Special Delivery to the Frontier

by TheLandMaster45

To Frontier Town rode a stranger one fine day. Hardly spoke to folks around her, didn't have too much to say. No one dared to ask her business, no one dared to make a slip. For the stranger there among them had a big iron on her hip.

1. Chapter 1

Clack, clack.

Roll, roll.

Ever eternally, the gods roll their dice.

This game, progressing for so long, on and on.

This absence of continuation, this malaise forever more…

…

Well, that can't remain so.

Now that I stand above, I realize what must be done.

And I know that of all these pieces, he has the chance.

But he'll need help… Even a spark as bright as his cannot do this alone.

…

Ah. Perfect.

You will help, will you not?

You have taken the bet before… do it one more time, will you?

One last delivery from you…

-O-

The late afternoon summer days of the Frontier were of two varieties: ones that brought plenty of water due to the summer rains, or ones where the scorching heat of the sun only eased when the wind blew enough to cool you. Today, it was one of the latter.

Such was the burden of Young Daughter, as she rubbed the sweat off her forehead with the sleeve of her shirt, a long sigh escaping her lips as she stared at the herd of horses she had been shepherding for almost the entire morning. With a few waves of her borrowed walking stick, the girl ushered the animals through the small wooden gate, until finally all of them were inside their fenced-off living area.

That was her life, almost every day. Take care of the farm, help with the animals, do some chores, run errands when they popped up… it did leave some free time once or twice, at least, letting the girl either hang about in the field watching the sky or even make a quick trip to the nearby inn to meet some travelers or adventurers staying there.

Today was one such day.

"Phew… okay, everything done!" spoke Daughter aloud excitedly, pumping her hands in victory. "And got just about enough time left for myself! Maybe I'll go to the river and go swimming. It has been a while since I went there… Oh right, I should probably tell dad about it, he'd get worried…"

It was as she stood there, lost in her thoughts and wondering about her leisure activities, that a sudden gust of wind blew across the grass plains, rattling the leaves and fluttering the girl's clothes. Startled and thrown off balance by the gale, Young Daughter stumbled forward slightly before righting herself, only to catch a glimpse of something not that far in the distance.

Or rather, someone.

Because slowly walking the trail up to their farm home, was a tall, imposing figure, their body mostly hidden by a large black coat that ended just barely above the ground. A dull silver metal plate covered their chest, and similarly colored plates were around their shoulders, forearms, shins, and the top of their heavy-duty boots, while their hands were covered in thick-looking black gloves. On their back hung a backpack different from any Daughter had seen before, with a bed roll tied under it, several camping tools visible on the pack itself, and a long wood and metal object strapped onto the side.

And finally, their head. Completely covered with an extreme combination of a black cloak hood, a round helmet barely visible beneath said cloth, a strange mask seemingly made of metal with tubes on it, and some type of eyewear made of red glass, the stranger cut a fearsomely intimidating figure… and was currently headed right toward her home.

And as they got closer, Young Daughter realized that not only was the figure limping heavily from one leg, but also that their clothes and armor were grossly stained with blood.

All thoughts about the horses, the inn or the river were forgotten by the girl as she desperately ran towards her home, her voice crying out as loudly as she could.

"FATHER! FAAAATHEEEEEEER!"

-O-

Traveling for seven days straight had been a difficult endeavor.

The bullet and stab wounds had not made it any easier. The pain that lanced through the Courier's body with every step was one of the only things that proved she was alive, sickening as the idea was. But still, she persevered, all thanks to her Toughness, Constitution, and those strange words whispered into her ear after the end of the battle at Flagstaff.

It wasn't for nothing that people said she was a Tough Gal with an Adamantium Skeleton, after all, considering everything she had gone through and fought in her life. Plus, Keely had more than once said that the trip to Vault 22 seemed to have made her Solar-Powered enough that she could heal from injuries with basic sunlight, not to mention the PHOENIX Implant working overtime to keep her standing, but even that had its limits.

Add to that the fact she had been traveling on an unknown land, with barely any decent shelter and no way to stop and dress her wounds before applying Stimpacks and treatment, for seven days straight… Well, by all means, it was a miracle she was alive.

Granted, it could also be the almost constant doses of Med-X that Aura kept injecting into her system, but the numbness that had set in made it hard for the Courier to notice when the drug was in her blood flow and when it wasn't. It had probably already flowed out of her body with all the blood she had lost, anyway…

Still, the Courier had enough consciousness left to at least walk forward and recognize her surroundings, so when the forest gave way to a beaten dirt path, and when that soon revealed a farm, the Courier felt relief wash over her.

Or it could be the crippling fatigue too… most likely that, all things considered.

"Courier, your condition is critical. Please seek shelter and perform medical aid, I don't want you to die."

Definitely fatigue, then.

