The journey back had ended with a handful of silver in each of our hands and us heading right back out on the road. This time we had wheels, and I sat comfortably in the open wagon with Lin and Yara, resting on some rather finely cushioned chairs. The owner of the cart had his selection of parlour chairs, a nice but battered workshop table and a heavy trunk set up in the wagon for an on the go sitting experience. The wide flat fields and young forests sprawled out ahead of us outside the road way, with little signs of life here and there.
That included a pair of crows circling overhead, watching us from afar. I checked them with the spyglass, but I didn’t see any collars on them. Soon after they got bored and the curious birds left us alone.
Lin was kicking back with her feet up on the side of the wagon, a mead bottle in hand, relaxing with her eyes half lidded. The cozy cat let out a long yawn that sounded like a meow. She held out the bottle and gave me a lazy smile. “Could you heat this up for me hun? Big sister Lin’s drink has gone cold.”
I heard some snickers from Maran and Ben as the two of them rode behind the wagon on horses. They held up their own bottles and Maran tried her best to keep focused on her own produce fire spell as the bumpy road jostled her in the saddle. I gave them a half hearted wave, and they returned the gesture. Several paces back Tim was stoically riding his mount as Vensa was talking his ear off while holding a flower in her hand.
I sipped at my own brew and snapped my fingers, muttering the words and summoning the glob of fire. After warming her drink up I waved my hand to dismiss the spell.
The wide brimmed leather hat at the head of the wagon dipped. “Fancy that, never had the wits for such things. Can’t say the devil of envy isn’t whispering his song now.”
The wagon owner was a man of mixed ancestry, looking mostly human with rather prominent incisors and tapered ears. His sunburnt skin blended well with the dark rich colours of his travelling garb, and the dense coat of plates over it was just as decorative as it was protective. The most striking thing he had was the long thin blade on his hip with a curled crossguard and gem pommel. I didn’t get a good enough look at it to tell if it was magic, but my gut told me it did something fun.
“Want a hot mead? I’ll even pay for it,” I said. The man smiled to show his brass capped teeth and I popped open the trunk to grab one of the many drinks inside, replacing it with a few copper coins. “Little fire and it’s perfect.”
I passed the hot bottle up the chain to Lin, who gave it to a half asleep Yara relaxing in the sun, who lazily held it out to our driver. The massive animal hitched to the cart screeched at the driver who clicked his tongue to soothe the beast. It was one of the creatures I had seen at the Nexus, a half eagle and horse that was like a gryphon. Except this one just liked to yell at things instead of tear it apart like our recent gryphon encounter.
The wagon owner pulled on the reins. “Sheila! For the sun and moon’s sake I told you no more beers, mead or wines.” The man grumbled as the creature stopped dead on the road and glared at him with her stern predatory eyes. He bit the cork off and hopped down to administer some alcohol to the thirsty magical beast. Sheila then lowered her head to let him pet her before we resumed our journey. The wagon owner gave us an apologetic smile. “Sorry, got her from a slain campaign knight. They had a habit of feasting with their mounts. Sheila can probably outdrink any dwarf you know.”
Yara sat up and looked at the plain cloth vestments and bits of armour on Sheila. “What order would sell a trained demi-gryphon? Even if she's in her silver years she is still powerful.”
The wagon owner shrugged. “Something about the widow and mistress splitting the estate and the group disbanding. When I was younger and more wild I had been looking for a mount that wouldn’t get picked off by the first forest encounter it came across. Sheila is too good at her job, she steals all the experience from me!”
The demi-gryphon let out a pleased chirp and walked with a bit more pep in her steps. We came across another of the forward scouting groups paid to keep the roadway clear for the bulk of the caravan. Their mode of transport was a mechanized wagon with a blocky steam engine that chugged along. The two dwarves and goblin that owned the machine were busy troubleshooting an engine issue as the other adventurers sat off the road playing cards on a stump.
