Young Writers Society

Daniel The Less than Wise

I dashed along next to Rowan out pacing him in an instant to catch up with Audna. I deftly drew my throwing knives and took out some Goblins that were trying to flank her. Before I could see what had happened she and I were both surrounded. I looked over my shoulder and down at the top of her head, "Hello madam I know it perhaps isn't the best time for formal introductions but I'm Daniel. Seeing as we might die here I figured you could tell me your name." I stabbed a goblin in the chest as it came dashing at me.

I looked over and saw as she cleaved a goblin in half with her axe, "You imp-belly of course it isn't the time. But, if it's so important to you it's Audna." I looked about we were surrounded and everyone else seem focused on taking out their own group of goblins.

"So...any ideas I mean if so now is the time." I threw my last two throwing knives taking out another two goblins, I'd have to loot corpses and get my knives back after this. Audna and I were in tough spot with no ranged weapons left I was having to stab at them and dance about as quickly as possible.

"Well if you have so many useful skills now would be the time to show it you imp-bellied idiot." I reached into my bag I knew I still had one from my old guild days a "small-loud crater maker" as the fellas would call it. I grabbed Audna around the waist disregarding her protest and looked for the nearest safe spot a rock nearby would work.

"Hush for a second," I removed the explosive from my bag and set it where she and I were. "Now hold on to me for a second." In an instant she and I were behind the rock. "Watch this dwarf you'll appreciate it." The goblins got in close to where we were and before they knew what to do a huge explosion took out the entire group that was swarming us. I looked at Audna with a grin across my face, "took the bait hook line and dead."

Shadrea Vyre

"I guess you do," Rowan smirked.

I stared at him for a long moment, sure that I had heard him wrong. I felt my face flush red. Cocky elf. "Well I'll just have to owe you then." I stomped off from him, walking beside Audna, even though it didn't seem a very safe place to be, after she nearly split Rowan in two and missed the bear.

She was swinging her axe casually, and I carefully kept from striking up a conversation with her. Eventually I stopped fuming, though I sent the elf a glare every few minutes.

"Just over that ridge there," Bartemius said with a nod. "They're a mighty strong bunch but we can take them."

Rowan snorted and shook his head. I rolled my eyes. Sure. 'We'. Heh.

"What's our plan then?" the new elf, Daniel, asked as he came up alongside Bart, who was busy hiding himself.

"We'll circle around and make a stealthy attack on their food supplies and then we'll-" someone else started.

"Ayooooooooh!" The dwarf yelled, her axe raised over her head, as she charged the camp.

I looked around hopelessly. So much for strategizing. Now what? Rowan shrugged and charged into the battle. I shrugged too and followed after them, whooping like an idiot because I didn't care.

The acidic smell of blood filled my nostrils as I felled several goblins, my bare arms glistening with sweat, my breathing heavy. My blows came less and less frequently as I began to run out of steam-- the goblins began closing in around me, snuffing victoriously.

Suddenly there was a bright flash and an explosion that knocked me backwards, over a troll that had fallen down, and then carried me back to my feet. I stumbled backwards and looked around. It was the new kid, Daniel, and the dwarf. They'd blown up several goblins with one blast. Of course!

I smiled ferally as the goblins got to their feet. I ran amongst the disoriented goblins, taking passes at un-protected areas until they had recovered, and then switched the sword to my left-hand, blessing my ambidexterity. I started blasting the goblins off, one at a time, not even bothering to mutter the attack charm, even though I knew it would be easier on me if I did.

I whirled around just in time to see two goblins standing over Rowan, who was as red in the face as I felt, furiously fighting them off. The second goblin was standing behind him, lowering his club over Rowan's head- I sent a blast of blue fire into the goblin's shoulder, making him stumble the side, dropping his club as he howled in agony. He wasn't to be dissuaded.

Lifting his left arm, without a weapon, he tried to bring his fist down on Rowan's head, right as Rowan killed the other goblin. A second ball of fire struck the goblin's neck, and it fell over dead...on Rowan.

Smirking I trotted over to him and, using magic (descreetly, I'd never admit it to him that I couldn't move the goblin by brute-force) moved the goblin from him. I offered him a hand up.

He waved my hand away and looked down at me, eyes narrowed, as if he was working some great mystery out. "We're even," I say, nodding at the goblin.

