I turned to the voice. I had been, admittedly, kinda zoning out. I had my own thoughts to deal with, after all, and had expected this whole village trip to be short and sweet. We walk in, get some information, grab some supplies, and leave. Barebones, basic, normal.
Sadly that was not to be.
I saw the man who had spoken up. He was talking to Tyler, who had been introducing himself and who we were. He was old, bald, and smaller than Riary.
“Heroes, I’m sorry for the sudden request, but please! We need help!”
Tyler’s brow furrowed as he began to frown.
“What’s going on?”
“Please, come with me to my house and I’ll explain everything!”
I looked around at the other villagers and they looked hopeful, as if a ray of light had shined down upon them. It was worrying, not just because the village clearly needed help, but that I was two for two out of outskirts villages being screwed over. Did villages just end up suffering that much in this world or was it because they were so far away from the rest of society?
Either way, I followed Tyler and the others as they began to follow the old man. Something about their reaction seemed off, till I realized what it was. There was no surprise or shock, just routine annoyance. Well damn, how many plea’s for help had they gotten from random strangers the second they entered towns?
…As I realized that if not for me, there would have been at least two in the last week, we reached the old man’s farm. There wasn’t much to it, besides it being a house by a farm. Small really. Walking inside brought forth a wave of nostalgia. The house may be out of wood, and the door wasn’t a shitty screen door, but it still reminded me of my grandpa’s place out in the middle of nowhere. My heart ached a bit as everyone piled into the small living room.
The old man hastily tried to find seats for us all, which is how I ended up sitting on a footstool. Damn. It really was just like back home.
“Heroes! Thank you so much for hearing us out! Let me properly introduce myself once more, I am Baron Reese and our village is under attack!”
Baron? Wait, is every leader of a village a Baron? That can’t be right… Right? Can it? Then a far more pressing thought pushed into my soul. A village in trouble and a dangerous aura that would kill us all. I prayed quickly to all the gods that it wasn’t related. I quite enjoyed being alive and I would rather run away and sprint towards the Elven territory rather than rush to my death in a suicide mission.
“What can you tell us?” Tyler asked.
The Baron sighed. “Not much I’m afraid. It all happened a few weeks ago. We woke up one day and a few villagers were missing. Just disappeared in the middle of the night. That would have been strange enough, but one of them was a guardswoman near the west gate. We don’t get much traffic but monsters can still be around. Our guards take that threat very seriously, especially with our lack of a good and proper wall. We’re the furthest village outskirt village you know! We have to fend for ourselves out here! She would sooner die than leave her post. But there was no noise, no signs of a struggle. Something or someone has been kidnapping our villagers! And all of them were young women too…”
The old man was clutching at his heart, a mix of fear and anger crossing his features. This was… bad. Out of all the things I was worried about The Heroes having to deal with, any kind of stealth monster was probably the worst. They had fire, a shield and sword, and healing. I didn’t think any one of them was going to catch a, gods forbid, fucking invisible monster.
“And it only got worse from there! We sent out scouts around the village, hoping to find something. We’re situated next to a forest after all, if anything or anyone had set up, that's where’d they’d be.”
My heart hammered in my chest, thinking about the presence I had felt in that forest.
“But we didn’t find anything there. Instead, another group just disappeared out in the plains to the west, about a half days journey. We immediately sent out another group, and they also didn’t come back… We’ve already lost over ten villagers to whatever this thing is out there on the plains. Please Heroes! Please help us!”
I tried to hide a breath of relief that apparently, whatever god damn monster was in the forest, didn’t care to show itself. Instead we, (wait we?), had to go deal with something in the plains. I frowned a little at that. Not the mission itself, I was fine with helping a whole community that’s getting fucked over, but the fact that I couldn’t just sit back and leave it to the professionals. I already knew I would get dragged along, regardless of whatever this was. There’s no way Riary would let me be more than ten feet from the party, without either me being outside the kingdom or as a pile of ash. Damn shame that.
“Don’t worry Sir Reese. I promise, we will leave immediately to go check this out. Just give us some directions and we’ll…”
While Tyler played the role of spokesman, I looked at my other two escorts. Riary was looking at Tyler and the Baron talk, before catching my eye. She glared at me and her small flame pupils came back. I quickly looked away, towards Konahora. She was also watching, but looked more in thought about it. Hopefully they’d have some idea of what was doing this.
****
“I do not know what could be causing this.” Konahora said.
I frowned, at myself really. I hadn’t even been the one to ask! It had been Tyler.
“What do you mean? There can’t be that many monsters that could cause this issue.”
