Entwined Fates: Chapter 1

The sun had begun to set, turning the sky a deep red as Nesonna finally made foot in the town of Glenfel, a small farming village on the outskirts of the Human Kingdom Sussex, she’d have to find a bed in the local inn if she didn’t want to sleep outside tonight.

Nesonna felt acutely unsafe as she walked the village road in search for a tavern: she’d heard and read horror stories of human villages on the outskirts of the Western Kingdoms. While humans within cities and larger villages were rather apathetic about races such as elves or dwarves, many of the more rural villages were xenophobic and hateful towards non-human creatures. Nesonna figured she could pass for a human if she had enough time, but her silver hair, pointed ears and relative shortness were dead giveaways of her race wherever she went.

With a tavern in sight, Nesonna pulled her coat tight around her shoulders and quickened her pace for the building.

Not three seconds after stalking into the tavern, Nesonna was hollered by the locals.

“Hey, sharp-ear!” a drunken man raised his mug at Nesonna, “The hell are you doing here, elf?”

Nesonna looked the man over, he was old for a human, his face tanned and marred with wrinkles.

A fire built up in her stomach, but she ignored it and the man while walking to the bar.

“I said,” The man shot up violently, shaking the table with him “what are you doin’ here, you sharp-eared bitch?”

As the man’s table glared at her intently and egged the man on, Nesonna clenched her fists and shot the man a glare.

“Watch your tone, short-ear,” she spat.

As the man and his friends shot up from their table in rage, Nesonna braced herself for a fight, but as the men reached her a burly man from the table behind jumped and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, holding her in place as the others began punching the elven woman in the face and stomach. Nesonna kicked off the ground as much as she could with the man holding her body in place, and shot two feet straight into the gut of one of the men punching her, before snapping her head back into the nose of the man holding her in place, who let go of her shoulders. As Nesonna got back to her feet, she sheathed her hands in flames, and assumed a defensive position.

Before Nesonna could attack any of her assailants, however, a blinding ball of light appeared and exploded a few feet above the mass sending them all to the floor blinded as a loud voice boomed “Enough”.

Nesonna staggered to her feet as a man of almost nine feet stomped into the crowd.

“Get the hell out, before I make you get out”, the man’s voice boomed, before he bent down to heft Nesonna to her feet, “Not you,” he said dully.

Nesonna clenched her jaw and squared off with the behemoth of a man – more muscle than man, and less human than giant – “You want a go, mate?” she glared.

“What? No! No, he doesn’t.” A lighter, significantly less giant voice came from behind the behemoth, “We’re trying to, uh, help, I guess.”

The speaker revealed himself from behind the giant, clad darkly in leather and linen adventuring clothes, a human.

Nesonna looked over the man and his pet behemoth cautiously, “I’m not paying you for anything,” she warned coldly.

“No, no, we don’t expect you to…” the human’s voice trailed awkwardly as he stared at the elf expectantly.

“Well,” he walked a semi-circle around the elf, revealing a cohort of four behind him still, “we’re going to be getting drinks. I’ll pay for yours, if you want.”

“I feel like we started off on the wrong foot,” the man laughed and rubbed his stubble, “my name’s Agerius Andel. I’m a mage and these are my associates.” Agerius reached out to the elf for a handshake.

“Nesonna, monk,” she grunted, eyeing the man warily. “As in ‘my hands often burst into flame’”.

Agerius lowered his hand and nodded, “Sounds like a pretty useful skill to have – especially in a fist-fight,” he grinned.

“I’ve yet to test that theory,” Nesonna chuckled mirthlessly.

Agerius chuckled, “Well, why don’t you test it with us” -he raised his hands in defense- “by joining our group and punching some things in need of punching, I mean!”

Nesonna started to luagh, then looked over the assembled group of misfit races, “and why should I do that?” she inquired.

“Because we can promise loot and adventure,” Agerius shrugged, seemingly satisfied with his own answer. Not like it wasn't enough for Nesonna.

“Okay, but do any of you have any actionable skills outside of behemoth-herding?”

The Mage nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah, actually. As I said, I’m a mage, the Giant-guy is a warrior, so is the other human, the halfling’s an assassin and the two elves are a ranger and a bard – I think you’d fit in well.”

Nesonna started regretting her decision as she looked the group over, but before she could voice her rejection, Agerius passed over a small sack of gold coins for a room and food and told her they’d wake her up in the morning. With that, the mage left with his cohort.

