《Elf anew》 Chapter 1. The recommended level for this area exceeds your current level. Are you sure you wish to proceed? Al has dismissed the dungeon¡¯s annoying message in his mind for the sixth time in a row. He wasn¡¯t going to turn around now just because his 13 levels weren¡¯t good enough for this 20 level dungeon. He was determined to finish his quest one way or another, and no stupid messages would stop him! The recommended level for this area exceeds your current level. Are you sure you wish to proceed? ¡°For Parva¡¯s sake...¡± he murmured under his breath and dismissed the message once more. ¡°You said something?¡± asked Felia. ¡°Nothing important¡± answered Al, and they continued to venture into the dark and maze-like caves of the Uniga dungeon. Filled with giant rats, occasional skeletons and monstrous amount of water stickers did put this dungeon on the more difficult side of the beginner dungeon spectrum, but overconfident Al was assured that he could beat it without batting an eye. Felia, on the other hand, was worried for her low level companion. Being a 22 level elven cleric, her quest was to watch after Al to let him successfully finish his own quest or, at the very least, return safely. The 15 year old elven paladin was surely talented, having gained 10 levels in a span of the few months he spent with the Parva¡¯s church, but, more often than not, such hot headed individuals got themselves into a lot of trouble than they could handle. So, the church of Parva sent their more experienced followers to prevent even more casualties than they already had. Not that Felia would ever tell Al that she was sent here by the head priest¡¯s orders. The young boy wasn¡¯t fond of her eagerly taking care of him, he didn¡¯t need to know that even the church didn¡¯t trust his abilities to finish this dungeon, not to mention defeat its Master. As they were getting closer and closer to the Master¡¯s Chamber, the more and more worried Felia grew. ¡°Al?¡± The recommended level for this area exceeds your current level. Are you sure you wish to proceed? Al dismissed one more annoying notification and asked: ¡°Yes, mistress Felia?¡± ¡°I told you that you can call me Felia. No need to be so official¡±. ¡°Yes, sorry, mist¡­¡± The young elf paused for a moment. ¡°...Felia. So, what is you wanted to ask me?¡± ¡°I was just going to mention that we could just turn around and go back at any moment¡±. ¡°I told you, I¡¯m more than capable of doing this!¡± His six fingered grey fingers gripped the hammer in his hands even more tightly. ¡°I have got all my levels in this dungeon, haven¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Sure, you did, but you have never...¡± ¡°I have never been to the Master''s Chamber, yes! And there¡¯s a first time for everything, isn¡¯t there?¡± Felia only could stay silent in agreement with the hot headed paladin. As they went past one of numerous cave lakes in this dungeon, Felia¡¯s passive ability, Divine sight, showed her that a particularly large water sticker was unfolding itself in order to sting its prey in the face. ¡°Water sticker, right behind me, 70cm high¡±. Al turned around, brought his hammer over his head and, as Felia stepped sideways, he crushed the stick like creature with an audible crunch. The paladin flashed a yellow light ever so slightly and then proceeded to crush any left over severed feet, as not to let any possible sticker children to grow out of them. ¡°I can see you have leveled up?¡± Felia asked her companion. ¡°Yeah, and I don¡¯t need your help¡±. Level up! You are now a level 14 paladin. You may now redistribute 5 points between Strength[36], Endurance[21], Constitution[33], Faith[20]. Heavy weapon mastery is now level 6. The recommended level for this area exceeds your current level. Are you sure you wish to proceed? The stupid message aside, Al was excited to hit another level so quickly. He redistributed the points between listed attributes and marched forward even with more confidence than he had before. Felia only felt concerned about the lad¡¯s eagerness to fight a superior foe. Even 4 level higher quest would give trouble to any adventurer, who would dare take them on, not to mention the 6 level gap this boy wanted to conquer. Sure, he would gain several levels worth of experience, but the risk was too high, and even a 22 level cleric wouldn¡¯t be able to assure his safety. As they made their way to the Dungeon Master¡¯s Chamber, they killed 2 water stickers, 5 giant rats and 1 skeleton, what gave Al half of experience points needed to gain another level. And there they were: right in front of them were the metal gates of the Master¡¯s Chamber. A few rat bodies were scattered on its floor, and a couple of them slightly twitched, what distinguished them as the rare body stickers. And yet, there was something that even the experienced Felia haven¡¯t seen in her barely starting cleric career. ¡°How did this dire bear get in here?¡± she asked no one in particular. The bear in question had its back turned to the adventurer duo and was audibly chewing on a fresh corpse of a deer, that the creature brought with it, but¡­ what was the point? Why would a wild bear come into a dungeon full of hostile creatures and how did it even get into the Master¡¯s Chamber? These questions rushed through the Felia¡¯s mind, as she was taking in the curious sight, all the while Al went to the lever on the side and pulled it. The gates started slowly rising and the female elf took a step back as the metal bars slided out of her grip. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Felia asked Al. ¡°I¡¯m going in and finishing the quest¡± answered the paladin and took out his hammer from behind his back. ¡°No way!¡± she practically screamed at the suicidal idiot. ¡°You can¡¯t clear out the Chamber, when that thing,¡± she pointed at the bear, ¡°is in there. We must go back and tell the head priest what happened¡±. ¡°Nothing happened,¡± said Al, as he entered the Chamber. ¡°It¡¯s just another monster to kill and experience to gain¡±. Felia was uncomfortable and didn¡¯t want to come into the Chamber with Al, but the quest had to be done and so, she entered the room, as the metal gates were slowly closing. The paladin took each step with confidence. As he passed each of the rat¡¯s bodies they slowly unfolded into bigger, bloody and darker versions of the water stickers, as they stealthily tried to sting the boy and inject him with their stomach acid, but the paladin killed each of them with the help of Felia¡¯s spell Parva¡¯s Power. It boosted the boy¡¯s Strength attribute by 20%. Each creature crunched as the hammer broke their limp bodies. Couple of the stickers reached 2 meters in height, but the 45 Strength helped Al crush the opposition taking only 6 hits worth of 166HP. The overconfident boy didn¡¯t seem out of place in here as he was covered in the sticker¡¯s and his own blood, mixing up in a sickly puke colour. During the crunching and murder Al¡¯s body flashed two times, what signaled that he gained two levels worth of experience and, due to the sheer amount of creatures, was extremely close to his third level up.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Level up! You are now a level 15 paladin. You may now redistribute 5 points between Strength[38], Endurance[22], Constitution[35], Faith[20]. The recommended level for this area exceeds your current level. Are you sure you wish to proceed? Level up! You are now a level 16 paladin. You may now redistribute10points between Strength[38], Endurance[22], Constitution[35], Faith[20]. Heavy weapon mastery is now level 7. Heavy armour mastery is now level 5. The recommended level for this area exceeds your current level. Are you sure you wish to proceed? Yet, the dire bear was still eagerly eating the dead deer. Nothing could possibly interrupt its dinner, and, as such, it was an easy target. ¡°Felia, buff me up,¡± Al said quietly. Felia practically whispered under her breath: ¡°I don¡¯t like this¡±. She touched the boy¡¯s shoulder and said more audibly: ¡°Let Parva guide your hands¡±. Yellow light swallowed the paladin fully, healing the missing 166HP and buffing him for the next 2 minutes. And now, stronger, faster and nimbler at full 502HP Al approached the dining giant monster and gripped the hammer to strike the beast down. What Al ignored, however, was this message: Quest ¡®Clear Dungeon¡¯ from ¡®Church of Parva¡¯ was successfully completed. Clear out Master¡¯s Chamber in Uniga Dungeon 1/1 Return to ¡®Church of Parva¡¯ to turn the quest in and get your reward (150PP, 250XP). Funny name for Prinzessin Pounds aside, what the paladin decided not to notice and even mention to his superior was more important than he could imagine. What this message told him was that this monster was several levels higher than the level of this dungeon, and, as he was taught, monsters around the Church didn¡¯t go above level 20. And, as he stood there, ready to start the uneven fight, something happened, that Felia would never forget. Time seemed to slow down. The monster in front of Al started straightening up, but as it raised up, body of the deer started raising up along. When the beast stood right up, it became apparent that the bear had no head¡­ the body of the deer was its head. But, instead of stopping right there, it continued moving, twisting its back in impossible shape, bringing its whole weight right upon the shocked 15 year old elf. As the monster came down upon him, Al turned around to run from it, but never got the chance. The body of the deer fell right on his legs, breaking them in several places. Your right leg is broken. You can no longer run. -122HP Your left leg is broken. You can no longer walk. -125HP You are heavily bleeding. -30HP (each second) Everything hurt and he couldn¡¯t feel anything. Feeling so contradictory, Al felt only worse. The monster moved its deer head from Al¡¯s legs, scraping off his chain pants, his skin and even some of the meat, exposing the shattered bones to the world around. Extreme pain left the paladin speechless, unable to scream, only desperately scrambling away, with terrified expression on his tortured face. Felia screamed something, but Al couldn¡¯t hear anything. You have been healed. +150HP You are heavily bleeding. -30HP (each second) The beast looked at the scrambling elf with the deer¡¯s dead eyes, and the deer¡¯s abdomen slowly opened to reveal hundreds of small sharp teeth. The bear took a few steps towards the paladin and quickly lowered its head right at Al, biting down on his head. Paladin screamed in agony, but the yelp didn¡¯t last even one second. His hands went limp and with an audible crunch the beast tore his head right off the boy¡¯s body. Quest ¡®Safety first¡¯ from ¡®Church of Parva¡¯ was failed. Assure your companion¡¯s safe return 0/1 Return to ¡®Church of Parva¡¯ to report the quest¡¯s failure. Felia couldn¡¯t say a single word. She only stared in the monster¡¯s small beady deer eyes. The bear-deer, however, wasn¡¯t going to stop only on one victim. It started approaching towards the shocked female elf. Cleric noticed the rapid movement and ran away towards the metal gates. There was another way out of the Chamber, but she would have to pass this monstrosity, and in no way she would get close to that thing. She tried to go between the metal bars, but her armour was too bulky to make her way through. She looked back at the towering monster making its way to her. She shrieked and started quickly taking off her chainmail shirt and pants. When she had only her underwear left, she started squeezing herself through the gate. Head¡­ The beast made its way closer and closer to her. Hands¡­ Cleric¡¯s panicked mind forced her movements to be less precise and only slowed her down. Body¡­ She was almost through, when the monster reached her armour. It looked down at her and the abdomen mouth twisted in a shape that resembled a smile. It started falling down to immobilize her. Legs¡­ The monster crushed her right foot. She let out a little yelp, but the adrenaline didn¡¯t let the pain stop her. Your foot is broken. Your top speed is now 20% slower. -56HP ¡°Let Parva¡¯s sight heal the wounded¡±, she said to herself while running. You have been healed. +56HP She continued running, limping on her right foot. Her long black hair waived. Her grey pupils showed terror and determination to get out of this place. The beast roared in the background. She ran even faster. You have put too much pressure on your broken limb. -10HP You have strained your foot. Your top speed is now 5% slower. She ran and ran. Giant rats got out of her way, water stickers unfolded themselves to try and sting her, skeletons followed her with their empty sockets. And she ran, and ran, and ran¡­ You have left Uniga dungeon. Only now Felia allowed herself to stop. She leaned on the nearest cave wall, put her left hand on her chest and started breathing heavily. The breathing slowed down and eventually became normal. Cleric slid down on her bottom put the hands over her face and started sobbing. Al was dead, but that¡¯s not why she was crying. The sight of his death was much more traumatic than anything else she saw in her life, even though as a cleric she saw a lot of horrible things: unnaturally bent legs, bones sticking out of bloody wounds, even cut off fingers. And still never she has seen something as horrid as Al¡¯s dismembered body. Then she sobbed at the realisation that she would have to leave her old life behind. In no way anyone would believe her story. Even if they did, she failed to protect the young and promising paladin, she was naked, her foot broken, and lost church provided armour. Such serious offences against the Church of Parva and, as such, against Tohcraft family guaranteed twenty years of jail. She had to leave the Prinzessin. As soon as possible. After one day the church would send their best divine warriors to look for them. When they would find Al¡¯s desecrated body, at least, what was left of it, and her chain armour in the same chamber, she¡¯d become a wanted criminal. And yet, she couldn¡¯t leave looking this way. She had to find some kind of weapon and some clothes to hide her skinny 17 year old body. Felia had to sneak to the church¡¯s grounds at night, but even before that she had to get rid of her class and rank. If she stayed Parva¡¯s cleric the head priest would have no problem finding her. Are you sure you want to lose your ¡®Cleric¡¯ class? Yes/No She stared at the message in her mind. She hesitated. 1 and a half years of work would go to waste. She¡¯d become a nobody orphan, she had been before joining the Church of Parva. But if she didn¡¯t get rid of it, she¡¯d become a prisoner, at best. At worst, she¡¯d be dead. It was no choice, and yet she hesitated. Are you sure you want to lose your ¡®Cleric¡¯ class? Yes/No But, as Felia knew, there was no choice. Yes You have no class. Your attributes have been set to default. Please, choose one of following classes: Paladin Cleric Craftsman Wizard Sorcerer Warlock Rogue Berserker Fighter Ranger This was death of Felia the Cleric. Rogue Level up! You are now a level 1 rogue. You may now redistribute 5 points between Dexterity[15], Endurance[15], Charisma[5]. Lockpick is now level 1. Stealth is now level 1. Light weapon mastery is now level 1. Light armour mastery is now level 1. Sleight of Hand is now level 1. Persuasion is now level 1. Intimidation is now level 1. And this was birth of Felia the Rogue. Chapter 2. Felia was hidden behind the trees close to the church¡¯s follower dormitory. Her dormitoritory. Her newly acquired skill Stealth allowed her to move in as close as possible without being seen by anyone. Her still naked body allowed her to be quieter and faster. Her foot still hurt like inferno and made her a little bit clumsier, but it was manageable. Nightfall would come soon and the darkness would help the rooky rogue get in there and grab some light armour and maybe a mace, to help her defend herself. The forest was patrolled by few 3-6 level paladins, which kept any possible monsters out of, as the priests called it, the divine area. But, of course, there was nothing divine about it. Even the followers of Parva¡¯s Church, the only goddess of truth in the world, as all knew, didn¡¯t squeamish to lie. For the greater good. Their own good, that is. The orange, fiery sunset was made even more beautiful as last rays of sunlight shined off the golden Parva¡¯s eye on the church¡¯s top. A couple of minutes later, with the last ornament glimmer, the elven head priest came out in his white robes and pulled a rope ringing the bell, signalizing the curfew. Elves in all kinds of clothing started pouring into the dormitories: clerics and paladins in chain armour, priests in white robes, young children, hoping one day to become a follower. Rookies and veterans alike, all were welcome here. Unless you planned to leave. Otherwise, you¡¯d be a traitor of the prinzessin. Just like Felia was now. She couldn¡¯t enter the room right away, though. The variety of elves meant that no way all of them would fall asleep so quickly. She waited for what felt like 4 hours, but what in fact was only 2. Occasional low level paladins passed close to her, but Stealth left them unaware of her existence. This was convenient to the level 1 rogue, since such a low level meant that she could¡¯ve been overwhelmed by any one of them. Yes, she was older than most of them, but their strength attribute gave them more than enough muscle to take her on, they might even accidentally kill her. Paradoxically, this was no sin in the church¡¯s eyes. A prayer or two and they would be cleansed by Parva¡¯s holy sight. At least, it was what the priests and Tohcraft family told everyone. Not that everybody believed that, but it has put many elven minds, torn between madness and suicide, to rest. Felia glanced one way, then another, and when there was no imminent danger to be seen, she made her move. Elven girl went to the dormitory closest to her and carefully opened the door. It creaked, what made Felia cringe. It always creaked, but she never noticed it before. Before she had to stay quiet. The high pitched, excruciating sound tore through the deathly silence in the dormitory. Felia could swear that it was the loudest noise she ever heard, and even a thousand whales wouldn¡¯t be able to reach that level, even if they tried. However, in reality, the creaking blended in the hundreds of other night sounds: little crickets, sleepless birds¡¯ songs, the wind. Not a single soul in there could tell if there was any difference. Amazed Felia went in and straight to her empty bed and chest. She opened the latter and threw the chain armour and pants on herself. That done, she realized that these were the only clothes she had left, that she left her only weapon in the Master Chamber, so, no weapon, and that the only place she ate at was the church¡¯s dining building, so, no food too. ¡°Ok, first things first,¡± she muttered to herself. ¡°I need to find where to put everything I¡¯ll take with me¡±. This was easy. She decided to use the bed sheets as a carrying bag for everything. Next, since the food was in another building, she had to find some kind of weapon. Not too heavy, since she had to wield the thing, and not too light, since it had to be actually threatening. The same had to be said about another set of armour. Luckily, this dormitory was mostly populated by clerics, and even though Felia no longer was one, the light armour and weapons were perfect for the rogue class. She quickly looked over the sleeping elves to find a familiar face. And there was one. Nerra, the male cleric she spoke once or twice with. She had a thought or two that she might like him, but even if she did, Parva forbid any unfavourable behaviours, romantic relationships between followers included. Felia knew that Nerra and she shared a quite similar physique, so she went over to his bed. She tried to open his chest, but it was locked. She cursed. Felia looked around in hope to find the key, but there was only one place the key could¡¯ve been, and she wasn¡¯t about to risk waking Nerra up. The rogue decided to lockpick the chest open. ¡°Maybe I could use the nails?¡± she thought. Felia took out a couple of loose nails from the walls and the next half hour was spent swearing, clanking the nails over each other and eventually opening the lock. Lockpick is now level 2. Stealth is now level 3. Level up! You are now a level 2 Rogue. You may now redistribute 5 points between Dexterity[16], Endurance[16], Charisma[8]. ¡°Finally,¡± Felia whispered and took the mace and chain armour from the open chest. She made her way back to her bed, when she heard two distant voices. She couldn¡¯t tell, what they were saying, but they were getting closer with each step. Rogue switched to a panic mode. The only thing that came through her mind was: ¡°Hide under the bed!¡± As Felia hit the floor, however, the mace produced a loud thump. This was bad. ¡°What was that?¡± said one voice. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I think it came from here,¡± said the other one. ¡°Fuck!¡± Felia whispered. ¡°Fuck, fuck, fuck...¡± she continued whispering, as she skittered on the floor and hiding under the bed. The metal scraping the wooden floor only made more noise, and the steps outside went from a worried walk to a worried run. This was even worse. ¡°Why is the door open?¡± said the second voice. Felia looked towards the door in question. Moonlight came into the dormitory through the crack she forgot to close. This was terrible. Rogue could only see two pairs of legs. They carefully went through the dormitory looking for any intruders. She saw as they glanced under every bed and each of their steps echoed like thunder through her ears and heart. And then¡­ A loud crash of metal over metal went from somewhere outside. The two paladins jerked their heads towards the noise and ran in that direction, with no need for words, apparently. Felia recognized them, when she realised that. These were the twins she heard about and even saw them training. But there was no time to think about that, there was only time to run away from here. She got out from under the bed, threw the mace and armour on it, tied the sheets over them, took them off and ran. She ran out of the dormitory and into the moonlit forest. She hit several branches, some of them even left small and unpleasant scratches on her face. You have suffered a shallow cut. -1HP You have suffered a shallow cut. -2HP You have suffered a shallow cut. -1HP Light armour mastery is now level 2. Suffering a total of 7 damage, Felia ran out to a small meadow. She panted heavily. She caught her breath and laid down to get her mind off what happened, and soon her mind crept into deep sleep¡­ *********************************************************** You are well-rested. Your HP is now full (154HP). Felia lazily opened her eyes. And then she panicked. She jerked upright looking around for the familiar dormitory. ¡°Oh, right,¡± she thought as last day¡¯s events rushed back into her mind. She thought of what have caused the last night¡¯s distraction, and blamed it on some kind of midnight fresser. She have never done it herself, but knew that others did. Harmless and pointless act of rebellion, in her opinion. As she thought of it, she realized that she was starving. She hasn¡¯t eaten since before she was sent to help Al. First Felia thought to find some berries to satisfy her hunger, but she soon dropped the idea due to her inexperience in¡­ well, anything. Yet she had to eat. And since the closest city was half a day away, there was only one option left: she had to hunt. The rogue unfolded the makeshift rag and took out her mace. Like that, with a mace in one hand and the rag in the other, she went to the forest, to Vienum City, through the forest. ********************************************************** Felia stood right in front of a dry tree, barely more than just a branch. CRUNCH! You have dealt 65 damage. You have killed yourtarget in a single blow. You¡¯ve gained 5% more XP from this kill. Light weapon mastery is now level 3. Green sticker blood spurted all over the grass and her chain armour. Felia brushed the green mess, but only smeared it all over the chain. This was the fifth sticker she had killed for her breakfast. Level up! You are now a level 3 Rogue. You may now redistribute 10 points between Dexterity[16], Endurance[16], Charisma[8]. ¡°Oh, right¡±, she exclaimed. She forgot that her yesterday actions gained her a new level. Now was a good time as any, to use up the attribute points she gained. She argued in her head what attribute was most important, and even though both Dexterity and Endurance both had convincing arguments to them, Charisma always came out on top. In retrospect, it was obvious: she was going to run from her own country, and she wouldn¡¯t be able to survive all alone, by herself. Felia was in desperate need for a group to travel with, and Charisma was a sure way to gain someone¡¯s trust. After mentally giving Dexterity and Endurance 2 attribute points each, and giving the rest to Charisma, Felia collected brushwood and made a small fire to cook the sticker corpses. This was risky and she really didn¡¯t want to eat these disgusting monsters, but she just couldn¡¯t get herself to kill a squirrel or a rabbit. Having grown under constant supervision made her feel like a small child at this point.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Ten minutes later, one of the stickers¡¯ legs was cooked. Felia looked it over. ¡°Well¡­ here goes nothing¡±. She took a bite¡­ That was underwhelming. She expected to throw up, if she was honest. She even thought that the leg might taste good, if she wasn¡¯t. But she didn¡¯t expect nothing. There was no real taste to the thing. Yes, it was juicy, what put her off a little, but the hunger told her to eat her worries up. Literally. In a few bites, the leg was gone. Felia then ate another one, and another¡­ She was somehow getting used to the lack of taste. It certainly wouldn¡¯t be her favourite taste, by a long shot, but it wasn¡¯t going to make it on the worst list either. She made a mental note not to rule something out before trying it first. ¡°Lesson learned¡±, she told herself and stashed the rest of the roasted sticker legs in her rags, trying her best to put them as far away from the chain armour as possible. It wasn¡¯t. Now, with a little tainted rag in one hand and a mace in the other she went to the nearest road to Vienum. ****************************************** You have entered ¡®Vienum¡¯ city. Felia stopped. She looked back on the road she came from and forward on the road she had yet to cover. She could tell no difference from one and another. There weren¡¯t even buildings around, just forest both on the left and on the right. She was about to give it a second thought, when she heard a cart coming from behind. Rogue turned around and saw a lone wooden mess with a horse in front of it. She took a step off the road and waited for the thing to ramble its way to her. Felia waved her hand with a weak smile and said: ¡°Hello¡±. The elven coach, whose attire gave away his farmer status, tipped his broad hat in greeting. ¡°Hi!