Adventures of a Scribe

by Michael Deyhim

  “Only Max here knows that stuff.” Devon said.

  “I needed to read the Chant of Light in order to be ordained as a priest of the church.” Max said.

  “Is there an actual skill for the Chant of Light?” I asked.

  “Yes, but one must be an anointed paladin of the church or a cardinal before learning the skill.” Max said. That wasn’t surprising. Another way to lock people into specific skills and keep others out. Anyways I had the Chant of Time which beat all the other stupid mana that no one would share.

  “I read a story about the Magus Galroth once. He was a dark mage, Magus is what is called a master of mana. He used to rule this kingdom about fifteen hundred years ago. He called forth shadows and the darkness itself to consume peoples’ flesh so that their skeletons could fight for him. Eventually Delin the White confronted him. In battle or in an ambush the book didn’t say.” Everyone was closely listening to me.

  “Delin’s Chant of Light pushed back the darkness and caused the monsters of shadow to crumble to dust. There they killed each other in their final battle. Delin’s three disciples went on to found the church and vowed to forever hold back the darkness that seeks to consume all humans.”

  “That seemed pretty short for something from a book.” Falkerk said.

  “I figured you didn’t want to listen about all the children Delin saved and people he helped. There was an entire folio dedicated to describing the stitching on his battle robes and how it was sewn in by his loving admirers. Whoever wrote it left the final battle as an afterthought.” I said.

  “Why I have never read about this?” Max asked.

  “It has been a long time. Also the Church doesn’t want to talk about a time before the Church. I bet you learn about him if you advance as a priest.” I said.

  “We could definitely use some battle mana. Just wipe out a large group.” Devon said.

  “One of the senior adventurers I talked to in Jopel, Yonson was his name, told how most mages are one and done. Once their mana is used up they are worthless.” George said. Everyone glanced at Max.

  “It is true. I need a sword if I am going to survive.” He said.

  “Are you sure?” Falkerk asked.

  “Yeah, for defense.” Max said. At least that situation had resolved itself. I looked at Sam who was still in a mood but hopefully after the next battle he would be better.

  For keeping watch at night, people paired off with one person getting to sleep the full night. It rotated around to be fair. It was tempting to keep only one person on instead of a pair, but I did not want to get ambushed at night.

  The next day, Bran had snared a hare in one of his snares which was great. He decided to skin it that night and we set off through the woods. I got to take point and kept a reasonable pace. In the past we had swung to the east and north of the ruins. This time I was taking us more to the south and west of them.

  I began hearing noises over the hill and gestured at everyone to stop and be quiet. We made our way up the embankment and looked over. Down a sharp drop was at least a hundred goblins clearing a patch of forest. I also noted the twenty wargs nearby.

  With the larger group I had to pull us back so we could all talk about what we saw. “That is a lot of them.” Devon muttered.

  “It looks like they are building a settlement.” Bran said.

  “I got around a hundred goblins and twenty wargs, anyone disagree with that?” I asked. No one did. “Alright then, I say we wait for night and then ambush them in their sleep. Kill the-“

  “That is dishonorable.” I looked at Falkerk. “A night attack on sleeping monsters would demean us.” I could see Sam agreeing with this along with Max. Devon just looked off to the side.

  “Honor? Are you shitting me? No, don’t answer. I don’t know where this even came from. It is kill or be killed out here and you talk about honor. Get out of the party.” I said. There was no way I was putting up with this shit.

  “What?” Falkerk asked. He honestly looked surprised.

  “You are going to say leave and then party. The other choice is to take your shit honor and leave it behind. I am serious, there is no talk of honor in this group. That is the kind of nonsense that gets a person killed. I don’t mind that Max is a priest and not a front line fighter since that was clear up front and he is working to better himself. Will honor stop you from ambushing your opponent, torturing them for information, or even killing baby monsters?” I asked.

  “Ed, you don’t have to be so harsh.” Bran said.

