Deviant Adventures(Firehead)

[Sallin_Kari]

He pauses at your offer, thinking for a long moment before licking his lips and nodding. As he disappears you can't help but reminiscence on how he's been getting more rebellious these days. Hopefully it's just a phase.

[Firehead]

I sigh as he finally relents wonder what had gotten into him recently as I finished up with my milking. Hopefully, he wouldn't act up during this mission, but I counted on him to take on the enemy with my support, so I would need to figure out what was up with him soon. Feeling much less filled, I stopped my milking, sinched the armor back up, and washed out his sink before returning down to the lower level ready for my first mission.

[Sallin_Kari]

With the pointers from the tailor you manage to get it up properly. Not quite as good as hers, but you're not sure whether or not, with how minor the improvement would be, it is worth the rough handling. With this done you head back, with Nekothra following behind you with restless steps. Returning to the common area, Lorthin immediately greets you, "Finished? Let's go then. I have the route planned."

[Firehead]

I nodded, glad he had things already prepared. I certainly had a reliable partner in all of this and couldn't wait to see what good we could do in the world. "Alright, sounds like you've got everything already squared away, so let's not waste another second." As I made to follow him out I continued talking. "Thanks for getting everything prepared while I got my own things in order. I'll make sure to be ready to help out with the planning next time. I can't just rely on you forever after all."

[Sallin_Kari]

"We'll take things one step at a time. I rather you learn to take care of yourself as fast as possible than worry about learning auxiliary tasks," He retorts, before grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder in a smooth motion. Leading the way he mentions, "We're taking a bit of a long route. There is something killing the local animals and the occasional lone person as of late. The guild can't find any tracks and doesn't know what it is but we have a rough idea where its hunting grounds are."

[Firehead]

I nod as I follow. "So we're going to take down two birds with one stone. Little disappointing we don't know what we're going to face, but that is part of the adventure. If you think we're up to it, we'll do our best." I pat Nekothra as we continue on our way. "Thanks again for giving me this chance. A lot of people underestimate me because I'm a girl, and it really means a lot to me to have this chance." It was hard to imagine giving up my dreams of adventure to be some guys trophy wife, but I dare not mention my blessing even now in case he changed his mind.

[Sallin_Kari]

"I respect your ambition but no. We don't know what it is so it could very well be something that requires more then just two people to kill. There is a non-zero chance that it is a dragon considering it seems to have displayed both a level of cunning beyond the average monster and strength enough to rend animals and even people to shreds," He points out before scratching his head at your heartfelt appreciation, "Don't be thinking I'm this kind-hearted sap. I'm concerned with results, and while yes women tend to lack strength there is more to adventuring then whacking monsters with a big stick. You showed talent... Talent that wasn't being appreciated. Talent that if brought in would provide this guild a significant edge in fighting monsters. In that way the chances of my own demise at the hand of monsters goes down."

[Firehead]

I nod at the candor. "Okay, so we might just be scouting out what this thing is? I guess I'm glad you're giving me a chance to prove that I can contribute to the guild." I looked down to Nekothra wondering if he was planning to have me help the guild in taming beasts and monsters. It seemed like a good way to help reduce the risk if every team had their own companion to help keep them safe even though I hadn't been aware adventuring was so dangerous. "It's sounding like my father's stories were a little unclear on how dangerous adventuring could be. I'll do my best to help keep you safe however I can while we're out on adventures."

[Sallin_Kari]

"If we get a chance. Dying meaninglessly because we rushed in isn't going to do anyone any good," He points out before shrugging at your follow up comment, "Yes well, most people don't like to dwell on the less then successful mission. Still I suppose I'll take you up on your offer." He leads the way through some light brush, avoiding the deep forest.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Eh, fifty percent right. Also Lorthin is low key amused by how just naive her statements are.

[Firehead]

Now that we're out of town, I quiet down keeping my senses focused on our surroundings partially to reduce the chance something gets the drop on us unexpectedly, but also because I was so excited that I didn't want miss a moment of whatever might come our way.

[Sallin_Kari]

He leads the way to a small canyon where the goblins seem to have taken shelter, with makeshift tents and leantos made out of various bit of animal hide and fabrics. There are a few much larger ones that much the hobgoblins. Looking back to Lorthin already produced a crossbow from somewhere. It appears to be one of the traditional drow crossbows designed to be able to fold up and be concealed, and being made almost entirely out of metal, they have as much strength as a full sized crossbow despite being only half the width and a third the length.

