Narrator:
They had ridden through the first part of the night but soon enough they had to stop for a good night's rest. They had come far on the plains not seeing any other human for miles.
After setting up camp around a series of rock formation for wind cover and starting a fire. Darkness had descended as clouds had obscured the night light. The group had huddle up around the fire, listening to one of Jenkins many bar story's.
“...and then t'e lass said; 'I like me men like I like me ale: Dark and rich'.”
The only two laughing, except for Jenkins himself which loved his own story's. Was Mat and Derek as the other men had already heard it a million times.
Their leader was not currently at the fire since she had gone away to do... well whatever women's do after a long journey in the cover of the night. As the three men laughed Jenkins saw someone approach the fire from the darkness.
“Aye ou' fe'less le’da approach” [Jenkins]
He said still brimming with a smile. But as the figure continued onward without answering or more accurate: without waving their hand. Very unusual for their leader which at least always made some kind of gesture, his laughter subsided as he looked at the figure.
Mat and Derek on the other hand still laughed, as they had still not noticed and where still engrossed in the joke, which made it hard for them to stop even if they wanted to try. They sat side by side each other dunking each other in the back almost as if they had a competition on it or something.
At this moment, Brute came in between the two from behind and lays one hand each on their heads. Leaning forward and making a hush sound to quite the two while staring at the figure approaching.
“Who goes there? Name yourself!” [Brute]
At this moment, the noise of metal on metal could be heard in the distance.
At the same time the figure seemed to pick up the phase, Brute lifted his trusted two-handed battle ax, which more looked like a lump of iron than an ax.
The ax had been by his side for many years and repairs had always been expensive. He grasped the ax with both his hands and charged the figure bellowing a mighty roar.
“To arms!” [Brute]
Mat and Derek baffled by the sudden turn of events hurriedly tried to find their weapons which laid beside them.
But before they got the chance to attack they had gotten pulled down to the ground again by Jenkins
“Nay boy's, ye be r'dy. But ye don't have to brawl. Not yet, safeguard this ol' dwarf instead and pick up a thing or two from de’r ol’ Brute.” [Jenkins]
The two looked baffled but followed his orders. To begin with, Derek was a recruit and had no experiences with his sword more than swinging a stick at a scarecrow on the farms. And Mat was a tracker he was certainly better with a bow than a sword but only slightly better as both were mediocre at most.
As they sat beside the dwarf they saw the scene of Brute exchanged blows with the enemy and as the two weapons collided. Sparks flew wildly in the night which let them have a glimpse of the enemy he fought.
They saw an unnatural being not meant to walk this earth, a being without skin or flesh.
“By the seven damnation's an undead!?” [Mat]
It was indeed an undead as it's bare dirt brown bones betrayed the landscape behind it, as a ghastly torn cloth was the only thing covering its cursed body.
The only thing of any value in its possession was a rusted broad sword covered in dirt and blood with several chips in the blade, which it swung around. With every swing pushing Brute back ever so slightly.
They watched as Brute suddenly released his right hand now only holding his ax low with his left, leaving himself defenseless. The skeleton raised his sword for a lethal strike. Even if one would had used both hands on the ax from that position no man would be able to raise that heavy ax in time to defend.
“We need to do something! He will get killed.” [Derek]
As Derek, deluded by heroism was about to rise again the dwarf easily pulled his small stature down again.
“Watch! He ain't be t’e deputy fo' nothin'.” [Jenkins]
And then they heard a mighty war cry bellowing out from Brutes mouth it almost felt like time stopped as the skeleton seemed to flinch for a second.
The big right hand of Brute intercepted the both of the skeletons forearms by the Radius and Ulna bones, stopping the broadsword and with a mighty, almost effortless swing of his left hand, he cleaved the skeleton in two.
Now only bones on the ground, then without further delay he ran to the assistance of his boss in the distance.
“No way! A berserker!?” [Mat]
“What? What’s a berserker?” [Derek]
“You don’t know?” [Mat]
Derek shook his head, which only was filled with the glamor of knights in shiny armor.
“It’s a subclass of the fighter guild someone with unrefined battle art. Relying only on brute strength. It's also said that they channel the fury of the mightiest of beasts.” [Mat]
“Ye seem to know a lot, aye he be a berserk!” [Jenkins]
“I see...” [Derek]
“But what does a berserker do amongst thief's?” [Mat]
“Who knows, quarry that with ye employer why don't you.” [Jenkins]
Jenkins said with a hint of smugness.
“...Hey! Where did Enrik go?” [Derek]
The slender pale man was gone and no one knew when he had left.