…

The group was waiting in the tavern by the time Nesonna was ready, their weapons and armor weighing down their table.

“Good to see that you’re finally up,” Agerius chimed when he saw the short elf, “we saved some breakfast, but when you’re ready we’re going to meeting with the Captain of the village’s militia about a job they have.”

Nesonna looked the group over, ludicrously armed, given their surroundings. “Let’s go now then,” she yawned.

The militia’s barracks were about a minute’s walk away from the tavern, and Nesonna judged it seemed more like a fortified house than it did an actual barracks. Outside stood two guards, yawning in the morning light.

“Y’all’re the ones here to see the captain?” Asked the shortest man.

“Yes, we were told he was expecting us?” Agerius commented before any of his companions could disturb the peace.

“Well, go on in then,” the second guard jerked his chin at the door, “He’s through the door up the stairs.”

Agerius beckoned the half-giant and human to wait outside, and led the rest upstairs.

Agerius pushed open the captain’s door, “Captain Himarc? We’re here about the job you listed?”

Nesonna pushed Agerius and the rest of her companions through the door and observed the room, apparently an office: it was larger than she expected – it took up most of the second floor and was decorated with only a large wooden desk, several bookshelves and a bed in the corner.

“I figured someone would finally come and take a look,” the man at the desk – Himarc, apparently –looked up from his paperwork and pushed himself from the desk.

“This task is going to be dangerous, you know”, Himarc stared the group down cautiously, he was a rather tall, middle aged man with silver hair, “I don’t think you look all that equipped for it.”

“We have some more people outside,” Agerius replied coldly, “and we’re more than talented enough to take on anything you throw at us, I assure you.”

Nesonna looked the captain unblinking in the eye, raised her hands in front of her chest and sheathed them in flame.

Himarc relented, “Fine, I suppose you can maybe help us out with this problem then. Glenfel’s watchtower to the east was badly damaged in the war, and we were never able to rebuild. A couple of weeks ago however, a group of orc savages set up camp in the ruins, and made it their base of operations for raids against the village.”

“And you want us to clear them out for you?” the group’s Halfling, Kendris, suggested, cupping her chin.

“Precisely,” Replied the captain.

Nesonna frowned, “I take it you've already tried asking them to leave, or bargaining with them?”

Himarc laughed and turned a glare to the monk “Not much negotiatin’ with Green-skins in these parts, elf.”

Nesonna scowled, she could tell the guard-captain wanted to make a comment about her, but before she could stoke the fire, Agerius took her by the shoulders and directed the group out of the Captain’s office, “We’ll see them evicted, sir.”

The group set off east from the town to their target, only a few miles away from the town. The watchtower allegedly stood in an open field a hundred feet out of the forest that connected it and the town of Glenfel. Agerius led his companions through the forest, following a makeshift map they had been given at Glenfel until they reached the edge of the forest.

Nesonna surveyed the area and scowled; the ‘watchtower’ was more of a small keep than an actual tower, but its walls were crumbling in places, and most of the ramparts were mostly reinforced with wood rather than stone.

Nesonna studied the five orcs she could see on the ramparts; they appeared to be equipped with crossbows, but little in the way of armor; below she saw three additional orcs similarly dressed, but wielding axes and swords.

“This is going to be difficult,” Agerius glared into the distance at the keep, “Let’s see if we can take out their archers and draw their main force towards the forest.”

Kendris and the elven ranger, Elendras, drew their weapons, a crossbow and longbow, and nocked their arrows.

“Aw, you wanna help, do you sweetheart?” Kendris cooed at Nesonna as the monk drew her sling from her backpack.

Nesonna simply stared back at the Halfling and raised her eyebrow, “Sweetheart?”

“Get it together, you two,” Agerius warned as he readied his weapons, “On either of your marks.”

Kendris winked at Nesonna and aimed her crossbow towards the keep, “You wanna watch a master in action, princess?”

Kendris aimed at the keep, and Nesonna waited for the Halfling to take a shot.

And waited.

Nesonna’s brow creased “You gonna do anything yet?”

“Give it a second,” Kendris remained focused.

“Am I still watching?” Nesonna crossed her arms.

Finally, the string on Kendris’s crossbow snapped forward, and the arrow soared towards its target atop the rampart.

Kendris’s arrow flew towards her target at a high speed, the slight whistling it made tearing through the air the only thing that gave away its lethality. Nesonna stared on impressed, until the arrow hit its mark in a wooden pillar five feet away from the orc.

