Chapter 5: An Unlucky number?

As the final toll of the Healer’s Hall bell announced the start of the day, fourteen mounted men and two horse-drawn wagons made their way through the streets of Wyndemere.

The second wagon barely slowed down as villagers began to climb on board and greet one another as the cart continued through the streets. Even with the long day ahead, the field workers' good mood didn’t change. All were ready to start work.

In contrast, the wagon in front contained supplies for the upcoming journey down the Forest Road— the mounted men were apprehensive at what those forthcoming days would bring.

Two men led the procession, one dressed in his familiar red arming coat and silver badge of office. The second horsemen rode heavily armored — a thick quilted gambeson covered by mail, which included the body and limbs with additional protection to his head provided by a conical kettle helm.

Upon approaching the inn, the procession slowed for only a moment as Captain Colin turned in his saddle, “I will be along in a moment.”

The guards on the way to the fields saluted before turning away with the wagon full of workers and headed towards the Forest Gate.

“Seems the rumors were true, Captain. Lady Eleanor had a busy night,” Marcus grinned at the two figures that stood in the inn’s courtyard waiting for their escort.

Leo waved then looked at his wife, who just stood there with a soft smile on her face. The healer no longer wore his elegant blue and bright yellow cioppa instead armored much like the honored veteran except on his head he wore a sallet helm, with its face guard currently up.

Karin’s light leather armor had additional protection added, including a mail shirt and heavy leather guards on her arms and legs along with a kettle helm to protect her head.

“Good morning, Captain, Marcus,” Leo approached the two men.

Captain Conrad signaled everyone to dismount. “So it’s true, she had Mistress Margaret up all night.”

“Good morning to you both, and yes, we discovered our new gambesons needed some altering.” Karin greeted the two men warmly while her husband grumbled that he hadn’t gained that much weight.

“Lady Eleanor had concerns for our safety, as neither of us were properly outfitted.”

Leo sighed. “She’s not wrong. We really can’t call ourselves C ranked adventurers anymore either as we sold most of our enchanted gear when we retired.”

He didn’t mention the additional protection Lady Eleanor insisted they wear, a ring for him and his wife, and a medallion for his niece.

“I see.” The Captain’s admiration for the young noblewoman rose, but her mystery only increased.

Lady Eleanor managed at the last minute to gather supplies for her group. Not impossible with enough silver, but the merchants seemed to want to help. Along with a long list of supplies, from what he could see, she purchased well-crafted armor for the two of them. He expected nothing less for their niece's outfit.

“Well, it looks good on you, brings back memories.” Marcus grinned, punching Leo in the shoulder.

“There she is.” The captain murmured.

“You were right, sir, she’s wearing silvered steel,” Marcus whispered to his commander.

“I’ll add it to my report to the Baroness.” The Captain nodded and then signed to his men to greet the approaching noblewoman.

Lady Eleanor Reine of Avalon stepped from the side of the inn, and into the morning sun. With her armor shining, no one noticed when she stumbled a bit at the sight of everyone in the courtyard bowing as she approached.

--0--

At least now we now look like a proper adventuring party. Karin’s gear wasn’t too bad. She just needed additional protection, but her husband had planned on wearing only a heavy linen arming coat on our journey to find his niece.

Neither of the two had proper head protection, and Iona’s gear was not acceptable. The simple linen robe wouldn’t turn a blade away, much less the teeth and claws from a monster. I didn’t have a high opinion of her sister for allowing her younger sibling to join her party wearing such an outfit.

Opal and I, along with one of the village seamstress, put our heads together to get Iona into proper gear. I didn’t mind salvaging a bit of one of my less-used outfits for her safety.

In the end, the young mage ended up with deep blue battle robes, covered by a light leather jerkin. The light mail coif she wore on her head, well, I didn’t tell anyone it would offer more protection than a full metal helm.

Leo had tried to argue, of course, about the cost, not about his niece’s gear obviously, but his own. I impressed on him that the armor was nothing more than a gift to see them all safely home.

