Healing Mishap -4-
By Lanzaq

"what did you get?" Arric asked looking at the necklace.

"I think we might be in for a lot of trouble, its a rare anti-dragon breath pendant." Cael said.

"Nah shoot girl, we don't get dragons down here. Its a small mountain pass. Unless o' course y'all had the bad luck to stumble upon a long lost war-dragon from the elf-goblin war waged countless ages ago." Taf said shoving his hands in his pockets and smiling his yellow, gaped smile.

Cael and Arric laughed. "Well, we are set up for trouble now."

----------------------------------------------------

"Arric. Do you know how to cut hair?" Cael asked sitting on the end of their room's 'bed', more of a wooden box covered with a burlap bag stuffed with chicken feathers, when Arric stood up stretching.

"Oh sure, I can cut my hair, but you want me to cut your hair?" He said sheathing his belt knife. "I dunno. It would look like mine, and I don't think it would look good on you." He added looking over Cael, the elf that now stood shorter than Kate. Cael's rose petal pink eyes stared back at him, full of wisdom from books ancient enough to make Kate look old. His now long hair reached just above his hips that were already quite noticeable underneath the robe, Pronounced dress to non-magicians. His pale white hands were absentmindedly running themselves over the bed fabric.

The longer Arric tried to envision the young man with a short cropped haircut the more he saw the lad running through an open field after his 'apprentice' giggling. He quickly applied a palm-to-forehead. "No. Never mind. Sorry Cael, we would be better off finding a traveling merchant that can cut hair."

Verris suddenly spoke up from behind his large leather book. "Y'know I have been thinking. Kate and Ash." He paused to turn the page and groan about the difficulty of the spell. "They get their own room but..."

"Ash pays for her own room." Arric quickly interrupted. "Which reminds me." Arric quickly checked his money-bag on the side of his backpack. "Empty...all three hundred gone." He said sitting down on the rough bed.

"So Cael sleeps with us because she can't pay for her own room? Why wouldn't Ash help pay for her room." Verris said looking over at Arric. The man stood tall, like the tree that would stand in town square if there wasn't a fountain. His hair was like salt and pepper with more pepper than salt and very clean cut. He had gray eyes that matched the salt of his hair. His skin was tan, not dark, just tan. The dark green cloth with had the leather stitched onto it was noticeably faded, patched, and stitched back up from well use. Light stubble still remained on his face.

"I Thought it would be better if I stayed close to my apprentice." Cael said taking another look over at his apprentice. The man who was older and quite a bit taller than Cael was sitting in the only chair in the room. He held a practice wand, a stick picked up from from street outside, in his pale yet tight grip, his hair was fairly long, it reached about his shoulders. Thick glasses sat perched on his long nose, they teetered from side to side every time he moved his head to talk. Like Cael the man wore robes, theses were actual robes. Deep purple with red glyph stitching around the ankles and wrists of the garment. His brown eyes barely peering above the cracked leather book.

Footsteps were heard hammering up the wooden hall of the inn. Ash pushed open the door with her typical neutral face. "An idea." She said tossing a paper flier to Arric. Cael and Verris both pushed their way next to him to read it.

The paper had no real offer just a bunch of phrases on a bright yellow background. Some of the phrases that stuck out the most to the Three was,

"Low Risk! High Reward!"

"Great For Beginner Dungeon Crawlers!"

"Dagger's Sheath Pass! We have Merchants who specialize in anything!"

Cael and Verris both got excited after reading the empty offers. Verris ran and grabbed up his staff, not his mother's staff that Ulgargan broke but a cheap plain wooden staff with a glass orb on the top. Cael began talking about how the merchants would be able to cut his hair and he would at least look more 'normal.' Arric just laughed and said. "With a group like ours normal isn't a possibility."

Ash just stood at the door. Waiting, watching, her cloak hood up hiding her black hair and green eyes. Her well toned and bronzed body hidden under the heavy armour. Two swords rested in their sheathes at her hips, and a small knife by a strap on her shoulder. She stood taller than Cael, and shorter than Verris. "I thought it sounded good."

Both Cael and Arric stopped what they were doing and stared at Ash. "That was five. She said five. I think that is a new record in front of someone new." they said turning to look at Verris. "But No, Cael, as much as you want your haircut. We can't trust some random piece of paper promising riches and reward at a low risk, Life doesn't work that way."

Suddenly another pair of feet could be heard racing down the hall. Suddenly, in a flurry of motion and a clash of armour against wood. Kate stood where Ash had been only a few seconds earlier. "I Found something!" She said tossing another flier to Arric and turning to help Ash up with a quick sorry and a smile.

The new flier was a dull and rain-weathered piece of paper, scribbled onto the sheet was one phrase.

"Missing Dungeon-Crawl team. Dagger Sheath Pass. Will Pay for the head of their Cleric."

