Rather than acknowledging my word of thanks, my rescuer seemed to ignore me. Instead, he shifted his position slightly to stand between me and the remaining drow.
It took a few moments for them to realize that their leader had been erased from existence. When it finally occurred, they were distraught. Most of them prepared to make another charge at these filthy and disgusting humans when one of them raised a hand and said, "Scram."
The other dark elves reluctantly placed their scimitars back into the scabbards and retreated.
The new leader threw a smoke bomb to cover their escape; when the smoke dissipated, the drows were gone, leaving the dead bodies behind.
When the danger had finally ended, the newcomer turned around to face me and removed his cloak.
I almost gasped at the sight. It was a human girl in her late-teens. She was petite, like Kalistra, and her skin was jet-black. Her head was bald and many indecipherable runes and symbols were inscribed on her face and head. While the cloak enshrouded her, I had no doubt that these markings covered all over her body. I looked at the caption above her head and it read, "Name: Alsaj, Level: ?, Disposition: Cautious.”
Someone gasped when the true nature of my rescuer was unveiled.
The two Watchmen stood alert with their swords in hand.
From my vantage point standing behind the stranger, I saw that the men were very frightened. Their grasps on the hilts of their swords tightened and their eyes were fully focused on her. Why were Giudot and Sankryn so hostile to my rescuer? What was I missing here?
Captain Maisen's sword, Jiang, hummed louder than before as the blade vibrated furiously. However, the fighter pointedly placed her magical sword back its scabbard. For whatever reason, this monk had chosen to intervene in the fight and she had saved Lawrence's life. Also, her back was turned toward the man, implicitly showing no intention to harm him. With her speed, the monk could have snatched Lawrence, and only Kalistra would have a chance of following her. Given these circumstances, it would be unlawful for the Watchmen, herself included, to attack the newcomer. Thus, Maisen sheathed her sword and then bowed from the neck toward the monk in appreciation of saving Lawrence.
Taking their cue from her, the two men did the same however reluctantly. But the fear and tension on their faces remained.
As if the trio were beneath her notice, Alsaj paid them no heed. Instead, she turned to face Kalistra. She put one fist against an open palm at mid-chest and nodded her head slightly to the cat girl. Of the four people in front of her, only the cat girl was worthy of Alsaj's respect as an equal.
Kalistra sheathed her sword and dipped her own head just a tad lower than the monk. After all, this person DID rescue her liege and therefore honor demanded proper respect for this person.
Whoosh! The wind blew again, and my rescuer disappeared.
"Oh, that was so scary!" Giudot huffed in a sigh of relief.
"Yeah! I would rather face another dozen drows than to fight with that monk! At least we'll have a chance with the elves," Sankryn agreed.
I was flabbergasted by their reactions. Who the heck was that girl? And why was everyone so afraid of her? I belatedly spoke up and asked a simple question. "Who was that?"
The two men looked at each other and then at their Captain.
Maisen nodded in acceptance of their silent request to explain. "That Alsaj was a monk from the Sisterhood of the Void," she said.
"Okay," I nodded. "I noticed that your magical sword was humming. Was she a Chaotic being?" I asked.
"Yes, she was," my teacher replied.
"Then why would you allow her to escape? Isn't she a threat to Tregome?" I was truly puzzled. Weren't all beings of Chaos evil and therefore a threat to be eliminated? Especially by the Watch? I would be really, really annoyed if later on, I receive a mission to hunt down that monk.
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"Lawrence, aside from you the rest of us here are Lawful in alignment," Kalistra interrupted and I turned my head to face her. "Do you think we could commit evil acts?" she asked rhetorically.
Huh? Wasn't chaos and evil the same thing? "Um, no?" I answered hesitantly. I had no idea where she was going with this question.
The cat girl suddenly grabbed my nose and pinched my nostrils lightly. "Wrong!" Her whiskers twitched in amusement at my discomfort. "Good and evil are a matter of perspective," she said.
"You mean it's in the eye of the beholder?" I replied.
"Hmm . . . I've never heard that expression before. What's a beholder?" Kalistra asked.
"It's an expression from my world. 'Beholder' refers to the person whose perspective we are seeing through," I explained.
