“It doesn’t move?”
“For an entire second. Can’t be damaged either. I have some thread so you tie it between two trees and use the ability…”
“How bad could thread be? It isn’t sharp.”
“It is thin and hard to see, which is what matter. If it is at neck height and you ran into it.” I drew my hand across my neck. “Have to test it, but you wouldn’t be walking away.”
“You are scary.”
“Says the person with that on their shield.” It was a maw of teeth. The detail work with the hanging bits of flesh was amazing.
“Yeah, too bad that yeti was too stupid to notice.”
“Don’t worry I will figure out the mana to breathe underwater, just think of all the fish you could scare.” Bran looked at me. “Why that shield might even be known as….Bigfish.”
“That was old months ago.”
“Still funny.”
“We are going to Azalon after this and I am getting all the embarrassing stories from your family.” Bran said with a grin.
“No….you wouldn’t dare!” I said in horror.
“Oh yes I would. I bet your brothers would love to share. Got to have something to talk about at the guild halls.”
“Anyways, did you ever learn what they are doing with a cockatrice?” I asked to change the subject.
“Potions are made with monster parts.” I gave him a look of horror. “I felt the same way. They are purified and as long as you aren’t drinking ten a day you should be okay. The blood is used for stamina potions.”
“Makes sense, kind of. What about the feathers?” I asked.
“Special type of armor. It is insanely expensive, like a hand full of gold expensive. Apparently it resists most weapons and mana.”
“So if you could buy one item you wanted, what would it be? I would probably go for a platinum sword that is forever sharp and is flaming.” I said.
“Something that would let me fly or at least float over the ground so I didn’t have to walk. I would also be above everyone else.” He added.
“Did you ever look into a name change?” I asked.
“Yeah, costs a gold.”
“That much, doesn’t seem like a big deal.”
“It is a good way to get out of contracts. When your name changes everything goes like the guild medallion.”
“Makes sense, sucks for you though.”
“Tell me about it.”
***
“I see Jopel the town of dreams.” Bran said.
“Where dreams go to die.”
“Well we made it.”
“Let’s go see Boron and get the word on the street.”
“The word on the street is mud, ice, and shit.” Bran said. We walked into the town. It was just like always, quiet and sad. We made our way to the guild hall. It was a bit before midday so I wasn’t expecting too many people. There was no one there except Boron behind the counter.
“Hello…welcome back you two.” Boron said with a grin.
“Good to see you as well. A mug for each of us.” I laid out the copper and he gave us each a mug. “So what is happening in Jopel the town of dreams?”
“The usual. People show up, they leave. Lots of goblin activity. There are patrols within two days of the town. Army can’t get here soon enough.” Boron said.
“What about George and his group?” I asked. Boron looked away for a moment.
“Tough times for them. Got low on money and had to live outside of town. Can’t run a charity here. They lost their leader too, Falkerk. Hit them all pretty hard. I think they are on an expedition right now.”
“Sounds rough out there.”
“A lot of people are dying, even lost a whole party of rank threes. The town guard isn’t much here. Only six men and a shitty wood wall. Things look good for both of you.”
Bran and I then started telling of our journey after leaving Jopel and everything we did. We finished talking later in the afternoon as a couple people came in. It wasn’t anyone I recognized but they were rank ones. Bran and I paid for double servings and took seat near the fireplace. Out clean clothes looked a world of difference from how beat up the other group looked.
“Reminds me of us.” I said.
“Yeah.” We both quieted down as one took a bag up to Boron.
“Bounty, fifteen goblins and three wargs.” That wasn’t much at all. Only twenty four copper. “Put it for a meal for all of us.” The young man went and sat back down with his group.
“Remind me why we ever did that again?” Bran asked.
“Money.”
“Ahh, yeah, now I remember. Good times.”
“If you had to guess how many goblins and wargs do you say you could take on?” I asked.
“Two and win, after that it is tough you know. Though the large shield will help.”
“You should put metal spikes on it so you can slam it onto people.”
“I thought about that, but they break off easily and the shield doesn’t last as long.” We sipped from our mugs looking at the other group while we waited for our food.
“Boron will probably serve them first, the bleeding heart.” I said.
“Probably right, he did the same for us.”
“Well I am going to make four flash runes. I don’t want to have to worry about it later.” I said.
“Good idea. Those are insanely powerful. You really are ridiculous.”
“Say that before I shove a health potion down your throat.”
“Point made, point made.” Boron did bring food out to the other group first and they ate like starving animals.
“Tell me I was never that bad.”
“Thankfully no, but the rest of us were.”
“I do agree visiting Azalon is a good idea after this.”
“What? Where did that come from?” Bran asked.
“I don’t know enough runes, only the ones I copied from the shop. I need to sit down with my mother and learn how to make some more. I have heat, chill, light, repel, and flash which is just light improperly drawn.”
“I can finally read some actual books to get some practice in.”
“You could have always gone with me to the library.” Bran just looked at me like I had gone crazy. “Okay yeah, I got a bit obsessive.”
