Unforeseen path, p.47
Unforeseen Path, page 47
“Dude, if those guys haven’t been doing quests to build up their reputation this whole time they’ve been in the city,” Töten said in a hushed voice as the players were dragged off, “they’ll be lucky not to be exiled from the kingdom.”
“Sucks to be them,” I said with an indifferent shrug, “How much you want to bet they start causing a shitstorm on the forums once they log out?”
“No bets there,” Töten grunted.
“I guess they’re gonna learn real quick that they’re responsible for their own actions,” Phoenix humorously said watching them go.
“That’s gonna be a system shock for some of them, I bet,” Zeven speculated, when he suddenly realized, “Huh, they must’ve had a lot more guards outside than I thought.”
“Looks that way,” Töten agreed.
“So, what’s the plan for tonight?” Phoenix suddenly asked, switching gears.
“What do you mean?” Zeven asked, giving the Barbarian a confused look, “I thought the plan was for us to get a room here.”
“And what?” Töten asked, following Phoenix’s logic, “Have all these guys and their friends waiting for us to leave so they can get some payback?”
“We went through them easily enough,” Neristhana said as Phoenix, Töten, and Zeven glanced at the Gnomeling in surprise. Frowning at the trio, she put her hands on her hips, “What’s wrong with what I said?”
“If that happens, we’ll be tied up for hours if not days if they focus on taking out our mounts,” I unhappily explained while shaking my head. The last thing I wanted to deal with was a bunch of angry asshats trying their best to troll us and reporting our whereabouts on the forum every step of the way. I grinned as an idea suddenly hit me, “Though, a little misdirection might solve our problem nicely if Team-Leader Pulver and the other guards are down with covering for us.”
“Did you need something, Protector?” Team-Leader Pulver asked at the sound of his name.
“Misdirection?” Zeven asked, giving Töten and Phoenix a questioning glance.
“No clue,” Töten shrugged just as clueless.
“Not another one of your plans, Star,” Phoenix muttered under his breath.
“Yeah, as I explained to Guard Leader Wilson earlier tonight, we’re on a secret mission to the Kingdom of Cadarea and know the horde colluders are seeking to stop us,” I nodded towards where the players had been dragged away by the guards. “And those newfar will only be held for what, two hours?”
“Maybe four if I have a talk with the advocate prosecuting their case,” Team-Leader Pulver thoughtfully said. Seeing my surprise, he explained, “They did resist arrest and assault some of our guards, so multiple concurrent crimes require different lengths of time in the dungeon.”
“That won’t be of much of any help for us,” Töten groused as he considered the problem, “They’ll be waiting for us when we leave the Thirsty Troll in the morning.”
“I’m sorry,” Team-Leader Pulver apologized, “but there’s not anything more I can do to hold them longer.”
“It’s not a problem,” I said, waving the man’s chagrin away, “We’ll be leaving Lodenburg shortly.” I ignored the exclamation of “We’re leaving?” from my friends as I hurriedly continued, “Though, what I would ask as a boon from the guards of this city, is that they tell anyone who asks that we’re staying in the keep visiting with Lady Perlar.”
“While that wouldn’t be an issue,” Team-Leader Pulver thoughtfully agreed as he considered the issue. A second later, I saw a gleam come to his eyes as he flashed me a grin, “but with a little bit of planning, I think we can manage something better than that.” Turning to the guardswoman quietly standing by his side, he gave her a wink, “Squad-Leader Hackly, do you think it might be possible for two of our guards to accidentally discuss Protector Ironwolf being invited to stay with Lady Perlar at the keep in front of our new guests?”
“I think that would be easy enough to arrange, sir,” Squad-Leader Hackly said as a matching grin came to her lips. “It’s not our fault if the Chofe-ka just happens to overhear the wrong bit of information at the right time.”
“Perfect, then I’ll leave that little accident up to you and your squad mates to organize,” Team-Leader Pulver happily replied, before turning back to me. “If I might be so bold to suggest, I can have Squad-Leader Hackly and her squad quietly lead you through the back alleys to one of the postern gates so that fewer people see you leaving the city.”