It was in this semi-aware state of stumbling forward that the Courier managed to trudge up the path to the farmhouse, until suddenly someone was propping her failing body up, leading her inside what she hazily realized was the house. Her steps and those of the person carrying her creaked faintly inside the small residence, but to the Courier they were more akin to echoes in the distance, until finally she felt her body be laid upon a mattress.

Her consciousness failed not moments later.

-O-

How much time had passed since then, she did not know. But when the Courier woke up once more, her red-tinted vision of the world showed that the sun was long gone, allowing the moonlight to shine through the curtains of the window of the room she had been laid in. Beside the bed, a candle burned softly, casting a faint orange light over the room.

With its usual quickness, her brain shot into full awareness, pushing away all the lingering tiredness in her body and mind. Carefully, the Courier rose from the bed, feeling the small jolts of pain from her injuries flare up in response, until finally she was seated onto the bed. As slowly as possible, the woman reached onto her coat and withdrew from it a medical kit, which she promptly laid open next to her on the bed, followed by a Med-X vial and a Super Stimpack.

With tools now ready, the Courier stood up and began the slow and careful process of removing her clothes. Armored coat, armor plates, boots and gloves, ballistic weave under suit… all were cast to the floor, until finally she stood only on her shorts and her helmet, with her chest wrapped comfortably tight with sports tape. Said helmet was the last thing to be removed, the security clasp being undone with a muffled click, before carefully being set down onto the bed.

With a weary sigh, the Courier ran her fingers through her hair, brushing against the clasp keeping her dreadlocks into a single mass before opening it, allowing the hairs to fall freely onto her back. Right at that moment, the cold summer night breeze blew through the window, washing over her exposed body and chilling her skin just a bit more. It reminded her of the Mojave nights, in a way.

Those memories were cast aside as she reached into the medical kit and withdrew pliers, scalpels, gauzes, disinfectants, everything she would need to work on the many cuts, punctures, bullet holes and burns she had yet to treat since her last battle. Tellingly, there were dozens of them.

The Broken Legion wasn't going to end quietly, after all. Especially when you made clear you were coming, and you struck their glorious fortress city at the precise time the bulk of their population was inside it.

Drawing a piece of leather from the medical kit, the Courier bit down onto it, then quickly injected the Med-X onto her body. In an instant, the chemical washed over her system, bringing with it the typical lack of feeling to her entire body, and signaling that she was free to work.

The process blurred together to the Courier, her hands moving almost on autopilot as she began tending to her wounds. Bullets were removed, cuts and holes were cleaned, and burns and bruises were treated with the necessary products. Blood trickled from the wounds as she worked, but there was no pain caused by her actions, and her emotional state remained neutral even as she pulled the last bits of a shattered sniper round lodged on her left forearm.

Soon, however, she was done. With one last tug, the bandages were secured into place, with just small red blotches left at the end of it all, and right as the Med-X was flushed from her system, leaving a faint tingling on her body from all her treatments.

Finally, the Courier took hold of the Super Stimpack, strapped it to her left bicep, closed her eyes, and injected the chemical. The effects were instantaneous.

The world blurred for a moment, and a strange warmth spread from the point of injection to the extremities of her body. Bones mended themselves fully, holes and scrapes closed with only the slightest trace of their existence, and any lingering exhaustion vanished, leaving her instead with a completely pleased and relaxed feeling… too relaxing, in fact.

Indeed, her limbs felt just a tad bit heavier, and moving them felt just a tad bit more sluggish. A small price to pay for a fully healed body. Besides, she had ways to fix that.

It was at that moment that the door let out a creak.

Humming a jaunty tune, a middle-aged woman with long blond hair, dressed in rural clothes and carrying a tray with food atop it pushed the door open with her hips, her eyes closed and a graceful smile on her lips. The woman carried the tray over to the bed and placed it upon the small nightstand beside it, finally opening her eyes to give the plate of bread, cheese and fruits an approving nod, before turning to leave. At that moment, her eyes crossed with the Courier's.

A moment passed.

"Evening, ma'am."

She immediately took off running from the room.

"Dear! Dear, she's awake!"

Realizing that company was soon to come, the Courier reached into her coat on the floor and withdrew from it her emergency wake-up call: a shot of Rebound.

As soon as the drug was injected, her body filled with energy, all exhaustion vanishing like a Nightkin with a surplus of StealthBoys. This made the following step of dressing up far quicker than it would have been otherwise. Which was a good thing, seeing as not three minutes later, just as the Courier snapped her helmet into place, the door burst open again, this time allowing not only the woman from before, but also an older man into the room. Unlike his wife(?), the man was far more rugged looking, with short gray hair, a thick beard covering the lower half of his face and ragged-looking work clothes. Both stood at the doorway, mouths agape as they stared at the once-more fully dressed Courier, who remained equally quiet for the moment.

"Apologies for not calling earlier, sir," finally spoke up the Courier, making sure that her body language was relaxed and her hands visible. "I… had some things to take care of first."