The goblin walked up to our wagon and she waved us down. “Trade post is an hour away, you can smell the cook fires before you see ‘em. Still haven’t seen any foot traffic but there was a bundle of houses ahead, which might be part of a mine, forester group or what have yah.”
The wagon owner thumbed towards the sitting gamblers. “Did you check it out?”
The goblin lowered her hands to rest on her tool belt, thumbing her heavy, oil stained wrench and the wide bladed sabre she carried. “Place was abandoned. Weird feeling, might be a curse or some other magic horseshit. No mages here, what about you guys?”
Lin choked on her drink and sputtered to get the goblin’s attention. “We got magic. We get to keep what we find right?”
The goblin gave her a dead panned expression. “It ain’t my home, have at it sweet cheeks. Trade post folk might own it though.”
Lin’s ears flattened and her rosy cheeks could have been from the hot mead or embarrassment. “Oh right. Sorry, lots of adventures, lots of dead things, not many owners.”
Yara gave the resting group a side eye and we continued on. I could hear our four allies behind us murmuring together wondering what it could be. The gambling adventurers were talking, and I tried to hone in on what the strangers were saying.
Perception : Success!
+1 XP gained.
“Best of luck to ‘em, that place gave me the creeps like your uncle.”
“By the smith’s beard, that one is wearing dragon scale mail! He can take the danger if he's going to dress up like that. Rich bastard.”
“Shut up Darven. You're just jealous they can afford real equipment, you bloody peasant.”
“You son of trollish-”
They were out of ear shot before I could listen in onto the follow up, but if the cards getting thrown around were any indication it wasn’t anything kind. Yara finished off her drink and tore into a strip of jerky. She waved the chunk of meat at me. “What are you giggling about? That’s Rolada’s thing.”
“Nothing, just listening to those guys back there.” I ran my hand down the armour that had served me well. “Thanks again for the gift Lin.”
Lin was giddy with excitement, double checking her pockets. She perked up at her name and blew me a kiss. “It wouldn’t do if I let my favourite wizard perish under my watch. I’d be a terrible big sis, not looking out for my clan.”
“So when do I get a sweet upgrade Lin?” Yara asked.
Lin shrugged. “Your husband is the lord. Give him a shoulder massage and tell him to wiggle his fingers and make your halberd shoot fireballs.”
Yara’s eyes lit up, the magenta flames inside matching her smile in intensity. “Oh, I could go for a few fireballs in my life.”
The ranger brothers rode up beside us, with Ben tapping me on the shoulder with his bow. “Free enchantments? Where do I sign up?”
Before I was barraged with requests a scream came from the forest. A trail going off the main road led to the cluster of homes of ill repair in a cleared out glade. The trail led to the town, with a branching path shooting off into the wood, from which a bloodied gnome charged with torn clothes, and a missing cap. Instantly everyone of us were armed and ready, but the gnome didn’t even notice us or Shiela the screeching demi-gryphon as the little problem maker sprinted across the road. He hopped the low stone wall keeping the forest at bay, and ran into a wide open field.
Straight at a group of ominous standing pillars of rock with writing.
I remembered what it was. “Oh shit. Hey! Don’t-”
The rocks vibrated, levitating off the ground, and when the gnome faltered in his stride the rocks moved blindingly fast. A gunshot sound rocked the area as a spray of red covered the base of the rocky pillar. The stones all lowered themselves back to the earth in the sunny field, with dried grass, patches of snow and some freshly squeezed gnome.
“What the hell was that?” I asked.
Ben whistled. “Murder rocks of a dead demigod in action. Don’t worry, that low stone wall keeps it at bay. Rocks can’t hop walls. At least I don’t think they can.”
Maran walked her horse onto the far side of the wagon. “If you trust the road builders. They sure did a great job of keeping the road intact. The potholes are just to keep you awake, right?”
