Lutger approached a lone merchant at the far end of the camp. The store was modest but it was big enough to put in a small wooden makeshift bar with three stools surrounding it while a thick canvas cloth served as the shelter from the scorching sun. The shop was nowhere close to a full-pledged tavern but for a weary warrior, it was no lesser than an oasis in the desert.
"Ah! Nothing like an ice cold drink on a hot day! One mug of ale please!" Lutger said as he handed a few gold coins to the vendor. The vendor smiled back and appreciated the extra tip graciously and promptly placed a well-filled mug of ale on the table. Lutger did not bother sitting as he took on a swig, emptying the mug halfway almost immediately.
He then noticed a shadow at the corner of his eye. Lutger turned his gaze and saw a woman sitting on a stool on the farthest corner of the bar - her near-empty mug of ale resting on the table as her gloved hand mindlessly stroked the beads of water produced by the condensation on the side of the flagon. With her other hand resting on her chin and her eyes staring blankly inside her tankard, the woman looked too preoccupied to even notice Lutger staring at her.
Lutger took another swig as he finished his drink and with a smug grin on his face he addressed the woman at the corner.
"Do you happen to be lost, Miss? You don't seem to belong here, you look like you could not hurt a fly." he said as he approached her and took the empty stool sitting himself right next to her.
She smells nice.. he thought as he noticed that she was wearing a black corset armor and a leather leggings that hug tightly on her figure. His eyes wandered until it stopped at the woman's cleavage that subtly peaked through the strings that bound her corset together.
The woman frowned and calmly turned on her seat facing Lutger. Her beautiful green eyes did not look too pleased with the rude introduction while strands of her raven black hair framed her delicately-shaped face.
With a slight tilt to her head she finally adressed him.
"Is that so? I could defeat you without even lifting a finger."
After the small moment of being mesmerized by the beauty in front of him, Lutger bursted into a loud guffaw
"There are a ton of things that I could think of where you could use your hands for but definitely not one of them is beating me!"
Lutger took a moment to catch his breath from laughing so hard. He then leaned closer to the woman whispering
"Listen. Prove me wrong by joining me on a quest against the Charr." he grinned.
"I could care less about what you think. What's in it for me?" she replied while turning away.
"A romantic dinner with a high ranking Ascalon soldier like myself."
The woman rolled her eyes and gave out a long sigh. She drank the rest of her ale and then turned to face Lutger once again. She remained quiet and looked at him intently, her gaze stopped to the hilt of the sheathed sword on Lutger's waist noticing the intricate craftsmanship on it that seemed to confirm his identity.
With a one-sided grin the woman looked up and finally spoke
"If you could arrange a quick travel for me to Orr after this then you have yourself a deal."
"And a dinner?"
"No! I'll help you with your stupid quest and you provide me the fastest way back to Orr." she said making the terms of their agreement clear.
"Then it's all set." Lutger replied as he stood up and offered his hand to the lady in front of him, which she took in return.
"Let me introduce myself, I am Lutger Raganhar. What is your name, m'lady?"
With barely a smile, the woman replied.
"Mina Kiefervon."
--------------------------
Dani wandered around the Northern Wall camp with no luck of finding anyone to join her and Lutger's quest. Most of the people in the camp were either already undertaking their own missions or would just rather stay within the safety of the walls.
She sighed and wiped the sweat from her forehead. The sun was especially hot at that time. It was difficult enough to run around camp what more to actually go out there and hunt the Charr, she thought.
Leaning her back against the wall and taking refuge in what little shade it could provide, Dani took a quick break.
She then noticed a figure sitting on a wooden crate a few yards to her right. It was a man wearing a long tanned coat and a triangular hide mask was covering his entire face as he leaned comfortably against the wall. He had a bow that rested idly on his lap while his arms were crossed in front of him. Judging from his slouched position, Dani guessed that the man was sleeping.
Hmm..not a healer..but worth a try. We need two more anyway. I kinda feel bad for waking him up. she thought as she started pacing back and forth.
