The pawns were no longer a problem. He could dispatch them easily enough. He had "graduated" to the centurions, bigger orcs. He couldn't wait until he was able to take on the biggest of the orcs, the Legionnaires. He'd then be able to get his revenge on the slavers, and maybe the warden himself.
His mind going to the humiliation he received recently, his fighting became more intense, taking his rage and frustration out on the orcs in front of him. Weeno layed a calming hand on his shoulder, telling him to be calm, and organise his thoughts. If he surrendered to the rage, the darkness of his soul, he would be no better than a shadow knight, the anti-thesis of paladins. Melak took this in, and concerntrated on his skill, not his revenge.
Melak had grown in confidence. Rangor and Weeno held back, and Melak hadn't noticed that she wasn't using a healing spell even half as much as when they first entered Crushbone.
Weeno turned to Rangor, smile fading slightly.
"I can't go with you. I have prior commitments." Rangor studied the floor for a few seconds. "This is to do with your 'guild' isn't it?"
"Yes." she replied, simply.
"A bunch of people, all joined, telling each other what to do. When they tell you to do something, you drop everything to obey. It just doesn't sound... right."
"What would you have me do? Break my word?" The dwarf winced. "It's not how you imagine it. We're not a cult, we're more like an extended family. Everyone gets along with everyone else. As much as I'd love to join your quest, I can't. I'm sorry." Something seemed to surface in Weeno's memory. "I do have a small favour to ask, which would actually benefit you as well. Can you invite Yoono along with you?" Rangor felt like he'd been physically hit, although he chose not to show it. She would just question him why her words hurt, and he didn't want to explain.
"Yoono and I... don't get along too well. I tend to say things which annoy him, and he tends to breath, which annoys me."
"Please?"
Rangor stood sharply, and took a few steps, intentionally keeping his back to her to avoid looking at her. "No, it's just not possible. He wouldn't know what he's getting himself into. I... couldn't do that to him."
He felt her hand on his arm. He turned, and looked stright into her blue eyes. She repeated, slightly more quietly, "Please?"
He felt his resolve melting away. He sat down, and said, "Fine. Me and Melak will head to Ak'Anon and fetch him."
Weeno sat beside him, smiled, and put her hand on his leg in a comforting way.
The two friends sat in silence for a while, seemingly facinated by the patterns of dirt in front of them. There was a short cry of pain, and Weeno stood again to heal the halfling, whom they had both forgotten was there.
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The journey from Crushbone to Ak'Anon was longer than Kaladim to Felwithe. They made a short stop in Felwithe for rest and supplies, said goodbye to Weeno, and headed through the Greater Faydark. There was a pass that lead to the Lesser Faydark, a dangerous place. Before heading through the pass, Rangor looked into the distance. He saw some spires. Only wizards ever used them, unless they were taking others on short trips, which they charged a fortune for. How else could people travel from one continent to another in a matter of minutes? All it took was for a wizard to open a portal around your body, compress you into an infinitely small size, and send your body whizzing though Gods only know where, and, if you were lucky, ending up in one piece at some spires. Only wizards and druids had that kind of power, and there was no way he was trusting anyone enough to do that to him. He'd rather walk.
He warned Melak of the dangers of the area. If you were evil, then there was a unicorn to fear. There were also brownie's and the undead and other dangers. As long as you stick to the edges of the area until you reach Steamfont, you should survive.
They survived. Steamfont was a very uneven place. Only a few area's had flat ground. Those parts were populated with kobalds of some kind.
On the route between Lesser Faydark and Ak'Anon, they saw a couple of ogres throwing something between them. They slowed down to get a better look without being disturbed, and saw.
There was a male and female ogrem tossing a gnome to each other, as if they were waiting for the other to drop him. Rangor felt annoyed, so moved in closer to stop this gross game.
As he got nearer, one of the ogres blinked, and put the gnome down gently. She then walked to the male, and proceeded to hit him. The male was as confused as Rangor, and put up a weak fight, not sure what was going on. He began to fight back more, until she ran off. He was left standing in a clearing, with a battered and stunned gnome sitting nearby, wondering what had just happened.
Without warning, an Earth Elemental screeched (without a real mouth, that must have been difficult), and headed straight for the him. A very cold shiver ran down his spine, and he turned and fled after his companion. Rangor revealed himself, and faced up to the creature. It screeched again, trying to get the dwarf to run away. Rangor had the urge to put his knife in the creature's chest, but something told him to see what happened.
The creature got bored, and it's image began to waver, and shrink, becoming a gnome.
They stared at each other for a few seconds, until the gnome broke the silence.
"Hail, Rangor." Yoono stated in a cheery voice.
"Hail yourself. Do you make it a habit to attempt suicide like that?"
"What do you mean?"
"If I'd stuck my knife up to it's hilt in the elemental's chest, what would you have done?"
"Collapsed and died, most probably. But you wouldn't have done anything unless I'd made a threatening move, I know that."
"Don't be so sure." Rangor replied, but only half hearted. It was the truth.
Yoono walked over to the younger gnome, and began to bind his wounds with some bandages from his pocket.
"This is Dungo, a young mage. He'd been warned about ogre sightings, but paid no heed. Pretty sure he's learned his lesson now, eh? Rang, can you carry him to Ak'Anon? Too heavy for me."
Rangor flinched at the abbreviation of his name. One of the many thing this gnome did to annoy him. He picked Dungo up, and carried him to the gnome town.
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Rangor, Melak, Yoono and Dungo sat in a small room, waiting for the clerics to come and see to Dungo, to fix what Yoono couldn't.
Rangor had laid out his quest, and was waiting for Yoono's excuses as to why he couldn't join the group.
"I would love to go along," Yoono began, "but I'm afraid I'm doing something else."
