They stood on the road, the three of them. Isa had her new scimitar at her side and her staff in hand. The rapier was strapped to the side of her big bag.
“It’s naught but a few hours, I know,” Mery said to Isa, “but me and Wat, we can journey with you back to Bywater.”
Although she was tempted to accept the offer, Isa shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure that’s true. And you’ll be there before dark.” Mery tapped Wat’s arm. “Did you know that this one took on a gnoll?”
“It was nothing,” Isa said. “No, I mean, it was a tough fight. A really tough fight. What I meant to say was…. I don’t know what I meant to say.” She took a breath. “I’ll be careful. And I’ll see you in a few days, in Deney. Where can I find you?”
“I like Cooper’s Rooms,” said Mery. “Clean, not too dear of a price. Good ale.” She smiled. “That’s where you’ll find me and the boy.”
With that they turned west and Isa turned south toward Bywater.
It felt good to be walking alone again. The last time she’d been alone and walking any distance had been in her first days. Joth had sent her to see that strange wizard Fedru. If he’d bothered to mention her quest log, she’d have had some warning of what to expect from the man. As it was, Fedru - that was his last name she seemed to remember - had been as strange as any straight-to-video movie wizard. The tattoo, the strange smoky house, his hints at prophecy…. That had been quite an introduction into the world of Varana.
Fedru - well, and the gnoll, oh and Gimble - they’d been the strangest things she’d seen since she’d woken up that morning after a late night at Lund’s. But of course, she’d seen many, many strange things over these last days. For instance, the corgi-sized spiders-- Isa immediately froze and looked around. She’d been walking and thinking and paying absolutely no attention to her surroundings. She wasn’t in Forest Park taking a Saturday hike. She was in the wilderness and damn it, if she wanted to stay alive, she needed to act like she was in the danger that she was in.
Isa stopped walking, stood stock still, and listened. She listened with every part of her body. She wanted to hear a mouse bend a piece of grass. What skill was that? Your ears aren’t dexterous. Is it intelligence? Do you have to be super smart to have good hearing? Maybe you need to be wise enough to know what you’re hearing, to know if you’re hearing the wind move a tree branch or hearing a person doing it.
Whatever the correct answer, Isa tried to use everything she had to listen and understand the sounds around her, because of course there were sounds around her, all around her. None of them sounded like a dagger weilding highwayman. But of course a highwayman would know how to walk softly, carefully, noiselessly.
Isa whirled around to surprise the thief behind her, but of course the road stood empty. She laughed at how spooked she’d been and turned back to the journey. She still had a good hour, maybe more, until she reached Bywater, and it would be bad to let her guard down again.
It really is a lovely world, Varana. Isa sighed with contentment. Some of the trees still had green leaves, but many were showing off their fall colors. The sky, which had been a deep blue like the best days of autumn, now looked leaden. Did it snow here, she wondered. Maybe she’d need to spend some of that new gold on-- Isa stopped cold in the road. She’d forgotten to give Mery any of the 27 gold Lund had looted. By rights half of it was hers.
Isa sighed again. Mery. Why hadn’t Isa slept with her? A sexy, oh so charming, beautiful woman wanted to have sex, and Isa said No. In the light of day that seemed pretty high up on the list of bad decisions. But then, what she’d said to Mery had been true - Isa didn’t know what she wanted, and the cautious side of her had won the day.
But what’s to be cautious about for fuck’s sake? You meet a girl, you hit it off, and you have a few night’s pleasure. What’s the problem with that?
Isa walked down the Bywater road for a few minutes chewing on that question. There were several problems with the wham-bam plan. First, that’s how Isa had started all of her long-term relationships - one of them had been a one night stand that lasted 8 months. Second, Isa was tired of feeling like a kid playing at grown up. She wanted a house, a child, a swing set in the backyard. She wanted, well maybe not a minivan, but the reasons that people bought minivans.
The stark truth of her thoughts stopped Isa cold. She’d danced around the idea of children with Celeste, who had made it clear that kids were not on her immediate agenda, but the truth was - the truth is - that Isa was ready for a family.
“And Mery, she doesn’t seem like the soccer mom type,” Isa said aloud and then laughed at the image of the roguish bard standing in the rain on the sidelines of a peewee soccer game, bored out of her mind. For sure Mery would want to be anywhere but there.
But that wasn’t right either. The way Mery had told Wat the truth about casting the spell on him, the way she looked as they stood together on the road…. It was practically maternal. Isa knew that Mery wouldn’t let anything happen to the young man. And so that mental image of Mery on the sidelines at a kid’s soccer game, she’d be cheering her heart out, and that wasn’t comic. It was actually kind of hot.
