As Sophie and Marko rummaged through the soldier’s wagon, Teesa and Zack walked down the hill and inspected what remained of the men. It was a grisly affair, human and rat bodies lying around the small valley. Both covered in blood with errant body parts everywhere.
Teesa spoke up, “What are we supposed to do with this mess?”
Sophie and Marko spoke to each other for a moment then she turned around and said, “Well, this is a fucking mess. I supposed we should bury the bodies and take what is valuable back to Vinstra.”
Teesa jumped as the group heard a low growl. Zack saw Teesa raise her bow staff and strike something trapped under two soldiers. Zack rushed over and saw a dead rat.
Zack looked up at the group and they were all staring into space as if reading something. They all smiled as they read. What are they doing? And then Zack realized, they are reading their system updates for completing the quests. I bet they did this after the last two quests, and I never noticed. Zack mimicked the behavior until a few of them were done reading their updates.
Out of overwhelming curiosity Zack asked, “Is it weird or rude to talk about our system updates?”
Sophie responded first, “That’s right, you are from the backwoods, seriously did you go to primary school?” with a laugh.
Then Teesa said, “It’s not rude, just unnecessary. You know we all see the same thing, what is there to say.”
Zack realized he should not have asked that question and tried to cover for himself and said, “I get that, I am just a verbal processor, I like to talk things out when they happen. No big deal.”
Zack began to busily go through the soldier’s stuff to shift the focus from him.
Marko said, “We should talk about why the soldiers were here. There hasn’t been a known incursion by the nobles into our area for at least a hundred years.”
Sophie nodded, “It is strange they are here. Being in this forest away from the normal road suggests they were trying not to be discovered.”
Zack noticed while this was going on Autumn was feverishly going through the soldier’s belongings as if she was looking for something. He caught Sophie’s eye and nodded at Autumn with a questioning look on his face.
Sophie got Marko’s attention and they nodded at each other.
Sophie then looked at Autumn and said, “Hey Margot, what are you looking for?”
Autumn said without looking, “Um for valuables, you know gold…” She stopped what she was doing as her voice trailed off. Autumn slowly turned around to find Sophie, Marko, and Teesa right behind her with weapons drawn.
Sophie commanded, “Zack take her bow!
Zack reached over and snatched the bow before Autumn/Margot could react.
Sophie said, “Looking for this?” As she held a parchment with a drawing of Autumn/Margot on is.
Sophie continued, “The parchment are orders from the queen to rescue Margot.”
Autumn face went from compliant and scared to defiant and angry.
She said, “Well fuck!”
Sophie asked, “Why were the soldiers coming to rescue you? Who the fuck is Autumn?”
Margot didn’t say anything.
Sophie got up real close to Margot to intimidate her, “I asked you a question! Why were the soldiers coming to rescue you?”
Margot just stared back and didn’t say a word.
Zack was shocked by the revelation that Autumn was not who she said she was. He was even more shocked when Marko walked up and struck her in the head and knocked her out.
Teesa cried, “Marko! Why did you do that?”
Marko responded with a grunt, “She wasn’t going to say anything.” Then he grabbed her wrist and showed a tattoo of a black dragon wrapped around a golden sword.
Marko continued, “She is part of the elite guard and intelligence corps of the queen. She has been trained to withstand more than we can give her. She will never talk.”
Sophie said, “Great, this just gets better and better. Although that does explain why she is such an amazing shot.”
Zack stammered out, “A member of what? Are we just going to leave her here?
Marko flared in anger, “A member of the Dragon’s Brood. The deadliest group of warriors the Queen has at her disposal. We are not going to leave her here. We are going to kill her. There is nothing else we can do.”
Zack started to protest when Marko moved at impossible speed and decapitated Margot with a single swing of his axe.
Teesa and Zack exclaimed in shock, “What the fuck are you doing?”
Sophie grabbed them both by the arm and lead them away. She said in an even quiet tone, “There is history here you are not aware of. The Dragon’s Brood is a group of warriors, assassins, and nobles who serve at the pleasure of the queen. The are the muscle and the enforcers of the queens will when it requires discretion or certainty of completing the mission. If Autumn or Margot, whatever her name was, is here, something bad is going on.”
