Day 9
The next morning it was still raining, not as heavily as it had the night before. They had a warm breakfast and there was little conversation. There were puddles of water along the road towards the fortress gate. Soldiers stood at the gate and passage through the wall. It was only eight feet tall, and the group had to dismount to get through the passage. As they passed through the passageway, there were barriers of thick iron suspended from above. There were at least a dozen barriers that could be lowered. It was still raining after they passed through the fortress tunnel, and there was no other traffic coming or going at that time. A thousand feet from the wall, there was a road, it continued north, there was also a second road that paralleled the wall east and west.
“Which way do we need to go?” Newton asked.
“No idea, never been this far”, Gregory replied.
“Let’s ask them, “Newton said dropping back to talk to Bloodstone.
Bloodstone was having a discussion with Isabel. Azalar was perched on the saddle in front of Isabel.
“What if we went east?” Bloodstone asked.
“It would take us two days longer to get to the fortress.”
“We need to go west, why would we go east?” Newton asked.
“Well she is a seer, I am putting her sight to the test.”
“Isn’t that a little harsh, should we go north or west” Newton asked.
“You tell him, let see if he gets it.”
Isabel pursed her lips,” If we go north, we get to where we need to be on time, if we go east, we increase our group.”
“What do you mean increase our group,” Newton asked.
“I cannot say”
“See being helpful and cryptic seems like its north, since going east delays us”
“Your letting a blind girl decide what direction we go?”
“What would you suggest?”
“West, it is supposed to be the faster route and there are more towns in that direction.”
“Fine then west,” He said shrugging
Newton returned to the lead, and turned onto the west track, the rest fell in behind him
“Care to tell me what I should be looking for?” Bloodstone asked Isabel.
She ignored him, and the words from behind him were loud and to the point, “I’m hungry” Abagail said loudly.
“You just ate like a half hour ago, how you can be hungry is beyond me?” he said over his shoulder.
“Here,” Amethyst said giving her an apple from her horses pack.
“Thank you” and she started munching on it.
Bloodstone sat in the saddle, it was uncomfortable at first but he was used to in now. He sat thinking, not really paying attention to the landscape, most of it was, fields of crops occasionally there were orchards, or wooded areas.
As it got closer to noon, they stopped is a small open field to rest the horses, and feed them. The farmer who was nearby walked over to them. “I have a well, over there if you want to water your horses.”
“That’s kind of you,” Gregory said.
“Don’t see much but soldiers, and people off to market. I figure you for adventures.”
“I see how you could think that, is there something you need adventures for?”
“If you have the skills or the classes, I have problems in my north field.”
“What kind of problems?” Gregory asked.
“Land shark”, The farmer replied.
Gregory looked at the rest of the group, “Up to you, land sharks are like water sharks from what I have heard, they move through soil, and eat livestock and people. Never heard of one this close to the capital.”
“Well they been eating live stock for the past two seasons, from Demeran to Yelamire we let the duke know, no one’s come down to check. I lost two good cows yesterday.” The farm said getting a little upset.
“You sure it’s a land shark?” Gregory asked.
“No idea what else it could be, moving ground and my livestock taken. Though never seen land sharks here in the first district, you would think someone would have sent someone to check.” The farm said.
“How do you kill a land shark?” Newton asked.
“Not sure, never really paid much attention to stories like that, maybe Blood has some suggestions.” Gregory told him
“We can ask him,” he said more to the farmer than to Gregory.
The three of them walked over to where Bloodstone was tending to his horse and talking to Isabel.
“Afternoon, I’m [farmer] Thaddeus, I tend the lands in these parts, there is a well over there if you need to water your horses. I was asking your two friends here, if they could help with a land shark problem in my north fields.”
“I don’t see any reason we couldn’t look. Not sure how effective we would be against something like that.” Bloodstone replied.
“I suggest you leave your horses here, I can show you a safe way to get there.” The farmer said turning back to the field.
The rest of the group came to listen to what was going on. “I’m in” Xach said.
“We can’t all run off, it may be a few hours, if that’s the case, we should make camp here.” Bloodstone suggested. “Who else wants to go?”
Gregory, Newton, Sarah, Xach and Kuya all started to follow the farmer, Bloodstone followed them as well. The walked through the fields, following the farmer who seemed to zig zag across the field, he got to a thicker stone wall and walked along the wall for a short way and followed boulders through the border of another field.
“I would guess if he’s acting like that it could be like those things in that movie back home.”, Newton said getting onto the wall.
“Movie back home?” Xach asked.
“Yea the one with the underground monsters, that eat people and livestock. I can’t remember what it’s called.”
“What’s a movie?” Gregory asked.
“Never mind, I’ll explain it later” Newton said to Gregory and louder so he could hear,” Hey Blood, any thoughts, you have been unusually quiet?”
“Yea, sorry. Just scanning around us, I have a danger sense, nothings set it off yet.” He replied.
The continued to follow the farmer through a few more fields, along walls and buried boulders.
“There some weird metal underground here, can’t tell what kind, or how far down it is.” Bloodstone said.
“Metal, how do you know that?” Newton asked.
“Geomancer skill, sense metal as well as stone”
The followed the farmer and stopped when he arrived at a larger flat boulder set in the corner of some fields. “It’s somewhere out there, I don’t see anything though.”
Everyone looked out over the two empty fields to the north.
“Anything?” Newton asked.
“Nope” Xach replied.
“No” Gregory said.
Kuya stood on the rock and started walking along the wall to the north.
“It ate all my cows.” The farmer said a little more upset.
Kuya reached the next corner and pointed farther north.
The group began walking along the wall to where she was. Once they arrived, “There was something out there, moving”
Everyone looked to where she was pointing. Nothing moved in the field.
“You sure you saw something?” Newton asked.
“Yes.”
Someone stood up from a stand of trees on the other side, a dog barked and started running across the field. The person waved and started to cross the field the dog with him was barking and running around.
“No, no, no” , the farmer said under his breath and then yelled, “Get out of the field Rui!”
“Who’s that.” Newton asked.
“My grandson Rui, we were looking for the cows, I saw the land shark first, he doesn’t know.”
Everyone started waving at him. The kid though they were calling him over and started to jog across the field with the dog. It was then that they saw the mound Kuya had pointed to move, it moved fast towards the dog that was running around.
“Please you have to do something” The farmer said.
Before anyone else could react, Gregory hopped off the rocks and sprinted towards Rui. The large bump in the dirt moved closer to the dog, who sensed something was under the ground and started barking at it.
“Run!” Gregory shouted as he got closer.
Rui waved and looked at the dog, he saw the sand shifting and realized the danger and started to run towards Gregory.
The ground shifted as it closed with the dog. It was as if a large wave of soil and dirt engulfed the dog, there was a sound of the dog in pain and then the ground settled. The soil began to move towards Rui.
Gregory stopped and drew his sword.
“That’s not going to work” The farmer said.
“What do you mean” Newton asked.
“Land sharks have tough hide like steel, up in the third district you see them more. To kill it you need magic equipment, and they usually use long spears.” The farmer said watching.
“Gregory, you need to move!” Newton yelled.
“Dad, you need to use your powers,” Xach said.
Bloodstone watched, and started to use the geomancer skills. He could feel the creature moving through the soil, as it moved rocks. “I’m not really good with this, I haven’t practiced with the skills”
Kuya stood with her staff and started chanting, there was a slight breeze, that came from behind them, and then it picked up, dirt and loose debris started blowing across the field.
“A wind mage?” The farmer asked.
“Xach help your sister, I’m going to get them, stay on the rocks.” Bloodstone said.
Xach began chanting, the temperature began to drop as fire began to coalesce between his hands. The flame was blowing on one direction away from them. The wind began to pick up.