"Yes, I can… see that," replied the man, his eyes shifting from her body to the bullets and blood on the floor. His expression soon softened, and the man gave the Courier a more sincere smile. "At any rate, I'm glad to see that you're better. With how injured you looked when you arrived two days ago… I suppose adventurers can afford potions and healing items, after all."

"I'm sorry for running away so suddenly," said the woman with a smile, her hands folded neatly in front of her. "You were sleeping so deeply after my husband laid you on the bed, I thought you'd take longer to wake up… We were thinking of calling a healer from the Earth Mother Temple to help you."

Earth Mother Temple? Potions? Whatever those names meant, the Courier had no idea. Probably some local term or related. Nevertheless, she settled for giving them a nod, if nothing else. "I appreciate the thought, nevertheless. It's been a while since I managed to catch some sleep… I'd like to return the favor."

"Oh, it's not necessary—"

Clink-clink-clink.

Their words, however, died quickly once the Courier reached a hand into her pockets, and when it was withdrawn, several gold and silver coins were packed tightly in her grasp. More than they ever had seen a single person carry.

"I insist, regardless," said the Courier as she deposited the Legion denarii and aureus onto the bed, carefully layering them so they would not fall. "If you have any transport, I'd like to rent or purchase it if possible. Whatever you have will be welcome."

The man, in return, moved forward and carefully picked up one of the aurei, closely inspecting it for any signs of forgery or damage, before returning his still-surprised stare to the heavily armored figure standing beside the bed. "Well… We raise horses here. For this much coin, I'd be more than willing to sell one for you."

"Thank you. May I have a look at the animals?"

"Uhh, sure. They're at the barn, I can take you there—"

"I'll do it!"

Suddenly, a far younger voice called out from behind the two adults, right before a young girl forced her way in between them and moved to stand right in front of the Courier. "I'll take her to the horses, father! Leave it to me!" she said excitedly, almost seeming to jitter in place as she stared at the armored woman in front of her.

"Sweetheart, please…" pleaded the mother as she took a step forward and laid her hands on the girl's shoulders. "It is late, you need rest—"

"I'll just take her to the stables to pick a horse, mom! I'll be back in no time!"

"It won't be an issue, ma'am. I'll bring her back after choosing the mount, we won't be long."

Mother and father stared at their daughter worriedly, who was giving them such a puppy-eyed look that the Courier was sure could have melted even Mr. House's heart, until finally they gave an almost synchronized sigh of resignation. "Alright… Very well, please help the…?"

"Courier, sir."

"Thank you. Please help the Courier choose a horse at the stable. But you're going to bed the moment you're back, understand young lady?"

"Yay! Thanks, dad!" cried out the girl happily before she ran to the Courier's side and grasped the woman's hand, tugging on it slightly. "Come on, let's go!"

-O-

Meanwhile, upon the tree line of the forest surrounding the farm, several figures awaited. Eight in total, all crouched as close to the ground as possible, their eyes scanning the surrounding grassy plains. Of them all, seven were clad in leather armor with one or two pieces of metal armor, while the last one wore a more complete set of plate armor, and stood further towards the back of the group.

"You absolutely sure we can find something here?" asked one of the figures at the front, a man wielding a scimitar and with an eye-patch over his right eye. "Seems empty…"

"Trust me, these folks got some great horses we can sell," replied another member of the group, a woman wielding a large broadsword. "And hey, there's bound to be some money at the house." She then turned to the heavily armored figure at the back, and gave him a quizzical stare. "Still, your call, boss."

"We're already here, we'll make it worth it somehow. Worst case scenario… Well, at least the wife will be of some use. You two go to the barn, check if anyone is there. We'll hit the house and see what they got stashed inside. Move it."

-O-

"So, you're an adventurer, right?" asked the girl cheerfully as she led the Courier towards the barn, holding a lantern aloft to light the way. "Did you go on a lot of adventures before? See a lot of places, killed a lot of monsters?"

"I've visited a lot of places, yes," replied the woman calmly. "Traveled quite a bit most of my life. And yes, I fought my share of creatures."

"Really?! Oh oh, did you fight a dragon!? Or a demon!? Did you climb a giant tower and defeat an evil warlock threatening the land!?"

With every question of her deeds, the girl grew more excited, gesticulating wildly with her free hand and hopping every few steps. There was a spark in her eyes, a sense of wonder about the world beyond and what mysteries it could hold.

Something the Courier had only met a scant few times in her life, especially since she took to her Lonesome Road once more.

"No, I… didn't," she replied with some uncertainty. Immediately, she noticed the building disappointment in the girl's eyes, so the Courier quickly switched gears, thoughts shifting to some of her other escapades throughout life. "Though I did have some others adventures I know nobody else went through."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, I once fought a giant metal scorpion the size of a house that could launch fire from its stinger." And indeed, her ploy had worked. The girl once more focused entirely on the Courier's words, her eyes regaining that spark of curiosity. "I also traveled the land to gather 50 keys to unlock a legendary treasure lost for more than a hundred years."