No sooner than the words left my mouth than Rowan leapt forward, throwing me to the ground, as he slayed the goblin that had snuck up behind me. I glared at the goblin's corpse crumpled to the ground. Really?

He smirked and offered me his hand. "I'm one up."

I smacked his hand away and rolled to my feet. "So what? I'm still up on you-" I ran my sword through a goblin, "That makes seventeen."

I dove back into the fighting before he could answer- at least before I could hear his response. I saw a glimpse of a goblin running an axe into the back of a gruesome looking man...who merely...spoke to the goblin, who ran away screaming.

I blinked and lost track of the man, who didn't look like anything natural. I fought a few goblins more, and then caught another glimpse of the man, far away from where he had started.

Suddenly...

I looked around, blinking slowly, confused. The world around me was a blur. Something wasn't right. What happened? Every thought and memory of the man was gone. I shook my head, clearing the drowsiness, as the goblins recovered and began trying to clear my head from my shoulders once more.

I fell into the bloody haze of battle, hacking through goblins mechanically, counting, because I figured Rowan wouldn't let our count go easily. Finally I found myself, panting, covered in blood- both mine and of the goblins- in the middle of a battlefield littered with the corpses of goblins. I risked a grin...and then my eyes locked with Rowan.

"Well?" I asked, lifting my eyebrow, smirking. "How'd ya do?"

Ira

They were all going to die. Just like all the others before them. I peered out of my cage and saw the slope slippery with blood, many goblin-corpses littering the ground. I searched in vain for the bodies of the company. Hope flickered weakly in me. Maybe these were the ones — adventurers of legend, with white banners and flaming swords, astride great stallions, daring to—

Aa axe-wielding dwarf careened past me, followed by a green-skinned elf, flinging knives left and right. Dead goblins fell away to either side of them, but they kept coming, more and more piling onto them. The elf stopped, made an indistinct movement and flung himself and the dwarf behind a rock a mere arm's length before me. My lips moved to call out, but no sound came. I tried again, but there was a sudden roar as the ground before them exploded, sending swarms of goblins flying through the air. Shrapnel blasted the side of my cage. There was a thump, and a dead goblin fell against the wooden bars. A sword! I pulled the weapon through the bars and started to hack at the wooden posts. The honed blade bit into the wood easily.

The last goblins were trying to regroup, but they were no match for the strength of the company. I caught glimpses of more elves and humans engaging in the battle. Goblin arrows flew overhead. There was a spinning sensation, and everyone staggered for a second, then the battle resumed, a few stray arrows whizzing overhead. I gave the wooden post a last chop with all my remaining strength. My arms screamed as the blade connected, cut, was through. I slipped through the gap only large enough to admit me. As I stood unsteadily for the first time in months, more arrows flashed overhead. I ducked instinctively, but too late. An arrow tore through my shoulder, pinning me to the bars. Blood made the fletchings slippery and I struggled to grasp the shaft, my breath shallow, legs trembling.

Finally the barbed head released its grip on the wood behind me and I staggered forward, disbelieving. I have to get away. The last goblins were scattered in a rout before the company — they would soon be everywhere. I reeled halfway down the bare hill, then a rock caught my foot and I was rolling, head over heels. The shaft of the arrow snapped inside me but did not break free, rocks pounded my body... And there was silence. I lay crumpled in a small heap at the foot of the hill, with warm blood on my neck and the sounds of battle above me, and the wind stole the fog away, away, up into the grey sky.

Rock
I smiled as the little lady ran of shouting with her ax raised above her head. I hade never been one for strategy and stealth. This suited me much better. "Hold on, little kitty," I told my cat before drawing my broadsword and running into a hord of goblins.

I cut through three of them in the same swing, and then continued by chopping of a couple of heads. Kitty scratched a goblin who came to close, and I followed through by severing the upper body from its legs and then stabbing it in the chest. When I lifted the sword again the damn thing wouldn't come loose, so I continued using it like a club, splattering blood all over tha place.

I lost track of how many I had killed, but realized that there was a wall of dead goblins around me, so I climbed out and looked for the others. I noticed the little lady and the not-so-wise elf were surounded by goblins, so I started to chop my way towards them, but before I could reach them there was an explosion and I found myself flying backwards. The she-elf landed over me, so I helped her up before continuing to fight.