Bloodstone stopped as Rui passed him, “Get to the rocks, don’t look back.” As he stopped he drew the two longswords in a fluid motion. “Gregory, don’t move let it pass you” His words were lost to the wind blowing.
The land shark slowed, as if it couldn’t figure out which direction to go. It still moved in the direction of Rui.
“Look out Gregory!” Bloodstone shouted as it started to pass under him, again his shout was lost in the blowing wind. Gregory jumped up and stabbed down putting his weight behind the blade. The blade sank into the ground, the creature continued to move forward under the soil. It went about ten feet and stopped.
Get ready it knows where you are. Bloodstone sent to Gregory.
Gregory pulled the blade from the ground. The land shark turned and began to circle back to where the metallic sound and come from.
Bloodstone stomped on the ground, three times, and the shark shifted towards him.
Gregory gave him a look holding one hand to shield his eyes, he said something that didn’t register due to the howling wind.
What are you doing? Bloodstone heard him say in his mind.
It will take it a moment to figure out where you are, the movement of the wind is like noise. We need it to come out of the ground.
Bloodstone sent back.
Gregory nodded and then took off running, across the field aiming for the tree line.
“Not that way” Bloodstone yelled, Gregory didn’t hear him.
The land shark turned to follow Gregory. The temperature began to drop rapidly, and frost began to form on the field itself. Xach continued to channel fire into the center of his hands, holding the flame with one hand he pulled his one spear off his back, and put the tip of it in into the flame.
Bloodstone began to chant, several stones began to move towards him, against the wind. Purple lighting began to dance between the blades.
“Dead gods, what is that man doing” The farmer shouted.
“No idea, I didn’t know they could do this,” Newton shouted back.
Everything happened in an instant, the land shark rose up out of the ground near Gregory. Knocking Gregory to the ground. Bloodstone started running, straight at the land shark. A spear tipped with fire was thrown at the creature from Xach.
The land shark bit down on Gregory and was struck by the spear, letting him go. It bellowed in pain as two swords tried to penetrate its hide. They bounced off but the lighting coursed over its body, sending out a second scream. It turned to get away from the pain it was experiencing and dove back under the ground. It moved slower than before, as if dazed. Bloodstone sheathed one of his blades and knelt to pick up Gregory. There was blood everywhere, and he didn’t look good.
“Look out” Gregory said, and pushed him to one side.
The land shark had returned, and rose up and using a claw had raked it across Gregory. The scream Gregory mad attracted the beast. It was large about the size of a bus. It didn’t look like a shark, more like an armored torpedo with massive legs. It opened its mouth to bite down on Gregory. Gregory raised his sword stabbed as the jaws came down. The beast screamed and released Gregory and thrashed. The wind blowing ceased and a ball of fire slammed into the creature.
Bloodstone ran over to Gregory, fumbling with his bag, he pulled out a healing potion, and knelt next to Gregory.
“Save it, it’s too late. I can’t feel my legs” Gregory said coughing up blood.
“I can fix this.” Bloodstone said more to himself than to Gregory.
“Take my levels, please and look after Isabel.” He wheezed.
He poured the potion into his mouth, and Gregory coughed.
“To much damage, not sure how much longer I can hold on. Hurry.” Gregory said.
“I can fix this.” Bloodstone said.
“Tell Isabel,” He coughed.
Bloodstone removed his levels and a moment later Gregory died.
“ARRGGGGGHHHHHH!” Bloodstone screamed.
The land shark was still thrashing when the blade Gregory had stabbed into its mouth came free.
“DIE!” Bloodstones voice boomed.
The earth shook, and a stone spear erupted from the ground. There was a crack as it impacted the creature throwing it into the air.
A shaft of ice, slammed into the beast, shattering into shards. The creature dove back under the ground.
Rui had already made it to them.
Bloodstone lifted the body of Gregory and ran back towards the others on the rock. He was panting when he got to the rocks. “We need to kill that that thing. Kuya can you do the wind thing again but make it a tornado, hold it off the ground and burn it.”
“No, going to freeze it.” Xach said looking at Gregory.
“Kuya”
“Sure, there is a lay line I can use”, she said staring at the field.
“Who are you people?” The farmer asked.
Kuya started to breath deeper and rhythmically. The wind again started to pick up.
The ground around Xach began to frost over.
“I guess it’s my turn” Bloodstone turned and walked back into the field. The land shark wasn’t visible, the only motion was debris and sand being blown around.
Then they could see it returning, it had heard the footstep and was coming back.
The wind picked up, Newton and the farmer and his grandson moved off the large rock and began to retreat towards the rest of the group.
The wind began to howl, and the cold still spread out. A wall of dust began to form at the far end of the field, there was a rotation of the wind, at first it was a light pull and then the ground started to fragment and be pulled up. The roaring got louder. There was the sound of thunder overhead and a flash of lightning.
Bloodstone stood in the path between the tornado being created and a wave of cold coming from behind.
The land shard sped towards him, intent on getting away from the roaring behind. Jagged shafts of stone erupted from the ground in front of Bloodstone, in a direct line for the creature. The impact threw it out of the ground and into the swirling vortex. The stone didn’t penetrate the hard shell of the beast, but it did throw it into the air. The vortex caught it and held it above the ground. It howled as the intensity of it increased. The only thing holding bloodstone to the ground was bands of stone, across his feet, the stone crept up his legs.
There was a crack of sound as an intense wave of cold, passed over him into the vortex. Many more jagged spikes erupted from the ground. The cold frosted over the creature, covering it in ice. In an instant it stopped, the creature no longer held up fell, the fall wasn’t. far but it landed on the jagged rocks. Breaking them into pieces.
Bloodstone panted, as he walked towards the creature. Where it came to rest sideways on the stone. The creature was leaking from several wounds. It twitched, and started to right itself.
Bloodstone ran up and hit the creature, the weapon bounced off, as if hitting steel. Again, and again he struck at the dazed creature, and each time the blade bounced off the hard hide like shell. He laid a single hand on if for just a moment.
“I got this, “ Xach said walking up to the creature. Intense flame erupted from his hand it was blue white, and the smell of burning meat washed over Bloodstone. The flame was so hot it burned through the creature to the other side melting the rock itself.
“You can stop now, it’s dead. It better be dead.” Bloodstone said putting a hand on Xachs right shoulder.
The flame cut off. The ground itself radiated heat where it had melted.
The farmer, Newton, Kya and Rui came over to them.
“Thank you, I have never seen magic like that.” The farmer said, “it is too bad the field is ruined.”
“Give me an hour and I can fix the field,” Bloodstone said sitting down as he grabbed his head.
Ten minutes when by and the rest of the group had come to investigate the racket. Newton had covered Gregory’s face with a shirt from his bag of holding.
“Dammit! Dammit! dammit” Bloodstone said standing over Gregory’s body.
“There was nothing you could do,” Newton said.
“Maybe there is” and he activate a skill [rewind hour].
He watched as the farmer came over, ““I have a well, over there if you want to water your horses.”
He didn’t hear the rest of the conversation as Isabel came over to him. “You did it didn’t you”
“Did what?” He asked.
“Rewind, I never felt the ripples before, how many times?”
Bloodstone looked over at her, “Too many to remember”
“You need to stop, you can’t dwell on this one thing.” Isabel said softly to him.
“Someone dies, I want it where no one dies.”
“I know, I tried for a long time, you need to stop.”
“It’s Gregory, or me or Newton or one of my kids.”
“I know.” she put her hand on his chest, “I know, it’s my fault, you can blame me. Let it play out, stop rewinding.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.” He said angrily.
