A clamorous din burst forth from the table as everyone except for James started speaking. Each of them started asking all sorts of questions, it was obvious that James was getting overwhelmed by all the questions. It was Alaric who got the pandemonium to stop. “Alright boy, tell us everything.”
“They killed some of us, and took others as prisoners. When the attack started Aiko grabbed me by my arm and told me to find you three in Vanta at the Crowing Rooster and beg for you to return and save our people. After that she shoved me away and I hid in the bushes. From there I saw three separate men jump her, she wounded one of them before they restrained her. They took her and around 15 other villagers. I wanted to do something, but I just didn’t know what to do. I watched the bandits round my family up and put collars around their necks and chain them together before tying their hands up and leading them into the forest. After that I snuck away and started running to Vanta. I got to town less than half an hour ago. Thankfully you all were here.”
Now that James’s story had been told the questions started up again. Meira put out a hand to calm everyone down. “Alright everyone, one question at a time, I’ll go first. How long ago did this happen?”
“2 days after you left Lief’s crossing. I ran here as fast as I could.”
Bjorn was next. “How many bandits were there?” As James started to answer Bjorn flagged down one of the servers and motioned to get the kids something to eat and drink.
“I don’t know, probably no more than 30, and no less than 15.”
This drew uncertain looks from the friends. “I don’t know if the three of us could handle that, we can sure try though.”
Tayla spoke up. “4 of us.” This drew a scowl from Meira and she took a breath to speak. Tayla cut her off. “You don’t like me, and I don’t care about that. What I do care about is helping innocent people. I may be a thief, you are right about that, but there are lines you don’t cross. I’m sorry James but your family will most likely be sold as slaves, I will not stand for that.”
The conviction in Tayla’s voice was strong enough to stop Meira in her tracks, who sat there for a few seconds as they looked at each other, one processing what she just heard, the other daring anyone to refute her right to come along. In the end Meira closed her mouth that had been hanging open, determination set in her eyes, and she gave a nod.
Turning back to James it was Tayla’s turn. “Do you have any clue as to where the bandits camp would be?”
Shaking his head. “I don’t know where exactly the camp is, I do know that the bandits came from the south and then took off back to the south, so somewhere over there I would guess.”
By this time the server came back to the table with food and drink for the kid. The taproom had been quiet throughout the entire story. Looking around there were many people who were sitting there looking and straining their ears to try and eavesdrop on the conversation at the table.
James attacked his food with wild abandon scarfing it down as quickly as he could. Once he was finished he took a long drink from his cup draining it. Setting the cup down he stood. “So let's get going.”
Meira put her hand on James’s shoulder, “Hold on, we can’t rush off just yet. For one the suns are down so the front gate is closed, we won’t be able to leave town until the sun rises in the morning. So we have some rooms, and you looked like you couldn’t last on your feet a minute longer. We will leave in the morning, we have some things that need to be organized first. Alaric, would you go down to the gate and see if you can get us horses. Bjorn I want you to go into town and see if you can find anything else that would be useful for us. Tayla, since you are coming with us you need to be ready by the morning. I am going to go down to the guardhouse and let them know the situation and see if they can do anything.”
James looked like he was going to protest. But the calm nature and unwavering command in Meira’s voice stopped any arguments dead in its tracks. With nods of agreement they all split and went their separate ways. Bjorn went into the city trying to find an apothecary. Alaric went down to the gate to find them mounts. Meira took James upstairs, and Tayla wandered off as soon as she got outside of the door.
Running through the streets Bjorn stopped occasionally to get directions to an apothecary. Once he was directed to it the front door was closed up tight. It took well over 10 minutes of banging on the door before a tall thin man answered the door with an annoyed look on his face. After Bjorn’s quick and dirty description of the situation the look of annoyance left and one of concern replaced it. Bjorn quickly purchased a few health, stamina and mana potions, that when he identified them they were labeled as weak potions. The weak potions were still strong enough to do their job. He purchased herbs that would be useful for making other potions and medicines. He even purchased the recipes for weak health stamina and mana potions that took local ingredients. Lastly he bought a few vials of a weak poison. The entire lot cost him 2 and a half gold and a few coppers. The man didn’t try to haggle and neither did Bjorn.
