Chapter 2: Goblins and fish
I don't own Icewind Dale or Buffy the vampire slayer in anyway, shape or form.
It was early in the morning at the inn, as the Chosen one dragged herself from her bed. After their original crash-landing, Buffy had to talk fast to avoid any hostilities from the elf that had seen them arrive, it took 5 minutes to explain the situation, and 10 more to convince him that she wasn't crazy.
After that discussion, they had taken her friends to the small inn, within the town, and she couldn't help but chuckle when she remembered the look on his face as she picked up both Giles and Xander, before walking away like she was carrying pillows rather then people.
Buffy entered the main room of the inn to find Nathan sitting at one of the many tables, finishing off a bowl of… something.
"What is that?" She asked him, by way of a morning greeting.
"I would say its gruel, but I'm not sure if this even goes under the classification of food." He answered, giving the remains a prod with a spoon.
"Your friends awake yet?" He asked.
"Not yet, but when they are, you're gonna be on the receiving end of a lot of questions." Buffy replied.
"I'll answer what I can, but I doubt I could tell you much, I'm not even sure how you came here to begin with." He replied.
Just at that moment, a fully alert Giles, a slightly less alert Willow, and a half awake Xander came trooping into the room. Sitting at their table, Giles cut straight to the point. "Who are you? And where are we?"
"Introductions huh, ok, well I'm Nathan, so hi." He said, waving at the group "And you are?"
"My name is Rupert Giles." The ex watcher introduced himself.
"I'm Willow." Willow told him, with a cheery, if slightly nervous smile.
"And I'm Xander, the slayer of twinkies and demons in hard boiled eggs everywhere." Xander introduced himself.
"What's a twinkie?" Nathan asked since twinkies weren't due to be invented in this dimension for 500+ years.
Xander was starting to have that sinking feeling as he realized that one of his favorite foods didn't even exist here.
"Look, never mind about that." Buffy cut in before he could say anything "where are we?"
"Well locally, we are in a small village called Easthaven, on a larger scale; we're in the Icewind Dales." He told them
"Yea, haven't heard of it." Xander told them.
The Scooby gang exchanged worried looks.
"So I assume that we are in a different dimension." Giles stated to the others. He then turned to Nathan. "Tell me, have you heard of a place called England?"
"No, is that over the Sea of swords? Because I have never ventured that far." Nathan asked
"No, it isn't, and considering that I have never heard of the Sea of swords before, I would say that we are in serous trouble." Giles concluded with a sigh.
"So what now?" Willow asked.
Before anybody could answer her, a tall man, encased in armor walked up to their table.
"Excuse me, but do any of you know here know where I might find Hrothgar?" He asked them.
Nathan had to bite back replying with "Not here" as Buffy asked "Who?"
"Hrothgar is basically the mayor of this village; all problems go directly to him." Nathan explained to them, he then turned back to the knight "and he is probably… right behind you." He finished as he saw who just walked in.
Hrothgar was a well built man in his late forties, with black hair that was graying slightly; he walked like a man who knew his way around a battlefield.
The knight spun around at Nathans last words, and then headed straight for Hrothgar.
"I and my fellow knights come from the king of the North Islands to help you fight against this incoming threat." The knight told him.
"I am glad my call for aid has been answered, gather your company and meet me at my house and I will discuses the situation with you." Hrothgar told him.
The knight nodded and left, Hrothgar then headed over to their table.
"So, what's this? New faces in town eh? Well met, strangers. The name is Hrothgar, originally of Hillsfar, but now after years of traveling up, down, and under Faerun, I am content to call this town my home. Who might you be?" He greeted them.
"Nathan." Nathan told him with a nod.
"Hi I'm Buffy." Buffy replied to Hrothgar "these are my friends Xander, Giles, and Willow."
"Well then, welcome to Easthaven. Whatever your business in these parts might be, I would offer you this small piece of advice, while you're in my town, you'd do well to be on your best behavior. These folk are under my protection, and anyone who would seek to do harm to them in any way shall answer to me. That said I'll let you get back to your cups. I'm sure you've had a long journey." He told them.
"That's one way to put it." Xander said under his breath.
Ignoring him, Hrothgar continued "If you are in need of Equipment and supplies, they can be purchased next door at Pomab's Emporium. Pomab's prices are a bit high, even for a Calishite, but you would be better off well equipped and short of coin then the other way round. Once you've had a chance to get your bearing, come see me at my house, its just a couple doors west of here, there is some business that I must discuss with you. Farewell." Hrothgar finished before leaving them.
"I wonder what he wants to discus with us." Willow wondered out loud.
"Well, unless someone can think of a way to get us home, I think we should look around, I mean, it can't hurt right?" Buffy said.
"You'd be surprised." Nathan told them. "anyway, if you are from another dimension, I don't have any idea on how to get you back, I would suggest finding a powerful mage, but the only other dimension that I have seen them being able to open a gate to would be the ones with fire and brimstone, but you're all welcome to come with me if you plan to stay here." He offered as he stood up.
"Where are you planning to go?" Willow asked him curiously.
"Visit Hrothgar." Nathan told them with a grin
The rest of the Scooby gang looked at each other.
They nodded in agreement; after all, they didn't really have much alternative.
When they entered Hrothgar's home, the first thing Xander noticed was the several tables, stacked with what looked like trophies, from vases with interesting designs on them, to heads of strange creatures.
"Well met friend, and welcome to my home. Make yourselves comfortable but try no t to break anything. Many of these curiosities that you see lying about have… sentimental value." Hrothgar welcomed them as they entered.
"Where did you get all this stuff?" Buffy asked as she looked at heads of several monsters on the wall.