Although you wouldn’t be able to tell, we were also well supplied. After Leo gave his seal of approval, all of the items ended up in my inventory or the arcane bag that Iona slung across her shoulder.

“Auntie,” Iona happily called out, “Excuse me, Lady Eleanor.”

“Go on, show her how you look.” I waved her off before turning to Gwefrydd, who had been following the two of us out of the stables. “You seem to have fans.”

The captain looked thoughtful, probably professional curiosity. I had no clue what breeds the guards rode, but the horses were smaller. Gwefrydd, according to his in-game description, was classified as a Destrier, and I believe most of the guards riding mounts would be called Rouncey.

Glancing towards Leo and Karin, who stood with amused smiles, as Iona happily pointed out that her blue outfit matched my armor, I greeted both the Captain and his second in command.

“I would like to thank you again, Lady Eleanor, for looking into this situation for me.” the Captain handed me a round metal disk covered with what I discovered was the Baroness's symbol, or device, a small rose surrounded by white and red painted diamonds.

“This will give you the authority as my proxy to command any adventuring parties you might come across.”

I hesitated for a moment, “Shouldn’t Leo or Karin be given this? They are more familiar with the guild.”

“No, I disagree. It should be you, Lady Eleanor,” Leo spoke quite firmly as he joined the conversation.

I glanced towards Karin, who nodded in agreement.

“I accept then.”

We wasted no time after that, Karin and Iona took a seat in the wagon, while Leo rode on an extra mount. After passing through the Forest Gate, the Captain headed off towards the fields leaving Marcus in charge.

With our number now at thirteen, I had a sudden thought. I hoped that there was not another dragon at the end of this adventure.

--0—

Leo and I had been riding behind the wagon for most of the morning. Gwefrydd wanted to go faster, but Marcus was letting the horse pulling the wagon set the pace.

During that time, I learned a little about the caravans that traveled from the east. Carrying salt, iron, wine, textiles, and numerous luxury items, they would generally be composed of two dozen wagons along with its masters, divers, animal handlers, servants, passengers, and maybe forty or so guards.

“It's not unheard of that before they cross the Ulmar mountains and into the Dry Valley, that the number of merchants will triple as many of the caravan leaders will band together for protection,” Karin nudged her niece, who started to make a face.

“Is it that dangerous?”

“It can be, my lady, especially through the Dry Valley.” Taking a sip of watered-down wine, she passed it around. “Often, one of the rich merchant houses will make a request to the Emperor for the Legion’s assistance.”

“That’s how I met my wife.” Leo chuckled at the look his niece gave the two of them.

I couldn’t help but grin, “I guess, she’s heard the story before?”

“A few times,” Iona murmured before passing the wine bag back to her aunt.

“As you know, I was a member of the Sixth Legion. We were called upon by the Emperor to escort a caravan when it came under attack by a large group of Dal Riata raiders. The lead scouts, which I was part of, were quickly overrun. A week later, I awoke in a Healer’s Hall.”

Leo picked up the story, “The Legion commander dropped off its wounded auxiliaries in Peturia turned around and headed back through the pass.”

“So, they just left you there?”

Karin made a face then shrugged, “We weren’t important enough, and any of the wounded who did return afterward would most likely be arrested for desertion. A cousin of mine warned me about that. Instead, the caravan master paid for our healing and offered us jobs.”

“Which was a good thing,” Leo smiled at his wife. “About a year later, my companions and I were hired on as caravan guards. We met not long after that.”

Before Karin could continue her tale, a loud crash came from the front of the column.

“I’ll take a look.” Quickly riding around the wagon, I reached Marcus, who had called for a halt. But, before I could open my mouth to ask what was going on, two of the outriders retreated past us as a tree crashed to the ground, sending up a large plume of dust into the air.

“I’ll get the others and check it out,” I called out as I wheeled my mount around.

Riding back, I quickly dismounted, “There something down the road causing problems.”