--Bar Mistress Dianna.

Cael just looked at the piece of paper. "It looks old and besides its asking for murder."

"I know its asking for murder, but there is money involved...money that could possibly make up for a loss of mine." Arric said now the one to grab his weapons and backpack.

Verris just smiled. "It was a plan from the gods. I knew we would find a way into Dagger Sheath pass."

"Yes, to die." Arric said lowly. "But if we can make it out alive, and with the head of our friend here. We will make a killing....literally."

The Five set out toward the distant mountain range. Hoods raised as the clouds over head looked ready to drop rain on them. Arric led, Cael in second followed close by his apprentice looking through his heavy book and asking Cael for instructions on how to form certain glyphs and markings. Ash took up forth, polishing one of her two swords reflecting what little sun was shining back at itself. Kate was last laughing and humming to a song she had heard from a bard in a tavern somewhere instead of the holy songs that should be sung by Clerics.

The more the group traveled the darker the clouds got. By the time they had found the entrance the clouds had already started their downpour. The five quickly piled into the cave entrance to be greeted by a bustling market place, however the people that manned the market stalls were the unlikely people.

The squat toad-faced goblins all stood around their stalls yelling back and forth to each other about the price of their competitors being higher than their mother's nightly rate.

The Five just stood looking out at the goblin market with half awe, half disgust.

"Interesting." Said Cael looking from stand to stand for a barber or something of that sort.

"Do they read?" Verris asked rhetorically strapping the book to his back.

"Gross." Is all Ash said watching the short green goblins ogle her and Kate as they passed.

"I agree Ash. They are kind of gross." Arric said dropping some sort of fruit that supposedly only grew inside the mountain, but upon closer inspection just looked like an overly ripe apple.

"They look funny. I like this. I haven't seen goblins in hrmmm twenty years?" Kate said lifting a little doll off a stand to look at the representation of a girl goblin.

Verris just looked up at Kate with his mouth open. "How old are —"

"She won't answer." Arric interrupted. "its not nice to ask a lady how old she is." He added in a whisper.

"Well that was a bust." Cael said after they were out of earshot. "Specialized...they were about as specialized as a group of rocks. I mean honestly not a single one of them knew how to cut hair." Cael said throwing his hair back over his shoulder.

"Cael. They didn't know how to cut hair because they can't cut hair." Arric said gazing back at the unhappy elf. "if you didn't notice. Goblins are bald. Kind of hard to cut non-existent hair."

"Still, they get a lot of traffic through here, at least one of them should know how to cut hair!" Cael said rather loudly.

"If you were a traveler, specifically, a female traveler that took a lot of pride and joy out of your hair would you be willing to let a bunch of short toady-faced green goblins take a pair of shears to your hair if they had no previous experience in cutting hair?"Arric asked looking at Cael.

"Oh." Was the last thing Cael said before they had reached the entrance to the actual dungeon.

The five opened the dungeon door with a sickening squeak of unoiled metal against unoiled metal. They all were ready for combat. Arric had his bow drawn, Kate her swords out, and Cael and Verris had their wands at the ready. However they were greeted by an empty cavern room. A single chest stood at the center. Ash stepped forward and looked at it for a while. She took a lot of time before giving it a swift kick causing it to open. Instead of a gold or items inside the chest however a goblin popped its beady eyes out.

"Thank y'all. I had been shoved in that darn box for I dunno how long. Musta been a gewd hour er two." It said dusting its crude overalls off. "Names Taffly. But you can call me Taf. I will be yer guide through Dagger Sheath Pass makin' sure that all yer party-peoples git to the otherside with only minor bruisin' and bleedin'."

"Names Arric." He said extending his hand to shake with the little goblin. "We should have left the box closed." He whispered to Cael before turning back around. "And with me are Cael a mage, Verris his apprentice, Ash, the nice lady who let you out of the box, and Kate, our healer."

Taffly just watched as Arric listed off the party members before he stopped him. "I think you be missn' someone bowman...Kate was her name? Well, if she isn't with y'all now she either turned back around or is up ahead."

"Oh Kate does that all the time." Cael said glancing back at what was Kate's general direction. "We will meet up with her eventually."

"Okay then. Now lets get a goin'. I wanta get through this Pass in no time flat." Taf said putting a hand in his overall pocket.

The (new) five now continued down the pass pathway, making sure to stop on occasion for Taf to drawl a long winded drawl about something important that no one cared about. After awhile they finally came across their first opponent. A mutant Goblin, if the four thought that goblins couldn't get any uglier then they were wrong. It stood even worsely proportioned than regular goblins, one arm with more muscle than the other, a club foot. A squinted eye. Spotted head and the knobby fingers stretching out for Ash's Blade. "Shinnnnny." was the only intelligible thing they heard out of its mouth before it leaped like a frog for Ash.