"Ah, they're all remembrances of my adventuring days, little trinkets and the like that I picked up here and there. More keepsakes than valuables really, leftover from my days of fortune and glory." Hrothgar explained with a small smile.
"Adventuring days huh, so you're retired then?" Nathan asked.
"Semi-retired actually. This region is till untamed and is fraught with many dangers. I've had plenty of opportunities in the last few years to take up my sword and shield, to do battle with those who threaten the safety of Easthaven and its neighbors. In fact, I'm planning such an expedition right now. That is what I wanted to speak to you about." Hrothgar told him.
"An expedition?" Giles asked.
"Yes." Hrothgar replied "we've received word from Kuldahar, our neighbour to the south that evil forces are stirring near the spine of the world. I am organizing an expedition to investigate, and you all look like the capable sort, enough that you would like to join us, what say you?" Hrothgar asked.
"What kinda evil forces are we talking about?" Buffy asked, interested.
"We don't really know, the message wasn't very specific." Hrothgar answered with a frown. "But we really need to get this expiation moving, so are you in or out?"
"I'm in." Nathan shrugged "Don't know about these guys though."
"Why not, sounds exciting with bad guys to beat, we're in." Buffy told him.
"Excellent! Glad to have you all aboard, I plan to assemble the rest of the expedition and head out for Kuldahar within a few days. With storms brewing in the mountains, I'd rather we depart sooner, but there are matters that require my attentions here around the town." Hrothgar told them.
"Matters? Maybe we can help." Giles offered.
"Actually, now I think about it, maybe you could help, Pomab has been complaining lately that the regular caravan from Caer-Dinival is long overdue, and without it he would be out of business. Now normally I would take Pomab's complaining with a pinch of salt, but with heavy snows on the way, it would be best if the caravan made it through safely." Hrothgar told them.
"So what do you want us to do?" Xander asked
"I want you to find the caravan. Leave town by the way of the south bridge and scout the hills west of Lac Dinneshere, between Easthaven and Caer-Dinival. The caravans always stick close to the shoreline this time of year. Once you have found it, see them safely to Easthaven. In the meantime, I'll assemble the rest of the expedition and make the final plans for the journey. Good luck and safe journey." Hrothgar finished.
As the group trooped outside, Giles turned to Nathan and asked "How common are things like monsters and bandits on the roads?"
Nathan thought about it for a moment before replying "their not rare, but not really that common either, generally they stay away from caravan paths like these as their too close to civilization, but you always get the adventures one or two."
They headed down the southern edge of the town, following the path until they reached a wooden bridge. Xander was so deep in thought about their circumstances at the moment that he almost missed the small boy running up the bridge way.
"MONSTERS!" The boy yelled and almost plowed right into Xander.
The boy practically bounced off Xander before saying in a panic "Quick! We've got to go get Hrothgar! There are monsters in the town, they almost ate me!"
"Woa, ok slow down a sec, what are you talking about?" Xander asked him.
"Monsters, a whole bunch of them, they came down to the shore while I was fishing, I dropped everything and ran when they saw me, but I guess they were just after my fish."
"So where are these monsters, and what did they look like?" Xander asked him
"Their just over the bridge and down by the lake, their short with green skin and pointed ears." The boy told them.
"Goblins!" Nathan hissed as he drew his sword.
"Da told me not to fish out their, but I can't help it, he's gonna kill me for losing today's catch!" The boy told them
"Don't worry kid, we'll deal with these monsters, and get your fish back." Buffy assured the kid.
They headed down the hillside to where the boy had said the goblins were, and sure enough, eight smelly goblins where sitting at the base of the hill, the largest one, which Buffy assumed was the leader, was munching on a fish.
As the goblins hadn't seen them yet, they decided to charge them, while Giles and Willow dealt with the ones at the back.
Nathan, Buffy, and Xander all raised their weapons and charged, startling the goblins from their meal. Buffy saw a small rock fly past her, which she assumed was levitated and thrown by Willow, and smack straight into one of the goblin archers. Buffy had her Stake in her hand, left over from their original fight, which she used to impale a goblin, while Xander took out another one with his axe. While Nathan was fighting off two at once, Giles had shot another goblin with is crossbow, while Xander and Willow took on another one, leaving Buffy to deal with the leader. The goblin grinned manically as it swung its axe at her, which she just managed to avoid. Making a mental note to find some armor for both her and her allies (since Nathan was the only one wearing any protection, in his case hardened leather.), Buffy avoided another attack, before punching the goblin in the face so hard that it was lifted off its feat, and slammed into its ally, which was then helpless against their attackers. After they finished off the remaining goblin, Nathan started to check through the dead goblins belongings.
"What are you doing?" Buffy asked him as he went through one of their pockets.
"Checking if they have anything interesting." He answered without looking up.
"But you can't just…" Buffy started protesting.
"Why not, it's not like their gonna us it again." Nathan pointed out
"HA! There it is." He said before picking up a large fish, it had a rather large bite mark in its head, but apart from that, was relatively unscathed.
Unable to come up with a good argument for his reasoning, Buffy looked back at the goblin leader that she killed. It was wearing chainmail, which Buffy remembered, would come in rather useful now as their enemies were more likely to throw more then just punches now. She grabbed it before following the others back up the hill.
"We found your fish, or what's left of it anyway." Xander told the kid, who was waiting at the top of the hill.
Nathan passed overt the fish to the kid, who thanked them before rushing off.
"So." Xander said happily "we just need to find a caravan somewhere on this road and drag it back to the village huh, we kicked those goblins asses, so what could go wrong?"
Even Nathan was staring at him after he finished.
"You know when you think something, and it sounds much better in your head then when you say it?" Xander asked them nervously as the implications of what he just said set in. "Yea, woops."
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