The clip-clop of the horses' hooves down the packed dirt road was the only sound in the early morning air as the group of companions finally caught sight of Jayse's farmhouse in the distance. Astoria and Ladriel had filled Tilly in on the events inside the inn and Astoria had opened up the letter from Lord Dane that she had found. The letter didn’t contain any useful information, however, so she tucked it away in her bag again after reading it.
The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon and it was already starting to warm up. Astoria had told the others that she knew of a safe place, but she wasn't really sure that she was making the right decision. The truth was, she just didn't know what else to do. It was clear that they needed to do something about Lord Dane since he appeared to be one of the higher-ups in the Red Lotus, and she needed a safe place to hide since they were going to be sticking around town for a while.
The farmer and his family had been the first people she had met in this world, and they were good people. Astoria hoped that at the very least, they could watch over Tilly and their silent companion while she and Ladriel did something about the problem. Astoria held no illusions that the town wouldn’t be on high alert after the grizzly scene at the inn would be discovered this morning. Astoria opened up her notifications while they rode toward the farmhouse.
Notifications You have gained 120 EXP for defeating a level 2 human. You have gained 840 EXP for defeating 3 level 6 Cutthroats Congratulations! You have reached level 7! You have gained 6 attribute points to distribute.
She saw that she had a quest notification as well and opened it up.
You have unlocked a sub-quest: Corruption in Oliend Lord Dane of Oliend is involved in the Red Lotus organization. He ensures that nobody takes note of the girls who go missing from time to time in this area. Investigate further and bring this man to justice in order to put a stop to the Red Lotus' operations in this region.
Reward: 5,000 EXP
Do you accept?
Yes / No
Once again the universe wants to reward me for taking out a slimeball! Astoria selected yes on the new quest and was more than happy to see that she had gained yet another level.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Tilly spoke up. "You said this farmer and his family helped you before?" She sounded wary of trusting strangers. Astoria couldn't blame her after what the four of them had been put through. She shuddered to think of what would have become of them if Lyon had actually managed to get them to his planned destination.
Astoria went into details of how she had met Jayse and his family. She explained how she had helped them and that they had rewarded her for doing so; they had even offered to let her stay with them instead of heading off on her own again. When she was done she finished by telling Tilly, “I think we can trust them. They’re good people.”
"The Red Lotus has dealings with one of their local nobility, it could put their family in danger if we are discovered. Are you sure we should involve them?" Ladriel asked.
Astoria paused for a moment, feeling the gravity of the situation before replying, "Honestly... I'm not sure, but I don't know what else to do. We need a safe place to plan our next move, and we can't just keep dragging these two into dangerous situations."
"I know that I'm not useful in a fight right now, but maybe I could learn a few things, you know. I want to help! These people are monsters and I don't want to just sit on the side and do nothing," Tilly said with resolve in her voice.
"I can teach both of you the basics of what I know. I'm not very skilled myself, but if we can all fight, then we'll have better chances," Ladriel smiled at Tilly. An extra fighter could make all the difference.
A few minutes later they reached the farm. It was pretty early in the morning, but farmers typically started their days at the break of dawn. Jayse was no exception to this. Apparently he had already repaired the damage done to the chicken coop, and he could be seen inside tossing feed around to the hungry birds. He saw them approach and stopped what he was doing. He came out of the coop and made his way over to them, clearly taking stock of Astoria's companions.
"Hello again, Astoria," he gave her a warm smile. "What brings you back to the farm? And who are your friends?"
"Hi, Jayse." Astoria hopped down from the horse. "It's kind of a long story, would it be okay if we talk inside?"
Jayse looked at the others appraisingly before replying, "Sure. Let's go inside and you can tell me everything."
Astoria and the others walked the horses over to the house and tied them to the post that supported the small porch. They proceeded inside and after they had all sat down, Astoria introduced her companions and relayed her story to him. Rodia and the girls were still asleep and Jayse didn't seem to feel the need to wake his wife just yet.
Jayse listened quietly as she recounted her journey after leaving the farm and Astoria believed that he truly felt sympathy for their plight. He was a father of two girls, so how could he not be bothered to hear about girls being stolen away in the dead of night. Astoria saw that the gruff farmer was truly shocked to hear about Elena, the innkeeper, had been Involved in such horrible things. He told the group that he had known the innkeeper for several years, and although at times she had seemed a bit off, everyone had thought she was a kind person.