  “Yes, I do. I am not dying out here. Every story I have ever read with the word honor ends with people dying. The more honor, the more horrific the deaths. I don’t plan to be one of those people.” I said.

  “Take that back, my father was a knight and he had honor.” Falkerk said.

  “By the past tense, he is clearly dead as well. Leave or cast your honor aside.” Falkerk looked like he wanted to explode and everyone was looking between us. I honestly didn’t pick up that type of attitude from talking to him. I saw him place his hand on his blade. “If you draw that, I will cut off your arm.” I said.

  I kept my arms crossed and stared at Falkerk. He let go and everyone let out a sigh of relief. “I don’t like night attacks. My father and our village was wrecked in one. The people screaming and…and…just everything.”

  “It is okay. Let’s put some distance between us and this place and come up with a plan.” Everyone agreed to that and we spent the afternoon moving away and setting up by a stream. I worked on three flash runes while I was waiting. I was running out of ink and spare parchment which was annoying.

  “What are you working on?” Devon asked.

  “Flash runes. I place a bit of mana into them and they light up with a bright flash.” I said. They really were just poorly designed light runes, but saying flash runes sounded a lot better.

  “Is that why you wanted to do a night assault?” Falkerk asked.

  “Partially. The main reason is that there are a lot. Everyone we can kill in their sleep is one we don’t have to face. I can fight five, but fifty? No way. We also won’t make enough money to pay for the supplies we bought unless we take out that settlement.” I said.

  “Can I offer a bit of advice?” I asked Falkerk. He gave me a wry smile and gestured for me to continue. “I read a passage once of a knight that served in the Blood Letting War. It went like this, I stare out on the field of death and see the empty eyes of my friends. For but a moment I held hope that we would triumph unhurt by the forces arrayed against us. Let me forever remember their names and faces so that my honor will carry them forward.”

  We sat in silence for quite a bit. “I get what you are saying. Friends first, not the enemy.” I gave him a smile and nodded. At least he wasn’t an idiot and that crisis was resolved.

  ***

  After some hare stew we trekked back to the settlement just as it got pitch dark. They had set up three fire pits and were sleeping around them. We set up at the top of the steep hill about two hundred feet away from their settlement location. The incline was about forty feet vertically over ten feet horizontally with lots of loose dirt and small bushes. There were a couple of trees, but not much for cover. All the trees had been cut down at the foot of the hill for the settlement.

  We had Max hoisted up into a tree overlooking us along with all our gear. His job was to keep watch behind us and to the flanks in case a group tried to sneak up. Devon and George would stand at the top of the hill and shoot at anyone climbing and the rest of us would deal with them when they got up here.

  I volunteered to sneak down and kill as many as possible before retreating. I would use the flash runes to make my escape. Once everyone was in position I snuck down the hill. I made sure to look back and pick out a good route to get back up. I then made my way towards the camp. There were a couple sentries but they were spaced far enough apart they weren’t looking at each other.

  I could use slow five times, but I wanted to keep t
hat for when things became really desperate. I moved through the grass and darkness between two of the sentries until I had made it past. I then snuck around behind one and drove my blade through the back of its head, killing the goblin instantly.

  Catching the body, I lowered it to the ground gently so not to make a sound. I then made my way around the camp killing all four remaining sentries. I then began working my way through the camp stabbing goblins in the head. I got eighteen before the wargs stirred and realized something was going on. I killed three more and began running away with the wargs moving to chase me.

  “Three, two, one!” I shouted out and turned for a moment. The wargs that were on my heels let out yelps of pain and I kept right on running. I reached the hill and began scrambling up it. I heard the snarls and yells from behind me. “Three, two, one!” I shouted again and activated the second rune. The flash staggered my enemies and I kept climbing. I reached the top gasping for breath.