¡± he answered and pulled on the reins to stop. ¡°What such a young dame is doing here so early in the morning?¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to get to Veinum¡±. ¡°Well, you are already here, didn¡¯t you get the message?¡± ¡°No, I did, but I¡¯m trying to get to the central square¡±. ¡°Are you looking for something particular? Or someone?¡± he added suggestively. Felia was quick to say: ¡°No!¡± ¡°No need to be so defensive. I¡¯m just an old elf having fun, messing with kids¡±. He scooted a little bit to his left and padded the empty spot next to him. ¡°C¡¯mon, don¡¯t be shy. Hop on!¡± Felia looked a little bit confused and concerned at the offer. She didn¡¯t really do anything to get this and still¡­ Persuasion is now level 2. ¡°Of course¡±, rogue said both at the realisation and the proposal, put the mace at the bottom board and made her way up to the seat. The cart squeaked, creaked and rattled under her weight, which made Felia uneasy. The farmer saw it and assured his new companion: ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. This old lady always does this¡±. In the back of the wagon laid cabbages, carrots, some apfels as well. ¡°Are you hungry?¡± he asked as the horse started its dreary walk. Felia nodded. ¡°Then take one of the apfels. I¡¯d let you have more, but this elf here gotta eat too¡±. She looked back at the food and outstretched her arm to grab one of the apfels, when a thought rushed through her mind. She wanted to steal some of them. ¡°That¡¯s just the class talking¡±, she told herself, but the thought didn¡¯t go away. She shook her head in disgust. ¡°Looking for for the best? They are at the bottom, you might need to shuffle around to get one¡±, the old elf suggested. Felia stared at the pile. Sweet, juicy apfels. It¡¯s like they were asking to be stolen. Female elf glanced at the farmer and slowly untied her rags with her left hand, when the right took one of the apfels to her mouth. She took a big juicy bite to distract her companion. He glanced at her and smiled: ¡°They are really good, aren¡¯t they?¡± ¡°Oh, yes¡±, muttered Felia with a mouthful. ¡°Never tasted anything better¡±, she lied. Well, not lied, per say, but she had eaten better. She took another bite. ¡°Well, where are you from?¡± asked the farmer. Felia considered it. ¡°I¡­ well¡­ nowhere, really¡±. ¡°Ooh! A young adventurer? In these parts?¡± ¡°Yes, in these parts¡±, she said wandering off, as her left hand grabbed an apfel and put it in the rags. ¡°You know, I used to be an adventurer too. Until I took an arrow to knee, that is¡±. Felia glared at the old elf with a question written all over her face. ¡°Your knee doesn¡¯t look injured¡±. She took another apfel. The farmer glanced at his knees. And laughed: ¡°Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no! It¡¯s just a saying. It means that I got married¡±. ¡°Happily?¡± She put the apfel in the rags. ¡°Hah! You are a witty one, aren¡¯t you?¡± He turned to her, and Felia, in a spurt of panic, laid over the apfels and tried to look casual. ¡®Tried¡¯ being the key word. The farmer stared at the young woman close to his crotch and a little bit shocked spurted out: ¡°Of course, I am! And you should keep yourself together! This is no way to behave for such a young dame, I tell you that¡±, and turned away his gaze to stare blankly at the dusty rocky road. Intimidation is now level 2. Persuasion is now level 3. When Felia realized how that must¡¯ve looked to the stranger, it was too late. She squealed and quickly sat upright. ¡°I¡¯m not like that, I swe!...¡± ¡°Actions speak louder than words, dearie¡±. ¡°Dearie?¡± she whispered under her breath. She wasn¡¯t called that before and, frankly, she didn¡¯t like it. And as her young woman side was debating whether or not to argue with the man in front of her, her rogue side took another two apfels to her makeshift bag. In the end, Felia decided not to argue with the man, who was giving her a ride to the city square, and kept quiet for the rest of the road. Sleight of hand is now level 2. Level up! You are now a level 4 Rogue. You may now redistribute 5 points between Dexterity[18], Endurance[18], Charisma[14]. This felt good¡­ ************************************ Now this was a city! Tall 5-story buildings surrounded Felia from all sides. Merchants, guards and regular citizens ran from from one place to another, past the third and came back to the first. They rushed, they bargained, they screamed at each other. They were busy. And Felia was about to get busy as well. The young elf stood next to the cart, the owner of which was kind enough to help her get here. On his hip she saw a small pouch, with money inside. Her rogue instincts came to her once more, and she didn¡¯t try resisting the urge to steal. Besides, he was here to sell his vegetables and appfels. He didn¡¯t Really need this money. How¡¯d she do it, she asked herself. Well, she already had her answer. She couldn¡¯t fall any lower, so¡­ She almost lept at the old man on the wagon. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Felia was a virgin. Everyone would be able to tell that, when they would see what she had done next. A little bit uncomfortable by her own actions, she ran her right skinny fingers over the elf¡¯s crotch, while her other hand took the opportunity to untie the pouch from the man¡¯s belt. ¡°What do you think I¡¯m doing?¡± she asked him with a trembling nervous voice. ¡°I told you I¡¯m not that kind of person!¡± ¡°Well¡±, her voice cracked, ¡°I just wanted to thank you the best way I can¡±. She felt his dick getting harder. ¡°Oh, Parva!¡± she screamed in her head. ¡°Oh, Parva¡±, she said as seductively as she could, which wasn¡¯t very. As she untied and grabbed the pouch of money with her left hand, the farmer pulled the reins and drove away as fast as possible, and, because Felia was holding onto the cart, she fell. You have suffered a blunt trauma. You are dizzy for the next 1 minute. -5HP Sleight of Hand is now level 3. Intimidation is now level 3. She was embarrassed and she was hurt. She felt her face turn beat red. If that¡¯s what seduction was like, she hated it. But, her rogue side told her, she got food and money! How bad such an effective tactic could be? Very, the old cleric side said. The ex-cleric stood up, but the rogue looked around. One was looking for the authority to hide from, the other to report to. Felia was confused, but she told herself: ¡°I need to find a group of adventurers. They¡¯ll know how to get out of the country¡±. Both cleric and rogue agreed for diametrically opposite reasons. And where did adventurers usually hang out? The pubs. That was the problem: there were too many to choose from. From ¡®In Gods¡¯ Hands¡¯ on one side, to the ¡®Devils¡¯ Advocates¡¯ on the other and simply named ¡®Pub¡¯ in between. Felia went around the city looking for a pub to choose, when she literally stumbled upon one called ¡®Around the World¡¯. Dark alleyway, wet from urine at best and puke at worst stone road and rotting giant rat corpse in the corner. She¡¯d run away from there, if the rest of the pubs weren¡¯t fully populated by her own kin. Felia wasn¡¯t looking for a group of elves: they¡¯d just give her out the instant they found out she was a felon, since not a single sane elf wanted to be on one of the families¡¯ bad side. Not to say that there were no insane elves, but those did usually sticked around group, where other races were present. And the name ¡®Around the World¡¯ suggested as much. She took a deep breath to get some courage in her lungs and instantly regretted it. The urine, puke, rot mixture of smells burned the unprepared nostrils and watered Felia¡¯s eyes. She wanted to puke, but managed to keep it in herself. No point to show weakness to these tough people. She took a good look at herself. At least, no point to show more weakness than her tiny body already irradiated. Feflia almost took another deep breath, when she stopped herself. She entered the pub. It looked exactly what a 17 year old elven church girl expected it to look. Dirty floor, round tables with dwarves, humans, elves and even halflings sitting around of all sizes and colours, even a couple of felines sat at the bar. The cat-like humanoid creatures, the katzes, were the closest relatives to the elves, no matter how much the Prinzessin families tried to disprove it. These were vicious and deadly creatures that lived in small communities all throughout Moria and sustained themselves by hunting and trading with the cities closest to them. Yet some of them seeked a life of adventure. Perhaps these ones were adventurers, but Felia didn¡¯t really want to risk them being lawful merchants, despite expression¡¯s contradictory nature. The girl limped her way to the bar to get something to drink. She might not be brave enough to approach any one of these people, but maybe the alcohol would do the job. She sat down on the only free spot, between an obese, dirty dwarf with a half empty bottle of what she assumed to be grog and a human so big with muscles that were easily two times bigger than her head, holding a mug of dark bubbling liquid, which the locals generously called beer. An old elven bartender with cuts and bruises all over his face and arms and missing his left eye approached Felia and with a voice so gravy that it sounded like two piles of gravel rubbing against each other asked her: ¡°What ya drinking, princess?¡± The elf nervously swallowed down any courage she had before coming in here. What did she want to drink? ¡°Th¡­t¡­ the harder, the b¡­ better¡±, she stuttered. The bartender gestured over to the dwarf on her left. ¡°This fucker got the last bottle. Ask him¡±. Felia slowly turned to the dwarf in question and kept glancing at him and at his bottle. After a minute of awkward staring, the dwarf finally acknowledged her existence: ¡°What?¡± She was barely able to open her mouth, when he interrupted her: ¡°If you want the grog, then the answer is ¡®No¡¯¡±. This was the opportunity to practice Persuasion, said the rogue inside her. ¡°I have a better idea¡±, said the cleric. Felia was in no mood for¡­ Persuasion and decided to listen to her old side still present in her mind. She reached under the bar, where she had put all her staff, took her mace and placed it right in front the dwarf, and the bottle with the shotglass made a little jump. The dwarf stared at the mace, then stared at Felia and did the same motions she had done. But instead of a mace, he put a giant in comparison battleaxe on the bar. Felia flinched, but kept her composure the best she could. Which meant, she let out a little yelp and jumped along with the bottle. The dwarf and the elf stared each other down. Then, all of a sudden, the dwarf laughed. ¡°I like your way! Here¡±, he poured a shot of grog. ¡°Drink up¡±. Felia took the glass and stared at the swirling liquid inside. ¡°C¡¯mon! You were the one, who tried to take a drink from dwarf. Now, be a good girl, and do what you wanted to¡±. ¡°Ok. You can do this. You can do this¡±, the elf thought. She brought the shot up to her mouth and without hesitation threw the grog down her throat. It burned. A lot. Her eyes watered from the unfamiliar sensation, her breath became short and broken. She coughed and laid down on the bar, as her consciousness slowly left her. All the while the dwarf laughed at her. Chapter 3. Felia always was a heavy sleeper. However, her lack of drinking experience left her mind in a semi-awaken state. She felt someone bringing her somewhere unfamiliar. Then she felt as someone was taking off her chain armour. ¡°Must be the clerics¡±, she thought and continued resting. Only when the someone¡¯s hands starting pulling off her loincloth she realized what was happening to her. Felia quickly opened her eyes. The dim light hit them and sharp, but mild pain rushed through her hangover brain. She turned her head to stare in the eyes of her attempted rapist. The elf in front of her stared back. He was tall, bald, his eyes were sunken deep into his skull, his grey skin sickly pale. An escapee, perhaps? His cloth pants laid a meter or so to the left, leaving him only in several-week dirty underwear. She kicked him in between his legs. The elf doubled down, holding his crotch, and let out a pained groan. Felia pulled up her loincloth and stood up. As the rapist looked up, she hit him in his nose. He fell over. Dark and thick black blood from his nose trickled down his cheek and formed a little dirty red puddle on the floor. Felia heard a muffled voice coming from behind the door: ¡°Bokh! What¡¯s going on in there?!¡± It was familiar, but there was no time to think about that. ¡°Bokh?!¡± She picked up her chain armour and hid in the darkest corner she could find. The door opened, and the dwarf that gave her that grog shot. ¡°What the fuck?!¡± He scrambled up to the elf lying on the floor. Meanwhile Felia sneaked out of the room. She hastily started putting on her armour. But where was her mace? Where were her rags?! She looked around. It was a long dim lit corridor with doors on both sides. She looked forward and back, choosing where she should run. The dwarf came out of the room. ¡°What the fuck¡¯s wrong with you, Bokh?...¡± he whispered to himself. He moved his gaze up at the elf. ¡°Oi!¡± The elf chose to run forward. ¡°Wait!¡± the dwarf yelled after her, but she didn¡¯t listen. That fuckhead drugged and let someone rape her! Well, Bokh, if that was his name, did fail to do it, but this was no way to treat a fellow person. She rushed through the corridor, and turned left. This place was too complicated to be the pub, she entered. What was this place? Felia turned right, then right again and immediately entered a room on her left. It was empty. She shut the door and sat quiet. She heard the dwarf walk past the door. ¡°Where the fuck is she?¡± he muttered and walked on forward. The elf waited until she could no longer hear the dwarven frequent steps to open the door. She looked both ways to find the corridor empty and left the room. The exit. She had to find the exit, both of her cleric and rogue sides told her that. The corridors looked the same to Felia. If you saw one dim lit corridor you saw them all. She decided to look through each of the door, in case they led outside. She leaned to the door opposite of her and listened to what was inside. No need, to break in just to find herself in a trap or anything along those lines. Nothing was inside. At least, nothing made any noise behind the door. She opened it. This room was empty as well. She checked the next room. Empty. Then the next. Empty too. She opened each door in hopes to find the exit, but only became more and more disappointed, until she opened a seventh door on the left side of the corridor. ¡°Wh-what?¡± she asked herself. There was Bokh, the same elf that tried to rape her. The pool of blood grew in size and covered half of his face. This confused Felia. she didn¡¯t go in a circle, she was sure of it. And yet, here she was right in the same place, where she started. How was this possible? Magic was the only answer, but how many wizards could live here in Vienum? Considering that wizards were outlawed in all of Prinzessin. ¡°Hello again¡±, said the rough dwarven voice. The young elf turned around to see the dwarf she ran away from minutes ago. This should¡¯ve surprised her, but it didn¡¯t. ¡°What¡¯s going on in this place?¡± she asked him. ¡°Are you talking about how you got back here, or about Bokh lying in a pool of his own blood? Because I¡¯m pretty sure you know about it more than I do¡±. ¡°He tried to rape me¡±. ¡°Yeah, the fucker hasn¡¯t seen a woman eager to fuck him in years. Guess he took the opportunity¡±. ¡°The opportunity?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not saying he¡¯s done right. And anyway, you¡¯ve shown him what¡¯s what¡±. She glanced at Bokh. ¡°I guess I did¡±. ¡°Don¡¯t give yourself too much credit though. He¡¯s just skin and bones at this point. We¡¯ve met him literally two weeks ago¡±. ¡°Who is ¡®we¡¯?¡± ¡°Oh, right, I¡¯ve never told you my name¡±. The dwarf outstretched his hand to shake hers. ¡°Me name¡¯s Syln. May I ask you yours?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ My name is Felia¡±. She never shook his hand. Syln lowered it and slightly shook his head with an understanding smile. ¡°The elf¡¯s name Bokh¡±. ¡°Yeah, I heard you calling for him¡±. ¡°Oh, right¡±. Syln looked down at Bokh. ¡°Well, I guess you should meet the rest of us. Come on, let¡¯s go find them¡±, he told her as he took off. ¡°Doesn¡¯t this place loop on itself? With magic, I mean,¡± Felia asked, as she went after him. ¡°You are absolutely correct! It does! That¡¯s Bokh¡¯s doing. We just need to turn left...¡± They made a left turn. ¡°... left again...¡± They made another left turn. ¡°... right...¡± Felia and Syln turned right. ¡°... right...¡± Another right turn. ¡°... go back and enter the third door on the left¡±. They opened the door and behind it were stairs, leading up, and ascended them. The elf and the dwarf entered the room behind the door upstairs, where sat two humans: the mountain of muscles Felia sat next to, who wore only a loincloth, and a much smaller woman, who wore extremely inappropriate attire, barely more than a pair of strings. The human couple sat on opposite sides of a table with cards on it and in their hands. Next to them lied two piles of clothes. They both threw a glance at the newcomers. The man asked: ¡°Where¡¯s Bokh?¡± ¡°The bastard tried to rape the poor girl¡±, dwarf answered. ¡°But she gave him a lesson¡±. The man gave a little nod and turned back to the game. ¡°You taught him good?¡± the woman asked the elf. ¡°You should ask him, when he comes here¡±, Syln said instead of Felia. ¡°Just don¡¯t be surprised about the blood on his face¡±. The woman whistled and grinned. ¡°Serves him right, I¡¯ll tell you that! He tried to get in my pants as well. Filthy elf¡­ Uh, no offence¡±. Felia didn¡¯t say anything. She didn¡¯t like humans, but she didn¡¯t hate them either. Not exactly. Their leaders always gave speeches about how all lands of Moria belonged to them and them only. That didn¡¯t stick right with the elf. ¡°What about elves, dwarves, goblins?¡± she wondered. ¡°What about halflings and katzes?¡± Not to mention, how many wars the two countries had in the past, and, even though there were no official declarations about it, every Prinzessin citizen was sure that another one was at bay. When she got no answer, the woman asked Syln: ¡°Can¡¯t she speak?¡± ¡°I can¡±, the rogue told her. ¡°Oh, I see¡±. And she turned back to the game so rudely interrupted by the dwarf and elf. ¡°I guess you two aren¡¯t going to introduce yourselves¡±, Syln said. ¡°Felia, I want you to meet Muscol,¡± the man raised his hand, ¡°and Cervella¡±.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Muscol put a card on the table. ¡°Oh, my!¡± said Cervella. ¡°I guess, I lost. Well, here it goes¡±. As the man smiled, the woman started untying the cloth, holding her breasts. Felia felt her cheeks getting red and put a hand over her eyes. ¡°All right! Just follow me, Felia!¡± Syln said and went to the door, which, Felia supposed, led outside. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be shy, honey!¡± Cervella yelled after them. ¡°It¡¯s not like you two don¡¯t know what¡¯s under there¡±. They opened the door and heard the cloth flopping onto the floor. ¡°Just look at these two babes of mine!¡± Syln slammed the door shut from the other side. ¡°If you keep ignoring her she will eventually stop doing this¡±, the dwarf told Felia. ¡°You Are new here¡±. Felia looked at the night scenery, before which they stood. They were still in Vienum. At least, they were in a city of some sort. Between the buildings she could see the forest, from where she came. ¡°Exactly where is here?¡± she asked her captor. ¡°We are at the edge of the city square. This¡±, he pointed around them, ¡°is the ¡®Dragon¡¯ Inn. Anything else you want to ask?¡± ¡°Did you poison me?¡± Felia asked bluntly. ¡°Me? No way! I mean, I do long for a woman¡¯s touch, but you are not in my taste¡±. ¡°Then why did you bring me here?¡± ¡°Oh, I just can¡¯t leave a woman in trouble. You¡¯ve seen that place! If I and Muscol didn¡¯t take you here, someone else might have!¡± ¡°Your ¡®friend¡¯ tried to rape me¡±. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s awkward¡±. ¡°Awkward?!¡± the elf raged. ¡°You call rape awkward?¡± ¡°What else can I say?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know! At the very least, you could apologize¡±. ¡°What for?¡± ¡°For not keeping an eye on that rape happy Bokh of yours!¡± Syln looked down at his feet. ¡°You are right. I do apologize¡±. ¡°Th-thank you¡±. Felia calmed down a little. The dwarf sighed. ¡°Now then. Can I ask you a question?¡± ¡°Sure¡±. ¡°What such a young elf was doing at ¡®Around the World¡¯?¡± Felia tightened her lips. She stared at the dwarf, hoping to put down the question, but Syln¡¯s more experienced gaze forced her to speak. She looked down, sighed and said with a hint of embarrassment: ¡°I was looking for a group of adventurers to get out of the country with¡±. ¡°Oh. What have you done?¡± ¡°Nothing!¡± she spurted. ¡°I¡¯ve done nothing¡±. ¡°Really?¡± Syln was obviously sceptical about what she said. ¡°Well¡­ Nothing that was my fault...¡± ¡°There it is¡±. He waited for an answer, which didn¡¯t come. ¡°Just spit it out. You¡¯ll feel better¡±. Felia looked at him with a question in her eyes. ¡°I know from experience¡±. She turned her gaze to look at the buildings and the forest between them. ¡°... Someone I was supposed¡­ to¡­ look after died¡±. As Syln tried to say something, she added: ¡°Extremely vicious. I¡­ I can still see his crushed legs¡±. ¡°That¡¯s cruel. When did it happen?¡± ¡°Yesterday...¡± ¡°Yesterday?! Girl, you are a quick one! Was that someone So important?¡± ¡°Yes. He was a promising paladin¡±. ¡°So, you are cleric?¡± ¡°No¡­ Not anymore...¡± ¡°I see. And exactly how promising was he?¡± ¡°He was on his way to become a hero of the church.¡± ¡°That does sound promising¡±. He looked the same way she did. ¡°So, let me get this straight: you were a cleric who was looking after a future hero, you got him killed, changed your class and got yourself drunk and almost raped? And all of that happened in a span of a day?¡± ¡°Pretty much¡±. Syln looked at the elven girl. ¡°This makes no sense¡±. ¡°I¡¯m not saying it does¡±. The dwarf for a moment stayed silent. ¡°You know what? Let¡¯s say I believe you. As I understand you want to travel with a group, and we are a good group as any. What is it for us?¡± ¡°I¡­ I think I could...¡± Her flow of thought was interrupted. ¡°YES! DO IT HARDER! YES! RIGHT IN THERE! OH, DIVERTIM!¡± The wall behind Felia and Syln thrusted with so much passion that the birds on the roof took off. Dwarf looked at the wall behind them. ¡°You get used to that¡±. THRUST. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can¡±, Felia said. THRUST. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone can¡±, she added. THRUST. ¡°Can¡¯t we have this conversation somewhere else?¡± she finally asked. CRASH. She heard someone¡¯s quick footsteps inside and the lude sounds got softer. At least, for the people, who heard them. ¡°See?¡± Syln asked and moved his hand in a presentable way to drive his point in. ¡°You get used to that. Now please, go on¡±. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You were going to say what you were going to give to the group¡±. ¡°Oh, right. Well¡­ none of you are very stealthy?..¡± The dwarf raised his eyebrow. ¡°... None of you are. I am¡­ and, I guess, I could steal something¡­ if you need it...¡± Syln started nodding in understandment. ¡°So you are a rogue now?¡± Felia nodded too. ¡°It¡¯s a far stretch from cleric, you don¡¯t find?¡± Just before the elf could answer, he continued: ¡°I don¡¯t judge! Just curious. And you¡¯re right. We aren¡¯t very stealthy¡±. All of a sudden the noises humans made stopped. They heard Cervella¡¯s voice: ¡°GET OUT OF HERE YOU, PERV!¡± The door behind them suddenly opened, and Bokh came through it. In the room, Felia could see Cervella¡¯s face and ass laying atop of Muscol, whose naked body was spread out on the floor. Bokh closed the door behind himself. His left cheek was soaked in blood, giving a little bit of life to his face, and his nose was bent unnaturally to the left. ¡°Thank Parva¡±, thought Felia, when she saw he was wearing his pants. When Bokh saw the girl, however, his wide eyes widened even more, and instinctively he took a step back, hands over crotch. ¡°What do you want, Bokh?¡± the dwarf raised his voice. ¡°I...¡± His voice was quiet and weak, a little bit trembling as well. It sounded like wind was rushing out of a particularly small bag. ¡°I wanted to get some fresh air¡±. He pulled his hands apart and, trying to stay as far away from Felia as possible, stood next to Syln. Dwarf watched his every move, while elf looked away. ¡°You have anything to say for yourself, Bokh?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You were about to rape the poor gal. A sorry wouldn¡¯t be amiss¡±. ¡°I am¡±. Bokh touched his nose, winced and sucked some air in. ¡°Tell that to her¡±. Bokh moved his gaze to Felia. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I haven¡¯t seen a... healthy elf in years¡±. He looked down. ¡°I am not proud of it¡±. Everyone was silent. After a minute has passed the wizard said: ¡°How is your foot?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Your foot¡­ I¡¯ve noticed it was disjointed, so I¡¯ve put it back in place. How does it feel?¡± Felia looked at the foot that was crushed by the monster barely a day ago. It was fine. ¡°I¡­ I didn¡¯t even notice¡±. She looked at him and plainly said: ¡°Thank you¡±. This didn¡¯t mean she trusted him or even liked him. That was nice of him to do, but the rape attempt just underlined its whole meaning. Yet, a ¡®thanks¡¯ was a requisite. ¡°So¡±, she continued, ¡°you are a wizard?¡± ¡°Yes¡±. ¡°And when did they put you in prison?¡± she asked. ¡°As soon as I got level 6. I was too excited to show it off¡±. ¡°Wait¡±, Syln interjected. ¡°Are you two serious about this?