“He be doin' that f'om time to time. Be calm, he probably be gon' to aid ou' leader” [Jenkins]
At this moment, they heard something coming from behind the rock formation, just a few meters away from them where they had stationed their wagon.
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Jenn's POV
In the darkness of the night, Jenn had smelled something foul as she heard movement and had quickly drawn her two daggers. She soon enough had a need for them as she defended herself from a sword swinging at her nape.
Luckily her eyes had already adjusted to the darkness perfectly seeing her opponent as she exclaimed to herself 'The Revenant!'. An undead, a creature from beyond the grave, a skeletal knight which swung its blade again as she evaded.
She called it a knight only because it had a one-handed sword and a round buckler shield. Other than that it had only it's dirty white bones, rags of cloth and a helmet to show for itself.
She deflected yet another blow as she was conflicting over something. She had to warn her group! there was only one problem. She could not reveal her identity or be precise her gender. Any sign of weakness could be prayed on in this cruel world and unfortunately for Jenn gender was one of them.
But this was this and that was that. The revenant's a category in which all undead fall under. A plague of unimaginable proportions terrorizing humanity and all living thing, the enemy of all life!
Though luck seemed to be on her side as she heard a bellowing cry from the distance. It was her self-proclaimed second in command Brute which had called to arms. It seemed like they were okay for now and her identity could stay hidden for a while longer.
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In the heat of the battle, she had noticed two other undead approach here to do battle. The first and most dangerous was a skeletal archer which aimed an arrow at her and as it fired she had to abruptly jump aside as she also evaded the sword of the knight. The second skeleton -which she now was approaching- she quickly made a small prayer for in her heart. As this skeleton just as here held two worn daggers and was probably a former thief as herself.
As she had distanced herself from the knight she immediately had to go toe to toe with this undead thief, which was agiler than its undead companion. As blow after blow, they deflected each other in a never-ending stalemate, which she would lose. Either of exhaustion or if one of the other two struck her when she was not focused on them. She quickly had to roll to the side as the skeletal knight approached to close from behind. As she rolled her sixth sense warned her about an imminent attack on her person. She deflected the dagger and heard a displaced grunt.
“Not even at moments like this do you leave yourself open!” [???] a crisp male voice state.
It was Enrik one of her own associates a man with many mysteries around himself, seemingly after her position as boss. Though per him, this was just to evaluate his own strength. If it were not for her sixth sense honed through unimaginable hardships in her life, she would have been dead ten times over already. She quickly gave him here commands not by speech but with sign language.
'Archer, takedown. Support!' [Jenn]
This was the most effective ways to communicate, especially in the occupation they worked in as silence where their benefactor. He nodded and vanished into the darkness surrounding them. And soon enough the bones of the archers could be heard rattling to the ground. Soon after Enrik had found his new target as he engaged the undead thief, overjoyed by the opportunity to properly utilize his agile skills. At the same time, Jenn had yet again taken on the knight.
Enrik was a man with many secrets but his class Jenn already knew. He was an assassin.
She had decided it from seeing him battle as his fighting style resembles her owns. Both assassin and thief are of the rogue class, categorized so by the guild. As both works in the darkness and mostly use the same style of combat, heavily relying on agility. Depending on the specialization of course.
The big diversification is that the thief class works by stealing wealth and the assassin by stealing lives. Enrik was dangerous in his own right, but as long as he wasn't underestimated he would always be a good asset. That much Jenn knew.
The skeletal knight rushed with its buckler forward for a tackle, she tried to dodge. But not in time as she got body slammed in her side falling to the ground. She could feel the pain and already calculated that her side was bruised from broken blood vessels. But it was not a pain on a level which she had not endured through her life. She quickly rolled up to continue the fight.
A shield was Jenn's greatest adversary, something she has always had a hard time handling. Usually, a thief would not go up against a shield bearer, as when invading a house or getting confronted on the street by people. People would normally only have a sword or dagger at hand for such situations.
She deflected the undead's blow but as she tried to strike, her blow was blocked by the buckler. This frustrated her as this was like trying to go through a wall. As one, only with bare fists try to punch through. A shield truly was a wall, a solid defense and something utterly annoying to get through if said person had enough skill with it.
At this moment, she had just dogged a diagonal swing from the knight as something flew inbetween the skeletal knight bones nicking her right leg. She bit her lips so she wouldn't scream out loud because of the unexpected pain. She glanced at the area on the ground which it had struck.
An arrow!
'The archer!?' [Jenn]
But had she not just sent Enrik to handled it? She evaded an unexpected shield bash from the knight creating some distance.
