“Well, you had the most to drink out of everyone,” Marie sighed. “Come on, the others are having breakfast.”
“Oh goody,” Tom mumbled. “I really hope it doesn’t look like greasy puke.”
“It’s fruit, cheese, bread, and ham.”
“Thank gods it’s not underdone eggs.”
Marie helped him get his boots on, “I wouldn’t bring you out there if it was.”
“Thanks, mom,” Tom mumbled. “You’ve always been like a mother to us. You know that, right?”
“Of course,” Marie smiled. “It’s nice. John and I never had any boys, so it’s been nice to have you all act like I’m your mother. Surprised you three always listen to me.”
“You’re the most level headed one in our group,” Tom said, getting to his feet. “I’m sorry you got dragged along with us, but I’m also happy that you’re here.”
“I know,” Marie sighed. “I hope the girls will be okay when they find out we’re gone. At the same time, John is so happy and alive that I can’t imagine taking it away from him. This is his chance for his dream to come true, and I want to see him do what he’s always wanted to do.”
“With you supporting him here, I think he’ll make it,” Tom said. “He’s always been good, but hearing him sing and play since we’ve been here, it’s obvious that he’s better than he was.”
“I think he’s getting a boost from his class,” Marie said. “I remember him using the extra bonuses from being a human to increase his ability to perform. He went through the background generator, too, just to get even more boosts to it.”
“Sounds like John, alright. The exact opposite of the min-maxer Harry is,” Tom chuckled.
“I’m glad he did what he did. If he was the half-orc barbarian or the knight, I don’t think he’d be as happy about being here as he is.”
“Probably right,” Tom agreed. “Sorry for the delay, guys,” he said loudly as they entered the taproom, his brow creasing as his own raised voice sent a spike of pain into his head.
“Maybe next time, go to bed without drinking so much,” Harry suggested, taking a bite from his plate.
“We have a week of down time. This was the perfect day to get drunk,” Tom rebutted his friend. “We going to check wares, then head back out to see Sara and Charlie?”
“That was my idea,” Dick nodded. “I can learn that spell she wants to teach me. Charlie mentioned hoping you’d both come back by, too, so it might be worth it for you both to come along.”
“Maybe we can learn something,” Tom shrugged. “Beats just sitting around here.” Taking a seat, he took a plate and loaded it. “Felix, tea please. Just a splash of something that will mix with it.”
“Hair of the dog, I understand,” Felix laughed.
“You’re going to be gone all week?” Marie asked.
“It’ll take me fifty hours to learn the spell. If I can convince her to do twelve hours a day, it’ll still take a bit over four days. A day there, a day back, and that’s about all of our time.”
“When did you want to learn ours?” Carl asked.
“After this is over,” Dick said. “We’ll be leaving for a town afterward. Learn during the trip, and off and on after that as we can. This isn’t a normal adventure where we don’t get downtime. We’re going to need to relax once in a while to not overstress our minds and bodies.”
“I agree, even knowing it means it’ll take us longer to bring Kevin back,” Harry added. “If the government rotates soldiers out of combat for their mental health, then we’ll need to do the same.”
“As long as the downtime comes with some fun distractions,” Tom said, nodding a thanks to Felix for the mug. “No offense to Greenways, but there is dick all to do here.”
“What do you want for downtime?” John asked.
“Maybe gambling, some women, and perhaps better booze,” Tom mumbled around a bite of food.
“Truthfully, that’s probably about all you can find here for diversions,” Marie said. “We’ll have to see what else is available when we reach a bigger place.”
“I got our pay for the goblins,” Dick told Tom. “We’ll see you outside. Greg has his wagon set up in the square this morning. He’s selling stuff to the villagers.”
“Did the hunter bring by the crossbow for Harry?” Tom asked.
“I’ll be fixing it in a bit,” Marie replied. She touched his leg and spoke a few unintelligible words. The holes in his pants mended instantly. “There. Now your clothing isn’t ruined.”
“You don’t have to be touching both sides of the broken spot?” Dick asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No, we found that out the other day,” Marie said.
“We’ve been testing our magic against what we think we know,” Carl added. “A lot of it works as we thought, but some things like fix are slightly different.”
“Slip definitely is,” Harry added. “It’s flammable, unlike the game version of it.”
“As we heard last night,” Marie nodded.
“What spells do you have, Carl?” Dick asked.
“Flame arc, run away, and summon water,” Carl replied. “Fifteen-foot arc of fire, double my movement, and up to ten gallons of safe drinking water, respectively.”
“Water is good,” Harry said. “Would be really useful when we go into the wilds.”
“Yeah,” Dick nodded. “That and the safe consumption bit. I’ll definitely need those. Marie’s energy armor, too.”