Iona started to rise, but Karin put her hand up, “Stay here.”

“But.”

Drawing the weapon I was most familiar with, my longsword Marwolaeth, I pointed to a place towards the front of the wagon, “No, it’s a good idea. If you stand right over there, you will get a good view. If anything approaches the wagon, it will be your responsibility to take care of it.”

I could see her struggling for a moment, before taking a deep breath and noddeding. Karin mouthed the words ‘thank you’ as the three of us moved past the front of the column.

With me taking the lead as we discussed last night, Leo moved to my right with his spear, and Karin, with her bow at the ready, remained a few steps behind to my left. Obviously, I would be the tank of our party, although they didn’t understand the terminology they did the intent.

From the looks of things, the whole tree line on the left side of the road had been torn up, with a couple of trees upended. I could see why the outriders were spooked.

“Looks like a gura or something as large,” Karin announced as she moved closer to my side.

“They don’t normally attack humans.” Her husband grimaced at the pulverized tree, which had been thrown clear from the forest by a good distance.

“Not unless they’re annoyed, or in heat, they can be pretty unpredictable.”

I’m not sure if either of the two noticed the six foot tall, half-ton of wild boar with its razor-sharp tusks bearing down on us from the tree line, but to me, it moved in slow motion.

Stepping out of the way of the charge, I drew my sword back and struck as it passed piercing its skull right behind its right ear. The beast continued forward, not realizing its fate, but as it turned, it stumbled, earning it two arrows in the flank.

“That’s a big pig.” Leo moved to set his spear, but the massive boar just collapsed to the ground.

“Think it's large enough to feed thirteen people?”

“I would hope so, my lady,” Karin moved to place herself behind her husband with another arrow nocked.

The three of us stood watching the tree line for a few more minutes before deciding that was the only threat.

“I’ll go back and see if we can get help dressing the beast.”

“Bring Iona back as well, luv,” Karin called out as she cautiously approached the gura. Retrieving her two arrows, she pressed her hand on the beast's skull. “Well struck, Lady Eleanor.”

“Thank you.”

Strange, in the real world, I had never killed anything nor had a desire to do so. The skitters were bugs, so I didn’t give them much thought. Even as the wild boar lay there, I was more concerned that I had made sure it didn’t suffer than I had just killed it without a thought. Truthfully, I didn't know if I was horrified or thankful.

“That’s even larger than the ones we saw. How did you kill that thing?” Iona said in amazement as she joined us with the rest of the guards.

“Quite easily, Lady Eleanor struck it behind the ear as it charged past us.” Karin pointed to the wound.

“Sweet Dinya,” One of the guards exclaimed.

Thankfully, Marcus started ordering everyone about, and soon, several of the guards were getting to work field dressing the boar.

Not interested in watching, I started walking towards the pulverized log that stood between us and the tree line. “Well, unless you want to help, Iona let’s move off and see how you’ve progressed with the Fire Dart spell.”

I thought she looked a little green because she quickly moved to my side. Karin also joined, leaving Leo to help the guards. Dousing the tree and the surrounding grass with conjured water, no need for us to set the forest on fire, I walked back to the road.

“All right, that’s your target.” Standing back, I watched as Iona concentrated on her spell.

Chanting for a moment, she sent a palm-size fire dart into the log. The penetration of the spell wasn’t as good as an Earth or Ice Dart, but not many living things like to be caught on fire.

I asked for her to cast the spell again, then for her to do two darts at once. Karin voiced her approval as her niece readily complied with all my requests.

“Excellent, now can you double the number of darts?”

Biting her lip, she nodded, then concentrated for a moment, and after a quick chant sent four darts into the overturned tree.

Taking a deep breath, she gave me a satisfied smile. Iona wasn’t panting, but I could tell she was tired. “Can I ask, Lady Eleanor, how many darts can you cast at once?”

“Let’s try eight,” Pointing I sent the darts into the tree, which flipped over from the impact of the spell.