She knew that archers were dangerous. Especially since they work at a distance and if an archer still stands, then that would bode trouble for them both. As she scanned the area she indeed saw the archer which had fired, but it was not only one.
On the top of a hill were three skeleton archers and another knight which had approaching from behind the hill.
'Curses!’ [Jenn]
Another swing. Parry.
The thing with undead's is: that if there are a few there are probably more. It seemed like she had been lucky and only one archer had aimed for here. But that means that the other two had aimed for something else. She glanced towards Enrik while parrying the knight's attacks.
No? Enrik was safe, emerged in battle with the undead thief and didn't even noticed the new arrivals as his face was full of bliss from fighting.
'So, who had they aimed for?' [Jenn]
“ROOOOAR!” [???]
The roar had first startled her but she soon recognized it as the war cry of Brute the self-proclaimed second in command. Not that she complained having his big build set the standard for the group, discouraging many of her rivals which aimed at her life.
The undead knight she had just been fighting also seemed to have taken note of his arrival as she quickly departed from their close quarter combat. She quickly got eye contact with Brute who had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder. She made signs with her hands towards him.
'Take care of the knights? I will take care of the archers.' [Jenn]
Brute nodded. As she concealed herself something which usually is pointless when dealing with the undead as they track living creatures by life force. But undead had low to no intelligence and with the combination of Brutes grand entry, all the undead's had focused their eyesight on him. With only one target in sight both the knights charged him.
Even Brute would have a hard time handling the two of them at the same time as he swung his worn battle ax like a mad bull. Especially with that arrow in his shoulder.
Jenn quickly approached the three archers. Climbing the hill and evading the arrows which came her way. As soon as she had come close enough to the first archer she grabbed it by the shoulders, propelling herself upwards as she jumped up in the air.
While up in the air she placed both her knees around the skull of the first archer. And with the weight of her body faling towards the ground rolling downwards towards the ground she flung the skeleton without a hitch at one of its undead companions. Both breaking in a rattling crash.
What many forget in the heat of battle or in unquenching fear of facing a skeletal undead. Is that the undead especially skeleton weigh next to nothing and with minimum strength one can throw a scarcely equipped undead quite far.
Now with two of the skeleton archers in a heap of bone, only one was left. The last skeleton archer threw away its bow and dislodged a rib bone from its body, getting ready for close quarter combat.
Jenn smiled under her mask, this undead tought it could handle her? Her!? As the skeleton archer lunged itself at her she had quickly disarmed it of its rib bone weapon then throwing its body over her shoulder and then it was just a pile of bones. Had it been a living thing, she would have pounced on it with its own weapon digging it deep in its throat seconds before it had even realized what had happened. She looked at the rib bone in her hand reeking of cursed death as she with a wrinkled nose threw it away.
Behind her the battle still proceeded as Enrik was still playing around against an almost crumbling undead thief. And Brute was in a stalemate against two undead knights, not in his favor as cut and bruises could clearly be seen with her sharp eyes. She quickly went to the aid of Brute as she with a precise hit from behind broke the skull of one of the skeleton knights as at the same time Brute cleaved the other one.
“Well that was fun” [Enrik]
“Damn revenant! What in the seven curse's are they doing here?” [Brute]
'Don't ask, don't know. Where is the rest of the group?' [Jenn]
“They are back at the fireside, they are all safe.” [Brute]
At this moment, the sound of a spooked horse could be heard and seconds later Mat's scream.
“Help! Come quick!” [Mat]
The group quickly ran back to camp.
“What’s going on!?” [Brute]
“Green pests, Goblins!” [Jenkins]
Jenkins bellowed. Some meters away they were faced with a surreal scene as several yellow eyes could be seen as they focused on the new arrivals. They were holding several of their supplies and food in their hands as they were on their speedy retreat with their loot. First the revenants and now goblins what was going on? Jenn quickly elbowed Brute in the side, which made him bark out commands.
“Kill as many as you can! Don't let them get away with our supplies!!!!” [Brute]
Every member of the Finger's and Mat went on a goblin hunt frenzy. It was chaos trying to capture the slippery goblins as the goblin manically laughed at their feeble attempts.
Goblins were a nimble race which quickly multiplied with their libido and plundered villages and wagons close to their dens. Not something thieves usually concern themselves with except for when they see a straggler near their base of operation. The best goblin is a dead goblin, that's how the saying goes... but then again slavers always gave a good penny for them.
In the wild goose chase, Jenn was a second too late to notice a goblin jumping her from above a big rock and was fell to the ground as she was pinned down by the goblin's weight. She had evidently dropped both her daggers a fatal mistake in this world as the goblin loomed over her. But it did not seem to want to attack her instead it crept closer with its head holding a hand above one of her breasts as it sniffed the air above her face, purring in delight.