Dani started walking gradually towards the sleeping man while faking a cough a couple of times to get his attention as she approached.
No luck. He was as motionless as the wall that he was leaning on to.
Finally standing next to him, Dani got a better look of the stranger. He's got long black hair that was kept loosely together with a pony tail and a sheathed dagger visibly hung on the belt of his pants. His clothes were rugged, almost worn out from presumably much travelling or hunting.
He's a ranger. Perfect! If we need to track the Charr then we could definitely use him
She cleared her throat and started to talk to him.
"Excuse me?"
There was no response. Dani, being the persistent one, surely would not give up yet.
"Uh..I am sorry if I am interrupting you but can I speak with you for a moment?"
"...."
The young monk scratched her head. Getting somewhat impatient and at the same time curious, she slowly started reaching for the mask that covered the man's face when all of a sudden a firm grip held her arm before she could even touch him.
Dani almost jumped back in surprise then realized that it was the ranger's hand that was holding her forearm. He wasn't really unconscious after all.
"What do you want?" he asked, his voice slightly muffled by the mask that still covered his entire face.
Momentarily stunned, Dani blinked and finally spoke
"Would you be interested in hunting Charr?"
The ranger released his grip and pulled his mask down revealing a pair of blue eyes. Dani stepped back a little bit seeming to be intimidated by his gaze. Realizing that what she said wasn't exactly an enticing prospect as she noticed the ranger pulling his mask over his eyes again, Dani composed herself and continued.
"There's this lieutenant from the Ascalon Army who would like to take three people for a Charr investi--"
Dani cut her words short when she noticed that the ranger instead fixed his mask, then took his bow and got up. The man stood a couple of inches over six feet while Dani was only a hair shy of getting past five feet. The monk looked up and asked cheerily.
"So you're coming? What's your name?"
"Ran Gavinmaur" the man replied as he swung his bow around his shoulder.
~~~~~~~~
To be continued....
12 Jul 2010 at 18:59 - 4
Part VI: The First Blood
The four hurriedly hid behind a big boulder as they watched the small group of Charr walking on the road below the small cliff that they were standing on.
"Five of them and four of us.." Lutger said in hushed tones.
"No, three." A low voice behind Lutger said. As the warrior turned his head he saw Ran standing behind him aiming his bow with two arrows notched onto it at the same time.
With a steady aim, Ran released the bowstring and the arrows hit two of the Charr that were walking next to each other right between each of their eyes, killing them instantly. Ran used his elevated position to his advantage, utilizing the pull of gravity to increase the speed and force inflicted by his arrows.
As the two dropped dead, the three remaining Charr were consequently alerted of their presence.
"Well, I can't let wild boy here take all the credit." Lutger grinned as he emerged from his hiding place and rushed towards the trio of Charr - jumping down the cliff and landing on both feet below.
"I'm right behind you!" Dani exclaimed following Lutger's lead, sliding clumsily from the steep ledge but landing unharmed below nonetheless. Mina stayed behind, looking warily at the jagged surface that led the way to the ground.
"Do you need help?" Ran asked so suddenly startling the mesmer as she almost slipped off the cliff. Ran was able to grab her arm in time.
"You didn't have to whisper right to my ear!" Mina yelled angrily at Ran as she dangerously stood between falling off and getting pulled back to safety. Her heeled boots were not helping her predicament as it dug to the less than solid edge of the small cliff.
Ignoring Mina's outburst, Ran pulled the mesmer close and carried her in his arms as he jumped off the ledge, landing swiftly to the sandy ground below and getting them closer to the battlefield. He then stood up and put Mina back on her feet, the mesmer still stunned and unable to react as she looked at him with furrowed brows.
"There's a Charr Shaman back there that you need to deal with." Ran stated behind his mask while pointing to the Charr healer at the back, too far away for Mina to reach if she would remain on the cliff. The Shaman was healing its comrades, making Lutger's efforts seemingly useless as the valiant warrior tried to fend away the other two Charr from him and Dani.
