern finally approached me one evening, after just watching me for hours long. I had no idea who it was, but they definitely were looking for me.
As they sat down on my table, without asking, I took a sip of my beer and eyed them, suspicious.
„What do you want?", I asked, after some seconds, one hand on my shortsword. The person smirked, barely noticeable in the shadow of their hood.
„A source" Oh, I hated sources that weren't my own. „...told me about your abilities… and the services you provide for the right coin." The voice was female, but strangely dark nonetheless. I frowned.
„What kind of ser-"
„You know exactly what I am talking about", she intervened, I flinched, didn't let my eyes off her.
„What do you want from me?"
„A service, and the pay is good, I promise." That sounded anything but promising. But the coin in my pocket was dwindling, so I stretched out a finger to her.
„Tell me the details and I will think about it", I answered. She sighed, annoyed with my attitudes.
„All right. I want you to steal something for me, from the temple. An artifact."
„An artifact? That sounds dangerous. You sure you've got enough money?", I immediately said, one eyebrow raised. She just glared at me.
„Listen. You'll get paid fairly. We just go in and get that artifact, most is already prepared for it."
I tensed.
„We? I'm typically not the person for two-man missions. Tell me the sum, I'll decide."
„One thousand gold pieces." I almost choked on my beer. That was a giant chunk of the sum I needed! This was, without question, a job I should put my life on the line for.
„Okay. I'll do it, if you tell me one thing. Your name.", I agreed, barely able to hide my excitement. She blinked.
„My name? … Adara?" I grinned, nodding, then spilling out questions.
„What's your plan? When do we start? … And what's for an upfront payment?"
She signaled me to keep my voice down.
„Upfront payment? You'll get… let's say 200 gold pieces when me meet. Today, when the night rises, right here. Don't worry about the plan, I roughly know where the artifact will be kept. Just know that I want this to be a silent action. Alert the guards and we're dead meat."
„Then until later", I dismissed my new client, still wondering how I could catch onto such a job so fast. And I had to know who the hell her source was. I emptied my mug, left a coin on the table and followed her with some distance. To my misfortune she seemed more aware than I thought, as she turned around after some distance to meet my gaze.
„You know, if you're trying to be stealthy, I think I should hire someone else." I grinned, trying to hide my anger.
„Who said I was trying to be stealthy? Maybe I'm just heading in the same direction as you." She rubbed her forehead with her big hand. „Well, now you're heading in the opposite direction. We will meet up, later."
I went back to the inn and waited – on the opposite side of the street, for hours. Around sundown, a group of tall figures started to gather, all in the dark hoods of my client. I saw some tusks gleaming behind the cloth, making me raise my eyebrows in suspicion.
„There you are." I almost jerked as she approached me from the side, pulled a face. Was I that easy to see through?
„Are these your men?", I asked, irritated. „Is this suddenly a mass raid?" She rolled her eyes, and now I could finally see what she was. An orc. I frowned.
„Just for the record, you aren't pulling me into any political differences here?"
„No", she answered quite angrily, and handed me a bag of money. I gleamed. „
There… There's no time for me to count this, right?" Her glance told me enough.
„So, how are we gonna do it?", I asked, putting the sack into my backpack. She asked me whether I had a map of the city, and then handed me one.
„We can't get into the city through the gates. The easiest way will be to go around the walls to the Big Market, and climb over the wall to get to the temple. We can't just get into the city through the gates.", she explained. The client was king in my way, so I nodded.
„What will your men do?"
„They will help us over the wall and lay in wait in case we do catch the attention of the guards. They will get us the time to escape, but I would rather not sacrifice them."
We went on, wary of guards, but eventually reached the walls bordering the temple, after passing the heavily guarded gate. An orc handed me a grappling hook, wording himself with „Use." I breathed out.
„I guess we're good to go." Then I lifted my arm and shot it across the wall, the hook finding hold in the stones. Adara signaled me to go up first, and few seconds later I was up top, scouting for guards, while she was struggling getting herself up. Then, we secured the rope to get down the other side, the orc taking the lead this time with me watching. She told me to jump down and let me be caught by her, but I ignored her order and climbed down myself.
We swiftly crossed the vast temple gardens, seeing two guards, one in the garden, one at the nearest entrance, the two not seeming to have the healthiest work relationship. Nevertheless, in fear of the second guard noticing, I refrained from trying to knock out the guard at the door, instead telling the orc at my side to throw me up to the nearest window. Again. And again. After the fourth time I finally gave up, my back and coccyx hurting, wondering how the hell nobody saw us.
I threw a stone to distract the guards, and tried to sneak up on the one at the door. Unluckily, I tripped on a stone, and he jerked, seeing me immediately.
"What are you doing here?", he asked, warily. I tensed.
"I… uhm… I… I'm… lost?" He raised and eyebrow and repeated "… lost?"
"Have you seen how giant these gardens are?! How can one not get lost?", I blurted out hastily, but as he spotted my weapons he grabbed my arm and informed his colleague that he would get the intruder… and bring her to the dungeons.
I saw Adara facepalming as I was shoved inside, his grip hard and steady. She followed us inside stealthily, and I shot her a look trying to tell her that I wanted to attack him, as I did not intend to be imprisoned. Then, in one rapid motion, I shoved my elbow up his stomach, causing him to gasp and lose his grip on me. Adara attacked him from behind, and I drew my sword to hit his helmet as hard as I could.