“Please stop, every time you do this you lose a little piece of yourself, eventually you will be the monster you think you might become. We need to move past this, accept it.”
Bloodstone sat staring at the corpse, nothing had changed, he had seen it so many times now, even the warning before it didn’t stop it. Gregory was dead. The rest of the group came over, and Isabel cried over his body.
“Farmer Thaddeus, who owns the field here?” He said looking at the devastation.
“That would-be Lord Sideris, of the first district”
“I will write a letter, once I am done here, both to the king and the lord here.”
Bloodstone walked farther out into the field, and the stones began to shift back into the ground. His camera was out and he was taking pictures.
Newton came over. “What are you doing?”
“They told the Lord here two weeks ago, there was a problem. I’m going to show the king, what lax Lords will cause.” He took pictures of the creature from all angles.
“What will that do, you have no way to get them to him?” Newton asked.
“I do we can send a runner with a message, and my extra SD card.”
“Oh!, I didn’t know you had an extra SD card.”
“I actually have two of them, can you stand there for a moment.”
Newton stood next to the creature, and looked small next to it. More pictures were taken and then the stones were clear of the field. The only thing left was a plate of stone under the creature. A small shrine was built in a short amount of time out of stone, glyphs and other symbols were on the stone itself. It was strange watching stone flow like liquid, and take on the shape.
“What are you making?” Eve asked.
“A shrine for Gregory, we can’t take his body with us.”
“I don’t recognize some of these symbols.”
“I will explain when we say a few words over his body.”
They carried the body over to the coffin like hole in the stone. he was lowered into the space and then it was sealed with stone. Bloodstone handed Isabel the small money pouch from Gregory’s body. “Hold onto this, in case you need it.”
Isabel nodded, her face was still streaked with tears, no one had told her. Bloodstone wiped her face with a soft cloth, “I know you can’t see, but you look a frightful mess.”
“Thank you, how many more times did you try”, she asked softy.
“Enough, I know why I couldn’t save him now.”
“Why?”
“I’m not strong enough, the land shark’s hide is as thick as a plate of steel. I didn’t even scratch it, and that means Gregory couldn’t either.”
Everyone gathered around the small shrine, it marked where one of the members had fallen.
“I would like to say a few things, but before that I want to show the king this shrine.” He took pictures of the shrine, and then set the phone down to record.
“We fought a creature here, that was a menace to the people here, I dedicate this shrine to a hero, and a knight who gave his life to protect others. This shrine has been consecrated with nine symbols, they represent the beings I know, who would if they were able to help in this place, of the godless. The symbols, are the bow, representing the archer, and hunter. The twin dragons representing the healer and her dual nature. The three blades, representing the warrior, who defends and protects. The skull and scythe representing the seer, and death. The fist, representing the monk, the hexagon and the bee representing finder. The anvil and the seven blades through it represent the blacksmith, and his ability to forge the future. The symbol of infinity, to represent the knave, and his enduring power to never give up. And the nine-pointed star to represent the mage, and magic itself. Let any who disturb these bones, or desecrate this shrine, be cursed for all time.” Bloodstone placed two flowers on the small offering bowl and two gold coins. The coins slid down and fell through a hole in the rock.
“Where do the coins go?” Sarah asked.
“Not telling,” Bloodstone said.
Each of them placed flowers on the or around the shrine, and they all started to leave. Bloodstone waited until they left and continued the recording.
“I have something to tell you your majesty, when we meet again I will tell you. when you are done you can record a message on this and send it back. I will keep a copy of this and the pictures in case they are lost.” He stopped the recording and caught up with the others.
It took them another hour to get back on the road after watering the horses. The farmer promised to keep an eye on the shrine.
They arrived just outside the next town, and they could see and smell the ocean, when the crested a hill. A large town was laid out, with docks and several large multi sail ships sitting out in the bay. The sun itself appeared to be setting, perhaps an hour maybe two, when they got into the town.
A couple of kids ran across the street, playing what looking like a game of tag. Abagail started to get off her horse, “Where do you think you’re going young lady” Bloodstone said from behind.
Abagail froze, and pointed to the kids her age running around. “No, we need to find an inn first, but if you want you can go ask them, unless someone else knows this town.”
Neither maid knew this area, “Sorry my lord, I am from the other side of the district and Marie is from up north”
Abagail dropped off her horse and walked over to the kids, she was dressed in riding gear, so she looked a little older than she was.
The kids were not sure about the new comer, and Abagail talked to them while they waited.
One of the kids came back with Abagail, “She says you’re looking for an Inn, best inn in town is down on Fisher street, I can show you for a silver”
Bloodstone laughed, “A silver. Lead on.” He fished a silver coin from his bag and tossed it to the kid.
The followed the kids through the streets, after having dismounted as not to trample anyone. It took twenty minutes to arrive at a large inn with a stable. The sign out front was a picture of a Hand in pieces. The kid said, “Tis the shattered hand inn” The inn was on the east side of a large square, and it appeared that there was an open market that was still open on the north and south side, some of the stalls were packing up. The road on the west side also had market stalls, only one of them was occupied by what looked like a half dozen people. Bloodstone watched and two of the half dozen broke away from the group of people. The two of them walked past. The large man was holing a chain that led to a collar and chain around a skinny woman’s neck.
“The king lied to us” Bloodstone muttered.
“What?” Amethyst asked.
“I’m going over there; can you take care of the accommodations.” He said pointing across the square.
“Sure,” She replied.
Bloodstone crossed the square, looking at some of the wares as he went, most of the stalls on the south side were selling fruits and vegetables. He walked over to the stall where he had seen the man and the woman in chains came from. There were three people in chains, and the seller. As he approached the seller looked him over. “Good evening, are you interested in one of my slaves here.” The seller was human at least he looked human, something about him was a little off, he couldn’t place what it was. The light was dim so it was hard to tell. The slaver, was dark skinned, and had a strange rippled skin texture as if it were made of cloth. His hair looked like it was made of knotted ropes.
“Let me look them over.”
“I do not recognize you, are you an adventurer by chance?”
“No,” He said looking at the taller muscular man who stared at Bloodstone with contempt. The large man was taller by almost a foot, and solid muscle. The man was manacled with his hands in front of him.
“Ahhh this is one of the best gladiators of Terandria, I happened to acquire him at a great personal cost.”
“Is that his class [Gladiator]?” Bloodstone asked.
“Ahh, No he is a [swordsmen], from the arenas”
“If that’s true why is he being sold off?”
“Ahh, to pay off a debt, he entered into the contract. It’s all perfectly legal, I have his papers with me.”
“I see,” He looked at the next woman who was olive skinned, and black haired. She was pretty, and looked to be about twenty. She was large chested and the rags she had been given were stretched provocatively tight. She smiled and her teeth were perfect. Even in the dim light he could see her eyes were green.
“Ahh ,This is a great pleasure slave, raised in Terandria from a child, and trained in the arts of pleasure.”
Bloodstone looked her over, and she continued to smile as turned around for him. He looked at the next woman and froze. She had pointed ears and was gagged, her hands bound behind her. Her hair was bound back, to show off her ears, it was a dirty rust color, her eyes were a deep blue. She was dressed in torn clothes, that look like they had seen better days. The pants were torn in places, leaving her pales skin showing through. The shirt and undergarments were visible through the tears in the shirt.
“You do not want this one, I will most likely have to drown her before leaving port. A half elf from Terandria, I do not know her age, though we have guessed it is close to forty or fifty, she is a prisoner who was sold into slavery”
“You don’t have any other half-elves” Bloodstone asked.
“Ahh no, the only one I brought, it’s too bad, if I had thought to buy more pleasure slaves I would have not wasted effort on this trash. It is getting late, the market closes when the sun sets.”
“How much.”
