Own nothing of Goblin Slayer nor Darkest Dungeon, I just really like both!
Prologue.- The start of a new adventure.
In a surprising result, the beast was scared, it was facing mortality in the hands of two adventurers who had proved themselves to be extraordinary on their fields of choice... A mighty sword-hand anchored by holy purpose, a zealous warrior holding the back line, in front of him, an elusive, evasive and particularly persistent rogue was breaking through the flesh of the beast.
"Disaster always strike when things are going so well…" Dismas, the rogue, a comrade of the crusader who was currently focused on healing him was optimistic, but afraid. Fighting this abomination, the mass of flesh that so many problems had brought up, that required so much work to even reach, felt weak. Weak in comparison to many other things they had faced before it.
"You will survive, Dismas." Reynauld spoke with the characteristic firmness of him. The voice of a man who had been through many fights before and much more conflict than anyone should have to face.
"What makes you so sure of it?" Dismas asked as he ducked under a swipe from the dying abomination, returning its attack with a well aimed riposte. Cutting it.
"I judge it so." Reynauld comment did nothing but fuel a laugh from Dismas.
Here they were, two men facing the abomination that so many problems had brought to the Hamlet, to the land surrounding it, to the heir that had become their sponsor, their boss, but even more importantly, their friend.
The abomination that plagued the land, that the Ancestor had done so much to bring out, was now afraid. Its creations, by mere accident, that it considered weak, now were close to finishing it. It needed a solution, something. Anything!
As it felt its energy fading, it could feel mortality encroaching, it would fall into sleep again. But it would make sure they wouldn't be here for when it woke up again. Nor them, nor their legacy.
It was then, right before Dismas could shoot the thing one last time; their world was enveloped in white.
When the world returned to color, the Heir of the ancestral home, the owner of the lands of the Hamlet looked around through the window of her room. She had been awaiting Dismas and Reynauld, the two adventurers having rushed through the Darkest Dungeon alone without any supplies, the two had rushed in the middle of the night. And yet, now daylight shone brightly, and impossibility considering her watch showed it was close to midnight, or it should have been.
Her alarm wasn't the only one raised, soon she heard steps coming from the hallway of her home towards her room. The door opened as it wasn't locked and soon enough a pair of figures she saw often came through the door.
"Daylight is upon us, but this is not natural. The surrounding land doesn't have the smell of the woods, nor the old road is visible." William, the ex-lawman spoke with a tone that spoke calmly but didn't hide the urgency. The bark of his hound, Fergus, followed him. She had gotten used that the hound always seemed to have something to say next to its master.
"Dismas and Reynauld were found unconscious and injured. None of the injuries are fatal, in fact, I believe they may have won their battle." Barristan. Old and battle-scarred, but never defeated. His voice spoke with warmth of the coming of her first friends.
Dismas and Reynauld had been hired by her to help her reclaim her land. What started as a simple fight for the lands turned into a quest for the safety of much more than a simple Hamlet. Had the two of them perished in the fight against the abomination that her ancestor brought, she would have never forgiven herself.
"Good… how much of the Hamlet was affected by this light?" Her question wasn't pointed at either of them, it was an open question that hid an order. One Barristan and William got.
Find out.
"We will find out. Dismas and Reynauld are already with the doctor and Junia." Barristan spoke waiting for a note of his actions. The man was used to the military codes, no matter if they were not in a war.
"Noted. Thanks, Barristan. I need you to take Alhazred and Josephine with you. They may be able to offer us a better view of what happened." She spoke with cold in her voice, already making calculations, notes, taking all the information she could.
"William. I need you to take Bibgy and Missy with you. Make sure to check the surroundings for threats. Oh, almost forgot. I have a special job for you Fergus." The hound wagged its tail and barked as he approached her.
For many, the Heir was a cold woman. A true lady of ice, cold and uncaring, seeing everything for its monetary value and relationships were nothing more than transactions with a worth in them. Every supply was accounted for; every weapon was always measured, every resident of the Hamlet was a chip for her to use for the game she played. Yet, the adventurers knew better than the residents of the Hamlet. The woman of ice wasn't uncaring, if anything, her heart was so uncommonly big, she had to make sure they were safe. For this purpose, she had to be methodical and cold. So, nothing would ever miss. No weapon would ever be unsharpened. Food and torches would never be lacking. Nor armors or shields would be chipped. They were residents of her Hamlet too. And she cared for all of them.
"Watch them out for me, will you?" She offered the dog a treat with a voice full of warmth, the treat, a bone-shaped pastry meant for him always filled Fergus with energy and glee. He barked before taking the treat. She smiled as she patted his head. The dog licked her hand and she giggled. Her eyes lost all the warmth as she looked at the two smiling older men.
