Chapter 2
When we woke up the next morning, we waited at the front gate for an hour for Mythrik and Drakak. When they finally arrived to the front gate, well more like stumbled to the front gate because of their hangovers, Torvo followed.
"Here, I think you might need this. It's a map that leads to the next town called Dustinshire. It's much bigger than here so be careful. Thank you all again for your help; oh and here, this is a concoction to deal with that nasty hangover," He said, and handed us a crudely drawn map that led to Dustinshire and a waterskin with what smelled like, well, urine. He must've drawn this himself, I thought. It had no color and looked like it was folded improperly many times, and had numbers instead of marks for terrain. It basically looked like a three year old drew it.
"Thank you very much, sorry for your loss," and we went on from Bork to Dustinshire.
Instead of an almost three day journey to Dustinshire; we went by a horse drawn cart that Drakak owned, which cut the travel almost in half. As we were traveling we saw an old man up the road, it looked like he was having some problems with his wagon. As we went passed he asked for some help,
" Hello there! Do you lads think you can help me with my wagon? The back wheel came off and I'm not strong enough to put it back on, I've got a spare in the back if you're willing to help."
We all grouped up and discussed what to do about the old man,
"I don't trust him, we should just move on," said Aireon
"No, he needs our help we should help him," I chimed in
And then the old man interrupted us, he must've heard Aireon," I'll pay each of you three hundred silver for helping me."
That seemed to seal the deal for most of them so we got out of the cart to help. Bhar and Mythrik lifted it while I screwed in the spare wheel," Thank you so much for your help, I don't know what I would do if you hadn't showed up. Here, twenty days' worth of rations for your trip; good luck." He said with praise. "What are you doing with all of these supplies?" asked Bodo, I think he and Aireon may have taken something, but I wasn't sure so I kept to myself.
"I'm on a supply run from Dustinshire to send goods to the guard at Bork," he answered
After that we continued on down the road for a bit, discussing random things like the battle with the goblins and what we would do when we got to Dustinshire. A few hours passed and the sun was over our heads and it looked to be about noon." Look! Up on the road there's a blockade." Shouted Drakak, sure enough in the middle of the road was four men standing in our way. One of them looked different than the others; he was more built and seemed to be giving orders to the other three. "Look, the bigger one looks like a bandit, I'm betting he hired some rabble to help him. Who's going to play diplomat so we can avoid conflict." I said
"Why don't we just kill them and be on our way?" asked Bodo
"No he's right, we shouldn't force bloodshed. I'll try to reason with them." Said Cruven
"Alright, but I think me and Bodo should try to flank them stealthily," said Aireon
We agreed that they should take flanking positions while the rest of us try to negotiate with them. As we approached they attempted to intimidate us with growls and snarls. But it just made them look more ridiculous.
"Halt there, this is a toll road. Two hundred gold pieces now for your safe passage or this is gonna get messy." The bandit snarled
"We don't want trouble, just let us through." Then he changed is tone to a more dark, menacing tone, "We don't want to kill you, but I will personally cut you into tiny shreds of nothing if you don't move now!" Said Cruven; wow, I want to move now. They changed their stance to more like a defensive one, but the rabble were shaking in their boots.
"Last chance worms," said the bandit, his expression didn't change. He was really determined to take our money; I was almost tempted to give to him so he didn't have to die. However, I was kinda looking forward to it; a fight would be just the thing I need to hone my skills. Shortly after that Aireon killed one of the rabble with a well-placed shot to the head, and then the fight was on.
We all scattered towards them and picked our targets, to even things a little I decided to use my martial arts instead of my sword. So I used the confusion of the battle to get right next to one of the rabble before he noticed me, and before he could react I palm struck him in the middle of his chest and caved it in. It killed him instantly, and when I turned to engage the bandit leader all of his friends were killed by mine and we had him surrounded. He took out his dagger and threw it at Drakak, and planted it right in his knee. Frenzied by pain he charged him and knocked his head clean off with his Warhammer and it flew through the sky and into the forest." Wow Drakak, your first successful hit on something." Teased Mythrik, we all teased and congratulated the dwarf for his kill while I fixed his knee and patched it up. On the bright side, he got a free dagger.
"Hey, it's getting late we should probably make camp," suggested Cruven," look, the suns nearly down we should probably get some rest."
"Can't we just continue on? We could probably make it there by early or mid-morning." Asked Drakak, I pondered his question. But I decided it'd be best for everyone to get some rest and continued in the morning. "No, Cruven is right we should rest up and continue in the morning. Besides, I need to re-dress Drakak's wound before he sleeps so it'll heal," I said, everyone else agreed and so we went for about another hour and found a clearing to make camp on. Aireon decided to sleep in a tree at the end of the clearing, just in case something came out of the forest while we were sleeping. I decided to meditate for a bit before I went to sleep, and something weird happened. I felt a power of some sort flowing in me, and I could detect it in my friends. This must be ki energy, I thought mesmerized by this power, I remember Master Kia teaching us about it, but he said we wouldn't be able to use it until we proved ourselves as monks. I was excited, but I decided to sleep so I wouldn't pass out if something important happens.