“I’m done, let’s go,” Tom said, shoving the last of his food into his mouth.
“You three coming, too?” Dick asked.
“Yes,” John said, standing up. “I got some tip money. We’ll see about helping you guys out, and see if we find anything to make life better for us.”
They were a little surprised to see most of the population of the village browsing the goods Greg had on display. The household goods were the items going fastest; knives, pans, kettles, and the like. Greg spotted the group as they got closer, waving them around to one side of his wagon.
“Morning to you all. I’ve got the things you’re likely to be most interested in here,” Greg said, pointing to a much smaller selection of goods. “Anti-venom, acid, liquid fire, oil, torches, and much more,” he said, smiling broadly.
Dick set aside all of the consumable items, interested in them because they could help turn a battle. Harry went looking through the bedding and pulled out the best bedrolls he could find, plus a two-person tent. Tom checked the few weapons that had been set out, seeing if any of them would be better than what they had managed to obtain so far. John, Marie, and Carl waited for their friends to finish looking through the items.
“How much for the lot?” John asked Greg once they had picked out the things they were most interested in.
“That’s quite the pile,” Greg said, starting to piece through it. After a few minutes, Greg frowned, “For everything here, I’m afraid to say that even with the discount, it will run you a gold.”
“That’s right out,” Dick snorted.
“How much money did you get?” John asked Dick in a whisper.
“Three silver,” Dick replied, just as quietly.
“Greg,” John said, stepping toward the merchant, “we can’t pay a gold, but we could pay nine silver.”
Greg paused, studying John for a long moment. “Just this once. I’ll accept the offer out of gratitude, though it’s damn near cost to let it go at that price.”
“Dick, I need the silver,” John told his friend.
Dick handed John the small pouch he had received that morning. “I’ll go grab our bags so we can get this stowed.”
Counting out a few silver and a mass of copper coins, John paid Greg the agreed amount, leaving him with just a few copper. “Thank you,” John said as Marie gathered up the few items that she, John, and Carl had chosen.
“Pleasure,” Greg grinned, putting the coin away and going back to the patiently waiting villagers. “Who’s next?”
Dick came back with their three bags. They split the vials amongst them so everyone had an anti-venom, and at least a liquid fire or acid on hand. Harry handed the first crossbow off to Tom, who attached the sling to his backpack.
“Marie, when do you think you’ll have the other crossbow fixed?” Dick asked.
“Give me a few minutes and I should have it ready,” Marie smiled as she headed for the inn.
“Carl, John,” Tom said, stopping the other two for a moment, “when we find the hoblins, we could use you. The goblins were challenging as it was, and the hoblins will be worse. We’re going to need more firepower.”
Both men looked away from him “I hear you, but if I go, Marie will go, too. Can you promise she’d be safe?” John asked.
“No,” Tom replied. “I can’t promise any of us will be.”
“I can’t,” Carl said, stepping back. “I can’t risk leaving Kattie alone here.”
Tom’s teeth ached as he clenched his jaws shut, biting back the words that would alienate them. Dick sighed, “Carl, she’ll have to adapt. Are you seriously going to hold her hand for years?”
Carl looked away, “If that’s what it takes.”
“Carl,” John said softly, “maybe we can get Marie to stay with her. That way, she wouldn’t be alone and Marie would be safe.”
Seeing his out vanishing, Carl seemed to fold in on himself. “I’m afraid.”
“So were we the first time,” Harry said. “Are you going to let unknown fear stop you?”
“No,” Carl mumbled. “If Marie stays, then I’ll go.”
“Same,” John nodded. “If I die… you’ll look after her, right?”
“Of course we will,” Harry replied.
“We’ll come back here after we finish at Charlie’s,” Dick said. “We’ll leave to find the hoblins from here.”
“Okay,” the two men agreed. “We’ll talk to Marie about it.”
“We’ll see you once we get back,” Dick said.
The three friends watched John and Carl head back toward the inn. Tom snorted once they were out of earshot, “Not willing to risk themselves without being asked.”
“You know that neither of them are exactly fighters,” Dick said, “but yeah, I was surprised they pushed back like they did.”
“What do you think Carl will do if Kattie throws a fit about him leaving?” Tom asked the other two.
Harry looked away from Tom, but Dick responded, “He’ll cave, just like he always does for her.”
“If that happens, I’m fucking done with them,” Tom growled. “John and Marie I’ll be okay with, but not Carl or Kattie. If she stops him, and he lets her stop him, I’m done. We’re risking our lives to get Kevin back. I’m not going to pamper that bitch if she can’t survive without Carl for a few days.” Tom walked away from the others, keeping his face carefully neutral while he thought about ways to help Carl by ‘removing’ the impediment.