Arric took it out mid-leap with a single arrow to the side of its poor mutant head. "Taf, you know what this...thing...is?" Arric said turning it over and pulling the arrow, the arrowhead now covered in a layer of gray matter and a thick gooey green slime, and a few coins fell out of its loincloth pouch, Arric quickly snagged them.

"A mutant." Is all he said. "been a huge influx of the poor thangs, I don't never seen anything like it."

After this little incident the five trudged onward their packs seemingly getting heavier as they moved forward. After the fifth empty room they had walked into Verris sat down on a rock. The wall beside him suddenly shuddered and slid backwards revealing a hidden room. Taf advised them not to look inside because there could be 'bad thangs, curse-ed thangs beyond that thar door.'

The instant they poked their heads in the room lit up revealing some low quality loot, but loot none the less. A crude and rusty ax that appeared to have an anti-goblin inscription in low-elvish for Ash, a goblin quiver that held a rather large amount of Arric's arrows, a goblin's mage staff, with a skull and feathers ornament at the top, a set of gloves with a crosses on them lending to a better ability to cast cure for Kate, and in the corner of the room in a small chest at perfect eye level height for Cael sat a necklace bearing the elvish inscription 'FyreBurns.' it didn't look suspicious, it was just a copper chain and a small nondescript blue gem with the inscription on it. However when Cael put it on he felt the magical properties of the necklace.

"what did you get?" Arric asked looking at the necklace.

"I think we might be in for a lot of trouble, its a rare anti-dragon breath pendant." Cael said.

"Nah shoot girl, we don't get dragons down here. Its a small mountain pass. Unless o' course y'all had the bad luck to stumble upon a long lost war-dragon from the elf-goblin war waged countless ages ago." Taf said shoving his hands in his pockets and smiling his yellow, gaped smile.

Cael and Arric laughed. "Well, we are set up for trouble now."

Ash stood looking at the rusted ax, testing the edge.

Verris laughed nervously. "War-dragon? We couldn't run into one of those would we?"

"With our combined luck, Yeah we will." Arric said shifting the weight on his shoulders to re-situate his new quiver.

The group continued on their way now searching every nook and cranny, after awhile Ash walked into the center of the room and quickly dropped down into a trapdoor. The others followed against everything their friendly goblin guide suggested.

Down in the pit of the trapdoor they found a new route to travel, although it was hidden it wasn't an untraveled path Arric pointed out fairly fresh foot prints in the sand. "That missing group must be around here."

The group continued. Arric had his bow up, Ash had her swords drawn, Cael and Verris walked slowly, and ready to spew incantations quickly. They walked onward stopping on occasion to listen hearing nothing until they heard a voice. Not just a single voice but a chorus of ten or more all chanting the same foreign language over and over.

Arric stopped them at the corner where the voices could be heard at their loudest, an ominous green glow flashed shadows of a group of goblins and a single man sporadically. "On three we turn the corner and see what is going on. Okay?"

"Okay." Ash, Cael and Verris said

"Naw. I am gunna turn back." Taf said turning around

"Three." Arric said suddenly.

What faced them however wasn't a group of goblins, but a group of goblin mutants and a single man. He stood wearing clerics robes, an evil smile stretched across his face as the energy of the magic he was casting whipped his hair around. His smile only stretched wider as he noticed who had wandered in on his casting.

"Hello again...Maggot." Lanzer's voice said, the evil magic melding with his voice.

"Well, its no dragon but I don't think this will be any less fun." Arric said rapid-fire launching arrows taking down five of the nine mutant goblins.

"You know, my pets are like this because of you are your maggot ancestors." Lanzer said pointing at Cael. "If your worm-people hadn't set foot in this pass, my servants wouldn't look half as interesting."

"S-shut up! My Teacher isn't one of those land-hungry elves. She is nice and kind and above all she cares about what people think!" Verris screamed launching several bolts of lightning at the priest which were quickly deflected.

"Foolish boy, Your 'teacher' is a male elf. A maggot male elf at that." Lanzer said "And your pitiful magic won't hit me. I have the Heiliges Schild. If you don't know what that means in Cal. Its Holy Shield. I have godly protection from blasphemers and the maggot races of this world. under my feet is where their skulls will rest when I get the eight holy artifacts." Lanzer said showing off a plain wooden shield with a silver cross at the center. "Boy, remember this. You are human, you are following the path of the holy one, if you leave your maggot companion and follow his light you will find salvation." He said before he disappeared.

"Like I said, Fun." Arric stated before looking at the now enraged mutant goblins surrounding them.

I got back from spring break to see my hits on Healing Mishap and I was quite happy. I had an amazing spring break and I tried to include some character description in the beginning as per request in the comments.