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The Questing Parties- Chapter 4: The Ranger
🕑 Added 2022-12-21 00:44:36 +0000 UTC“Hang on! Hang on!” Roklem shouted as he channeled as much healing magic into his brother as he could muster. Rollem, who was lying on the floor bleeding to death, began to glow with a white light as the most egregious of his wounds began to close. Normally, the light would only be emitted from the wound itself, and in a way it still was. After using up all of the stored magic in his body, Roklem picked up his injured and unconscious brother, and carried him out of the underground catacombs.
As the two emerged from underground, Zenith saw Rollem’s state. “What happened?” He asked, and wrapped Rollem’s left arm around his neck to help Roklem carry him.
“A statue exploded.” Roklem said. “I healed him as best as I could, but he needs a cleric.”
“We aren’t far from town, let’s go.”
“We will help too.” The two dwarven construction workers offered. The four men each lifted up a different part of Rollem, and began carrying him to town as quickly as they could.
Halfway back to town, one of the dwarven workers asked, “our friends, did you find them?”
“Aye, we did. I’m sorry, the slimes got to them. We buried them and said a prayer.” Roklem said. The worker looked sad, but they expected to hear that their friends had not made it.
“There’s something coming from the path ahead.” Zenith said. From the distance, about one hundred and twenty feet away, the large greenish-grey bodies of four orcs emerged from the forest.
“Stop,” Roklem ordered, and the men laid Rollem on the ground. “They may not be-”
“RAHHHH!” The four orcs unsheathed their weapons and howled and roared with bloodthirsty rage, before charging straight at the men. Zenith and Roklem both prepared themselves for a fight.
“Protect my brother.” Roklem ordered, and handed one of the workers the dagger he kept hidden under his chainmail, before charging at one of the orcs. Zenith dashed forwards, quickly leaving Roklem behind, and using one of the orc’s own momentum to push his rapier deeply into his gut, then slashing at his shoulder with a dagger. The orc fell to the ground dead, as Zenith moved to the next one. The slower Roklem met his own charging orc head on, slamming his wide shoulder into the orc, but getting knocked down in the attempt. The orc tried to bring his great-axe down onto the paladin’s head, but Roklem managed to roll out of the way in the nick of time.
As Zenith prepared to battle two of the orcs by himself, a crossbow’s bolt sunk itself into the back of one of them. “Ahrg!” the orc yelled, and turned to see who shot him. Ninety feet away stood a centaur with short curly hair, already loading another bolt. The centaur was about six feet tall, wore a green shirt, a finely crafted leather chest-piece, and armguards. On his horse half, he had saddlebags full of supplies strapped to his hindquarters. The orc who had been shot pulled the bolt out of his shoulder and charged the centaur, crossing the full ninety feet in mere moments. After firing another shot, the centaur turned and tried to put some distance between himself and the orc, but the orc was too fast. The orc swung his hand axe and buried it three inches into the centaur’s hind end before he could run.
Back on the path, Roklem used his shield to block one of the orc’s attacks, and thrust his longsword into the orcs belly, but the orc did not seem to notice, or care. His mind was solely focused on the battle, and the thrill of the kill. Relentlessly, the orc brought his axe down on the paladin’s shield until finally one of his attacks landed, managing even to slice through Roklem’s chainmail armor. Blood spurted out of the dwarf’s upper arm, but Roklem ignored it for now and slashed at the orc’s neck, severing it from his body.
A few feet away, Zenith dodge one of the orc’s wild swings, and parried a second, slowly slashing and stabbing at the orc each time it left itself open. Zenith far outmatched the orc in skill, and he made the orc pay for each one of it mistakes in combat. By the time the orc fell, it was barely more than a meaty pincushion.
In the forest, the centaur was being chased by the orc, who was somehow able to match his speed. The centaur would load his crossbow, fire a shot at the charging orc, and dodge its attack before sprinting away again. Finally, with six bolts sticking out of the orc’s chest, one bolt pierced its throat, killing it.