  As I caught my breath I could see George and Devon loosing arrows down the hill. The wargs had a much easier time climbing up with their four legs and bodies closer to the ground. Unfortunately there was almost no cover and they were easy to shoot. The couple who did make it up were easily killed by the fighters.

  “A large group circling to our left! At least fifteen” Max called out. I had made sure to tell him to try and say numbers rather than large, small, or whatever. The hill dropped off that way so it would be easier to climb up and flank us.

  “Bran with me, we will take the left.” I called out. Bran pulled back and we began to walk along the ridge to our left. “I have one flash tag. I am going to use it right off.”

  “Got it. There they are.” The goblins were charging through the trees up the small incline.

  “Three, two, one!” I called out just a few seconds before they got to us. After that we both managed to kill three each, leaving eleven. I was forced to use slow five times to even up the numbers to make it six on two. I took a stab wound in the arm and leg and Bran took one in the calf. When the last goblin dropped dead I let out a sigh.

  We made our way back to the group. “Not good. About thirty to forty left.” Falkerk said. “They retreated and staying out of bow range.”

  “Anyone injured?” I asked. “Max, I need a heal and so does Bran. By my count twenty five in the camp, twenty in the woods so twenty and the wargs on the hill. Not bad.” I felt the healing mana wash over me and my wounds close.

  “We each have about ten arrows left.” George said. I looked at the goblins and at us. Max and I were both out of mana. Everyone looked exhausted but we weren’t injured.

  “I think we attack. There are seven of us, so that is five each. They are probably exhausted and afraid. They have lost over half their numbers and all the wargs. Let’s rest up and recover stamina a bit, maybe some water and food. Then we attack at dawn.” I said.

  No one objected but there were worried looks as Max came down from the tree he was in with our gear. We all had some water and food. Max and Falkerk kept watch and I meditated while pretending to rest. By the time dawn would break I would have enough mana for one more slow. In terms of stamina, everyone should be recovered.

  The people with higher reserves hadn’t had to do a lot of work at the top of the hill. I was probably the worst off at the moment. Dawn began to break and I got up. The goblins had made a makeshift fort with the wood they had. It was cute in a hopeless sort of way.

  “Alright, everyone. Let’s start looting the corpses below. Start at the top, cut off the ears and roll the bodies down the hill. Make sure to recover our arrows. Metal chuck down the hill and other loot keep on you.” We got to work in a line moving down the blood soaked it. It took a while to get everything but the two archers looked a lot happier.

  “Bran and Falkerk remain with the archers and Max. Sam and I will kill any that make a run for it. Just shoot the ones in the fortress.” The two archers got five before they all huddled behind the wooden barricade. I let Falkerk and Bran handle moving forward. The goblins got a couple of shots off but after three were taken out by our archers they stopped.

  They advanced some more and reached the barricade. Eight goblins leapt up and tried to hack them. The archers were ready and nailed two. It was easy when you are only thirty feet away. Three goblins tried to rush me from the fort. I slowed one to easily kill it and began fighting the other two.

  After I killed them, I noted Max had moved up to assist Falkerk and Bran. Sam had killed two. They were probably more scared of his large axe. With their numbers depleted we attacked their fort and it was a simple matter of cutting them down. We looked around and all the goblins were dead. “YEAH!” I yelled out. Everyone else let out a cheer with me.

  CHAPTER 4

  The rest of the day was slow going. We managed to find ninety six goblin ears and twenty one warg ears. The large amount of metal scraps added up to sixty seven. The big finds were a decent city forged sword and axe. Sam didn’t want the axe and the sword was the same quality as the ones we had.

  After some discussion, Max was given the sword since he had killed a couple of goblins, so he didn’t have to use one their pieces of raw metal. We had about three and a half to four pieces of silver worth of loot. The biggest thing was all the extra status points I had earned, level, and the skill increase.

  I didn’t unlock any new passive or active abilities with Toughness, but I was happy with how I had progressed. While people sorted out the loot I began to carefully work on dissecting the goblin and warg corpses at the base of the hill. It took most of the morning but my hunch finally paid off.