¡± ¡°About what?¡± asked Felia, when Bokh said: ¡°Yes¡±. ¡°Wizardry is a criminal offence around here?¡± ¡°Oh¡±, the girl said, when she realized the dwarf¡¯s question. ¡°Yes. You didn¡¯t know that?¡± ¡°I heard about it. And this bugger told me that he was arrested by it, but I didn¡¯t buy it¡±. ¡°Well¡±, Bokh answered the unspoken question. ¡°Now you know for sure¡±. ¡°But she was a cleric! That¡¯s¡­ magic¡­ isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Ooh! So you were a cleric?¡± Wizard glanced at rogue. ¡°I was a cleric in service of the Tohcraft prinze¡±, both questions received their answer. The door behind them opened and slapped the wall next to it. Fully dressed Cervella with her nose up high looked at them with a glimpse of judgement. In the background Muscol was jumping on one leg, putting on his pants. ¡°You three are getting along, as I heard?¡± ¡°We are...¡± dwarf looked at the elves beside him. ¡°... doing fine¡±. ¡°Hmm¡­ Shame¡±. She looked at Felia and gestured her to keep her nose up. This ¡®friendly¡¯ exchange over with, she looked at Bokh and gestured the other way round. ¡°By the way¡±, she turned back to the girl, ¡°your staff¡¯s in the basement. Get it¡­ whenever¡±. She went back to the room, leaving the door wide open. Bokh said: ¡°It¡¯s in the room opposite of where¡­ you woke up¡±, and left after her. ¡°You can sleep where you want to¡±, Syln told the remaining elf. ¡°Feel free to do whatever for now¡±. He went to the door. ¡°But just so you know¡±, he stopped, ¡°we leave in the morning¡±, and closed the door. Felia stared at the closed door, turned around and stared at the stars filling the black night sky. This was it, she told herself. She found the people to leave this shit dump of her old life behind. She still had to run from the government, but having these¡­ not exactly friendly, but anyway, people, put her mind to some kind of rest. It was warm and somewhat cosy. Not as she felt before Al¡¯s untimely death, but still. The rogue turned around and entered the room. The cleric, stayed behind and slowly drifted to the black that was the night sky. Chapter 4. Felia was hiding behind an oak tree. She knew that around the tree trunk laid a loger. Luckily, after several days of constantly moving from place to place she was covered in blood, shit and even a rare talon could be seen stuck in her chain armour, and the cat in question wouldn¡¯t be able to tell her apart from other animals in its close proximity. She held a dagger that she recently bought right before leaving the Vienum city with the mace on her hip. She started slowly going around the tree, trying to make as little sound as possible. The grass rustled and small twigs cracked under her feet. An occasional bug flew right in front of her face and she waved them away. And yet, the cat twitched its ears with eyes closed, unaware of the consistent, but slow upcoming danger. Rogue looked around the trunk to see, where the cat was in a relationship to her. The loger¡¯s face and body had a lot of scars that told its long and soon to be ended history of victories against numerous opponents. Felia was afraid. Her heart seemed to stop and to beat incredibly fast, both at the same time. She was hot and frozen. ¡°You¡¯ve got this, Fel. This thing has no clue you are even here¡±, she mentally told herself. She took a deep and silent breath, went into the open and smashed the dagger blade in the loger¡¯s eye. You have dealt 89 damage. You have destroyed one of the target¡¯s eyes. Stealth is now level 4. Level up! You are now a level 5 Rogue. You may now redistribute 5 points between Dexterity[21], Endurance[18], Charisma[16]. It roared in pain, sprang right up to its feet and swiped at the proposed attacker, which¡­ wasn¡¯t there. It sniffed the air and looked all around itself, only to find a mace striking it in the head. You have dealt 95 damage. Your target is now dizzy for 10 seconds due to the blunt trauma. It took a step back, when an arrow whizzed right under its belly. The loger snapped its head to the direction, from which the arrow came, spraying its red blood with yellow-green liquid that was once its eye, snarled and sprinted there. Felia ran after it a second later, as the cat leapt into the bushes. As the elf got to the place, where the cat ran, she found somewhat horrid, but a victorious scene. The cat laid half-dead on the dirt beneath with an axe stuck out of its neck. Syln pulled his axe up and brought right back on the struggling creature, when it tried to stand up. Even more blood splattered around as the axe hit the cut open neck, exposing the clean white spine, with something slowly drooling out of it. Loger gargled, its slabber and snot mixed with the blood. The dwarf brought the axe one last time cutting the head from the body. Your target has been killed. You have assisted 18% of damage required. You got 18% of the kill XP. Level up! You are now a level 6 Rogue. You may now redistribute 10 points between Dexterity[21], Endurance[18], Charisma[16]. Quest ¡®Kill the loger¡¯ from ¡®Dorf town¡¯ was successfully completed. Kill the loger 1/1 Return to ¡®Dorf town¡¯ to turn the quest in and get your reward (100PP, 100XP). Felia hadn¡¯t noticed it at first, but her eyes caught its glimpse, she saw that the loger¡¯s front legs were covered in ice and five arrows stuck out of the creature¡¯s body. Syln took the axe out of the ground and cleaned off all the blood and some fur stuck to its blade by smearing it all on the grass. Blood slowly poured from both the severed head and neck.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Bokh stood next to Syln, holding his staff. Cervella dropped next to Felia, startling her. She held a bow and a quiver of arrows peeked from her shoulder. With a smug expression on her face the ranger looked the rogue over. ¡°Well done¡±. This phrase was bursting with sarcasm. ¡°You were the one who missed¡±, answered Felia defending herself. ¡°We told you that you were only supposed to hit it with your dagger¡±. ¡°It was going to cut me in half!¡± ¡°Not if you¡¯d have done as you were told!¡± ¡°C¡¯mon, panis! There¡¯s nothing to argue about¡±, the dwarf interrupted them. ¡°We¡¯ve killed it, that¡¯s what matters¡±. Cervella moved towards the body and snatched the arrows out of it. ¡°Bokh wouldn¡¯t need to use his spells, if she hadn¡¯t fucked up¡±. ¡°Hey!¡± Felia was indignant. ¡°That¡¯s why we took him with us,¡± the dwarf protested. ¡°Y-yes¡±, said Bokh as quietly as ever. ¡°And it¡¯s not like we need these spells right now¡±. Cervella looked at each of them and walked off in the Dorf direction. With a little sight the rest followed her. ******************************************************* The twenty minute walk was silent as none of them wanted to argue with each other. Well, nobody wanted to argue with Cervella, and she didn¡¯t want to argue with them. It didn¡¯t mean they thought themselves wrong, quite the opposite, actually. The Dorf town border were more obvious than that of Vienum city. Little houses dotted it as a puncture line, farmers were coming in and out of there rushing to the markets in the cities close by, guards stood at the either sides of the roads. The town square consisted of several houses surrounding a small fountain, the water in which was barely leaking. One by one they entered the town hall. At the end of the room, at a small table sat a guard. Next to him sat Muscol. He was concentrated on his feet, tapping them in unison. As soon as the group opened the door, both of the men looked at them. ¡°Here you are,¡± said the elf, as he rummaged through the papers on his desk. ¡°I¡¯ve got the message. Ah!¡± He took a single piece of paper and held it above the table. ¡°Here it is¡±. He quickly glanced it over, his grey lips slightly moving as he read it to himself. ¡°Mhm...¡± The guard looked under the table and placed four jingling pouches on it. Syln took the little bags and put them in the one Muscol took from his back. ¡°Now that this is over with, are you willing to take another quest?¡± Syln looked over his companions for any suggestions. When non came, he said: ¡°Are there any escort quests available?¡± ¡°Sure. Third one from the left¡±. The guard jabbed a thumb at one of the boards and got back to his work. Muscol stood up and joined the group as they approached the board titled ¡®Escorts¡¯. Several hanged papers littered it leaving almost no space between themselves, they covered each other, some of the quests were written on few close together papers with quests already on them. Syln stood in front reading each of the quests he could see, with the two elves and two humans behind him. He made a step forward and pointed at one of the quests that got his eye. ¡°Is that ok?¡± Felia approached the board to read the quest the dwarf pointed at. ¡°Yeah¡±, she nodded. ¡°Even a little bit over the top?¡± Cervella clicked her tongue. ¡°Let me see¡±. She pushed Felia away and leaned over to read what these two were talking about. Her eyes got twice as big. ¡°That¡¯s excessive!¡± Bokh and Muscol glanced at each other confused. ¡°It¡¯ll do the job, Cerv¡±. ¡°And pay us too¡±, Felia supported. ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean that we should do it!¡± Syln tore the paper from the board. Cervella protested, but he didn¡¯t listen to her and, as he approached the guard, placed the quest in front of him. The elf looked at it, then at Syln, back to the paper and back at the dwarf. ¡°Are you sure you want to take this quest?¡± ¡°We are¡±, said the warrior before the ranger could interject. ¡°Alright¡±. You have accepted the quest ¡®Escort Hudal¡¯ from ¡®Hudal¡¯. Escort Hudal to Halfling Prairies 0/1 Reward: 1500PP, 1000XP Chapter 5. ¡°Do you know where to find this Hudal?¡± Felia asked the guard. The elf looked at her, as if she asked whether or not he was a guard. After a moment of silence he answered: ¡°Lady. I¡¯m just a guard. I don¡¯t know any Hudals¡±. ¡°But isn¡¯t it your job?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not his job, Felia¡± Syln interrupted. ¡°Let¡¯s just go find the guy¡±. Felia stared down the elf at the table, as he stared her down, turned around and headed to the exit with the rest of the group following close behind. But, when she was ready to open the door, another elven guard entered the building. He had a small stack of papers in his arms. The group went out of his way and left as they heard the guards speaking with each other. ¡°Hi, Carl!¡± ¡°Hey. Any new today?¡± ¡°Just the two: a former cleric and a paladin¡±. Paper rustled behind the closing door. ¡°She looks famili...¡± They didn¡¯t hear anything else. Felia sped up and her companions rushed after her. The dirt roads of Dorf were half-empty with an occasional guard here and there. Their disinterested stares felt like gazes of hungry logers looking for an unsuspecting prey, and so she weaved and waved through the streets trying not to look them in the eyes. Syln was getting slower and slower. The cat and the twenty minutes already had tired him out, and catching up with Felia was just too much for a dwarf like him. ¡°Wait!¡± he yelled after her, but her stressed mind didn¡¯t notice it. He slowed down and the elf got further and further away from him. Bokh looked from Felia to Syln and back as he slowed down to the dwarf¡¯s pace. The dwarf boggled at him. ¡°What are you doing?! Go after her!¡± The wizard gave him a little nod and rushed after Felia alongside Cervella and Muscol. Syln stopped grabbed his knees and his heavy breathing eventually became slow and steady. The dwarf cracked his spine as he straightened up and glanced around. ¡°Might as well go look for that Hudal¡±, he muttered to himself. The market was the first place he decided to go looking. Halfling Prairies, as the name suggested, were home for the halflings. Their lands were rich and plentiful, as well as many ports allowed for trade with the outside world. Many silks, spices, exotic creatures and fruits allowed for the halfling folk to be the best and richest merchants in all of Moria. No other country could compete with them as their shores were full of cliffs and mountains and the jagged rocks beneath scared away any trade ships that dared to even come close. Sea ports in these places were rare and full of fishermen that didn¡¯t go further than the first rock they could touch with their hands. The market in Dorf was well known for anyone familiar with small towns like this. You just had to follow carts full of products to sell. This was exactly what Syln did. He got out of the alley and started walking right after an elf with hands full of sacks bursting with apfels. Some of the tasty fruits fell out of them, but the farmer didn¡¯t seem to notice, the kids picked them up. Syln decided not to be excluded and took one of them as well and bit into it. Apfel juice ran down his mouth and into his bushy beard. The dwarf smiled. Not long time after they arrived to the market. Elves and occasional dwarf and human were screaming their lungs out trying to get the attention of the customers. Vegetables, fruits, berries, clothes, everything one could desire was there. These were not top quality goods, nothing that a well-off person might consider buying, but the sheer amount and diversity would confuse anyone. Syln marched between the tents looking for anything bearing a name of Hudal or anyone even mentioning it. Some time of hopeless seeking, peeking and listening to other people¡¯s conversations he was about to leave, when something grabbed his attention. More specifically, it captured everyone¡¯s attention. Fireworks blew up in the noon sky with deafening thunder. Red, yellow and blue lights were hard to spot with the sun, but the shapes were easy to recognise. ¡°Visit Hudal...¡± Syln read the first two words aloud. ¡°That was easier than expected¡±. He headed off to the place, where the fireworks came. And then it all stopped. No fireworks, no explosions, no thunder, no words or letters. It all just disappeared, like none of it ever existed. People glanced at each other and went on their business, some of them even went along with Syln. The dwarf came upon a large tent so bizarre that if not for its size one could mistake it for a circus tent. A dark skinned child like figure with velvet robes the went down to the feet and dragged behind stood in front of the tent and was beating a small device into submission. ¡°Dachin damn that dwarf! Never again!¡± The halfling¡¯s voice was high, but distinctly male. ¡°How does she even stay in business?!¡± ¡°Gospod Hudal?¡± Syln approached the halfling. Halfling looked up at the dwarf. ¡°Oh, shit...¡± he murmured. He hit the box one more time, turned to face the tent, hid the device under his robes turned back around and spread his arms with a big forced smile on his face. ¡°Welcome to Hudal!¡± He bowed and snapped back right up. ¡°Here you will find mysteries to uncover, spices you¡¯ve never heard of, fruits that will blow your mind, fabrics so smooth!...¡± ¡°Gospod Hudal, I am no customer¡±, interjected Syln. ¡°Oh¡±. Hudal let his arms fall and smile disappear. He looked the dwarf up and down, shook his head. An elf that approached them and the halfling turned to him, his arms and smile wide. ¡°Welcome to Hu!...¡± ¡°Gospod Hudal! I am here for quest business¡±. Hudal dropped his facade and rubbed his nose and put an arm on his hip. ¡°Listen here. I am a busy halfling and no bullshit quest is going to interrupt my business here. Now¡±, he smiled at Syln, ¡°fuck off¡±. As Hudal was about to continue his speech Syln said: ¡°I am here for the quest you specifically put on the quest board closeby¡±. The halfling stared at him quizzically. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect anyone to pick it up so soon¡­ A week or two, maybe, but not 3 days¡­ Well, then! Come in and we¡¯ll discuss everything inside¡±. As an elf went after them, Hudal turned around and flicked his wrist at him. ¡°Not you!¡± He came into the tent and put out a sign that read ¡°GRAND OPENING IN 10 MINUTES¡±. When he closed the flaps, Hudal turned to Syln and said: ¡°Well! Let¡¯s discuss that quest of yours¡±. He gestured to the rug on the ground. ¡°Please, sit down¡±. Syln gave the tent insides a quick look. Lack of a lamp or of any light source made everything look dim and mysterious, exactly like Hudal promised in his opening speech. Spices and fruits were laid down and displayed in crates, the fabrics and clothes were hang from the wooden beams holding the tent up. The dwarf sat down on the rug as the halfling sat in front of him. ¡°So¡±, Hudal started, ¡°what is that you want to discuss with me?¡± ¡°I came here to inform you that I and my companions have signed up for your quest. As soon as...¡± ¡°Oh! That makes things much easier!¡± Syln look questioningly at the halfling. ¡°What does?¡± ¡°Your companions! You see, I usually like to travel in a big group. Makes the travels safer. How many else are coming, if I may ask?¡± ¡°There are four more of us, gospod Hudal. A human berserker and ranger, an elven wizard and...¡± ¡°Wait, hold on a minute¡±, Hudal stopped Syln with his hands. ¡°An elven wizard? Aren¡¯t they outlawed here, or something?¡± ¡°Yes, they are. He broke out of a prison not too long ago¡±. Halfling stared at the dwarf. ¡°And you propose that I travel with an escaped convict?¡± ¡°Gospod Hudal, you should not worry! He is from Dellier. No guard should know him, if we are going to the Prairies¡±. ¡°Fine, fine. Just don¡¯t throw these elven names at me. Let¡¯s say that I agree to come with you. You did mention someone else. Who were you talking about?¡± ¡°There¡¯s another elf travelling with us. She is a rogue¡±. ¡°Well, fine. I am still planning to stay in Dorf at least for another week. I¡¯ll see if anything else comes up. Give me your name, so I¡¯ll be able to tell you when I¡¯ll leave¡±.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Of course. My name is Syln Minin¡±. Hudal nodded and pointed at the tent flaps. ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse me, gospod Hudal, I¡¯d like to wait for my friends here¡±. ¡°And why¡¯s that? I¡¯ve got all of this¡±, he waved his hand in a broad gesture, ¡°to sell and you¡¯ll just be in the way¡±. Syln continued staring at Hudal. Halfling sighed. ¡°Ugh¡­ Fine. Just wait for them outside. Why do you even think that they will even get here?¡± ¡°Your fireworks were hard to miss, and I am sure that they would like to meet you as well¡±. ¡°As well or not, they won¡¯t. Now, get out¡±. Syln gave Hudal a little nod and left the tent. The vendor sighed and rubbed his temples. ¡°A convict¡­ just perfect...¡± *********************************** Syln felt that half of an hour could be spent more productively than just waiting for his friends. He could go to the market and buy some food. He could write a letter to his elderly father to assure the old bastard that he was fine. Maybe, he might even pick up lute lessons he abandoned, when he was 30. Anything would do. But he only could wait. When Syln saw Felia he sighed with relief. After her came Bokh, Cervella and Muscol. ¡°Finally! What took you so long?!¡± he asked them as they approached. ¡°We bought some food for our travels¡±, Bokh answered. ¡°Is Hudal in there?¡± He nodded at the tent. ¡°Yes. And¡±, Syln grunted as he stood up, ¡°speaking of Hudal, we aren¡¯t going anywhere¡±. ¡°Ugh! I knew it! You can¡¯t trust those short pricks¡±. Cervella put her hands on her chest. ¡°It¡¯s not like that¡±, Syln protested. ¡°Then what is it like?¡± ¡°He isn¡¯t planning to go until the next week. We¡¯ll just have to hang around here in Dorf and we¡¯ll be good to go¡±. Felia snapped her head to stare at Syln. ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Fel. Just a couple of days, nothing to be afraid of¡±. ¡°What do you mean nothing to be afraid of?! I¡¯m a wanted criminal! There¡¯s plenty to be afraid of!¡± ¡°Calm down¡±, the dwarf put his hands up. ¡°We can take a quest or two, while we¡¯re waiting. No need to stay in town for too long. What do you say?¡± Felia looked at him and nodded frantically. Cervella moved her gaze from Felia to Syln and back in disgusted astonishment. ¡°Great! Are you her father now or what?¡± ******************************** Felia was looking up at the starry sky. Everyone but her were already asleep. Well, an hour ago Cervella and Muscol were busy the only way they knew how. That was part of the reasons why the elven girl was still awake. Her thoughts were a mixture of calm, terror and wonder. Crickets sounded like music to the sensitive ears and the dark blue canvas above with blinking stars soothed the young woman. In the last five days she hasn¡¯t stepped a foot in Dorf. Syln and others walked to town, got some quests and returned to Felia to take the quests on together. Cervella protested, but didn¡¯t go further than complaining. It was annoying, certainly, but no one gave her more than an angry tired glance. They mostly killed logers, or how Syln called them, ligrs, and exterminated gnome mounds. These tiny monkey like creatures lived underground mostly in forests and loved the taste of livestock, but occasionally they did kill one or two unsuspecting travellers or farmers. It wasn¡¯t too big of a deal for the elven girl, however. She even was somewhat glad, if she was honest. She gained two more levels out of these quests, while the only person to gain a single level between the rest of the group was Bokh. Felia let out a heavy sigh. She was ready to swear that she could fall in love with a life like that, if anybody asked. However, being on the run from the law was a big flaw. And yet, no one has come looking for her, and most likely didn¡¯t recognise her. Syln let out a yelp from his tent. ¡°What in the fuck?!¡± The elf heard the dwarf struggle getting out of the sleeping bag. ¡°Where are these bells?! Cervella, did you?!...¡± All of a sudden he fell silent. Felia sat upright and looked at his tent. Some time later, no more than a minute, the dwarf went out and started yelling: ¡°Wake up! We are moving now!¡± ¡°What is it, Syln?¡± Felia asked him. ¡°Hudal has sent me a message that we are to get to him and move out immediately¡±. ¡°What? Uh¡­ Didn¡¯t he say that he was going to leave in two weeks?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ask me! Wake up, Cerv, Mus!!!¡± Syln kicked their tent and by the sound of a low grunt hit Muscol. ¡°I said get up!¡± Bokh got out of his tent his eyes heavier than usual. Syln looked at him and rolled his hands to tell the elf to hurry. The elf nodded to himself and started folding the tent with everything inside. These weren¡¯t just regular tents, as one might think from the first glance. These were so called hashtags named after their inventor Hash who thought it was a good idea to call a tent-bag a tag. Since no one else thought so as well, it was an unspoken decision to mock the man by calling them hashtags. To everyone¡¯s horror the name stuck and now, 100 years after, easy to pack and easy to put up hashtags were extremely popular among travelling adventurers. Cervella crawled out of the tent, her sleeping bag barely covering up her naked body. She rubbed her eyes, a flap falling down revealing even more of her cleavage then seemed possible, and asked: ¡°What¡¯s the fuss?¡± ¡°Hudal. Up. Now!¡± Syln then rushed to his tent and started packing up his own hashtag. The woman scowled at the news, rolled over and sighed. ¡°Mus, honey. Can you pass me my clothes?¡± When everyone was up, dressed and ready they headed to Dorf. Felia was a little bit shaken by the thought of going back to the town. What if there were guards roaming around, looking for her? What if those gnomes decided to look for prey in town tonight? What if Hudal wanted to sell her out? What if?!... She shook those thoughts out of her head. First of all, if guards were actually patrolling the streets, a small group of adventurers would easily be able to win any fight against them. Second, no gnomes ever attacked anything bigger than a small farm. Third, Hudal never saw her. Not to mention that the price on her head was too small for anyone to truly care, as Syln told her. As they passed one of her wanted posters Felia dared to spare a quick glance on it. She could barely make out ¡®150PP¡¯ bounty right below her face, when she couldn¡¯t take any more of it. That was less than she expected, but not by too much. She only was a cleric, after all. They went out to an empty spot behind the market place. Syln looked around. Felia saw that he was confused and threw a questioning glance at others. Cervella spoke up for everyone: ¡°Syln? Are you sure this is the right place?¡± ¡°Of course it is!¡± Syln snapped at her. ¡°You were here yourself. All of you were!¡± He turned on his heel and when nothing changed he let out a heavy sigh. This was the place! He was sure of it. But where was that little shit? A sudden breeze passed the dwarf¡¯s head. ¡°I told you to go to the forest near the market! Get here now!¡± This was Hudal¡¯s voice. Did he have two Wind Whisper scrolls? That guy must¡¯ve been rich. ¡°Alright!¡± Syln told his companions as he marched off in the direction Hudal told him. ¡°I just got another message from Hudal. Follow me¡±. As everyone rushed off after the dwarf, Cervella rolled her eyes and muttered something to herself. The forest wasn¡¯t too far away from the market, no further than a ten minute walk, but, considering the circumstances they arrived there two minutes later. It was dense, the trees were barely distinguishable from each other, and yet Hudal was nowhere to be found. They walked between the trees for another 2 minutes in hope to find the vendor in there. Then there was silence. No one could hear anything, they opened their mouths to ask each other what happened, but they couldn¡¯t hear themselves. Half a minute after, right out of nowhere, Hudal approached them. In contrast with the last time Syln met him he was wearing some brown pants and a white shirt, ready to head out. He looked them over, counting them up, confirming the dwarf¡¯s words. His gaze stopped at Felia. At first, he squinted making her uncomfortable, but suddenly, his eyes bulged out, and the elf got confused. The halfling pointed at her with his finger and tried to say something. When he realised, that he didn¡¯t hear himself, he snapped his fingers and repeated: ¡°You don¡¯t mean to say that she¡¯s coming with us?!¡± Felia was surprised to hear herself: ¡°What?¡± ¡°You should keep your mouth shut!¡± He turned to Syln. ¡°You want to take her with us?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand¡± Felia said despite Hudal¡¯s instructions, and the halfling threw an angry look in her direction. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t understand either, gospod Hudal. I told you that we had an elven rogue with us, didn¡¯t I?¡± Hudal gave them a crazy smile with raised eyebrows. ¡°Oh yes, you did! But what you didn¡¯t tell me is that this rogue is being hunted!¡± ¡°You must¡¯ve seen the posters then¡±. ¡°Of course I did! They are really hard to miss, if you know about them!¡± ¡°Listen, gospod Hu...¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you gospod me! I was generous enough to agree to travel with your wizard over there¡±, he pointed a finger at Bokh. ¡°But two! Two of them?!¡± He put up two fingers up to strengthen his point. ¡°Do you want to get executed?!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that 150PP are going to get us killed¡±. ¡°You don¡¯t know that! They do! Tell him¡±, Hudal nodded at Bokh. Bokh stared down at his feet. ¡°Getting a future hero dead is a terrible offense...¡± ¡°She did what?!¡± Hudal yelled and took a couple of steps back. ¡°I haven¡¯t done anything!¡± Felia stepped in for herself. ¡°Like hell you haven¡¯t!¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t! It was an accident!¡± ¡°Oh! An accident, you say?! Sure! I also killed a future hero by acci...¡± ¡°Enough!¡± Syln interrupted them. ¡°Gospod Hudal. Look at me. Do you really think this young girl is capable of murder?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know...¡± ¡°Well, she isn¡¯t. And even if she was, you are obviously afraid of someone, or you wouldn¡¯t have called for us so soon. Is it too bad to have a proposed killer on your side at this point? Why have you called for us, gospod Hudal?¡± Hudal curled his lips with thought and said: ¡°Well, you know. Usual merchant stuff. A deal here and there and then, before you know, you got yourself in touch with a band of outlaws¡±. He looked them over. ¡°You should know that better than me¡±. ¡°Sure, whatever you say¡±. Syln finished up the conversation. ¡°You have everything ready to head out?¡± he asked Hudal. The halfling pointed behind his back into the woods. ¡°Everything is ready. You five should be able carry everything¡±. He glanced at Bokh. ¡°Ok, maybe, just the four¡±. Interlude 1. ¡°She looks familiar¡± Carl said as the group of adventurers went out the door. He picked one of the posters up and studied the female face on it. Bill went around the table and joined Carl. He stared at the poster and then said: ¡°Isn¡¯t it one of the elves that just got out the door?¡± Carl looked up at the door. ¡°Oh, yeah. It was her, wasn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Pretty sure¡±. Another guard entered from the back door behind Carl and Bill. It was the new guy, Ellis. Or was it Boris? ¡°Anything new today?¡± His high and young voice cut Carl¡¯s ears as if by knife. This guy was annoying as Hera¡¯s tits were soggy. But they all were. The new guys couldn¡¯t help it. They just didn¡¯t know shit how this job worked. ¡°Just two bounties, that¡¯s all¡±, Bill answered. ¡°Two criminals to be brought to justice?! Wonderful! Let me see¡±. Ellis, or Boris, grabbed one of the posters from the table and stared at it intensely. ¡°I know this lady. She was one of the adventurers that took that loger quest justthis morning¡±. He sharply put down the paper. ¡°Where are they? Where is she?!¡± he asked the two guards then said to himself: ¡°Oh, her immense beauty must have tricked me. I should have known that it was only meant to deceive a young guard like me!¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Ellis¡±, Carl said. ¡°Calm down¡±. ¡°I told you several times: my name is Dennis!¡± ¡°Fine, Dennis. I am just asking for you not to worry about it¡±. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Just leave the gal alone. She¡¯ll have enough trouble with the villagers, no need for you to interfere¡±. ¡°You are suggesting that we let this criminal scum go?!¡± Carl shrugged. ¡°Pretty much¡±. Dennis gasped. ¡°How can you say that?! She is a murderer!¡± Carl and Bill both looked at the poster before them. They whispered between themselves. ¡°What are you two whispering about?¡± Carl looked up at the new guy. ¡°Dennis. Just look at her face. Do you really think that she is a murderer?¡± ¡°That¡¯s how they get us! First, they murder someone, then they deceive us with their looks, and after that they kill us as well! We must catch her!¡± ¡°Dennis¡±, Bill interfered. ¡°Do you really think that we¡¯ll get paid for it?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Listen. I¡¯ve been in this job for much longer than you were. We, guards, won¡¯t get any bounties. We are the ones supposed to pay them. Just leave the gal to the locals, they¡¯ll bring her to us¡±. The elven guard looked at them in disgust. ¡°It¡¯s not about money! It¡¯s about justice! This cunning lady just killed a future Tohcraft hero! And others must have helped her do it!¡± He stomped off to the exit. ¡°You two are pathetic. You don¡¯t deserve the title of a guard¡±. The new guy has slammed the door behind himself. Carl and Bill looked at each other with knowing expressions. ¡°Should we help him?¡± Carl asked Bill. ¡°Nah. I think Ellis can handle it himself¡±. Chapter 6. It was a long night and the morning sun glistened off the dew. They walked all this time in tense silence, that, at the very least as Syln thought, was because Hudal still didn¡¯t trust Felia or Bokh. They continued walking for another couple of hours until Muscolo¡¯s knee, who single handedly was carrying 5 of 7 hashtags, and eventually Muscolo himself was plastered on the ground. Hudal looked at the lying human, clapped his hands and said: ¡°Well, this calls for a rest!¡± Out of breath elves, human and dwarf looked at him exhaustedly. Syln dropped his tag and sat down on it. Bokh put his staff and flopping cloth, that barely registered as a bag on the ground. The elf and woman took their tags from the pile that once was Muscolo and rested their heads on them, keeping a respective distance of not being able to see or hear each other. The halfling, however, seemed as energized as ever and his eyes were flying from one tree to another brushing off his companions and giving them goosebumps as if he was a loger looking for its prey. Two minutes later Hudal clapped his hands again and exclaimed, bursting the ear drums of the people around: ¡°Alright! That¡¯s enough! Let¡¯s go! We need to move!¡± Felia looked desperately at him as a forest deer desperately hoping it wouldn¡¯t be eaten. Syln couldn¡¯t manage to do the same, but he certainly tried. Cervella and Bokh were silent, unusual for the former and common for the latter. A low grunt could be heard from under the cloth pile, where Muscolo presumably was. ¡°We need to move!¡± He looked them over. ¡°If we don¡¯t, they might catch up!¡± ¡°Speaking of ¡®them¡¯,¡± Syln raised his voice. ¡°Who exactly are we running from?¡± ¡°First:¡± Hudal raised a finger, ¡°we are not running away from anyone. Second: does it matter to you?¡± ¡°If we knew who ¡®they¡¯ are, we might get ready to fight them¡±. Syln took a deep breath. ¡°Just in case, we don¡¯t run fast enough¡±. ¡°We don¡¯t need to run fast enough! We just need to get out from the prinzessin and we¡¯d have a safe go from there!¡± Then there was an awkward pause. Syln looked tired and angry. ¡°You are running away from the elven guards...¡± He spoke in monotone, which made it impossible to tell if it was a question. The dwarf looked at Felia and Bokh. ¡°A little bit hypocritical, don¡¯t you think¡±. Felia absentmindedly nodded. ¡°Urgh...¡± Hudal rolled his eyes. ¡°Look, if you stepped into some shit, doesn¡¯t mean you should go stomping around knee-deep in the stuff. And now...¡± he moved his hands as if he was welcoming the rest of the group to step onto a royal carpet. ¡°Can? We?! GO?!¡± With a groan and crack of their backs everyone stood up. Everyone, except Muscolo. The pile of the packed up tents and weapons made the smallest of the efforts to move out from his way, but in middle of doing so, decided that it didn¡¯t feel like it and moved back down. A dull grunt symbolized the man¡¯s defeat, and a long sigh that followed up noticeably decreased the hashtags¡¯ size. ¡°Looks like we aren¡¯t going anywhere¡±, said Cervella and approached the vaguely Muscolo-shaped pile of the group¡¯s belongings. ¡°How are you doing under there?¡± Another grunt and another shake of the cloth later, the woman nodded and placed herself upon the pile. She looked smugly at her companions, saving the most opposing stare for Hudal. As visibly frustrated as he was, the halfling, surprisingly, didn¡¯t make a sound. His dark skin turned unnatural red tone, and Felia could swear that she even saw smoke coming out of his ears, but his mouth remained shut. Hudal closed his eyes, took a deep breath that lasted for at least a minute and exhaled so violently, a mouse would be blown away. He raised his hands, eyes still closed: ¡°Fine¡­ We¡¯ll stay here for the night¡±. As everyone went to the pile of hashtags, he interrupted them with a raised finger and wide mad eyes: ¡°BUT! We¡¯ll go as soon as the sun rises! Got it?¡± Only when he got his share of answers in form of dismissive ¡®yes¡¯ or nod from each member of the group, Hudal went to get his own hashtag from the pile along with everybody else. Cervella moved down as each person got their tag and was left alone with Muscolo on the ground and their future tent on top of him, filled up to the brim with other gear of their possession. As the rest of them went about their own business, trying to put the tents in a way that wouldn¡¯t immediately fall onto them, she watched them struggle with a little smirk. Only then did she realize that the bag she was sitting on was bigger than usual, even considering the mountain of muscles below. She looked down and saw two other hashtags sitting close by, as if waiting for someone to take some action. And in between them, stood the irritated Hudal tapping his foot. ¡°What do you want?¡± she asked. Hudal faked an aghast look, putting his hand on his small chest. ¡°Well!¡± he started. ¡°I was just waiting for the gods to help me put this up¡±. Cervella raised an eyebrow. ¡°But the hulk of a man beneath you should be enough for my needs. Just in case, they don¡¯t reply to my prayers¡±. Cervella sighed heavily. ¡°Then you will have to wait until Muscolo can at least stand up¡±. To punctuate her point, a puff of dust went from where the man¡¯s mouth was supposed to be. Hudal sneered. ¡°Just hopes it doesn¡¯t take too long...¡± ************************************************************************* When the high noon came the two tired bodies were looking at each other and at the Muscolo¡¯s snoring body. At that point, they both guessed that the berserker wouldn¡¯t be up and helping them, and, independently of each other, Hudal and Cervella decided to put their tents up themselves. Well, as much as asking the dwarf for help could be considered ¡®doing it themselves¡¯. ¡°Syln!¡± they shouted in unison and stared at each other with wild deer-like eyes. ¡°Ugh...¡± the dwarf grunted, as he was interrupted from his sleep. Ok, he was trying to sleep, but the day sun was just too much to work around, as his eyes weren¡¯t fully opaque. Plus, the barbarian snoring wasn¡¯t any help either. As the hashtag¡¯s cloth doors rustled, he asked: ¡°What is it you two want? Nevermind...¡± he interrupted them, when he saw the unpacked tents. With a crack and sigh, the dwarf approached the tentless pair. Surely, putting up a tent or two wasn¡¯t going to be any trouble. However, what the fighter didn¡¯t expect was that the only hashtag Hudal was carrying around was his market tent. Ghastly huge piece of cloth with wood stuck in it was so much trouble that it took, at least an hour to realize that the dwarf was putting it inside out, but at that point he didn¡¯t care. Despite the hashtag owner¡¯s baseless threats to ¡®do it right or he would fire the entire group¡¯. When it was done, Syln turned around to them and said: ¡°Alright, get in there, both of ya¡±. Speechless stares boggled at him. ¡°What do you mean¡­ both of us?¡± found her voice Cervella. ¡°By ¡®both of ya¡¯ I mean¡±, the dwarf pointed his stubby finger first at the woman and then at the halfling, ¡°both of ya¡±. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious¡±, she started, but Syln interrupted her once more. ¡°Look, I ain¡¯t gonna fuck around with another hashtag. We need to sleep, if we want to move out with the sunset. So¡±, he gestured at the newly arisen tent flaps, ¡°get in. Both of you¡±. Muttering under their breath, throwing death glances at each other they begrudgingly went into the tent. Felia watched this exchange take place and was somewhat fascinated by the dwarf¡¯s natural charisma and leadership. It was well-known that dwarf¡¯s only started out with a Charisma stat of 5 and, taking into account that he was just a fighter, which didn¡¯t get any Charisma bonuses, was still able to manipulate others into acting against their will. While a low stat didn¡¯t mean that it had no effect on the person¡¯s ability to use it, it was incredible sight to behold. The only other person, who came to her mind and had same ability to use his low Charisma effectively was her ex-mentor, cleric Joseph. As a cleric, Joseph could only improve his Intelligence, Wisdom and Faith attributes, but the speeches he gave in the church every Sunday could bring even the most dedicated Dachin follower to change his life of slyness to the life of truth and honesty. The Parva¡¯s path, as the cleric called it.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. It was a shame that she had to run away without telling him about what happened, she thought. He was the one, who handpicked her and Al to serve Parva in diametrically different ways. Not telling him, now felt as if she betrayed his trust. But, it didn¡¯t matter now, nor did it then. It was a simple choice of living another day or getting thrown to prison, if she was very lucky. Otherwise, she would just be executed in the name of Tohcraft. The family might have even ordered Joseph to do it. And as a good Parva and loyal Prinzessin servant, he would do their bidding. When the unlikely couple got into the tent, Felia got back into hers. Whatever was going to happen next, didn¡¯t matter as much as a good day sleep before the sunset departure. ************************************** ¡°GNOMES!!!¡± Felia rushed out of her sleep with wind whooshing by her sensitive ears. Darkness outside with a lack of any orange light signified that she had overslept. Grunts of Syln and others, however, meant that they, in fact, did the same. Vibrating almost laughing jittering voices formed a frightening and disturbing white noise of probable death. Small scratches and bite marks surrounded the bottom of the hashtag and through them elf could see small brown arms and legs of gnomes pouring in from somewhere behind her tent. She grabbed the mace to her right, opened the tent¡¯s door and, as the flaps flattered in the late night breeze, she brought down her weapon onto the moving mass around her. Felia¡¯s mouth slowly opened ajar, as she took in the sight around. She expected to see five dozen or so of those pesky creatures, but what she did see was many, many more than five dozen. There must¡¯ve been hundred of them, at least, almost two hundred. This realization came to her during the time it took for the mace to get down upon three or four of the creatures. A wet and crispy squelch came from it. The two gnomes, who were spared the death¡¯s grasp, but got extremely close to it, started screeching from the pain of their small arms, legs and flimsy ribcages being broken underneath the tool, several times heavier than them. You have dealt 68 damage. You have killed your target in a single blow. You¡¯ve gained 5% more XP from this kill. You have dealt 71 damage. You have killed your target in a single blow. You¡¯ve gained 5% more XP from this kill. You have dealt 69 damage. You have killed your target in a single blow. You¡¯ve gained 5% more XP from this kill. You have dealt 18 damage. You have broken your target¡¯s leg. You have inflicted ¡®CRIPPLED¡¯ effect on the target. You have inflicted ¡®BLEEDING¡¯ effect on the target. You have dealt 11 damage. You have broken your target¡¯s arm. You have disarmed your target. You have inflicted ¡®BLEEDING¡¯ effect on the target. As she slowly lifted her mace from the ground, strings of blood, meat and guts had risen with it. Felia¡¯s wide eyes looked around to find the same look on the faces of others around. They all fought off the creatures as well, as they could. They kicked, they brought down their weapons, they stepped on the small still jittering gnomes. ¡°We must have stumbled upon a nest of theirs!¡± screamed Syln over them and kicked a couple of them as a child would kick a ball in the street. ¡°Try to grab as much as possible and run!¡± A small fireball has erupted right in the middle of brown jittering mass. A crackle of fire has taken the gnomes by surprise, but dozens more of them poured from all around them to replace their burning and screaming brethren. They scratched, bit and done as much damage as they could. A flood of messages had burst their way into the adventurer¡¯s mind. You have received a minor scratch. -1HP You have received a minor scratch. -2HP You have received a minor scratch. -1HP You have received a minor scratch. -1HP You have received a minor scratch. -0HP You have received a minor scratch. -2HP And many more had done the same. The rogue brought her mace down again and again, crushing the gnomes bones and skulls underneath. She even gained a level in both Light weapon mastery and Light armour mastery. But this was not the time, nor the place to celebrate this little victory. She turned around and started packing up her hashtag, all the while kicking the pricks around her. Felia felt and heard another fireball explode right behind, a couple of burning gnomes falling right in front of her, almost ripping the bag apart. An inhuman rage induced roar rang behind, which, ironically, came from a human. Disgusting squelch of dozen little bodies being crushed underneath a mountain of muscles forced the rogue to turn around to see Muscolo rising from the ground covered in gnome bits and his cloth pants soaked in their blood. But the creatures seemed only to increase in numbers. Felia quickly finished packing up her hashtag and rushed to help Syln and Hudal finish up with theirs. The dwarf gave her a thankful nod, when she approached, and all three of them were able to fight the unwilling wooden beams much faster. Then the cold hit all of them. The flood of insignificant, but very worrying damage messages has stopped along with the jittering and inhuman high pitch screeching. The ground was now light blue from the ice that covered it, as were the trees close by. ¡°What happened?¡± Felia asked, when she saw a snowflake form right in front of her eyes. When no one answered her, she noticed that everyone was looking in the same direction. She turned around to do the same. The hundreds of gnomes around them were all covered in ice. None of the could move, not to mention let any noise out of their encapsulated mouths. The gnomes¡¯ eyes were full of terror, confusion and defeat. A couple of them darted their gazes from one person to another, but were utterly powerless. And Bokh stood before them, his legs and arms wide apart and covered in blood, a little streak of dark red coming from both of his nostrils. His wide mouth barely opened, as he took in shallow short breaths. His eyes twitched every second or so accompanied by the bursts of blood from his nose. Syln took a step forward to the wizard elf, ready to leap to his rescue. Then Bokh collapsed. ************************************************************ They spent approximately an hour in dead silence. Muscolo was carrying the limp elf in his arms with Hudal¡¯s hashtag on the back. Cervella threw a couple of somewhat jealous looks at Bokh, but didn¡¯t say a word. Everybody else did likewise. Even Hudal didn¡¯t barrade them for oversleeping. The morning sun coloured the horizon behind them a wonderous shade of fiery orange. Or it could¡¯ve been the two fireballs Hudal threw back, when some of the gnomes managed to break their ice cages. It could¡¯ve started a fire, but the group was too exhausted from the encounter to care. The sight of them must¡¯ve been depressively crushing, because Felia could swear that she saw a loger cub run away as soon as it saw them. When the number of trees around them grew smaller and smaller, they started hearing faint sounds of people talking to each other, with wooden carts rumbling over the stone streets. Even Bokh¡¯s breath seemed to calm down from shallow bursts of air into deep inhales, as the sounds reached him. That¡¯s when Hudal lost it. ¡°What?! In Hera¡¯s name?! Was that?!¡± ¡°It was the ¡®Early Winter¡¯ spell¡±, answered Syln with a calm voice. ¡°Don¡¯t you bullshit me, dwarf! It¡¯s a 30 level spell! What level is he?! And don¡¯t tell me that he is above 30!¡± Syln sighed. ¡°He is level 16, if I didn¡¯t mix it up¡±. ¡°Actually,¡± Felia interjected, ¡°he should be a level 17¡±. When Syln shot her a questioning look, she answered: ¡°I bragged that I gained some levels, and he told me he did too¡±. Syln nodded. Hudal was mad as ever. ¡°Level 17?! How the fuck does he know ¡®Early Winter¡¯?!¡± The dwarf shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. And, honestly, I don¡¯t care. I¡¯m just glad we survived¡±. Muscolo grunted in agreement. What actually had happened was much more fascinating than anyone of them could think of. What Bokh experienced is called a self-obtained spell. What this phenomena does is, when a wizard or a sorcerer find themselves in high moments of stress can result in manifestation of a spell higher level than the person¡¯s actual one. This rarely gives a spell 13 levels higher, however, but it wasn¡¯t unheard of. A legend states that during one of the many skirmishes on the elven-human borders, a low level 5 human wizard managed to cast the Judgement Meteor, level 50 spell, successfully wiping out half of both Human Republic and Elven Prinzessin armies. As the story tells, he had to go rogue, forming a village at the border between the opposing countries, which kept peace between the two countries for almost 200 years. Today both the village and the meteor crater are now filled up with water. If one would look at the map of Moria, they would recognise the site by the name of Lake of Peace, the biggest lake on the continent. Twenty minutes later, the group had reached the end of the forest and their tired gaze glazed over the horizon. Before them laid the City of Boremar. The capital of the Elven Prinzessin. Chapter 7. Wet rocks of the main road glistened in the morning sun. The same rocks crunched under Muscolo¡¯s weight, as he carefully carried the still unconscious Bokh. Many elves gave them and their companion disgusted, confused and questioning looks. When the group entered the city, first thing that came to their minds was to ask where was the closest inn. Sadly, that inn was too expensive for them and, when Hudal refused to contribute any more than the rest of them, they had to ask one more time where they could find the closest and cheapest inn around. All the staff and elves close by pointed out only one such establishment on the skirmishes of the capital. When they have arrived at Butovo, they were greeted with all familiar sense of poor quality, criminal activities and general sense of dread of the citizens around. One would think that no self-respectable government would allow such a shit hole of a place occupy part of the capital, but no one even thought of calling the elven government self-respectable, when inner conflicts and paranoid attitudes towards distant cousins took most of the royal families¡¯ resources. The rocks glistened around, as did the others outside of Butovo, but in a much dirtier way. The faint smell of urine and other elven excrements forced Hudal to gag so violently, he was surprised that he didn¡¯t contribute to the filth around. ¡°Fine!¡± he said, when he got used to the surrounding smell. ¡°Let¡¯s go to that other inn. I¡¯ll pay up...¡± But, when he raised his head to look at his companions, they were already heading into the establishment, bearing the same name as the neighborhood. Trying his hardest to catch up all the while trying even harder not to step into something that would take months to get rid of, he rushed after them. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± They did not answer. A faint light shined from within wooden letters of the inn¡¯s sign. It was a level 1 spell simply called Light, which did as the name suggested. This variant of the spell was primarily used by such establishments and young dungeon crawlers to illuminate the area around and get as much possible attention as possible: former for advertisement and the latter to keep their companions close by, which were comparatively close in their nature. The establishment¡¯s front bell started ringing profusely, when the five people went in. Some seconds later it resumed ringing, when the sixth person in the face of Hudal managed to open relatively huge door. When they took in the inside of the inn, they could barely say that the place was cleaner than the streets outside. A dimly lit bar, as was expected of the place, had the smell of hundreds smoke and alcohol induced throats. A couple of scarred faces could be found among the usual drunk crowd, signifying moderate popularity of the establishment. A dwarven barkeep threw a glance at the approaching group and gave them a firm nod, as if he was asking: ¡°What would you like to drink?¡± ¡°How much per night?¡± Syln said confidently, such bars being his forte. The dwarf moved his gaze over them, then ducked under the bar. Soon, he risen from under the table with a thick dusty book. He blew the dust away and opened it on the right page. The papers inside were yellow as the high noon sun. A bare withered feather was laid inside. A small bottle with ¡®INK¡¯ written in shaky handwriting signified the bottle¡¯s purpose. After a minute of searching, the dwarf stabbed his stubby finger at an entry that said 25PP. Syln gave Hudal a look and smiled. ¡°We¡¯ll have two rooms for two nights¡±, he said while staring at the halfling. Hudal furrowed his eyebrows and said: ¡°That¡¯s going out of your pay¡±. The barkeep and Felia watched the exchange between them. The dwarf¡¯s shoulders twitched in an attempt to hide his shrug. He put the feather in the ink-bottle, covering it in dark-brownish viscous substance instead of the expected ink, and written two new entries in the book. He took two keys from behind the counter and handed them to Syln. When they received the keys to their rooms, the group slumpily went up the stairs. Only Felia stayed with a worried look in her eyes. She glared at the bar around and then slowly and carefully, as a scared cat, approached the dwarven barkeep. ¡°Do you know, by any chance, where to find a doctor around these parts?