"What are you doing?"
"Not sure yet. But something less dangerous to my health, like minotaur wrestling."
Rangor remained silent, just looking at him.
"So," Yoono continued, "you want me to face uncertain death for an oath you made a long time ago. An oath made before we even met. For a cause I don't actually believe in. Sure thing. Let's go."
Melak smiled and stood up, and prepared to go. Rangor nodded at him to sit down. Yoono frowned.
"I see the Halfling doesn't understand the concept of sarcasm yet. Rare for his race. Well, sorry, not convinced. You're going to have to do it without me."
Rangor nodded. "Fine. I knew you wouldn't agree to it. I'll let Weeno know you let us down as we pass Felwithe. Good day to you."
Yoono almost lept into their path to stop them leaving the room.
"Weeno asked you to come here?"
"Yep. She said you needed to go out and see the world. Said it'd do you good. Never mind, I'm sure when I tell her, she'll cancel the plans she made with her guild and come with us instead. I'm sure that wouldn't bother her in the slightest."
Yoono hung his head down, defeated. The clerics walked in to take Dungo away.
"Fine." he said in a depressed tone. "I'll come. Let me just let me go with Dungo, and I'll be back to sort my gear out." He turned to Melak. "A word of advice. Don't get married. Your wife will have more control over you than mages have over their pets."
With that, the gnomes all left the room, leaving Rangor and Melak alone. Melak was trying to understand what he had just been told. He looked at the dwarf.
"Does that mean that he, a gnome, is married to Weeno, a high elf?"
"Yep."
"The elf that you..." Melak started.
"Yep." Rangor interupted.
Melak thought for a while. "I've never heard of a gnome elf marriage. Don't their people mind?"
"The elders don't like it, but there's not much they can do. Once their folk start wandering the world, it's only a matter of time before they start taking an interest in other races."
"Yeah, but, how do they, err... You know..." Melak began to go a little red, trying to ask a question without actually asking.
Rangor looked at the youth, amused at his discomfort. If it was a dwarf asking, there would be no embaressment, just a blunt question.
"It's quite possible they don't, and possibly may never. Not all races do it for fun like halflings and dwarfs. Some just do it out of a need to procreate, to keep their race alive."
Melak liked talking to Rangor. He didn't treat him like a child, and when it was just the two of them speaking, Rangor would unconciously slip into the Halfling language. It was easier to communicate that way than speaking Common. With a world full of so many different races, communication had been a problem to begin with. Over time, it had been agreed that everyone should learn a default language, one that everyone could use to communicate with. They settled on the human tongue, seeing as how it was the most basic language of all the races, and easy to learn. So, when people leave their home towns, they know their native language and what became known as the Common Tongue. Most races still prefer to use their own language though, and only speak Common when they have to.
Some people, mainly casters, learn a few different languages. This helps with researching new spells. Rangor had learned a few languages too. This made it easier to trade in towns, and being a rogue, he could overhear secret conversations that others wouldn't understand. There was still a lot of languages for him to learn, however. But he was confident he'd master them all in time.
Yoono came back in the room, carrying some satchels. They were small, and looked like the sort that magicians would summon with their spells. They had obviously been summoned by Dungo, seeing how he was young and these were small. The more experienced mages could summon larger bags.
"Dungo made these for us," Yoono confirmed, "as thanks for saving him. I thought they might be useful to put some supplies in for the trip. It'll take a while to get to the docks, and we might get hungry on the way. Besides, I'm running low on Bloodstones. I could sell a backpack to raise money to get some."
Rangor kept quite. He wasn't opposed to lending money, or buying for others, but the gnome obviously had a plan, and it'd be a shame to ruin it. They gathered their equipment, made a few stops to get supplies, and headed to Butcherblock Mountains.
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As they passed through the Greater Faydark, the wizard spires had sent a large spell straight up. Normally they travel through the sky, from spire to spire. This one had obviously gone wrong. The wizard involved was going to be surprised when he landed on the moon, of all places.
As they approached the docks, there was a dark elf on the path, waiting. It was the same elf Rangor had seen this morning. Rangor rubbed his scar without thinking. He was expecting trouble. The dark elf saw the dwarf, and smiled. As the small group approached, he drew a couple of daggers. Okay then, trouble it was.
Rangor pulled out his own daggers, and prepared for a fight. As the 2 fighters clashed, Rangor heard some muttered words from Yoono, and barely a few seconds into the fight, his opponent froze, his face going blank, glowing lights surrounding his head. Rangor turned to Yoono, who smiled at him.
"Don't worry, I mesmerised him. He'll be out of it for a minute or two."
The look on Rangor's face showed that he wasn't best pleased at the situation. He hadn't been in a decent fight for a while. The orcs didn't count, they weren't exactly smart, and relied on brute strength. This dark elf had intrigued him most of the day, and the fight looked like it was going to be interesting.
Another part of him was annoyed at himself. He should have said he wanted to solo his opponent. As it was, three against one wasn't exactly fair odds.
The spell wore off, and the dark elf blinked a few times. He looked from Rangor to Yoono, and back again, then shook his head.
"Too scared to fight your own battles, you need your opponents frozen. You coward." He spat on the floor in disgust and walked off, adding, "This isn't the last of it."
Rangor wanted to fight the elf, or even the gnome. Someone. He felt frustrated, at Yoono, at himself, at the world in general.
A small goblin sauntered past, saw them, and tried to keep it's distance. Dumb they may be, but not suicidal. For the first time in as long as Rangor could remember, he ignored it. If he did fight it, he would end up using so much force, trying to take out all his rage on this one goblin, the fight would be over in seconds, leaving him more frustrated. So he lead his small party to the docks. They'd rest on the boat, and everyone would feel better in the morning.