"I am so sorry for all you girls have gone through," he said in a sorrowful tone. "You can take shelter here as long as you need."
"Thank you. We won’t be here long, I intend to lay waste to the scumbags in charge of the organization that did this to us. Beyond that, I want to help this town. Who knows how many girls they have taken in the night from that inn."
"Going against the nobility is not something to be done lightly. Even nobles way out here in the sticks hold a lot of power. The particular noble that you mentioned is known to be a brute. He's one of the three noble families that owns most of the land around here. Lord Garland is in charge of the town and it is well known that he holds some sort of grudge against Lord Dane. Nobody is sure why, though," Jayse explained.
"Maybe we can use this against him. We could go speak with lord Garland," Tilly suggested.
"Lord Garland doesn't hold public audiences, so it would be impossible to just go to his estate and talk to him. If you can do something to gain his attention, then your chances of gaining an audience will be much higher," Jayse said.
Astoria remembered that the quests on the board in the tavern were both signed by a Lord Garland. "Wait... What about if we did something about those goblins that have been terrorizing the town? Do you think he’d hand us the reward in person?” Astoria asked hopefully.
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"Well... yes actually. He would certainly be the one handing out the reward."
That was enough confirmation for Astoria. She filled in the others of her party on the quest to repel the goblin threat and showed them the approximate location of their target as marked on her map. "Considering that they outnumber us so vastly, I was thinking we should try to go in under the cover of darkness and pick them off using bows," Astoria suggested.
"It's not a bad plan. I will spend the afternoon teaching the two of you what I can and with three of us such a thing might be possible," Ladriel replied.
"We’ll take you up on your offer, Jayse, but only for our fourth companion. We need to get her to some sort of healer when this is all done, but for now she needs to stay safe." Astoria was glad that she had trusted her instincts on coming back here.
"That’s fine. If you’re tired, you can rest in the girls’ room before you head out," Jayse said.
Rodia walked out from the hallway and had a surprised look on her face when she saw Astoria and her companions sitting in her living room. Jayse updated her on the situation as the four of them made their way to the girls’ room for some much needed rest. When Astoria awoke, she was the only one in the room, and so she got up and went outside.
"It'd be good to teach you guys some basic skills since we have a little time before we need to leave. Like I said before, I'm pretty much a novice myself when it comes to this type of thing, but I am a ranger who had been training under a master, even if only for a short time." Ladriel unsheathed her sword and handed it over to Tilly. "We don't have a third bow, so I'm going to teach you some basic blade skills."
Over the next few hours Ladriel showed her two students the ropes with swords, daggers and bows. Astoria didn't need any help in the third department as she already had the archery skill, but it would be great to know that if Tilly got herself a bow, she could use it effectively. Astoria decided that she would go back to using two daggers, and gave Tilly her short sword.
Ladriel also took the time to teach Tilly stealth so that they could more effectively sneak up on the goblin compound. She pulled up her skill window to have a look at how everything was progressing.
Spoiler: Skills
Skills • Archery - Level 3 (7% toward next level)
• Stealth - Level 2 (57% toward next level)
• Swords - Level 1 (0% toward next level)
• Daggers - Level 1 (0% toward next level)
• Fishing - Level 2 (71% toward next level)
Astoria was happy that her stealth skill had leveled, she would need every edge she could get tonight. It was amazing how information just sort of flooded into her once she got the skill learned and she had even gained a sort of muscle memory when it came to using her new skills. Even though she had a basic understanding of swinging the weapon around before the training, she now found that her mind held intricate details of how to move and why that she wouldn't have had before. She knew how to stand and move and could more easily riposte.
The sun hung low in the sky and it was time for them to head out if they wanted to take care of the goblin problem. Astoria and the others bid farewell to Jayse and his family and told him that they would return as soon as they could. Jayse told them to be safe and wished them well as they took their horses and made their way to the east.
"I'll do my best to back you guys up if the goblins try to get close," Tilly announced with a bit of a shake to her voice. It was clear that she was still pretty scared of doing this.