“No monsters that I know of in this region have such stealth capabilities. Bandits are most likely, but there would’ve been signs that would be hard to miss. Lights in the distance, smoke from fires, and more. It is possible to hide them, especially with magic involved, but I do not personally think it is bandits. The actions are not typical behavior.”
“What do you mean?” Tyler asked. “Bandits stealing women and hiding out nearby seems pretty normal.”
“Then they normally would’ve kept to the forest…” She trailed off as she looked at me “...unless they couldn’t go there.”
“What does it matter?” Riary practically spat out. Fire practically breathed around her. Not literally, thank god, but it was like there was a shimmering aura of heat all around her. I knew that any second, that whole haze could become an inferno and sadly, I was within said haze. Small fires actually sparked beneath my clothing, making me feel uncomfortably hot, in uncomfortable places. I knew it was on purpose too. “Let’s just go out there and beat them up!”
Tyler shrugged and well, that was that. There wasn’t any more information to be gained. It was half a day’s walk and it was still morning, better to get going than not.
The countryside was nice. That was my honest thought as we kept heading out west. Without rain, wind, cold, and other bullshit, I finally got to just enjoy the walk. Riary was too focused on the mission to mess with me and it was just, well, nice. I hadn’t gotten to enjoy my travels so far, I realized. Just been stuck with unending agony.
There was nothing around for miles at this point, just a nearly flat field. Thankfully, not kansas flat, but just grass as far the eye could see. I would’ve liked to lay down and take a nap on the ground, if we weren’t currently busy.
I took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air. This was the good life, right here. Peaceful. Relaxing. I could actually feel the stress seeping away from my body.
I looked to my right and saw bark. Huh. That was weird. Who put that tree there?
Boom
****
Tyler had been keeping an eye out, looking for any signs of the missing villagers. He heard a loud crash and turned, only to see Derek going flying through the air like a baseball. The thing that had hit him was even harder to miss, being fifteen feet tall and wielding a tree as a club.
An Ogre. It roared and moved to attack again.
“Kona, get Derek! Riary, light it up!” He was talking but he hadn’t even finished speaking when he blocked its next swing with his tower shield, a noise like a gong being struck radiating outward. He took a second to stabilize his footing from the force, preventing himself from being knocked back.
A healer ran, a sword swung, and a fireball was launched. The fight had begun.
I turned to the voice. I had been, admittedly, kinda zoning out. I had my own thoughts to deal with, after all, and had expected this whole village trip to be short and sweet. We walk in, get some information, grab some supplies, and leave. Barebones, basic, normal.
Sadly that was not to be.
I saw the man who had spoken up. He was talking to Tyler, who had been introducing himself and who we were. He was old, bald, and smaller than Riary.
“Heroes, I’m sorry for the sudden request, but please! We need help!”
Tyler’s brow furrowed as he began to frown.
“What’s going on?”
“Please, come with me to my house and I’ll explain everything!”
I looked around at the other villagers and they looked hopeful, as if a ray of light had shined down upon them. It was worrying, not just because the village clearly needed help, but that I was two for two out of outskirts villages being screwed over. Did villages just end up suffering that much in this world or was it because they were so far away from the rest of society?
Either way, I followed Tyler and the others as they began to follow the old man. Something about their reaction seemed off, till I realized what it was. There was no surprise or shock, just routine annoyance. Well damn, how many plea’s for help had they gotten from random strangers the second they entered towns?
…As I realized that if not for me, there would have been at least two in the last week, we reached the old man’s farm. There wasn’t much to it, besides it being a house by a farm. Small really. Walking inside brought forth a wave of nostalgia. The house may be out of wood, and the door wasn’t a shitty screen door, but it still reminded me of my grandpa’s place out in the middle of nowhere. My heart ached a bit as everyone piled into the small living room.
The old man hastily tried to find seats for us all, which is how I ended up sitting on a footstool. Damn. It really was just like back home.
“Heroes! Thank you so much for hearing us out! Let me properly introduce myself once more, I am Baron Reese and our village is under attack!”
Baron? Wait, is every leader of a village a Baron? That can’t be right… Right? Can it? Then a far more pressing thought pushed into my soul. A village in trouble and a dangerous aura that would kill us all. I prayed quickly to all the gods that it wasn’t related. I quite enjoyed being alive and I would rather run away and sprint towards the Elven territory rather than rush to my death in a suicide mission.
“What can you tell us?” Tyler asked.