Stepping back, Iona clapped her hands together, “Egads, my lady, do you think I will be able to do that?”

“With practice and experience, but remember there will come a time where you're just wasting your mana. The drain of nine fire darts is more than a Cone of Fire, which will do more damage in a wider area. “

I noticed something else which thankfully no one had pointed out. Unlike Iona, I never chanted before casting the spell. I didn’t know if that was normal or not or just something that made my magic different.

“Why don’t we find a place and work on the Alarm Ward maybe you will be able to cast it by the time we reach your sister.”

--0—

“So what else do you normally expect to encounter on the road,” I drew Gwefrydd closer to the wagon again after riding up and down the column.

The men were very efficient in dressing the boar. The tusks were offered to me, which I placed in Iona’s bag. Most of the meat had been cut up and placed in a barrel, and then covered with salt. The rest would be cooked as soon as we stopped.

“Goblyns, my lady,” One of the guards riding near me commented. “But, they won't bother us none since we’re all fighting men.”

“And ladies,” Another guard jumped in.

Karin nodded, “Forest Goblyns tend to travel in several small family groups, but it’s the goblyn clans to the east that cause the caravans the most grief.”

“Lupi, too, but they tend to stay in the hills,” Iona looked up from her studying. “And well, wolves.”

“Well, wolves are everywhere, little Miss, but your right about that,” The guard smiled and then moved off to join his partner further to our left.

“Might see an Ogre or two.”

“Truly,” Iona turned to her uncle, who rode up. I couldn’t tell if she was excited or nervous.

“Hush, you.” Karin admonished her husband. “Don’t scare her. We’re too far from the Ulmar mountains to run into one.”

Shrugging, Leo explained, “We do see them but not very often. I heard they are much more common further north. Is it true, Lady Eleanor?”

“Ogres, sure, do you also have problems with trolls?” Not sure if Ogres roamed the north, but they were a pretty common monster to fight in-game. Trolls were of an abundance too, and wondered if they would be something seen in this world.

“Oh that’s right, my lady, you mentioned you were traveling in a swamp.” Leo nodded, “We see them down south along the Red River and in the saltwater swamps near Castlerock. They can also be found occasionally in some rivers as far west as Harmon.”

“What about Rock Tolls?” Iona looked around.

Karin shrugged, “Pretty sure they are just Ogres.”

Swamp Tolls and River Trolls, well, that’s a thing, “Looks like Marcus is calling for a halt.”

“There’s a campsite up ahead.” One of the guards pointed to another clearing I had passed on my way through the woods the first time. Since we were pacing the wagon, it was going to take a couple of days to get out of this part of the forest.

Creating a campsite with my cooking skills fascinated everyone, although we needed more than just one with the number of people we had. While Iona gathered wood from the woodpiles, I stood off watching the guards who were felling a tree for more wood for later groups.

“So, if there are so many people, my lady, why are the four of us setting a watch tonight?” Iona asked after dropping another load of sticks down on the ground.

“Because we need to be getting into the habit,” Her uncle replied. “You and Lady Eleanor will be taking the first watch as we talked about.”

“This way, we can go over the spells you are learning.”

“Thank you, my lady.” Iona beamed at me.

“So, while they are getting ready for dinner, let us continue working on the Alarm Ward. Then afterward, you can watch me set them around the campsite.”

The roasted gura ended up being overcooked, which was probably for the best. We added salt and a few herbs at least around my campsite, which was appreciated. Marcus had joined us, and we discussed the plans for the days ahead. From what Iona mentioned, her sister’s party had turned north about a half day from the Godstone's.

“So, it took over a week for your sister’s group to get to the Pale Hills?”

“Yes, my lady, but we didn’t go straight there.” Iona picked at some bread I had pulled out of my inventory. Cutting it up to make sandwiches with the pork had been a great hit. Adding BBQ sauce would also have been nice, but finding molasses in this world seemed pretty unlikely.