¡± She glanced at Muscolo, somewhere in whose muscles Bokh was located. Dwarf¡¯s eyebrows rushed up in surprise, but only by a millimeter or so. An adventuring group without a healer? Now that was something to be a witness of. But, as a good host, he answered her question by pointing a finger in the midst of the bar, where an older elf was drinking his fourth mug of beer. The elf was obviously a veteran adventurer, if his long dazed look and withered sun symbol meant anything. He was also extremely drunk, and that didn¡¯t put too much hope in Felia. She looked back at the barkeep. ¡°Maybe you could tell, what room he is in?¡± The dwarf only jabbed a thumb at the front door. Felia gave him a nod in acknowledgement. If she didn¡¯t approach the supposed doctor now, he would most likely leave the bar, what didn¡¯t mash with the the young elf¡¯s plan to heal the still unconscious Bokh. ¡°Excuse me?¡± The drunk elf swayed so hard that if not for the back of his chair he would already be lying in a nearby green puddle. ¡°Yes?¡± he slurred in a grizzled voice. Felia took another good look at him, deciding whether or not to run. Then she took a deep breath and gagged. The veteran adventurer was silently following her every move. She hyperventilated for a bit and finally spoke: ¡°Could you, please, take a look at our companion?¡± The old elf looked at her, brought the mug to his mouth and in three big gulps finished up the rest of his beer. A very challenging task, since the mug was almost full. As he slammed the cup back on the table and satisfactory burped, he said in the same slurred voice: ¡°Of course, m¡¯dame! How can I be of service?¡± ¡°I just told you...¡± ¡°No worries!¡± He stood up and brushed off inexistant dust off of his tunic. ¡°Lead the way and I will make sure to help you!¡± Felia fell silent. As she did so, she realized, so did the rest of the crowd around. Silent gazes stared at them. but a couple of chuckles could be heard from the same people. She gulped. ¡°Maybe, I should look for someone else...¡± ¡°NONSENSE! I shall be of service to all dames in need! Just take me to your friend!¡± ¡°Compan...¡± ¡°Companion!¡± he interjected. Felia didn¡¯t know what else to do, but to come to terms with whatever she got herself into, and slump her way up the stairs to wherever her group put Bokh to rest. There were only two rooms. And one of them was closed. So, because of a lack of an alternative, she opened the other door. When the door creaked, she didn¡¯t even get a chance to look at what was happening inside, because the adventurer took a wide step right into the room. He looked around. Syln, Hudal, Cervella and Muscolo stared back at him. When Syln opened his mouth to ask, who the hell he was, the elf interrupted him: ¡°Well! Where¡¯s the patient?¡± Syln was momentarily stunned. Then he looked at the bed opposite of him, where a grey small figure was laid upon. The elf snapped his head so viciously that his neck cracked a little bit. ¡°Aha!¡± He took a step towards the bed. Felia sheepishly stepped into the room. Syln gave her a questioning glance. She shrugged. The dwarf shook his head and approached the elf beside the bed. ¡°And who are you supposed to be, gospod?¡± The elf only raised his hand to his chin to stroke it in thought, as he examined Bokh. ¡°Gospod?¡± asked Syln again. When a minute of silence passed, dwarf approached the veteran adventurer and snapped his fingers in front of the elf¡¯s face. The floor creaked and the elf fell right on his back, where he started snoring. All stared at him and shared a confused glance with the others. As silent as they were, which wasn¡¯t too much due to the passed out adventurer at their feet, many words were passed between them. In general, the words went ¡°What the fuck?¡±, ¡°Who the fuck?¡± and ¡°Why the fuck?¡± As if to answer their unspoken question the elf on the floor snorted in delightful ignorant bliss of a person, who would regret that night, when the next morning should come. A cough and a sniff later, Syln finally spoke up: ¡°Felia?¡± The rogue felt as her own body started shrinking on itself without her consent. ¡°Yes?¡± she squeezed the single syllable out of the tightened throat. ¡°Who is that?¡± the dwarf pointed a finger at the body on the floor. Felia fidgeted in thought. When she didn¡¯t answer, he repeated: ¡°Who is that?¡± ¡°I...¡± she started and quickly stopped, only to continue: ¡°I thought that we should heal Bokh, and he was the only healer the barkeep pointed at, and when I talked to him I couldn¡¯t stop him...¡± She fell silent for another moment. ¡°I could only take him here. Thought he could do at least something¡±.Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Well, he certainly did...¡± Syln looked at the elf in question. ¡°...something¡±. ¡°Well¡­ what should we do?¡± ¡°We?¡± stepped into the conversation Hudal. ¡°You were the one, who brought the drunk fuck!¡± ¡°Calm down¡±, Syln said interrupting the halfling. ¡°We should just leave someone here with him. And before you say anything,¡± he raised a palm to stop the furious tradesman, ¡°yes, it should be Felia¡±. ¡°Me?¡± ¡°Who else? As Hudal said, you were the one who brought him here, and you should be responsible for whatever he might do¡±. Felia was struck speechless. She was only trying to help! She decided to look for support from others, when she momentarily forgot, who she was dealing with. As Cervella smirked in the background, she was swiftly reminded of that. The young elf sulked her head, as she took a seat on the bed beside Bokh. There was no point in arguing, she understood. Especially, when they were right. ************************************** Felia didn¡¯t notice as she fell asleep. It was only natural that she would do that, since last night was more than simply tiring. A loud creak, however, woke her right up. Yesterday¡¯s events were still fresh in her mind, forcing her hearing to be slightly more sharp. A single ray of evening sunlight shined through the dim and dirty window. Bokh was right behind her, still soundly asleep, but slightly healthier than the same morning. The elf on the floor before her, however, was on his fours, trying to hold in the upcoming contents of his stomach. A futile effort, at best. A barrage of yellow-green substance escaped the adventurer¡¯s mouth, coloring the floorboards underneath and, judging by the angry screams from under the floor, the people below. Felia was surprised that she didn¡¯t hear any stomps of angry feet rushing up the stairs to kill whoever dared to ruin their evening. What she didn¡¯t know was that the locals were used to such common occasions and didn¡¯t see any use in wasting their strength on each person, who did that. If they did, no one would still be alive in the neighborhood. The elf heaved two more times and, when the empty stomach failed to give more, stood up, each limb shaking. He turned, looking for something with a confused look, and his gaze met Felia. She stared at him, comparing to the elf she met this morning. He staggered for a bit and looked behind her. The older elf¡¯s arm made a circling gesture, trying to comprehend what happened. ¡°Did we?...¡± he started. Felia didn¡¯t know how to answer, so she continued looking at him questioningly. ¡°All three of us?¡± he continued, circling his arms in a broad way. The young elf raised her eyebrows, as she understood the implications. ¡°What?! No!¡± ¡°Oh, thank Leche! I thought for a moment, that...¡± He pointed a bony finger at Bokh, when he fell silent. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with him?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I was going to ask you, when I brought you here¡±. The elf started nodding profusely in understanding. Or he was probably just trying to get as far away from this place as fast as possible. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I understand!¡± He looked down at the sun on his tunic and crossed his arms right in front of it, failing to obscure it. Felia looked at Bokh then back to the old elf. ¡°Could you, please, take a look at him?¡± The adventurer smiled nervously. ¡°No, no. I should not¡±. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a healer or something?¡± The elf stiffened. ¡°I really shouldn¡¯t...¡± Felia couldn¡¯t believe her own ears. The over enthusiastic elf from this very morning, whom she failed to stop, was refusing to even inspect the obviously ill elf? The adventurer was even throwing gazes at the door, trying to shift step by step towards it and away from her. She stood up, flabbergasted. How did he dare to abandon a fellow elf in need? Especially, a Leche¡¯s follower?! She went through so much trouble just to be rejected?! Not today, she thought to herself, as her unconsciously went behind her back to grab the dagger. She rushed to the fucker before her, barely avoiding the vomit pool, pinned him to the wall and put the blade right to his neck. ¡°Listen here, you shitbag!¡± she barked through her teeth. ¡°You will either heal my friend over there or I will start off cutting off your fingers one by one, until you do so!¡± She was surprised at her own words, but even more so, when she felt that they were genuine. Intimidation is now level 4. Level up! You are now a level 9 rogue. You may now redistribute 5 points between Dexterity[30], Endurance[23], Charisma[22]. The elf was terrified. He shook vigorously. After a moment of clattering teeth, Felia felt something warm forming at her feet. She looked down to see the elf¡¯s damp pants, as a small puddle was forming at his boots. Rogue was furious. ¡°Did you just fucking piss yourself?!¡± The adventurer shook his head in acknowledgement. ¡°How do you even dare then call yourself an adventurer?!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t!¡± he pleaded. ¡°I am not an adventurer!¡± Tears formed at the bottom of his eyes, while they were still wide open with terror. ¡°Not anymore, I am not!¡± ¡°Then why do you wear Leche¡¯s tunic?¡± ¡°These are the only clothes I¡¯ve got! Life¡¯s hard, when you can¡¯t adventure no more...¡± Felia felt a little sad for him. Was it his past life or was it because she felt the same way, when she was an orphan roaming the streets? It didn¡¯t matter now, she understood and so she asked: ¡°Do you still remember something from your old days that could help my friend?¡± He started nodding. ¡°Yes, yes!!! I might not have the skills, but one can never forget how to treat wounds!¡± he exclaimed. ¡°Then do so¡±, Felia ordered him and took away the dagger from his neck. The elf collapsed, his hands going into the puddle of his own piss. He scrambled to the bed, trying not to look at the furious sight that was the rogue behind him, and finally inspected Bokh. It took ten minutes of him thoroughly looking up and down the injured elf, looking underneath his clothes and generally doing the best he could, while being watched by a potential murderer. ¡°I-it¡¯s...¡± he stammered. ¡°It¡¯s Mana Fatigue¡±. ¡°And what is that?¡± He looked at her with a glimpse of anger and confusion in his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s pretty self-explanatory, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Maybe you could explicate that thought. With one less finger, if you continue speaking like that to me¡±. The elf¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Yes, yes¡­ sorry...¡± He turned back to Felia. ¡°Mana Fatigue is when a magic user uses up his magic reserves and then continues to cast even more after that. You see, mana is very close to stamina, except that instead of moving around it¡¯s all about how great of the spells a magic user can¡­ use¡±. The older elf stared at his counterpart. ¡°By the way, what church is he from? I can¡¯t find any insignia on his clothes. At all¡±. She stared blankly at him. ¡°Can you help him?¡± ¡°Of course! Of course¡­ I still need to know what church he is from, so that I could take him to the respective ward...¡± ¡°So,¡± Felia reinstipilated, ¡°you can¡¯t help him¡±. The elf lowered his head. ¡°I told you, I am not an adventurer anymore¡±. Rogue furrowed her brows in thought. ¡°Is there any other way to help him?¡± The elf¡¯s eyes twitched. ¡°No other way, no¡±. Felia felt suspicion fall over her. She stood up, grabbed a key, Syln put in a drawer near the bed. ¡°Where are you?...¡± she heard, as she slammed the door shut and locked it. She went to the next room and knocked on its door. A minute later a very sleepy dwarf opened the door. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked. ¡°Bokh is experiencing Mana Fatigue, and the healer I took in today is being sketchy about how to help him¡±. Syln rubbed his left eye. ¡°Mana Fatigue, you say? Well, we should get him a mana potion or two then, to replenish him¡±. Felia furrowed her eyebrows even more, as she briefly imagined what she would do to the fucking liar. ¡°And what¡¯s so sketchy about the lad?¡± ¡°He was looking for a church¡¯s insignia on his clothes and tried to convince me to take him to one of the nearby healing wards¡±. Syln dropped his arms to his sides. ¡°And you left him alone with Bokh?¡± ¡°No worries¡±, she said and raised the key to the dwarf¡¯s face. ¡°I locked them. And if he tries something funny, we should hear him through the wall¡±. He shrugged, grabbed the chainmail armour beside and put it on. ¡°Might as well, check on what the fuck he is thinking to do¡±. When they got to the door and unlocked it, what they saw shook them. The healer was trying his best to choke the unconscious magic user. Felia rushed to the bed stabbing the ex-adventurer in the shoulder. She threw him on the ground and stepped on the dagger hilt, pinning the older elf to the ground. His dark almost black blood mixed with the other two substances. The elf groaned in agony, jabbing his free arm at Felia¡¯s leg. ¡°I am going to kill you, worthless piece of shit!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± he whaled, groping the leg. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry!¡± ¡°Sorry?! You just fucking tried to kill him!¡± ¡°I know! I know! And I¡¯m so sorry!¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be sorry! That¡¯s for sure!¡± She pronounced each word in her last sentence, twisting the dagger with each syllable.The older elf yelped with each twist, meat and muscles squelched. ¡°Money!¡± he said, when Felia stopped. ¡°Bounty for all wizards, sorcerers and warlocks! Dead or alive! You have to know it! You are an elf!¡± ¡°This doesn¡¯t mean that you have a freedom to kill someone in their sleep, you sick fuck!¡± The adventurer started sobbing. Felia was disgusted. She pushed the dagger deeper into the injured elf¡¯s shoulder and took a step back, right next to the dwarf. Who, as she realized, was uncharacteristically silent. She turned her gaze towards Syln. His face was a mixture of shock and confusion with a sprinkle of fear thrown into the mix. He stared at her, right palm still on the doorframe. She looked down in shame, even though she understood that she should feel none of it. After all, she was the one who just saved the wizard, whether or not she was brutal about it. When her gaze met her feet, she regretted doing so, since the blood-piss-vomit mixture wasn¡¯t something one could simply ignore. Felia looked back up at the dwarf and said: ¡°I did right¡±. A slight uprise of her voice at the end of the sentence made it difficult to decipher if it was a question or a statement. Her body a head higher than usual and still shaking from the adrenaline made the disturbing image even much more so, as droplets of blood flew from her fingers and clothes. Her chest rose up and went back down, as she took in deep calming breaths. Syln was looking back and forth between the three elves in the room. The adventurer still slightly sobbing, grabbed the handle of the dagger stuck in his shoulder, yanked it out with a yelp of pain, and his sorrow began anew, as he let the dagger fall on the floor beside him. ¡°I¡­ wasn¡¯t expecting such a turn of events¡± he admitted finally. ¡°Not from you, that¡¯s for sure¡±. Felia stabbed a finger at the elf on the floor. ¡°He refused to inspect...¡± she hesitated for a second. ¡°...our companion¡±. Syln was silent. ¡°I doubt that you wouldn¡¯t do the same, after what you saw¡±. Syln raised his hands in defeat. ¡°Yes, you are right¡±. She looked him over and for the first time noticed he wasn¡¯t carrying any of his weapons. Lucky for that shithead, she thought. He would be dead for sure, otherwise. And it wouldn¡¯t be a bad thing¡­ Chapter 8. When they left the inn, leaving Muscolo to watch after the two injured elves, the group first headed to the market, to buy so needed mana potions. The ones in Bokh¡¯s bag, have sadly been broken during the gnome attack, tinting it and his back a subtle shade of blue left unnoticed. They got the potions as uneventful, as a simple monetary exchange could get, and got back to the inn. The inn, however was deserted, but for three elves sitting in the middle and the barkeep behind the bar. Each of them smiled maliciously at them, except the dwarf, of course, who was as stoic as ever. He gave them another nod, like nothing was out of the ordinary. The elf in the middle was another story. ¡°Greetings!¡± His high pitch voice and a wide mad smile combined together into a sight worth avoiding. His slender features and fluffy, well brushed blond hair gave away the crime boss he was. That and the other two elves standing bodyguard around him. The following silence was a bit uneasy, and Syln felt a need to break it. ¡°Hello?¡± The elf extended a slender palm at them in an obviously fake welcoming gesture. ¡°Don¡¯t be shy! I just want to talk about the lovely weather we¡¯re having today¡±. Out of nowhere, two more elves, practically identical to the bodyguards next to the crime boss, closed the door behind them, their hands on the hilts of daggers. Something told Syln it wasn¡¯t going to be a friendly chat. It could¡¯ve the feel of a pronounced and determined sharp stare of the elves behind him, which could cut him in half, if it wasn¡¯t artificial. The dwarf straightened his back took four step forward and took a seat behind the table. Others hesitated for a moment, when Felia took the initiative and with a fake determined look did the same as Syln. She held her hand on the handle, trying to look intimidating. ¡°Oooooh!¡± chirped the blonde elf. ¡°Looking sharp, I presume¡±. He emphasized the word ¡®sharp¡¯, as if it was a knife of his own, ready to cut open throats. ¡°What do you want?¡± asked Syln. ¡°Straight to the point then?¡± he sighed, as a dog, who had no more bones to play with. ¡°Might as well, do the same. I think, at the very least, you have some ideas, why I was waiting for you?¡± ¡°Is the elf upstairs one of your band?¡± ¡°That ungezie up there?¡± the elf threw a thumb to point to the stairs. ¡°Oh, Gerund! No! Of course, not! But this¡±, he made a dramatic pause alongside the dramatic gesture covering his surroundings, ¡°very well is!¡± Syln and Felia didn¡¯t understand the implications and looked at each other questioningly. ¡°Sorry, gospod. But I am afraid, I don¡¯t understand what you mean¡±. ¡°Oh, Ger...¡± the crime boss put his face in his palms and suddenly looked back up. ¡°Are all of your dwarven skulls so thick? You have completely ruined my establishment! You gotta pay up!¡± Syln¡¯s brow shot upward. ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°Is that not enough?! I could¡¯ve excused the vomit! I could¡¯ve excused some piss, we¡¯re all used to this! But blood?!¡± The elf stood up, slamming his thin palm on the table with such unexpected force, that he almost flipped it over. ¡°I couldn¡¯t care less for the fucker, from where it came from, but do you know how fucking hard is to find someone, who is willing to spend half a day scrubbing the shit out of the wood and not tell the guards? Especially, when it¡¯s all dried up? And the bribes?! Do you think I have the money to pay off those arrogant cunts?!¡± During his speech the elf leaned closer and close to the pair before him, putting all his weight on the table. Syln and Felia leaned backwards, away from the barrage of words, trying not to think about what he might order to do to them. Yes, there were only four, five counting the crime boss himself, of the elves and they could easily take them on, but this would surely attract the guards, not to mention that the elf must¡¯ve had more pawns to throw at them. And the barkeep was giving them the same look the bodyguards did, and they had no idea what cards that dwarf had in his sleeves. The blonde elf took a couple of deep calming breaths, sat down and put back his unbehaving hair. ¡°In any case, I just thought you might consider giving us some donations to the cause at hand. What do they call it now? Dellier elves prompt to putzen? Ah,¡± he threw his hands up, ¡°who cares?!¡± Then his face got unnaturally serious. ¡°So listen here: you gonna pay up, and I¡¯ll let you all slide¡±. ¡°And what if we don¡¯t?¡± Felia finally spoke up. The elf in front scowled a wide grin, reminding her of a hungry wolf. ¡°I thought you¡¯d never ask...¡± He snapped his fingers and sat upright. Nothing happened. He put a confused look on his face and looked at the bodyguard to his right, snapping his fingers right in front of the standing elf¡¯s face. The elf snorted, apparently waking up from a brief nap. ¡°Were you sleeping right now?¡± ¡°Wha?... No. No, no, no, no, no!¡± he reassured his boss and himself, waving his hands. ¡°Then get the guy here!¡± With a quick ¡®yeherr¡¯ and a nod, the bodyguard left through the back door. ¡°I¡¯ll deal with him later¡±, the elf muttered and stared back at the elf and the dwarf. Felia was looking straight at him projecting self-confidence. Her facade, however, was nothing, but a wall of smoke. She was terrified. She was terrified ever since she entered the inn and saw the elf in question. Because she heard of him more than enough to paint a picture of a vicious, uncaring murderer, who wouldn¡¯t stop at anything to get his way. She was, at first, unsure whether or not it was the crime lord in question, but when he spoke the name of Dellier family, there was no more doubt in her mind. Bose Dellier was his name. A bastard son of Tierod Dellier, the current prince candidate from the Western part of the Prinzessin. No matter how much Tierod denied any connections with him, especially them being close relatives, Bose only reassured all around of his heir. He wore the Dellier name with pride and, whenever someone doubted that he was part of the family, he cut their throats out. Of course, these were rumors and nothing more, but each time such a rumor went through the city, there was an unusual spike in the number of missing elves. Felia decided to keep this revelation to herself, until she could talk to her companions without a literal death threat sitting in front of her. Also, she didn¡¯t expect Bose to work on such a low level. She always imagined him being in charge of a more prestigious district and not worry about some low-life inn, even the residents of which thought of ¡®hygiene¡¯ as a fancy way of saying ¡®rich¡¯. When the silence was finally broke by the backdoor opening, one would hardly blame the group of losing their voices. The bodyguard that left has returned and with him came in two more elves, holding stolen military issued spears right at Muscolo¡¯s throat. Felia and Syln stood up, when they saw them. ¡°Muscolo?!¡± squealed Cervella with a worry in her voice, that the young rogue never heard. Hudal was obviously silent. ¡°You know each other?¡± Bose asked in mock surprise. ¡°Never would¡¯ve guessed! Well, do we have a?...¡± ¡°I¡¯LL KILL YOU!!!¡± the woman screamed on top of her lungs, lunging forward, holding an arrow like a dagger. She made a few steps forward, when she freezed. Well, to be more precise, she was frozen. Bose held his wrist up and slowly approached Cervella. ¡°A bit unexpected...¡± He curled his lips in thought. The ranger¡¯s angry eyes steadily followed his every move. ¡°Is she his girlfriend of some sort?¡± Everyone was silent. The elf threw his hands in the air, releasing the woman from his spell. She fell on her knees and gasped for air. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter!¡± He took a determined step forward and leaned towards her. ¡°You are lucky, you know that?¡± Cervella threw an angry glare at the elf above her. ¡°Let him go...¡± she half-whispered. ¡°What was that?¡± Bose turned his ear and put his hand, as if he didn¡¯t hear. ¡°Did you just say: ¡®One more move and my precious little boyfriend will die?¡¯ Oh, how smart and wise of you, dame! What do you think, boys? Shall we fulfill her desire?¡± Some of the guards started nodding and saying barely heard ¡®yeah¡¯-s. ¡°Excellent!¡± he turned back to her with a serious expression on her face. ¡°So, are you ready to cooperate?¡± Cervella glanced at Muscolo with a panic in her eyes. The man wanted to give her a reassuring nod, but the spears under his neck convinced him only to give her a reassuring look. ¡°Well, if you are hesitating, don¡¯t let me stop them from doing what they do best. Boys!...¡± ¡°Ok! Fine¡­ I¡¯ll cooperate...¡± ¡°Good. Good! Very well, indeed! Take him back to our little haven of ours¡±. The guards with spears at Muscolo, gave the man a little kick and led him away through the back door. ¡°As I always say: a Dellier always gets his way!¡± ¡°Ummm...¡± said one of the bodyguards at the front door. ¡°I never heard you say that¡±. This attracted more than a single shocked and terrified look at the guard in question. Who, at this point, had a knife in the middle of his chest. A burst of dark blood blasted through the narrow gaps between metal and flesh. He gasped for air and coughed up even more upcoming blood. ¡°If I said that I always say that, then I ALWAYS SAY THAT!¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°I...¡± he coughed. ¡°...I am sorry...¡± ¡°Third time this week! Third, Grimo! One more and this knife will stick out of your head!