Sheila didn’t seem to have faith in the road makers, so she made her own way to the abandoned homes. The closest building was an old stable she parked herself outside of. The decaying structure had a collapsed roof, and rotting beams. The other houses were in slightly better shape, but showed little signs of recent habitation. They were placed to form a ring shape around a central pillar with carved faces and pieces of metal hammered into its body. A soft whistling tune came from the forest, causing the pieces of metal to vibrate, creating soft music.
Tim walked up to it and tapped it with the head of his spear. His hoarse voice came out in a whisper. “Scare off fey.”
Yara joined him and reached out towards it, and the pillar put out a pulse of energy that slid her back a few feet. “Demon blooded creatures too. Whoever lived here didn’t care for my kin either. Smart, taking precautions.”
I walked up to one of the small cabins, and walked up the squeaky wooden porch. I used my sword to pry open one of the shutters and looked into a dining room. The kitchen half had a cast iron pan left on the stove with a rancid green mass inside, and the kitchen table was still set. The same green mass filled a basket that had once housed bread, and on the floor was a dead rat. Its mouth overflowed with dried green foam.
“Hey guys, I know I shouldn’t have to say this, but don’t eat anything here,” I shouted.
Lin pulled her head out of a window of another house. “There’s spoiled food over here too. Weird green stuff right?”
Maran kicked a door back in place from a short low building. “Food storage is destroyed with that stuff here too. Stuff is taking over the floor, don’t get that shit on you unless you want to visit the healers.”
I nodded and we poked around the rest of the houses. The story of the place was starting to form, everyone had been getting ready for the work day, and abandoned their meals. We found rodent chewed shoes by the doorways, and tools left in an equipment shed by the stable. The pickaxes and wood cutting saws were well made and well used.
The houses had a few creature comforts, like a smoking room, board games or cards. It felt like it was a temporary housing site instead of a permanent residence. Some of the furniture was repaired, or built of rough planks of muddy green wood. Thick resin dropped from the planks, staining the rugs or sawdust floors green.
Ben and I followed a trail of sticky green footprints and poked around the stable to find bits of silver ore between blocks of the muddy green coloured wood. As I held one of the pieces in my hand I had a prompt from the scholars.
Scholar Bo
Those are some strange wood fibres. In the ‘Collection of Mana Infused Forestry’ there are several possible options. One is possibly a poisonous infused wood, roshvin, great for simple wood weaponry with extra damage or potions. Don’t be alarmed, it should be safe to handle unless you burn it or get poked by it.
Knowledge World : Failure!
I had nothing extra on it, but I warned the others about it. We wiped our hands clean and we met back in the middle by the pillar. Vensa sat on the ground with her head held low, mediating. She broke her concentration to point towards the path the gnome had come from.
“There’s a pull that way. It’s strange, it’s not the speech of paws or leaves, but of something else.” Vesna seemed woozy and Yara and I helped the druid to her feet. “It’s alive, but not. I feel a sense of wrongness here.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” I said, eyeing the buildings.
The wagon owner whistled and patted Sheila’s side. “Me and the old girl will keep the caravan back and watch the horses. You all make sure it’s safe!”
Sheila pulled at her reins, as if wanting to join us. As much as the razor sharp beak filled me with dread, I was hopeful the powerful mount could lend us a hand. Sadly it was not to be and we followed Vensa who seemed to have a heading in mind.
The trail behind the village was well worn, with barely visible cart tracks. Several hand carts were left abandoned off the sides, their rotting frames from the elementals almost removing their presence entirely. The slope of the road took us toward the sound of water, and a tiny creek flowed past us towards a selection of shacks surrounding a cave. Piles of loose earth, wood planks and tools were scattered about, but still there were no signs of people.
I picked up a fallen hammer and turned it over in my hands. “No sign of the roshvin trees they were cutting from. Or signs of the workers.”
Vensa frowned. “I only had a partial success to recall anything. The toxins from the tree are from ground sickness in the water. I suppose if we follow the water, we might find our trees.”
“What about the people?” Ben asked. He kept an arrow nocked on the bow. “I have a bad feeling.”
