New Adventurer
I carefully stalked the stag in the woods using all of my knowledge as a hunter to inch close to the animal and line up a shot. I pull back on the string of my full sized great bow carefully aiming towards the stag. As I loose the arrow I see that the shot was true as I watch the animal fall to the ground the large heavy hunting arrow sticking out of it’s heart. I rarely had to ‘finish’ off a kill, my father said I had a ‘dead eye’ I guess that means I can shoot anything.
My father appears on the edge of the clearing the stag had been grazing in and checks over the animal. “Good son you pass you hunter’s test, you can now be considered a man. Come on back to the house with your kill. Your brother will prep it after breakfast. We need to talk about your future.”
I heft the large deer onto my shoulders, and head back towards out simple cabin on the edge of the woods a short distance from Kimorle. I place the stag on the work table under the covered work area quickly gutting it so it can cool off while we ate breakfast and I place all the entrails in a large water barrel nearby that is left there so the blood can soak out of the bits. A number of people paid us a great deal for the large hearts of the deer of our woods so it’s best to make sure they’re clean before they are sold.
I head to another barrel of water on the edge of the work area were there is a cloth and a piece of good home made soap. Mother adds scents she discovered to all of the soaps she makes us, occasionally the women in town ask her for the scents she makes.
I then walk inside the house to the smell of sizzling duck cooking in it’s own fat fresh bread some new greens from the garden and a block of home churned butter. Mom hands me a cup of a local morning favorite a tea made from an odd tree that grows beans. The tea comes out a very dark color and people not use to it think it tastes bitter. I sit at the table laden with food, one large platter of fried duck the greens from our spring garden with mom’s best bread, a few months ago it would have included my youngest sister’s bread as well but she’s married now.
My two eldest brother’s and my father sit at the table and my mother nibbles as she works around in her kitchen. She’ll be setting up to dry the venison for winter, if I had gotten a wild pig she probably would have been prepping to smoke it. The four of us start eating, my father watching me the whole time. He was a man of few words and did not believe in speaking more than necessary, so if he said or asked you something he expected you to fill in what was needed to continue the conversation.
I clear my throat after a sip of tea, “well I know that Remus and Sadaan are doing the hunting and tanner jobs here for the town of Kimorle. So since I cannot guarantee that I could find a position in another town that would put my hunter skills to good use I was thinking of becoming an adventurer.” Upon my announcement my mother drops the bucket she had been carrying to the floor, thankfully it had been empty.
My father slowly pics up his cup of tea and starts sipping it both of my brothers had stopped eating and were staring at me. Remus says while I see my father still thinking, “so you want to become one of those lazy things Jakob. I thought you had much better sense than to do something so foolish,” my father sets his cup down loudly and Remus stops talking. He levers me with a look and says, “well you could do worse.” Then he went back to eating, mother picks up the fallen bucket and says. “What about Murphy?” I sigh and shake my head, Murphy was a young woman who had since were were little gotten it into her empty head that she was in love with me and that we should marry. “Mother I have told you this many times I am not interested in that woman, she’s been hounding me since childhood.” Mom puts the bucket on her meat counter, “it would have been so nice to have a witch in the family too.” I shake my head again as there was no way I was going to marry that woman.
Yes Murphy is a witch, her knack for being one was discovered by our old wise woman who started teaching her about potions and medicine as soon as she started showing ability. Ever since then the woman had gotten worse about attempting to get my attention, one time appearing naked in the town’s bathhouse while I was there with my brothers and their friends. I had been so glad that there had been other’s around to make sure no one could say I had done anything to her while me and her were alone, because we weren’t. I had always been lucky enough to never get caught alone with her, I had heard that the wise woman was considering sending her to another town to finish her education. Pity it hadn’t already happened, my father kept eating and watching me. I take a bite of bread savoring it’s flavor as I will miss it when I’m away then I say to my father. “I know they have the testing day in about a week in Grimwalk, if I leave tomorrow morning early I should have plenty of time to get there. I can help mother prepare my deer and pack up my travel supplies, I should have no issues passing what ever tests they need me to take to allow me to enter the adventuring guild.” At least I had hoped so, the one time we had a hired group here was when I had been young and an infestation of Ilmurie. A very nasty worm monster that eats any and all food types. They traced back where the infestation had started and discovered that a delivery of goods from Grimwalk had a batch of eggs in it.
There had been so many of the things and they reproduced so quickly that we needed help as my father couldn’t get them all and still provide the town with meat. That was my first experience with seeing adventurers, they seemed to enjoy what they were doing and they were helping people. I want to help people and being able to help more than just my own town was something that I liked the idea of.
Mother in the process of preparing the seasonings for the deer looks thoughtful and picks up some of the duck she had cut up for herself and eats some. “We’ll have everyone over for a meal, except for Emire, her pregnancy has been difficult and the midwife wants her to stay in bed for the next two weeks. This way you can say good bye to everyone and they won’t have to get up early. Granted your sister Liness will be up that early seeing as how she’s married to the baker. Remus when you are done eating go into town and let everyone know, we’ll do it pot luck. I’ll roast the back leg off the stag Jakob hunted as our portion.” Remus nods his head finishing his meal, he might not like what I’m going to do but it mom and dad were not going to admonish me then he won’t argue about it.
