Edwin awoke to light streaming through the window. That wasn’t a surprise, considering the sun had been up when he went to bed, but it was unfamiliar all the same. So far, he’d always woken up early to be able to fully use the light of day, either for training, travel or hunting monsters. Edwin looked over to the other bed where Bordan was still snoring lightly. It appeared that even after a night without sleep he still needed less rest than a normal person.
He rolled out of bed, doing his best to stay quiet to not wake his comrades. Standing, he turned around to check the bunk above his where Leodin was also still fast asleep. Not quite sure what to do, Edwin chose to let them rest a little longer and quietly pulled on his clothes. He tiptoed out of the room and walked down the stairs in search of the washbasin.
Feeling refreshed and much cleaner, Edwin decided to go for a walk around the village. As he soon found out, there wasn’t all that much to see. Leshing was similar to the other villages they’d visited, simple wooden houses huddled together within a log palisade. It was circular, with a small square in the middle where farmers and traveling merchants could peddle their wares directly off their carts. There were no shops, not even a blacksmith. The people of Leshing would have to travel to Rellick’s Rock if they wanted their tools fixed.
While Edwin didn’t see anything of interest, he did draw a few curious looks. He was used to that, while adventurers weren’t exactly exotic, they came by rarely enough that people, especially children, still found them interesting. In this case he assumed that it had to do with their early arrival. In a community like this, the story had probably reached the ears of every last villager fifteen minutes after they had knocked on the gate.
Edwin was intently studying the wall of a building, careful not to look directly at the gaggle of children that was poorly hiding behind a corner, when a small, wizened man with a straw hat and a friendly smile approached him.
“Ya must be one a the adventurers Degin talked aboot.” He said cheerfully, offering his hand to the larger man.
Edwin took the man’s hand and shook it. “I am, Edwin’s the name. And who might you be?”
“I’m the headman, I am. Name’s Umbor.”
“Pleasure to be here, headman Umbor. I apologize for not coming to see you sooner, the rest of my party is still asleep, and I only just woke myself.”
“Oh it’s no trouble young man, none at all. When Degin said ya’d arrived at dawn I figured ya’d need some rest.”
“Thank you for your understanding. I’m sure the others will be up soon; in fact I was just about to head back to the inn. You can join me if you like, otherwise we would seek you out after we had breakfast.” Edwin stopped, blinking up at the sun. “Well, lunch.”
“I’ll join ya if ya don’t mind, wouldn’t mind a bite ta eat meself.” The headman gave Edwin a friendly slap on the back and marched off towards the inn. Edwin regarded the strange man with raised eyebrows, then followed him with a smile. There were all sorts of people in the world and meeting them like this had been part of the reason to build the Immortalizer in the first place.
When they arrived, Bordan and Leodin were seated at a table in the small common room. Bordan saw Edwin enter and waved him over.
“There you are, I was wondering where you’d gone.”
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“I didn’t want to wake you, so I took a walk. Is Salissa up too?”
Bordan nodded. “I knocked on her door, she’ll be down in a moment. I figured I’d order food.”
“Sound plan.” Edwin waved to the man that had trailed after him to the table. “Headman Umbor, these are Bordan and Leodin, two of my three teammates.”
Greetings were exchanged, and just as the newcomers sat down, a bleary-eyed Salissa came down the stairs. More introductions and greetings followed, and then the food came and everyone was busy stuffing their faces for a while.
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“So, the direboar.” Bordan said. The plates had been cleared away, and the hot food had done its part to fully wake up the four adventurers. “What can you tell me about it?”
“It’s a real bugger I can tell ya that. “Umbor replied, pulling out a pipe and beginning to stuff it. “Tall as me, but meaner. Likes to trample our fields and dig up the crops. It’s shameless, only reason we haven’t lost anyone is that ya can see and hear it coming a mile away, and if ye’re far enough away and don’t make noise it won’t chase ya.”
“Where can we find it?” Bordan asked, leaning in.
“Buggered if I know.” The headman replied dryly. “Somewhere east probably.”
A collective sigh went through the party and Umbor looked up from his pipe. “Not what ya’d wanted ta hear?”
Bordan shrugged. “It’s always easier if we have a good idea where to look. That doesn’t mean we won’t find it, of course. It’s just going to be harder. Do you have an idea where we should start at least?”
The headman scratched his scraggly beard, looking up in thought. Then, he shrugged. “It always comes from somewhere else, so not really. I don’t think it has a den, just roams around and ruins peoples’ stuff for fun. ‘Fraid I can’t help ya.”
Bordan waved his apology away. “Finding it is our job, not yours. In fact, we’ll get right on that if you don’t mind.”
The adventurers stood and turned to leave, when Bordan stopped. “Actually, would you be interested in buying a direrat carcass?”
They ended up telling the story of how they’d come by this particular commodity, which elicited a hearty laugh from the headman. “Hell of a tale ya got there. I’ll gladly take that rat off ya, if only ta show it ta the kids. Some of ‘em don’t want to listen when their parents tell ‘em that it’s dangerous outside, ‘specially at night. This should fix that I think.”
Having pawned off their unwanted trophy, the party geared up and left the the village. It was early in the afternoon, and there was still plenty of time to search the surroundings of the village, even some of the nearby forest. Bordan used the time to go over their tactics for the direboar.
“It’s shortsighted, so if you stay far enough away, Leodin, it won’t see you even if you shoot it. That’s your goal, just keep your distance and pepper it with bolts. Killshots would be nice, but disabling it is just as valuable. Edwin, you and I try to keep it busy. I don’t think your mace will be of much use against it, sadly. It will have plenty of padding to cushion your blows, so focus on not getting hit. Ideally, we keep it turning between us until Leodin has killed it, but that’s unlikely. Either way, we try not to die. Salissa, I figured you can be our trump card again. You stand by, and if Edwin or I get cornered, you light it up to draw it off us.”
“Actually…” Salissa said hesitantly. “I’ve been working on my telekinesis, moving objects with my magic; I think that will be useful in the fight as well.”
“Really?” Bordan said excited. “That sounds great! How does it work? Could you maybe float the boar up so we can just stab it to death?”
“Uhm…” Salissa said, shooting a look at Edwin. He ignored it. “No, I can’t levitate living beings.”
“Oh, that’s a shame.” Bordan said. “Why not?”
Salissa opened and closed her mouth a few times, looking at Edwin pleadingly. He ignored her. Finally, she answered, slightly exasperated. “Look, it just doesn’t work like that, okay? It’s complicated magical stuff. I could explain it, but it wouldn’t do you any good. Either way, I was going to collect small rocks and shoot them at the boar like Leodin shoots his bolts. That way I can also act as a marksman.”
“Oh, I suppose you’re right.” Bordan said wistfully. “Sure would’ve made our job easier though. Alright, go ahead and do that. You can still set it on fire if it attacks us, right?”
She nodded, and Bordan smiled and clapped his hands. “Great, so that’s the plan. Simple but effective, as all good plans are. Let’s take up formation and start searching. I was thinking we’d start by the fields, since the headman said that the direboar likes them.”