¡± Bose looked at the barkeep. ¡°Heal him! And clean it up! I don¡¯t want anymore mess as is¡±. The dwarf nodded and rushed to the elf in a pool of blood. He pulled out the knife, let it fall to the floor and put a hand on his head. He whispered something about Gerund, and the wound fused right in front of everybody¡¯s eyes. ¡°That bastard¡±, Felia murmured under her breath. When the dwarf was done, he and the elf ran to the bar, presumably, to get some cleaning utensils. Satisfied, Bose projected his interest back to the rogue and the fighter. ¡°So¡­ Where¡¯s my money?¡± They both looked back at Hudal, who was mysteriously absent. He must¡¯ve left while that elf was bleeding right next to him. It was a miracle that nobody noticed him leave, but on the other hand, everyone had other things on their minds. ¡°We¡­ don¡¯t have any money¡± Syln broke the uneasy silence. Bose smiled. ¡°Thought as much. But what about that halfling friend of yours. Defor said that he paid for the rooms¡±. ¡°We don¡¯t know¡±. ¡°Oooooh! Protecting your friends now, are you not? Lovely! In this case, I have a proposal for you¡±. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Nothing too special. You three will work for me until, let¡¯s see... you pay double your debt and then maybe, just maybe, I will let all of you go. Will that work for you, what do you say?¡± ¡°What about Bokh?¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°There were two elves, one of them on a bed. Where is he? He needs a mana potion!¡± ¡°Oh, that guy. Yeah, he¡¯s with your big lad. Just for convenience sake, in case you don¡¯t do as told. Speaking of which. Will you do as I tell you?¡± Syln looked over Felia and Cervella and with a heavy sigh nodded. ¡°Just give him a mana potion¡±. ¡°Perfect! I¡¯ll make sure to tell one of my shitbags to give the guy that shitty potion. I¡¯m not a monster¡± he grinned a toothy smile. ¡°Now you three stay here, and I will send one of my little rats to give you the first assignment. Hope that¡¯s clear enough¡±. Without waiting for an answer, Bose straightened his back even more than he did before and snapped his fingers, raising the hand high in the air. ¡°Boys! We are leaving!¡± Both the front and back doors started creaking and swaying, as the elves left the building. Bose smiled mockingly, bowed and quickly left through the back door. Almost at the same time, the barkeep and healed bodyguard got back from wherever they went to, both of them with a mop and a bucket of water, and started scrubbing the blooded floor. It was silent, except for the squeaking of wet wool on floor. Felia and Syln stood up one after the other and walked up to Cervella to help her up. She murmured ¡®thanks¡¯ to no one in particular and let herself be led to the closest chair. Couple of tears were forming at her eyes, but they didn¡¯t say anything. This was frightening. One of the most powerful elves in the whole Prinzessin and he just threatened to kill Muscolo and Bokh. Saying it was unexpected would be saying nothing. ¡°We need to find that little asshole¡±, said Felia. ¡°You do that. Cervella and I will stay here, in case anything comes up¡±, answered Syln. Cervella nodded in silent agreement. Felia rushed to the door, but stopped mere centimeters from it. She turned to face the dwarf busy with scrubbing out the bloodstains and glared at him. She had so much to say to him, maybe even stab the asshole. That would be lovely, she thought: having both the satisfaction of watching him struggle and glee of watching him spend even more time cleaning the shithole he called inn. But when he gazed back at her, she thought of something about the abyss and staring back. The rogue went out of the door as fast, as she rushed to it. *************************************** Felia was a little bit jealous of Cervella at this point. She spent two hours, wandering through the city, looking for Hudal. She had been to the market and even right under the walls of the Prinzessin Palace, which covered almost half of the city of Boremar. Sure, she could¡¯ve missed him due to his little size and relative giants walking around. She wanted to have the same skill Cervella did, her being a ranger, Follow his steps. The skill would allow her to easily find the little shit, since she knew him close enough for the skill to activate. The only thing left to do was to ask around, if anyone saw him. And she asked. ¡°How little¡¯d you say? Nah, never seen such small shits around¡±. ¡°Did you say you are looking for your kid?¡± ¡°Young lady, maybe you should just ask the guards. They should be able to help you¡±. ¡°A halfling you say? More like a fuckling! Now piss off, you scaring off my customers!¡± This felt pointless. Maybe he got out of the city? No, he couldn¡¯t do that. He¡¯d need a new escort and before that he¡¯d need to cancel their quest, which he still hadn¡¯t done, for some reason. Where could he be? ¡°Oi! What are you doing here?! Shoo! You little shit!¡± ¡°What?! I was just looking around!¡± ¡°I saw your little claws trying to steal my apfels!¡± ¡°I would do no such thing!¡± ¡°Oh sure! Just wait ¡®til I call the guards, and tell them this bullshit! Guards!!!¡± She turned around and alas, there he was. Hudal in all his little traitorous glory. And he was running away from an apfel stand, right into her hands. He must¡¯ve not noticed her, but that only played into her hand. She scooped up the escaping halfling with her hands and ran in the same direction. ¡°Put me down! Put me down! I am not going back there! Not in million years!¡± Hudal started kicking and weaving trying to get out of her grasp, as a little child would do, but her determination to get him back to the inn gave her the strength to overpower the halfling¡¯s struggles. Not to mention that elf vendor screaming ¡®guards!¡¯ in their direction and a couple sets of armour heavily booming in their pursuit. She had to come up with some kind of plan, which was the first time in her life, as she thought back to it after the fact. Felia started looking around for a convenient alley to duck in, but all were too obstructed to get to, especially with a halfling in her arms. She jumped and weaved around the elves, some humans and katzes in the crowd, and, was that a couple of lizard gurvels? Not stopping by to double check, she almost ran into a cart full of pears, which she swiftly was able to jump above. Special action has been performed! Hardcour parkour skill is now level 1. That was a nice surprise, and Felia smiled to herself internally. She finally found an alley to slip into and without hesitation she did so. She was glad to find a pile of clothes to hide under, what she did as well. The rogue clasped a hand around the halfling¡¯s mouth to keep him silent, but she only just realized that he stopped resisting some time ago. Come to think of it, he stopped doing so, at the same time as she heard the guards¡¯ heavy armour clunk behind them. Felia heard the guards run past them, which was pretty easy to do. So did Hudal. ¡°I am not going back in that inn!¡± hissed the halfling. ¡°We all got into this mess, so you sure as Hel are going!¡± ¡°No, YOU got into that mess! I am not even part of your little adventuring club, so, if you¡¯ll excuse me, I¡¯ll go get another idiots to travel with. Hopefully, not as thick as you are!¡± ¡°Oh really? Then why didn¡¯t you cancel our quest?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t?¡± Some mental gymnastics later, Hudal exclaimed, emerging from the pile of dirty clothes: ¡°Dachin¡¯s coin pouch! This system is going to kill me¡±. Quest ¡®Escort Hudal¡¯ has been canceled by ¡®Hudal¡¯ No rewards will be issued ¡°There! Now will you let me go?!¡± ¡°Go where exactly? To a guard post? Might as well go to the palace prison, while you¡¯re at it! Your wizardry can¡¯t be kept a secret for long!¡± ¡°I just need to find a group of idiots fast enough. Just like I did with you lot!¡± ¡°Oh yeah, and who else is willing to march half a continent just to escort a little shit like you?¡± ¡°I got the money!¡± ¡°And where¡¯s your hashtag with all that money you have?¡± This shut Hudal up. He looked blankly at the apfel in his hand, he undoubtedly stole from that vendor and let it drop on the floor. He sat down right next to it, chin in his palms. ¡°The guy took it all, didn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°That¡¯s Bose Dellier, of course, he did¡±. ¡°A Dellier?¡± Hudal looked up at Felia. ¡°Isn¡¯t that Tohcraft prince of yours gonna be pissed?¡± ¡°He is a bastard son gone rogue. No one even is sure, whether a Dellier actually had a bastard son, but Bose insists that he is. There¡¯s a rumour that Tierod actually keeps sending him money, so that he doesn¡¯t go more public than he already does¡±. ¡°Wait, hold on¡±, interjected Hudal. ¡°If the guy gets paid to keep his mouth shut and he certainly stole my money, then why does he want us to pay up? Cleaning and bribing doesn¡¯t cost as much. Does it?¡± Felia shrugged. ¡°I am honestly happy that he didn¡¯t kill us. Maybe, it¡¯s a principle of his?¡± ¡°And what principle is that supposed to be?¡± ¡°Try to get as much money and power as possible? While reminding of your Dellier heritage?¡± she suggested. ¡°Weak¡±. ¡°Ugh,¡± she sighed. ¡°Look. All of us are now on the wrong side of the law, and don¡¯t tell me that you can keep your wizard class a secret. The guy has threatened to kill the people, who can help you get to the prairies unscathed. You got no money and nowhere to go, but with us¡±. Hudal looked at the stone pavement around him. ¡°Unscathed, you say? Out of three days, I spent with you lot, I almost ended up dead in two of them. How is that unscathed?¡± ¡°Ok, not unscathed, but alive for sure¡±. ¡°That¡¯s not very encouraging¡±. ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to be¡±. They fell silent. Hudal deep in his thoughts, Felia waiting for the answer. ¡°You really have to think about it?¡± asked the rogue. ¡°Yes. Not all of us are willing to throw themselves at death¡¯s door, just to escape prison¡±. ¡°You don¡¯t know what dungeons here are like. And trust me, you don¡¯t want to know¡±. Hudal looked up at her. After a moment, he scowled, baring his teeth like an angry dog, and rolled his head. ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll come, I¡¯ll come¡±. They stood up and went in the inn¡¯s direction, weaving through the crowd like a silk ribbon, avoiding all guards on the way there. When they opened the door to the establishment, unusually clean spot before them was lacking the dwarf and the elf, who done a surprisingly good job. The spot was several shades brighter than the rest of the floor, but no one had any doubts that it will become as dirty as it was before, when the evening crowd would come. Syln and Cervella were waiting for them, seemingly not having moved even a centimeter from their original position. ¡°I gather, he cancelled our quest?¡± asked Syln the newcomers. After an affirmative and an unwilling nods he added: ¡°But you somehow persuaded him to give it back?¡± ¡°Alright, alright, I get it! Just give me a piece of paper and some ink¡±. Chapter 9. Formalities over with and with a brand new, but still the same quest, they continued to wait for the supposed messenger. Customers started flooding inside the inn, buying drinks, screaming over each other trying to have ¡®civil¡¯ conversations about their sex life and how they fucked over one person or other. A fair number of races other than elves were present as well, some of them in some form of armour, signifying their adventurer status. Rogues tried to steal coin, barbarians started fights, paladins held both of them back. Stories were told, lutes played, coin passed around. And none of them even looked their way. ¡°Outside the backdoor in five minutes¡±. What didn¡¯t stop them from talking to them. All four started looking around for the source of the message, but the usual fights and alcohol induced talks have swallowed the person talking to them. In any case, the message was delivered loud and clear, and with little internal debate, except for the obvious eye roll from the halfling, they walked straight to the backdoor, which doesn¡¯t envelop the struggle to do so. One could say that the back alley behind the inn was even worse than the front, but that one sure hadn¡¯t been outside of Butovo for his whole life. Same piss puddles and wet stones were only made more claustrophobic due to the building, barely two meters in front. Not to mention an elf in black leather from the top of his head literally down to the bottom of his feet. His outfit wasn¡¯t one continuous overall, but it might as well had been: the line between his shirt and pants was barely visible, even if you looked for it. The only grey part, only because of his elven skin could be seen through a slit for his unnaturally yellow-blue eyes. ¡°Bose sent you a message¡±, he purred. From somewhere within his outfit he got out a scroll, tied with a red silk ribbon. ¡°Fancy¡±, Syln said. ¡°Indeed, my stout friend¡±. Two long slender fingers grabbed hold of one of the ribbon ends and pulled gently, but firmly. The scroll unrolled, as if by itself, showing the fancy writing, the wrapping suggested. My dear friends, hope you¡¯re ready for your first assignment. You might feel that I am being harsh, but trust me, I¡¯m most generously giving you the shittiest and thus the easiest job I have at the moment. In the guard post near the edge of the city, in our prestigious Butovo neighborhood, for all here are my neighbors and friends, someone incompetent, who will be punished, let me reassure you, left a very grave package. What¡¯s inside isn¡¯t important, not to you. As you might have guessed, your job is going to be to retrieve that package and bring it to a secured place. That is bring it to my dear friend Torik, the innkeeper. He will make sure that the package will be safe, until I will be able to get it myself. Go to the guard post on the edge of Butovo and retrieve the package. Bring it back to the innkeeper Accept / Deny The word ¡®Accept¡¯ was underlined was much bigger than the ¡®Deny¡¯ next to it, as a subtle suggestion from Bose. The elf in front carefully slid the paper right into Syln¡¯s hands. The dwarf looked at him with a question ready to throw at the elf. The elf¡¯s mask slightly moved, as he smiled slyly. ¡°Questions?¡± ¡°Yeah. Couldn¡¯t you do that?¡± ¡°As I am sure, Bose has written that there¡¯re more important jobs, that the likes of me must pursue. Besides, the guards here, couldn¡¯t give two shits, even if your foot was stuck in their breakfast. You¡¯ll do fine¡±. Syln¡¯s gaze was still skeptical. He looked at the paper, to try and find anymore details, he might¡¯ve missed after reading it three times in a row, and looked back up, only to find the elf gone. He turned to ask his companions about his whereabouts, but with no words spilt, they just pointed up. When he brought his gaze the said way, he only saw a dark shadowy blurr jump from one roof to another. ¡°Wel, then...¡± the dwarf whispered to himself and stared back at the paper and pressed his finger against the still warm ink of ¡®Accept¡¯. You have accepted the quest ¡®Special Delivery¡¯ from ¡®Bose Dellier¡¯ Retrieve the ¡®package¡¯ from Butovo guard post and bring it to Torik 0/1 Reward: 250XP ¡°Should we get started?¡± asked Felia, trying to keep her voice down. ¡°We might as well¡±, Cervella added and started going out of the alley, leading the way. ****************************** The guard post wasn¡¯t as far, as they have anticipated. Butovo wasn¡¯t a very big district, but it didn¡¯t mean that it was the only one, where the bottom feeders of Boremar city lived. The guard post wasn¡¯t very hard to spot even though it blended in perfectly with the rest of the buildings around it. What gave it away was a platoon of heavily armoured soldiers, armed to the teeth, with swords, shields and spears. All of the guards¡¯ equipment bore Parva¡¯s symbol: a golden libra with the same golden halo above it. But it didn¡¯t tell much about their allegiance. They could have been the regular guard, who had a bucket of alcohol to scrub the image away and another bucket of paint to draw the appropriate insignia of the next prince in line, or the privateers of a Tohcraft fanatics, raised to worship the one and only ¡®true¡¯ family. Even though Felia was a cleric from Parva¡¯s church she never had any sympathy for the politics surrounding the church, and the whole country for that matter. It wasn¡¯t her forte, exactly. As an orphan she only had two ways to go: the church or the streets, begging for coin, in vain hope to earn enough for a meal that week. Looking back at her sudden job change, she was wondering, if she made the right call back then. Who knew, how high her rogue level would be, if only she chose the streets over the now inaccessible church. She shook her head. No, this wasn¡¯t the time for such thoughts. They had a job to do and friends to rescue, and she couldn¡¯t be the only person, not paying attention to the guards in front of them. An elf went out of the building, seemingly underdressed for the occasion, that is, he wasn¡¯t wearing a helmet as the rest of the troop. ¡°Roll call of the day!¡± he called out, keeping a piece of yellow paper in front of him. ¡°Aleas!¡± ¡°Aye!¡± screamed an elf, bonking his metal glove on his metal helmet, saluting. An elf put a checkmark on top of the paper with a goose feather. ¡°Foma!¡± ¡°Aye!¡± echoed the second elf, bonking the same helmet, saluting as well. ¡°Erom!¡± ¡°Aye!¡± BONK ¡°Besrium!¡± ¡°Aye!¡± BONK ¡°Tromum!¡± ¡°He was killed today, herr!¡± screamed an elf from the crowd of guards. The elf without a helmet clicked his tongue. ¡°Shame¡±, he said as he scribbled out a name. Ink was soaking through the paper on the other side, similar to several other marks, as Felia noticed. ¡°Umka!¡± the obvious captain continued. ¡°Aye!¡± BONK ¡°This might be our chance¡±, whispered Syln to them. ¡°We should go. Now¡±. He was about to take off, when Hudal cut his attempt. ¡°And what do you think we can do? Just look at them!¡± BONK ¡°That¡¯s exactly, why I am proposing to go now. While they are hitting their heads together, they might as well be blind¡±. BONK ¡°Even a blind person would be able to notice you!¡± ¡°Any other bright ideas?¡± BONK ¡°I can do it¡±. Hudal and Syln both looked at her. And then at back at each other.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Yeah, that might just work¡±, said one. ¡°Yes, it just might¡±, said the other. And then they looked back to her. Syln looked with almost fatherly warmth and reassurance, Hudal with the look of a chess player finally putting his queen to use. The dwarf murmured to her: ¡°If something happens, we will wait for you right here¡±. ¡°Be careful, but quick. If they notice you, run like Hel, until you are out of sight¡±. ¡°You do remember that it was I, who saved your ass back at the market?¡± Felia raised her eyebrow at the halfling. ¡°And what¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s supposed to mean that I know how to stay out of sight. Maybe, better than you¡±. ¡°Yeah, fine, sure, whatever¡±, he spit. ¡°Just go!¡± Felia gave them a nod, threw a gaze at unusually concentrated Cervella and ran into the street from cover to cover. That is, she had to run from one side of the street to the other. There was nothing in the street, but the building shadows from the bright moon. She had to make it work. Stealth is now level 5. And somehow, she did. Well, to be honest, it wasn¡¯t as if the guards were looking her way, but she tried her hardest to stay from the sight of the captain. Couple of bonks on the helmets later, she was around the guard post¡¯s corner and was heading right to the back door. This was when, someone went out of that door. ¡°Yeah¡±, said the first guard with a voice of rocks being rubbed on other locks. ¡°Tell me about it¡±. ¡°I just can¡¯t believe that shit!¡± said a much younger voice. ¡°Release the guy, who killed one of us? We should¡¯ve at least beat him up for that!¡± ¡°What can you say? Money makes the world go round¡±. Felia watched them from behind a wooden box labeled with an arrow and ¡®this way up¡¯, both upside down. A slightest tinkling of glass on glass could still be heard from the inside, when she accidentally pushed it. Both of the guards looked her way. ¡°Must be a cat¡±, said the first voice. ¡°Yeah¡­ but still, accepting money from a Dellier? Isn¡¯t that a crime of some sort?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know and don¡¯t care¡±. He fell silent for a moment, and a satisfied gulp later, he added: ¡°Besides, you got your share! And that parcel must be worth something. Didn¡¯t the captain let you have it?¡± ¡°He told me it was a present, for my first week¡±. ¡°See? No need to worry about anything, if I say so myself¡±. ¡°I guess¡­¡± They fell silent. Then Felia cursed them under her breath. Move! she thought. Move! One more gulp. ¡°Can I have some?¡± asked the new guard. ¡°Sure¡±. The young elf sniffed, took a swig himself and started coughing. ¡°Parva¡¯s scale! How do you drink this shit?!¡± ¡°You get used to it. Not that we can buy anything else here¡±. ¡°Oh fuck...¡± A stomach grumbled. ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna...¡± He couldn¡¯t finish his sentence, because now he was holding his hands on his mouth. Felia could tell that he did, because he stood right in front of him. Short red haired elf barely older than her in armour twice his size stared at her boggle eyed. Then he threw up. Felia was spared the worst of it by jumping from her position over the box. Then some quick thinking later she grabbed hold of his hair, drew her dagger and put it to his neck. It was still pulsating with the upcoming alcohol induced contents of the elf¡¯s stomach. The other guard was much older, his hair almost white. He put his hand on the hilt of his sword and was ready to strike her at any moment, but for some reason, he hesitated. Before his mind could come up with the idea, Felia hissed at them. ¡°You scream, yell, call for anyone or do anything stupid and I will cut his throat¡±. An empty threat at best, considering the number of scribbled out names on the captain¡¯s paper, but it was better than saying nothing. Especially, that the guard in front was raising his hands in grim surrender. The younger elf gulped whatever was coming up to his throat and quietly said. ¡°Uncle?¡± Felia rolled her eyes. Of course, they had to be relatives. She thought what could make her hesitate and that was it. They were related. Now she just couldn¡¯t kill the guy, not that she would in the first place. ¡°Take me to that package, and no one will be hurt¡±. She said firmly, trying to keep her voice from shaking, she felt was coming up from within. The older guard looked her dead in the eye and said. ¡°You won¡¯t be able to make it. There are too many people for you to handle¡±. ¡°You''re bluffing!¡± she said almost joyful, listening carefully for any more clinks of metal on metal. ¡°They are all outside, on the roll call. If we go inside, take the package and go back out, we should have just enough time¡±.This raised a question that she decided to store for later. ¡°And again, if you do anything funny, I think you know, who sent me here¡±. The gray elf silently nodded. ¡°Good. Let¡¯s go¡±, she kicked the boy. Felia took notice of how firm and calm the boy was. it certainly was a relief from the yesterday¡¯s pissing one. When they entered the building through the door, she relaxed for a little bit, since she was right on the uncle¡¯s bluff. Speaking of which¡­ ¡°Why were the two of you out here and not on the roll call, as everybody else?¡± The elf coughed to clear his throat. ¡°My uncle¡¯s a friend of captain¡¯s. He wanted to talk, so he marked us before everyone else¡±. ¡°I see¡±, she murmured, looking around for the package. ¡°Where is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s in the room upstairs¡±. He fell silent, as the rogue stared him down. ¡°Want me to take you there?¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± As they went carefully up the steps, the boy trying not to cut open his throat, Felia trying to assist him and not make too much noise at the same time. Which was cut short by the metal armour the boy was wearing. It clunked with every step they took, but the guards outside were too busy ayeing and saluting to hear anything, but themselves. This was good, she thought to herself, as she wouldn¡¯t know what to do, if they did hear. As quickly as the metal joints let them, they got to the room the boy indicated. When they went inside, it was as the young guard told her. The package was on one of the beds, where it was clearly labeled ¡®Property of Bose¡¯ swiftly underlined by another line ¡®Do not steal¡¯. Felia quickly took the parcel, threw the boy on the bed and was ready to run out the door, when she heard a series of voices coming from downstairs accompanied by the same clunking metal. ¡°Shit¡±, she spat and ran to the window. When she was about to open it, the young guard grabbed her around the chest. She bucked, trying to get rid of his hold. ¡°She is up!...¡± he started, when the rogue put all her strength in her neck muscles and hit him in the face. She felt some blood splatter against the back of her head and finally opened the window. She heard the metal steps rush up the stairs, on their way to kill her, no doubt. And so, without hesitation, she jumped, glimpsing the youngster bleeding from his broken nose, as several guards got into his room. Felia landed on the rocky pavement and made a quick roll. That was a bad idea, as hundreds of small sharp rocks punctured her back, overflowing her head with a burst of messages. You have received a minor scratch. -0HP You have received a minor scratch. -0HP You have received a minor scratch. -0HP You have received a minor scratch. -1HP You have received a minor scratch. -0HP You have received a minor scratch. -0HP You have received a minor scratch. -0HP You have received a minor scratch. -0HP Light armour mastery is now level 3. Harcour parkour is now level 2. Trying not to focus on them, she ran not looking back. The streets were empty, which was good and bad. No people meant that nobody would slow her down, but it also meant she was much easier to spot. Thankfully, the guards¡¯ armour was too heavy to run as fast, as she did. Felia saw Cervella, Syln and Hudal sharing their gaze between her and the guard post, but she didn¡¯t even stop. She had to get as far away as possible. And so she ran. And ran. And ran¡­ ************************************* It was only fitting, when she ran out of breath. One ray after another pierced the light fog that the night left for it. The morning sun was glistening on the horizon, warming up and putting a smile on everybody¡¯s faces. Everybody¡¯s, but hers. She hid behind the Butovo inn, in the same alley that Bose¡¯s rogue met them. She was clutching the package right to her chest, as it was rising up and down. She felt her nipples poke through her shirt, as the cold sent her whole body shivering. Or could it be that she was just frightened? Felia didn¡¯t worry about getting caught. Level 5 stealth should do the trick, if her hiding spot behind a couple of wooden boards didn¡¯t. The back door suddenly rushed open. Startled by the noise, she almost jumped, but managed to keep herself. What kind of rogue she would be, if she let something as common an occurrence break her cover? Not to mention, that it was the sixth time that happened. ¡°Felia?