"Wow, really?!"

"Yep. And while I didn't fight a dragon, I once fought a deathclaw big enough to lift me from the ground with one hand only."

"Wooooow… Wait, what's a deathclaw?"

"It's a giant lizard, with claws and fangs as big as my forearm, strong enough to punch through steel, and with scales tough enough to stop almost anything."

"But that sounds just like a dragon!"

"I suppose you're right," replied the Courier with a smile, right as the large red barn finally came into view. The girl quickly rushed towards the door of the building and undid its lock, then with an almost adorable sound of strain, pushed the door inwards, drawing in response several neighs and whinnies from the many horses inside.

"Hey hey hey, it's fine everyone, don't worry," she cooed into the barn, the hand holding the lantern casting light into the dark interior. "I brought someone to see you all, and guess what? She's gonna take one of you for an adventure! C'mon in, Courier!"

Once she heard herself being called, the Courier stepped towards the door and into the barn, into a sight she never dreamed of being able to witness in her life.

Because lining the small path leading to the back of the barn, were around a dozen horses, all of them healthy and mutation-free. Their manes shook with every motion of their single head, their hooves thumping against the ground in muffled clops, and their fur shone just slightly enough under the lantern light that a sheen could be seen. It was such a simple thing, such a small, insignificant image in the grand scheme of things…

But even still, the Courier felt her eyes widen, hidden from view only by the red-tinted glass of her riot helmet, as she took in a sight she was sure no one on Earth had seen in what was likely two hundred years.

With careful, measured steps, the Courier approached one of the horses. It was a large, white-furred mount, with a slightly longer black mane and coal-like eyes. When the animal turned its head toward her, the Courier gently raised her hand and offered her fingers to the horse, who cautiously sniffled on it for a moment, before offering its head to her, pushing against her palm ever-so gently, an act which the Courier rewarded with soft scratches to its cheek and chin.

"Heh-heh, guess you picked one already, huh?" asked the girl with a smile as she approached the armored woman and mount. "You got lucky, she's a really hardy mare! Bet she'll run for days and not get tired." With a nod of approval, Young Daughter set the lantern atop a barrel off in the corner, and turned towards the back of the barn with her hands on her hips. "I just gotta get the saddle… I know it's around here somewhere—"

Her words were cut off, however, when suddenly the Courier dashed the short distance between them and clamped a gloved hand over her mouth. Immediately, panic set into the girl's heart and a whimper echoed from her lips, even more so when the woman she was alone with snuffed out the flame of the lantern, leaving both of them in the pitch-black darkness of the night.

"Someone's coming," whispered the Courier to the girl, her suddenly distorted words barely sounding from within the metal mask. "And it's not your parents. Go hide in the back, don't come out until I call you."

Young Daughter's response was a simple muffled affirmation, the only thing she could voice with the hand still over her mouth. A moment later however, said hand vanished from in front of her face, leaving Daughter to panickedly turn around…

Only to find the armored woman gone, with not a trace left of her presence, and the horses somehow undisturbed. A second later, the sound of crunching grass made her realize that her time was short, leading Young Daughter to rush as quietly as she could to the back of the barn, tossing herself behind a large pile of hay and hugging her legs as close to her body as she could. Moments later, the door to the barn slowly creaked open once again, but to Daughter's immense surprise and relief, the horses remained quiet, merely huffing or scratching the ground with their hoofs.

"Damn… Boss wasn't lying. This place's packed!" said a youthful female voice in an excited tone, followed by steps moving a bit closer to the middle of the barn. "These horses gonna make traveling a hitch!"

"Keep it down," admonished another voice, a much older, gruffer voice in a very hushed tone. "We're here to make sure no one's hiding, so get to it."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it…"

Once more the boots began shuffling, though at staggered steps this time as they passed and checked every pen, growing closer with each they confirmed to be empty of people. And with every step the two took closer, Young Daughter clamped her hands tighter around her mouth, silently praying for the Earth Mother for a savior, a miracle, anything.

Clang.

Suddenly, the sound of what Daughter realized was a bucket being thrown into the floor echoed across the barn, drawing the attention of the intruders.

And to her complete horror, it had been thrown into the back of the barn.

-O-

"The hell-"

"Shh! Quiet, dammit. Go check it."

"Y-Yeah, you got it," replied the bandit woman, shakily drawing her short sword before turning towards the direction of the echo. Carefully, she shuffled forward, the hand holding her blade trembling just enough to echo in the confines of the barn.

Suddenly, there was a faint sound of rustling cloth, and when Young Bandit looked behind her… Her senior was gone, his scimitar laying on the floor abandoned.

"… Chief? W-Where did you go?" asked the intruder fearfully, her sword rattling even more in her grasp. "C'mon chief, t-this ain't funny, w-where are you?!"