"What are you waiting for?" Both nodded with serious faces before leaving her room. Once both were out of what they guessed was her hearing range both chuckled.
She cared too much and would never accept it being told to her face. And surprisingly, both were afraid of being the fools who would try to say that to her face. They were friends, but they also liked living.
Cassie and Tardif were walking around the districts of the Hamlet. They decided it was a good use of their time. Boudica was sleeping in the tavern, a mug of ale by her side. Or to be clearer, plenty of ale. Sarmenti was seen in the performance hall, tuning his instrument without any care in the world. Both adventurers knew better than to consider the jester as anything but smart. As both approached him, he nodded at their presence and spoke with the melodic voice that was so characteristic of him.
"If you want to ask about the light, I know as little as you. Baldwin, thought death had finally come, but as he noticed he still felt pain thought otherwise, Damian believes he felt magic like those of our enemies in the air, just in a scale never felt before and Amani… well, you know her, since she became able to sleep, is hard to wake her up." The jester laughed at his own musings.
Those who had met Amani knew she had to literally fight to regain her ability to sleep, a quite arduous process a lot of them took part in solving. Sarmenti himself being one of those involved. Cassie sighed at his speech.
"So, we truly don't know what happened." She wondered if the others had a clue. To her surprise, Sarmenti laughed.
"Oh no, all the opposite. We know already. Look at the sky." As he pointed with his covered hand, the pair looked upwards, the helmet of Tardif, a must for his profession as a bounty hunter couldn't muffle his surprise.
"… Is clear." Cassie could only nod while the jester laughed at the pair.
"Indeed! A clear blue sky! Something impossible by our position in the land. Yet, we have a clear blue sky, which only leads us to one conclusion. We are not in our land, nor the continent for that matter. The air is too clean, too fresh, the sun shines brightly… I don't know the extent of the blast of light, but I do know that it has sends us to a different land." The jester finished his speech with a laugh.
"Isn't this a joke worthy of a laugh? Dismas and Reynauld fought to get that thing out of the world, but it is us who has been sent out. What a joke, positively hilarious." Tardif found himself looking at the jester and ended up chuckling, a gesture that Cassie couldn't avoid raising an eyebrow for.
"… Is funny." Was his simple answer. Cassie meanwhile shrugged before looking at the sky, removing her hat to allow her a better view.
"A new world, heh… the foul thing must have done it to heal its wounds… meaning Dismas and Reynauld did win." She smiled as she let out a laugh. A laugh of victory.
The pocket watch of the heir marked three o clock of what would be the new day when she called for the adventurers, she had taken the time to find out the time of this new world by making an impromptu sundial with sticks and markings. All came making a line, a simple formation they had gotten used to doing when they were summoned by the heir in the square of the Hamlet. She was dressed in a white shirt under a red coat similar to her ancestor garb. She always said it suited her more than him. Her brushed black hair, always neat and straight always reminded them that this was a methodical woman, her dark eyes behind glasses, always counting, always taking in her surroundings.
All were looking at her, including the recently healed Dismas and Reynauld.
"Good day everyone. I believe you have seen the recent changes surrounding us." She didn't wait for confirmation before going on with her speech. "I have concluded with the evidence I obtained; we are no longer in our continent. In fact, a comparison of the soil itself has allowed me to conclude we have totally moved with the Hamlet. The districts have all come with us. But, the warrens, the cove, the ruins, the labyrinth, all are gone. Only the Hamlet itself was taken into the light it seems… we are in a land that is not our own… and as such. I will formally require your services once again." She looked at everyone, not focusing on one, but speaking to all of them.
"Your contract with me ended when the light enveloped the Hamlet when Dismas and Reynauld fought the beast and got rid of it." Her eyes lingered in the pair before once again moving.
"So, I cannot force anyone to stay, nor to work for me. Should anyone want to excuse themselves from service, go ahead? I will be giving any of you gold to last until you find yourself settled. That is the least I can do. Luckily for all of us, the bank and the gold reserves are all with us." She smiled before stretching her arms to the side.
"Forward then. I will not hold anyone to work for me when you have all managed to earn your share. I won't hold it against anyone. Step forward whoever wishes to go. I would prefer to say goodbye in such a manner rather than learning you would rather leave like a thief in the middle of the night, without saying anything, be insults or praise." She waited.
She kept waiting before someone gave a step forward, Bigby. The man was dressed in a long coat, hiding his chains from the view and offer comfort.