With his purse considerably lighter he stuffed all of his purchases into his portable pocket and started to head back to the inn. Once he returned the taproom was considerably quieter, most of the patrons had filtered out. Pearal was behind the bar. “You are the first one back.”
Nodding in acknowledgement Bjorn headed over to the bar. “We will need food and drink for at least a week of travel.” Before he had even finished speaking Pearal had set a bag on the counter that was bulging with foodstuffs.
“I already took the liberty to get you food that would keep on the road. Inside there are apples, trail bread, dried meat, nuts, and plenty of water for your trip. Is there anything else you can think of that you'd need?”
Shaking his head Bjorn reached for his purse, Pearal stopped him. “I won’t have any of that now, I like most of my staff and patrons overheard your conversation, you weren’t really trying to keep it quiet. And what you are doing is for a good cause, I am no fighter, but I would like to do my part.” Pearal also reached under the counter and pulled out a purse that when dropped on the table made a satisfying clink of metal.
The purse was full of copper coins. Taking its contents and dumping it into his portable pocket he found that the copper coins actually took up a single slot inside the pocket, looking at the slot the count was 60 coins. Looking back up at Pearal. “Thank you, you are a good man. If you don’t mind, I would like to stay down here and wait for the rest of my party.”
“You are welcome, your kind words are not lost on me. And of course you may stay down here as long as you need.”
With that Pearal went back into the back room, Bjorn grabbed the sack that he set on the table and put its contents into the portable pocket. Sitting down he got ready to wait for the rest to join. Meira was the first one to return. She sat down next to Bjorn with a huff.
“I talked to the guard and let them know the situation, they said they would let their commanders know, but we shouldn’t count on the help of the guard or the army. They were rather pompous and kind of blew me off after they told me that they would tell someone the issue. It was actually Manny, the kid who helped us into the city, who told me that last part. He wished he could do more but the city guard are just that, to protect the city. The Army of Escar has a garrison here, but it’s just a token force; they patrol the roads but they don’t do much actual peacekeeping work. Mostly they fight monsters and creatures that threaten the safety of travelers on the road. The army sends out patrols of 10 to 15 people and has less than 100 soldiers stationed here.” She set her head in her hands and ran her fingers through her hair. In a quiet voice she continued. “I don’t know if we will be able to save them, they outnumber us almost 4 to 1 on James’s low estimate.”
Reaching out, Bjorn untangled one of Meira’s hands from her hair and took a hold of it. “I know the odds aren’t in our favor, but we will try our best.” He squeezed her hand, she looked up and met Bjorn’s eyes. He could see the faintest hint of tears in her eyes.
“Thank you Bjorn, you are right.” He briefly got the feeling like he should kiss her. They stayed like that for a few seconds before she pulled her hand away. “Well I am going to head to bed, we will want to get up early in the morning.” She stood and started for the stairs. Looking back she gave Bjorn a warm smile before ascending to the second level.
Kicking himself for not stopping her or doing anything, Bjorn sank back into his chair and waited for Alaric and Tayla. He didn’t have to wait overly long 15 minutes or so later Alaric came through the door.
“Well I got us 4 horses, all with tackle. The man said he will make sure that the stable hand has the horses ready by first light. It cost us a pretty penny, it was a gold and a half each for the horses, and 25 silvers for the saddles, bags, bit and bridle. I hope he chokes on the money, he could sense my urgency and fleeced me. How did your errand go?”
“It went well, I’ll pass stuff out on the road, and I’ll see what I can make if anything, I suspect we will do some heavy riding to get there.”
“That we will. Have the other two made it back yet?”
Bjorn quickly filled him in on what Meira had said. Which caused Alaric to spit on the ground. “I would say I am surprised but honestly I’m not really surprised. Government agencies are worthless.” After everything had been shared around they fell quiet waiting for Tayla to return. After an hour of waiting they decided to no longer wait.
“Pearal!” called Alaric. It wasn’t Pearal who came out from the other room, it was one of his servers. Tossing the server 2 coppers. “If Tayla comes back tonight, can you show her up to our room?”