That's when something small fell onto the ground in front of her feet with a wet, slick sound. And in the faint moonlight that got through the cracks in the wood, Bandit Woman saw the expression of horror frozen in the decapitated head of her fellow bandit now laying on the ground, blood oozing from the stump that once was his neck.

"… A-Ah… Aaaah, aaaaaaahhh—!"

Just as her screams began to build, the bandit was smashed against the ground by a large, cloaked figure, their blazing red eyes glowing ominously on the dark as they forced the young woman to the floor and, faster than most humans would be able to move, brought down their foot onto her knees, obliterating the joint with a sickening crunch.

Her wail of agony echoed through the barn like the cry of a banshee, but were quickly stopped when the figure's foot collided with her chin, forcing a few teeth out alongside the blood. And through the haze of pain and near-concussion, she saw the figure spin a short, forward-curved blade in their grasp, before lowering themselves to press the blade against her neck. "N-No… P-Please—"

"Die, like the wretch you are."

And in one swift motion, the Courier slashed her throat, splashing blood onto her clothes, the ground, and the bandit's own body, and whose eyes quickly drained of their light and stared into nothingness.

With her deed done, the Courier wiped her kopis clean on the bandit's leather armor and re-sheathed it back on her waist before turning to the back of the barn. "You can come out now, it's safe." A moment later, the young girl appeared from behind the hay pile that had been her hiding spot, her horrified gaze falling upon the results of the Courier's rampage.

"W-What… D-Did you do… this?" she mumbled, her hand moving to cover her mouth as her gaze fell on the dead woman on the floor. "W-Why—"

"I need you to focus," interrupted the armored woman quickly as she stepped away from the dead body and kneeled in front of Young Daughter, who took a step back out of fearful instinct. It hurt the Mojave native, especially with how cheerful she had been just moments prior, but there were bigger matters at hand. "These bandits mentioned a leader, and they're probably with your parents right now. I need to go save them, before they get hurt, and until then, you need to stay here."

"But… A-Are you going to kill them?"

"… I don't enjoy killing…" calmly said the Courier, her head turning slightly towards the fresh dead body before returning to face Young Daughter. "But a very wise man once told me, that when it is done righteously, it's just a chore, like any other."

With that said, the Legion's Scourge stood to her full height, and held tightly in her hands were a dark-gray .45 auto-pistol, and an intricately engraved hunting revolver. "And I still have one more chore to get through."

-O-

"They're late."

That was all that Bandit Leader said as he stared out the window and towards the barn far in the distance, his hand resting atop the pommel of the dwarven sword he had "procured" from a particularly stupid adventurer. Around the house, the rest of his band piled what few valuables had been stashed inside, or watched over their bound and gagged hostages slumped against a corner, their eyes filled with panic and darting between the many people walking around their home.

"May just be a big barn, boss," said one of his lackeys, a lanky man with two daggers and throwing knifes strapped all over his body. "Plus there's the horses. You know how that girl gets distracted with shit like that."

"Chief wouldn't have let her dawdle so much," replied the leader, his grip on his sword's pommel tightening ever-so slightly before he turned back to his gang, snapping his fingers at the only other woman that was part of the band. "The house, how many occupants were there the last time you scouted?"

"Three people, boss: these two, and their kid… Wait, you think she did something?"

"No. But they set fresh food in that room, and there was blood on the floor."

Those words made all movement halt amidst the house, the bandits turning to their leader with more than a hint of apprehension in their face as the statement rolled in their mind…

Knock-knock-knock.

Followed by three very heavy knocks upon the front door, that put all eight bandits on guard.

Silently, Bandit Leader pointed to the knife-totting underling then to the door, something that earned a nervous, pleading look from the man, only to replace it with a shaky nod when Bandit Leader's eyes narrowed in return, and started moving towards the door as he withdrew his daggers and held them at the ready. Once he was right in front of the door, the bandit readied his stance, one hand reaching towards the handle as cold sweat cascading from his brow…

In a split second, a roar like that of thunderclap sounded outside the house, followed by two holes being blasted onto the door and into the bandit's body, launching splinters, blood and viscera into the air and toppling the now lifeless bandit to the floor. Following that, the door was ripped from its hinges and smashed on top of the bandit, crushing the body underneath it with its weight. A second later, a small metal cylinder flew through the ruined archway and landed on the ground in the middle of the gathered bandits, a minute amount of smoke wafting from one end with a slight hiss, before violently exploding and blanketing the entire room with a thick, white cloud of smoke.

The sound of coughing and rasping joined the smog filling the room as the bandits tried to gather themselves from the unexpected attack, some even drawing their weapons amidst the panic, chief of which was Bandit Leader. His dwarven sword was up and ready in a flash, the buckler in his other arm raised and pressed tightly against his chest and near his heart. Long he had grown used to such surprises hitting at the most importune of times. After all, even if he had abandoned the tag, his time as an adventurer was a good education.