His brother used the end of his spear to knock stones off the pile of earth. “Empty. Out of ore.”
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Vara narrowed her gaze, looking at the ridge over the cave. “Low ground, loose buildings, no defenses. These people felt safe working here. My guess is they ran out of money, or ore to sell. No payment, no workers. They just walked out of here.”
It seemed like a mundane answer to the mystery, but I felt a sense of wrongness. People didn’t walk away from a good breakfast without shoes, not unless there was an emergency. The wind here didn’t even feel right, like there was something being whispered to us from afar.
Lin opened one of the shacks and a gnome fell to the ground with green foam pouring out of his mouth. He had a piece of dried bread clutched in his hand, and inside of it we could see the green gunk. His light hide armour had several splotches of blood, and he had a bandaged wound on his shoulder, but nothing life threatening.
Ben hissed. “Yikes. Someone was confident in their disease resistant talent.”
Maran dragged the gnome out and we saw some more of the dried bread inside. We shrugged, took some sawdust and wood scraps from the normal trees out here and set the body ablaze before it could rise up from the dead to attack. The half-orc woman clutched the handle of her axe tightly enough I could see her knuckles turn white.
“Want to head back?” I asked. I swept the tip of my sword along the ground. “Nothing close to the road to trouble the caravan, we can just tell them to move along from here.”
“I don’t leave a job half baked, it’s why I got to where I was in the guild,” Maran said. She shook her shoulders out and held her weapon in a more slack grip. “I just don’t like problems such as this. I can't blast a mystery with a spell or wack it on the head.
Lin whistled to show the rest of the team by the cave entrance. Vesna was holding her flower and scanning the area with it. She followed the creek, vanishing into the darkness. I jogged with Maran to catch up, bringing up the rear of the team.
The walk along the creek was short as the cave twisted, and took us into a small valley nestled in the cliffs. Tall, straight trees dotted the area, and the peaks of the rocky cliffs made the whole area rather dim. Moisture covered the dense pine branches, and from the trunks of the trees oozed out normal sap. Dense networks of mushrooms that looked like weeping fleshy wounds covered the floor of the valley wherever the gravel and stone road didn’t touch.
There was a flash of white as Lin’s ears and tail shot up. “Yara!” Lin tightly hugged the demoness warrior. “There’s something there. Something with way too many legs.”
A lantern was lit, and the beam of light followed Lin’s finger. Under the trees was a massive, ten foot long insect with plenty of little legs, long antennae, bright orange spikes covering its back and massive crushing mandibles. It was wide too, practically the size of an alligator I would see on TV. At a glance it looked like a massive centipede.
Knowledge World : Partial Success
The giant, carnivorous, poison skinned creatures of the deep are dangerous creatures to hapless and ill prepared adventurers. These giant centipedes avoid conflict, and lay in wait to ambush rodents and small birds.
The magnifying glass notification appeared. I tried to get a sense of the creature.
??? centipede, Level 3 beast
The bug was munching on bark, sap and some of the fungus. It dropped its meal when it noticed us, and it rolled up into a big ball to hide from us. The overlapping plates of its exoskeleton had a green ooze pushing out of it.
Ben lowered his bow. “Heh. It’s kind of cute in a weird way-”
The centipede flattened its spikes and shot towards us, rolling over the fungus, gaining speed. The fast creature surprised us, but with the advantage of distance we had time to dodge as it shot past us. It ran into a tree, rolled up the trunk, flared out its spikes to slow down, and reversed direction to come back at us.
Lin and Ben both shot arrows at the rapidly approaching spiked ball. The tough exoskeleton deflected the shots like it was made of steel and we had to dodge again, with the spikes narrowly missing our druid.
“Creature of many legs, halt!” Vensa said. The centipede stopped on the gravel road to unfurl itself and hiss. The druid’s eyes widened, and she paled. “It’s infected and singing a strange song.”