Isa turned around, half thinking she’d see Mery at the rise of a hill, coming toward her. As if Mery might have had the same train of thought and wanted a do-over for last night. But that was stupid - Isa was the one who needed the do-over.
She looked down the road toward Bywater and then back toward Deney. She’d been walking for an hour, so that was probably 4 miles or so. She could turn around now and be in Deney only an hour behind them. But that seemed silly, frivolous, maybe even desperate. Mery Braydon didn’t seem the type to like desperate.
No, Isa would continue to Bywater, go to the temple and then go to Deney. That was the plan, what she’d told Mery she’d do. If Isa didn’t go the Temple of Fazar today, she’d have to go later, and what was more important, sex or getting home?
She’d leave Bywater tomorrow. so that she’d get to Deney around dinner time. Find Mery, buy her a drink or three and then they could see what might happen. And if the moment had passed, if there was no spark between them, well she owed Mery 14 gold anyway.
Dinner, drinks, a night in Deney….. That would add up. Coins seemed to flow in and out of her hands with alarming ease. And everything - except beer - was so expensive! Who knew how much that Cooper’s Rooms place in Deney would cost. 3 gold here, 5 gold there…. How’s a girl supposed to save?
She looked at the dark stone on her hand, the ring Joth had picked out at Gimble’s. There was that. 50 gold right there. So after a while adventurers start looking like walking jewelry stores? That doesn’t seem like a great plan either. More reason for that unseen thief to stalk behind you as you walk down a lonely road.
Isa stopped suddenly again to listen…. Nothing. Suddenly the forest seemed extra quiet.
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That wasn’t so great either, was it? You don’t want a totally quiet forest. That means the little birds and squirrels are being quiet, too. Why are birds ever quiet in the daytime? To keep from being eaten by something, of course.
Just then a fat raindrop interrupted Isa’s thoughts. And then several more joined to create a thunderous downpour. Isa looked to the trees. The canopy would offer some protection. That’s what birds do, right? She could be like the birds, perch on a branch and wait for the storm to pass. Isa spied a tall tree near the road. Maybe she could climb it and stay put for a little while. As she got closer, she adjusted her plans. The tree was massive, and the lowest branches were well above her head. But maybe there was one a little deeper in the forest. But not too deep, not too far from the road.
Isa walked a few paces into the woods and looked up to assess the trees. Rain splattered her face as she assessed her chances. The trees were tall - not redwood tall, but tall. Once more she was struck by the similarities between this world and her own. She really could be in Forest Park instead of the wilds of Varana.
She scanned the tree line looking for low branches that she could climb. It was so hard to know where one tree left off and another began. And she was wasting time - if she wasn’t careful she could end up drenched and walking home in the dark. Home.
Was Bywater home? Well, as much as any place here was home, it was Lund’s, and Lund’s was in Bywater. What were her options? Stand in the pouring rain, wishing that she could climb impossibly tall trees or get trudging back to Lund’s. She started to turn back to the road, which thankfully she had not lost sight of, when she noticed the house.
Well, house was perhaps not the right word for the structure. Maybe ruin was a more apt description. The house sat tucked between 2 fat trees maybe 50 feet from Isa. The whole place listed to the left. The roof that Isa could see was green with moss, and there was a rectangle of darkness where the front door should have been. A pane of glass winked in a sudden shaft or sunlight, and it looked almost like a wink, like the little house had winked at Isa.
She took a step toward it and stopped. Are there magic houses here? Why hadn’t she asked anyone about that? Isa looked at the sky and exhaled. “If I make it to Bywater alive, I swear that I will find Joth fucking Windbane and make him tell me every danger that he can think of. Starting with ramshackle magical cottages.”
Unconsciously Isa put her hand on the hilt of her scimitar and took a step back. And stopped. “I’m a level 4 fighter,” Isa said aloud. What do I have to be afraid of, right? Wat would march right into that ruin, probably. Mery definitely would. She’d be smart enough to take shelter. And maybe there was something valuable in there. Isa was just complaining about money.
With her hand still on her sword, Isa walked toward the little house. As she got closer, the idea of treasure seemed less and less likely, while the chance of being killed when the roof finally caved increased dramatically. At the threshold Isa paused and took out her sword. Properly armed now with sword and staff, she stepped into the house.