Pity to them, being a bandit paid better.

"Get yourselves together, we're under attack!" he barked loudly, his eyes shifting around quickly for any potential targets amidst the white cloud and for his underlings. But unfortunately, they were not as well-trained as he was, and thus instead of preparing an organized response, they were too busy trying and failing to find their assailant.

Who, hailed by another deafening roar, dashed into their midst like a wraith and downed another of his underlings, reducing his face to unrecognizable ground beef and splattering his brains onto a bandit behind him. The figure then moved towards the dazed underling, grasped their head by the hair and rammed their head onto his face, decimating the bone and burying it onto his skull with a sickening crunch, followed by the figure wrapping their arm around his neck and pulling him close as a meat shield.

An action that seemed to be timed just perfectly, leading to the dagger aimed at the figure's chest being buried onto the trapped bandit's instead, leaving the attacker stuck in shock just long enough for the figure to put a hole through his neck.

Three bandits, taken down in a matter of seconds, and leaving only three more: Bandit Leader, Highway Woman, and Eye-Patch Marauder, with the latter two flanking their hostages and holding their swords to the couple's throats. And as the smoke wafted through the windows and began leaving the building, their assailant became visible.

Clad in a blood-soaked black coat, their furious glowing red eyes shining beneath a black hood, dull-grey armor plating throughout their body and two strange metal objects wafting smoke from their tip held in their hands, they cut an intimidating figure indeed. And Leader did not miss the almost fearful flash of recognition that passed by the farmer couple's eyes when they saw the figure, standing atop the corpse of his dead men.

"I will give you degenerates two choices," said the figure in a deep, distorted voice. "You can die like animals trying to fight me, or you can let them go,surrender, and earn yourselves a quick death."

"Interesting choices," replied Bandit Leader, already shifting his feet into a more solid stance. "But you see, I tend to ignore hot air and empty threats. Because right now, I have those two at my mercy, and while those little trinkets of yours sure are interesting, my associates could slash their throats before you had time to use them." And as if to reinforce that point, both Highway Woman and Marauder pressed their blades a tad bit more against the necks of the two farmers, earning frantic yet muffled sounds of pain from the couple. "So you see, I think I'll start calling the shots here."

"Spoken like a dead man walking."

"And you're speaking like a crazy maniac, so I shall give you my terms: you will surrender, you will give us all your belongings, and you will suffer greatly by my hands for killing so many of my bandits," Bandit Leader snarled, making sure to twirl his sword and slice the wooden planks beneath him, leaving a seamless trench-like cut on the floor. "And believe me… I will thoroughly enjoy every moment of your agony."

To his frustration, and to a lesser degree his apprehension, the figure did not respond. They instead simply turned their head to his last two underlings, then to the hostages, and finally to Leader himself. Was it perhaps a taunt? A show of defiance?

Very well then, perhaps an appropriate response was necessary. With his features still schooled, Bandit Leader gave a nod to Eyepatch, whose arm minutely tensed as it readied to thrust his sword into the bound wife's throat.

At that moment, something happened. Neither bandits nor farmers saw exactly what, but in one second, his underling was ready to kill a person.

The next, Eyepatch and Highway's heads had been blasted into pieces of flesh and blood splatters, their swords dropping uselessly to the floor, and all three bandits' sword-bearing hands were reduced into minced meat, their metal blades falling to the floor uselessly.

At first, the pain did not register to the only still-living bandit. Neither did the thought that his last underlings had been killed, of how the assailant could have done it, or how their leader would most likely not hear of their death for a long time. And before any of that could be processed, his consciousness was beaten out of his body by a blow so heavy and powerful it felt like a golem had hit his face.

The last thing he saw were those hateful, bright red eyes shining down at him.

-O-

"Again, I'm sorry for the damage and chaos I caused. I hope the coin I've left is enough."

"N-No, it's… It's alright, you need not worry, the money's more than enough. We'll… We'll handle things from here."

It was the crack of dawn, and the sun had just begun to skirt over the horizon, casting golden rays of light at the once-more-quiet farm. Any signs of the bloody massacre that occurred during the night had been cleaned up by the Courier: the door had been fixed, boarding repaired, blood and viscera cleaned… it was like nothing had happened.

The only remaining proof of the bandits' ill-fated theft attempt was now piled on an older cart attached to the Courier's chosen horse, alongside sixteen beams of wood, eight plaques, nails and rope.

And so here they were: husband, wife and daughter, all seeing off the armored figure that had arrived two days before, saved their lives from a terrible roll of the dice, and was now fastening the saddle to the horse in preparation for her journey.

After a moment of uncertainty, Young Daughter stepped forward and looked up at the Courier, wringing her hands nervously. "W-Well, miss Courier… I guess this is… goodbye, right?"