When the fight ended I looked around and counted. Everyone was still alive, and the old man had apparently recruited someone new. The man really had a nack for recruiting. For fighting.. Not so much.

As I made my way back towards the others I nearly stepped on.. I bent down to take a closer look. An elf? She was so dirty that it was hard to tell. I thought that the whole growing up with wolfes had been a myth, but she sertainly looked like animlas had raised her. I picked her up and threw her over my cat-free shoulder. Couldn't leave a little girl here on the battlefield now, could I? I went to join the others.

"You picked up another stray animal?"

"It hink it's an elf," I said and chukled. "Ey, grumpy," I couldn't remeber the name of the grumpy elf. "Mind taking a look at her? She's in bad shape."

He turned to glare at me, and opened his mouth, probably intending to insult me. Luckily he stopped when he realized that he had to look up to look me in the eyes. Why did everyone immediately assume that I was easy to piss of just because I was big? For christs sake, I was carrying a cat on my shoulder.

"My name's Rowan."

"I'll make sure to remember it," I said with a smile and handed him the girl.

Spoiler

Name: Gemmie Suu

Age: 23

Gender: Female

Class: Cleric

Race: Human

Skills: Intelligence, speed

Weakness: Strength

Appearance: Thin and short for a human, Gemmie has sallow skin and dark eyes with dark bags. She has black hair that she wears in a braid. She has throwing knives, but she can't aim worth a darn. She blushes a lot.

Personality: Gemmie is a coward, having run from the last adventuring crew she was part of. She should have been an academic, but there's not much money in the learning business. She's easily embarrassed in any situation especially if it requires her to open her mouth. Ask her to speak in a foreign language, however, and she can most likely stammer fluently.

She ran, glancing back in fear of some rather nasty giant spiders, and swore angrily as she tripped over a root. Tumbling down a steep slope, head over heels, she came to an ever so graceful stop and took advantage of several other languages as she finished her cursing with a flourish. She shook her head to rid herself of dizziness and slowly regained her breath. She staggered to her feet and looked around at a harsh language, a language that she actually had to think about.

She looked over a ridge, opposite from where she fell and watched in horror as the light green hill grew black with... Suddenly her mind placed the language.

Goblins

And Gemmie did the one thing she was really good at, she ran.

As she ran away, she heard a crazed "Ayooooooooh!" And turned back for a moment to see a dwarf charge the raging horde with others quickly following. She scrambled away, happy to see others ready to fight her battles.

She hid in thick brush, watching carefully, and crouched down until she grew numb. She still didn't move until a thrashing mass crashed through the vegetation beside her. She rolled away, grabbing at a dagger, but she didn't do anything.

Doing was not her style.

Gemmie stood there and watched as a form, obviously goblin, and another form, obviously something else, wrestled for the upper hand.

"Meh, I feel ya. They're not much my thing. But, if I don't at least pretend to try to kill a few, someone is sure to put in a bad word. Mind holding this post for me? Careful, it's heavy." 'Noland said, shrugging the post off of his back and heading for the battle. He drew Old Boy from his holster and aimed right between the eyes of an unsuspecting goblin.

Click.

Silence.

'Noland groaned and flipped the pistol around so the barrel was in his hand and the spiked end of the grip was ready for bashing. He drew his rapier and thrust at a goblin, but he was a little too slow.

Suddenly, he felt oddly woozy. Just as the sensation came, it passed. 'Noland found his target again and feinted with the rapier before whirling around and snapping the pistol into his targets neck. There was a sick little gurgle and it died.

'Noland nearly fainted when the spear was drove clean through his calf. He let out a shrill yelp as the serrated blade tore through his leg. It hurt to stand, but he couldn't fall to his knees either. Suddenly, the spear twirled, lifting his leg from beneath his feet.

The goblin crept towards him with a curved knife in hand. He grinned evilly, each needle sharp tooth glimmered, his eyes traced 'Noland over. The beast was familiar. "Grimly?"

"'Noland!" The creature cackled. "What a funny place to meet. Still looking for the post I intercepted?" Grimly twisted the spear sadistically. 'Noland whimpered, intense heat shot up his leg. He felt the stinging hot agony in his bones. Then he started to become dizzy, either from blood loss or poison. He couldn't be sure which.