“If we push ourselves, we should get there in three or four days' time.” Leo frowned, “But we’re still not sure the direction your sister’s party went from there.”

“Sorry, uncle, I didn’t really pay attention. Once we left the rockslide, we traveled west for most of the day then started back towards the road.” She said unhappily.

“No matter,” Karin reached over and gently ran her fingers through her niece’s hair. ”We will find Myra.”

Well, this was going to come out eventually. Marcus had wondered about my mount. We planned on walking toward the Pale Hills, and of course, Gwefrydd would have to be left behind.

“Once we get there, I can take Gwefrydd out for a ride. I should be able to cover quite a bit ground, even in broken terrain.”

“Are you not leaving your mount behind, Lady Eleanor?” Karin frowned. I could see confusion in her eyes.

“Well, he isn’t exactly traveling with us.” I pointed to Gwefrydd, who stood off with the other horses in a picket line, happily eating his dinner. Sorry, I’ll make it up to you later. I then unsummoned him.

Everyone at our campfire, but Karin jumped. She whispered, “You have bonded with a Caddaja.”

“What?”

Karin looked towards me, “A spirit horse, Iona.”

I nodded as it was a good explanation as any. I had planned either to explain that it was a summoning spell or a magic item, but this explanation seemed to work better.

“Oh, I never heard of that before. Can I get one?” She looked up at me, hopefully. I knew Iona was fond of the greedy guts.

“It’s not as simple as that, Iona. My mother told me a story of Princess Freia, who was said to have a vision from Nyyrikki while out hunting. Taking the form of a great white stag, he led her on a merry chase through an ancient forest for six days and nights. On the fifth day, she fought a gigantic horned snake and on the sixth, a giant she-wolf. On the seventh day, she battled a corrupted spirit, which stood guarding a golden horn in the forest’s heart.”

As Karin continued to tell her tale, how the Princess defeated the spirit and freed the Unicorn Adara from her prison, I knew that my life had become considerably more complicated.

--0--

Author's note: a wee bit shorter but snuck one in, thanks for reading! See you in a few

Glossary:

Aggro - As a verb, it refers to a hostile mob that has noticed a player and is actively trying to attack that player. As a noun, it refers to the amount of "hostility" the player has generated on the mob.

Alt - or alternate character is a character in addition to one's "primary" or "Main" player character. Also, one frequent use is to play characters of opposite gender or to see what new features have been added since they last were on a low-level character.

Bells: Most large communities have some way to keep time, useful for travelers, and tradesmen heading off to work. Usually the either the Town’s Hall or Healer’s Hall will ring a large bell. It's Midsummer, so the times below will change depending on the time of year and location-

First 2:30 a.m.
Second 3:40 a.m.
Third 7:00 a.m.
Forth 12:20 p.m.
Fifth 3:00 p.m.
Sixth 7:00 p.m.
Seventh 8:20 p.m.
Eighth 9:30 p.m.

Escort Missions – a job where you have to safeguard an NPC, without getting them killed. Now, this wouldn't be so bad, except that the NPCs are universally stupid, running ahead and getting killed in the process. Many players despise these types of jobs.

Guilds - Semi-permanent player groups. In typical games, players must use a substantial amount of capital to start the guild.

MMORPG - Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game

Mob - An AI-controlled monster.

Noob- Newbie, newb, noob, or n00b is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in a profession or activity. Variant forms of the noun include Newby and newbee, while the related term noob (often stylized as "n00b") is commonly used in online gaming.

Tank - A tank or also known as a meat shield, redirect enemy attacks or attention toward themselves to protect others. Typically the fighter tries to take as much aggro as possible away from weaker players such as healers and mages. Since they can often take a lot of damage, they are usually heavily armored and have lots of health.

Total party kill (TPK) “Rocks fall, everyone dies” or wipes - a situation in which every player character in a party dies. Factors include player inexperience, insufficient player characters, or encounters too difficult for the party's capabilities.