by Skyler Grant
“Already underway, Your Majesty,” Wimbley said. He might not be regent, but I could never question the man’s efficiency. He did seem to have things prepared a step before we needed them.
I found myself looking forward to the trip and the dangers of the road—and a fight that didn’t involve either goblins or my own advisers.
CHAPTER FOUR
We set out the next morning. Morning is something of a relative term with the castle plunged into endless darkness, but Elsora assured me the hour was correct. We were a ramshackle-looking bunch, our equipment completely scavenged from our dungeon crawl of the week before, which means we were running around in the clothes and armor of those dead centuries before.
I had a truly impressive mount named Firestar as a result of my Divine Steed spell. When I had first cast it I had half-expected some wildly fantastic creature, but instead I got a roan mare. I wasn’t complaining, her coat was perfect and she all but radiated health and vigor as if she were the most idealized form of horse one could imagine. In a way, that made sense for me as a Paladin of Yvera, because the Goddess had that same aura of perfection about her. It was a pretty distracting trait for a Goddess to have.
Yvera had been little seen since we’d taken the castle. Between establishing her position in the real world and exploring this one, I guess she had a lot on her plate. Castle management wasn’t very exciting on my end and she must have found it even more dull to watch.
Walt and Ashley were on rather less remarkable steeds we’d gotten from the village. I think both must have once been plow horses at some point and while they weren’t entirely adverse to carrying adventurers around, neither were they in any particular hurry to do so.
The road we were traveling had once been the major trade thoroughfare of the kingdom and it showed in the wide lane and, even after centuries of neglect, that it still made for passable travel.
Ashley raised her hand to signal a stop and said, “That is the perfect site to set up camp, if you wanted to ambush travelers on the road. I should go check it out.”
“Do it,” I said.
Ashley slipped off her horse and vanished from sight as she engaged her sneak.
“There are a lot of ruins we’ve seen so far. What do you think all these buildings were?” I asked aloud.
“Guard posts, inns, warehouses?” Walt said, shrugging. “Anything traders might have made use of coming from the port to the city.”
“Sounds like the sort of things that would encourage scavengers and bandits. Do you think we’re likely to meet many along the way?” That would be inconvenient, although we could use the added XP.
“Bandits preying upon who exactly?” Walt asked. “All the people who would travel to the ancient, cursed castle? There might be some scavengers living in the ruins who are opportunistic enough to rob the occasional passerby, but I don’t see vast criminal enterprises forming in this sprawl.”
Walt was smart. I felt a bit sheepish for having asked the question, but also grateful for the insight. It took a few minutes before Ashley returned and she shook her head. “Picked clean and clear. People have stayed there before, but it’s empty now.”
It was a process we’d repeat several times over the next few hours, a new set of ruins causing a delay while we’d check it out only to find them emptied. Still, it was best to be cautious and we didn’t want to miss any possible loot.
It was an eerie experience, the total darkness overhead and the surrounding plants all starting to wither and die. Either the birds had moved elsewhere or the mists overhead had taken them over. It was deathly silent.
Finally, we heard music from up ahead. It was a welcome respite from the silence that had marked our journey so far, the sounds of some stringed instrument coinciding with the return of light. The shade of the mists came to an end and abruptly there was the noon day sun.
Ashley left us to scout and it wasn’t too long until she returned. “Lots of people. Some of them armed.”
“Do you think they are a danger?”
“How would I know? I didn’t see any piles of corpses or anything.”
A ringing endorsement for their peacefulness. We decided to ride ahead.
An encampment seemed to have formed occupying ruins on both sides of the road. Over a thousand people were milling about. It was a larger group than the village outside the castle by far, most looking lean and hungry. While people watched us warily as we passed no attacks were forthcoming.
“You young folk from Sarville?” a haggard voice asked and I looked over to see a spry man who had to be in his eighties.
Elsora over the past week had been teaching me a lot about how to make best use of my Charisma. She was a big admirer of improvising, taking what you’re handed and running with it. It was sometimes easier to play to other’s expectations than to try spinning a completely different story. I wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t just training me to say yes to her, but it did seem like good advice when she put it into practice.
“We are,” I said as brightly as I could manage. “I’m Lim, this is Ash and Wat.”
“Knew it!” the old man said happily, “Can’t have been too many others left in the darkness. I’m Zebediah.”
“That’s an unusually large name,” I said.
Zebediah snorted, “Foolishness. Never understood why you folk keep to the short names. You know, one time I was talking with the quadruplets Wat, Wit, Wot, and Wut. You folk just made things more difficult than they had to be.”
“It’s like they only had one wit between them,” Walt said.
I didn’t find it terribly funny, but Zebediah laughed. Walt clearly had some levels in grandfather jokes.
“Sorry if I’m insulting your pappy son, what took all of you so long to flee?” Zebediah asked.
I looked around the encampment. They were refugees? “Is that what everyone is doing here? Running away?”