There was a loud, fleshy smack-crunch, and Grimly fell to his knees. The dwarf tried to pull her ax from its hip, but it was stuck tight. Grimly let out a strangled gargle, the smell of... roast beef? filled 'Noland's lungs. Grimly fell flat on his face, Audna freed her ax with a spurt of blood, and 'Noland saw Scarletta waving her hands at Grimly.

"Did you just strangle him with roast beef?" 'Noland asked, well, more whimpered.

Scarletta nodded bashfully.

"Hey, whatever works," Audna said, giving Scarletta a pat on the back.

'Noland grinned through the aches and loaded up Old Boy. He slid his hatchet from it's sheath and broke the ends of the spear free, leaving a bit of shaft in so he didn't bleed to death. He stayed on his knees and defended himself with the hatchet.

When he fired Old Girl, the goblins panicked, covering their ears and scurrying about fearfully. 'Noland was almost confused for a second himself. He supposed the weapon was probably pretty intimidating to them. He loaded up another round and blasted one in the kneecap. Now all he had to do was get out of the fight.

The post was going to be beyond late.

Barty

"A job offer?" Bartemius gave the man one more wary look and then stood up, dusting himself down. "Well why didn't you say so? I've got just the team."

"You always do." Barty wasn't sure if this was a compliment or not but he liked his chances so he patted Slenderman on the arm and turned him toward the ridge.

"Sounds like the battle's dying down - well actually it sounds like people are dying. Why don't I introduce you to what's left of the group?" Bartemius set off at a stride to see if the mission had been a success.

Rowan

"Well?" Shadrea asked, lifting her eyebrow and smirking. "How'd ya do?" Rowan gave her a look and a shrug, then bent and began to carefully clean his mace off.

"Good enough," he said at last.

"I got twenty- four," Shadrea boasted, pushing her voice high to try and get a rise out of him. Rowan smiled fondly and said:

"Well I got less than that." But there was no defeat to his tone and if anything it was smug, as if he were saying that he got more.

Shadrea looked frustrated. "Well I win then," she said, to which Rowan only shrugged again.

"I'm a cleric," he explained at last. "We don't count our victories by the numbers dead, but the numbers still alive." He waved a hand about the group that was slowly reforming. "And since everyone's still alive I'd call that a win." Now he flashed his teeth in a wide grin but it faded back to a serious frown as Rock called out to him.

"Ey, grumpy, mind taking a look at her? She's in bad shape." Rowan turned to glare at the large man and would have taken him on, except he wasn't suicidal. The battle had him pretty badly knocked up while the giant looked to be perfectly healthy.

"My name's Rowan," he said stiffly.

"I'll make sure to remember it." The girl who looked like a ragdoll in the man's hands was almost enough to overbalance the elf as she was tumbled into his arms, but Rowan staggered for a step and then gently set her down.

Pulling ointments out of pockets and satchels about his person, Rowan wasted no time in cutting away the excess of arrow and pulling the clothing off of the shoulder. This was entirely the most serious wound but she was also undernourished - where on earth had she come from?

Lifting his arms, Rowan rolled the sleeves back and then reached down to lay his hands on the arrow. Probably barbed. These things could do more harm coming out than going in so Rowan moved his hands down to her skin instead. He slipped inside her body to use her muscles to feel along the shaft.

Rowan was the skin. He eased the muscle away from the barbs, moving with it and wriggling it back and forth to slide the arrow out with as little damage as possible. His hands slid away and he used the girl's body to expel it, pushing back and forth with the blood to lubricate it until the weapon was out and laying on the ground.

"Plus one. That's even better," Rowan said, laughing to himself as he worked on the girl.

"Plus three I think," someone else said as they craned their neck around. "There's the elf you've got there, we've picked up a human girl somehow and old Barty seems to be bringing a friend over."

Suke

He had been in the shadows watching in awe as the adventurers fought the goblins, looking for a good moment to make himself known.

Not one moment semmed to come until he saw a woman coming from another direction and hiding behind a bush. She seemed too scared and didn't realize that a goblin was coming her way.

The goblin raised it's sword at her head, in a swift movement he shot an arrow right at his blade and ran to her rescue. As he ran he grabbed another arrow ready to stab it, but the goblin was to strong.

It took a hold on his arm almost snapping it. Suke then turned giving him a roundhouse kick right in the stomach and it fell backwards. Suke then raised the arrow and stabbed it straight where the goblins heart was.

