"Me family, centuries ago, fought on this hill." Randor started as the six adventurers wandered along the Triboar Trail.
"The Clans Flintbrow and Frosthammer fought for dominion over the Sword Mountains. There's a Mythril mine not too far from here, and the Frosthammers wanted to take it from me clan. But we showed those bastards! See, look!"
Randor pointed out several piles of stones, each one had a large flat stone on top of them. Each cairn had a word carved in dwarvish on it, presumably it was the names of the dwarves underneath.
"What's so good about Mythril that you're willing to kill for it?" Oliver asked with a bemused look to his face.
Randor shrugged. "Twas ours. Plus ain't nothin' wrong with the occasional crushed skull."
"I bet you wouldn't say that if it was you in that rock pile."
"Yer right lad, I'd be drinking a tarrasque's weight in the finest ales and wines with my gods in the halls of Åndihimmelen. With not a care in the planes about how I got there or what I left behind." Randor said with a wistful smile. "Moradin might even make me his apprentice. A fine use of eternity."
Oliver was to question him more when suddenly a screeching roar from the building up ahead.
The party saw a large stone windmill surrounded by a small wooden fence. Two notable things stuck out about this windmill ; the small woman crouched atop her balcony furiously scribbling on the ground, and the large winged beast with a strange spiky tail. The beast pawed at the door of the windmill and roared up at the woman in broken common.
"Hurt, Hurt! Glow water, give!" The beast had a twisted humanoid face with a maw filled with needle-like teeth. Spikes covered the top of it's body, and large bat wings were folded onto it's back.
"Shit! A manticore seriously?" James cursed as the party took cover behind the stone cairns.
"It sounds sad…" Renata said as she looks around the stone at the strange creature.
"What'll be sad lass, is what this thing will do to that old lady." Randor said as he pulled out his warhammer.
"No she's right, the old lady here sells health potions to adventurers. They glow red, I bet that's what it means by 'glow water'!" Pip said as he slowly undid his crossbow. "I bet it's hurt or something."
"Oh spirits here we go…" Kame said as James smirked to the human boy.
"Alright lad, you wanna make a bet? You wanna bet five gold pieces that you get eviscerated by that thing when you try to heal it." James said, putting a cigar in his mouth but not lighting it yet.
Pip glared at the obake before standing up and stalking toward the windmill. Renata and Oliver were on him, she held her pike at the read and he had drawn his sword.
"James we can't-" Randor started only to be shushed by the man.
"Shut the fuck up Randy, I'm thinking. Kame use your earthlacing to dig underneath the mmanticore, we'll burry it then you Randor take cover over there will fire off your sun beam or whatever you do. On my blood shot, we fire on the manticore but wait for my signal. I wanna win my bet, so he needs to fail but remain alive." James spoke rapidly as he planned the battle out.
"Hellig flamme, Jimmy ya hear me yell it all the time." Said with an annoyed sigh as the dwarf moved into position.
"I can try friend, earth-stonelacing is not my best ability-trait." Kame said as he began awkwardly earthlacing a small tunnel to crawl into.
"I am a tactical genius, truly this will be a fackin cake walk." James said to himself as he used a sharp ring to slice open his palm. His blood pooled in his palm and the cherry red blood levitated into an alchemic circle that hovered over his palm.
Pip spearheaded the march toward the beast. "Hey!"
The beast whirled around on the children and snarled, arching it's back and raising it's wings in a frightening display. "Back, back humanoids!" It wailed and snarled as Renata yanked Pip back.
"Are you trying to get us killed!?"
"I was trying to get it's attention!"
Oliver stepped up slowly, the jinx held his sword in between him and the manticore. The manticore snarled at the young boy as it approached.
"A-are you hurt?" Oliver asked, a fearful waver in his voice. "Do you need healing?"
The manticore stops snarling as the dark halfing spoke. It's teeth still bared, it replied,
"Cub hurt… white dragon, make nest snow. Winter Breath… Glow water heal humanoid, glow water heal cub!"
Pip was beaming, having been proven right in this encounter with a deadly monster. "Oi Ms. Gwynn! Can you throw down a health potion? We got a sick hurt manticore baby to save!"
"Eh? Pip!? Toblen lets ya play with monsters now!?"
"Just throw down a potion, quick!"
"Alright fine…" The old woman rummaged through her windmill as the three adults slowly approach.
"Oi are you like, speaking to it? Or did it cast hold person?" James as he approached the group and the monster.
The old lady used an old gnomish pulley system to lower a basket down to the group of kids, however as she places the large health potion into the basket, the pulley broke away and the basket tumbles down, directly onto Oliver's head.
Oliver slowly came to as he found himself sitting in a booth in the Stonehill inn. He was confused for a moment before a splitting headache returned his memories of the manticore, and the massive blow to the head.
"Whut… What happened?" Oliver mumbled as he sat up.
"The old lady dropped some gnomish shite on yer head and the manticore flew off with the drink. Well done by the by, fer dealin' with the beastie, not getting blatted in the head." Randor explained as he passed Oliver a tankard of ale and a coin pouch.
"What's this?"
James placed his hands behind his head as he leaned back. "Pip got grounded, you got disowned, and Renata went back to the conyberry orphanage. So when we got paid, we only had to split it four ways. 6 gold, 2 silver, 5 copper all yours. Welcome to the party, friend."
Oliver stared out at the stairs that used to lead up to the home of what used to be his adopted family. He frowned, turned back and began to chug the tankard of ale.
After a moment, he coughed and choked briefly on his ale. "Good riddance."
"Don't celebrate just yet kiddo, we gotta go save your friend from fairy dreams." James said as he too finished his drink.
"Right, and then we'll hunt us a dragon!" Randar said with a cheer.
The party exited the inn, making their way east to Conyberry. The sun was setting, soon night would fall and Oliver felt elated by the freedom. The four walked, facing away from the orange setting sun.