[Firehead]

I gave the goblins' camp a quick glance seeing how ramshackle it was. One could almost sympathize with how meager their lives must be if you forgot the way they pillaged killing and taking whatever they could. I finally noticed Lorthin pulling something out which turned out to be a collapsible crossbow. Realizing we were going to start our assault from afar, I raised my arms preparing a blade of wind magic. "On your mark then." I waited for Lorthin to fire his shot before I'd let my magic fly.

[Sallin_Kari]

He lets out a shrill whistle cause the goblins to turn toward the sound. The next moment the solid metal bolt found a resting place in the eye socket of one of the hobgoblins. Taking that the signal you let loose the wind edges, slicing into the closest goblins. By the time you confirm your work, you hear a nothing thump as another hobgoblin finds itself lobotomized, quickly followed by a third and a fourth as Lorthin operates a level mechanism on his crossbow that seems to both pull back the bow and load another bolt from an internal magazine. You had heard about such weapons used mostly as assassination weapons to quickly take a handful of shots at your target before they could react and get their bearing but as the drow joined with the empire their traditional equipment was slowly phased out. With the internal supply of bolts exhausted, he refolds his crossbow, storing it in a leg pouch before producing two curved swords to meet the now charging though scatter horde of goblins.

[Firehead]

I was surprised at how quickly he was firing bolts until I realized the device had an autoload function. I'd heard of them, but I didn't really expect to see one so soon into my adventuring career. It didn't seem like the kind of equipment you'd see on someone that wasn't fairly experienced, so I wondered just how long he'd been at it. In my surprise, I hadn't even cast another spell before he finished firing all of his shots. The thing was probably pretty involved to reload if he was turning to his swords. "Alright Nekothra, here they come. Keep the small ones from swarming him too much." I wasn't going to forget to do my part anymore, so I prepared a few warding spells to keep the two of them well protected.

[Sallin_Kari]

Nekothra charges forth, causing the goblins in his path to recoil in confusion at the creature flickering from place to place. As they attempted to wrap their tiny brains around it, he started by tearing one of their throats open. Realizing this thing they can't understand represents a mortal threat, fear quickly starts spreading through them. Lorthin, meanwhile is busy slicing his way through the hordes in what appears to be almost a dance, constantly spin, slow then fast, his head almost always pointing forward. He quickly reaches one of the last hobgoblins who attempts to hack at him with a crude sharpen bar of steel, which Lorthin half dodges, half parries with his first blade as the second one beheads the hobgoblin in one swift motion.

With two very beings of utter death on the loose, the goblins are spending most of their effort attempting to get out of their ways, preventing them from working their way around to you.

[Firehead]

It was amazing to see the two of them tearing through the horde of goblins. Nekothra with his natural talent confusing their simple minds and Lorthin with his skill and precision. The two of them hardly seemed to need her magic to protect them, and their enemies seemed to have no chance of getting past them and threatening her. Calling upon her wind magic again, she made another wind blade putting all of her focus into the battle in front of her and throwing it at another goblin with the intent of contributing as best as she could when her partners were so clearly outmatching their foes.

[Sallin_Kari]

Your wind blades help thin the herd, and shortly they lie dead. Lorthin begins checking the camp as you check up on Nekothra. A loud click interrupts you, as Lorthin turns to you, "They've started making tunnels. We'll need to clear them."

[Firehead]

I look towards Nekothra making sure he isn't injured until Lorthin lets me know there are tunnels likely with more goblins to deal with. "Alright, do you need any healing before we begin? We should make sure we're all in tip-top shape before we walk into whatever traps they probably have down there."

[Sallin_Kari]

Nekothra is fine but a bit winded. He's not use to fighting so many opponents at once so failed to properly pace himself. Lorthin, meanwhile curtly responds, "No. But in these tight tunnels your warding will be invaluable. I don't think they'll have many traps... Too young for anything extensive, but its a tight squeeze and gives them a massive advantage. We need to get the main chamber and I'll place one of these," He produces a decent sized bomb, "Should be enough to collapse the tunnels killing any stragglers and prevent more of them from just re-establishing another nest."

[Firehead]

I'm glad to see both of my companions are unhurt. "Alright, I'll do my best to keep you two protected." I gulp though when I see the explosive device having heard a bit about how dangerous those things could be. "We're really going to blow the whole thing up then? If we collapse the tunnels how do we make sure we get out of there okay?" She couldn't help but think about how bad it might be to be buried alive. Even if she was sure they'd done many terrible things, she even felt a bit of pity for the Goblins even as she reminded herself that this was her duty now as an adventurer.