The Good Guys Chronicles Box Set

by Eric Ugland

  Regeneration (Mister Paul) - Outside of combat, your body will repair rather quickly. Given enough time, it’s possible you will heal from nearly any wound.

  Gift of Gab (Mister Paul) - Should you encounter a language you do not understand, as long as you hear at least three words of it, you will understand it, and speak it, perfectly.

  Indicium

  Coggeshall Heraldic Achievement (incomplete) - You are granted permission to enter family buildings, granted permission to access family funds, and granted permission to use the family name.

  Eona’s Blessing of the Spear - Eona blesses you with +10 spear, +7 swimming, +5 fishing, +10% movement in water, +3 Agility

  Choice, Warrior - All martial skills advance double. Let us go to WAR!

  Relationships

  Rumib Pass (destroyed) - Liked

  Languages

  Goblin

  Imperial Common

  Mahrduhmese

  Spells

  Lifeform Identification (Lvl 1) (costs 1 mana): Identify uncommon or lower lifeforms.

  Basic Object Identification (Lvl 1) (costs 1 mana): Identify any non-magical common or lower item.

  Heal Other (lvl 1) (costs 100 mana): Through the use of magic you are able to heal another through touch. Heal 50 Hp.

  Humus (lvl 1) (costs 10 mana): This spell gathers dirt and organic materials, moisture, and bacterial ingredients within one mile/level of the caster and places the mixture anywhere the caster wishes within range. This is humus, the black, enriched soil excellent for growing plants in pots or gardening. Of course, the mage may use it however he wishes, but it is usually for growing things in pots and window boxes. If no such materials are within one mile/level, the spell has no effect.

  “Looking good, Montana,” I said.

  Chapter 58

  Morning came along far too quickly. I was still deep asleep when someone pounded on my door and yelled for me to get my lazy idiot ass moving. Good money it was Nikolai.

  Cleeve gathered everyone in the stables, and then broke us into two groups. Group one would take two of the wagons and all of the horses, and use the Imperial roads to go down to the capital and then up and over to Osterstadt. Their trip would take them most of the fall and some of the winter, having to go all the way south to the capital city, then turn west and go through another city before heading north on roads which had yet to be completed leading to Osterstadt.

  Cleeve had some time-sensitive deliveries to take care of, and the long way around simply wouldn’t make that possible. So group two would traverse the lake, hike through the wilderness, and hopefully, reach Osterstadt on schedule. We only had three weeks to reach the city, or something bad would happen. I started to ask why, but realized the meeting was not the time for questions. Cleeve wasn’t exactly a fan of interruptions.

  Group two was the smaller of the two, made up of myself, Cleeve, Nikolai, Lee, the elf who was also from Earth like me, and the burly guard, Teela. Five people. I figured it’d take some time to get the goods sorted out, but apparently all of that had been taken care of while Nikolai and I were galavanting about rescuing villagers. We lucky five, the hikers, were each given the medieval equivalent of a hiking backpack: a wood and leather frame with leather wrapped bundles tied to it. Naturally, mine was the largest and heaviest. It didn’t sit particularly well on my back or hips, but once I got it on, it really didn’t feel like much at all. I suppose because it wasn’t, you know, a thousand pounds, it wasn’t too heavy for me.

  “Don’t unpack this,” Hademar, one of the drivers, said. Apparently he’d been the one who did the packing, and so it made sense he was the one who didn’t want me to unpack what he’d done.

  “There’s nothing I’ll need in here?” I asked.

  “No. Don’t touch it. Just wear it and leave it alone.”

  I just shook my head. Whatever — as soon as we got to the lake, I’d drop the pack onto the boat, kick my feet up on the side, and drop a line over. It was time to fish. It took a bit of work, but I got my other pouches tied to my main pack, and tied the Unfillable Knapsack to the very top. The Bag of Holding by another name was definitely my most valuable possession, and I didn’t want to risk it falling in the water and disappearing .

  The wagons rumbled away. The five of us stood in the stable yard, watching them go for a moment longer. There was noticeable tension in the air. Which confused the heck out of me — was there something I didn’t know? About the lake, maybe?

  Cleeve nodded.

  “Time to move!” Nikolai barked.

  Ominous clouds filled the dark sky, looming over the city. We walked all along the roads by ourselves. And either no one was awake this early, or they were all busy somewhere else.

  The lake was calm and dark, the water almost glass-like. A small building stood at the edge of the lake, and a single thin dock stretched out into the water. Two things were a bit odd: One, no boats. Anywhere. Not tied to the dock, not out in the water. Two, a group of Lutra stood between us and the water.

  Cleeve came to a stop as the otters stepped forward. They looked very serious, and walked right up to me, ignoring all the others. There were about twenty of them, and they ran the gamut in terms of dress and manner. But the one in front definitely looked in charge of the group. A dark metal circlet ringed her forehead, and she wore the equivalent of a Lutra gown.

  “You are Montana?” the leader asked.

  “I am,” I sad.

  “You were the one who saved my clan?”

  “I guess so, yeah.”

  “Then, as a means of gratitude, I, Thorve Armodottir, Clan Mother of the Zoubaida Clan, give you two of our best warriors as hirðmen.”

  Two of the largest Lutra stepped forward. They were somewhere in the neighborhood of three or four feet, and heavily muscled under their sleek fur. They each had supple leather armor and roguish smiles. With packs on their backs and spears in their hands, they were ready for travel.

  “I’m not exactly sure how this works,” I started. “I’m—”

  Cleeve grabbed my shoulder and pulled me behind him.

  “I beg but a moment, Clan Mother,” he said.

  She nodded.

  Cleeve turned to face me.

  “I’m missing something about how important this might be, huh?”

  “You are,” Cleeve said, speaking very softly. “This is something I imagined you would deal with in the future, but not yet. Rulers, nobles, leaders, those types. They will have what is known as a hirð. Those in the hirð are hirðmen. These are individuals who tie their fate to you. In a sense, they function as an extension of you.”

  “Like a party?”

  “Like a party, but different. A party must be formed up, and a party can be dissolved at any time. Hirðmen are with you for life and beyond. They swear to protect you and yours until they are no longer able to do so.”

  “I don’t think this a wise idea—”

  “It only lacks wisdom if you do not treat them well and do not understand the full effects of hirðmen.”

  “Yeah, I don’t. Do you have hirðmen?”

  “No.”

  “I—”

  “Montana,” he said sharply, “we must be moving. Perhaps this can be a topic more fully explained on the road. Or, if we are lucky, after we are in our new home. Face Clan Mother Thorve, be very polite as there are two sentient beings giving their lives to you, accept the Lutra into your hirð, and let us get moving.”

  “Is there a, like, special thing I am supposed to say?”

  “You will know what to say when the time comes,” Cleeve said, stepping back to make it clear he expected me to stop stalling.

  I turned, saw all the Lutra looking at me, and nodded. I didn’t exactly know how to feel about this. Frankly, I was really over the perpetual confusion in this new world of mine.

  “I gratefully accept the honor you are bestowing upon me this morning,” I said, “I do not—”

  “Too much,” Nikolai hissed.
/>   Thorve seemed to smile, just a bit, then bowed slightly at me.

  “Montana,” she said, “on behalf of the Zoubaida Clan, I offer you Skeld Woodingson,” the larger of the two knelt, “and Ragnar Helfdane,” the other knelt, “as hirðmen for your hirð.”

  Words rose to my throat unbidden. “Do you, Skeld Woodingson, enter my hirð freely?”

  “I do,” Skeld replied.

  “Do you, Ragnar Helfdane, enter my hirð freely?” I asked.

  “I do,” Ragnar replied.

  Do you want to form a hirð? Yes/No

  I chose yes.

  NOTICE: You have formed a hirð. A hirð is a fundamental group, and will not be counted against any parties you may join. As the leader of a hirð, you are the only one able to release a hirðman from his or her vow to you.

  I blinked a few times, and felt, well, weird. Here were two sentient beings that had tied their entire lives to me, and if what the notifications said were true, their afterlives. I was more than a little uncomfortable about the whole thing, really. It was a horrible idea for people to just do exactly what I said when I said, because I was kind of an idiot, especially in this world.

  For a moment, we all stood there, unsure of what to do. Then Cleeve pushed me out of the way, bowed slightly to the Clan Mother, and walked down to the dock. The Lutra parted, watching us walk away.

  The small building was something like a boathouse, except what it held weren’t boats I could see carrying people across a lake as big as the one we were about to cross. Or, at least, as big as it had been made out to be. They were really more like rafts than boats. No gunwales or seats or anything like that — just platforms. Very high boots, like we were about to do a ton of wading, lined the walls. I leaned back out the building and looked at the lake. Then I looked back at the boat thingies.

  Everyone else seemed to know what was going on. They busied themselves pulling on boots and grabbing rafts. They pushed by me, left the boathouse, and started down the dock.

  Nikolai shoved a pair of boots into my chest as he headed out the door.

  “Am I missing something?” I asked.

  “Many things,” Nikolai snorted in response. “Move faster.”

  The two hirðmen already had a raft for me, and were trotting down the dock after the rest of the group.

  “Boots on, sir,” Skeld called back over his furry shoulder.

  “Uh, no ‘sir’ necessary,” I said, but I was just talking to myself. I was alone in the boathouse. I sat down, pulled on the massive wading boots, and then followed everyone else down the dock.

  The lake was foreboding as fuck. The water looked dark and cold. Above, the clouds were about to burst with rain. I had a really unpleasant feeling about the whole mess.

  The dock ended in stairs that disappeared down into the water. Everyone stood around Cleeve, watching me galumph down the dock in my stupid huge boots. It was quite clear they were all waiting on me. I gave a half-hearted wave of apology for being late, and Cleeve cleared his throat.

  “The WarWater is not a lake of kindness,” Cleeve said. “It is a place of death and peculiarities. Some of you likely know a few of its quirks,” he looked at the two Lutra, who nodded back at him, “but for some of you, this place is a complete mystery. The only real rule? Do not go into the depths.”

  Cleeve didn’t wait for any questions. He merely strode into the lake. He set the raft to his belt, and then started walking through the water.

  Nikolai was next, then Lee, then Teela. Each put their raft in the water, tied themselves to it, and started walking.

  I looked to my two little buddies. They stared back at me. So I walked into the water, set the raft down, tied it to my belt, and started walking. I looked behind. My hirðmen were riding the raft. Ragnar gave me a jaunty wave. I was forced to wonder what kind of lifelong footmen I’d just acquired.

  Chapter 59

  I expected it’d be a short hike through the shallow area before we’d have to start using the rafts. But that didn’t happen. We just kept walking and wading. When the sun finally burned through the clouds in the mid-morning, I got to see what an odd place WarWaters was. Most of the lake around us was shallow, like two feet. But there were deep blue holes everywhere. So deep, in fact, that I couldn’t see the bottoms. Very quickly, the land around the lake went from the hills and forests about Saumiers to steep rocky cliffs with little vegetation. There were a few beaches, all essentially impossible to visit. You’d have to approach the beaches from the lake, as the land side was completely blocked by sheer cliffs. It was like we were in a giant canyon. A canyon with a weird hole-y lake taking up the entire bottom. And it all spread out immensely, such that I couldn’t see any end to it. It just disappeared to the horizon.

  “This is a strange lake,” I said over my shoulder.

  “Yes,” Ragnar said.

  Skeld, for his part, was sleeping. Ragnar looked like sleep might claim him at any moment. Seemed like they were enjoying the ride. I tried to swallow the bitterness that they were getting the boat trip I’d been hoping for.

  “You know why it’s called WarWater?” I asked over my shoulder.

  “The lake?” Ragnar called back. “I believe there was a war fought over the lake. Legend says these pits and holes are from the war. Great magics unleashed upon the world.

  The rest of the group tromped on ahead, moving in silence. There was little sediment on the base of the lake; we were basically walking on solid rock. Sometimes slick, sometimes not. Once, Lee slipped and started sliding toward one of the holes, but as soon as Lee started to fall, Nikolai was there. He grabbed him, and got him back on the path safely.

  We paused there, just to let everyone reset. Lee needed to catch his breath and calm down.

  “Have you guys ever done this?” I asked.

  “Walk the lake?” Ragnar asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “No.”

  I waited to see if he’d expound, but it wasn’t to be.

  We resumed the hike. I saw fish in the holes, and occasionally darting through the shallows. Brown trout and rainbow trout. I saw movement down below from time to time. Bigger things were definitely down in the holes.

  The day went along, well, I’d say swimmingly, but that seems a bit much. Morning passed and finally we stopped to eat. That’s when I finally understood the rafts. There were small legs tucked into the edges, and they could be screwed into the bottom of the raft, transforming into small platforms that gave us a spot to rest and be out of the water. The others were already sitting on them, catching a little bit of sun. I realized we’d most likely be sleeping on these platforms come nightfall. The cliff walls soared to well over a hundred feet, and with both walls in close proximity, there was a fair amount of wind whipping along the lake. It was colder than it had been around Saumiers, and everyone just sort of wrapped themselves up in their cloaks.

  Lee broke out some rations, hard tack and dried fruits. It was filling in a disappointing sort of way, making me miss real food. Especially the potatoes from Owen’s wife.

  Cleeve and Nikolai whispered for a moment, then looked around. Nikolai shrugged. Cleeve nodded, then closed his eyes.

  A notification popped up.

  You have been invited to join Cleeve Dye’s Party. Do you accept? Yes/No

  I accepted.

  NOTICE: There is a party quest. You have automatically accepted the quest.

  “Really grinds my gears I can’t see the party quests,” I said.

  “You cannot look at your quest list?” Teela asked.

  “There’s a quest list?” I asked.

  “You see what I am forced to put up with?” Nikolai snapped, pointing to me but looking at Cleeve.

  “We all put up with him,” Teela said. “What makes you special?”

  “I must be the baby’s mentor,” Nikolai replied.

  “Come on, it’s not that bad,” I said.

  Teela just looked at me and shook her head. She didn’t need to say an
ything — I could imagine it all just fine.

  “Why do you know nothing about quests?” Ragnar asked.

  I opened my mouth, then closed it again, unsure how to answer the Lutra.

  “Might as well tell him,” Cleeve said. “They are with you for life.”

  I gave the man a smile, but really wanted to tell my adopted father to go fuck himself. I kind of wanted to find a time to talk to the hirðmen on their own so I could explain things, but I guess I was going to be forced to go into the details in front of everyone.

  “I’m kinda new here,” I said, “from a different world. We didn’t have quests and sheets and stuff there.”

  “Oh,” Ragnar said, nodding as if this was something he heard all the time. He went back to eating his hard tack, drinking copious amounts of water as he tried to combat the dry-mouth that came with the incredibly nutritious yet horribly disgusting biscuit-type things. Good thing there was plenty of water around.

  Skeld didn’t seem to care either. He just let his feet dangle in the water and kicked a little, splashing a bit while keeping his face turned to the sun, eyes closed. He had a wry little smile on his furry little face. I wished I could relax the way he did.

  I did some thinking, focusing on finding a quest menu. I was given the choice of seeing active or completed quests. I figured there might be a reason to look through completed quests at some point, but for the time being, it was better just to look at the quests I needed to complete.

  You’ve accepted a QUEST!

  Delivery Date

  Get Cleeve Dye and his secret shipment to Osterstadt within three weeks. Or else.