“Fema...” [Goblin]
It did not get to finish its sentence as she had gotten a hold of a hidden knife which she dug into the goblin's head. Blood sprayed out the side of its head as it fell lifeless atop her. Jenn pushed the goblin away and rose from the ground picking up both her daggers, but she could no longer see any more goblins around. The wagon was a mess with several holes in its fabric roof cover and the horse was nowhere to be seen. Several boxes laid everywhere on the ground as many more were missing and something else was missing, their latest recruit Derek. Jenn looked at the dwarf as the senior of the group and with angry aggressive handsigns asked.
'How could you let this happen!?' [Jenn]
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Narrator
Let's wind back a little. As Brute, had gone to aid their boss, the group left behind; Jenkins, Mat, and Derek. Which had heard something from the wagon. After a brief argument where Jenkins had claimed himself to old and fragile as he, in fact, was over 150 years old, which in human terms indeed was old. But as a dwarf with a lifespan extending to around 300~400 years compared to a human which lived for around 40~60 years. So maybe not that old.
But this the two young lads did not know.
In the end, Derek had been the one chosen to investigate after a quick battle of Roshambo (rock, scissors, paper) which he had lost. As he carefully went to investigate, with his sword tightly gripped in his hands. He had just come around the other side of the wagon when he encountered a small green creature one head smaller than himself. With pointed green ears, furry leather rags for clothes and a big fat nose.
It was a goblin, too scared to even utter a cry for help he had swung his blade at the goblin. The goblin had easily evaded with a big grin on its face revealing it's menacingly pointy black teeth. It was not the only one as he noticed several other goblins which were surrounding him in the darkness. Derek had desperately tried to cry for help only to have air without sound come out of his mouth. He was scared, his whole body was trembling. He was too inexperienced a fighter and without a thought he abandoned his sword and tried to run away from the goblins, hearing their footsteps behind him. Luckily for him, the wagon horse was close by, snared to a small tree and he had quickly mounted it making his escape.
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Around this time, Jenkins and Mat had heard a spooked horse probably at the same time which the other members of the group had heard it. They had both quickly ran to see what the commotion was about encountering a pack of goblins armed to their teeth, with no Derek in sight. Mat had quickly cried for backup and then at the same time as they had started to fight the goblin's several more had burst out of the fabric cover of the wagon with their hands full of one thing or another quickly making their retreat.
Now the main three members of the Finger's had come back only to be shocked at the situation in which the camp was in.
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“I got no 'excuses” [Jenkins]
Jenkins was a trap expert and mechanics fanatic, a dwarf shut in one might want to call him. He, like the other two, had no real fighting experience.
They had been had. They had been divided and concurred. As the stronger members of the team had been busy with the revenant the goblins had gone in to plunder their wagon. Goblins might be said to be among the less intelligent creatures but they had the capacity for greatness, especially if there was a Hob leading them. A brilliant move from the goblins, if the fact were not that it was their wagon which had been plundered. Jenn looked at the group in displeasure.
"Now clean up, get anything useful back into the wagon." [Brute] said as he sat an example by starting.
The group excluded Jenn did what was told, scraping together whatever they could find and relocated it back into the wagon. When they were finally done collecting everything and made sure they hadn't overseen anything, it had already gone far into the morning and exhaustion was clearly seen on all the member's faces. At this moment brute came back with a small metal chest in his hands to report.
“There is no sign of the horse or Derek. We have secured one of the boxes, but the other two are missing together with several food supplies and other items... this also including; one big barrel of... Dwarf mead” [Brute]
He did his best to whispered out the last part knowing how Jenkins would react. And not wrong, only a second later a loud shout of despair was heard.
“Me beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!” [Jenkins]
Ignoring the heartbroken dwarf, he continued.
“Should we turn back to resupply? There will be no villages to resupply at on the way...” [Brute]
Jenn pondered for a moment and then answered with her hand signs.
'No, we must make do with what we have. We were splurging anyways.' [Jenn]
“But what do we do about the horse?” [Brute]
Jenn looked at Brute.
'You will do fine.' [Jenn]
With that, there was nothing more to discuss and everyone went to their respective sleeping location and immediately fell to sleep, everyone except for one person. Jenkins had been stopped right before he was going to bed by their leader Jenn which had instructed him to take the first watch as punishment for his negligence, he understood and did what was told.
Now sitting alone by the white-hot campfire his jolly humming, where not so jolly anymore as he stared down into the depths of his empty mug.
“Me ale...” [Jenkins]
He whispered softly to himself as a teardrop fell into the mug.