The rich, rotten smell of old wood hit Isa’s nose the moment she passed the threshold. The floor was a spongy carpet of leaves, but she figured there were wooden boards under there somewhere. Light filtered through the two small windows on each side of the door giving her enough light to see the interior. What little there was. She saw a fireplace and mantle, cracked sticks nearby that might have once been a chair. A dented pail lay on its side not far from the mouth of the fireplace.
Rain thundered on the roof, and Isa looked up fearful that it would come down on her head. Isa walked toward the fireplace and used her staff to set the pail upright. Underneath the dirt and leaves showed the crease of the pail’s rim. Leaning over Isa peered into the pail, half expecting something to jump out at her. Nothing.
She was getting very good at psyching herself up for some attack, only to have nothing happen. Perhaps it was better to be prepared, though. That’s how college had been - an endless line of preparation for the pop-quiz that might happen. Right, so an ambush was sort of like a combat pop-quiz. Isa chuckled to herself. Would anyone here find that as funny as she did?
As she started to turn to explore the rest of the small house, a carving above the mantle caught her eye, and she stepped closer to inspect. In the center of the stonework someone had carved something like a coat of arms. Isa saw two battling lions, both on their hind legs with front paws out, ready to fight. She couldn’t quite reach the carving, but it looked like fine work. Someone had chipped away stone to reveal the fighting lions. There was a name for that -- rampant maybe? Lions rampant.
The carving certainly seemed entirely too fancy for this small place. Perhaps it had been the hunting shelter of some noble, or the secret getaway of the lady of the manor - a place that she could meet her lovers. Isa smiled at her flight of fancy and turned to explore the rest of the house.
Opposite the fireplace lay a pile of stiff and rotting cloth. Remnants of bed clothes, perhaps? But then, where was the bed? Sheets and blanket but no bed? Likely it had been carted off by someone, the same someone who’d taken the other valuables.
She squatted down against the stone of the fireplace - it seemed the only clean and dry spot in the house - to wait out the storm. What would her mother say if she could see Isa right now? Armed with weapons, leather pants, dirty face, rain-soaked hair, Isa hardly looked like her mother’s daughter. She was a million miles away from Portland brunches, the Saturday Market, and runs on the waterfront. She was a million miles from the dental clinic, from root canals and crowns and x-rays.
At some point the rain stopped and the absence of sound woke Isa from her musings. She gave the room one more glance before stepping out of the house. Her foot slid on a pile of wet leaves, causing Isa to lose her balance and lurch to one side. Instinctively she tried to plant the end of her staff to steady herself, but the metal-shod tip went right through the rotting wood. For a split second she was falling, and then the staff met solid ground, and Isa kept her feet.
She laughed aloud. “Dexy fighter. That’s me.”
Spoiler: Isa's Character Sheet
Name: Isa Chamberlin
Race: Human
Height & Weight: 5ft 6inches / 120 lbs
Class: Fighter Level: 4
Alignment: Good
Background: Stranger in a Strange Land
Hit Points: 26 AC: 15
Current Hit Points: 26
Combat: +5 to Hit
Weapons: Scimitar +1 (left hand) 1d6 +4 (slashing) / Quarterstaff (right hand) 1d6 +2 (bludgeoning)
STR
11
0
DEX
16
+3
CON
11
0
INT
13
+1
WIS
13
+1
CHA
12
+1
Saving Throws: Str and Con +2
5
Acrobatics* (Dex)
1
Medicine (Wis)
1
Animal Handling (Wis)
1
Nature (Int)
1
Arcana (Int)
3
Perception* (Wis)
0
Athletics (Str)
1
Performance (Cha)
1
Deception (Cha)
1
Persuasion (Cha)
3
History* (Int)
1
Religion (Int)
3
Insight* (Wis)
3
Sleight of Hand (Dex)
1
Intimidation (Cha)
3
Stealth (Dex)
1
Investigation (Int)
1
Survival (Wis)
Special Attack: Two weapon fighting. When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Class Features:
Second Wind - On your turn, you can use a Bonus Action to regain hit points equal to 5 + your fighter level. Short or Long Rest before you can use it again.
Action Surge - On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible Bonus Action. You must finish a short or Long Rest before using it again.
Martial Archetype: Surgical Fighter
3rd level - Clinical Eye: Spend 1 combat turn studying your enemy and learn one of the following: if the enemy is equal to or stronger than you in strength, dexterity, or constitution. Can spend up to 3 turns to discern all 3. Can be used outside of combat as a free action - spend 1 minute to learn all three.