“Sure I can do that.” The attractive human said. With that assertion they mounted the stairs and made their way to their room and went to bed.
Early the next day Bjorn woke up a little groggily, opening his eyes he saw Alaric standing over him, with a devilish grin on his face. “What?” Bjorn asked. That was when he realized there was something draped over his chest. Sitting upright he got out of bed quickly to see that Tayla had climbed into bed with him that night and was snuggled up to him.
“Gah!” exclaimed Bjorn. She sat up in the bed and yawned while stretching her lithe body out. “Tayla, you can’t just climb in bed with me.” She clothed in her customary outfit at this point, tight fitting simple clothes. This time though she was wearing tight leather straps that wound around her body emphasizing certain parts, but still protecting the most important parts of her body. In one of the straps other pieces of leather were used to make holding pouches for throwing knives that were easy to access as they were tied across her chest. This time she had another dagger to match the one she had the day before, and she still had her two smaller knives that crossed her back.
Looking pointedly down at Bjorn. “It doesn’t look like you have much to complain about.” That lecherous look on her face again.
Trying to advert the attention away from his manhood Bjorn walked over to his pack and started taking items out of it and putting them into his portable pocket. After he was done he turned back to Alaric and Tayla. Both of whom were standing there with a grin on their faces as if they just played a joke on him. Which they probably had.
“Well I’m going downstairs, let's get going.” Bjorn said as he walked out the door, his face burning.
Once down in the taproom both Meira and James were waiting for them. Alaric took the lead and quickly led them to the southern gate where four horses were saddled up and ready to ride. The four quickly mounted up, James rode with Alaric for the time being. They made their way to the gate and waited for the large wooden gates to swing outward. Their waiting didn’t last long, within 10 minutes of waiting a large contingent of guards came out of the gatehouse to the side. Calling up there was a grinding sound as they put their shoulders against the wood and started to push. As the gate swung open a guard came up to the group.
“Papers?”
With a sigh of exasperation they handed over their permits, the guard took his time looking at each one before handing them back and directing them through.
Heading through the gate they started at a light trot before bringing it up to a canter. Knowing they would be riding all day they didn’t push themselves or their horses too hard immediately. At the beginning Bjorn struggled, the ride was bumpy and jarring. Trying to move forward in the saddle didn’t help, and moving back also didn’t help. Over the course of an hour Bjorn had found a spot in the middle that wasn’t too bad. That piece of information ended up costing him a considerably sore ass.
Meira pulled her horse up alongside Bjorn. “You dunce, stop just sitting there and use your legs.” Before she pulled forward again.
Taking her words to heart Bjorn started to use his legs in the stirrups to lift and cushion his fall, so his body stayed roughly in place and the horse is the one that moved underneath him. He basically used his legs as shock absorbers while on the horse. This gained him a prompt.
You have gained the skill: Horseback riding. Oftentimes it is required to move from place to place and you need to get to the destination fast. You have begun your journey in mastering that travel not under your own power. Master Horseback riders can ride their mounts, and make it so to the mount it doesn’t feel like they are not even there.
Once he gained the skill something in his mind just clicked and it became easier to maintain his balance and center on the horse.
Tayla called out. “Finally.” As she edged her horse up to a gallop quickly taking the lead. The rest of the party followed suit, and soon they were flying across the ground. The miles flew by. After another two hours of riding the road grew near to a stream. Slowing down they dismounted to let their horses get a quick drink, but also to stretch their legs. Making sure their horses didn’t drink too much water James switched saddles and joined Tayla on her horse. And once again took off riding, their trip back to Lief’s crossing was a long day. The entire trip they rode in silence. There was an unspoken worry that permeated the air, James wasn’t forthcoming with who was killed, who was injured, and who was taken. As they rode on memories of their time with the villagers plagued everyone but Tayla, who didn’t know anyone they were riding to save, kept her peace respecting the others.