"For now, yes," replied the woman before turning to the young girl and kneeling to stare at her at eye-level. Cautiously, the Courier reached out with one hand, and though the girl flinched minutely, she remained still as the armored woman laid said hand onto her shoulder. "I'm… sorry that you had to see such things, miss…"

Yet to her surprise, the girl shook her head vigorously, then affixed the Courier with a surprisingly fierce glare. "No, don't apologize for it! You don't have to!" Once those words were spoken, however, her eyes turned to the ground, and her hands lowered to stay beside her body. "I mean… it was scary, sure. A-And it didn't feel like something an adventurer would do…"

But just like that, fire returned to her eyes, and she stared intensely into the lenses of the Courier's mask. "But I know you did it to keep us safe! If you hadn't done that, mom and dad wouldn't be with me anymore! So… So I want to thank you for it! And you need to promise me something!"

"Alright, what is it?"

"Promise me that… that when you come back, you'll have lots of tales of real adventures to tell me! And they better be good!"

And though none of them could see it, beneath the gas mask she had been gifted by a kindred soul who bore the flag of the Old World on his back, the Courier smiled. A genuine, long-lost smile, that she believed forgotten to dark corners of her mind. "Then I promise, I'll bring a ton of stories back, all just for you." And indeed, her words brought forth such a flame of joy to Young Daughter's face, that it was like a second dawn right there for the Courier alone, and the relieved and joyful look her parents had was an extra relief to the wandering gunslinger.

With her parting words said, the Courier climbed onto her steed's back and tapped her heels against the mare's body, earning a joyful neigh from the mount before they were on their way, turning back just in time to see the family waving her farewell.

But unfortunately, the Courier's happiness was quickly pushed aside for her sense of duty. After all, she had one last duty to perform before this night was truly put to rest.

-O-

"Phew, another quest done and finished!" cried out Spearman in relief as he balanced his weapon across his shoulder. Beside him, Witch paced calmly as her staff tapped against the soft dirt of the well-traveled road.

"You seem… In a good… Mood… Today…"

"Heh, why of course!" replied the Frontier's Strongest with his fist raised high. "It's not every day you get to find so much treasure inside a cave! And besides, slaying a gorgon is bound to earn us a good bit of reputation out there, not to mention finally giving some peace to that village after all this time!"

Unseen to the silver-ranked warrior, Witch's smile grew just a bit more so as she eyed her adventuring partner with a warm, admiring and loving gaze, which she quickly hid beneath the wide brim of her hat. "Yes… A very much… Noble reason…"

"Heh, you got that right!" And with his piece spoken, Spearman stopped walking, raised his weapon from his shoulders and slammed it into the ground in a triumphant pose, his eyes focused high on the sky. "So for now, it's back to Frontier Town for some partying, plenty of rest, then back to our next—"

His grand standing, however, was suddenly cut off when his gaze fell upon something quite peculiar: not far from them, further down the road and circling high up in the sky in a large cluster, was a massive flock of vultures.

"Hm? Something… Wrong…?" asked Witch curiously as she stepped up to beside her partner, only to quickly take note of the same thing he had seen. "Well… That is certainly… Ominous… Is it not?"

"Yeah. And I got a bad feeling about this… stay on your guard, let's go."

In a flash, his professionalism took over, his weapon at the ready and his instincts sharp as he turned towards where the vultures were circling. Behind him, Witch moved just as carefully, but no less gracefully, words of power just one whisper away from being spoken to unleash their might upon any creature or being foolish enough to attack them.

And yet, nothing came. No demons appeared from the skies, no cultists dashed from the bushes wielding weapons or arcane arts, not even a goblin band testing their luck. There was only the rustling of leaves, the light breeze blowing through tree branches, and the almost imperceptible crunching of the gravel beneath their feet. And soon, they came upon the site the vultures had been circling.

"How… Horrid…"

"What the hell…?"

What they found, was a grisly aftermath.

There were eight of them in total, lined up side-by-side. Judging by their gear, they were bandits or marauders of some kind. Many of them lacked their heads or some limbs, and what flesh was exposed had already begun being torn apart by the carrion birds. Some even had begun digging through the leather armor, with hanging or torn-off pieces of clothing bearing the telltale rough cuts of a bird's beak or talon.

And all eight were strapped and nailed to wooden crosses, their lifeless bodies hanging limply from their bonds, and with a wooden plaque nailed at the top of each cross… All bearing the same text.

DEGENERATES BELONG TO THE CROSS.

-O-

The world was dark.

No… That was not correct to say. Her surroundings were dark.

The world, instead, was below her. Blue, green, yellow, gray and white… A vivid world. A world not marred by nuclear fire, one she had heard about from ghouls and seen in old books.

"It really is something else, isn't?"

Ah. So, she was here again…

Calmly, the Courier turned towards the source of the voice, and beheld the woman that had appeared from the nothingness. She looked just as the last time they had met: shoulder-length blonde hair, dark green eyes shining behind a pair of square glasses, and an unkempt green robe over a black dress. And just as before, she sat on a simple wooden chair behind a simple wooden table, with another free chair across from her, and several cards arrayed atop the table.