Zack replied with a disgusted and angry look on his face, “I get it, but to just kill her in cold blood while she is knocked out seems brutal and sadistic!”
Sophie responded again evenly in hushed tones, “I can see why you say that and normally I would agree. However, what you do not know is that the Dragon’s Brood is responsible for the deaths of many Vinstra residents over the past 100 years.
Sophie continued, “Usually when they are travelling outside of Vinstra territory. Two years ago, Marko’s fiancé was murdered by them when she was on a trip to see family. The Dragon’s Brood sent her head back in a box decorated like a wedding shower present. They even signed their names and put the queen’s seal on the parchment.”
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Teesa inhaled deeply and said, “That is awful! What the hell is wrong with those people. He has been sitting with that rage for two years. I am surprised he lasted that long.”
Zack sat back and thought about the pain Marko must be in.
He shook his head and said, “When did you know she wasn’t Autumn?”
Sophie responded, “After I yelled at her, Marko and I walked over to the wagon. In one of the safety pouches, I found the orders. The picture looks exactly like her.
Zack jumped in, “Ah that’s why you called her by her real name, to see if she would respond, clever.”
Sophie gave a faint smile, “Every now and then I can be smart.”
Teesa said, “Now what are we going to do?”
Sophie replied, “We need collect anything of value including evidence of their intentions. Then we need destroy signs or traces that they were here. Burn it all if we must.”
Zack and Teesa nodded somberly and got to work. It took the team well into the early morning hours to collect what they needed and destroy the rest beyond recognition. They finished cleaning up the scene around midnight. They decided to make camp for the night.
Bright and early the next morning they were on their way back to Vinstra.
Zack asked Sophie, “I am guessing we need to tell sherif Taynor about the Dragon’s Brood?
Sophie responded, “Yeah, and figure out what Autumn or Margot was really doing here.”
Teesa chimed in, “I wonder of Margot was really involved in that farmstead family or if she just happened along the farmstead right before we did.”
Zack exclaimed, “Damn I didn’t even think of that. She was a clever woman to come up with that ruse so quickly. She was convincing.”
Marko spat, “She was a murderer and got better than she deserved!”
Sophie replied sympathetically, “You may not be wrong Marko. She is dead now and we have bigger problems to face.”
The team rode straight to the Vinstra Adventurer Hall. When they entered Vita was in the main room talking with sherif Taynor.
Vita said, “Well well, look who's back from their first big adventure. How did it go? Anything exciting happen.”
Sophie took the lead, “The good news is we attended to all three quests. However, other than saving Underwood from a minor goblin siege, the rest is bad news.”
Sherif Taynor looked up from the counter, “Why is that, Sophie?”
Sophie responded, “Where to start. The Milena Farmstead is a total loss. Everyone there is dead. They were ambushed by wolves and massacred. At least we think that is what happened.”
Taynor asked, “Did you find dead bodies? Were the people all chewed up and body parts everywhere?”
Sophie replied, “Yup, consistent with a wolf ambush. However, there was a survivor. Her name was Autumn and she seemed traumatized.”
Taynor said, “One person survived?”
Sophie said, “She was holed up in the attic of the farmstead taking wolves out with her bow and arrow. She was an amazing shot.”
Teesa chimed in, “Yeah the precision of her shots should have been a red flag.”
Taynor replied, “Red flag, did something bad happen?”
Sophie said, “Yeah, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. The next morning, she asked to join our team. Claimed the only thing holding her to the Melina Farmstead was her husband who died in the ambush.”
Taynor’s interest peeked, “did she say which of the Melina boys she was married to?”
Sophie responded, “She did not, only said they recently relocated there to take over the farmstead.”
Taynor replied, “That doesn’t make sense, Thomas was the only one of their boys to return to the farm recently. He was married to a woman named Marisae.”
Marko spoke, “Safe to say we did not know much about Autumn other than she was a Dragon’s Brood member.”
Taynor’s eyebrows went up in shock, “Dragon’s Brood, whoa that is a problem. Wait a minute, you said ‘was’ as in past tense. Where is she now?”
Marko grunted with satisfaction, “Dead and buried in the forest.”
Sophie put her hand on Markos’s shoulder and said, “We are getting ahead of ourselves again. We left the Melina’s and headed straight for Underwood. We easily took care of the Goblin siege, largely thanks to Autumn’s amazing marksmanship with her bow.”