It was over, he turned around and saw the woman still there looking up at him. The shock on her face could be located from a mile away.

Suddenly a stabbing pain flooded over him and he fell to his knees. The woman got up and ran to him.

"Are you a..all right" She asked touching his arm. He winched.

He looked up at her, feeling a little anger well up inside him. He was showing weakness, that he couldn't allow himself.

"Get to the others, any word about me and you'll wish that goblin had killed you" He said almost spitting out the words.

She looked stunned but nodded stood up and walked a few steps then looked around and said

"Thank you"

Gemmie Suu
She stared at the boy for a moment but nodded slowly.

He's hurt.

But she should have tried a different language because her body didn't respond to the realization. She kept her talents as a cleric to herself.

She began to walk away slowly, at the last moment remembering. Licking her lips, she looked back to murmur, "Thank you."

She walked forward again, in a slight daze.

The fighting seemed to be over, carcasses spread across the grass. She stepped over one with a grimace.

She squinted at a party that was beginning to congregate after the battle and glanced at a strange being approaching with a man.

Slenderman

Slenderman approached the group of adventurers, Bartemius walking along-side him. He saw they had successfully defeated the goblins, but then again, he had no doubt they would have. They were cleaning their weapons, or sitting around, and one, he assumed a cleric, was tending to wounds.

"Gentlemen," said Bartemius, loudly, "this is the Slenderman."

The crew turned around. There were not few cries of alarm or even distress when they saw Slenderman.

"What in the name of Thor is that thing?" asked a short woman, probably a dwarf.

"Audna!" Bartemius chastised.

"As Bartemius said," Slenderman repeated, "I am the Slenderman. I happen to be, well... a god, you could say."

"Well let's not be so hasty, friend. Don't you think a God is a bit of a stretch of the imagination, eh?"

There was laughter.

"Well, a millennia-old, rather capable Cthulhu mage, then," Slenderman replied, pleasantly.

"A god aye?" asked a pale, raven-haired rogue. "Can you prove it?" again there was a bout of chuckles.

My my, adventurers are a cynic bunch, Slenderman thought. He snapped his fingers, and a large, leather-bound book appeared in his hands. He tossed it at the rogue's feet.

"That is a first-edition copy of De Deis Inferi ," Slenderman said. "You might find it useful."

"We digress," Bartemius cut in. "The Slenderman has a mission to offer us."

The adventurers perked up.

"Will it pay?" asked Illumies.

"Upon completion, each of you will receive a hundred-thousand gold pieces," Slenderman replied.

"Keep going," said Bartemius.

"I would like you to recover a book I wrote a few hundred years ago, but misplaced. It's called Legmenor Omnipotens,. It's bound in black leather, and has a red pentacle engraved on its cover. It radiates an aura, you can't miss it. I'm not sure where I lost it exactly, but it should be somewhere in the Peaks of Doom... maybe."

"Well that's just great, the peaks of Doom," Illumies muttered. "This sounds dangerous. I don't like danger."

Lumies elbowed him in the gut. "It's not always about th' money, coz," he said, waving an arm expansively. "Sometimes, 's about th' adventure."

"But I've heard magic doesn't work properly in the Peaks," Scarletta complained.

"Yeah, and we've seen how great your magic is at other times," another lanky, green-tinged adventurer asked.

Everyone laughed.

"Well come along adventurers, it's time we were picking up that bounty for all this slaying we've done. And don't you worry Mr. Slenderman, we'll get your book. I was thinking of taking them to the Peaks soon anyway, there's a lot of Ferrow growing up there and you can't make a good stew without Ferrow."

"Excellent!" Slenderman clapped his hands gleefully. "I'll see you again at the town, I'll have a map ready for you then."

Turning, he ambled back into the woods.

Ira

Ira awoke among the adventurers and felt the silence of the world fill her mind. The pain in her shoulder was hot and sharp. She opened her eyes a fraction. A lean elf was crouched over her, head bowed, hands hovering over her shoulder. His long, fair hair tickled her arm and she wanted to brush it away, but resisted the temptation and looked past him instead, ignoring the jolts of pain and wriggling sensations from her shoulder.

The entire company of adventurers was gathered around them, all looking at one thing — a man, or something very much resembling a man, addressing them.