“Well, that was more difficult than I expected.” The bleeding centaur mumbled to himself. Now that the fight was over, the centaur left the forest to check on the men he had helped. “Greetings, are you all alive?”
Roklem, Zenith, and the dwarven workers were already back together, and lifting Rollem up. “Thank you for your help stranger, but we need to get my brother back to town, he needs a cleric!”
“Put him on my back, I can carry him faster than all of you.”
“Thank you.” Roklem said, and Zenith nodded his head quietly.
As the men lifted Rollem onto the centaur’s back, he introduced himself, “I’m Kozim.”
“Thank you for your help, Kozim.” Roklem said, and then introduced himself and Zenith. With that, they were able to make it to town in less than fifteen minutes. After finding someone who knew where a good cleric was, they took Rollem straight there.
Arriving at a local temple, the cleric ordered the men to set Rollem down on a cot, so that she could treat him. She touched the site of his worst injuries, and chanted a spell. Golden light radiated from her hands, and then slowly moved into Rollem’s wounds, closing them. “You did good getting him here quickly, and treating his wounds as soon as you did. If you hadn’t, he may not have survived.” The cleric told Roklem.
“I didn’t have enough power to heal him completely.” Roklem sighed.
“I doubt you could have. My magic should have been more effective than this; I think he may have been stricken with a curse.”
“Will he be alright?” Zenith asked.
“It does not feel powerful, so if he receives regular treatment, he should live, but I do not have the means to break its hold on him. It feels ancient, and even degraded in some way. I will need time to investigate this. Until then, he should remain here so that I can monitor him.”
“How long will that take?” Roklem asked.
“I don’t know. I have not encountered something like this before. It may be days, weeks, or even months.” Roklem sat down on a nearby bed, and tried to process what he had just heard. “Do not worry, his life is not in danger. I believe, in time, I will find a cure.” The cleric said, trying to reassure him.
“I’ll give you a moment.” Zenith said, and walked out. Outside, Zenith met with the two dwarves and Kozim.
“How is he?” One of the workers asked.
“He’ll live, but he’s out cold for now.” Zenith said. He turned to Kozim, “thanks again for your help.”
“It’s no problem.”
“Why were you out in the forest anyway?”
“I was actually traveling here, to this town.”
“Mind if I ask why?”
“Personal reasons… I came to collect the bounty on that white dragon, among other things.” Kozim said, intensely and clearly angered at the thought of the dragon. “What about you? Why were you in the woods.”
“We were hired to go down into a nearby catacomb system and get the construction workers out.” Zenith gestured to the workers. “Speaking of which, you two should head to the mayor’s office in the townhall and tell him what happened, we will be by later.” The workers thanked Zenith, and left.
“Anyway, I hope you friend recovers, but I need to go.” Kozim said, and started to leave.
“Wait.” Zenith placed a clawed hand on Kozim, stopping him. “You came here for the dragon, right?”
“Yes.”
“So did I. We might be able to help each other.”
“My reasons for wanting the dragon dead are… personal.”
“So are mine.”
There was a moment of quiet between the two men, but eventually, Kozim broke that silence. “Alright then. If you’re willing to help me get my revenge, then I agree, we can help each other.”
Just then, Roklem exited the cleric’s temple. “How is he?” Zenith asked.
“He’ll live, but his treatment is going to be expensive.”
“Let’s go collect our payment; you can use his share to start the treatment.” Roklem nodded his head, and the three left for the townhall. It took about seven minutes of walking to get from the temple to the townhall, and not much was said on the journey. The only thing that was said, was when Zenith told Roklem that Kozim would be a good addition to their party. Roklem agreed with him, and the rest of the journey was silent. Once they arrived, they saw the two construction workers on their way out.
“We just filled him in, he will be happy to see you.” One of them said. Roklem nodded, without saying a word, and went inside.