Bjorn got a few skill levels in horseback riding but he ignored them as they rode not wanting the distraction. As they rode an anger settled in Bjorn’s stomach at the pure injustice of the situation, these were nice people, they didn’t deserve what happened to them. But even with the anger of the injustice it was really the anger at what the bandits were doing to the people they took away. It was the anger at the thought of the kind welcoming and friendly villagers being taken advantage of, their helplessness fueled his anger. Those thoughts drove him onwards. The memory of his helplessness was like a bed of coals that got added to whenever his mind remembered. This situation lit those coals and now a raging inferno engulfed his being.
It was late in the day when they came out of the trees and could see Lief’s crossing for the first time, the small town looked decrepit. Many of its houses had either some burn damage on them, or were completely gone. The stone bridge spanning the river was intact, and on the other side the buildings were in a similar state. It was eerily quiet. Pulling their horses to a stop Bjorn dropped out of his saddle. “Wait here I am going to scout.” As he dropped into stealth. Tayla also dropped out of her saddle and soon Bjorn lost sight of her as well. Moving slowly through the underbrush Bjorn made his way around the perimeter of the village. From his vantage he couldn’t see inside the burnt out buildings, but the entire village looked dead. Making his way back to the horses Bjorn came out of stealth.
“I don’t see anything. Let’s make our way into town, I suggest we leave the horses here with James.” Alaric and Meira quickly dropped out of their saddles and they gave their reigns to James. Slowly moving forward with Alaric in the lead, Meira in the middle, and Bjorn in the back. They all readied their weapons. Alaric had his ax and shield held in front of him in a posture that looked relaxed. Meira held her staff in one hand, and Bjorn had his bow in his hand with an arrow nocked. Moving into town slowly they didn’t see much.
As they made their way to the bridge a snap behind them made them turn around. Behind them stood 10 people all with makeshift weapons in their hands. They stood there with threatening body language.
One of the larger men, an elf, who was left came forward and raised his pitchfork in the trios direction. “Why did you lead the bandits to our town? And why are you back?”
The vehemence in his voice took Bjorn by surprise, the last time he heard this man speak his tone was one of joviality and kindness. Alaric was the one to respond. “Look Nasir, we had nothing to do with this. Aiko sent James to Vanta to get us and ask for our help.”
The look of aggression on a few of the villagers' faces turned to a look of uncertainty. Nasir didn’t waver though. “For over a year we haven’t had any issues here, and within a week of you showing up we get attacked, slaughtered, and abducted. What are the odds of that happening? I think you told them where to find us. We took you in and helped you while you were trying to heal Meira. Why would you do this to us?” as he took a step towards Alaric.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Meira stepped forward and put herself between Alaric and Nasir. “Look Nasir, there has been a misunderstanding, why don’t we just drop our weapons and talk about this like civilized people.” Kneeling she softly put her staff on the ground and raised both of her hands standing up.
Her actions further brought the villagers to her side. From where she stood she could see a few starting to nod, that was when Tayla made her move. Dropping from stealth she had a dagger to the neck of the woman off to Nasir’s right. “Drop your weapons.” She called.
This did not help at all, For a second Nasir stood there before making up his mind, he charged towards Alaric, pitchfork leading the charge. Resolutely he directed Meira to stand behind him with his ax head before setting his stance and raising his shield. Nasir’s pitchfork was aimed right for the center of Alaric’s chest. Angling his shield the pitchfork glanced easily off his shield and continued upwards over Alaric’s head. Stepping forward inside the range of the pitchfork Alaric stomped down hard right on Nasir’s foot. Nasir doubled over as he dropped his pitchfork and reached for his now injured foot. As his face was going down it met the flat side of Alaric’s ax on its way up. The combined momentum of Nasir’s face and Alaric’s ax was enough for a crunch to sound, as all of that momentum was focused on Nasir’s nose. Causing him to stand up right and reel backwards. Unfortunately for Nasir Alaric’s foot was still planted firmly on Nasir’s, and so he fell backwards not able to take a step back to stabilize himself.
Looking around at the villagers he saw that the rest of them had more sense than Nasir did, and had stood down. Meira’s face grew red. “Tayla, let her go. We are here to help, not hurt.”
Seeing Meira’s reaction, Tayla let the woman go and the dagger in her hand quickly disappeared. “Sorry” she said before slinking over to the rest of the group.