Just a few seconds later, the guard was knocked out, and we dragged him into a small storeroom, hiding him underneath a mountain of potatoes. We went on, and spotted the stairs to the upper level. Most guards were at the main entrance, with just two guarding the stairs. After some whispered discussions, we decided we would be sneaking to the side of the stairs, ignoring guards and the way to the dungeons.
Adara tripped and almost got spotted, making my heart beat in a race. Then she lifted me up to the stairs, and even though I had a hard time pulling her up, but I managed. The shock came as she tripped following me up the stairs, alerting the guards. We just barely managed to hide in a chamber as the elven guards caught up.
There we found a sleeping elven girl, writhing in pain in her sleep. I looked around, finding a… poisoned potion of health, an item I kept because it might proof useful. As we waited for the guards to loose their interest, the girl caught Adara's eyes.
"What… What if we take a hostage? It could make the way up easier." The artifact was on the top story, so I understood, but…
"I don't think she will be worth an artifact as exchange", I murmured, just as that dumpling fell out of her bed, mumbling to herself in sleep. After some minutes, the elf getting louder, I sighed.
"Okay. But we tie and gag her, and you carry her. And I guarantee she will end up being baggage." The already annoying elf of course woke up right as I wanted to gag her, but I stuffed some fruit down her mouth and finally resorted to leave the problem to the stronger Adara, who had fewer problems getting our hostage under control.
I listened on the door as the orc had that elf wriggling on her shoulder, seeming desperate. An-no-ying. Then we spotted a guard in front of a slightly more fancy door, but I was sure there would be more guards the other way around. I gulped an signaled the orc to sneak past him, but just as I made it to the shadows on the other side – she got spotted. I swore inside that she would pay extra for this.
After Adara hurled the hostage at the surprised guard, we fought him, and it didn't take much to realize we were no match against this highly trained elf. Even if Adara – who appeared to be an orc druid – cast a spell that could have hurt me and the hostage as well, but I avoided it. The guard still wasn't hurt, evading most of my blows and finally catching me with Hold Person. Then, as the elf wriggled free of her gag and started spilling out some diplomatic shit, the guard accused her to be a traitor, trying to attack her. This shit just got a cartload more confusing.
Adara eventually grasped me and the elf, deciding to abort mission and run away, much to my upset. As the guards came after us, she threw her party bomb, the same she gave me earlier, to alert her men. Then she looked at me, as I slowly regained my mobility and started running.
"What do we do?! There's no chance we get the artifact anymore." I grumbled, unhappy with not being able to fulfill my contract. Then I contemplated the exits – main, side, back. Then I looked at the window, Adara sighing at my stare. In retrospect, I didn't remember much about what the elf said, so it could not have been important.
I saw the guards coming at us from behind, and was contemplating the back exit for a moment, but they were to close already.
"The window", I told Adara, intending to let them go first, still holding both my shortswords. She dropped the hostage, gulped and jumped down, then told me to throw the baggage out. I growled and hurled the elf outside, her screaming until Adara caught her. Then, barely escaping the guards who where alerting everyone, I put away my swords and jumped down myself, safely caught by the orc.
"What do we do?"
"To the rope we came from", I whispered, guards screaming above, alerting those nearby.
"Run!", I shouted, already on full speed, after cutting loose the hostage now branded as traitor. I reached the rope first, speeding up the wall, with the orc and elf following. I distracted the guards with my arrows to get them more time.
As they were up, Adara convinced me to jump down into the arms of her men. They caught me and her, and as the elven girl wanted to follow, she almost met the ground because she seemed too dumb to jump far enough, getting barely caught by the orcs who hated her folk. She uttered her thanks, me rolling my eyes.
We took some minutes discussing the escape routes through the city to the ship the orcs had prepared, to set out for their home continent hopefully with the artifact – the one we didn't have, which appeared to be a heirloom to the druid Adara and her folk. I felt a slight slash of guilt. Finally, the elf, now branded traitor and thus forced to flee alongside us, brought forth the idea to hide in the woods.
I agreed, and so we set out in smaller groups, the elf using rats she could somehow talk to to distract the city guards on the streets. We got into the woods, and decided to split up yet again after meeting up. Most orcs left wanted to go hunting, while the elf, me and one of Adara's comrades, a gigantuan orc called Ori, set out to seek shelter.
We ultimately found a small hut, and after telling Ori to leave less traces regardless of his giant build, we confronted a Flying Snake living nearby. I almost died exterminating the beast, but this elf, apparently a cleric, kept healing me. We cleaned out the hut, getting Ori there without causing more distraction, and foraged some snake eggs and mushrooms to let the elf cook dinner.
Some time later, Adara and the rest of her men caught up, the druid frowned at the small hut.
"Are you sure it'll be enough?"
"Told you", I told the ever positive elf, who had thought so. She shrugged.
"We can sleep in shifts, and I just need four hours, so I can take up some guard duties." All agreed, and half the orcs went hunting or preparing their meal, as that elf – Laelia – and me already had one.
I supported them and went hunting, securing a boar in a matter of minutes. Then watching in horror as these orcs grilled the game whole – skin on and organs in. Everybody knew organs were better in a pan, and burnt pelt stunk like hell!
Then a orc felt disappointed in my proficiency as a mercenary, and felt the need to duel me – a meager human with average strength. Needless to say, I took one blow and capitulated, knowing my death would be certain at a second blow. I knew I deserved it, with that embarrassing display hours earlier. I gave myself away at his mercy, and went to bed just as Lealia started flirting with that orc Ori.
And no, I'm not gonna talk about that.
Thanks again for not making me roll perception :ß