¡± But this was first. ¡°Syln?¡± she slowly peeked from behind the boards only to find the dwarf standing there, looking her way. ¡°Oh, thank Leche, you are still alive! Are you hurt?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m fine. What about you and the others?¡± ¡°What about us? You were the only one running from the guards?¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t notice you?¡± ¡°We ran as soon as we heard someone yell. Guessed that it was about you¡±. He nodded at the package. ¡°Is this it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be¡±, she said, as she looked at it, still close to her. ¡°I think¡±. ¡°Well then, let¡¯s not keep Bose waiting. C¡¯mon, get inside¡±. He held the door, as she went inside, and had done the same himself. They had to make their way to the counter through the usual crowd of drunks and adventurers. Torik was busy with the drinks and customers, when he saw them coming in. A few served drinks later, he could give them their full attention. Felia ripped the parcel away from herself and slid it across the counter. The dwarf looked at it, raised his gaze up at her, and slowly took it in the bosoms of his work area. She felt a little bit uncomfortable, as he did so, since he never took his eyes off of her. A tinkle glistened at her from them, and she felt the need to get her concerns out. ¡°Did we do something wrong?¡± The dwarf stared at her for a moment and then shook his head. Torik got back to work, as a drunk halfling wearing nothing, but a barbarian loincloth around his junk, ordered another set of drinks. Quest ¡®Special Delivery¡¯ from ¡®Bose Dellier¡¯ was successfully completed Retrieve the ¡®package¡¯ from Butovo guard post and bring it to Torik 1/1 You have received your reward: 250XP Interlude 2. Dennis just reached the city of Boremar. He drew his breath inside, enjoying the refreshing morning breeze, which smelled of dew. It was a wonderful day, and Parva damn him, but he shall find those criminals! Several days before today, he managed to force his way right to the Dorf guard chief Chhaup and told him the awful news about the criminals, enemies of Tohcraft and of his own. After listening to him for almost an hour straight, the chief agreed that something had to be done about such horrific inquiries. He immediately gathered up a team to pursue the murderer and her associates, Dennis, of course, being the first person to volunteer. After all, it was his duty to get rid of all, who dared cross the thin line between order and chaos. None shall be denied, the smite of his righteousness. And so thought his companions, of course. Well, one of them did, anyways. His name was Frederick and he was chief¡¯s personal assistant, sent to him by the Boremar Tohcraft himself! He might not have been too strong, or agile, or smart, but most important of all he was ready to die for the cause of justice! At least, he told Dennis that. Dennis didn¡¯t mind, however. He was more than glad to have an elf close to the prince¡¯s family and always asked him questions about the family¡¯s personal life. Yes, most of the answers he got were either vague or evasive at best, but it was still fascinating to him to listen to the tails of their lives. The other two elves, on the other hand, he wasn¡¯t so happy about. But chief Chhaup told him they were most professional he could spare at the time, and so he had to bear with it. ¡°And why would they go to the capital?¡± asked Carl. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem very smart of the ¡®most wanted¡¯ criminals to go to the heart of the country¡±. Dennis could hear the air quotes, Carl surely did with his hands, but he kept his head clear and straight. He had to be calm and collected, if he ever wanted to become a chief himself. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you, Carl. You know as well as me, that everything those bastards left lead this way and this way only¡±. ¡°Speaking of those bastards¡±, Bill contributed to the conversation, ¡°what level were they again?¡± ¡°15 to 18, as the estimates showed us¡±. ¡°Yeah¡­ Ellis, do you even know, what that spell back there was?¡± Dennis screwed his eyes shut. Calm and collected, he told himself. Calm and collected. ¡°First of all, it¡¯s...¡± he started, when he was immediately interrupted. ¡°It was, what did you call it, Fred? Something winter?¡± ¡°Early winter¡±, said Frederick nasally. ¡°Yeah, that. That¡¯s a level 30 spell, am I right?¡± Frederick nodded. ¡°Yeah. Doesn¡¯t really go with your 15, 18 estimates¡±. ¡°Look!¡± Dennis snapped for a second and turned around. ¡°You know full well that I am not a professional at this! And what¡¯s the big deal? Level 30 is just a level! Especially, if the guy¡¯s a wizard¡±. ¡°Of course, and a sea is just an ocean. We are barely over level 20, ourselves, Ellis...¡± ¡°Dennis! My name is Dennis! What¡¯s so hard to remember?¡± ¡°Nothing¡±, said Carl. ¡°It¡¯s just funny to watch you react this way¡±. Dennis growled something and then took another deep breath, turning his gaze back to the city. Calm! And collected! ¡°Anyway¡±, continued Bill, ¡°the point still stands that the guy will be able to wipe the floor with us, if we get in a fight¡±. ¡°Then we shouldn¡¯t fight him then, should we?¡± Dennis tolerantly asked no one in particular. When everyone failed to answer him in the five seconds he gave them, he continued: ¡°And as the head of this operation!...¡± ¡°Hey...¡± Bill added unheard. ¡°I command that we must enter the city and look for those criminal scum!¡± He waved his hand, welcoming his compatriots to follow him and marched onward to the city of Boremar. When they reached the city after twenty minutes of walking, they have been met by elves, who passed as citizens around here. Vendors, beggars, adventurers, regular folk: all levels of societal hierarchy were present. Dennis didn¡¯t like that. He thought that at least in the capital there wouldn¡¯t be any of those lawless adventuring bunch. Wishful thinking aside, first, they had a guard post to visit. He, of course, would have headed there immediately, if he knew where to head. Since, it was his first time in the city, he decided to ask the locals, where to find his colleagues.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The young guard breathed in two whole lungs of air, put a smile on his face, and asked the woman passing by with a basket full of apfels in her arms. ¡°Excuse me, dame. Do you know where to...¡± While he was talking, she looked him from head to the six of his toes and snorted. ¡°Aha. Keep dreaming, lover boy¡±. And then she went back on her way to the market. Dennis was momentarily stunned. Then he managed to squeeze a word out. ¡°What?¡± Carl hit him in the ribs with his elbow, knocking the wind out of him. ¡°Hah! She must¡¯ve liked you¡±. Dennis held the spot, where Carl hit him. ¡°Excuse me?¡± ¡°Sure. Don¡¯t tell me that no other dame did this to you before¡±. He patted Dennis¡¯s cheek and smiled. ¡°Lover boy¡±. The young guard slapped his hand away immediately. ¡°Of course, not!¡± And then he moved his attention back to the elves around him. ¡°Excuse me...¡± ¡°I am happily married!¡± said the other elf, that thought he was addressing her. Dennis looked at her with a blank expression. Then he started seeking a male elf to ask for directions. ¡°Herr, could you, please, tell me where we can find the Butovo guard posts?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± asked the expensively dressed vendor. ¡°No, no, I am bu...¡± ¡°Where is Butovo guard post?!¡± Dennis raised his voice. ¡°Oh!¡± said the vendor. ¡°Follow the edge of the city right there. You won¡¯t miss it¡±. Dennis looked in the direction the elf pointed and¡­ well, he wasn¡¯t happy, one could tell that for sure. ¡°Ehhh¡­ Perhaps, you¡¯ve made a mis¡­¡± he said and turned to talk to the vendor, but the elf was long gone. ¡°All right¡­ Fine! Herrs,¡± he addressed his companions, ¡°let¡¯s go and find our associates¡¯ post!¡± And then he headed off in the indicated direction. Even by looking in the same direction as Butovo, he could tell: the two districts were drastically different. First, there were so few people walking around, that if the two crowds decided to fight one another, no one would bet on the Butovo¡¯s crowd victory. Second, the road stones managed to be dirtier than the ones they¡¯ve been standing on, despite the thousand feet difference. Or, perhaps, it was because of that difference, that no shitstain or rotten apfel was left on the ground below. But Dennis told himself: he must not complain. The fighter for justice never complain, as they should! Besides, the criminals complain all the time, and that was why they were criminals, and Dennis must not fall to their level. Scums of Moria, even below the monsters they occasionally fought. Their only pursuit was money and survival. Truly, disgusting creatures undeserving of the Gods¡¯ generosity. The streets, surprisingly, only got dirtier as they went deeper and deeper into Butovo. It was, as if the local residents didn¡¯t care about stepping outside and seeing what was happening with their district. Dennis wanted to spit at the disgusting sight and even breathed in to do so, only to start coughing violently. The stench of rotten fruits and fish was too strong for anyone to endure, especially, when the one enduring it decided to get in as much of the rancid air in his lungs. But he stood strong. Nevermind, the teary eyes, of course. And they finally had reached their destination. The guard post building by itself wasn¡¯t very distinct from the other ones around, but the golden libra sign just was too bright not to notice straight away. Dennis put his hand on the hilt of his sword. He wanted to draw in another big breath, to calm his nerves, but thought better of it. The young elf took a couple of steps forward and knocked on the door. Which slowly creaked, showing the insides of the empty guard post. ¡°Doesn¡¯t look, like anybody¡¯s home¡±, said Carl, looking over Dennis¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Let¡¯s go¡±, said Bill, picking up after Carl¡¯s sentence. ¡°Might as well, just stay at an inn¡±. When the two guards started turning around to leave, another elf, in full-plate heavy armour coming down the stairs, carrying full hands of paper stacks. The elf¡¯s nose, Dennis noted, was recently broken. ¡°Excuse me, herr!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± the elf looked in their direction. ¡°Who are you?¡± Dennis puffed out his chest and straightened his back as much as he could, saluted and said in authoritative voice with the collective groan of the two guards behind him: ¡°We are official guard and escort of the Dorf town! We are pursuing dangerous criminals that by our estimate must have got into this town in the previous two to three days, herr!¡± The elf in front looked around, presumably for an authority figure higher than himself, and when he failed to find one in the empty room he stood, he put the papers on the closest table. He sighed. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t know, what you¡¯re talking about. But we do need some hands¡±. He took one of the papers and looked at it then put it back, shaking his head. ¡°Look, if I were you, I¡¯d wait for the captain. He¡¯ll have something for you to do¡±. ¡°Great! And when should the captain arrive?¡± The full armoured elf rolled his eyes to the ceiling in thought. Or so Dennis thought. ¡°Oi! Uncle?!¡± ¡°What?!¡± a distant gruff voice from upstairs called back. ¡°Are you and Anfur finished? There are some...¡± He looked at Dennis and his companions and then back up. ¡°...Dorf guards asking to see him¡±. A couple seconds of silence later, they could hear scraping from the chairs. Some time later, a door opened and closed quickly after, one set of feet going down the stairs. A middle-aged elf, hair of whom was beginning to fall out, but not quite yet at the point of bald spots, came to see them. ¡°Yes?¡± Dennis saluted and repeated the same phrase he told the young elf before, word for word, as if he learned it by heart. Which he did. The two elven guards looked at one another puzzled and then moved their gazes back to the quartet. ¡°Yes, sure¡­ But what is it you actually want, exactly?¡± ¡°We wish to help you catch them and bring to justice, herr!¡± ¡°Speak for yourself¡±, murmured Carl. Dennis pretended he didn¡¯t hear that. ¡°Yeah¡­ All right then¡±. The captain looked at the stack of papers lying on the table. ¡°I guess, you could help put up these wanted posters¡±. ¡°We¡¯ll do our best!¡± Dennis saluted and took two steps towards, when he suddenly stopped. His face was still showing a cheerful, ready to jump in action smile, but it was dead frozen. He took two more steps and snapped one of the posters and looked at it. During this his expression slowly turned into a disgusted one. The others were somewhat confused, but they had an idea in their minds. Dennis growled to his own surprise. ¡°That¡¯s her¡± he said to himself. Then he snapped his head to the captain and said: ¡°When do we start?¡± Chapter 10. ¡°To be honest, I didn¡¯t expect you to be so quick and efficient!¡± said Bose. It was two days later after the ¡®heist¡¯, as he called it. Again, there were no customers at this hour and Bose could do with the quartet at his own disclosure. ¡°Marvelous, handywork, I must say! But...¡± he put his hands behind the back and moved the gaze up at the ceiling, as if he was daydreaming. ¡°...I was expecting a more delicate approach¡±. Once again Felia looked at the paper on the table before. From it, a picture of her with a big sum of 200PP was staring at her real self. It wasn¡¯t a perfect recreation: a hair was a bit shorter, bigger eyes, even the face seemed to be a bit slimmer, but general features were recognizable enough to be of significance. Just yesterday, a few elves approached her and started reassuring her that she did the right thing, and that they were sad that she only killed one of the guys, and that she should¡¯ve snapped all of their necks in their sleep. Felia didn¡¯t really understand how the murder comotion came into being, but the rogue doubted she wanted to even know. She looked back up at Bose. ¡°Herr Bose, I...¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t know, tried my best, got the job done, bladi-bladi-bladi-bla!...¡± The elf accompanied his last few ¡®words¡¯ with a hand mimicking a mouth. ¡°I heard all of it, dearie. Still doesn¡¯t excuse, that you are now wanted by the whole city guard!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure, it¡¯s just Butovo guard...¡± she started, but was quickly silenced by the death glare in front of her. All of them were silent, as Bose looked her up and down, no doubt in anybody¡¯s mind that he was sizing up what torture he wanted to get her through first. He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes. ¡°As I was saying...¡± He put his hands wide accompanied by an even wider, but still unnatural, smile, emphasizing his words. ¡°You have still done a great job! And now I have come to give you another one. This time, however, it won¡¯t be as easy!¡± For a moment Bose glared at Felia. He pushed his hand into the bosoms of his long brown coat and took out a parchment. He looked at it with a much more genuine, but now terrifyingly small smile and passed it to Syln, who was escorted by two of the bodyguards. The dwarf took and eyed it for some time. Then he pushed a finger at the bottom of it, accepting the quest. You have accepted the quest ¡®From Dellier with love¡¯ from ¡®Bose Dellier¡¯ Steal the Vunger family spear and plant it in the prince¡¯s public estate 0/1 Steal the Vunger family shield and plant it in the prince¡¯s public estate 0/1 Reward: 1000XP That was insane, Felia thought, but kept her mouth shut, as not to provoke Bose murdering them and their friends. Not that it was a written rule, but it was common knowledge that the Vunger family, who worshiped Resma, the god of war, generally had insane numbers of soldiers around them. Always ready to strike anyone and anything that had the audacity, as to come close to any of its members. Not to mention, that their most prized possession, the spear and the shield of Vunger Krat passed from generation to generation, would surely have all the security they had, armed to the teeth and maybe even to every single hair. What kind of other jobs did Bose even have that the most recent and, let¡¯s be honest, most incompetent recruits had to take up a suicide job like this? Killing both Tohcraft and Vunger families on sight? Designing a bomb to destroy the Human Republic? Killing a Deity? At this point, she wouldn¡¯t be surprised, if it happened to be one of these things. And trying to keep her best at being calm, collected and not showing any signs of resistance, she was severely disappointed that one of her companions knew exactly what kind of mission this was turning out to be. ¡°Steal from Vunger?! Did you lose your mind?!¡± yelled Hudal in protest. ¡°They will obliterate us!¡± Bose was calm and smiled quizzically at the halfling, his head on one of his shoulders. ¡°To be honest, that was one of the outcomes I was looking for¡±. Hudal half-sneered half-growled, spit flying off his mouth. ¡°I thought you were trying to achieve something here! Surely, we are not fit for this¡±. ¡°Just like I said before! My other compatriots have other business to attend to!¡± ¡°Like what?! Jerking you off in the bathtu...¡± His last word was cut short by fittingly sharp dagger, which was put to his neck. Behind him, out of nowhere and in blink of an eye stood the elven rogue dressed in all black, from the two nights before. At this dim lighting, Felia could tell that it was all leather. He slowly moved his cloaked mouth to one of Hudal¡¯s ears and purred in it: ¡°Just like herr Bose said, my small friend. It¡¯s none of your business¡±. Then he smelled his hair and let out a satisfied sigh. ¡°I just love the smell of fear in the morning. Gets me hungry¡±. With a knife to him, Hudal was finally silent. Bose approached them and looked satisfied. After that, he snapped his slim wrist, and the dagger went away, as did the rogue holding it. ¡°It¡¯s so nice to have a level 50 rogue on your side. What do you think?¡± dreamily whispered he. ¡°Ah! Don¡¯t answer it. You wouldn¡¯t know¡­ and you won¡¯t, if you keep questioning me, you little smartass gnome!¡± Hudal fell on his ass, when the elven face got in 10 centimeters distance from his own. His face was a fascinating view to behold. It simultaneously managed to show off all five stages of grief with a pinch of resentment. Then Bose and his escort started leaving. But just before exiting, he turned around and said: ¡°This time try to be more discreet¡±. And then he closed the door. Cervella, who had been silent until this moment said from the stairs. ¡°I guess you have the location of the stuff he wants in that paper of yours?¡± Syln looked up at her and waved the parchment at her. ¡°Good. You do that, and I¡¯ll catch you later¡±. She went down the stairs and was met by Syln looking at her questioningly. ¡°And where are you going?¡± ¡°I have arrangements to attend, Syln¡±. ¡°What kind of arrangements?¡± ¡°Yeah, what kind?¡± Hudal wedged into the conversation. ¡°None of your business, shorty¡±. ¡°Hey! I am your employer, don¡¯t forget!¡± ¡°And I can shoot your ass from two blocks away! Don¡¯t forget that, you dipshit!¡± ¡°Who are you calling?!...¡± Before the fighting could start, Syln stood between them. ¡°Calm yourselves! We are all here to do one thing! And that¡¯s to save Bokh and Muscolo from that crazy bitch¡±. Torik threw a glance at them, but quickly went back to cleaning an already shiny cup. ¡°I don¡¯t want any of us to kill one another before that. So, I am just going to tell you¡±, he turned to Cervella, ¡°to be careful. We don¡¯t any of us to die¡±. Cervella¡¯s angry face curled, as she digested the words. ¡°I will¡±. And then she stormed out of the building. ************************************ The sun was setting. Felia, Syln and Hudal were outside the Vunger house in the north part of the city. A set of guards on guards stood at the front and back entrances. If she squinted hard enough, Felia could say that she could see even more guards right behind the grey dim glass of the windows. Four more even stood on the roof of the building, readying their bows at anyone, who approached closer than their arrows could fly. All of them were wearing bright red armour with metal eight packs on each, sharp helmets fitting their heads so well, it wouldn¡¯t be too far off to say they were born wearing them, with dragon talon replicas on top. Each, except for the four on top, held a spear and a full-body shield, with short sword on their belts and long ones on their backs. Felia wondered how they managed to walk wearing all of that, but later she realised, she didn¡¯t see one of them move. ¡°Well, we can¡¯t enter from the front¡±, Syln leaned towards the back part of the house, ¡°nor the back. The roof is out of the question, for¡­¡± The dwarf looked at 15 meter gaps between the near buildings. ¡°...obvious reasons¡±. ¡°Is this even possible? I mean, I didn¡¯t believe that we could do it, in the first place, but this¡±, Hudal raised his hands to show the scene before them. ¡°This is Tarrasque level difficulty of breaking in¡±. ¡°We do have time to think about it¡±, said Felia. ¡°We should be able to come up with something¡±. The sun set, and the two moons were starting to creep up the horizon, easily outshining the surrounding stars, and they were still watching the guards standing and watching their watch. Felia managed to hear quiet steps behind them and turned to see Cervella approach them. ¡°How¡¯s business?¡± she asked jokingly.Stolen story; please report. ¡°None of yours¡±, the woman replied and set herself next to Syln. ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± she observed the building in front. ¡°Not much¡±, answered the dwarf. ¡°Just the most secure building in the whole city, that¡¯s all¡±. ¡°I see¡±. The midnight started to creep up, like loger creeps up its unaware lunch. Their eyes were starting to slowly close, but each of them dealt with that in their own way. Syln screwed his eyes shut and opened them wide open to let the cold night air kick the sleep out of them. Felia¡¯s head drooped from time to time and shook it as soon as she realized her current state. Cervella slapped her face so loudly that it helped the others stay awake. Hudal just decided to let the nature take its course and was happily and quietly snoring on the empty bags others recently got. At this point Felia was happy to see some movement in the guards as well. Not that they actually moved from their places, but their heads were starting to nod to the unheard lullabies. ¡°Wait who is that?¡± Syln asked. Felia looked the way he was pointing, as well as Cervella. A group of the same dressed elves approached the the guards, all the way accompanied by the distant sound of rattling metal. Half of them stopped at the front entrance, the other half continued going right to the back one, while the first continued to march in place. Four elves from both groups, who were overarmed as the entrance guards, looked particularly sweaty, the water droplets slowly forming a wet line behind them. Then all of the guards saluted and switched places. The rest went into the building. When the building was full to the brim, the elves who spent all day inside rushed outside, still in perfect queues continuing to march. A square of metal, weapons and sweating bodies formed two squares in front and in the back of the residence. They noisily turned, saluted, as well as the rest of them, turned one more time and marched off. Syln¡¯s eyes widened and he started patting the two women on his either side. He was about to say something, when Cervella gave him a small slap to his face. He looked at her quizzically. ¡°You just pat my breasts, idiot¡±. Felia tightened her lips as her face went red with embarrassment. The dwarf¡¯s eyes widened a little more and quietly apologized. ¡°Sorry¡­ Anyway, you two gotta follow them¡±. ¡°I gathered that¡±, said Cervella over her shoulder and ran into the same direction, the Vunger guard marched off. Felia followed her as fast, as she could, slowly, but steadily falling behind. She did manage to catch up fairly quickly, due to the fact that the elves they followed weren¡¯t actually running. Sure, they walked efficiently, each step echoing in the silent night streets, startling a bunch of drunks walking away from some bar. Few very angry elves opened up their windows to see what the commotion was about, but all closed their windows back, when they saw who had caused the noise. Well, there was one elderly elven woman, who damned the guards, their ancestors, their kids and the their next five generation or so, but Felia was almost sure that she was blind. Or not right in the head, because the cat piss smell came and went along with the window opening and closing. They walked for so long that even Felia and Cervella, wearing no more than two leather shirts and pants started to sweat. The guard walked out of the city, rogue and ranger following them. The notification ¡®You left City of Boremar¡¯ reminded the two women of that. Shortly after that the two dozen or so elves finally arrived at their destination. That destination was seen way before, they actually arrived, so Felia and Cervella stayed at the safe distance watching the small, but sturdy wooden fence surround an area of a tiny district from a hill nearby. A big sign above the gates read ¡®VUNGER FORT¡¯. Besides very unimaginative name of the place, everything else about it screamed war camp. War hashtags, which were usually moved by the horses, dotted it all the way through. Soldiers went from one to another Bright red flags rose from the fort, bearing the insignia of the Vunger family: One single dark-red shield with black edge and dragon claw drawn at the center. ¡°What¡¯s with the dragon stuff anyway?