I have four brothers and four sisters, in a few years this town will be overflowing with members of my family. Father had been an only child and hated it, so he wanted to have many children so that his children never felt alone. I hear that in the cities the jobs my family does are done by many people, my father was the town hunter. He provided the wild meat the town needed as well as removing pest animals, he also does all of the town’s tanning. He charges a flat fee for any tanning they need done for the animals they butcher at home and sells extra leather that we don’t use for the items my mother makes. My father is also the town bower, the great bow I hunt with I had made on my own. My father made sure each of his children knew how to make a bow, even my sisters could make them. After I had completed my bow my father had said he had never seen such a well made bow before. Then he heard what kind of wood I had fashioned it from and was surprised. All I knew at the time is that it had looked sturdy, but after I showed him the remains of the sapling I had used to make it he told me I had used ironwood.
It seems it is very rare to see a bow made from ironwood as it is notoriously difficult to work with. Most ironwood is left to grow to full size so that villages and towns can make their palisade’s out of them. I knew our town didn’t need a bower as so many of my family could make bows it was not necessary otherwise that would have been an option for me. I could only imagine how wealthy our town would become if I had been making Ironwood Great bow’s as a commodity for the town.
So I spend the remainder of the day helping my mother out and assembling a backpack for me to travel with. I put in two sets of leather clothes, leaving the second for the day I arrive at Grimwater. In the pack I include a small money pouch with the portion of money I received from the leather’s I had provided. It wasn’t much mostly coppers and a few silvers as only this morning had I been permitted to hunt stag. Father said when the leather from the one I shot today is sold off he’ll keep my portion aside for when I visit.
The family starts filtering towards the house as the day progresses, Liness and her husband arrive first with a couple of baskets of fresh bread her husband a nice man named Mikka slaps me on the back. “Now you come back here with some great stories and wealthy Jakob! I bet you’ll be on a top team,” my sister lays her hand on her husband’s shoulder her first born holding onto her skirt. “Now husband, that’s all well and good. You forget we brought some travel bread for Jakob,” Liness was always a very reasonable woman. I could tell from the look on her face that like Remus she didn’t approve of my choice to become an adventurer. However she would give me something to make sure my journey was a good one. I give her a look, “come now sister tell me what you really think.” I grin knowing she would be as polite as possible considering she would never say something against our parent’s approval of something.
Liness taps my nose, “I know mom and dad are alright with you doing this Jakob. Fine, but know that I think you are wasting your talents by being an adventurer.” she then goes to help my mother taking her and her husband’s baskets of bread, her child following her attached to her skirt. Mikka takes an ale my brother Remus hands him and says, “I do get the feeling that your sister is very upset with you.” I nod my head, having grown up with Liness I knew when she was simmering her anger; which is what she was doing now.
The rest of my family filled my parents house making it seem tiny, the only ones not present were Emire and her husband the son of the mayor, He was present and like Mikka he was of the mind that I needed to visit often with stories of great deeds and a large purse. After a few hours my mother was commenting that maybe they should have just had this in the town square as most of the town was here anyway.
I was only on my second ale, my third brother was married to one of the daughters of the alehouse owner when I hear. “HOW DARE YOU!” The whole house goes quiet and at the door was a very angry Murphy with murder in her eyes. The mayor was next to me and he says under his breath, “I’m thinking of telling old Frimon that we need a different person than Murphy as the woman is too emotional.” I nod in agreement, and Murphy shrieks at me. “HOW DARE YOU DECIDE TO LEAVE TO BECOME A SILLY ADVENTURER. You are suppose to marry me and we have a happy life together.” I sigh as the rest of the people remain quiet while I deal with Murphy, and she needs dealing with as this has gone on long enough. I look her in the eyes and say, “I have been telling you for years that I am not interested in you and never have been. You need to find someone who loves you not someone who does not and force yourself on them. I am going to be an adventurer because it will suit me, just like you becoming a witch suits you due to your talents. Grow up Murphy.” I go to turn around and she responds with, “you have embarrassed me for the last time Jakob Woodborne. I curse you to have every thing that can go wrong in your path go wrong, may this be my law unto you until the day you die.” The crazy woman then vanishes and the room starts talking again most shaking their heads over how crazy Murphy was acting.
Liness touches my shoulder a worried look on her face, “brother I would be concerned about that. While you might think Murphy is nothing more than an herb woman I have heard that she really does have magic talent. Emire has heard of it as well and I have her gift to you, she asked me to wait until I knew it was time to hand it to you. She said it was possible I might not even be giving it to you at all” Liness hands me an amulet, one that is meant to be worn around the neck. The mayor looks over as Liness hands it to me, “ah I was wondering when that would appear somewhere. Emire had begged me for a counter curse amulet.” He waves his hand at the amulet, “this is what I acquired for her. She was very specific when she asked for it, she said that it needed to be a counter to a curse that would put strife along a set path. This counter will enable that the curse won’t affect exactly as intended under the parameters set.” The mayor looks towards the now empty door, “this might be just what you need now Jakob. What this will do in simple terms is because you wish to become an adventurer it will ensure that Murphy’s curse won’t prevent it from happening. However it might be harder than normal for you to be one.” I nod my head quietly thanking my thoughtful sister for the gift she had sent me. I always wondered if she had foresight, and from what I knew of magic ability, her pregnancy is probably making any latent ability worse.
The mayor rubs his chin, “I may want to invest in some counter curse items for all the shops and your parent’s house for any visits home you have Jakob. You can’t have a true welcome home if you have ill fate following you around at home.” I shrug my shoulders, while I believe Murphy could curse me and that a charm could help lessen it; how bad could it be really?