  I had to go through twenty corpses, carefully cutting them open and removing various bits and pieces. I tossed away the goblin knife I had been using and cleaned off my hands in the nearby stream. “Any luck?” Asked Devon.

  “Get the others, might as well tell all of them at once.” Everyone gathered around a goblin corpse. “So the heart is located here.” I gestured at the gut. “Right in the middle. There is a boney plate between it and the skin, so you would need to pierce it or come in at a steep angle.”

  “The wargs?” Devon asked.

  “No idea. They didn’t have anything that looked like a heart. I think their whole body acts like one.” I said. I had some knowledge of how a human body worked but nothing appeared to be similar except that their brains were in their heads.

  “What does the heart do again?” Bran asked.

  “It moves the blood around your body. It gets injured and you die.” I said. Bran began looking over himself.

  “Where is my heart?” He asked worriedly. I heard a couple of snickers and rolled my eyes.

  “On your left side right here behind your ribs.” I tapped his chest. “Put your ear on my chest and you can hear it beating.” He did that.

  “Oh wow, I can hear it. Thump, thump. Huh.” He said.

  “Alright, anyone else want to stick around here?” I asked.

  “No, let’s get going this place stinks.” Sam said. He was in a much better mood after the battle. We began to trudge out of the half built, completely wrecked goblin settlement. I kept our general direction for Jopel.

  We stopped a bit early that afternoon and rested. After helping to gather firewood I dozed. I still felt exhausted from last night. It was tempting to meditate, but it wasn’t actually resting and I needed rest. Meditation was more of a floating sensation, but it didn’t let me relax my tired brain and body.

  “Ambush!” I heard a shout, probably Brans. I grabbed my sword laying at my side and quickly stood up. It was dusk, only Max and Sam were in camp with me.

  “That way.” Sam said and gestured at the forest. We all moved into the woods at a jog. Bran had his back to a tree and was surrounded by eight goblins and two wargs. “AHHHH!” Sam yelled out and decapitated a warg. While he was shouting I cast slow at the other warg and quickly finished it off.

  Bran took the chance to attack the remaining goblins along with Max. It was over sho
rtly after that. “I held them off, Devon ran.” Bran gasped out. Blood was coming out from a wound in his shoulder. Max went to heal him.

  “No. The others may be worse off.” I said. Max looked at me and then nodded.

  “Where is Falkerk?” I asked.

  “Said he was going to try and find some wild vegetables.” Sam replied.

  “Everyone to camp!” I shouted as loud as I could. “No chance of trying to fallow Devon in the dark. George?” I asked.

  “He was here, probably went with Devon.” Bran said. We all quieted but couldn’t hear anything.

  “Back to camp.” I said. We quickly made our way back and Falkerk and Devon were both there.

  “George?” I asked Devon.

  “He was right behind me. I don’t know.” He whispered the last part out.

  “Shit.” I cursed. “Leave everything you don’t need here. Party panel.”

  “You can’t mean to go after him.” Sam looked around.

  “As long as he still is alive we are going. We leave in thirty seconds.” I said. Everyone scrambled around and they soon gathered up.

  “Devon, show us where you last saw him.” We followed Devon in the dark as we made our way through the woods.

  “I looked back here and didn’t see him.” Devon said and we followed him. It almost looked like he was crying but it was too dark to tell.

  “Wait, see all these bushes and leaves are torn up.” Bran pointed to the side. We followed the trail. I kept checking on the party panel and it said the same thing. I had never checked the range and cursed myself for not doing that. We rounded a boulder and saw a campfire through the trees.

  “Wait here. I will check it out.” I said. I moved up and made sure I hid in the tree line. Twenty eight goblins and eight wargs. George had been stripped naked and left near their fire pit. Two of the larger goblins were pointing at him and arguing. I went back to the group.