“Go ahead and knock, he is expecting you.” The receptionist said. Roklem beat his fist against the door, a bit harder than the mayor was expecting, and a crash rang out from inside his office.
“What?! Who is it?” The mayor cried out through the still unopened door.
“It’s the people you sent down into the catacombs.” Roklem said.
“Oh! Good, one moment!” Several more clatters and bangs came from behind the door, “Ahem. Sorry about that. I was already informed of your success by the workers who just left. You can receive your payment from Jessica, the receptionist.”
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor.” Roklem said, and marched over to the receptionist.
“Here’s your payment.” She said, and handed the men a small bag of ten gold coins. After going outside and separating the three men’s shares, and deciding to give a half share to their centaur friend who helped them, each of the original three men had three gold coins, and Kozim had one. Roklem, who was temporarily holding onto Rollem’s share, looked at the six gold coins in his hand, frowned, and shook his head.
“It’s not enough.” Roklem said to Zenith and Kozim, and went back into the townhall. He walked up to the mayor’s door. The other two followed. Kozim, who was much larger than even Zenith, though mostly in length and width, was quite cramped indoors. “Mr. Mayor, it is us again, do you have any more work?”
“Oh, eager beavers I see. Well, are you willing to travel to a nearby settlement?” Roklem looked back at his two allies, and the three exchanged affirming nods.
“We are.”
“Excellent. Then I have something for you. There is town of Gnomes to the south of here, about two days travel. They are well known for their ability to craft magical devices. With that dragon making such a fuss, I need someone to stop buy the town and place an order for any magical weapons and armors they may be able to spare. The king and Queen of the town were supposed to stop by a few days ago to talk about it with me personally, but they never did. So we need someone to go see what happened, and place the order. We have a running trade deal with them, so we can pay for anything they can spare. Does that sound doable to you boys?”
The three men exchanged looks again; they were all in agreement. “Yes, how much does it pay?”
“Ten gold coins, and if you happen to pick up any magical devices that aren’t weapons or armor, I’d be happy to take them off your hands for five gold each.”
“Agreed. Where is this town?” Roklem asked.
“You’ve still got your map, right? Jessica can mark it for you. JESSICA! DID YOU HEAR THAT?”
“Yes sir.” The receptionist said, without even looking up from the stack of paperwork she was doing.
“Good luck boys!” The mayor said. The men went to the receptionist, and she marked Zenith’s map. The town was located in a cave system that had been carved into a waterfall. With that, the men walked out of the townhall together.
“Should we go now?”
“I need to go pay the cleric first. Then I’ll be ready.” Roklem said.
“We’ll wait for you here.” Zenith said, and Roklem left.
“That’s a very intense dwarf.” Kozim said.
“He’s just worried about his brother. He was a lot friendlier than that when we spoke earlier.”
“How long have you known each other?”
“Maybe… two hours?” Zenith said, and Kozim looked surprised.
“You met two hours ago, and you are already in a party together?”
“Actually, I was working with his brother before he and I met.”
“Oh, I see. And how long have you known his brother?”
“About three hours.”
“… I don’t understand; why form a party with someone you just met? Do they wish to kill the dragon as well?”
“No idea. His brother was just… charismatic.” Kozim looked at Zenith like he was crazy. “Don’t worry, they’re both strong. His brother, Rollem, was a spell caster, and Roklem seems to be decent with a sword. Plus, they both know healing magic, so that’s always useful.”
“I know a little healing magic, but not much. What about you?” Kozim asked.
“I never even tried learning it. It wasn’t useful for me.” Zenith said, shaking his head. “Is healing all you know?”
“No, I only know the one healing spell. I am pretty good with nature magic, but I prefer to use my crossbow.”
“I get that. A spell can fail, but my sword never has.” Zenith nodded. The two men spent the next thirty minutes talking about their skills and training, trying to get familiar with one another’s strengths and weaknesses. Eventually, Roklem arrived once again, having paid for the first of his brother’s many treatments, and the three were on their way to the gnome town of Waterfall Caverns.