“What else,” Zebediah said. “When the sun goes out and a great evil is about to burst forth from the cursed castle, you best make sure you are somewhere else. Everyone figured Sarville was lost, being right there. Did you see it? The curse? The evil?”
“Lim is intimately familiar with the details of the curse,” Ashley said wryly. “He’s spent considerable time and effort delving into the subject.”
I shot her a glare, but it was too late and Zebediah looked excited. “A scholar? I didn’t know you folks had any. No offense. That makes sense though, being right next to the castle. So talk, boy. Is it coming for us?”
Something of a crowd had formed drawn by the words and there were any number of fearful faces turned in our direction. These people were living in abject terror, driven from their homes by something I’d done. It was a weighty feeling.
“It’s not quite that kind of evil,” I said. “We of the village haven’t fled, because we weren’t harmed.”
The crowed muttered amongst themselves and Zebediah looked at me in askance.
“That evil ate the sun, boy,” Zebediah said. “You expecting us to believe it’s well meaning?”
“It’s causing the village a lot of hardship,” I said, deciding on a bit of honesty there. “But the castle is trying to help the village. We are on our way to Vala in search of supplies.”
“Good luck,” I heard said bitterly by someone in the surrounding crowd.
“Nobody is being allowed into Vala,” Zebediah said. “Or much of anywhere. Travel a bit further down the road and you’ll see where they have the roads blocked.”
“Soldiers?” Ashley asked.
“Brigands,” Zebediah answered. “Vala doesn’t have a large army, but it does have coin to spread around and it’s been doing so to keep its streets clean of people like us.”
I looked at the sea of hungered faces and suddenly felt very tired. This felt like my fault too. My fault that these people were here, my fault that somehow I hadn’t put the kingdom back together and that they now had nowhere to go.
“How bad is it?�
�� I asked.
“We’ve a world-devouring darkness on one side and a band of murderous thugs on the other,” Zebediah said darkly. “You figure it out.”
I could see their point of view.
I raised my voice, telling the crowd, “The darkness is not quite the evil you might fear. The new ruler of Sardonis Castle is a follower of Yvera, goddess of fire and passion. The light in the darkness and warmth in the night. Travel to the castle, ask for Elsora and say that you wish to be put to work and she will see that you find something to do and that your families are taken care of.”
I didn’t know if I was telling the truth. The far smaller village was already suffering and if even a quarter of these people showed up at the castle, I couldn’t imagine how Elsora would make it work. I did trust her however, at least to the extent of being capable. I was sure this situation would be beyond my abilities as King to manage, but I had faith that as my regent she’d make it all work.
Even with my Charisma the crowd didn’t look like they were exactly ready to trek back into the realms of eternal night. Still, I did hear whispered discussion, particularly amongst those who seemed to have children with them. The most desperate focused upon any chance, even one so slight as the one I offered.
I leaned over so I could speak quietly with Ashley and Walt. “What about these bandits? These people are suffering and it’s kind of our fault.”
“These people are armed, Liam,” Ashley said in a no-nonsense sort of voice. “If they really wanted to be free of bandits they could have killed them themselves. It’s not our fight.”
“Not that I feel comfortable being the one to talk about loot,” Walt said. “But the bandits might have some. Something to eat that isn’t fungus, some coin, and things that might make our trek a lot easier.”
QUEST GRANTED
Banditry
Bandits employed by the city of Vala are blocking the roads and keeping a band of refugees from entering the city. To move on a way must be found either through or around them.
I saw the quest prompt come up and dismissed it. Thanks for saying the obvious, game.
“I could try talking to them,” I said. “I’m good at that.”
“We all know that if they’re led by a hot girl, you’ll totally try,” Ashley said. “Otherwise we’ll probably murder them all. You know how this goes.”
Was that really how she thought it went? Is that how it actually went? I guess between Maria and Elsora it was a pattern.
“We could try sneaking past them,” Walt said.
“Unless they are trash or way above our level, sneaking past them is dumb, and I say this as our best sneaker,” Ashley said. “They’ll have loot and there’s XP to get, so we want them as either friends or corpses.”
“Fair enough,” Walt said. “If they’re led by a girl Liam talks to them, otherwise we murder them all.”
“Guys. That is… you know what? Fine. If they are led by a girl I make my move, and if they aren’t we kill everyone,” I said. Why fight it.
Right. I forced a smile back on my face and turned to Zebediah, “What can you tell us about these bandits?”
“What he means to ask is, if they’re led by a hot girl,” Ashley said.
“Two dozen of them or so, better equipped than we are,” Zebediah answered. “Young toughs, not scholars like you. More coin than sense.”
“And their leader?” Ashley asked.
“Barton the brute?” Zebediah said with a frown. “He’s a different story. Word is he used to be a guard in Vala, but went bad, got caught leaning on merchants and was kicked out. Guess he still had the connections though. When they needed men fast, he and his boys got the call.”
“Right,” Ashley said cheerfully. “That settles that. We murder them all.”
“I could still try talking to them,” I said. I didn’t really mean it.