"Heir… if I am allowed, I would rather keep working with you. I don't have anything to go back to… for all my friends are currently standing here." A man that often kept to himself. Rejected for the cursed venom in his veins, an abomination. Reserved by nature and rejected by those of zealous belief, he had found relief in the servitude to the heir who found a use for his condition, yet, never treated him as any less than a human. The coat he wore, a reminder. A reminder of kindness in her own way.
"You belong to me, Bigby. And I am protective of my belongings."
"But… I don't need such a thing, this is something to be seen, I am something to be hidden… away from sight."
"I don't believe in that. You work for me Bigby, if someone has trouble with you, they can say it to my face."
Someone else gave a step forward. With her weapon in her back, she stood straight. She was slightly nervous, a curious side out of her soldier persona, yet she wanted to let her point across.
"I agree. If it's fine I would like to stay by your side. My father… my father valued family. And my family is here too." Missy. A girl with an impressive crossbow at her back, a soldier of war, forced to grow up strong and quickly.
"Missandei, that's my name mam." She spoke clearly without a doubt in her voice. Yet she was feeling nervous under the gaze of the young woman.
"Missy. That's how I am going to call you. Then let us go, Missy, there is work ahead." She smiled kindly at her as she went ahead.
"Mam! What do you mean?!"
She could never really get what she was seeing or thinking. But she was always feeling her kindness through her actions. When her crossbow work from overuse there was already one ready in the supplies of that expedition. Tucked protectively under a blanket with the tools to get it ready. She knew. And she prepared for it. She placed it there without anyone seeing her do it.
The heir was not one to enter the fray or expose herself to danger. She shined the most while working behind everyone, a shadow that saw everything and prepared accordingly.
The rest just stood, some smiling like Barristan, his lone eye offering a smile. Alhazred, serious as always still managed to offer a nod. He would stay, Josephine, albeit more nervous nodded too of her stay. No one stood forward. Not aside of Missy and Bigby who had done it to make clear their intention of staying. They didn't need words to make it clear they would stay.
"You are all a bunch of fools. If I were given gold to leave the Hamlet I would have done so without thinking it twice." She spoke trying to sound angry, but her smile was hard to hide. This only made Fergus was his tail in happiness.
After allowing herself to smile she opened her arms.
"Then! This takes me to the point of this meeting, we need to explore the surroundings, as you can tell, I am asking, who feels like going out for an adventure?" This time everyone cheered loudly.
All of them didn't come from particularly happy backgrounds, they were a bunch grouped together by causality and ended up forming true bonds of camaraderie through fighting the darkness under the flame and the light. This allowed them to find out they also shared something else. For all its risks and dangers, they loved adventure.
They were in a new land, meaning there was a chance of adventure.
"I will be forming groups for your caravans. Prepare." The group cheered one last time before everyone took to go for their belongings. Adventure called once again.
Far from the Hamlet, The Frontiers Kindest, the dread, and nightmare of goblins were in the Adventurers Guild in the company of his allies. They were mostly chatting about the recent news, apparently, there had been a bright beacon of light coming from the West in the middle of the day. It had been less than a second, but plenty had been able to see it and was curious about what could it be, there was even a quest for simply exploring the area and bring news of it.
The group was currently speaking about it.
"We should go!" High Elf Archer was excited. The adventure was her thrill after all. That is what got her into meeting Orcbolg.
"Ah, why you press this so much Long-Ears?" Dwarf Shaman asked as he tried to peacefully drink.
"Is an easy quest! Come on! Is a chance for adventure, something happened, is something never seen before." Before she could go on Dwarf Shaman interrupted her speech.
"If you can convince him." He pointed towards Goblin Slayer. "I will go, even more, I will pay for the supplies myself." He smiled, knowing full well Goblin Slayer wouldn't accept a quest of such kind, of just going to explore and come back. No goblins involved.
Though what he thought was similar in an opposite sense to what High Elf Archer thought.
"Let's go! There could be some unknown goblin nests there, who is to tell goblins were not the reason for that light in the west?" She smiled. Priestess and Lizard Priest both found themselves sighing, that had been a poor tactic, even Goblin Slayer wouldn't fall for such a thing even if the word goblin was mentioned.
"Goblins… the west doesn't see much movement. Goblins could indeed make nests hiding from the general sight… Lets go." High Elf Archer let out a cry of victory while Dwarf Shaman found himself cursing his luck. He drunk the rest of his ale in one go before going to prepare their wagon. Seems they would be going to explore the source of that light.
William was holding the reigns of the wagon, the horse making their steady way as Fergus yawned next to its master and partner, their destination, the north. The heir had mentioned she could lend them her caretaker as he was an experienced wagoner. Plenty shuddered at the idea of the grinning man riding a wagon. Dismas and Reynauld vocally expressed their denial of the idea. In the end, it was decided William could be the wagoner.