“Alright, obviously the situation is tense, let's all calm down and talk about it rationally. Tayla, would you be so kind to go and grab James.” Bjorn walked over to the now unconscious Nasir and took a look at his face, his nose was broken, causing it to sit cockeyed on his face. Placing a finger on either side of the break he quickly applied pressure on either side. There was a soft crunch as his nose sat back in place. The action was enough to return the unconscious man to the awakened world.
Still a little groggy, Bjorn got Nasir into a seated position before pulling out a healing herb from his pocket. Forcing Nasir’s mouth open he stuck the herb in and closed it. Barking a command. “Chew this and swallow.” before barking and pointing at another villager. “You go find Nasir a chair to sit on, he will want to sit for a bit before his head clears. And you!” He pointed to another villager. “Give us a run down on who died, who is injured, where they are, and where you think the bandits are. Go!”
The girl he pointed to was one of the women Bjorn hadn’t really talked to while they stayed here. She was a young girl around maybe 17 or 18. She spent most of her time in the fields with her father. The news was not good news, out of the 52 villagers who inhabited Lief’s crossing, 11 had died. 16 were abducted. 8 more were injured, 3 of whom wouldn’t likely recover. Leaving 17 alive and unhurt, 4 of which were children too young to do anything of use, and 3 were elderly who also couldn’t do much to help. That meant that the 10 who stood up to the party when they made it to town were the only ones healthy enough to do anything. They were keeping the injured in Aiko’s house. Aiko herself was taken by the bandits. Halfway through the rundown James had entered town with the horses in tow. When the villagers laid eyes on him they all visibly relaxed just a little bit.
“Show me.” Bjorn commanded the girl. She took him to Aiko’s house, inside the first room was one of the elderly women who was keeping an eye on the wounded. The room was crowded by the 5 people who were wounded. They sported bandages that covered parts of their bodies that were blood soaked. Most were on non life threatening parts, one guy had a bandage around his head. “Take me to the most wounded.” So they took him into Aiko’s bedroom. Inside were the last three. One he had a gash in his belly and his intestines were hanging out. Another had a large cavity in his chest where ribs were supposed to protect the vital organs that were actually caved in. The last one had lost an arm and was still slowly losing blood.
Quickly moving to the man with the lost arm, he knelt down and pulled a healing potion from his bag, uncorking it he poured it into the man’s mouth and got him to swallow it. His pale complexion started to go away as he started to regain some color. Moving on to the next guy with the caved in chest he debated on what to do. Not being any real healer he moved on to the last person, the one with the intestines hanging out. Not knowing what to do he just moved. Grabbing ahold of the intestines he started trying to put them back into the wound. Once they all were inside he turned to the old woman. “I need a needle and thread, and I need it now.” She turned around and left the room, less than 10 seconds later she reentered the room and handed over a needle and thread.
Turning towards the girl who stood there wide eyed and had the same pale complexion the armless guy had. He said. “You can leave, I am going to sew him back together and you don’t want to watch this.” She turned and fled the room. Looking at the old lady she set her jaw. “Alright then.” Threading the needle he tied a knot in the end of the thread and quickly started pulling the skin on the belly back together. Once he was done he pulled another potion from his inventory and poured it down the man’s throat before standing.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what I can do to save that one.” He said as he pointed to the man with the caved in chest. “And there is no guarantee that this one will survive.” Pointing at the man who’s belly was cut open.
“It’s alright. You did more than I could have. Even if one of them lives, you did good work.” When he first entered the room the only one who was making any sort of sound was the one with the crushed chest. A wet sucking sound was all that could be heard from his corner. The sound grew weaker as Bjorn had done his work. There wasn’t much sound at that point.
Looking at the old woman she just nodded. Stealing his resolve he walked over to the man, drew his dagger, and then plunged it into his side. It sank in easily all the way to the hilt. The blade punctured his heart and the sound stopped.
Bjorn stayed there and his head sunk until it was sitting on the man he just killed, and he cried. A prompt popped up in front of his eyes.
For your part in slaying level 6 Human Male you have been awarded 190 (base 152) xp.
Level up! You are now level 14, you have 6 attribute points to distribute.