Realizing the urgency of the situation, Mina casted [Backfire] on the now visibly exhausted Charr Shaman. The healer was too preoccupied to notice that a deadly hex was casted upon him and a few spells later, unknowingly inflicted death upon himself.
With their healer gone, Lutger slowly began to gain the upperhand against the Charr Blade Storm and Axe Warrior in front of him. Dani's healing abilities kept him from succumbing but the young monk was slowly running out of energy.
I am so rusty at healing.. Dani thought as beads of sweat started to form on her forehead.
A swift strike of Lutger's sword struck the Charr blade storm's midsection, causing it to bleed profusely. Frenzied by the battle, Lutger did not notice the Axe Wielder about to strike at his head.
Suddenly, Ran's arrow hit the Charr right on its shoulder causing the creature to stumble backwards and, at the same time, saving Lutger from decapitation. Lutger glanced at Ran briefly and turned back to the bleeding Charr in front of him
Lutger struck the Charr Blade Storm with his word dealing the final blow. With only one left, the remaining Charr Axe-Wielder drew a hidden dagger from its waist and threw it towards Ran as an act of revenge and started to run for his life.
Oh no you don't.. Mina thought as she casted [Imagined Burden] on the fleeing Charr, slowing its movements tremendously. Lutger sprinted to the Axe Wielder and as he caught up, lashed his sword at a forward motion, sending his blade through the Charr's torso. The Charr growled in pain and fell to the ground dying a few seconds later.
"Good job everyone.." Lutger said in between catching his breath as he drew his sword away from the corpse. He then turned to Ran,
"Thanks for saving me back there."
Ran, who was removing his torn mask revealing a light cut on his cheek from the Charr's dagger, replied to Lutger without looking at the warrior.
"I missed."
05 Aug 2010 at 19:15 - 5
Part VII: Against All Odds
Lutger smirked at Ran's remark and decided not to say anything. Lutger saw with his own eyes how accurate the ranger was as a marksman and there was no doubt in his mind that Ran indeed intended to save him from the Charr.
"I can help you with that." Dani said as she approached Ran seeing the dagger cut on his cheek.
"I am fine, don't worry about it." Ran replied dismissively as he pulled a pinch of herb mixture from the small hide bag on his belt and pressed it on the wound for a few seconds. A slight twitch on his lip suggested that the herbs stung at the point of contact. Ran then discarded the herb and his cut had stopped bleeding. He then proceeded to put his mask back on but someone grabbed his arm.
"Do you realize how dirty that mask is by now? It will only make it worse." Mina said as she held Ran's forearm and snatched the worn out mask from him. She then handed him a small rectangular packet.
"That's a self-adhesive bandage, something that you don't find in the woods." she scoffed as she left Ran holding the strange item with brows furrowed.
"Wow, I've never seen those before" Dani said watching in amazement as Ran unwrapped the packet and placed the small bandage over his wound. The special bandage stuck itself immediately while sending a soothing sensation to the cut.
"All this because you don't want my healing?" Dani pouted
"Just save your energy." Ran stated with a smirk, playfully patting Dani's head as he passed her while walking over to Mina.
"We have to move on. There's no time to waste." Lutger said as he wiped the Charr blood from his sword. The rest of the party then nodded and proceeded to move ahead.
----------------
"This is not looking good." Lutger said in hushed tones as the four of them looked over the ledge of a high cliff. Below, an army of Charr congregated as their leader barked instructions on the next plan of attack. The group was too far to listen in but it was apparent that the Charr Army was planning to launch an imminent attack against Ascalon and there were hundreds of them.
Suddenly a battlehorn was sounded but the noise did not come from the army below...
It was right behind them.
The group looked and, behold, a lone Charr alerting his comrades of their presence. Ran quickly shot an arrow with his bow and knocked the horn over while Lutger dashed with his sword to give the Charr a slashing blow to the neck killing it instantly.
But it was too late- the army started mobilizing and was coming at them.
Extremely outnumbered, the group did the only thing they could do in that predicament:
Run.
. In fact, this is the same story that inspired this artwork I made recently:
