《Tales of Limbo: Drypeak Curse》


 Hello Grandma

    A young man walked along a barely visible pathway down what used to be a well traveled route, he was tall and well built. Clad in leather armor he had a large back pack on his back with a quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder, in one hand was a worn but well looked after long bow, and in the other hand was a series of small forest animals dangling from a piece of string tied around their necks or feet, he continued to walk until he reached the end of the path and looked around. The last time he had been here there had been a massive lake full of fresh clean water, frogs, fish, along side a variaty of insects, some brightly coloured with beautifully patterned wings, others no more interesting than simple house flies, a series of buildings had surrounded the lake, each one housed a family and well kept gardens with many varieties of brightly coloured flowers, as well as various fruits and vegetables. Now when he looked around however the lake was nothing more than a massive hole in the ground, all the water long since drained away and the dirt dried up, the only remnants of its former life were a few random skeletons dotted around the bottom on the lake turned pit. The once well maintained gardens were now over grown messes full of weeds and thorny bushes, the houses mostly rotted away and falling apart, several in fact were little more than piles of wood, save for one that stood seperate from all the others. Its garden was still well maintained and many of the wild flowers and brambles surrounding it had been cut back and kept trim preserving what can now best be described as the last living monument of a once beautiful village.


    He walked towards this house, and upon reaching the gardens gate he looked within, towards a small flower bed where he saw a little old lady knelt down pulling out weeds, she wore a flowery apron covered in dirt over the top of a simple baggy t-shirt and a pair of shorts, her feet were bare, heavily caloused and caked with dirt the result of a long life walking barefood without ever having worn shoes. He opened the latch on the gate and walked in, upon hearing the creaking of the opening gate the old lady looked up at him, and a smile crept across her face.


    "Stan, my boy"


    She stood up walking towards him with her arms out and they embraced each other with a hug.


    "Oh my you''ve gotten big, here let me take a look at you"


    She stepped away holding him at arms length, gave his arms a quick squeeze before continuing.


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    "Oh my, so strong, maybe joining the rangers guild wasn''t such a bad idea after all."


    Stan smiled back at her, placing one hand on her shoulder he responded


    "Its good to see you too Grandma."


    Then with his other arm he held up the bundle of animal he had brought with him


    "I''ve brought some food for us."


    "OOhhh"


    She inspected the small bundle of animals inspecting them one after another.


    "Good catch, tell you what, take those into the kitchen, fill the pot with water and place it on the fire, I will get cleaned up then get started on making a nice hot stew for us."


    "Just stew..."


    She laughed at that her smile widening


    "Ohh you."


    She slapped him lightly on the arm


    "I supose I could throw together some dumplings as well."


    She chuckled to herself as she turned, walking towards the front door, Stan did a quick fist pump before following her in.


    Upon entering the house Stan moved straight to the kitchen and placed the bundle of animals on an old sturdy wooden table, all told he had 3 squirrels and one fairly fat rabbit. He pulled a small skinning knife from his belt and checked its edge, satisfied he laid the rabbit on its back, just as he was about to start prepping the corpse for the meal he heard a scream comming from one of the other rooms.


    "Gran."


    He yelled, dropping his knife on the table and moving towards where he had heard the sound, upon entering the living room he found his gran on her hands and knees gasping for breath, sweat was dripping down her head and tears were streaming from her eyes.


    "Gran, whats wrong?"


    "Stay back."


    She screamed again as her muscles tightened and her bones popped leaving her gasping for breath again.


    "Its ok, I think its over for now."


    Stan moved to try help her up.


    "Whats going on gran?"


    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before responding.


    "Its the Drypeak curse."


    "Curse?"


    "Yes, did you ever hear about that arcane explosion, the one that drained the lake and killed all the men of the village?"


    He nodded.


    "I remember mum and dad telling me about it, I think I was.... around 4 or 5 years old when it happened, its what killed grandpa isn''t it?"


    "Yes, well, it had a different effect on the women, you see when we reach a certain age we start to change, I am already older than most, thought I had escaped it....but.... apparently not."


    With Stans help she had managed to stand up again, looking at her he couldn''t help but notice that she seemed to have shrunk slightly, her back had also developed a slight arch he was certain hadn''t been there before.


    "What do you mean changes?"


    "Well, first we start to shrink, our memories fade, our skin turns green, then eventually......we turn into goblins."

 The Good Samaritan

    "Turned into a goblin?.....How?"


    She looked towards a dusty old rocking chair placed in a seemingly forgotten corner of the living room, it and the wall around it was covered in cobwebs and dust, a strange sight within an otherwise well kept and tidy room. She took in a deep breath and sighed before moving to sit in another chair placed next to it, she gestured for Stan to sit in another nearby seat before starting to talk.


    "Not long after your dad left to start a new home with your mum we had a visit from the rangers asking about some "suspicious local activity" they called it."


    She looked down at the floor shaking her head.


    "Couple of days later I was in the kitchen making dinner while Alan....was sat in his favourite chair reading one of his old history books."


    She paused for a short while, her bottom lip quivering slightly as she seemed to relive a painful memory.


    "Your grandfather loved his history books, when he wasn''t in the garden he would be sat in his favourite chair reading what he often called "amazing echoes of the past". "


    A small smile crept onto her face.


    "Personally I found them quite boring."


    Tears started to form in her eyes so she closed them briefly doing her best to hold back the flow.


    "Anyway, all I remember from that day was hearing a massive explosion, and then darkness.....When I woke up I went to see if Alan was ok, but all that was left of him was ash."


    She stared over at the dusty old chair, seemingly lost within her own headspace. Stan reached forward placing his hand gently on hers, that seemed to wake her from her memories.


    "I know I should clean up the mess, but I just can''t bring myself to scrub him out of my life yet...... maybe I never will."


    They sat there in silence for a time before Stan finally stood up.


    "I should ask the rangers what happened, they would have records of something like that. If I can find out what happened, I can maybe find a cure."


    The old lady sighed and waved a hand at him.


    "They already tried, have been trying for a while now....there is no cure."


    She reached out and took his hand, looking into his eyes she forced a small smile.


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    "I am old Stan, have had a good long life, but now my time is almost done....won''t you stay? Spend what time I have left at my side?"


    Stan just shook his head at that.


    "The guild isn''t far, I just need to go talk to a couple of people, check some records, find out what happened. I will be gone a couple of days at most, I promise."


    She just sighed, closing her eyes and looked down.


    "You young ones will always do what you need to do, at least wait until tomorrow before you set off...its getting a little late."


    He looked out of a nearby window, the sun wasn''t far off setting meaning it would be middle of the night before he made it to the guild hall. He simply nodded, agreeing to stay the night and set off first thing in the morning. They finished the stew, and the dumplings as always were one of his favourite foods, he had never been able to find out what extra ingredient she used within the dough, all he knew is that they always tasted better than any others he had ever had.


    The following morning he set off, the sun was just peaking above the horizon and while it never managed to fully penetrate the forest it did produce enough light that he would be able to see the path home, so he said his goodybe while leaving his promise of being back soon. Shortly down the path however he ran into someone, he was a loan man, not much taller than 5ft wearing a white priest robe, around his neck was a chain holding the star like symbol of the celestial protectors. While not actually gods they were celestial beings of great power who were said to watch over man kind, guiding them from on high. The priest stepped out in front of him holding up one of his hands and greeting him with a warm friendly smile.


    "Greetings traveler, did you happen to come from the old ladys house round dry peak? How is she faring?"


    Having been made wary of the road and the often obscured intentions of random travelers Stan scanned the area looking for any signs that others may be hidden nearby, noticing his reluctance to engage the priest held his hands up in front of him.


    "I promise you I am alone, and unarmed, I am not here to hurt anyone just going about my rounds.....so, did you visit the old lady? Is she faring ok?"


    Stan frowned at thim for a short while, his hand hovering near the hilt of his dagger for a couple of seconds before easing off.


    "The old lady is my gran, and she seems to be doing fine, several more years left in her I''d wager."


    He nodded, hesitating a moment before responding.


    "I know about her...situation, and well, as the changes occur she will find it more and more difficult to function....erm, to the point where she will likely need round the sundial care, w we have a facility nearby that can help with that, should you need to pop out for a couple of days for whatever reason. Perhaps you would like to visit? Take a look around, I am sure you would agree that it is a good place to retire..."


    "Where is it?"


    "Just down the road in the direction you are traveling, turn right at the cross roads then take the following left turn, you really can''t miss it. Would you like to come now? I could give you a tour myself."


    Stan looked down the road ahead and started walking forward, he walked past the priest without looking at him as he spoke.


    "I have to go somewhere, but I will be back in a few days, will pay this "facility" a visit then."


    He stopped turning to look back at the priest who hadn''t taken his eyes off him.


    "Just stay away from her until I get back... she isn''t overly keen on visitors.


    The priest held his hands up as he responded.


    "Of course, I look forward to your visit, will make sure that I am nearby, so I can give you the tour myself....Good luck on your travels good sir."


    He waved at Stan who just turned round and continued his walk down the road towards his guild.

 The guild

    The sun was just begining to rise again as Stan approached the wooden walls of the rangers guild, unlike many of their outposts which were temporary stopping places this was the one permanent structure the typically roaming rangers maintained. It served as a training ground for new recruits, as well as an archive of the guilds history and any past, present, or potential future missions to look out for. Once trained the rangers would typically roam around keeping an eye on their local area, clearing out bandits, monsters, or other such threats to local civilians, each of them were trained to be self sufficient, and while a few did roam in small groups the majority of them moved solo, yet if a call for back up was made everyone nearby would respond, some traveling several days for the most important missions before traveling several days back to their area once complete. All told it held around 500 members, 50 of whom acted as permanent staff at the keep either maintaing guard, training new recruits or sorting through the archives, managing jobs/ contracts along with a few other jobs dotted here and there. Most of those within the keep were semi-retired, either because age finally caught up to them or through injuries while on the job, a good example of this would be the master archivist Aiden who took an arrow to the knee while clearing out a Kobalds den, this was also the man that Stan was hoping to speak with.


    He approached the front gate when a hooded guard stood on the over the top of it with a loaded crossbow pointed directly at him.


    "Thats far enough now traveler."


    Stan simply smiled and looked up at the guard.


    "A ranger can never roam far enough to complete his mission, I seek an audience with Master Archivist Aiden."


    The guard pulled back his hood and lowered his crossbow.


    "Stan, heard you was on leave, wasn''t expecting you back for another week at least. Master Aiden is in the lecture hall, giving a talk about recent goblin developments, if you head there now you might be able to catch the talk without having to come back for it later.......OPEN THE GATES!."


    He looked down and waved at someone before shouting the last few words, the gates opened up and stan was ushered in by a small boy, probably no older than his 12th year, his grubby face bore a shy smile as he looked at Stan.


    "Hi Oren, can you ask Master Aiden to meet me in his study once he has finished his lecture please."


    The boy shifted uncomfortably, his mouth opening and closing as if intending to speak but nothing came out, as he was starting to look frustrated Stan placed a hand on his shoulder.


    "Its alright Oren, do you have a quil and paper so I can write you a note?"


    The boy fumbled around in his pockets before pulling out an old ink bottle, then from behind his ear he offered Stan an old well used quill, after checking his other pockets and not finding any paper he offered his free hand to Stan instead. Stan took hold of it and wrote out a quick message to Master Aiden requesting that he meet him in his office once the lecture was done. After finishing the note the boy took his ink pot and quill back before turning to jog towards the lecture hall, before he got too far thou Stan called his name, he turned round and looked at him.


    "Don''t worry Oren, you will find your voice again someday, I promise."


    The kid smiled back at him.


    "Thththththhh."


    He looked down at his feet a look of frustration on his face.


    "Time, patience and strength Oren"


    The kid looked up and nodded, then after sniffing and wiping his nose on his sleeve he took a deep shakey breath before turning and jogging away while Stan made his way towards Master Aidens office.


    Aiden''s office wasn''t so much a room as it was a sectioned off corner in the library''s archive room, a thick wooden ink stained desk littered with scrolls, papers and books filled with slips of paper with numbers and letters on them. While at first glance it would be a disorganised mess, but in reality even the jumble on his desk had been arranged within a complex code system that only Aiden knew. Because of that he somehow always knew what was in which pile, and where in the pile it was, his archive room was essentially at the peak of efficient inefficiency which made it workable for him, but completely unworkable for any one else. Stan had always assumed it was done on purpose as one of Master Aiden''s favourite phrases is "the key to a successful career lies in rendering yourself completely irreplaceable", he had clearly taken that idea to an extreme level.


    Stan moved towards a chair in front of the desk that had a small pile of books on it, but instead of removing the books he laid his cloak on top of them before sitting on them. Not having anything else to do he started to meditate, mana circulated throughout his body from top to bottom, his finger tips and toes tingled and his mind wandered between visions of past, present and future, memories of the mast and imagined future encounters such as the upcomming conversation with Master Aiden. Minutes passed by in seconds as he lost himself in his thoughts, until a voice came out of nowhere pulling him from his trance.


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    "So, did you come to my office to meditate all day or talk?"


    His eyes snapped open and he abruptly stood up, in front of him sat at his desk was a wizened old man with a short well maintained beard and long silvery hair that covered his shoulders, despite the tone of his earlier commet he looked somewhat amused by the situation.


    "Sorry sir, I didn''t notice you, how long have you been waiting?"


    "Long enough to see that your mana cycling is more chaotic than normal, something is bothering you, but we will get to that in a short while, there is something I wish to speak to you about first."


    "Of course Master Aiden."


    "Please, sit."


    He gestured to the chair Stan had been sat on before leaning back on his own chair and clasping his hands in front of him. Doing as he was told Stan sat down and waited for him to continue.


    "Young Oren will be comming of age soon and has consistently expressed interest in joining the guild, I think its time we assigned him a trainer."


    Stan listened nodding along as Aiden spoke, when he finished and just sat there looking at him however he started to understand what was being suggested.


    "You want me to train him sir?"


    "Yes."


    "But sir, I am barely past recruitment myself, I thought I would be given at least 4 years experience before I was asked to apprentice anyone."


    Aiden nodded.


    "Yes, that is how we normally do things, this situation is different however, the only other available to train him is Varrik, who has already refused to train a mute, that leaves only you open, and as you know if he isn''t apprenticed before his 14th year then he will need to be either passed onto another guild, or released to find his own path. Plus he seems to respond well to you, more so than anyone else, do you think he greets everyone at the gate? He stays near it while you are gone and the second he hears your voice or name, he''s ther waiting at the entrance. I''d even go so far as to say that you are the reason he wishes to join, he trusts you, more so than anyone else. For those reasons I am willing to make an acception, but of course it is your decision as to wether or not you accept."


    Stans hands moved towards his knees rubbing and squeezing them.


    "I am not sure if I am ready for this sir, but I will give it some consideration, there is something I would need to take care of first however, before I could commit."


    Aiden nodded at that, sitting forward in his chair again and leaning on the pages of the open book sat in front of him.


    "I am guessing that is related to what you wished to talk with me about?"


    Stan nodded before telling him about the situation with his grandma, the Drypeak curse and his desire for more information about what happened so he might find a cure, Aiden nodded as he spoke, once he was finished Aiden took a short while to consider his response.


    " We had been there previously looking into suspected cult activity but we couldn''t find anything so left, the explosion happened 2 days after our investigation stopped. As for a potential cure, I am afraid we can''t help you, this is the first I am hearing of this curse, which is.........troubling, it warrents further investigation, we are going to need you to stay with your gran in the meantime thou, keep an eye on her, let us know if anything changes."


    Stan nodded at that, then hesitated.


    "Something else on your mind?"


    "Its probably nothing, but on the way here I ran into a priest who claimed to be running a facility to care for those infected by the curse, he offered me a chance to take a look at the place, see what they were doing. I was planning on dropping in and doing exactly that on my way back to her."


    "Yes do that, take Siona with you, pretend she''s your wife or something, that way she will be able to report back to us and you can return to keep an eye on your gran. Secondly, can you point out where this facility is on the map."


    He pointed towards an old map on the wall, it had the guild at the centre with a detailed map of the surrounding territory, Stan moved towards and looked at it, trying to pinpoint the rough location he was told it would be, turned out it was an old church, thought to have been abandoned. Aiden simply nodded while stroking his chin.


    "I will send a small team to scout the surrounding area while you and Siona take a look inside, might be nothing, but I think its worth checking anyway, give your gran my best wishes, and consider what we spoke about before this.....you are dismissed."


    Stan nodded his head before walking out of the archive room and into the main library where he was greeted by Oren, the boy smiled at him as he always did and a pang of uncertainty nipped at the back of his mind as he spoke.


    "Oren, do you know where Siona is?"


    The boy nodded before turning and gesturing for him to follow, they went to the training yard where they found a young woman with a short sword practicing her blade forms on a series of invisible targets. When they approached she stopped and smiled at them, at just over 5''11 she was just a couple of inches shy of Stans height, she had a pretty face with a scar on her cheek just below the eye and a long mess of black hair that was currently tied back in a knot and despite being fairly well muscled she hadn''t lost any of her feminin grace. After greeting each other Siona listened to Stan as he explained the situation and what Master Aiden had told him to do. When he was done talking she simply stepped forward and grabbed his arm.


    "Well then dear husband, we had best get moving haven''t we."


    "I was going to suggest we went as brother and sister."


    She hummed as if considering his suggestion.


    "hmmm, nah, this will be more fun, and believable seeing as we look nothing like each other."


    She started to pull him towards the exit still holding onto his arm, Stan looked behind him at Oren who stood there with his thumbs up and a massive grin on his face. Stan responded by shaking his free fist at him before accepting his fate and moving on towards the facility with Siona.

 The home

    After a days traveling and a night in the woods Stan and Siona were getting close to the area where the facility was supposed to be, after nothing but companionable silence throughout the journey Sonia seemingly decided that she had had enough.


    "So, after barely a year of graduation it seems as thou you have settled nicely into the "always be silent" mantra."


    Stan gave her a sidelong glance before smirking and responding to that.


    "Noisey rangers generally don''t last very long in the wilds."


    She rolled her eyes at that then moved to stand in front of him, blocking his path.


    "Come on Stan, we used to talk all the time, now we barely even say hello, we used to talk about teaming up, taming the wilds together, yet you always seem to be taking solo contracts instead, leaving me to work with one "one word wonder" after another. I need you to be honest, are we ever actually going to do a mission together?"


    "We are doing a mission together."


    She sighed.


    "I mean a mission you actually asked me to go on, not one where you only asked me because Master Aiden told you to."


    Not really sure what else to say Stan could only really apologise.


    "I am sorry Siona, I can''t tell you what the missions were, or why I was doing them, but they are almost over, and depending on how things go with my gran and Oren, I will spare what time I can to go on a party mission with you."


    Sonia''s eyes widened in surprise and she took a step back.


    "Wait, they have you on special mission? Are you being fast tracked to an advanced class? What does Oren have to do with any of this you have another 3 years before you will be ready to take on an apprentice."


    Stan held his hands up in front of him and shook his head at the sudden barrage of questions.


    "As I said, I can''t give you any details about the missions or they why of them, what I can say thou is that Oren has 2 years to apprentice to someone before being removed from the guild, within that timeframe there is only one who can take him on and he has already chosen to reject him. However given how well he apparently responds to me, Master Aiden thinks this could be a good time to make an acception to the general rule, assuming I choose to accept. I have the two years to decide of course, but I don''t know how good at teacher I will be, its barely been a year after I graduated myself, and I am not sure how much difference another two years will make."


    She stepped forwards again, placing a hand on his shoulder.


    "I think Master Aiden is right, you will make a great teacher for him, and if you need any help with it, I will be happy to chip in.... in exchange for some decent conversation and the odd party mission of course."


    "Deal."


    Stan held out his hand and she took it giving it a shake.


    "Deal.....right then dearest, lets go check out this amazing new facility."


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    "Sure, lets do it."


    She took hold of his arm and they continued their walk towards the facility chatting about minor inconcequencial happenings within the guild as they went. Eventually they reached what looked like an old wooden church, with a sun symbol sat at its peak it looked to be a church of Zenith, a small place where travelers either passing by or undertaking a pilgrimage would have stopped to say a few words of prayer or seek shelter from the weather. Didn''t really seem large enough to hold a care facility and that fact left Siona questioning if Stan had gone to the right place, he confirmed the directions given by the priest so just to be sure they both entered the building. The church within contained several half rotted benches and at several points in the floor weeds had sprouted up, all along the roof there were vines creeping up and poking out the top seeking the rays of the sun, several of the windows were broken, they looked around uncertain when a voice came from behind them.


    "Hi, you made it, don''t worry you are in the right place, the facility is housed in the old churches basement where there was a lot more space with a lot less work needed, unfortunately this venture lacked funding, so we have had to make do with what we could get, please come this way."


    Stan and Sonia shared a glance before following the priest back outside and round to the back of the building where the entrance hatch to the basement was, when they entered the old run down look outside seemed to change. The whole basement area was well lit using what looked like mana globes dotted around every corner, the walls were clean and painted mostly white with various works of art dotted here and there. The priest spoke of various aspects of the underground facility from the freshly cooked food to the activities available and the fact that every resident had access to their own rooms for privacy, yet in spite of the positive pitch laid on him by the priest Stan saw the place in an entirely different way, this was were the cursed went to die alone and surrounded by strangers. The group of wandering minstrels while clearly skilled musicians with good singing voices Stan couldn''t help but notice that none of the residents were paying attention, behind the scenes there was just a series of empty bodies wandering around at random, staring at walls or rambling incoherently to themselves and each other.


    "My grandmother doesn''t belong here."


    The priest who had been half way through a sentence immedietly stopped talking as Stan interupted him, instead of being anoyed by the interuption he simply nodded at his comment.


    "I understand it might seem that way, especially if your grandma is still lucid, the curse affects different people at different rates, sometimes the degredation is slow, sometimes its quick, but the end result is always the same. At some point in the near future she will be unable to look after herself, and when that time comes she will need round the sundial care our staff are well trained to handle, plus you no doubt have your own life to lead, bringing her here frees you up to do that."


    "And what happenes to those who have fully transformed? Where do they go in this facility of yours?"


    The priest shifted uncomfortably at the question, hesitating for a short while as if unwilling or unsure how to answer.


    "They.......they are mostly confined to their rooms where they are restrained, for both their safety and that of the staff. I know its not ideal, but once the transormation is complete they become very violent so they need to be restrained. Releasing them isn''t much better as they will likely killed by wild predators at best, at worst they will end up being taken in by a goblin tribe where they will be forced to continuously produce children until they are no longer able to, making their lives very short and brutal. Outside of a quick dignified death which we can only do with the permission of a family memeber there isn''t really a better option than what we have here."


    Stan gritted his teeth unable to respond, Sonia stepped in on his behalf however thanking the priest for the tour then moving away with Stan to leave the facility behind, once they were outside and had gone a short distance away she stopped to ask if he was alright.


    "Yeah, I am going to go stay with my gran now, you had best report back to Master Aiden, while I don''t think the place is a threat, I do think its worth keeping an eye on, just in case any of the.......residents end up escaping."


    "Ok, I will report to him then come back and meet you there, before you object, the guild notice board is fairly quiet right now, plus I want to help out if I can, we are friends, and its the least I can do."


    "Thankyou."


    She smiled at him before turning to walk down the road towards the guild, Stan went off in the opposite direction towards his grandmothers cottage.

 A turn for the worst

    Stan arrived at the old house, his gran who was ususally outside working in the garden was nowhere to be seen, he entered the house and called out to her, she was sat in the living room shivering in front of an unlit fire. She looked up and smiled when she saw him.


    "Oh hello Stan, I was just about to light a fire and get dinner ready."


    "Hi gran, how about I start the fire and you start the dinner."


    "Thats a wonderful idea, why don''t you get some wood from outback."


    "Will do."


    He walked out to the back of the house to the point where the wood was normally stored, not seeing any around he ventured a short distance into the forest picking up whatever dry sticks and leaves he could find, it wasn''t much, but it would get a blaze going, he could always come back out later once the dinner pot was cooking. When he got back to the house a few minutes later he found his gran still sat down in the same place shivering in front of the unlit fire.


    "You ok gran?"


    She looked up at him smiling once again.


    "Oh hello Stan, you''re back, I was just about the light the fire and get some dinner on."


    A small lump formed in his throat hand he paused for a short while before responding.


    "Sounds good, I have some wood with me so can get the fire lit for you."


    "Oh thats nice."


    He got to work setting up the fire with the cooking pot full of water hung over it, all the while he worked he was deep in thought about what was going on right now. But I was only gone a couple of days, how could she have changed this much, how long has she been sat in the cold like this, has she eaten anything since I was last here? I shouldn''t have left, I won''t leave again.... His thoughts were interupted by a quiet snoring sound comming from the corner where she sat. Not wanting to disturb her he quietly moved into the kitchen and started preparing some of her left over veg, there wasn''t much left, and the small store of meat he had brought during his last visit was mostly gone already. There will be enough for today, I will go out and get more tomorrow. He told himself gathering up all the ingredients and moving them towards the pot in the living room. When the stew was cooked he woke his grandma up to giver her her food, she seemed startled at first but a smile quickly formed on her face when she saw him.


    "Oh hello Stan, when did you get here? mmm that smells good."


    She sniffed the offered plate of food before digging in and giving her opinion about how good each bite tasted, Stan just sat opposite her listening as he nursed his own bowl in his hand, not really in the mood to eat yet still forcing himself to spoon a bit in at a time. Once they had finished their meal he took the plates away before going outside again to grab whatever wood or small game he could get hold of before night came.


    Three days later Sonia arrived with Oren at her side, the young boy immedietly getting to work looking after the garden while Sonia passed a couple of dead rabbits to him.


    "Hey there, thought you might want these."


    Stan smiled at them both, not bothering to hide the relief he felt at having others around, while he could easily handle the work he didn''t like having to leave his gran alone while he went hunting or foraging for food and wood, knowing there would always be someone else in the house at least for now brought him no small amount of relief.


    "Yes, we certainly could use those, wasn''t expecting Oren to come along."


    "Yeah, he over heard my report to Master Aiden and insisted on comming back with me to help out."


    She moved a little closer to whisper in his ear.


    "I think he wants to be your apprentice."


    Stan looked over at the boy who was kneeling in the garden pulling up various weeds and gathering them together in a bucket he had found lying by the front door.


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    "I didn''t think he knew about that."


    "He doesn''t, he''s just hopeful."


    "Yeah, will see where things take us, I don''t want to see him thrown out, I am just not sure if I am the right person to train him or not, but thats a worry for later, lets get this meat ready, I''ll introduce you both."


    Then in a louder voice he said "Come on Oren" before leading them both inside the house, his grandma of course took an immediate liking to them both, she spent most of the time talking to the young lad telling him stories of her past as well as some tales of Stan when he had been Orens age. More than once she asked if Sonia was Stans girlfriend, which he was a little bit embarrased about but Sonia didn''t seem to mind simply stating that they were friends from the guild who used to train together while their teachers were off on missions. The day went by fairly quickly and it was soon bed time, Oren helped the old lady to her room while Sonia slept in the spare room while Oren and Stan camped out in the living room.


    Sometime during the night however Stan was woken up by something, he wasn''t unsure what it was but an uneasy feeling left his stomache in a knot, after spending a long time in the wilderness alone he had learned to trust that feeling. He got up and grabbed his dagger from a nearby shelf, turned to see Sonia stood in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen. He sighed in relief at seeing her.


    "Oh, its just you."


    She shook her head in response whispering quietly.


    "No, there is something else out there, am sure of it."


    Stan nodded.


    "Yeah, you stay here, guard the door, I will go take a look."


    "What? No, I am going with you, they will be fine if we lock the door....don''t argue there isn''t time."


    Stan was about to object when he heard a loud crashing noise as the front door was kicked in, they raced towards the entrance to see two hooded figures weilding crossbows entering the house, one of them aimed and shot a bolt at Stan, who ducked back behind the wall before moved to charge into the first guy knocking him back out the door, he followed it up by grabbing the second figures head and ramming it against the wall and before stabbing them in the neck. Stepping outside to confront the second figure he charged at them wrestling them to the ground, this one wasn''t able to put up much of a fight before he rammed his blade into their neck as well. Getting up and moving back into the house he saw a third assailant tangling with Sonia, both were armed with daggers, Stan was about to help out when the figure lunged at her, she sidestepped the blow before ramming her blade into their side before tripping them up and slamming the back of their head onto the hard wooden floor. They stopped moving and she stood over the top of them blade in hand panting, she looked over at Stan before pointing towards his grandmothers room, he nodded in response before charging forward and knocking the door open. In one corner of his room his grandma sat curled up in a ball crying her bed covers pulled over the top of her, stood in front of her was Oren, with one hand held in front of him in a defensive gesture while the other hand held a bloodied dagger, Stan followed his eyes to see a dark hooded figure crawling across the floor towards a broken window. He and Sonia moved towards the figure turning him over and pinning him to the floor, pulling back the hood revealed the priest who had given them the tour of the nearby facility, he spat a glob of blood into Stans face before hissing at him.


    "You think you have won? More will come, we will take what is ours, you cannot stop the inevitable."


    "Yours?"


    Something in Stans mind flicked on like a switch causing him to fall into a rage, he punched the guy several times before wrapping his hands around his neck squeezing as hard as he could, a series of electrical sparks danced along his arms and hands causing the priest to convulse as the skin around his neck blackened and his life slowly faded away. Once the struggle was over Stan came back to himself letting the priest go he stood up and looked towards Sonia who was staring at him with wide eyes and an open mouth.


    "Your mana channels, are that developed? Already?"


    Stan simply nodded.


    "Yeah, I shouldn''t have done that, I wish I could tell you more, but I can''t, at least not yet."


    She nodded before taking a deep breath and continuing."


    "If what that guy said is true then more will come, we have to go to the facility and take care of this now."


    "Yeah, your right, Oren."


    The boy didn''t respond, he continued to stare at the dead priest his hands shaking as he held his stance, Stan said his name again and he moved his attention towards him, he stepped forward and placed a hand on the boys shoulder.


    "Oren, we have to go take care of this ok? I need you to stay here, take care of the bodies, tidy up and look after grandma, can you do that for me?"


    The boy was shaking, obviously terrified but he nodded before stammering out a response.


    "Ststsststtstrrnthh"


    "Thats right Oren, you got this."


    He turned to walk away but the boy grabbed his hand, tears were streaming donw his face.


    "Cccccme, bbbccckk."


    "I will Oren, I always do, remember."


    The boy nodded, then placing the blodied dagger on a nearby shelf he moved towards Stans grandma and gave her a hug before helping her into her bed. Stan watched them for a short while before walking out the room.


    "Right lets go."


    He grabbed his quiver and bow, was about to walk out the door when Sonia spoke.


    "Stan."


    "What?"


    "You should probably get dressed first."


    He looked down at him self, a flash of relief came over as he saw that he had at least been wearing a pair of underpants.


    "Yeah, some armor could be useful."

 The Assault

    Once Stan had gotten dressed they set off wearing the cloaks of the attackers, they also took their crossbows in the hopes of passing as one of them should they run into others on the way there, not a soul was seen however until they got near the entrance and heard a whistling sound to the tune of a bird that wasn''t native in these parts. Stan whistled out a response then an older grizled looking giant of a man emerged from one of the nearby bushes followed by a pair of younger looking hooded rangers.


    "Varrik, its good to see you there."


    Varrik simply grunted in response.


    "Has anyone else entered or left since the other three?"


    "No"


    The gruff response seemed to anoy Sonia.


    "Wait, you saw the other three leave? And you didn''t send us backup?


    The big man let out a noise somewhere between a grunt and a chuckle.


    "Girl, if you knew half what I do about the missions he has been on, then you would know that a trio of low level scummy cultists wouldn''t be able to take Stan down even if he was naked and unarmed, ain''t that right boy."


    Stan looked down, his cheeks flushing slightly red, his responce cause the older man to raise an eyebrow at him.


    "So you was naked and unarmed when they arrived?"


    "I had a dagger, and was wearing underpants."


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    "Well that wasn''t very sporting of you."


    "I wasn''t in the mood Varrik, look, we are here to clear this place out, everyone, including the residents."


    Sonia seemed shocked at the idea of killing the residents, but instead of commenting on it she simply nodded, a grim acceptance of what needed to be done, the old man simply nodded his agreement.


    "That you are boy, and I will be going with you."


    He turned towards the other two rangers who stood behind him.


    "You two guard the entrance and surrounding lands, if anyone who isn''t a ranger tries to enter or leave the facility I want you to put an arrow through their neck, understand."


    The two rangers saluted and gave a "Yessir" before going off in different directions and dissapearing into the forest.


    "Right, lets get going shall we."


    The old man raised a hand in the air and a series of lights started to dance in the space around it, slowly joining together to form a massive etherial axe in his hand, he hefted the blade resting it on his shoulder before looking down at Stans borrowed crossbow.


    "Where''s your real weapon boy?"


    "Um..."


    Stan looked back and forth between Sonia and Varrik who sighed.


    "You have my permission, summon your weapon and lets get going."


    Sonia turned to look at Stan who raised both his hands in the air, the same dancing lights came and coalesced into a pair of short swords, once they had formed he pressed their hilts together in the air turning them into what looked like the shaft of a bladed bow, between the top and bottom tips of the bow was a thin strand of energy making up the bowstring. Sonia watched in amazement as the weapon formed.


    "You''re an arcane archer?"


    "Not yet, look, its complicated."


    "You two can discuss this when we are done here, before you do however you Sonia will have to take an oath of secrecy first, then once you know you will be both be assigned to a special team, don''t worry Stan, if still want to apprentice Oren arangements can be made for that as well. Right lets go then shall we."


    Varrik moved towards the basement entrance round the back of the dilapidated church, instead of opening the doors however he simply smashed them to splinters with a powerful blow from his etherial axe, Sonia and Stan following closely behind him as he entered.

 The Assault, Part 2

    They entered into the main area of the underground facility, and found themselves in pure darkness, the only source of light they had came from Stan and Varriks summoned weapons which let off a soft ethereal glow around them. Varriks adjusted his grip on his axe to free up one of his hands, he then summoned a small ball of light that hovered just above his palm, growing in size and brightness.


    "Cover your eyes."


    Seemingly used to his abrupt commands Stan had immediately responded to him, Sonia however took a short while to respond barely getting her arm up before the ball exploded in a brilliant cascade of light covering the whole room completely illuminating everything. Once it has settled Stan uncovered his eyes and looked around, the previously clean painted wooden walls were gone, replaced with dirt, moss and random tree roots poking out here and there. The room was also empty with no sign of any staff members or residents.


    "You sure this is the right place?"


    Stan scanned the area, trying to compare what he saw now with what was there before, the layout and scale seemed pretty much the same minus one thing. He pointed towards an area of the wall covered in thick tangled vines.


    "There was a door there, I remember seeing one of the staff members walk through it."


    "How do you remember that?"


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    Stan was about to respond to Sonia''s question but was immediately cut off by Varrik who answered instead.


    "He has been trained to remember."


    Without saying any more he walked towards the collection of vines and started running his hands along them. Sonia turned to look at Stan who simply shrugged in response. A short while later Varrik stepped back from the vines.


    "Come here boy, tell me what you see."


    Stan nodded and moved to the vines Sonia following closely behind him. He looked at it before running his hands along the vines tracing what appeared to be the same sequence Varrik had followed.


    "The weave is tangled in an unusual way.....could be the work of a shadow druid, but I am not entirely sure."


    "Good, now, do you think you can untangle it?"


    Stan gave the twisting vines another look before responding.


    "Not quickly, the weave is more complicated than anything I have handled before."


    "Time for a lesson then, watch closely and listen well."


    This was the point in the conversation where Sonia got completely lost, not sure what was going on with what looked to her to be a normal tangled set of roots she could only sit and watch as Varrik moved his hands around stopping to explain various "weave links" and how they interacted to form a "matrix" that led to a secure vine barrier. After some time Varrik stepped back from the roots and simply watched while Stans hand started to glow, he touched a series of seemingly random points causing the roots to also glow, then just like that they started to unravel themselves revealing a dark corridor.


    "Good job."


    Varrik lightly slapped Stans shoulder as he moved past him into the darkness, Stan gestured for Sonia to follow.


    "I can''t see in there."


    "It''s ok, just put your hand on my shoulder and follow my lead."


    She did as instructed not bothering to ask how he was able to see and they made their way into the darkness.