The Baron sighed. “Not much I’m afraid. It all happened a few weeks ago. We woke up one day and a few villagers were missing. Just disappeared in the middle of the night. That would have been strange enough, but one of them was a guardswoman near the west gate. We don’t get much traffic but monsters can still be around. Our guards take that threat very seriously, especially with our lack of a good and proper wall. We’re the furthest village outskirt village you know! We have to fend for ourselves out here! She would sooner die than leave her post. But there was no noise, no signs of a struggle. Something or someone has been kidnapping our villagers! And all of them were young women too…”
The old man was clutching at his heart, a mix of fear and anger crossing his features. This was… bad. Out of all the things I was worried about The Heroes having to deal with, any kind of stealth monster was probably the worst. They had fire, a shield and sword, and healing. I didn’t think any one of them was going to catch a, gods forbid, fucking invisible monster.
“And it only got worse from there! We sent out scouts around the village, hoping to find something. We’re situated next to a forest after all, if anything or anyone had set up, that's where’d they’d be.”
My heart hammered in my chest, thinking about the presence I had felt in that forest.
“But we didn’t find anything there. Instead, another group just disappeared out in the plains to the west, about a half days journey. We immediately sent out another group, and they also didn’t come back… We’ve already lost over ten villagers to whatever this thing is out there on the plains. Please Heroes! Please help us!”
I tried to hide a breath of relief that apparently, whatever god damn monster was in the forest, didn’t care to show itself. Instead we, (wait we?), had to go deal with something in the plains. I frowned a little at that. Not the mission itself, I was fine with helping a whole community that’s getting fucked over, but the fact that I couldn’t just sit back and leave it to the professionals. I already knew I would get dragged along, regardless of whatever this was. There’s no way Riary would let me be more than ten feet from the party, without either me being outside the kingdom or as a pile of ash. Damn shame that.
“Don’t worry Sir Reese. I promise, we will leave immediately to go check this out. Just give us some directions and we’ll…”
While Tyler played the role of spokesman, I looked at my other two escorts. Riary was looking at Tyler and the Baron talk, before catching my eye. She glared at me and her small flame pupils came back. I quickly looked away, towards Konahora. She was also watching, but looked more in thought about it. Hopefully they’d have some idea of what was doing this.
****
“I do not know what could be causing this.” Konahora said.
I frowned, at myself really. I hadn’t even been the one to ask! It had been Tyler.
“What do you mean? There can’t be that many monsters that could cause this issue.”
“No monsters that I know of in this region have such stealth capabilities. Bandits are most likely, but there would’ve been signs that would be hard to miss. Lights in the distance, smoke from fires, and more. It is possible to hide them, especially with magic involved, but I do not personally think it is bandits. The actions are not typical behavior.”
“What do you mean?” Tyler asked. “Bandits stealing women and hiding out nearby seems pretty normal.”
“Then they normally would’ve kept to the forest…” She trailed off as she looked at me “...unless they couldn’t go there.”
“What does it matter?” Riary practically spat out. Fire practically breathed around her. Not literally, thank god, but it was like there was a shimmering aura of heat all around her. I knew that any second, that whole haze could become an inferno and sadly, I was within said haze. Small fires actually sparked beneath my clothing, making me feel uncomfortably hot, in uncomfortable places. I knew it was on purpose too. “Let’s just go out there and beat them up!”
Tyler shrugged and well, that was that. There wasn’t any more information to be gained. It was half a day’s walk and it was still morning, better to get going than not.
The countryside was nice. That was my honest thought as we kept heading out west. Without rain, wind, cold, and other bullshit, I finally got to just enjoy the walk. Riary was too focused on the mission to mess with me and it was just, well, nice. I hadn’t gotten to enjoy my travels so far, I realized. Just been stuck with unending agony.
There was nothing around for miles at this point, just a nearly flat field. Thankfully, not kansas flat, but just grass as far the eye could see. I would’ve liked to lay down and take a nap on the ground, if we weren’t currently busy.
I took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air. This was the good life, right here. Peaceful. Relaxing. I could actually feel the stress seeping away from my body.
I looked to my right and saw bark. Huh. That was weird. Who put that tree there?
Boom
****
Tyler had been keeping an eye out, looking for any signs of the missing villagers. He heard a loud crash and turned, only to see Derek going flying through the air like a baseball. The thing that had hit him was even harder to miss, being fifteen feet tall and wielding a tree as a club.
An Ogre. It roared and moved to attack again.
“Kona, get Derek! Riary, light it up!” He was talking but he hadn’t even finished speaking when he blocked its next swing with his tower shield, a noise like a gong being struck radiating outward. He took a second to stabilize his footing from the force, preventing himself from being knocked back.
A healer ran, a sword swung, and a fireball was launched. The fight had begun.