A small part of Bjorn broke at that. He just laid there and cried for over an hour. What got him out of his slump was a weak voice behind him. Turning around it was the man who had lost his arm. Walking over to him he looked at the stump. The cloth wasn’t slowly dripping blood anymore. Taking a bit of a gamble he started to unwarp the stump, what greeted him underneath was a scabbed over stump. “It’s alright, don't move.” Bjorn said to the guy who looked back at him and nodded before slumping back to the floor.
Clearing his head he left Aiko’s house, by this time the villagers and the rest of his party had made a small camp of sorts. Walking over to it they were all around a fire. Meira was the one who looked at Bjorn. “Will they make it?” she asked as she handed over a bowl of food.
“Out of the 8, one of them already died, the other two more seriously wounded will make it, and the other 5 have nothing life threatening.” Taking a seat he started to eat as the camp conversed about what happened.
“They took most of our food stuff, luckily for us it is mid summer and we hadn’t taken in the crops yet, so we didn’t have much to begin with. It will be hard between now and harvest, but once we get to harvest it should be easy.” The lady that Tayla had put her dagger to earlier said.
“If we can get the rest of your people back we will also get you your food.” It grew quiet for a moment after what Meira said.
“What is your plan to do that?”
Alaric shifted from his seated position, pulling a rock out from underneath his butt, and threw it away. “In the morning we will start searching for the bandits camp. James said they walked back into the forest to the south. The way I figure it, a large group of people moving through the woods will leave some sort of trail for us to follow. You all know this area better than we do. If we could get one of you to join us as a guide that would be greatly appreciated.”
Nasir stirred from where he sat with his head leaned back. “I can go with you.”
“Ha! Fat chance of that, with your nose in such a state you're more likely to spot a bird than you would a path for us to follow.”
Nasir started to protest but the woman cut him off. “He is right Nasir, relax it would be better if you were here to help organize the cleanup and rebuilding of the village. Everyone here knows you are a better builder than you are a tracker.” Her words mollified him and he settled back. “Kallie, on the other hand, is one of our best woods women.” As she gestured to the young girl that Bjorn bossed around earlier. “Don’t let her age fool you, she has soft footfalls in the woods, and seems to be able to find a trail that is weeks old. She can even take my hunting bow, she is a fair shot with it.”
After a few minutes of sitting Meira spoke up. “You are welcome to join us if you want Kallie. I trust the words of your fellow villagers. We would welcome your help in retrieving your friends.”
“Thank you for taking me with you.” She said with a small curtsy. “I won’t let you down.”
“My only concern.” Spoke up Tayla, “Is that what we are going to do is not going to be a pretty thing. We will kill, maim, and probably torture the men who did this to you. Do you have the stomach for it?”
Kallie made eye contact and held it with Tayla. “I am willing to do whatever and see whatever it takes to bring my friends and family home. I have no doubt that I would be among the prisoners if I hadn’t been foraging in the woods. If you will let me, I will be the one doing the killing, maiming, and torturing.” The unwavering gaze throughout her speech convinced Tayla that she would, and could handle it.
“Alright, If some of you could, we should set up some sort of perimeter tonight.”
A few of the villagers volunteered for watch duty tonight. Kallie piped up. “What about the army of Escar, or the guards in Vanta? Is there a chance we get help from them?”
Shaking her head, “There is little chance of that, the guard itself doesn’t leave the city, they are glorified peacekeepers. As for the army, I have it on good authority that they likely won't help.”
Her statement made a low grumble pass through the assembled people. “What's the point of us paying taxes if we don’t get defended by the kingdom?” One of the people who volunteered for watch detail said.
“I am on your side here.” Said Alaric. “Bloody dirty greedy officials. If they could find a way I have no doubt they would try and extort money from the dead.”
“They do.” Said Meira. “At least in most places I’ve been. There is a death tax.” More grumbles passed through the assorted races.
“Well,” She continued. “I for one am tired from riding today, I will head to bed.” As she stood up there was a chorus of agreements as others stood to get ready for the night. Meira walked over to where Bjorn sat. “Are you alright? You didn’t have anything to add to that discussion, and earlier I could hear the anger in your voice when we made it to town. Both are not like you.”