The inside of the wagon had supplies for an expedition of two weeks. Three if they decided to avoid eating. They had done so before when it was particularly needed. The inside of a dungeon was hard and unrelenting… and maybe they dropped their food in exchange for more treasure. Risk and benefit were constantly measured. And they had in turn become experts in managing their supplies.
The fact the heir always made a list also helped.
"Anything on the horizon yet?" The voice of Barristan asked. He was sitting on the inside of the wagon. Still, a bit bothered that William said only Fergus could sit in the front.
"Nothing yet… how is everyone faring?" William asked towards the rest of the group.
They were always more efficient in groups of four. They were messy at first, trying to find a balance between them. Luckily Barristan and Missy had the military experience to guide formations, Reynauld himself was good at keeping order in formation. Tardif was a force to be reckoned with, the bounty hunter could pretty much make anything alone, but in a group, he proved he could have a good synergy.
Hence why the current group was made of Barristan, Tardif, William, and Boudica. The Hellion, Boudica was a fusion of unrelenting rage with an odd peacefulness pre-battle. She was a savage, a savage you wanted on your side. She was currently sleeping in a corner of the wagon. While Tardif seemed to check his equipment, in particular his hook.
"…" He didn't speak much as he looked at it. Barristan sighed. "You know, you could have let me go in the front, which is an easier way to hold a conversation." He mentioned it hoping to be let to go in the front.
"You wanted me to be the wagoner, so follow the rules. I could always let Boudica hold the reigns." At this threat, both Tardif and Barristan focused on the savage who was still soundly sleeping. She was many things. But a wagoner was most likely not one. They still remembered the mess in the Hamlet with the horses. They particularly remembered the fact the heir defended Boudica's actions and blamed them for not stopping her.
"I can't blame Boudica for acting rashly. But I can surely blame you for not stopping her!"
Yeah, no one had been spared out of the anger of the heir. The only ones who did manage to be left out of her rage were Bigby, Baldwin, and Damian, and only because they were never really in the proximity of others, Damian himself would spend long periods of time inside the church.
"Know what, I will follow the example of Boudica and rest." Barristan stretched himself before placing himself in a comfortable position and closing his eye. All was silence for a while on the trip until Tardif spoke, breaking the silence in the wagon.
"You believe the jester is right?" He asked regarding his observations. That they were no longer in their world.
"That man is smarter than he lets on. I dare say he is of the same school as the heir, smarter than they show. And way craftier… If that man believes that, I see no reason to doubt him. We have been working together almost two years… and his intellect never ceases to amaze me." William spoke his thoughts regarding the matter before making the horses speed up just a bit.
"… I see." The bounty hunter wondered in his own head. What was the nature of such a man? That allowed for such thoughts and observations quickly. The jester was probably the most dangerous of all of them. But if the heir kept trusting him. He would trust him, if simply because he trusted her.
"You think he writes loves song for the heir? As in really trying to get her heart open to him?" William's question managed to bring out a snort from the bounty hunter.
The heir and romance were subjects that never got together. Unless a joke was involved.
Two wagons had made their way out of the Hamlet. One to the east and one to the north. The wagon that was heading towards the east was driven by no one else than the heir. Bigby, Missy, Cassie, and Sarmenti inside of it passing time. Each to their own devices. The heir had left back in the Hamlet the rest of the group in hopes that should a problem arise they would care of it.
Dismas and Reynauld would most likely deal with any problem. But leaving Junia and Liz was necessary to keep those two in check. Baldwin and Damian would be a good back up should strength be needed, Josephine and Alhazred had enough experience to formulate a plan should something happen, and they were short on time.
The heir knew her way with a wagon, but she wasn't one for peaceful riding, she was going with the speed of a courier, hence why the group decided to make themselves comfortable. It was a quick ride but normal.
Or it was until the heir started going even faster at the signs of fire on the horizon. "Get ready all of you, I believe your kind of fun is happening out there." The group looked out of the wagon to the fire on the horizon.
"A raid? Curious seems this world may be similar to our own." The jester offered behind his mask. Missy focused her sight on the front. Trying to make the minimum detail before she spoke.
"Whatever it is, just started judging by the size of the smoke coming from it." Bigby nodded at her. "People are screaming. I can hear them."
Cassie let out a small laugh.
"Well then, we wanted adventure, what is an adventure without the thrill of danger and the smell of fire."
The heir found herself smiling as she kept the wagon going forward.
"Let us pay them a visit then."
Fun was about to start.
Hope you enjoy it! Let us see for more in the future!