Dick and Harry exchanged a look as Tom walked away from them. “He’s not wrong,” Dick muttered. “Should we let her be dead weight on us?”
“No, but at the same time, maybe she’ll come around,” Harry said, though he knew that was almost an impossibility. “Taking Carl away from her and leaving Marie behind might help,” Harry added hopefully.
“Sure,” Dick said, not able to keep the skepticism out of his voice.
Ten minutes later, they were on the road. They had said their goodbyes to Marie. She had the smaller crossbow ready, and handed it to Harry. He attached it to the sling on his bag.
“I know it won’t do what yours will,” Harry said to Tom, “but I can get this one loaded much easier.”
“That was the point,” Tom chuckled. “You know Charlie is going to pummel the shit out of us.”
“Yeah, not looking forward to that,” Harry admitted. “I really hope that training with him will give us a boost or something.”
“I’ve been thinking,” Dick said.
“Did it hurt?” Tom quipped.
“So that’s what that burning smell was,” Harry added.
“Hardy har har,” Dick deadpanned. “As I was saying before the peanut gallery chimed in...”
“Cashew gallery, thank you,” Tom sniffed. “We’re refined nuts.”
“Cashews are seeds, not nuts,” Harry added.
Dick sighed. “Look assholes, I’m trying to say something important.” When neither of them commented, he continued, “I think that by training with him, you might get more options when you level. This isn’t a game, so some things should have to be learned by doing.”
“Huh,” Tom muttered, “that makes a certain amount of sense.”
“It actually does,” Harry nodded. “I can see where it would help Tom, but not me.”
“We’ll just have to see what he can teach you both,” Dick said. “Maybe he knows some specialty trick for crossbows.”
“Point,” Harry agreed.
“And for once, it isn’t from the dunce cap he wears,” Tom nodded sagely.
“I need a hot foot jinx,” Dick muttered, earning laughs from the other two.
Chapter Fifteen
Sara and Charlie were surprised to see them when they showed up just after sundown. Sara whipped up a quick meal while the three explained what had happened. Charlie grunted when they explained why they were there.
“I’ll do what I can. You’re right, the best way to prepare for advancement is to train with someone who knows the skills you would like to master,” Charlie explained. “I’m not going to be a big help to you, Harry, but I have a few tricks that you might be able to use later. Tom, you took a very different path than I did. Not many brawlers use weapons, armor, or shields.”
“I’d like to learn anything shield related,” Tom replied. “I can use them and not lose anything from my path, and having some defense against arrows will be handy.”
Charlie laughed, “That is true. I’ll see what I can teach you, and I can even see about getting you a shield. It won’t be fancy, but it should do the job.”
“More than I had hoped for,” Tom grinned.
“It’ll mean putting the brewing on hold for a few days,” Sara reminded Charlie.
Grimacing, Charlie nodded, “True, but if hoblins are in the area, it will be less painful to spend a few days helping them than dealing with them ourselves.”
“Very pragmatic,” Dick laughed.
“Starting at sunrise,” Sara said, “we will be spending the next four days teaching you the magic behind a spell I’ve used many times.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Dick said. “What is it?”
“Hero maker. It makes your target immune to fear and grants them increased vitality as long as you can maintain concentration on the spell.”
“I’ll enjoy that,” Tom grinned.
“I’m sure you will,” Dick said. “I’ll do my best to learn it quickly.”
“If you defeat the hoblins, come back and I’ll teach you something else,” Sara added. “A traveling spell that turns out to be very useful.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” Dick smiled.
“That’s enough. We have a busy day tomorrow,” Charlie said, getting to his feet and raising his mug. “To training, learning, and pain.”
“I could do without the last part,” Harry laughed as everyone raised their mugs.
“Can’t have the first two without the last,” Charlie said and slammed his empty mug down. “See you in the mornin’.”
~*~*~
“Should have known you’d be awake,” Charlie chuckled.
“Elf-blood does strange things to a man,” Dick replied. “Here to wake them up?”
“Early starts are best,” Charlie said, moving toward Tom.
“I agree,” Dick said, watching the scene unfold with interest.
Charlie planted a boot into Tom’s side, sending the dwarf rolling. “Up and at ‘em.”
Tom grunted. Coming to his feet, he glared at Charlie. “Did
you just fucking kick me awake?”
“He did,” Dick nodded. “Harry, I see you’re up now.”
“I don’t want to get kicked,” Harry said. “Kicking someone awake is a dick move.”
“Maybe it’ll give you motivation to do your best today,” Charlie laughed.
Greenways Goblins (Resurrection Quest Book 1) Page 15