The group stood still as a moment of eerie silence fell over the field, before a loud horn emanated from the keep. A loud war cry sounded from the keep as over half a dozen orcs ran from the keep towards the forest, weapons raised.

“Am I still watching?” Nesonna raised an eyebrow at the Halfling as she reloaded her crossbow.

“Shut up and get to fighting!” Agerius charged forward with his fellow human and the half-giant.

Nesonna grinned and scooped a stone from off the ground for her sling. An arrow shot past to the keep as Elendras silently dedicated herself to attacking the orcs atop the ramparts. Nesonna took this as a queue and begun slinging stones at the orcs approaching Agerius her other companions

An arrow roared past Nesonna and land landed with a wet thud. Turning around, she saw Elendras slumped against a tree with an arrow lodged in the center of her chest. Turning again towards the keep, Nesonna spotted the orc that fired the arrow; but as she readied her sling the orc slipped forward, off the rampart and into the hard ground below.

Nesonna stepped back behind a tree and fought herself not to burst into laughter as an oblivious Kendris continued firing at the keep, some of her arrows actually hitting fleshy targets instead of the wood and stone.

Nesonna stood back out from her cover and surveyed the battlefield. Agerius and the two fighters, Aper and Frederick, were holding their own against the orcs, but outnumbered three-to-one; the orcs atop the rampart were either dead or retreated.

Dropping her sling, Nesonna turned her ire towards the battle raging in the middle of the field and ran to her companions’ aid.

Crossing the distance in only a few seconds, Nesonna hurled herself fist-first at an orc trying to flank her half-giant companion. As the blow connected, Nesonna rolled with her momentum past Aper and lurched her fist up into the jaw of another orc, knocking out the brute as the blow threw him over a foot back.

Nesonna turned to help the humans as a bellowing roar erupted from behind; as she spun back on her heel, she faced a large grey figure just as it crashed into her, slashing wildly with an axe, theblade connecting with a wet tear and plunging Nesonna’s world into an endless black.

As consciousness returned, Nesonna saw vaguely Agerius and Kendris knelt over her, their hands stuck in the gaping gash in her stomach.

“You’re gonna be okay,” Kendris’s voice echoed in Nesonna’s ears, as Agerius pulled a number of vials, jars and bandaged from his pack.

Nesonna’s vision was grey, and her mouth tasted of copper. She saw Aper and Frederick charging a lone, large orc, shouting their war cries and her world went black.

Consciousness returned, and Nesonna heard the cries of battle a few feet away. Nesonna clutched her stomach and dragged herself toward the unconscious Halfling, the sounds of battle raging harder a few feet over. Nesonna could hear the whiz and bang of Agerius’ magic tearing through the air, and the swinging clash of Aper and Frederick’s blades as the three came to blows with the towering orc, covered in tattoo. She dragged herself harder towards the unconscious Kendris and her crossbow, still clutched in the Halfling’s hand – if she could just get to it, then she could help her companions to defeat the orc chieftain and maybe bring an end to the battle.

The closer Nesonna edged to Kendris’s form, the more she could feel her own insides start to spill out of her wound, but she had to continue. As her greyed vision began to turn black, her hands found the curved grip of Kendris’s crossbow.

“Yes!” Nesonna hissed, dragging the bow towards her: it was loaded, and she just had to drag herself a few feet to the right to get a shot!

As the sound of battle dimmed, Nesonna felt all energy leave her body and the bandages keeping her body together fill with blood and viscera. Then, as the sounds of battle died completely, her world turned white.

And then it went black.

Nesonna woke up on what felt like a hard cot, wrapped blankets and surrounded by strange scented candles. She was outside, with the night sky looking over her; she was in what served as the keeps’ courtyard, her companions camped several feet away next to a bonfire, laughing and looking over loot. Agerius took notice as the monk tried and failed to rose from the cot and immediately began tending to her many bandages with ointments and oils.

“You should stay still and get some rest,” he applied an odd smelling towel to her head, “you almost got yourself killed back there,” he chastised.

Nesonna felt her eyelids grow heavy and her consciousness begin to slip, “did you get Elendras from the trees?”

“Yes, and she’s okay,” Agerius pet the monk’s hair tenderly.

Before the monk could ask another question, Agerius uttered a spell and Nesonna’s world fell silent.