"...It radiates an aura, you can't miss it. I'm not sure where I lost it exactly, but it should be somewhere in the Peaks of Doom... maybe."
A chill ran down Ira's spine, and many of the company shifted uncomfortably.

"This sounds dangerous. I don't like danger," muttered a human, polishing his knife.
"It's not always about th' money, coz," a tall elf said. "Sometimes, 's about th' adventure."

Ira closed her eyes again and combatted the sinking feeling in her gut. There were a myriad of ways this could go horribly wrong.

The company was smiling when she peered through the elf's curtain of hair again.
"I'll see you again at the town, I'll have a map ready for you then," said the man, turning and fading into the woods behind him.

The sinking feeling turned out to be the elf's elbow pressing into her stomach as he bent lower and lower over her in concentration. A wave of intense itchiness through her shoulder finished Ira's patience with the cleric. She scrambled backwards, flattening her tipped ears in displeasure as he started to re-approach her with an annoyed look on his face.

"It's alive," someone called. "Hey, elf, where're you from?"
Ira tried to form a word in her mind, but the syllables slipped away before she could enunciate them, leaving her gulping like a stranded fish. The cleric made another move towards her, but she narrowed her eyes and hissed at him, standing up to make it clear that she was unhurt — a flash of pain through her shoulder proved her wrong. Her gaze must have flickered, for the cleric folded his arms and fixed her with a stern look.
"I did not give you leave to go," he said stiffly. "The healing process is not done yet."
Ira gave a defiant hiss and scuttled behind the dwarfish woman she had seen before, who turned with a startled "Hey!". The chase might have continued, but the man who seemed to be the leader of the company clapped his hands and called to them to move. The cleric gave Ira a last severe look before picking up his kit and a notably heavy mace. Ira crept around the other side of the dwarf and kept an eye on the cleric.

Lumies

As the party began to move on - obviously towards the Peaks of Doom - Lumies ringed his fingers through Illumies' and Scarletta's sashes, keeping them back by his side as the others moved ahead. Slowly, he nudged them forward, whispering under his breath.

"Aside from th' fight--"

"How many'd you get?" Illumies interrupted.

"Is it really relevant, boyo?"

"Aye," replied Illumies, holding up six fingers. "I slit six throats!" His fingers changed. "Serrated nineteen vertebrae!"

"Why are you holding up two fingers, then?" Scarletta asked.

Illumies looked at his fingers and cocked his head. "Oh," he murmured. "I guess I got confused."

"Enough'a yer braggin', cozo - now's when I tell ya about th' best prank any man's ev'r heard ov!" He laughed and papped the two on the backs. Illumies stopped, arms crossed.

"Nope. Not until you give me your final number."

Lumies sighed, shuffling his boots forward. "Fine, then. If y'must know, twinny-eight kill shots - all to the big sluggin' ears. Then I ran outta arra's, and had t' fletch rocks ont'a sticks." He shrugged, holding up one of his crude arrows. "I knocked a good lot ov'em out..."

Illumies looked mightily defeated. "So," he coughed, "your prank?"

Scarletta skipped along in the background, conjuring a tumbling Sheltie out of a rock and several blades of grass. Her new companion barked incessantly.

"We're gonna get that lil' one - that cleric there, Rowan - we'll get him in the body of the big fella. All we need, I t'ink, is Scarletta and some partic'lar herby t'ings." He beamed proudly. "She enchants 'em, and they eat 'em, and poof! Jus' like t'at, t'ey're swapped all up and stumbling over the battl'field."

Spoiler

Name: Noir
Age: Centuries
Gender: Male

Class: Sorcerer
Race: His first form was Elvin.

Skills: Magic, intelligence
Weakness: Intelligence

Appearance:
Personality: Noir is an ancient wizard, centuries ago he made his living telling travelers he could raise the dead, but at a cost. He made desperate men and woman promise their souls in order to gain wizardly power. But, he soon learned the true source of the sort of power he sought was the De Deis Inferi.

De Deis Inferi

He heard the name spoken, it echoed across the lands, the very magic in the name alone was enough to wake him from his long slumber. He stood and shook the rigor mortis from his bones. The sleep of death was only truly eternal to a fool. Noir had conquered that death ages ago.