“For the pleasure slave, I would not dare part with her for less than fifteen gold coins.”
“No, for the half elf”
“Well since I will end up drowning her before bringing her back to the ship, five gold” The rage in the half elf’s eyes was visible as well as the fear.
“And for the big man here?”
“Ahh a good purchase I would sell him for fifty gold coins.”
Bloodstone stared at the merchant. “Seventy for all three, I don’t think so, how about thirty for all three.”
“You jest, the gladiator is worth at least thirty and this one is such a delight, like I said no less that fifteen. “
“These three all you have?”
“I have one more, but she’s just as worthless as this half elf.”
“Oh, so not here.”
The slaver kicked a bundle that was behind him, a small girl sat up, she couldn’t have been more than seven or eight. It took all bloodstones self-control not to gut the slaver right then and there. “I’m tired,” the girl said.
“Her too”
“Fifty, I will hand them over to you for fifty gold.”
“I don’t think you understand, that’s a lot of gold for someone you want to drown as much as I do. I will save you the trouble. If the brat is as worthless as you claim why should I pay gold for her. How about thirty for all four and you don’t get your hands dirty when you have to drown this one.” Bloodstone, said grabbing the half-elf’s lower ear. The half elf’s eyes went wide in terror. The big man tensed, and shot daggers of hatred towards Bloodstone. The small girl, stood up, and was naked, save for the steel collar and chain around her neck. The girl was blond with curls, and she had sea blue eyes. She slapped the slavers leg, “Don’t kick me”
“Hummm, you make a good point, I would still need to make a profit, thirty-five”
“Done,” Bloodstone counted out the coins one at time and the slaver checked each coin. Once that was done he handed over four sheets of thick parchment paper, with not only a lot of writing but glyphs that glowed with magical energy. He then unhooked the chains from a hook set in the back wall of the stall and handed them to him. He also handed over six small keys.
Bloodstone removed his rain cloak and put it around the small girl.
“You have a name” He asked the larger man.
“Marcus”, he said gruffly. They walked halfway across the square.
“Let’s get a couple of things straight Marcus, drop the attitude, or I will drop you.” He turned to the half elf, “you need to let that anger go, no I’m not going to do any of those things you’re thinking, no not that either. Stop being gross, she’s a kid.” He turned to the woman, “Really?” The child following behind said,” I’m hungry”
“We are going to the inn, so we will get you four fed.”
“Why did you buy me sir”, Marcus asked, relaxing somewhat.
“You used to be a gold adventurer, and your whole team died, you sold yourself to pay off the debt of your companions, you sold all your gear to send a friend’s sister to Wistram. You also were worried as this was the last day the ship was in this port, you were waiting for said friend to buy you. If there is someone who doesn’t deserve being a slave it’s you. The gladiator story is a bit farfetched, I think that’s what you told them.”
“Who are you?” Marcus asked.
He entered the inn and the rest of the group gave him a look as he walked over with the four slaves in tow.
Newton was the first to say something, “Uh, I thought slavery was illegal.”
The inn keeper hearing the discussion said to them, “Only in the capital, everywhere else its legal, as long as you have the paperwork. Four additional people, unless you are going to have them sleep with the horses, that’s another four silvers.”
“Does that include meals,” Amethyst asked.
“Yes, if you want extra food, we can have more brought for an additional four silvers.”
Amethyst placed down five gold coins on the counter. “We will take the three suites you mentioned.”
The innkeeper placed three keys on the counter. “The suites are on the second floor, far end of the hall.”
Amethyst walked over to Bloodstone, handed him a key, “I don’t think it’s appropriate to be buying slaves.”
Bloodstone guided the young girl forward, “should I have left this girl to that slaver?”
The half elf was still in a panic and was looking at Amethyst.
“Why is she naked” She asked.
“I have no idea, maybe she a nudist in training. I put my cloak on her.”
“What’s a nudist?” The girl asked.
“Get the collars off them, then we can have dinner.” The walked over to where the barmaids were setting up several tables.
“Marcus, do I have your word that you won’t cause trouble?” Bloodstone asked.
“You have my word.” Marcus said.
Bloodstone unlocked the collar and manacles, removing them from Marcus. He handed the keys and manacles to Marcus and then the chain and collar, hold on to these, I have an idea.
He turned to the pleasure slave, “Uh, might not be a good idea to take off her collar. Hold onto this one as well.” He handed the chains end, to Marcus.
Abagail began to look through a pack she had, and pulling out garments.
He unlocked the collar from the small girl, Abigail came over and offered her a brown dress and undergarments. The girl put them on they were a little big on her, at least she wasn’t running around naked.
He finally focused on the half elf. “Uh, no. No casting, If you want to run I won’t stop you. Though you might want to eat first.” He pulled the gag out of her mouth and then unlocked the collar from her neck and set it on the table.
“You’re a bastard!” She said and spat in his face.
“Maybe, but that’s no reason to be rude. Are you staying for dinner?” He asked wiping the spit from his face.
“You disgust me human. I would sooner dine with the dogs.”
“Well that’s a personal choice, I do have one thing you might be interested in.”
“You have nothing I want.” She growled.
Bloodstone held up the key in front of her face. “I realize you have been hurt by others, and you think all humans are evil.” He unlocked her collar and the bindings on her hands.
“I won’t submit, not to you not to anyone.” She said defiantly and turned slightly and looked at the door.
“Good, I never asked you to. No one will stop you if you run for it, though I am not sure where you are going to run to.”
“You still have my papers, you would say I ran away.” She seemed to deflate a little.
“Look just calm down, I know you’re angry and confused, after a ship ride full of slaves and being the only half elf, I get it.”
“You don’t understand anything, there is no way you can know what I have gone through, I will not be your slave.”
The barmaids had finished and the rest of the group had already sat down.
Bloodstone shrugged and pointed towards the seats, and then walked over and sat down turning his back on her intentionally.
Marcus, looked back and forth and followed bloodstone and sat across from him. Amethyst took the girl in hand and sat her in a chair. “Food!” The girl said happily. The barmaids had brought out hot rolls to the table. They also poured mugs of a light ale.
The woman sat next to Marcus. “What’s your name he asked the woman.”
“Whatever master wants it to be,” she said.
“What about you, he asked the girl,”
“Food!” She yelled. Amethyst buttered a roll and gave it to her. She started taking bites of it and holding it close to her body. “No one’s going to take it hon” Amethyst said.
The half-elf sat next to Bloodstone, “I will take your offer of a meal.”
Bloodstone ignored her, and looked across at Marcus. “You want to go look for your friend?”
“How do you know what I am thinking, are you using some kind of artifact or item? Who are you?” Marcus asked.
“I am readying your mind, it’s one of my classes. I am Lord Bloodstone, we are heading to the third district in Rhir, we can look for your friend if you want after dinner.”
Two men came into the Inn, they wore deep purple robes with arcane symbols in silver. The man in the lead had a mustache and short dark hair. He was taller than the second man and more muscular, and carried himself with an air of authority. The second man was a red-haired man and stood a head shorter than the first, he was stockier and a little rounder both in the stomach and face.
The two of them and walked over to the table. “Excuse the interruption, I see that you have purchased this slave.” The dark-haired man pointed to Marcus. Marcus stiffened seeing the purple robes, as did the half elf.
“I don’t see what business that is of yours.” Bloodstone asked.
“I wish to purchase him,” He said smiling at Marcus.
Isabel stood up and said, “To Lord Bloodstone, slayer of a land shark and his son Xach and daughter Kuya, who helped.” The rest of the group gave a toast.
The two men waited a moment looking at the others at the other tables, “I said, I wish to purchase him”
“I heard you, I really don’t give a fuck what you want, he’s not for sale. Your interrupting my dinner, and I have had a long day. The answer is no, you can’t buy him.” He said with authority.
