Oz placed his feet and spun his new sling above his head. With a loud snap, he released and shot a stone orb at a branch hanging over the path. He missed. Unsurprised, Oz reached into a bag on his waist and pulled out a flint orb to load into the sling. The sling was newly made and the pouch in the middle was made of freshly tanned blue frog leather. The blue leather did not retain any magical properties, but it was bright blue and very striking. Oz walked a bit further down the path and shot at the next obvious target: a rock sticking out of the ground. The flint orb hit the rock after glancing off the ground in front of it. Oz reached into the bag but found it empty. Oz unshouldered his pack and refilled the bag then reloaded the sling again. All the orbs in Oz’s pack were harvested from the dungeon. The glass and lead orbs had great utility as they could be melted or traded, but the people around the hill found the stone and flint orbs to have very little use aside from arrow heads or sling ammunition.
According to Andebert, somewhere along this path is where Arna had directed Hilda and Leta to meet up with her and Baggi before they went to the dungeon. Andebert had tasked Oz with finding and getting as much information as possible about the secret group to which Arna and Baggi belonged. It was probably the case that the secret group was responsible for the death of many travelers and would-be adventurers from the areas around the hill. Taking from a dungeon without permission was not exactly something that a hill lord had the right to punish, but a hill lord was plainly responsible for preventing the endangerment and exploitation of travelers. Hilda’s experience in the dungeon—being unprepared and incompletely trained for the danger—proved that the secret group could not be allowed to continue.
Oz wandered slowly down the path for most of a day but didn’t encounter a single person. He made significant progress on the first level of the Sling skill before he completely ran out of stone, so the day was not a complete waste. As the sun reached the horizon, Oz found a set of roundhouses tucked away off the side of the path. A stream ran between the roundhouses and a stony hill. Oz called out to alert anyone inside the roundhouses of a visitor. As there were no lights and no response to his call, Oz determined the houses were empty and possibly abandoned. He picked the least filthy roundhouse and wrapped himself in his wool blanket to sleep.
Oz woke in the middle of the night and heard voices speaking. He shot to full consciousness when he heard the name “Arna”. Oz quietly stood up and walked to the doorway in time to hear: “They must have all died.”
Oz leaned out of the doorway and spoke clearly. “Who died?”
Two dark outlines spun towards Oz’s voice. Oz heard one pair of feet scuff the ground. “Who’s there?” the voices sounded surprised and angry. Oz hesitated in responding. The scuff of feet was odd, nearly every adult he had ever met had some levels in the Silent Movement skill. “I am Oz. I am wandering for a few days as I practice my skills. Who died?”
Stolen story; please report.
One outline circled silently to the Oz’s left. Oz stepped fully out of the doorway to keep the silent outline in sight. Do they fear every stranger in the darkness? Oz wondered. The one who did not move must be the one without Silent Movement.
“Why should I tell you anything?” The voice from Oz’s left was gruff and taut. It was probably a man’s voice.
Oz have a small but audible sigh. “By the blight, do as you wish. Since you woke me up, can you tell me where the trader nomads pass by? I understand it is not far from here but I do not know where.”
The outline in front of Oz continued to hold still and stay silent. The voice to his left spoke with exaggerated condescension. “Aw, did you blessed cousin give you a toy and you can’t wait to trade it? Can’t wait till they pass through the hill fort?”
Real anger flared up in Oz at the provocation. “Rot your mana! I don’t take anything from that blight eared fake and I’ll burn before trading bread I didn’t take from the peaking dungeon myself.” Oz was so flustered from his anger that he got some swears mixed up.
The left voice chuckled. “Calm, friend. You’ll burn my bones with that fire.” The outline on the left took a step towards Oz. “Tell me, are you happy with the hill lord?”
Oz took a calming breath to help pull his thoughts in line. He knew what the man probably meant by the question, but Oz didn’t think it would be very convincing to start spouting rhetoric against the hill lords to two strangers in the middle of the night. He decided to misinterpret the question. “I had a higher skill with the spear than Andy had with a bow when they picked him to go off and train with the society.” Oz’s opinion on Andy had changed drastically from before finding the dungeon, but it was easy to pull on his old resentment. “I trained hard while he was away but he still came back stronger than a horde of goblins. He came back with all those items and skills I can’t even name. It’s not fair. And-and it’s suspicious!” Oz noticed he was waving his arms around but didn’t decide to stop. “How could anyone grow that burning fast? Why do only adventurers give these fae gifts to themselves? Andy could not have earned this strength, someone gave it to him.” Oz folded his arms and caught his breath from ranting.
The as-yet silent person in front of Oz spoke. They spoke in a high sing-song voice. “How can you say this after you have been so helpful to him in the dungeon?”
Oz managed to sound sullen. “I wasn’t being burning helpful. I found the dungeon but kept it secret for a few days so I could harvest from it. Andy threatened to tie me up because of that. A hill lord won’t punish people, but he’s basically head of the family now so he can do whatever he likes to punish me. I had to work.” Oz took a few breaths in the following silence. The two figures seemed to be looking straight at each other. Oz tilted his head as a question occurred to him. “How did you know I’ve been in the dungeon so much?”
The two figures turned and walked away from Oz. The left one spoke “We have things to do elsewhere. The traders should pass right by these roundhouses tomorrow.” The figures disappeared into the darkness, though the one with noisy footsteps disappeared less quickly.