Godafrid quickly drew his sword as he saw a shadow move in the woods. He turned his back to his campfire that was dying away. He slowly picked up his staff and readied his mind, so he could cast a spell to light the area. Godafrid caught a quick glimpse of the shadow, it looked to be a hairy humanoid creature. Could it be a hobgoblin, Godafrid thought? He quickly tried to clear his mind, but the creature jumped towards him, but he managed to react and slash the creature's left arm, cutting it to the bone before it ran back to the forest. Now's my chance, Godafrid thought to himself.

O great spirits grant this lowly servant thine power in this land of darkness

Help this lowly servant to get a gift from the great god Leishne

The gift of Sun to light this darkness

Great spirits give me light to light my path

Bring forth Sphere of Light

A ball of light forms on top of Godafrid's staff and as he raises his staff the ball of light floats towards the tops of the trees of the forest illuminating a great area of the forest that Godafrid has been camping. Now it's clear that the creature that attacked him is a hobgoblin. It's grotesque and hairy body full of scars from all kinds of weapons indicating that it has been terrorising the area for a long time, but the fact that its naked and not wearing any armour or wielding a weapon also indicates that it has started to deteriorate and has turned into a complete monster making this one at least 30 years old.

"So, how the hell have you survived here this long?"

Godafrid straightens his back and prepares to counterattack as it eventually attacks again.

"Well, it doesn't matter"

 The hobgoblin took a step back and jumped but Godafrid stepped aside and slashed the creature to its side, spilling half of its guts out. As it fell to the ground in pain and anguish Godafrid stabbed thru its neck finishing it.

 Godafrid wiped his blade and sheeted it. He sat on a rock to take a breath as he got exhausted during the struggle against the hobgoblin. I never thought I would fight a hobgoblin in these woods, Godafrid thought while wiping sweat from his forehead, I should go to the village I saw yesterday but first.

 O great spirits grand this lowly servant thine power of fire

Gather me the power of the flame spirits

O spirits of flame grant thine power of fire

Bring forth Surge of Fire

 A surge of fire comes from Godafrid's staff that he had pointed towards the hobgoblins body engulfing it in flames. Godafrid stood near the burning body until it had completely burned, leaving just ashes in its place.

***

Godafrid clutched his staff tightly in his left hand as he kept walking towards a small village. He needed to gather some information from the village before he could proceed with his journey. As he entered the village some of the villagers started to stare at him as he was an unfamiliar face around there, some even ushered their children inside their houses as they were sceptical of Godafrid's looks. Well, Godafrid wasn't dressed like any typical traveller, he did have some of the typical travelling gear like cloak, a backpack, and few pouches but he also carried an arming sword in place of a large knife, wore a chainmail under his tunic but most strikingly he wore a long pointy hat with a wide rim and had a staff on his left hand.

As he walked towards the centre of the village an old man with a long white beard moved towards him.

"Hello young man, how can we help you?"

Godafrid took a quick look around the village before answering to the man

"I'm kind of lost, so could you help me with some directions?"

"Well, I can certainly try"

Godafrid took a map out of his backpack to show to the old man. The old man took a quick look at the map and pointed to the map.

"Our little village is somewhere around here, that's as good as I can tell from this map"

Godafrid rubbed his chin and thinked for a few seconds.  

"So where are you trying to go, young man?"

"Well, I am trying to find the ruins of Uldwidu stone circle"

The old man took his eyes of the map and pointed toward east

"It should be around two days walk from here towards east"

"Thank you"

Godafrid started to put the map back in his backpack.

"Well, good luck and be careful, there have been hobgoblin sightings around the area"

"Thank you"

 "May Ukho protect thee" the man raised his right hand and pointed to the sky.

Godafrid copied the man's gesture and turned to the east to resume his journey to the ruins.

Godafrid walked out of sight of the village with hastened pace to help the villagers get back to their daily tasks, as clearly his presence had disturbed them. 

***

The day was already halfway done when Godafrid had lost sight of the village behind some hills, and he decided to take a quick break since he hadn't eaten anything the whole day. He took a piece of dried meat from his backpack and drank some water. As he was sitting on a rock and eating his meal, he took in the scenery around him. A few trees and hills dotted the landscape, and he could just see a wheat field long in the distance, hinting that a village may not be far away. A village where Godafrid could maybe get some supplies as he was starting to get low. Well, maybe I should go and look if they could sell me a piece of bread at least, Godafrid thought while lifting his backpack from the ground.

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 It didn't take long for him to see the village that was just beyond some scattered trees, but something was out of place. The village and the fields seemed too empty as it was about the time to harvest the fields. As he got closer and closer it started to look like the village had been abandoned.  As Godafrid entered the village through the palisade gate there was not a single soul inside. The villagers must have fled something terrible, like hobgoblins since they had left their meals uneaten.

 As Godafrid started to investigate more he saw a pool of blood in one of the houses. He drew his sword carefully and as silently as he could, to prepare for a battle. He stepped outside of the house and looked around to see if he could see what could have done this, but all he could see was a few cats.

 "Wait, the cats are still here" Godafrid whispered out loud

 This couldn't be hobgoblins then, they would have eaten the cats, Godafrid thought. He started to get less alert as it couldn't be anything that bad if the cats were still here. Maybe they were some bandits, or a war had broken out. 

 While looking around Godafrid saw something moving near the opposite gate that he came from, it looked like a human, possibly a survivor. Godafrid sheathed his sword and started to walk towards the figure.

 "Hey are you okay!" Godafrid shouted while starting to run towards the figure

 The figure took a quick glance towards Godafrid and started to run out of the gate. As soon as the figure got outside Godafrid picked up his pace trying to catch the figure but as soon as he got to the gate and opened it the figure was gone. Godafrid took a breather while looking frantically around the fields surrounding the village, but he couldn’t see the figure anywhere. It had vanished, like it never had been there. But as soon as Godafrid turned back he was knocked to the ground by the figure. Godafrid managed to turn around to see the figure closer.