“That’s an excellent suggestion and will hopefully allow us to escape any pursuit,” I said, giving him a nod of thanks as I reached in my pouch and pulled out two golds. “I’d appreciate if you would buy the guards who assisted tonight at the Thirsty Troll a round of drinks on me.”
“Two gold will buy more than just one round of drinks,” Team-Leader Pulver hesitatingly admitted, unsure if he should take the proffered coins.
“That’s not a problem,” I assured the other man as I pushed the gold coins into his palm as Squad-Leader Hackly silently watched and listened, “then, do the evening up right. It’s the least I can do to express my gratitude for all of your hard work and support this evening.”
“It will be as you’ve asked,” Team-Leader Pulver assured me as we shook hands, “And if you’re ever in Lodenburg again, I hope you’ll join us at the pub for a round.”
“It would be my pleasure,” I said as we stepped back.
“If you’ll follow us out of the rear of the inn,” Squad-Leader Hackly politely said, after accepting a large ring of iron keys from her boss, “then we can get you and your friends on your way.”
“Lead the way,” I said as we followed the guards out the back of the Thirsty Troll.
Passing through the kitchen, my stomach growled at the divine smells from the meat rolls that were laid out in the kitchen prep area. That lovely smell was quickly spoiled as I got a whiff of burnt food. A quick glance towards the large wood-burning stove showed that the large pots of vegetables had all been ruined while the platters of potato-like spiced halves had been burnt to a crisp during the bar fight. What a shame, I thought, as we hurried out the backdoor.
To my surprise, we piled out into a small alleyway that ran behind the inn and other shops along the main avenue. It stank to the high heavens and was cramped, only wide enough for us to file down in pairs. As we hurriedly followed after the squad of guards at a fast jog, I curiously studied the alleyway, surprised that I hadn’t noticed it earlier on our way to the Thirsty Toll.
Did these alleyways even meet up to the main streets or were they dark mazes within the city that could only be accessed at certain locations? It would make sense to hide the delivery of supplies to a point and make for an interesting underworld-type area for players that got into that kind of thing, I silently contemplated, as my eyes thoughtfully studied the walls and rooftops.
After a number of twists and turns that got me thoroughly confused, we were led out near the outer wall. Unlike Darom, the buildings of the city brushed up against the outer wall without a kill zone in case the outer wall was breached. Once again, I realized this left a lot of covert possibilities for those players choosing to play Thieves and Assassins. Though in the area, there only seemed to be warehouses nearby.
As the squad of guards took up defensive positions along the alleyway and street that led to the warehouses, Squad-Leader Hackly silently waved us over to a nondescript portion of the wall. Pulling out a small blue-glowing light stone from her pouch, she used its dim light to search the wall. Finding the spot that she wanted, she pulled out the large iron ring of keys and, to my surprise, slipped it into a hidden keyhole that I hadn’t seen while standing behind her. A few quick turns and she flashed me a smile, before using her shoulder to get the door to slide a few inches open.
“Mind giving me a hand?” Squad-Leader Hackly quietly whispered, “These postern gates don’t get used all that often.”
“Sure thing,” I whispered back. Before I could give her a hand, Töten leaned over us both and easily shoved the thick block of stone open like it was nothing.
“Uh, thanks,” Squad-Leader Hackly said, giving Töten a thoughtful once-over. The look that flashed across her face made me raise an eyebrow. Instead of addressing my unspoken comment, she blushed and stepped back away from the doorway, “This door will let you out on the northwestern side of the outer wall not far away from a nearby clump of trees. If you travel through the grove without any lights, you should be able to make your way unseen from the city without too much of a problem.”
“We’ll have to be careful that no one running quests sees us mounted or this won’t be of much help,” Zeven muttered under his breath.
“There shouldn’t be any newfar running quests in the area,” Squad-Leader Hackly disagreed with a curt shake of her head. “As long as you reach the treeline without being seen, I doubt anyone will be aware of your exit from the city tonight.”
“We’ll just have to make sure we’re not seen,” I said, unobtrusively pulling five silvers from my pouch and cupping them in my palm before holding my hand out to shake, “I appreciate all of your help tonight.”
“It was my pleasure, Protector,” Squad-Leader Hackly sincerely said, gripping my hand warmly. I saw the brief flash of surprise in her eyes as I pushed the coins into her palm.
“The first round of ale tonight is on me,” I said as she hesitated at the gift.
“But you already thanked Team-Leader Pulver-” Squad-Leader Hackly began to say as I gently cut her off.
“And your squad went out of your way to secretly lead us out of the city and will be swinging by the dungeon later on to misdirect our enemies,” I said, looking her in the eyes, “I think that’s more than worth a few silvers.”
“Thank you, Protector,” Squad-Leader Hackly relented as she slipped the coins into the coin purse hanging from her waist, “I’ll be sure to let the squad know who bought the drinks for tonight.”
“Excellent,” I replied, giving her a friendly clap on the shoulder. Turning to the hidden door, I looked back over my shoulder and gave her a nod of farewell, before heading through the doorway.
Behind me, I heard my friends offering polite goodbyes before following after me. A few seconds later, those of us that could trigger Stealth did so before dashing for the clump of trees about fifty yards away. It only took us about fifteen seconds to clear the distance which wasn’t too shabby for being loaded down with armor, weapons, and a backpack. As we hit the treeline, I waved my friends and companions deeper into the grove as my eyes swept the top of the wall and the area around us. Not seeing anyone observing our departure, I took up the position of tail-end Charlie with Neristhana as we passed deeper into the trees.
“We should be far enough away now,” Töten grunted about five minutes later, “Let’s go ahead and mount up.”
Whistles rang out as Phoenix and Neristhana called their mounts. As their horses trotted from seemingly nowhere, Töten paused to cast a silent spell. A moment later, his Combat Mount showed up. I was somewhat worried the flaming mount would give our position away, but instead of burning brightly, the Nightmare now burned with an almost entirely black flame that didn’t let out any light or disturb my Darkvision. As I mounted up behind Helgath, Zeven’s odd warbling horn echoed around the woods as he called his Mountain Strider.
“Dude, could you be any louder?” Töten asked, glaring daggers at the Badger kin.
“It’s the way I call my mount,” Zeven snapped, throwing his arms out to either side, “What else can I fucking do?”
“What did you do, Töten?” Phoenix sarcastically asked as she urged her mount between the two men, “Forget how he called his mount when we were outside of Hardfall?”
“I just figured he’d ride the bear instead,” Töten irritably grumbled as Bright Claw began complaining to Zeven about being called a bear.
“That’s because I’m riding Bright Claw,” Nahimana apologized as she climbed up onto the Grizhawk’s back. Seeing the surprised looks on the rest of our faces, she blushed in embarrassment, “I just got my riding skill up enough to ride on my own.”
“Good for you,” Neristhana complimented the Badger kin female who gave her a quiet nod of thanks.
“It’s nothing about you, Nahimana,” I gently said, while Töten let out an exasperated sigh, “we’re all just tired and want to log out for the night.”
“I thought we weren’t gonna talk about this until after we made camp for the night,” Phoenix groused, giving me an unhappy look, “Otherwise, we might get a little too loud while we’re supposed to be silently sneaking away from the freaking city that we’d planned to stay the night in.”
I opened my mouth to argue the point with the irritable Barbarian but decided it was best not to get into it yet. We were still a little too close to Lodenburg for my liking, and as she said, there was a good chance the discussion was going to get loud. As Zeven climbed up onto his Combat Mount, Neristhana spoke up before anyone else could say anything, “Let’s wait to have this discussion once we set up our camp for the night.”
After giving the Gnomeling a nod of thanks, I asked the big guy, “How far do you think we need to go to be safe?”