“Really? Do you actually have the slightest bit of interest in making friends with a guy named Barton the Brute?” Ashley asked.
I didn’t. Any guy named Barton the Brute very much sounded like the person I wanted to stick a flaming sword through.
Zebediah was horrified. “You can’t mean to go up against them? There are only three of you and many more of them.”
“At least we’re wearing pants this time,” Ashley said.
“Do you usually fight naked? Zebediah asked. “I heard stories once about…”
“We’ll take any help anyone cares to offer,” I said cutting him off and letting my voice carry to the crowd again. “And don’t worry. We cheat.”
CHAPTER FIVE
We didn’t get any volunteers from the refugees to help us. The most desperate preferred to brave the darkness rather than chance a fight against a superior force. That made sense to me, but I didn’t understand those others who chose to remain and do nothing. Even a desperate fight was better than slow starvation. That’s what awaited them, if we failed.
The bandits were set up a short distance down the road in what looked to be an old inn. It seemed to be better preserved than most of the structures, the roof still looked strong and the walls sturdy, which is probably why they chose it. Three guards were outside. All were around our age, dressed in chain mail and leather armor that looked far newer than our ratty gear. We settled in behind an old wall and I pulled up information on one of the guards.
Bandit of the Roads
Level 8: Type: Human HP: 150/150
These bandits are no strangers to combat, they are not just well trained but have had opportunity to put those skills to the test.
I didn’t like the looks of this. While at least the bandits weren’t elite, their sheer numbers would prove dangerous with stats like that.
“I could try to draw them off one at a time,” Ashley said, sharing my concerns.
“Sneak and grab. Remember how we did those skeleton guards when we took the castle?”
“They were undead and not terribly bright,” Walt said. “These guards are human and with a patrol set up. If one goes missing we’re going to raise an alarm.”
There came the sounds of raucous cheers from somewhere within the inn and I could smell roasting meat from within, making my stomach clench painfully. I was very sick of the fungus diet.
“At least they’re enjoying themselves. Do you think the inn cellars still have some alcohol?” I asked.
“They have coin, Liam, they don’t have to scavenge for everything. They probably just bought some from the city,” Ashley said.
I’m sure she was right, once I thought of it in that way. It was strange how quickly having to scavenge for everything started to get into your head.
“Can we burn the inn down around them?”
“We’d lose a lot of the loot,” Ashley said. “You know how much I hate that.”
“The inn also has at least one door. They could flee from the fire unless we have a way to hold them inside,” Walt said.
“We are so not having a fair fight with these guys,” I said. “We need to think of something.”
“They sound like they’re drinking. Perhaps we can wait for them to get completely drunk?” Walt asked.
“That might put things closer towards evening too, when my stealth would be even more of an advantage,” Ashley said.
It still didn’t seem enough of an advantage. If their commander was experienced he’d know they were vulnerable after dark when drunk. I had an idea and flashed Ashley a grin.
“I don’t like that look. You are so not hatching a plan that involves me half-naked and them fighting over me,” Ashley said.
It hadn’t occurred to me. I allowed myself to be distracted by the image before I snapped back to the moment. “No, whenever I think of you naked my mind tends to go in entirely different directions.”
“That isn’t creepy at all.”
“It’s not like I do it all the time.”
“You were doing it just now.”
“You started it. Before you went throwing around the
words ‘you’ and ‘naked’ I was thinking of my bless water spell.”
“That sounds way less interesting. Didn’t it make that holy booze of yours?” Ashley asked. “That was good shit. Made us all a bit chatty.”
“You’re thinking of enhancing their drinks to deliver more of a kick than they expect?” Walt said.
“I don’t see any kegs of ale sitting around out here,” Ashley said. “If you could get to one, that might work, but it’s more likely they keep all of them inside the inn.”
“Last level I gained the ability to bless an object with a spell that can be invoked later,” I said. “Think you could get in there and use it on their alcohol?”
Ashley studied the inn and the guards.
“Bandits aren’t assassins, but they’ll still have some Sneak and Awareness,” Walt said. “They might be able to detect you.”
“I’m really good though. My attunement has given me a major boost to Dexterity and I’m well above where I should be at this level,” Ashley said.
That was interesting. My own attunement was focused on my Strength and Endurance. I’d never thought that Walt and Ashley might be attuned differently.
“Go in naked?” I said.
“Really?” Ashley said, “Still?”
“Well. Yeah. But I’m serious. Hear me out,” I said, raising a hand to placate her.
“Talk,” Ashley said.
“If you’re dressed like that and you go in there, and they detect you, it’s going to be a disaster. You look like an assassin. Go in naked and it looks like you were having fun with someone and just stumbled out,” I said. “So being naked is the real stealthy.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Ashley said. “Nobody in their right mind goes into a fight naked. Whenever you meet someone going into a fight naked, you know they’re fucking crazy and you should run in the other direction.”
“Maria fought naked. Sort of.”
“Not proving me wrong here.”