It was a long moment before he replied. “I will be fine. I have work to do tonight, make sure that no one puts out the fire.”
Meira stood there for a moment looking down at Bjorn. “Alright, try and get some sleep tonight, I worry for you, I am here for you. We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow.” A grunt was all she got in reply. As she walked away what Bjorn didn’t see was the concerned look on Meira’s face.
That night Bjorn spent his time brewing more potions, before he left Vanta he was able to get 5 healing potions. With two of the weaker ones already used he wanted to make more. As he set up his alchemy kit by the fire people started to trickle out in ones and twos. Tayla was the last one to leave the fire. She sat by Bjorn as he worked brewing potions. She didn’t try to engage Bjorn, instead just sat in companionable silence. Eventually she too left the campfire. Once again alone Bjorn lost track of time in his brewing. The entire time he was trying to craft his healing potions he continued downwards that dark hole. Picturing the screams, the horror on everyone’s faces as they watched their loved ones be cut down right in front of them. As the pictures just played again and again in his head the grew angrier and angrier, until there was no anger left, only resolve.
Congratulations you have uncovered one of the core tenets of your being. Not many people ever get to know themselves well enough to uncover a tenet. That tenet is vindictive. You see the injustice of the world and it doesn’t sit right with you. So instead of letting the injustice go unanswered you have to do something about it. You will do anything to get the revenge you think you deserve. You gain an additional 15% damage against someone who has hurt you or someone you care about in the last 10 seconds. If that loved one is killed this damage is increased to 25% to that person or thing until they are killed. Additionally when this 25% is in effect, you deal 10% less damage to anyone or anything not involved with their deaths. This effect only will trigger if you know who it was that is responsible for the death.
Bjorn read through the prompt in front of him multiple times, letting it sink in, and then read it again. Instead of dismissing it he left it open so he could read it whenever he wanted while he worked on his brewing. Which had success. He ended up brewing 3 more healing potions.
Passable Healing potion
Rarity: Common
Weight: .7 lbs
This healing potion when ingested will prove the imbiber with 61 hp over 15 seconds.
Bjorn used the potion recipe he got from the apothecary, it took some expensive herbs to make, and the recipe said it could make up to 10 doses at once. The man warned Bjorn about doing so. The more skilled the alchemist the easier time they had increasing the size of their batches. As the batch size grew the difficulty actually grew exponentially, and Bjorn was glad he decided to only do 3, as towards the end the brew got a little out of hand. Luckily due to Bjorn’s level 10 perk he was able to save the brew and bring it to a success in the end. But that failure weakened the potency of the end product.
When Bjorn was finished with his potions he quickly decanted them into vials and then packed up his supplies. It was well into the night when Bjorn finished his brewing. Dowsing the fire he unpacked his bedroll and laid down to sleep.
The next morning this time it was Meira who woke Bjorn up. “I see you did get some sleep.” She said in a low tone.
“Just a wink.” Looking at his internal clock he had gotten 4 hours, if he was on earth time he would be fine, but here in the Eld he probably had a good 24 to 28 hours ahead of him before he was able to get sleep again. Still tired and a little groggy he finished packing up his roll. By the time he was finished it was still just Meira and Bjorn. Grabbing her by the arm he pulled her toward him so he could speak in her ear. An involuntary gasp escaped her lips before she could help herself.
Realizing his mistake he let go of her arm. “Sorry.” He said in a tone that matched her earlier speech. “I just wanted to give you these.” Bjorn pulled 2 of his best healing potions, 2 of the 4 mana potions, and 1 of the mana potions and handed them over. When she felt the cold of the glass in her hand she relaxed and her eyes softened.
“Thank you.” She said after stowing the potions they both stood there close to each other. She reached out and took ahold of Bjorn’s hand causing him to look up into her eyes. “I am serious Bjorn, you aren’t quite being yourself. If you want to decompress, let me know.”
Tayla came slowly walking into the campsite. “Morning.” She said as she slowly walked through, heading for the river. As she was walking right past the two of them she looked at their hands, made eye contact with Bjorn and gave him a rye smile.