The man sputtered, “I will not be spoken to in such a tone, who do you think you are”
His companion glared and said, “We are representatives of the Kadayan order of mages, this one is responsible for murder of members of our order.”
Marcus glared at them, stood up, “I will go with them if….”
Bloodstone looked at Marcus, “Sit down and shut up.”
Marcus looked at Bloodstone in shock.
“I am prepared to offer ten times what-ever you paid for him” The man said.
“I don’t think you can afford it.”
“You heard my husband, they are not for sale.” Amethyst said walking over to stand next to Bloodstone.
Newton stood up from the table, “Are these men bothering you Lady Amethyst”
“No, they were just leaving.”
“This isn’t over”, the red-haired man said. The two of them left the inn.
Amethyst looked over the group, “Maybe we should set a watch tonight?”
“No need, at least for the women, I’ll give them box, and Azalar can keep watch.” The black cat at the table, winked at Bloodstone.
The two of them sat back down. Marcus looked confused, “Why would you pick a fight with them, they are high level mages.”
Bloodstone laughed, “If you knew me you would understand. I don’t care what level or classes they have.”
“You’re are either crazy or you are more powerful than you seem.” The half elf said.
“Oh, why do you say that” He asked.
“I can tell if someone is higher or lower level than I am, you are definitely lower level than me.”
Bloodstone laughed, “Meaning your higher than level twenty, so what are your classes and levels then”
The half elf ignored the question. “Those two are at least in the high twenty’s or low thirty’s, they did not have any stripes on their robes or at least I didn’t see any.”
Bloodstone leaned over to her and whispered in her ear, “I have forty-four levels of geomancer”
“That’s not possible, I don’t see how you can be that high of a caster.” She said.
“Then tell me what classes and levels you have or should I just read your mind.” He asked.
The barmaids started coming out with the food, it was plates of fish, as well as purple looking mash, and small blue colored pods.
Bloodstone asked, “What is this?”
“This is yellow fish caught this morning, with side of snap pods, with mashed deevan root.” The barmaid said leaving to retrieve more dishes. A second barmaid was refilling mugs with more ale, a bottle of wine was placed near Amethyst as well as several crystal glasses.
“Hurray!” The girl said and started eating the food with her hands stuffing her face.
“No not with your hands, use the fork” Beth said who was sitting next to her.
The girl stuck the fish on the fork and was eating it off the fork.
“No like this.” Beth showed her.
The woman sat in the chair and stared at Bloodstone. “Something wrong with the food?” Bloodstone asked.
“Master?”, she asked.
“You can eat,” He told her.
“Thank you master.”, She said softly.
“Why is she acting like that”, Sarah asked.
“Brain washing, and conditioning.” Bloodstone sighed, “This is going to require some work.”
The woman ate her food slowly and was the opposite of the little girl.
Eve walked over and asked the half elf, “Are you an Elf?”
“I am not an elf, I am a half elf.” She said somewhat upset.
“Easy, you’re the first half elf we have seen, you have pretty eyes.” Eve said.
The comment seemed to confuse her, “I thought humans hated half elves.”
“Not us, you’re the first half elf we have met, or seen. Did you have a parent who was an elf?” She asked.
“There are no elves, not anymore my mother was a half-elf”, she said as if that answered the question.
“Really, that’s seems weird to me.” Eve said.
“It’s possible, that the elf traits are stronger than human ones and dominate the genes in trait expression.” Bloodstone said.
“Huh, what’s your name” Eve asked her.
“Ke’lara’ Grey’elen” The half elf replied.
“That’s pretty, how did you end up being sold as a slave?” Eve asked pulling her chair up on the other side of her and moving her plate.
“I.. I don’t want to talk about that.” She seemed genuinely confused.
“Well we should find you something better to wear, the grunge look you have going isn’t very flattering.”
This seemed to make Ke’lara a bit more self-conscious, “I am a slave so I have no say on what I wear” The realization made her a little emotional as well. “Are you an adventuring group?”
Eve giggled, “Why does everyone think that? No we are not, at least not right now. That’s Newton, And his girlfriend Beth.” Everyone looked over at Beth including the rest of the group. “Oh sorry I thought you two told everyone. That’s Miguel, my ex, that’s Amethyst, or should I say Lady Amethyst since the king gave her a title. One of our maids Hellen, and Marie our other maid. Abagail sitting there, next to Sarah is Isabel. Then Xach and his sister Kuya. Lord Bloodstone here, and I am Eve. We lost one of our number this afternoon to a land shark, I didn’t know Gregory very well.”
Ke’lara, looked at Eve then Bloodstone, “Why did you purchase me, if you are a lord.”
Bloodstone wasn’t listening, but stuffing his face. “Huh?”
Eve replied, “He’s like us, we don’t like slavery. It’s wrong, there’s no way to explain why, it just is.”
“I really don’t understand, why are you being so nice to me?” She asked.
“Did you like being in the collar?” Eve asked.
“No, I hate it!”, her reaction was a little louder than was necessary.
“Hey Blood, what are you going to do with Ke’Lara?” Eve asked.
Bloodstone, looked over at Eve, then at Ke’lara, “I don’t know, to be honest, I didn’t think that far ahead. Can I finish here, then we can talk?”
Ke’Lara began to wolf down her meal.
“Lord Bloodstone,” Marcus said.
Bloodstone turned to him, “Marcus?”
“What class are you” He asked.
“Why?” Bloodstone asked.
“I was thinking of attacking you in the market, as we crossed to the inn. Take one of your swords and stab you take my papers. The moment I thought about that my danger sense went off. There only been one other time, that I have had it do that.”
“Well, I have about ten classes”
“Ten!? Why would you even take ten classes?” Marcus asked.
“Well I have the [Hero] and [Lord] classes. Those really are fairly low end, at least at the moment. I have [wizard], [engineer], and [Psion] as well as a single [monster] class.”
“How do you have a [monster] class,” Ke’lara asked.
“No idea, I also have [fighter], [pyromancer], [Geomancer], [blacksmith], [goldsmith], [thief], and [pirate]”
“Why do you have that many classes,” Marcus asked, “Do you not know that it’s harder to level the more classes you have.”
“Well for a normal person that would be true, I’m not a normal person. Care to guess how many levels?”
Ke’lara was counting on her fingers, “Thirteen classes and you must have them all at least one or two levels, the most one could be would be five or six.” She grabbed a roll and bit into it.
“That’s where you would be wrong. yes, a bunch of them are below three, however fighter is sixteen and geomancer is forty-four.”
“That’s not possible.” Ke’lara said with roll in her mouth.
“Well, he’s got some strange ability, from a class he has.” Eve said
“Finish eating.” He said to Ke’lara and then called out, “Barmaid!”
The barmaid came over, “What”
“Is there a clothing shop open around here after dark?” He asked.
She thought for a moment, “No, most shops close at sundown. Why?”
“Well my friend here, needs a change of clothes, and these to be burned.”
Eve laughed, “I think we can find something for her until tomorrow.”
“I don’t need your charity” She said glaring at Bloodstone.
Bloodstone leaned over and said to her, “Yes you do, I just saved your life. The slaver wasn’t kidding about wanting to drown you. I’m not going to put the collar back on, in fact you keep it, here” He slid the collar towards her. He then flipped through the papers he had been given and handed her one of the thick parchment sheets to Marcus the second sheet he set on the table. He pulled out a small stack of gold and silver coins and placed the on the parchment, “I am feeling generous now, I release you from any claims I have on you or Marcus.” He then turned and continued eating.
“You’re serious?” Marcus asked somewhat in shock.