My master nodded in understanding of my logic. "A person could follow Law and Order, but still act in a way that another person will view as committing evil," she said. "Thus, the people of this world do not judge on the basis of good and evil because then the personal grievances will never end."
"So Sister Alsaj, despite having a Chaotic alignment, was still considered doing a good deed by saving my life?" I asked.
"Exactly," Maisen agreed with my assessment. "While she DID take a life, the Sister had a legitimate reason under the Tregomeian law to do so and therefore was justified. By itself, the taking of a life is an inherently evil act; but she did it to prevent the loss of your life. Therefore, no Tregomeian law had been broken and the Watch had no reason to detain Sister Alsaj. Also, since we are your liegemen, we owed her tremendous respect and gratitude for intervening on your behalf," she explained.
"But why did the monk do it?" I asked. "She doesn't know me and had no reason to save my life."
"Ah, but that's where you are wrong," Kalistra responded while shaking a paw at me. "You are a player character and your status as such was probably known to Sister Alsaj already. She may have acted under the direct order of Khoa, the Greater Goddess of the Void, to save your life."
"Doesn't the Chaotic beings work together to defeat the followers of Law and Order?" I asked. These different factions were becoming rather difficult to keep track of.
Giudot laughed at my naivete. "So just because we're both human beings, that means we'll always work together and compromise? Is that what you're suggesting, milord?"
Trying to be polite, Sankryn stifled a laugh.
I tilted my head for a moment to think and then shook my head. "You're right. We, humans, are selfish and greedy, and often pursue our personal interests to the detriment of others. It was naive of me to suggest cooperation merely due to a commonality of race," I admitted.
"The drows follow a crazed goddess, and they will not hesitate to attack that Sister if they did not recognize her profession," Sankryn noted.
Suddenly, Kalistra clapped her hands. "We wasted enough time on chitchat. It's time to continue heading north," she ordered. "I don't want to waste another potion of enhanced strength because you dallied here for too long," she admonished me.
"Yes, master!" I replied and immediately started pulling the cart. Originally, I was facing north when we were ambushed by the drows; I simply continued moving in the same direction. Also, I really didn't want to spend more money than necessary on potions. My master certainly knew how to push my buttons.
The cat girl resumed her position to my immediate right and walked beside me.
However, I noticed that Maisen wasn't with me. Did she need to stay behind? A moment later, I heard a whistle that emitted a high-pitched sound. Soon, more whistles sounded off nearby. By the time I reached the next block, I saw that Captain Maisen had caught up with me.
"Did you use a whistle?" I asked her.
The powerful warrior grinned. "Yes. The whistle is a signal to other Watchmen on patrol that their assistance is required. Sankryn and Giudot had to stay behind to organize a search at the scene for any possible evidence left behind in the drows' hiding places. After the Void Sister's intervention, I doubt that they will try to attack you again. At least not today," she explained.
Getting a chance to relax when the danger had passed, I finally noticed something important—I did not receive a single notification! How was this possible, when we had just faced a dozen dark elf ambushers? I quickly remembered that, during the encounter, I was stuck holding the handle bar for the pull cart, like now. Kalistra had explicitly forbidden me from taking part in the fight and thus, I had to stay out of the fight. The more I thought about it, the more upset I became because I missed a golden opportunity to get massive amounts of experience from the encounter. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if one member of our former party advanced to the next level from this encounter.
The loss of experience gain aside, this passivity on my part during the encounter was much more problematic for a simple reason: wasn't I supposed to be the star of this show? Weren't the gods and their overlord watching me? If I became marginalized again on the next encounter, I feared that I would lose the Gamemaster's interest entirely and, with it, my candidacy for kingship and my ticket to return home.
Maisen saw my troubled face and she gently patted my back. "I know you're upset that Kalistra had ordered you to stay out of the fight. But it was for your own good. Each dark elf was the equivalent of an Ebenthal in terms of level and fighting ability. By keeping you moored to the pull cart, Kalistra was trying to draw attention away from you. For the most part, she succeeded. Only the late leader, Khaz, tried to target you. And I believe she did it just to spite Kalistra for being the superior swordswoman," she explained.
"That damn drow was a sore loser," the cat girl smirked.
"But she knew how to hurt you," the human retorted.
Kalistra hissed at the remark but kept on walking beside me in silence.