 The figure had milky white eyes, black long hair that partially covered its face, pointed ears and a pale skin. The creature tried to stab Godafrid with its long and sharp claws but missed as he rolled to the left side of the creature. As Godafrid stood up he could see the body of the creature more clearly. It looked like a starved woman, it had no clothes on and from its back grew thin and bony looking wings which clearly couldn't sustain flight for the creature. As the creature screamed towards Godafrid he could see sharp fangs instead of teeth. A vampire, a kind of bloodsucking demon. This one was still young or severely underfed and it was in its human form, or the more human form that its true form, at least partially as it had the bony wings on its back.  

 Godafrid drew his sword hastily from its scabbard, just before the vampire tried to swipe him with its claws but he swung his sword cutting the claws from the vampire's left hand. It takes a step back giving Godafrid time to make some distance to it and to start clearing his mind so he can cast a spell. As he prepares himself he realises that he doesn't have his staff, it must have dropped from his hand when he was pushed to the ground. Taking a quick look around he spots his staff near the gate, behind the vampire that now has healed its claws back.

 "Fuck!"

 Godafrid readies himself to doge the vampire again as it surely is going to jump against him soon. But the vampire decided to circle him instead of immediately attacking, Godafrid didn't take his eyes off the creature and was ready to counter its attack. After what had felt like an eternity the vampire gave a quick roar and rushed towards Godafrid with its claws ready. Godorid dried to evade by ducking but he was too slow and he took a hit to his forehead. He dried to get quickly back up but was slashed to his right calf, dropping him to the ground in pain. He quickly rolled around and slashed the vampire in the face as it was coming closer to suck his blood hitting it in its eyes, making it writhe in pain and retreat inside one of the houses.

Godafrid took this as an opportunity and crawled towards his staff, slowly getting closer with every pull of his body. As he got to an arms length of his staff he could hear an ear splitting screech from the house that the vampire had retreated to. Fuck, fuck, fuck, just a little more time. Godafrid turned towards the vampire location but didn’t see it there. Now getting more worried as he didn’t know where the vampire was, he grabbed his staff. 

“I need to get out of here”

He pulled himself up with the help of his staff and started to wobble out of the gate. But as soon as he got outside, the vampire grabbed him on the wounded leg. As he was turning towards the creature, an arrow flew past him hitting the vampire to its eye. He was free of the vampire's grip and he started to wobble again towards safety. After getting a few steps a mounted warrior rode past him towards the vampire impaling it with a spear.

“Can you get on my horse by yourself?” the warrior asked hurriedly.

Godafrid got onto the horse without saying a word, and the warrior rode them to safety just a few metres from the village gate. As soon as Godafrid got off the horse the warrior was already charging back towards the vampire with a new spear, as the last one got stuck in the vampire's ribs. 

Godafrid took a look around and saw about six warriors, including the one that was charging the vampire. There were three archers, the mounted warrior and two equipped with shields and arming swords. They all wore similar equipment otherwise, tunics with chain mails underneath, just like him, and nasal helms with coifs. They also wore a cloak over their left shoulders that had a silver tower on a red field on it, the coat of arms of the Order of the Tower, demon hunters.

One of the warriors walked towards Godafrid with some medical supplies and a chair.

“Take a seat”

As Godafrid sat down the warrior started to take care of his wound starting by rubbing some spruce resin to his wounds and bandaging them. As the warrior was done with Godorids wounds he stood up and faced towards him.

“We need you to deal with that vampires body once our friend comes back,” the warrior said while starting to turn towards the village.

“Yeah, sure I can do that” Godafrid said while rubbing his forehead through the bandage.

It didn’t take long for the mounted warrior to come back and inform that the job was done. They escorted Godafrid to the vampire’s body, its head and wings had been cut clean off and piled on top of the body with a spear going through the head. But just decapitating a demon isn’t always enough so their bodies are burned up to make sure that they don’t regenerate. Godafrid readied his mind and pointed his staff towards the body, he cleared his throat and started the incantation.

O great spirits grand this lowly servant thine power of fire

Gather me the power of the flame spirits

O spirits of flame grant thine power of fire

Bring forth Surge of Fire

The surge of fire engulfed the vampire’s body in seconds and some faint screaming could be heard coming from it, as if it was still alive which it most likely was still.

Godafrid collapsed as his leg was in pain and he couldn’t stand for long with it. One of the warriors helped him sit on a nearby bench. As he sat down Godafrid let out a sigh of relief, he had survived his second encounter with a demon, not counting his encounters with hobgoblins as some argue that they are lesser demons as they are the demon High king’s creations after all.

The mounted warrior, now off his horse, takes a seat at the same bench that Godafrid is sitting on.

“That was one tough fight.” The warrior says while still looking at the burning corpse. “So what’s your name mister sorcerer”

“I’m Godafrid, son of Sigiheri”

“Nice to meet you Godorick, my name is Raganhar son of Wighard.” Raganhar takes a quick look at Godafrid’s leg.”Looks like you could use a resting place with some good food.”

Godafrid leaned his head back resting it on a wall of a house. He thinked for at least five seconds before answering to Raganhar.

“Yeah, that sounds like something I need right now.” Godafrid said without looking at Raganhar.

“Well then, it’s settled,” Raganhard jumped up from the bench and turned towards Godafrid, “You are coming with us, we have a small fort not far from here.”

Godafrid slowly got up with the help of his staff and Raganhar. He seated himself on the horse and they started their journey to the Orders fort.