¡± Cervella asked no one in particular. This obsession with dragons came from a legend that the first elves, of whom Vungers claimed they were descendants of, living right at the elven-dwarven border in the North, had a dragon living in the mountains on that border. The dragon terrorized both sides, burning the villages and destroying the dwarven stocks outside their cave towns. The two opposing nations had to put their differences aside and together defeat the dragon. Somewhere around this point, the stories of the two sides differed from each other. Elves told that it was Vunger Elef, who striked down the beast, by bringing throwing a spear right through its eye. Dwarves were reassured that it was Joron, father of Hogrin the Uniter, who killed the dragon by using the ¡®Early Winter¡¯ spell while in its stomach, and beating his way through the frozen remains. Both of these versions, as is the tradition with such stories, were both truthful and lies at the same time. What actually happened was that the two nations literally swarmed the beast by throwing spells, weapons and doing anything they could to damage or, at least, irritate the dragon. After it had no more than 200HP left of its 2500, it decided to use its fire breath to kill them all. When the dragon opened its mouth, Joron, being the dwarven prince¡¯s crazy son, decided to jump right inside. Elef, who saw that bold act, accidentally stabbed the beast in the eye trying to close the mouth shut with his spear. That surprised the dragon and dropped the fire breath idea decided to flee, but it just couldn¡¯t get rid of the irritating feeling in its throat. And, as the spell hit him, it was too late for the dragon to do anything about it. The frozen neck snapped from the head¡¯s weight and Joron startled by the event fell from it. And so, up to that day, elven Vunger family and one of the smaller dwarven regions bore the dragon as their symbol. Of course, Felia only could tell the elven version of the story, which she herself didn¡¯t believe in. That doubt wasn¡¯t from her recent shift in nihilism, however. It was due to the fact that being raised in the Tohcraft¡¯s East of the Prinzessin, all attempts at gaining popularity from other families were swiftly placed under the metaphorical rug, which had risen several feet since it was first laid. And even if some of the stories made their way to the Tohcraft elves, they were severely distorted up to the point that no details made any sense. But that didn¡¯t mean that other families didn¡¯t use such tactics. For now, however, it didn¡¯t matter. In front of Felia and Cervella laid one of the Vunger private army divisions. The army bore the insignia of a dragon claw for obvious reasons. It was the force Vunger struck all of their enemies with. The two women watched the camp for some time, but nothing else of interest happened. The soldiers went from one tent to another. They passed food and water to each other, talked, laughed, enjoyed their lives. ¡°Most likely,¡± Felia voiced her thoughts, ¡°these is just the estate guards¡±. She turned to Cervella. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look very secure, does it?¡± She talked, of course, about the lack of guard around the fort. ¡°I agree¡±. Cervella stared at the camp for a second or two more and added: ¡°If they switch the guard like that at least every night we could try and pass as them¡±. ¡°We should talk about that with the guys first¡±. ¡°We don¡¯t have to. We can try and do it now...¡± ¡°No¡±. ¡°All right. That¡¯s your call¡±. Cervella stood up. She was shivering as the night cold in mix with sweat pierced her all the way through. Two pointy nipples stared at Felia, and she reddened. The woman looked down and pushed her breasts together leaning towards her. ¡°What? Too jealous of me, huh?¡± ¡°No!...¡± Felia looked down at her feet and started to walk away. ¡°Let¡¯s just go...¡± ********************************* Half-way through the city, Felia realized that she didn¡¯t know where to go and started following Cervella. Even if she didn¡¯t know where Syln and Hudal currently were, her spell ¡®Follow his steps¡¯ would. While pursuing the faint direction her spell gave, they met a couple of drunks who immediately started to flirt with them. Which meant they followed them, whistling and making very suggestive hand gestures. After two minutes of this, Cervella spun on her heel. She stopped their pursuit with a twist, a crunch, a broken nose and probably a childless future for one of the bastards. Felia was a little bit disappointed, when they followed the spell back to the Butovo inn. Not that she expected anything else, but there is no harm in wishing for a better place to stay. Torik was kind enough to let them stay the two nights they payed for, but after that, the best he could give them were two bunks and a torn hashtag in the back room. Or, he was just being greedy, because Felia couldn¡¯t hear a noise coming from the three rooms upstairs, besides an occasional overlong wooden banging of people, who sounded like pigs. She didn¡¯t even want to think what was happening up there, but she had a good idea what it was. The others, she thought, did too. Syln sat at the counter drinking a pint of beer standing in front of him. Somehow, the two dwarves got along pretty well, considering the circumstances and the fact that one of them barely talked. Syln told them that it was the deep dwarven instinct to stick together, back from the days, when they lived deep inside the mountain caves. Hudal told him that it was bullshit, because no one could survive long enough in those caves without any food and Torik was just being a dick to others by being nice to him. Syln would interject by saying that one only had to know where to look to find the food. The argument at that point would stop, because no party had anything more to say. Especially, where that food was actually found. ¡°So¡±, Syln turned to them expectantly. ¡°Any good news?¡± ¡°Well...¡± Felia started, but was overtaken by Cervella. ¡°There was a soldier camp outside the city¡±. ¡°We think¡±, Felia took the initiative back by shoving Cervella aside, ¡°that if they switch guard every night or so, some of us could sneak in and disguise ourselves as them¡±. Syln nodded in thought. ¡°That might work, sure¡±. He then looked at himself and his gaze glazed over nearby halflings. ¡°But I guess, Hudal and I aren¡¯t ¡®some of us¡¯¡±. ¡°Why not?¡± innocently asked Felia, as Cervella put her face in her palm. Syln took one more glance at himself and gestured presenting himself. ¡°Probably, because we are a dwarf and a halfling?¡± ¡°Oh... right...¡± she said realizing her mistake. ¡°Anyway,¡± ranger got back into the conversation, ¡°I think that the only good enough person for the job is our young signora Felia¡±. ¡°I¡¯m not doing that alone!¡± ¡°She isn¡¯t doing it alone!¡± Syln and Felia said simultaneously. The woman in front crossed her arms. ¡°Well? And who should join her?¡± Syln pointed the beer pint at her with no hesitation whatsoever. Cervella put a palm on her chest shocked. ¡°Me?!¡± ¡°Who else? Hudal and I are too small to pass as elves, and you just need some gray paint and you¡¯re ready to go!¡± ¡°I will not let you paint my face!¡± Chapter 11. Her gray painted face barely hid Cervella¡¯s red cheeks of rage. She barely kept herself from lashing out at passing bystanders some of who kept glancing at her. Felia and Hudal tried their best to hide Cervella¡¯s human features, her ears and white eyes in particular. While the ears weren¡¯t too big of a problem the best suggestion being ¡°keep them in you hair¡±, the eyes presented a big problem. Unnatural for elves white eyes could give her away at any moment, and Felia was a little bit disappointed, when the woman rejected Hudal¡¯s idea to get two pieces of yellow glass to hide the discoloration. For several days before today the group had been watching the Vunger family embassy with keen eyes. The guards switched their duty every night at exactly midnight every day. They were as efficient as the soldiers could be. Their marching echoed deep into Felia¡¯s mind with their each step reminding her of the plan they had come up with during their time observing the Vunger army behaviour. First, Cervella and Felia had to sneak into the Vunger fort outside of town. Cervella being in disguise, of course. Second, they take place of two guards inside the palace. Third, they find and steal the Vunger spear and shield. Fourth, they run out like Hel and remove their disguises. Fifth, go to the Tohcraft public estate and place the objects inside. The plan was bare bones¡­ As Hudal put it: ¡°It¡¯s shit¡±. And while Felia suspected he didn¡¯t like it, because it lacked any kind of ¡®Profit¡¯ she couldn¡¯t help but agree with him on its shittiness. ¡®Running out like Hel¡¯ was her biggest problem with it, but she couldn¡¯t come up with any better ideas, since the place was so heavily guarded. One could argue that the last step of the plan was shaky as well, what that one person didn¡¯t know was that being a public estate, the Tohcraft embassy never closed up. That would let Felia, Cervella, Hudal and Syln easily come in and out, if they were willing to play role of innocent adventuring tourists. And pay the entrance fee, of course. Right now it was a check if Cervella¡¯s disguise actually fooled anyone. Unfortunately for them it didn¡¯t. And it was all because of the rage filled eyes staring right at Felia, who was wearing a hood and a mask to hide her features from the elves around. ¡°What?¡± Felia asked innocently. ¡°You said this shit right here¡±, she almost slapped herself, ¡°would work¡±. ¡°I did my best¡±. ¡°It¡¯s not good enough¡±. Cervella stared down the elf looking at her, until the guy sped up his step looking straight in front. ¡°What am I supposed to tell you?¡± Felia protested. ¡°Your eyes give it away!¡± They fell silent for a moment. The the elf raised her finger as a realization struck her. ¡°I am NOT putting glass into my eyes!¡± Which was immediately turned down by Cervella. ¡°Ugh...¡± Felia sighed. ¡°Look. I am not doing this alone, and you are the only one capable of helping¡±. ¡°Yes¡±, she answered through her teeth. ¡°Two, your eyes give your disguise away¡±. ¡°That doesn¡¯t!...¡± ¡°Three!¡± Then she fell silent. Cervella raised an eyebrow. ¡°Can¡¯t come up with anything?¡± ¡°No¡±. ¡°Well, now you listen to me. I will help, no question about it, but I will not risk cutting my eyes out doing that¡±. Felia fell silent. She thought meticulously about what to do. She decided to stop trying to convince Cervella to an obviously dangerous feat and started thinking about other ways to solve their conundrum. She knew of no magic that could do any of that effect. No machinery possibly could do that. Maybe she could convince the Vunger guards that the woman was ill? No, they would only send her back. But there was one thought bugging her right at the edge of her mind. ¡°How much money you have now?¡± Cervella looked at her eyebrow raised. ¡°By my honest estimates, fuck all¡±. ¡°Hera¡¯s blight...¡± Felia cursed. ¡°All right, do you know if there¡¯s an alchemy shop nearby?¡± ¡°You plan on stocking up on healing potions?¡± ¡°What¡¯s that for?¡± ¡°It would be only fitting for you to decide that we should fight our way through¡±. ¡°How¡¯s that fitting?¡± ¡°Oh my, and I thought you were a barbarian doing so much stupid decisions. I guess I was put in place by your perfect decision making¡±. ¡°I have a decision I can make right now¡±. Felia felt the dagger on her belt. Cervella snapped her fingers at the elf¡¯s hand on hilt. ¡°Just like I said. ¡®Perfect¡¯ decision making. Darling, I can break your level 8 neck before you even say ¡®stealth¡¯¡±. ¡°Level 9...¡± Felia growled quietly. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. Anyway, what did you come up with exactly?¡± Felia took a deep breath to calm herself. ¡°I just thought that there might be a potion that could change your eye color¡±. ¡°There are potions like that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but there might be. First things first, we need to find an alchemy shop around here¡±. Cervella thought for a moment obviously intrigued by the suggestion. ¡°I might have seen a shop couple of days back?¡± ¡°And where is it?¡± ¡°I think it was in the western district of the city¡±. Felia looked at her. ¡°Western?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Felia put her hands on her hips. ¡°The west area of the capital?¡± ¡°Yes? What about it?¡± Cervella was still confused by whatever Felia was getting at. ¡°It¡¯s the designated Dellier part of the city¡±. ¡°So what?¡± ¡°So! None of us three been there¡±. Then Felia put an accusatory look on her face. ¡°You¡¯ve followed Bose, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I am more shocked that none of you did this before!¡± ¡°Do you want to get killed? Or get Muscolo and Bokh killed?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you drag Musc in this, jackass!¡± ¡°They are already dragged in! Why did you even follow him?¡± ¡°You seriously have to ask? To find where they keep Muscolo!¡± ¡°And Bokh...¡± ¡°And that pervert. Sure. Whatever¡±. ¡°Well? Did you find the place?¡± Cervella snorted, defeated. ¡°No...¡± ¡°All right. Not good, but not bad either¡±. Felia sighed. ¡°At least, warn us next time¡±. ¡°Of course¡±. This sentence sweated profusely with sarcasm from each word, but Felia decided to ignore it. ¡°Let¡¯s just go¡±. ******************************** The shop looked¡­ presentable. Not that it was¡­ Actually, it looked as it was decaying. Ramshackle windows clattered in the wind. The rotting wood whistled from the many termite holes. The sign outside lost almost all of its wooden letters and instead of ¡®ALCHEMICALLY BREWED POTIONS¡¯ it now read ¡®ACBT¡¯. Felia felt a surge of emotions, part of it being the surge of her stomach contents, as she opened the door. As much as it was defying all odds the shop inside was a little bit nicer, but not by much. Old dusty potion bottles stood end on end. Some of the bottles were empty. When no one came to greet them both Felia and Cervella started looking through the potions on the shelves in hope to find something that might do the job.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Excuse me, dames?!¡± came a old voice from behind the counter. The dames in question looked that way. An ancient elf, twice smaller than Felia watched them through the big eyes of his glasses. He was visibly shaking, but that shaking was somehow authoritative, but not threatening. Felia put down her hands from the shelves and approached him. ¡°Are you two looking for something?¡± ¡°Actually, we are¡±, the rogue said cheerfully. ¡°We were looking for...¡± ¡°Grandpa?!¡± yelled a voice from further into the house. ¡°Yes?¡± A young elf came from the same door the older elf presumably came from. He noticed the women, nodded in a polite greeting and walked over to his grandpa. ¡°Gran, how many times did I tell you. Let me handle the shop¡±. ¡°Oh, you youngsters are just going to break all my stuff!¡± ¡°No, I am not. I didn¡¯t do it the last time I ran the shop¡±. He started shuffling the old elf back inside the door. ¡°You did before then!¡± ¡°When I was five, gran. When I was five¡±. ¡°Five years too old to break my stuff!¡± The voices got softer and softer until none of the women could hear the elves talking. Then the younger one came back with a cheerful smile on his face. ¡°How can I help you two, dames?¡± ¡°So¡­ ummmm¡­ We two were looking for a specific type of potion¡±. ¡°What type?¡± He then looked at Cervella and met her white eyes. ¡°Oh, never mind! I see your friend is ill. Is that correct?¡± ¡°Not exactly...¡± The elf was confused. ¡°Then what is it you look for, if not for a cure?¡± ¡°Well¡­ her¡­ father was a human. And she freaks everybody out with her eyes. And we were looking for a potion that could change her eye color to yellow¡±. Felia blasted her last sentences in one big breath coming up with the bullshit on the fly. Cervella seemed a little bit impressed. ¡°Oh. I see...¡± The vendor frowned in concern. ¡°That¡¯s a rarity these days¡­ I don¡¯t remember correctly, I¡¯ll have to look it up, but there might be a potion with similar side effects? Let me just double check¡±. And then he went out of the same door. Cervella approached Felia with a cunning smile on her face. ¡°Not bad, girl¡±. ¡°Shut up!¡± Felia hushed her loudly. The elf came back carrying a giant dusty book. When he dropped it onto the counter a pillar of dust had risen into the air provoking heavy coughing from all parties. The elf sniffed and opened the book at the reference page. He muttered under his breath following the writing with his finger. He stopped at one line and looked at them, question bursting from his eyes. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why you would need your eye color to change. You lived like that your whole life and then¡­ this?¡± Cervella looked from side to side thinking about it. ¡°She¡­ she...¡± Words escaped from Felia¡¯s mouth. ¡°She is deep in love with an elf, whose parents can¡¯t stand such atrocity as her mixed heritage. So I am trying to help her cover this up¡±. These words were vomited as violently as her first were. Cervella added supporting her. ¡°Ah, yes. Indeed. What a tragedy that there are people like that in our times¡±. The elf looked at her. He smiled with sympathy and said in a hushed but audible voice: ¡°I understand. Our gran¡¯s the same way. I wish both of you peace and happiness¡±. He then went back to moving his finger through lines one by one. Cervella halved in size as some of the air went out in an unheard sigh of relief. Few minutes have passed with silent steps and paper rustling as the only sounds in the shop. A triumphant thump echoed through the dusty shelves full of the thick round bottles. Felia and Cervella went back to the counter where the vendor smiled the wide smile of a trader who found the best deal he could for his customers. ¡°I¡¯ve looked through all of the alchemy effects there are, and it seems that the ¡®Klar Kopf¡¯ potion has the desired side effect¡±. ¡°¡®Clear mind¡¯?¡± Felia couldn¡¯t keep herself from asking. ¡°¡®Clear mind¡¯?¡± Cervella echoed her, not understanding the meaning herself. ¡°¡®Clear mind¡¯¡± the third voice echoed from behind the counter. Then the elf¡¯s nose stared back in the old book. ¡°The potion should get rid of all psychic effects on one¡¯s mind, including his own. But for your purposes you should drink two of them in quick succession. The effect should last for 6 hours as well as all side effects¡±. ¡°Perfect. And how much would that cost?¡± Felia asked. ¡°First, I need to find it, but, approximately¡­ 200PP¡±. Felia and Cervella fell silent. Rogue¡¯s mask was still showing a small smile. The ranger was just looking at the young counter elf. ¡°Excuse us¡±, Felia pushed out from her wry mouth. And then she grabbed Cervella¡¯s unresisting arm and they went right outside the shop. ¡°What are we gonna do?¡± the elf asked desperately. ¡°We need to get that potion¡±. ¡°Oh, how spot on of you to notice¡±, she growled. ¡°And how exactly?¡± ¡°Find money somewhere, ask nicely, just steal it?¡± ¡°Steal it¡±. It was hard to understand, if it was a question or not, but Felia continued without Cervella giving a chance to read further into her tone. ¡°First, he needs to get them. Can you distract the guy after that?¡± Cervella was amused. ¡°I am amused¡±, she confirmed. ¡°What a cunning plan. Coming from you and none other¡±. She pushed her breasts forward as a bird getting ready for its morning song. ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll distract him¡±. ¡°Not with them!¡± Felia pointed at her chest. Cervella curled her back the other way. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll come up with something else. Sorry, girls¡±. ¡°Don¡¯t call them that either¡±. Cervella snorted. ¡°I might reconsider, you know?¡± Bur Felia didn¡¯t listen and got back inside the shop putting her smile back. The elf looked at her coming back in. Two undusted bottles with yellow substance inside stood in front of him on the counter. He moved his hands presenting them. ¡°Just found them for you, dame¡±. Cervella, who came right behind Felia, smiled at him. ¡°Oh thank you¡±, she said in a sing song voice. ¡°It¡¯s so nice of you, honey¡±. She approached the counter and put her hips so close to it she was practically sitting on it. ¡°Ah! How embarrassing¡±. All of a sudden she put her face into her palms. ¡°What happened?¡± The vendor scooted closer to her. ¡°Ah¡­ it¡¯s nothing really¡±. Then she hopped off and went away from Felia. The vendor followed her. ¡°Dame, listen. I am here to help. I am fully responsible for any discomfort you might have had in my shop¡±. Cervella sighed theatrically. ¡°I¡­ I am just so interested in your establishment, but I didn¡¯t ask you even a single question about it¡±. The elf got confused, but dismissed it putting back on his most professional smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s nothing really. Ask away, and I will answer any of them¡±. ¡°Well...¡± And Cervella started chatting throwing a question after question at the poor elf not letting him answer any of them. She barely paused to catch her breath and continued soon after. During all the commotion Felia tried as sneakily as possible slide the two potions inside her cloak. Sleight of hand is now level 4. Level up! You are now a level 10 Rogue. You may now redistribute 5 points between Dexterity[30], Endurance[25], Charisma[25]. Level 10 rogue grants you a new skill. From the shadows is now level 1. Ha, she thought internally. She finally leveled up to level 10. She would have to look into this From the shadows skill later, but it sounded very roguish, which she liked. Adrenaline and dopamine rushing through her she decided that she might as well steal some other potions as well. Felia slowly shifted herself from the empty counter to the shelves full of blue, white and green filled bottles. She started putting them inside her cloak one by one. When she started moving her hand to a fifth potion, the fourth bottle clinked with the third. ¡°What?¡± the shop elf moved his head towards the noise. Cervella panicked and grabbed his head before he could see the empty counter and kissed him. Felia slapped her face as she saw it and ran out of the shop. Cervella moved her lips back away from his. He was shocked¡­ Actually, no, he was in terror. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± The he saw her white skin as the gray paint was greased away from her mouth. ¡°What the?!...¡± Then she hit him on his head. But she expected more than a small bump on his head. ¡°Ow¡±, he started, but was cut off again by another hit in the same spot, finally knocking him unconscious. Then she ran out of the shop accidentally knocking a shelf. Ten of the bottle fell down breaking on impact. As she exited through the door, she could hear the old elf scream at the edge of her hearing: ¡°I told you you¡¯d do this again!¡± ****************************** The inn was as busy as it usually was at this late hour. Syln sat at the counter chatting with Torik. As usual, he did all of the talking. When Felia managed to get him away from the ever full pint, she told of the day¡¯s events and showed the potions she managed to bring. Syln was about to get them from her, when she closed the cloak back. Syln dismissed her action, but Felia saw him throw an angry drunk look at her. The he smiled his usual fatherly smile. ¡°Well. We didn¡¯t sit around doing nothing either. I managed to find out where they keep Muscolo and Bokh¡±. ¡°Really?!¡± Felia was about to start jumping at the thought of finally leaving this Butovo shithouse. ¡°Almost. Almost...¡± Syln put his hands in front of him absolutely failing to calm her down. ¡°Torik, my buddy, told me, where this Bose guy usually keeps his ¡®prisoners¡¯¡±. He added air quotes to emphasize the word ¡®prisoners¡¯. ¡°He actually talks back?¡± ¡°Whenever he gets buzzy from a shot or two. Anyway, he usually takes them to a small farm outside the city¡±. ¡°Maybe then we could go there and break them out?¡± ¡°Not an option¡±. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Magic field around it. He chooses who goes and who doesn¡¯t¡±. ¡°Should¡¯ve guessed¡­ You said that Hudal did something too?¡± ¡°Ah, yes. He opened a small stall near the market¡±. ¡°And what¡¯s he selling?¡± ¡°I let him sell some of my equipment. It¡¯s not as I need it now. He bought apfels and some other fruit and now he¡¯s selling them at double the price. No wonder he¡¯s a travelling merchant. The bastard got a talent for this kind of work¡±. ¡°That¡¯s... good...¡± Felia felt a little bit ill. She told Syln everything that happened at that alchemy shop, but the price he told them. What if they would have the money to buy those potions? They just robbed two innocent elves, for Parva¡¯s sake! No, the rogue protested. She did the right thing at that moment. She had no money and that shit-eating smile on that greedy face deserved to be robbed of his goods! Or maybe not. Who cares? She had the profit at this point, right? Felia shook her head. That was an internal debate for later. At least, she tried to convince herself of that. ¡°The guy¡¯s actually managed to get enough gold to buy out the rooms for two more nights!¡± Syln announced. ¡°Just try not to stab anybody in there next time. Deal?¡± She stared at him dead pan through the slit between her mask and hood. She wasn¡¯t ready to take anymore shit today. Even if it had some reason behind it. Felia slowly had risen up the stairs and opened the door to the room she was in on the first night in the city of Boremar. It smelled a little bit of that elve¡¯s piss and puke, a metalish sensation tinkled her nose. It all seemed so long ago for her even though barely a week had passed. She sat down on the bed and moved away her mask and hood. Her hair became greasy from all the running and lack of clean water. There was small scar on her left cheek from all those rocks she landed on in her daring escape from the guard. It hurt whenever she touched it. She wanted to cry out and sob, when she thought of all that happened. Starting from Al and ending with that alchemy vendor. But she couldn¡¯t. Or rather it didn¡¯t feel appropriate. Not anymore. Not now. She had quests to finish and people to rescue. And with that thought, she fell asleep. Two days later the alchemy shop owner¡¯s grandson came out of the brewery. He found a small pouch with gold coins worth 400PP on the shop¡¯s porch.