“Maybe a half hour now that we’re mounted,” Töten said after a moment of thought, “There’s only a few high-level players who probably even have mounts in the area, so I can’t see anyone from Lodenburg questing that far out on foot.” He jerked his chin towards the west. “I’d say that we ride for fifteen minutes before cutting directly west for another. That should be far enough away to set up camp for the night.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said as the big guy glanced at everyone for confirmation.
I thought Zeven was going to say something, but he decided against it after a moment. Not hearing any dissent, Töten clicked his heels to his Nightmare’s side and took off into a gallop. Without a word, the rest of the group fell in behind the big guy as I took up the rear again. Well, Neristhana actually took up the rear, I annoyedly thought at the look that she’d given me when I’d waved her to go in front of me.
Galloping through the trees at night was surprisingly still a rush with Darkvision. That’s mostly because the thick trees and underbrush cut down our visibility to only a few yards ahead. While it helped to be following after everyone else, it took intense focus to not clip a tree or get knocked off of Neysa’s back by a low-hanging branch.
You’d have thought that would’ve been enough excitement to keep me awake, but I quickly found myself dozing off every five minutes or so. If not for Helgath keeping a close watch on me, I’d have fallen from my place on Neysa’s back and probably killed myself by slamming head-first into a tree. When I startled awake for the sixth time, Töten was leading us into a small clearing. As we dismounted, I heard Phoenix grumble next to me.
“I can’t believe it’s nearly two-thirty in the morning.”
“I swear, it’s like we can’t log out at a decent time to save our lives,” I tiredly complained as we began setting up camp.
“It’s the name of the game,” Phoenix said with a tired sigh as we began laying out our sleeping hides.
“You better now?” I asked, giving the Barbarian a sideways look as we helped Neristhana, Helgath, Zeven, and Nahimana begin building a campfire from the big log that Töten had dragged over.
“Yeah, I was looking forward to hot food, good ale, and a soft bed in that order,” Phoenix grunted in frustration, “Now, I’m gonna get cold jerky.”
“And the hard ground,” Zeven added, sighing disappointedly as I got the campfire started with a Pyroblast.
“Sorry for being touchy earlier,” Töten apologized to Zeven as we sat down around the campfire, “but my body is starting to ache.”
“Your body is starting to ache?” Phoenix asked while the rest of us traded confused looks.
“Yeah, I need to log out and take my pain meds,” Töten dismissively said, “even with the medical pod I’m using, the pain from my real-world body comes through at times.”
“That’s from getting rear-ended by the tractor-trailer?” I asked, remembering his story from earlier that morning.
“Yep, but only when I’m completely exhausted,” Töten explained, waving everyone’s concern away with a flick of his hand as he removed his helm, “Usually, being logged into The World is how I get a break from the chronic pain that I live with from day-to-day.” Rubbing his hands together, he changed topics, “So, then, what’s on the menu tonight?”
“Water,” Phoenix sadly grunted, pulling a waterskin from her backpack.
“Hardtack,” Zeven unhappily added, holding up a wrapped bundle.
“Cuttle jerky,” I said holding up the smoked meat bundle that the Gnomeling had given me earlier.
“How about garlic, herb stuffed boar tenderloins, and ale instead?” Neristhana asked as everyone stared at her in shock. With a shit-eating grin, she pulled out a small keg of ale from her Bag of Holding and set it between her legs.
“You’re amazing Neri!” Phoenix practically moaned as she hurriedly fished out a cup from her backpack and tossed it over for the Gnomeling to fill.
“A saint and a scholar,” Zeven agreed as Neristhana topped his and Nahimana’s cups next.
“Now that hits the spot,” Töten sighed, taking a deep gulp of ale.
“That’s damn good,” I agreed, savoring the taste as I leaned back on my elbows.
Next, Neristhana started handing out the stuffed tenderloins. I recognized the meat rolls from the large wooden skewers in the Thirsty Troll’s kitchen. As the Gnomeling handed a skewer over to me, I arched an accusatory eyebrow at her.
“I hope you didn’t just steal this from Janice after her night was ruined by those assholes,” I said, somewhat worried that this was going to mess up my reputation with the guards of Lodenburg.