The way back was blocked as two more centipedes crawled out from the dark trees. They hissed and sputtered out clear fluid that hissed when it touched the moist gravel. I sent a glob of fire right at one before it rolled up. The green ooze between the plates ignited and the centipede rolled up into a ball, cooking itself and falling over dead.
I rolled out of the way as the second centipede sped past narrowly missing me with the spines, and heard a sickening crunch behind me. Tim planted the butt of his spear into the ground for the centipede to roll into. When it did, It thrashed and cried out in fury. Yara stepped in to swing her halberd down, splitting the armoured plates in half. The thrashing legs still fought on, so Maran stepped in to cleave the bits of critter apart until it stopped.
White and green goop covered the road, and the fungus spread towards it rapidly. The first centipede was dead, the others having riddled it with arrows, and the fungi was claiming the body. We backed up into a singular unit, avoiding the strange fungus.
“I don’t like this, but I know what can fix it,” I said, flexing my hand, the words already on my lips.
Vensa clamped her hands around mine, closing it off. “Don’t! The fire will spread to the poisonous trees and we will breathe the toxic fumes.”
I let the spell fail. It didn’t take any stamina from me, but it did make my head feel stuffy for a few moments. I caught Ben looking at Vensa holding my hand, and the man raised a brow towards me. Vensa, seeing we were safe from any magic sparking a forest fire, went to inspect the dead bugs.
“How odd, the fungus is all one colony,” the druid said.
“Where’s it coming from?” Lin asked, wrinkling her nose as she kept back. “Why does it stink?”
Vensa shrugged and resumed leading us. She could hear something we couldn’t as all we heard was the creaking of branches, the drips of water and the bubbling of the creek. The water was astride the well worn path, with random nails or hinges in the murky creek. The workers must have thrown broken bits of carts into it instead of hauling it out.
We entered a cut up glade that had massive stumps rotting in the ground and huge log piles stacked up beside them. They oozed sap and had the same muddy green colour as the roshvin wood. There was a strong scent in the area, and it made my nose ache. I put my cloak over my nose and saw an icon appear over the cut stumps.
Scholar Bo
That would be the roshvin trees. I’ve found some old trade entries, the material is worth quite a bit for its alchemical properties. It’s quite susceptible to impurities, such as fungus, ticks or beetles. If it has such things the price drops quite considerably.
“Thanks Bo,” I whispered. I caught a few looks and pointed at the stumps. “Magical wood is worth a lot, but the fungus would have hurt the price.”
Maran gave Yara a clap on the back. “Your right battle sister. Bad product, out of money and they ditched the place.”
A part of me wondered if there was more to it all. We didn’t have much more to go on, and I could see at a glance people were taking a more relaxed stance. The ache started to fade as I noticed it less, and seeing little danger I eased up too.
“Hey! Come see this!” Ben called, waving his bow. “There’s a weird old tree.”
We followed him seeing what looked like the equivalent of a hunched over old man in tree form. The branches of the ancient roshvin were full of dead twigs, moss and fungus that wove together into a dense web of biomass that had to weigh a ton. The massive colony of fungus grew out of the ground, soaking into the bark, and drinking up the water from the creek. The mass was huge, covering thirty feet across, and half that tall.
Woodcutting tools lay against the huge tree, and surrounding it were tall mushrooms the height of a person. The mushrooms even had strips of cloth around them, like worn coats or scarves. As if the workers had abandoned their things and the mushrooms grew around them.
“Do mushrooms get that big?” Lin asked.
As if to answer her one of the mushrooms swayed in the breeze. Green gunk fell from the cap, falling onto the carpet of roots below it. The ache in my nose made me scratch, and my sinuses buzzed. The area felt like there was an oppressive gloom pressing down on us.
“Ugh, stuff is spreading spores. I know it's the natural form of decay, but it smells terrible.” Vensa coughed waving her hand. “Let’s catch our breath and go.” The druid took a shaky step back, and her eyes seemed unfocused. “There doesn’t seem to be any danger besides the centipedes.”