They quickly broke contact and stood there not looking at each other. It was Bjorn who made the first move. “Well let's get Alaric and Kallie.” Bjorn went one way and Meira the other without another word to each other. After they were all up and around the remains of the fire from last night, Bjorn passed around the remaining potions. Everyone including Kallie got a health and stamina potion, he kept the two mana potions for himself. After everyone was sure they were ready they took off heading south.
It was fairly easy to find a trail and follow it to the south. As they guessed it was fairly easy to track the large group that passed through the forest. Kallie was as skilled a woods woman as the town said she would be. Throughout the day she corrected their path multiple times, and even directed them around larger issues. She would stop them and make them wait as bears, or trolls would pass along their path. She even had them skirt around a stone golem that was sitting in the middle of a clearing.
Early in the day she showed the group what they were looking for and what exactly a sign of people traveling through the woods would look like. She was very thorough. “That.” She said as she pointed at a piece of moss on a rock. “Was disturbed by the passing of people. If you look closely you can see where the underside of the moss is a different color from the top.” When she pointed that out Bjorn got another prompt.
You have gained the skill: Tracking. You have started to learn how to follow those who don’t want you to. Every creature leaves some sign of its passing as it moves through the world. You have started to learn and recognize these signs. It is rumored that masters of this skill can even track a bird as it flies through the air. Although, I doubt you will ever even get close to that.
Once he finished reading the prompt the forest around him took on a different color as paths started to glow slightly in his vision. Checking with Kallie, Bjorn learned that the colors designated the different types of animals, and the brightness of the glow determined how long ago the creature passed along the path. The artificial help with the tracking helped. But apparently it was rather unreliable at the beginning, as he got better, and gained more skill levels in tracking the artificial help would get more and more reliable.
Once again it took the better part of the day to travel through the forest. As it was nearing evening Kallie came back to the procession. “I killed a man.” she stated calmly. Taking a moment to look her over, her build was leaner, but at the same time she had grown taller, and filled in with taut muscle. Using his identify on Kallie.
Name: Kallie Kamps
Race: Half-Elf, Half-Human
Age: 16
Level: 6
Half races are an oddity in the Eld. Sometimes they get the racial traits of one parent, sometimes both.
“I believe you.” Said Bjorn, he couldn’t help shake how different her appearance was, he had just seen her less than 15 minutes ago. “Magic.” Bjorn thought to himself as she shook his head.
“Where was he? What race was he? Do you think he was a scout? Were you spotted?” asked Alaric in a quiet voice in rapid succession.
“Just up that hill. Human. Yes. And no.” She replied just as fast as Alaric had asked. “Follow me, and try to be as quiet as you possibly can.” She quietly and quickly made her way up the small hill she had indicated earlier. The others of the group followed along behind at a close distance. Cresting the hill they got a good look at the man Kallie had killed. He had a well built frame, and looked to be in his middle years. He was armed with a bow and a dagger, with no real armor to speak of, just a thin cloth shirt. An arrow was sticking out of the side of his neck. The other thing that they noticed was the small ruined castle in the clearing below the hill they stood on. With men patrolling the broken walls.
“I think we found them.” Said Tayla.
(If you don’t care you may skip to the next part.)
You have advanced your skill level in trade, reaching skill level 10. Items you buy and sell prices will be 5% more in your favor, this also includes bartering.
Congratulations by reaching the novice threshold in Trade you gain a perk! This perk will work in tandem with your ability. When you identify items you will be given a rough value of the item.
You have advanced your skill level in Horseback Riding, reaching skill level 3. You decrease the rate at which your mount's stamina will decrease by 3%.
You have advanced your skill level in healing, reaching skill level 4. Wounds you treat will heal 5% faster.
You have advanced your skill level in alchemy, reaching skill level 14. Potions you make will be 14% increased effect and 28% increased duration of effect.
You have advanced your skill level in alchemy, reaching skill level 13. Potions you make will be 13% increased effect and 26% increased duration of effect.
You have advanced your skill level in tracking, reaching skill level 2. The tracks that creatures leave as they travel through the world make just a little more sense to you.