"I did not expect to see you so soon, truth be told," continued the woman in an almost whimsical tone as she calmly retrieved the cards back onto a deck and began shuffling them off-handedly. "And I must say, it is fascinating to see how efficient you are when working at full capacity."

"A good meal and a decent night of sleep work wonders," replied the Courier as she pulled the empty chair back and sat down on it, her hands resting atop the table as she watched the woman from behind her helmet's visor. "Been a while since I've gotten those."

"Yes, I am privy of the fascinating conditions you seem so accustomed to," spoke back the woman, the mirth and amusement obvious in her tone as she gently placed the now shuffled deck face-down onto the table, before splaying her fingers together and turning her eyes to match the Courier's own stare. "After all, I know much of you."

"Is that so?"

"It is certainly so."

"I see."

For a moment after their brief exchange, neither of them spoke, instead settling on judging, studying and analyzing one another. A dozen thoughts, two, three even crossed the Courier's mind as she began racking for any possible reasons this woman had returned so soon.

None of them, however, prepared her for the woman's actual reaction…

She laughed.

She laughed, loudly and heartily, and hard enough that she upset the balance of her own chair and toppled both it and herself down, strangely enough hitting what seemed to constitute the "ground" that they now stood upon. On and on she laughed, arms clamped around her midriff as the woman fought to regain her breath, while the Courier merely watched.

Frustration did begin building inside her heart and mind, but it was quickly pushed away by the more rational side of her brain. There was no reason to let herself fall prey to such base impulses. She trained and lived enough to learn that. And indeed, her patience was rewarded by the mysterious woman finally managing to calm herself from her laughing fits before shakily returning her chair to its upright position and seating herself upon it.

"Ahahahaha! Haha… Haaaaaa… Oh, gods, and to think you'd be so alike him! Ahhhh… Even when beholding the board from above, things still appear to surprise me," she finally said in between drawing breaths to return her composure. "Truly, I couldn't have made a better choice."

"You keep saying that, but what choice did you make? You never told me."

"And I don't intend to. After all, I am already breaking so many rules bringing you here, I'm surprised this meeting hasn't been stopped." As she spoke, the woman took hold of her deck of cards once more, and without looking, pulled a single card from within it, setting it face down upon the table, before offering the deck to the Courier. "But I suppose one can push their luck with abandon when they are not ruled by the rules of others, wouldn't you agree?"

The Courier eyed the offered deck, and slowly reached towards it, her finger brushing against the top card. "I don't think I'd be able to answer that."

And in a quick motion, she removed a random card from the middle of the deck, and placed it face-up on the table. In it, was the picture of a massive, golden three-headed dragon, with several high numbers jotted down onto the card. The Courier then reached forward and flipped up the card the woman had set in front of her.

It showed the picture of a skeletal figure, not unlike the villain from those old Grognak the Barbarian comics she kept finding all over Vegas.

And its numbers were far lower than the ones on the card she had chosen.

"I've learned to trust my own Luck."

When the Courier looked back to the woman's face, gone was the playfulness and mirth in the woman's smile. In its place, there was pridefulness, curiosity, maybe a hint of desire for possession.

But most of all, there was admiration.

"And there it is," she spoke almost seductively, as she withdrew the cards back into the deck. "What I sought the most to challenge the fate of the dice… Luck." Just as daintily as before, the woman withdrew another card from the deck, and placed it upon the table, but this time the card was face up.

And the Courier found she could read it.

In the card was the picture of a small green creature, with hateful yellow eyes, long pointed ears and nose, and wearing rags or clearly salvaged armor. Above the picture, their name: Goblins.

"You still question why I offered this path to you. Of what you would face in your battles to come, of the people you would meet. But unfortunately, there are rules that even I cannot break. But I can tell you this…"

And with a wave of her hand, a small game piece appeared in her grasp. It was an unremarkable thing, simply a knight holding a shield and a sword, his armor simplistic and utilitarian.

And yet, the Courier could somehow… feel it. How the threads of fate seemed to weave away from that single piece.

Just as they did to her.

"Find him. You will find your purpose and a new life if you find and help this man in his journeys. Because just like you… he lets none roll the dice."

And as the darkness seemed to grow around her vision, and the figure began disappearing into a fog, the Courier was left only with her final words.

Find him… Find Goblin Slayer…

-O-

Her return to the world of the woken was soft, calm and without alarm. Better yet, her purchased mount had remained untouched by any creatures of the night, and her belongings unperturbed. A rarity in her life, all things considered.

Still, that did not diminish the weight of the words spoken to her by that strange woman that had appeared in her darkest hour. So as the Courier rose from her slumber and readied herself to pack up her modest campsite, one thought came to mind:

She needed to find Goblin Slayer.

…

The question was where…

Maybe that big tree castle would be a good place to start.