“A shark eating fish is a bit obsessive. You were nuts. I thought you were taking some Twilight for a while there the way you were smiling.”
“Twilight?”
“This is why I hang around the guild so I know these things. A powered drug, you sniff it and everything gets better. Food, women, everything.”
“You try it?”
“No way. First, it is expensive. Second I learned what potions are made of. That stuff is probably made of monster parts.” He gestured below the table making it clear which parts he thought the drug was made from.
“Yeah, you don’t want any half human half monsters running around.”
“Don’t joke about that. It will give me nightmares. I keep thinking my beautiful wife having a fish baby. Just no.” Boron brought out our food thankfully and put an end to that conversation.
“Boron’s wife sure knows how to cook.” I said.
“She is amazing. Even the people at main guild hall were impressed with me from what I had learned from her.”
“Probably since you know the right way to hold a knife.”
“Excuse me.” We looked up from our meal to see one of the rank one adventurers from the other table. I waited a bit but no one said anything.
“Yes?” I said.
“We were wondering if you would be willing to team up with us and all.”
“Uh huh.” I looked at the worn down group and back to the one that had come up to us. I looked at Bran and he shrugged. That wasn’t any help. It was kicking a kitten. I didn’t mind doing it but it would leave a bad taste in my mouth.
“There are two main problems. The first is you are all broke and probably can’t afford any suppli
es. Let me finish. Second you are probably of low ability. So the one question I have is why should we help you guys out? If it involves words like compassion or charity try again.” He looked even more down when I said that.
“Everything we find you can keep.” He said.
“No Robert-“
“Shut up Gar, we need help.” I went back to my meal taking the time to carefully partition my food into small portions while their group had an argument. Bran just copied me, not saying anything. After a bit they finally stopped and Robert came back. “Please help us.”
“Sit, I don’t like people hovering over me while I eat.” Robert pulled up a chair and the rest grabbed nearby chairs. “What is the problem?” I asked. They all started speaking at once. I held up my hand and thankfully they got the message to shut up. “Gar, tell me about the last expedition you went on.”
“Well we just ran into the patrol. I managed to kill a warg but Terry here was bitten and then the goblins were on us. Ern and Jorn both got stabbed. We managed to win but we were all wounded.” Gar said.
“What are each of your rolls in your group?” I asked.
“Well I am a fighter. So are Robert and Jorn. Terry and Ern are both archers, but we are running short on arrows.” I let out a sigh at this. There was no one with mana.
“All from the same town?” I asked.
“No, we met up along the road and here in Jopel.” Gar said. I looked over at Bran and he gave me another shrug.
“Why not just go home or get other jobs?” I asked.
“I ran away.” Terry said.
“Orphan.” Ern said.
“Same here.” Robert added.
“Forth son.” Gar said.
“Third son.” Jorn said. I was quickly realizing that being an adventurer was used to kill off a lot of extra people that had nowhere else to go.
“What about the army?” I asked. “At least you get meal and a bed.” They all looked surprised at that. “I recommend you head out and go sign up with them.
“But we spent all we had to become adventurers.” Ern said. It was a more of a whine than anything.
“Well you all fail. If I helped you then you would learn nothing and still be weak. If you can’t make it even with this many people, tough luck.” I finished the last of my food and left the table with Bran. We went into our room and I let out a long sigh.
“That was brutal Ed.” Bran said.
“I know. I am surprised they aren’t dead yet. Idiots playing at this. It isn’t a game. Also I am not wasting my time on them. If they were any good they would have left that sad group.”
“True but harsh. At least I am not useless.”
“You can trap and are good at things like getting information and talking to people.”
“You aren’t that bad except when you go on a rant like that.”
“Don’t blame me, blame how this is all set up. I mean they take in adventurers and most of them get killed. Probably helps keep people from killing each other. No one gets proper training or help.”
“Well night, see you in the morning.” I was a bit annoyed at him for not saying anything. He was the people person not me.
“Night.” I said. It was obvious there wasn’t training so most of these type of people would die. It was the Adventurers Guild not the Caravan Guarding Guild. They needed people to be independent and competent to complete missions. It still annoyed me at how wasteful it all seemed.
***
The next day we left the guild hall and purchased a fair amount of supplies. With that done we set off into the forest. We had only just got started when the five of them from the night before came out from behind trees.
“Give us all your stuff or else.” Robert said.
“You started it you finish it.” Bran said.
“Next time don’t shrug your shoulders. I will give you all one chance, back away or else.” An arrow flew by my head and hit a tree behind me.
“We are in chargeeeeeee…” I hit all five of them with slow. I moved out of the way of the way of where their arrows were aimed and proceeded to chop off the heads of two of them. The rest let out screams and I hit them with another slow. It was a simple matter of killing the last three.
“That was scary and brutal.” Bran said looking at the corpses. We took their medallions and took all their weapons. Only one sword was of decent value. After gathering everything up, we went back to Boron.