“Marcus, you have to decide what you want to do. If you want a sword, I can make you one, or lend you one of mine if you stick with us.”
Ke’lara, looked at him then the coins and parchment on the table. “This must be a trick”, she drank the mug of ale down.
“No trick, your free to go.” He said taking a drink.
She grabbed the coins and parchment and stood up from the chair. She also palmed the key to her collar. “why?”
Bloodstone set the mug down, “Because you don’t trust me. I understand, you find it hard to trust anyone.” He looked her in the eyes, “I have something you have spent your whole life looking for, if you stay I want it to be your choice, not because I forced you. There’s enough gold and silver there to start over. Be safe” He turned and resumed his meal.
She looked at Eve, “It’s a trick?”
Eve shrugged, “I trust him, he saved my life.”
She walked past Bloodstone and hurried out of the inn.
Marcus finished his meal and watched Bloodstone. Eve had returned to her chair.
Isabel felt her way to the chair next to Bloodstone, “I didn’t expect her to leave.”
“No, she needs time to think, she’s been cooped up on that sailing ship for weeks, and swore the first person to buy her she would slit their throat, it didn’t work out the way she envisioned it.”
“Marcus, did you need coin to look for your friend?”
Marcus shook his head no, “I couldn’t ask that of you. You spent gold to free me, what about the girl and the woman?”
“Well for now she is too young to be left on her own, we will take care of her, and the woman as well.”
“I don’t understand you, I could be a criminal or a murderer, yet you seem to know all about me. I feel that you are not judging me. You don’t have any fear of the Kadayan order of mages, and didn’t seem to know who they were. Your accent, is unfamiliar to me, and your mannerisms are strange.”
“Well, that’s because I am not from Rhir or any other continent, in this world. Where me and the other are from is another world. There is a very important document from our country, it starts We the people. Not we the lords, or we the rich, just We the people. I have a copy I carry with me, because it is so important. If I left you and the others there, it would have bothered me, I decided to do the right thing. It would have been easy to just walk away and say, not my problem.” The table had gone silent, as he started to speak. “Rhir is ruled by a king, I don’t envy or want his job. He must decide how to keep everyone here in Rhir alive. You could argue that by purchasing the four of you I am complicit in the enterprise of slavery, however I have no authority here to commit one crime to undo another. It takes time to change a mindset, to enlighten others. To bring about a profound change, it took our country a long time to first stop slavery. We fought our own civil war over a hundred and fifty five years ago. It was one of the things we fought about then. It was changed shortly after that war ended. We don’t have other races like Half-elves or gnolls or drakes, or some of the other strange races I have heard about. Just humans, who have no magic and built a society to govern themselves.”
“What country are you from, I have never heard of a place like yours.” Marcus asked.
“The United States of America.” Newton said.
“I didn’t know you had a copy of that Blood,” Eve said in awe.
“I also have the bill of rights, though explaining some of it would and could cause some issues.”
“Like what?” Sarah asked.
“Like the god part.”
“Oh yeah! they don’t have gods here. I keep forgetting that.” Sarah said.
The barmaid who had been listening, asked if there was anything she could get for them. Abagail and the small girl both wanted more food. The barmaid brought more for the two girls, and refilled some mugs.
Marcus drank the ale down, “I will follow you.”
Isabel asked, “How many levels do you have Marcus”
“I am a thirty second level swordsman, I have several blade skills that are unique.” Marcus said.
Isabel nodded, “I am a thirty-eighth level seer.”
“That is an unusual class, and a level that high, I am surprised that the king allows you to travel.”
“I had a protector this morning, a young man who worked with my father, a blacksmith. He died protecting Lord Bloodstone and others from a land shark.”
“Land shark, It usually takes a team of adventures to take one of those down. I have fought one in the arena, with others, only magic seems to be able to harm them.” He looked at Bloodstone, “Are you saying you killed one?”
“I had help from my son and daughter, the three of us took it down.”
“Three? That’s insane, how big was it?” Marcus asked.
“Bigger than the tables, here”
Marcus shook his head, “There really is something weird about you.”
“Would you guide me to the room, I wish to rest, it’s been a long day.” She asked Bloodstone.
“Sure,” he said taking out the room key. He led her up the steps feeling eyes watching him. He walked her down the hall to the door number on the key and unlocked it. It was a large room, with six beds. Two lanterns hung from the ceiling giving off enough light to see by. Bloodstone looked over at the lanterns, they appeared to have a glowing object inside, and the lanterns had shutters on them than opened or closed.
He led her to one of the beds. “What the matter?”
“I have a bad feeling, you have to many levels to use your power. I can hold some of them if you need me to.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I would like to save the levels Gregory had.”
“how many levels are you holding?”
“ninety-eight”
She inhaled sharply, “That’s dangerous, give me Gregory’s levels.”
“And if I refuse?” He asked her.
Isabel bit her lower lip, “I can make your trip very unpleasant.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Please, don’t do this, don’t make me force things here.”
“I can only give you about thirty or so levels, unless you want to hold the [geomancer] as well.”
“No, just Gregory’s for now.”
“What would you do if I said no?”
“Stop stalling, and give me the classes.”
The door opened and Eve and Sarah entered, behind them the two maids came in, and closed the door.
“Not a bad room,” Eve said looking around.
Bloodstone held out the key to Eve. “Are you all turning in?”
“Not just yet,” Eve said, “I have a question, before you leave.” She said taking the key
“Ok?”, He asked.
“What were you thinking?” Eve asked.
“Bloodstone, you will need to relinquish any held classes right now”, Marie said.
“What is this all about?” He asked confused.
“It’s about you blabbing downstairs, and what’s with you picking up naked kids?” Eve asked.
“It’s not like that?”
“I told you to stop stalling,” Isabel said.
“Wait, wait, what the hell is going on here?” Bloodstone asked.
“We were instructed by the king to keep an eye on you and to make sure you don’t give away any secrets”, Marie said.
“I told them earlier, what would happen.” Isabel said, “Now you need to give up the levels you have, all of them.”
Hellen stepped closer, “I can hold the [geomancer] and [fighter] classes your holding”
“I will hold everything else,” Eve said standing next to her.
“That’s not all the classes I have, I have a [thief] and [pirate] class, and a bunch of [monster] levels What if I refuse?” He said looking at the four women.
“Your wife has said we can knock you out if you try and leave with the levels” Marie said.
“Fine.”, he touched Hellen and gave her the [geomancer] and [fighter] classes.
He then gave Eve the [thief] and [pirate] classes. He then gave the [goldsmith] and [blacksmith] classes to Isabel.
“What about the pirate class”, Eve asked.
“I gave you the one level I got from Gregory.” Bloodstone said.
“Humm, I only got two [thief] levels from that, maybe there is a limit about how classes can be transferred.” Eve said.
“What about the [monster] levels?” Sarah asked.
“It should be ok,” Isabel replied, “I didn’t know about them until just now.”
“Can I go now ladies?” Bloodstone asked.
Hellen opened the door. Bloodstone walked into the corridor, as the door closed he heard them talking.
“So what skills did you get”, Eve asked.
“I can sense Stone…” Hellen said, the rest of the sentence was cut off as the door closed.
Bloodstone started back down the hall and passed Newton, Beth, Kuya and Xach who were carrying Abagail by each hand. “Hi Blood,” Abagail said as Kuya and Xack lifted her off the floor.
Bloodstone returned downstairs, Lady Amethyst was standing with Marcus and the woman. The small girl had made a mess of the front of the dress, and Amethyst was trying to clean it with the help of one of the barmaids.
Marcus waited until he was closer, and then offered the chain back to Bloodstone.
“Did you still want to look for your friend?” He asked.