“Dizzy.” Tim’s hoarse words cut through the gloom. He sat down onto the gravel and closed his eyes.
Others started to sit down, until it was just Yara, Vensa and I standing. In my head I felt a click, this wasn’t right, something was influencing us. There was a flashing icon from my Golden Knowledge talent, and when I tried to tap on it I saw it vanish from view as my vision swam.
Then I saw one of the tall mushrooms move. In the middle of one of the discarded coats I saw a rough outline of a face.
My head hammered home the thought I was being had, another influencing my actions. The last time I had dealt with such a thing it had been a charm. I balled my hand into a fist and drove it into my leg, clearing my vision so I could tap the icon.
Scholar Livy
CHARM EFFECT!
The tall mushrooms were starting to move towards my allies, and when they parted I could see at the base of the massive colony was the bodies of dead gnomes getting swallowed by the mass. One of the tall mushroom people reached for an axe and I managed to form enough though to look into my spells.
Ishaka’s Magic Armaments
Tier 2 spell - costs 3 mana points
Armour:... In addition while this armour glows with Ishaka’s light the wearer gains a bonus to resist charms, scaling with half the caster’s level.
Perfect.
“Ishala’s Magical Armament!” I drove my fist in my chest, and my white dragon scale armour glowed with gold light, filling the area with illumination.
At once my head cleared, a dozen warnings returned to my vision and I threw out a fire orb at the nearest mushroom reaching towards Vesna. The creatures hissed and water bubbled out of its body, but it drove it back. Fragments of flame touched wood chips between the stones of the gravel, making the area smell sooty for a brief moment before it smoked off toxic fumes.
The poisonous gas undid whatever the fungus was doing to my teammates. People coughed and gagged on it, but were returning to their senses. I charged ahead, slashing my sword at the arm of one of the mushroom people. It fell to the earth, the wood cutting axe clattering onto the stones. “Use fire! Better to breathe poison than this stuff!”
Vensa and Yara were the first to recover. Yara stabbed her halberd into one of the approaching mushroom people, driving it back, while Vesna retreated to shake the others.
“Reach in my bag, grab a torch!” Yara snarled towards me.
I plunged my hand into her magical bag, and a vast menu of items appeared. “Why do you have so many books titled ‘Foxy Love-”
“Josh!” Yara kicked the mushroom guy and swiped her halberd into the legs of another toppling it. “Not now!”
I found a dozen torches in the menu and pulled one out. With a flick of my hand it ignited, beating back the stuffy atmosphere. I felt a headache approach as mana blight was starting to affect me and I bit down on a Go Berry. The rush of mint and gasoline beat back any remaining grogginess.
Vesna had raised the others and I passed her the torch. “What are you doing wizard?”
“Get them out of here,” I said, slashing at one of the slow moving mushroom men.
“Smite!” The flash of light from Yara’s halberd severed a mushroom man down the middle, and the strange green gunk fell to the ground. More of them were pouring out of the tree line from elsewhere, including others that looked like merchants, farmers or wanderers.
One of them looked recently changed, still vaguely humanoid and he raised a hand. “Stop. Join us in unity-”
An arrow pierced his head, toppling him over. A quick check revealed Lin had regained her senses and she was white as a sheet. She fired arrows into the crowd of mushroom people, but it wasn’t enough. It was a slow moving horde, and I could hear the snapping of branches behind us as they were moving to flank us.
The water looked sickly, the tree was practically dead, the fungus woven into it and the forest around it. The mushrooms people sang in the forest drowning out my thoughts, distorting my vision. They asked us to join them, to stop resisting.
My allies were slowing down on the path to escape, except Yara who could still hack apart another sickly creature. My vision swam and I smelled something foul, of rot and decay.
Gnomes.
Several of them had changed enough to match the fungi, and one freshly slain gnome rose out of the massive colony, a centipede spike embedded in their back.