“Had a problem outside of town.” I then dumped the five medallions on the counter. “They attacked us and I killed them.” Boron let out a long sigh.
“Well the best thing is to leave their stuff with me in case there is a will. There probably isn’t since they are ones and attacked you. You can pick it up when you get back or you can stick around for two days.”
“We are heading out.” I said and we left.
“That was terrible.” Bran said.
“Idiots, but they were desperate.” As we walked in silence I considered if I should have been nicer. It was an option but that would just lead to more problems further along. I wasn’t their family. They had to earn their place and not depend on me to carry them through the tough times.
That is what I liked about Bran. Sure things were shitty for him but he pulled his weight. If that group just had a hard time killing enough goblins and was a bit low on funds that would be one thing. They were completely useless. Well they did kill some, but I just didn’t care.
“You are sighing quite a bit over there.” Bran said.
“I could have done more, but I just didn’t want to.” I said.
“Adventuring is like fishing. You have to learn how to do it. If you have someone fish for you, you will never learn. Sure you helped me out a lot, but I would have been fine without you. Maybe, who knows, but people just have to make their own way.”
“I still don’t get why they didn’t go for the army.”
“The age for entry is set at sixteen and they probably had their hearts set on being adventurers. Imagine going back a failure. Most people would rather die.”
“Death is permanent, failure isn’t.”
“Embarrassment is for your whole life.” Bran replied.
That did make me feel a little better but not much. The rest of the day we spent walking through the forest and I got my head back together. I was no one’s stepping stone. Either people could get in line or out of the way.
On the fourth day we heard a goblin patrol. We took cover behind some trees and they passed right on by. It was obvious that wargs didn’t have a sense of smell. Probably from the overwhelming stink of the goblins or poor breeding. It could also be that their teeth were messing things up in their snout. The patrol was only seventeen large, but we didn’t want to carry loot to slow us down.
Getting the map made and getting back was far more profitable and any fighting would bring unnecessary attention. We made our way more carefully now, taking our time to be silent. There were no idle conversations. Even breakfast and dinner went by with quiet chewing. We passed another patrol on the fifth day and two more on the sixth.
We only barely avoided the last one, but thankfully goblins were not quiet when moving through the forest. We had taken to a ridge and spotted the mountain in the distance at the end of the day. This area of the forest was like a bowl that lead to the mountain. I was hoping the far side was the same way, but there was no way to know. There just wasn’t anything tall enough and close enough to get an accurate map of goblin settlements in the area.
The seventh day we passed by a settlement. It was fairly large, with a second palisade added on to the side of the first to expand the space for huts for the goblins to live in. I did note that there seemed a small number of fighters compared to goblins just doing random tasks. That was a good sign. They were probably hoping the patrols intercepted any people and their walls would hold in an attack.
The eighth day we saw our first armored patrol. All the goblins up to this point had been in rags. These
ones were clearly dressed better and had horribly made metal plates over parts of their body. I also noted that they carried spears as well as swords. It was hard to get any sleep that night even with Bran keeping watch.
The ninth day was a big one. We took our time to not make any noise as we moved forward through the forest. We saw two patrols, I had no clue how they didn’t see us. Probably weren’t expecting anyone this deep into their territory. We reached a tree line near the base of the mountain and saw hundreds of goblins moving in and out of tunnels leading into it. Huts were scattered everywhere along with fields.
Looking up, about a fifth of the way up there was nothing, just more trees and no goblins. That was good and confirmed that the upper reaches of the mountain were unmolested. That was the main reason I thought we had a shot at this. We retreated back and we waited for night fall. It helped that since patrols were so common they were forming their own paths through the forest so it was easy enough to stay away from them.
When night finally came the goblins seemed to settle down. There were no sentries posted either. We moved through their fields and past their homes. We then began ascending the mountain. Nothing called out and we easily got into the far tree line. With a relieved breath we began climbing very carefully up the mountain in the dark.
Dawn came and we weren’t at the top. “Shit, this is massive.” Bran said his first words in days.
“Yeah.” I whispered back.
We kept on climbing until we heard a noise above us. Ducking behind a boulder we peaked out. A large griffon swooped in with a dead goblin in its claws and landed on the ledge above us. We quickly went to the left to avoid the monster. Fighting would only draw attention and it was clear the griffons were keeping the goblins away from the upper reaches of the mountain.
As we continued our ascent we noticed two more griffons flying about. Nowhere near us, but their presence was worrying. We reached the peak late in the afternoon and thankfully there were no griffons all the way up here. The sky was clear and we looked out below us. “Alright I am going to need to barrow your shield.”
“Don’t mess up the paint.” Bran said. I walked along the ridge making a map with the mountain at the center. There were a couple large rivers, the goblin settlements I could see, and we even observed Jopel in the distance. We rested the rest of that afternoon and I repeated the same process when it got dark, just putting small x’s where the settlements were based on the lights we could see in the forest.
Adventures of a Scribe Page 18