The woman hugged Bloodstone from behind. “Stop”
“Master?” She asked.
“Ugh, no.. just Bloodstone or Blood, either of those will work. What is your name anyhow?”
“I wouldn’t know where to start,” Marcus replied.
“Yes Mast.. Er Blood. I don’t have a name.”
“Fine then, your name is Violet, if you want a better name you are going to have to suggest it.”
“Violet Mas.. Blood. She replied.
“Any idea what this messy child’s name is,” Amethyst asked as she wiped her face.
“I think its Kiki, at least that’s what the slaver called her.”
“What!?” the messy girl said.
“Why are you so messy?” Amethyst asked.
“I’m sowwy” Kiki said pouting.
“She is way smarter than she acts hon, don’t let the sad eyes fool you.”
Amethyst had her hop off the seat and then took her hand and guided her upstairs. “If you do go out, don’t stay out to late we have to get going early”
A young boy came in and walked over to the desk, and gave the desk clerk a sealed letter. He then left.
The barmaid was summoned to the desk and walked over and handed it to Bloodstone.
It was a letter addressed to him there was a purple seal on the letter.
Marcus looked at the seal, “That’s a Kadayan seal.”
Bloodstone broke the seal, and started to read. He handed the letter to Amethyst who read it and then set it on the table. “You want me to go with you?”
“No, just hit me and Marcus with a rune. I am pissed now.” He said taking of one of his swords and handing it to Marcus.
Marcus read the short letter.
Lord Bloodstone, we have your half-elf, if you want to see her alive, we will trade you her for Marcus. We will be at the Salty sea dog, till first light. Bring Marcus or we leave a corpse and fine someone else to trade for.
There was a signature, it was unreadable.
“Lord Bloodstone, they must be referring to Ke’lara, you don’t owe her anything, she left.” Marcus said.
“They made two mistakes, one they sent me a letter telling me where they were, two they underestimated me. Go ahead hon, also can I get haste and mind crack”
Lady Amethyst smiled, and began casting. A blue glow surrounded his head for a moment. She continued to cast, both he and Marcus were hit with a soft yellow glow, that faded after a moment.
“Uh, I can’t cast the rune, I don’t have the required focus” Amethyst said.
“Oh right, we will have to get some, at some point. Marcus one minute, must take care of violet. You ok with Kiki, hon”
Amethyst laughed; “Yea” She ruffled Kiki’s hair and patted her on the head.
Bloodstone went back upstairs with Violet in tow. Xach was being loud and was easy to find.
“Xach, you got a sec?”
Xach stepped out of the room, “Sure, what’s up?”
“Take care of violet here, for me,” He handed her chain to him. He then fished out the key from his pocket.
“Marcus and I are going to go get the half-elf, at some inn or tavern called the Salty Sea Dog. Keep an eye on things here, we shouldn’t be too long”
“Can I help?”
“Yeah can I take all your [pyromancer] levels?”
“I guess”
Bloodstone reached out and took the [pryomancer] class. “You leveled it up?”
“Yeah” Xach replied.
Bloodstone used the combine skill to combine pyromancer and the monster class.
[sub class pyromancer 10]
[sub class monster 17]
[sub class pyromancer 12]
“That’s weird!”, Bloodstone said.
“Huh?” Xach asked.
“Combining monster class and pyromancer class gave me two pyromancer levels.”
He combined a few more and ended up with more pyromancer levels.
[sub class pyromancer 19]
[sub class monster 8]
[sub class pyromancer 21]
“I’m going to give myself another five levels of pyromancer and return the rest back to you.
“Ok.”
[class pyromancer 11]
[sub class pyromancer 11 removed]
[skill control fire] à [skill unquenchable flame]
[skill inner fire] à [Skill pyrokinesis]
“Whoa!” Xach said.
“What?” Bloodstone asked.
“I just got a new skill, in [cryomancer] and [pyromancer]”
“What skills?”
“The skills [Absolute cold] and [unquenchable flame]” He said.
“Weird I wonder why you got different ones”
“Dono, I wonder how cold it is”, he said as a ball of ice started to form between his fingers.
“Ok here take my bag of holding, and hold onto it,” He removed the bag and pulled out a couple of gold and silver coins. He pulled the leather suit of armor out of the bag. “I will see if Marcus wants this”
He went back into the bag and pulled out four potion bottles. “Just in case”
“Sure, is that the magic one we got from the enchanter”
“Yeah”, Bloodstone went back downstairs, Marcus was standing talking with Lady Amethyst, Kiki was eating a roll, in one hand, the other hand was gripped firmly by Lady Amethyst. “Be careful”
“I will, Marcus here wear this.” He said giving him the armor.
Marcus took the time to put it on, it seemed to fit perfectly, the stains on it seemed to fade. Bloodstone hugged Amethyst, and he also patted Kiki on the head.
“This magic armor?” He asked.
“Yeah, I think it suits you, no pun intended”
“I gave the bag to Xach, and left violet with him”, he said and picked up the letter.
“Ok, if you’re not back by the morning we will come looking for you.”
“Well if we are not back in a couple of hours, definitely come looking.” Bloodstone walked over to the inn’s desk, and asked, “Any idea where the Salty sea dog is?”
“Yeah, it’s a tavern down by the wharfs, just head down across the square, last street down make a left should find it pretty easy this time of night. It’s a rough part of town, with all the [sailors] and [fishermen]”
“Thanks” He and Marcus left the Inn. They crossed the square, and followed the road. The road itself had a gentle downhill slop, towards the ocean. The sun had set and the sky itself was visible.
“Marcus, are there any stories about the stars?” He asked.
“Not that I know of, never really thought about it. I suppose sailors, must have some. Why?” He asked.
“Well it occurred to me that having looked around for information on the dead gods, there is nothing that I have found that references them, almost as if they have been removed from history. There might be some hints in the night sky.”
“I don’t really much about the dead gods, that’s more of a [mage] thing.” Marcus said apologetically.
“No problem, just wondering do you know if the moons are named, or if any specific stars are named?”
“The moons, yeah I think they have names, I don’t recall what they are, again not my specialty”
“What can you tell me about this order of mages?” Bloodstone asked.
“Lords hire them, for their magical ability, they are not as high profile as Wistram mages, they are a recent order, not as old as the mage school at Wistram. I know they are sometimes used as diplomats, as they can be sent to other kingdoms and have the spells to communicate over long distances.”
“So how did you get involved with them?”
Marcus sighed, “This isn’t your fight. Why are you getting involved?”
“It is now, I know we are in the right here, so did you kill one of their order.” He asked.
“I did, bastards wanted a good friend’s daughter to join the order, she didn’t want to. I intervened, people died. I used their money to send her to Wistram. The only way to escape them at the docks was to join in as a slave, I figured I could get out of it when I got here.” He shrugged, “Not really working how I expected.”
They turned left, there were several shops that were closed, and a few light poles were glowing with an eerie blue glow. There was enough light to see the road by but not enough to mess up a person’s night vision. They walked two more blocks and found the Salty sea dog tavern; the sign was a dog with a fish tail in a mug. The area around the tavern was dimmer than the rest of the street.
“Let me do the talking, if you see the half-elf, let me know, here are two healing potions, I have one healing potion and a mana potion.”
Marcus opened the door for Bloodstone and followed him inside. There was the scent of sweat, ale and something unpleasant. The inside of the tavern was dark; only two sources of light were visible, one behind the bar and another over the door. It the dim light there were two sets of doors on each side of the bar.
There were a number of patrons in the tavern, sitting at tables on the north and south walls, and few tables were scattered around the room. When they entered everyone looked in their direction. The bartender called out, “What can I get for you?”