Taynor interrupted, “How is mayor Kenster and the hamlet?”
Sophie said, “They are fine now. They really need more support or population if they are going to make a go of it out there in the middle of nowhere.”
Taynor replied, “I have told them that many times, Kenster is a good man but very stubborn and independent.”
Sophie continued, “We left Underwood and went straight to the little forest to the south to deal with the Ring Rat infestation.”
Vita exclaimed, “Fucking Ring Rats, I hate them.”
Teesa smiled and said, “Amen sister, amen to that!”
Sophie smirked and continued, “This is where is goes from weird to worse. We found the infestation surrounding a small group of Dragon’s Brood soldiers. Before we could decide whether to help the soldiers, the rats took them out. Thankfully most of the rats died in the process.”
Taynor smiled unexpectedly, “Well, that sounds like really good news.”
Sophie interjected, “When we looked over the hill and realized the soldiers were done for, Autumn lost her mind and killed most of the remaining rats. Then she went down to the encampment and started maniacally rummaging through their stuff like she was looking for something.”
Sophie took a drink of her tea and continued, “Luckily for us, Marko found what she was looking for first.”
Sophie handed the queen’s orders to the sheriff.
The sherif whistled in amazement and pointed at the sketch of Marisae, “This is not good. Not good at all. Also, I know who Autumn/Margot/Marisae is. I met her with Thomas not that long ago.”
Teesa responded, “So she really was his wife, and her name was Marisae? That seems even stranger to me than what she was lying about that.”
Zack said, “That means she has been embedded in this community for a while. Man talk about being committed to a mission. Do you think Thomas was in on it?”
Taynor replied, “I doubt it, he was off sowing his oats in other parts of the kingdom. He was a big strong lad, but not very bright. I am sure this woman played him like a fiddle.”
At that moment the door to the hall opened and an older pudgy gentleman with two people in trail walked through the door like he owned the place.
Vita smiled and said, “Hello Mayor Felling, what a pleasure to have you stop by the adventurer’s hall.”
The mayor ignored Vita and walked straight back to Taynor’s office gesturing for him to follow.
Taynor rolled his eyes and said, “One moment please.” He joined the mayor. One of the mayor’s staff followed them in and shut the door to his office.
A few moments later the mayor and his staff abruptly opened the door and stormed out of the hall.
Vita’s voice was dripping with sarcasm as it trailed after them, “As always it was a pleasure to see you Mr. Mayor.”
Traynor came out of his office with a weary sigh, “The mayor heard about what happened at the Melina farmstead, he is pissed off because the Melina’s owe him money and now likely he won’t get paid back. He wants to round up a group of deputies and take everything of value from the farmstead before looters do. I told him that was not my job, and he should hire some of his thugs to do it.”
Vita said, “I bet that went over well.”
Traynor exclaimed, “I don’t give two shits what that man thinks. He is only interested in taking care of himself!”
Zack nodded and said, “Not the best vibe from that guy.”
Sophie turned around and replied, “Cor, I like you, you’re a good dude. But sometimes you say some weird shit. What is a vibe and why was it bad?”
Zack stared blankly at Sophie realizing he stepped in it again. Acting casual, well at least attempting to act casual he said, “Back home it means I don’t get a good or positive feeling about him. Basically, vibe is another way to say feeling.”
Sophie winked and smiled at Zack before turning back to the sherif, “What can we do about the Dragon’s Brood snooping around here? Should we report it to the mayor or the council?”
Sherif Taynor quickly responded, “I will go to the council today, best not to get the mayor involved any sooner than we need to.”
Zack suddenly felt tired as he realized this adventure had come to an end. The adrenaline of the past several days was starting to wane. He decided to head back to the cabin.
Zack turned to the team, “I am going to head out and get cleaned up, maybe take a nap. What is our plan in the near future?”
Sophie looked at Teesa and Marko and said, “I think we should take a day or so to relax. Let’s meet back here at the hall in t two days. Does that sound good?”
Teesa said, “That sounds great.”
Marko nodded and grabbed his ax as he walked out the door.
Zack smiled and said, “It has been a pleasure adventuring with you. I will see you in two days!”