They cut across fields and around the town. The fields were eerily quiet once it got dark save for some chirping crickets or the occasional hoot of an owl. Astoria looked around vigilantly as they traveled, remembering the pack of wolves that she had fought with Jayse last time she was in this area.
The night wore on and the moons slowly moved across the sky providing the dim light that she had now gotten used to. All three moons seemed to be in a waning cycle and even though the light they put out was far less than it had been when they were full, it was still not too difficult to see.
Several times they came across the burnt remains of farmhouses and Astoria couldn't help but feel bad for the poor people who had lost everything to the goblins, perhaps even their lives. They didn't stop to examine any of the burnt farmhouses and simply continued their quiet trek through the darkness.
The dry fields from before gave way to wet, muddy ones and the hooves of the horses made slight sucking noises as they continued. Once they had gotten to the marshland area it didn't take much longer for them to spot a crude wooden fort in the distance. Torches blazed on the ramparts of the fort and Astoria had little doubt that they had found the newly erected goblin stronghold.
Luckily they hadn't been spotted yet and they circled back a ways to find a place to leave the horses. After tying them to a tree they hopped off their mounts and got their weapons ready. Tilly now held Bren's short sword in her hand while the others carried their bows.
“Do you think we'll be able to get close enough to pick the ones on the roof off?" Astoria asked.
Ladriel had a considerate look on her face while she contemplated the plan. "The tall reeds in the marsh should give us a little cover, we need to stay low and move quietly. I think we will be able to get close enough though."
“Sounds good. Let’s go.” Astoria activated stealth and the others did the same. She ensured that she saw the familiar closed eye icon before moving forward.
The three of them crept along slowly like turtles crossing a road and after long minutes had passed they had a much closer view of the threat they now faced. There was a makeshift gate that lead into the goblin hold and outside of it there were two guards sitting next to torches. Luckily, these two were asleep. Atop the building there were three more goblins that appeared to be patrolling, they could see bows leaning against the walls illuminated by the flickering torch light. If they were seen by those then there was no doubt that the entire goblin hold would come running through those gates after them.
"We need to take the two by the entrance out silently in one strike," Astoria whispered to the others. "I'll take the one on the left."
"Understood," Ladriel answered.
The two archers then readied their bows. Astoria kept a close eye on her stealth icon and was happy that they remained undiscovered so far. Her heart felt like it would leap out of her throat and her hand felt sweaty against the smooth wood of her bow as she nocked an arrow. She forced herself to focus and took in a deep breath before pulling the arrow back to her cheek and aiming at her target. She wasn't confident that she could kill the goblin with a head shot, so she decided to aim for the chest for a bigger target. They fired their arrows in unison and both found their marks. Ladriel had managed to hit her target right in the eye socket while Astoria's arrow had found her target's heart. The goblins would never awaken from their nap.
Now that their first obstacle had been taken care of they needed to do something about the patrols. They waited patiently studying their targets. After a while it became clear that two of the three goblins atop the tower would stop and chit-chat while the third just keep moving.
"Maybe we can take out the third goblin first while those two are chatting? Afterward, we can quickly dispatch those two?" Astoria asked.
"That is probably a solid plan." Ladriel answered.
"I'm just glad they haven't seen us. I wasn't sure that hiding in these tall reeds was really going to work," Tilly whispered.
They watched their quarry until the perfect opportunity arose again. Ladriel would be the one killing the moving target since she was the better shot. It didn't take long before the moment of truth arrived. Astoria aimed for one of the two who had been chatting while Ladriel loosed an arrow at the patrolling guard. Once again she scored a perfect head shot and the patrolling goblin died instantly. The other two who had been chatting turned, seeing their companion hit the ground and before they could react two more arrows had been loosed and sunk into their bodies. Astoria was amazed at how fast Ladriel was able to fire those things off and even more impressed that she had been able to take out two targets herself with no problems.
The three companions stood up, no longer needing to hide and quickly made their way over to the structure while maintaining stealth. Astoria slung her bow over her shoulder and unsheathed both of her daggers. With a nod to her companions she quietly crept over to the door and opened it ever so slightly. She listened for a few moments and didn't hear anything inside. With a hand motion she beckoned her companions forward and the three of them disappeared into the dark structure.