“Was told to meet some people here,” he walked up to the bar, and tossed down the letter.
“What’s that?” The bartender asked.
“The letter, we got to meet someone here.”
“You got coin?”
“Well looks like we came to the wrong place Marcus. Have you seen two men wearing purple dresses come in here?”
The bartender looked him over, ”Order a drink or leave, ale is one silver per and if you want wine, its two silver per”
Bloodstone tossed two silver coins on the table, “Two ales.”
The bartended filled two mugs and put them on the table. He then scooped up the two coins.“Haven’t seen any men wearing dresses,” it brought a light chuckle from some of the patrons.
“How about a half-elf” Bloodstone asked. The room went silent.
“Whos askin?” The bartender said.
“I am.” He replied.
The bartender looked at him for a moment then looked over at one of the men sitting at a table and nodded. The man got up and went through one of the doors. He came back out and sat down, the two mages from earlier exited the back room.
“I see you brought Marcus, so let us talk about the trade.”
“Yeah, let’s I want to see my woman.” Bloodstone said
Two men dragged Ke’Lara out from the back room and dropped her in front of the bar.
Bloodstone knelt and checked for a pulse on her neck. She was still breathing and alive, a trickle of blood dripped from her nose. Her clothes were more ripped up and there were pieces missing, there was also blood from two wounds on her back.
“She’s a tough little thing, for a half-elf, if we had more time I’m sure I could make her talk,” the fat mage said.
“You really don’t know who you are messing with do you.” Bloodstone smiled at him.
“You are no lord, if that’s what you mean, no one here has heard of you.” The taller mage said.
“Let’s go Marcus,” Bloodstone said reaching to pick her up.
“I didn’t say you could leave yet.” The taller mage said.
Bloodstone looked at him and then stood up and looked around the room, “I see, I think you might want to reconsider.”
“Reconsider, we have you outnumbered.” The tall mage said.
“I wasn’t talk to you, I was talking to them.”
One of the men looked at the bartender then to Bloodstone, “Reconsider what?
“Getting more men,” He looked at the bartender, ”You won’t like the result, if your men get in my way.”
One of the two men who had dragged Ke’Lara from the back room drew a dagger from his belt.
“This is your last warning.” Bloodstone said.
The man with the dagger turned his head and smiled and in a single fluid motion attempted to stab Bloodstone in the stomach. It that instant, three things happened. The dagger cut through the shirt he was wearing and scrapped across his skin, not leaving a mark. Marcus stepped forward and ran the other man through with Bloodstones ruby sword, as he too was drawing a dagger. The man stabbing at Bloodstone erupted in flames.
“Dead gods,” The bartender said as the man started screaming a then the other one fell to the ground dead.
The two mages took a half step back, and Marcus kicked the burning man into the center of the tavern, away from the half-elf.
Bloodstone looked at the two mages, and said to the rest of the room.“You get in my way, you die.”
The fat mage began casting, and seven bolds of black energy slammed into Marcus. There were sparks as if someone had hit metal on metal. Marcus never moved.
Bloodstone stepped around the corpse and over Ke’lara putting her behind him and advanced on the mages.
The taller mage pulled a wand from his belt and there were cracklings of blue electricity and he pointed it at Bloodstone.
“I will do enjoy watching your head explode.” The mage said as the lighting began to crackle louder.
The tall mage screamed, as his legs buckled and he fell grabbing at his right leg, dropping the wand. “My leg”
The fat mage started looking around, as the tall mage clutched at his leg, there were four deep lines that had sliced through the cloth and were bleeding profusely. A jet black cat leapt up onto the bar its eyes glowing green. “You don’t know who you’re messing with”, the fat mage said suddenly unsure of what was going on.
Bloodstone took three steps forward and punched him in the gut. The robe he was wearing absorbed a good amount of the blow. “Pathetic, I have mage robes you will not be able to…” Bloodstone punched him in the face, there was a snapping sound and blood gushed from his nose.
The fat mage screamed, and held his nose as blood poured through his hands.
Marcus had stepped over to the other mage and put the tip of his blade to the taller mages throat.
“Get them” The tall mage shouted. No one moved. The bartender said, “You started this, this is not what we signed up for.”
“I have more gold the taller mage said, a hundred rounds if you kill them”
“Are we done,” He said looking around the room, “Does anyone else want to die?” No one moved there was a tone to Bloodstones voice that shook them to the core.
He looked at the tall mage, “You and your friend need an abject lesson,” He said picking up the wand and tucking it into his belt. He reached down and unhooked the tall mans pouch from his belt. He then grabbed the fat mans pouch as well, from his belt.
Looking inside them he put a small stack of twenty gold coins on the bar, “For the trouble here.”
He tossed them to Marcus and picked up the half-elf under one arm. He turned to the two mages, “I see either of you again you will regret it. Let’s go Marcus” He nodded at the cat, which jumped off the bar and headed towards the door.
They walked outside and the cat vanished into the shadows. They went back up the street, and waited at the crossroad.
“I do not think they took your advice”, Azalar said.
“Great, can you go get the others we will meet outside the inn”
“Who was that?” Marcus asked.
“That was the one member of our group that didn’t get introduced. C’mon let’s get her to the inn.”
The two of them headed back up the street, and when they got to the square, several people were waiting. Xach, Hellen, Eve, and Sarah were standing just outside the inn.
“I think she’s going to need to be looked at, Eve, Sarah take her to one of the rooms and get her cleaned up. If those mages want a fight they will be in for a shock. Marcus if it is possible don’t kill them until I can touch them.”
“Why,” he asked.
“I will explain afterwards, trust me.”, He said drawing his sword.
Eve and Sarah carried Ke’lara back inside, Marcus handed Eve one of the healing potions.
They waited for over a half hour, and the two mages came up the street, the tall one was limping. They slowed when they entered the square and saw Marcus and Bloodstone waiting for them swords drawn. Xach and Kuya stood just behind Marcus and Bloodstone.
“If you’re here to continue, turn around or you won’t leave the square.” Bloodstone said threateningly
The tall man glared at Bloodstone, “You took our money and my wand, return it.”
“Considering what else you could lose, you got off light.”
The fat mage had blood on his face, and his nose was crooked
“You betta gib my money pouch back.” He stammered.
The tall mage began casting, and then he looked confused as Amethyst appeared next to Bloodstone. She completed a spell and with a gesture he was tossed backwards and a flash of light surrounded him for a moment.
The fat mage began to cast as well after a moment he stumbled on the words, and stopped chanting. “You bro my node, now I cana cass wight” he said shaking his fist at Bloodstone.
“This me being generous, this is your final warning, leave now or else.” Bloodstone said.
Another voice from the south spoke up, “Is there a problem here?” Two guardsmen had walked into the square.
“That man took my wand and money.” The tall man said shaking out the fog in his brain.
The guardsman turned to Bloodstone, “This true,” he asked.
“Yes, he assaulted and kidnapped one of my associates,” Bloodstone replied with some authority.
“What do you think take them all in and have the magistrate sort it out?” The guardsmen said to the other.
“It’s late you know how cranky he can be after dark.” The other guardsman replied.
“You going to continue this, he asked both parties.”
“What about my wand and money?” The tall mage whined.
“If you want to go talk to the magistrate right now we can do that.” The guardsman said.
“Yes let’s talk to the Magistrate” Bloodstone said.
“Never mind,” the tall mage said walking west.
“Good now get off the street,” The guardsman said.
The two mages glared as they began walking west back down the street.
Bloodstone and the rest went back into the inn. They went up to the rooms. Eve and Sarah had gotten Ke’lara, out of her rags, and into some spare clothes. She was sleeping, after they gave her a little of the healing potion. Once everyone was settled, they went to sleep.