Wherever they were, bad things happened. I felt bile rise in my throat as a drop of hatred burned away the grogginess. A pit of righteous fury settled in my core, giving me enough to focus on to thwart whatever the fungus was doing to us. I stepped ahead, hacking another mushroom being out of the way, praying it was a way to end their suffering.
My blade was poised and I glared at the ancient infected tree. The sword of the ice wight knight in my hand yearned for battle. I focused on the battle fury and remembered a part of the poem. “May fury be swift! Flame blade!”
My sword burst into a blaze as I sliced deeply into the body of the tree, sap, ooze and gunk poured out of the massive wound. The cut deeper than it should have been, exposing the core of the fungus colony. I turned and ran pulling Yara along with me as the blazing mark I left blasted the base of the tree open. At once my allies regained their senses, and the people turned mushrooms roared in fury. We ran as the ancient tree fell, set ablaze by my magic.
Maran and I fired spells into the trees, Lin and Ben shot arrows and Vensa threw her torch into the treeline before changing into a burly, wide bear to barrel past any mushroom creatures trying to stop us. One of the centipedes crawled out of the cave to hiss at us, challenging us. The massive bear ran over it before it deployed its spike, crushing it underfoot.
The wind in the valley turned into a wailing song of agony as it burned, layers of greenish white fumes rose up from the burning roots. The toxic cloud choked and killed everything inside, following our boots until we exited the cave and it was trapped in the valley.
We ran back to the camp worksite to see the coast was clear, but we didn’t stop. We ran all the way back to the wagon, until we were all ragged, barely able to breathe. The demi-gryphon seemed to know what was up and placed herself at the head of the wagon. Yara charged past us to hook up the powerful animal as the others grabbed the horses. The wagon owner had been enjoying a smoke on his pipe and ran over to help.
The people that were worse off were helped into the wagon while Yara, Vensa and I jumped on the horses. I nearly went over the saddle as it had been years since I had ever rode one at a fair. Yara’s hand snatched the reins from me and we quickly left the scene, only letting out the collective held breath as we reached the road. The tall pillars of murder rocks seemed almost comforting now.
Your party has won an encounter!
+300 XP to Josh
…
“Do you mind telling me what happened?” the wagon owner asked.
Lin cracked open the chest of drinks with shaky hands. “Magical horseshit.”
Yara crammed one of her white sticks into her mouth, the resulting cloud of bloody smoke making me cough. “Creepy magical horseshit.”
Vensa had the reins of the riderless horse, and trotted up to the cart to inspect us. “I don’t detect any remaining influence. We are safe.”
I checked over my shoulder seeing the column of smoke in the sky. My sword was still in hand, ready for anything else. There was something in the sword that was different, and I looked down to see the text of the poem along the bottom of the crossguard. The tip of the blade smouldered, and I could see a chunk of ice had grown out of the blade extending my reach, while more was coming out of the pommel. It made it look like a true two handed sword. The effect was temporary as the ice melted away into water, returning the sword to normal.
“Had my fair share of adventures like that before I retired,” the wagon owner said calmly. “Help yourself folks, drinks are on me.”
I was passed a drink and wobbled in the saddle as I tried to grab it. Yara reached out to help me as I popped the cork, then opened her own. She pointed at me with her wine bottle. “Move back, you need to be resting in the saddle. Yeah and get your boots in the stirrups better. See, you have this.”
“Sorry it’s been a while,” I said.
“Eh, it’s riding a horse. Once you learn once you never forget,” Yara said.
“Like a bike,” I said.
“Josh, what the hell is a bike?” Yara asked.
Sheila crested the hill ahead of us and the demi-gryphon let out a chirp of wonder. The road winded down the valley to a small cove offside a massive lake. There were a dozen sailing ships, hundreds of rooftops and stone walls hugging the shore. Two towering pillars of stone warriors stood a few hundred feet from the gates, as if projecting an aura to keep danger away.
This wasn’t a trade post, it was a small fortified city.
Lin sat up in the wagon and held out a map while looking at the city. “Hey Yara, I think your map is out of date.”