We woke up early in the morning; I think it was about seven o'clock when everyone finally came around. Aireon came back from his tree and told us he heard and saw nothing the entire night. So with Drakak at the reigns, nodding in an out of sleep the whole ride there, we reached Dustinshire and when we did a guard opened the gate and inspected the cart for any illegal substances and other things. After that we all got out and determined where everyone was going for the day,
"I'm gonna go to the market to see what cool stuff is there, who's coming with?" said Bodo,
Mythrik, Cruven, Aireon, and Bhar decided to head out with him. But I decided to go and get some things like rooms and maybe a job for us.
"I'll go get a room and ask the captain of the guard about a job he might have for us. Let's all meet at the cart in three hours alright." I said, they all nodded in agreement and we all went to our destinations. It wasn't really expensive at all to secure wealthy housing space for everyone except Aireon, who wanted aristocratic housing. It took me about an hour to rent rooms and get to the guards headquarters; when I got there their secretary greeted me with a very I-don't-care-get-out expression,
"Can I help you…. Sir?" she said very snotty and nasally, "Um, yeah can I speak to the captain? I just wanted to know if he had some jobs for me and my friends." I asked a little offended that she said "Sir" like she didn't fully mean it.
"Well he's not here right now, please sit over there." She pointed over to a bench sitting in the corner of the room. So I went over and sat down, for what seemed like days, I started to nod off for a moment when the door swung open and in walked the captain; with Mythrik in chains.
"Hey wait! Sir, why do you have my friend handcuffed?" I asked giving Mythrik the when-I-bail-you-out-I'm-beating-you look. "Your "friend" was trying to steal from one of the vendors, and when I saw him he couldn't come up with a reliable excuse so I put him in irons." He said, the captain was a big burly guy, he had about a foot over me and maybe ninety pounds on me, but he had this cruel look on his face. I didn't worry about it, so I decided to try to negotiate bail. "How bad was his crime? Will I be able to bail him out today?" I asked," It was only a minor offense, I suppose you can just wait for him for maybe an hour? After that you're free to come get him." He said, I decided to do so," Okay, I have another question, me and a few more of my friends wanted to know if you had a job open for us. We are all very capable warriors." He took a second to think about it," Give me a sec to lock up your friend and then we'll talk." After that he proceeded to haul Mythrik off his temporary cell. But, only seconds later, he returned from another part of the building.
"Can I help you sir?" he asked, he seemed exactly the same so I was confused when he didn't recognize me. "Uhh, hi? We just had a conversation about you locking my friend up and giving us a job." I said, he seemed extremely confused," I haven't locked anyone up today, but if it makes you feel better we can go look." So we headed down to Mythrik's cell, and he was shocked; I convinced him to let him go with a warning. "Okay sure, is there anything else you need?" I took this as an opportunity to see if he would give us a job, "Do you have any jobs available for a small band of adventurers?" I asked, "Well now that you mention it, there's this goblin blackblade that's been gathering the stray goblins in the forest. Our Intel suggests that he's trying to get revenge on a couple of adventurers that nearly killed him. But now that I think about it, it's too dangerous for you so never mind; we'll take care of it." I was just about to ask for something else, but then it hit me. Wait, a blackblade trying to get revenge on a couple of adventurers? No, it can't be. I thought, "What is the blackblade's name?" I asked, "I think it's something like Guldur. He's never been a threat before thou-"I stopped him, "Hold up, where is that coward hiding?" I was angered, angered because that sniveling piece of trash was still alive. "The east side of town, but it's dangerous. I don't care how well equipped you say you are you're not allowed to go." I grabbed Mythrik and we went out of there. As a sign of discipline I went to smack him upside the head, but he stopped me. However, he got the message and so we went over to the cart to wait for everyone. Drakak was already there, he looked winded; everyone else arrived shortly after. So I decided to break the news to everyone,
"Guys, I have grim news," they went quiet, "Guldur survived the attack, he's massing units to try and kill us. He's in a cave just east of town, but the captain doesn't want us to go there; he thinks his men can handle it. I propose that we leave at night, and take a stealth advantage against him and end him. Once, and for all," they all liked the idea and we were about to go to the tavern to wait for nightfall, until I turned around to the captain of the guard behind me.
"Before you say anything, I agree with you. Go ahead and go, but on one condition. My men get ALL the credit for clearing it out. And they have claim for any of your items if you die. Deal?" he said and extended his hand, when I studied his face though; I noticed he had bright blue eyes and the same cruel face. I was a little concerned until Mythrik asked him a question," I thought you had brown eyes?" He looked at him with a cruel grin, "No, I've always had these eyes. I'm flattered that you like to stare at my face and all, but I don't swing that way." Oh, burn. "We accept your deal captain." I said, and shook his hand, and then we went to the tavern to wait for nightfall.
When night time came around we decided to go ahead and get over there around eleven o'clock. After walking for about forty five minutes we came across a cave with a faint glow coming out of it; we were about forty meters away from the entrance sitting behind a bush. We decided to send Bodo and Aireon to scout the entrance and clear any guards that could be hiding. After about ten minutes we heard the most, idiotic sound for a signal.
"CAW CAW! CAW CAW! CAAAAAW CAAAAAAW!" it sounded like Bodo, what an idiot. When we got there, there weren't any guards running out to kill us so we sneaked our way into the cave. Today was going to be Guldur's last, or mine.