He looked deep into his empty cauldron and willed water to well up inside it. The black ooze bubbled and he scryed the water, he saw adventurers. He saw the Ancient and Powerful One, the Slender One himself. Could he conquer a god? Noir looked at his frail, corpse body. No, not like this, it was time to take on a new form. Then he saw a wounded one, a postman.

Noir laughed deeply, they'd left him.

He stepped into the bubbling blackness of the cauldron and sunk into the pool. His old body sparked and hissed as it melted away, and his spirit entered the new one. Noir took over the postman's body, but not his soul. He forced it out and bound it to him, so that he could draw on it's power later.

He felt the wound, he stuck his finger clear through the other side. That would not do. He forced the wound to heal, it burned, itched, stung, so painfully. After a century of rest, he'd forgotten pain. He hated pain, or at least his pain. Finally the wound closed up, and he stood. "Hey guys! Wait for me!"

Rowan

It niggled at Rowan that he hadn't been able to heal the elf entirely before she got up and ran away. It niggled at him because if she were to drop down dead now then people would question his skill and call it shabby craftsmanship. Which wasn't fair at all because Rowan could hardly be expected to perform miracles if the object jumped off the workbench.

Making shoes would be easier.

Seeming to sense his stares, the elf looked over at him and gave a frown before very pointedly sticking her tongue out and scurrying further away, putting yet more distance between Rowan and his objective.

"'s not my fault if she drops dead. Can hardly be blamed for that," the elf grumbled to himself as the post man came running up behind them. The elf blinked, uncertain about something for a moment, but he couldn't place his finger on what it was.

"You've got a hole through your clothes," he said slowly. "But-" and now this was the strange part. "There isn't one through you."

Noland looked down for a moment and then back at the elf and gave a sheepish grin. "Oh. Oh yes! I must have caught that on something," he said at last. But as he moved ahead of Rowan, the elf couldn't help noticing there was a hole through the back of his shirt as well. And now that he thought about it, he didn't recall seeing him in the count up, but it was good to know the post man was alive. It wouldn't have been fun having to go back on his boasts afterall.

The group stopped briefly at the town and Bartemius disappeared for a moment and then returned to hand them each a very small share of the bounty.

"The town are exceedingly grateful for your help with the goblins!" Bartemius said, beaming. "Now if we could just get the little one to talk, maybe we'd be able to get a ransom for her." He shot a glance in the direction of the elf girl they'd picked up but she merely bared her teeth viciously.

Rowan shook his small bag of coins. "Doesn't sound very grateful," he objected but he was already learning you couldn't win in a fight against Barty. He would simply smile and ignore anything you said.

The travellers spent a few hours in town to rest up and sell their looted items. Some of them also purchased new weapons for themselves and took on extra provisions for the road. Most of Rowan's money went on clean bandages and a not-too-dented shield, but he also picked out a slightly shabby cloak.

Rock
I couldn't help but notice that one of the elves, Lumies I believe his name was, was looking at me in a peculiar way. I couldn't quite decide if he was up to some prank, or simply wanted to eat Kitty. Then I reminded myself that elves don't eat cats, and decided to avoid him for the time being.

I received my share of the money, and decided to spend it on a bigger backpack, which I then filled with food. I didn't want to have to depend on the other's kindness, not for me nor Kitty.

When I was done shopping I went to the closest tavern and ordered a pint of their finest mead. I also ordered some milk for Kitty. Of course someone had to make a fuss about it. A drunk guy, trying to prove to his friends that he could take me down. This happened every damn time I went to a tavern.

"Hey, listen here," I said and grabbed the mans shirt and lifted him up with ease. "I just want to sit down and drink some mead with my cat. Go away or I'll crush you."

That usually did the trick, but this man had friends who apparently were loyal enough to try to help him, so they raised their fists and went over to us. With a sigh I put Kitty back on my shoulder, and waited for the first man to take a swing. When he did, I simply picked him up and tossed him out the window.

Before I knew it there were ten of them, circling around me. I knocked out one or them with my ironclad hand. "You look like you're having fun."

I recognized the voice from the gang of adventurers, but didn't turn to look since one of the men drew a nasty looking sword with jagged edges. "Not really," I said with a sigh and pulled my huge broadsword. They paled at the sight of it and backed of, apologizing as they went.

I payed the owner of the place for the window that I had broken and then turned to look at whoever it was. "Stop sneering or I'll defenestrate you too," I said, sounding tired.