Truthfully, Hun was bored. She had slept a full 11 hours, woken up to nice food and spent the entire day doing odd jobs for the people of Redwake; cooking a meal, catching some fish (for which she received a free fishing rod as a bonus), and finding a girl’s necklace.
The reason for this was simple. She didn’t want to meet with Chief Alfarin, whose name she had learned while mingling with the locals during her day. He was tall, strong and scary; she couldn’t be blamed for it.
“Is there nothing else that can be done…” As if sent by the Gods, a divine intervention descended in the form of the creaking hinge of the warehouse doors she was resting beside; a man wearing ragged sailor clothes tried to silently step out, until he noticed Hun staring at him with a growing smile— “WE’RE CAUGHT!” he screamed and scrambled out, three more pirates after him
She wouldn’t miss the chance. Hun threw the dagger forward with impressive accuracy, stabbing the first pirate square in the back. Two blasts of shadow magic followed, striking the legs of the yelping pirates, who stumbled over one another and made the fourth runner trip over their bodies, all four now grunting on the ground.
“I remember hearing an old man talking about needing wood to fix the bridge up west… Guess I’ll make my time’s worth,” The girl left the warriors around to deal with the bandits while walking into the warehouse and grabbing a few planks.
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“They must have been hidin’ there ever since the chief came back… Can’t believe it. Well, thanks fer the wood lass!” — Hundi rubbed the back of his head while looking down at a few warriors carrying the four roughened-up pirates by ropes “Here’s a little something will ‘ya? Tell Jomar at the Armory that I sent you, he has some spare weapon layin’ about.”
Having gotten some more money and a prospect weapon, Hun felt quite well about her procrastination. If she could get just one more odd job, one particularly long one, she could leave the meeting with Alfarin for the next day!
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“Hundi sent you? Hmph, I can see it. You got the eyes of a warrior. Take this thing, Ain’t much of anything but should serve its purpose. Come back if you ever want better weapons.” Jomar seemed rough too, but not as much as Alfarin. And he’d just given Hun a gun! ain’t that great. The girl looked at his other weapons on display but they were all far too expensive for her pocket money.
Knock. Knock. Knock
Three loud thuds hit the wooden doors of the Armory— though not aggressive enough to be called bangs, Hun broke out in a cold sweat as she turned to see Alfarin stepping in— “This where ya been, lass? Was waiting for ya the whole day.” Once more, extending his hand. She took it, had to. Moral obligation? Fear? Both, probably.
“Tell ya what, I can forgive the wait if you help us out a bit aye?” Alfarin had a wide grin to his face as he turned to Jomar and walked up, once more not giving the girl any chance to agree or disagree. The armorer pulled from beneath the table a large sword with a glistening red gem at the pommel and laid it on the chief’s hand, who sheathed the blade at his back and turned to walk out, motioning for Hun to follow.
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“I’ll be frank with ya, there’s somethin’ wrong with the sea lately. Game was scarce today, and the rest were diseased or swam away when we got close, which we’ve never seen before. Our ships started leakin’ halfway back, Elgfrothi took a look and says the keels have been melted.” — Alfarin had wasted no time to start speaking as soon as he sat on his chair, greatsword resting at his side, and an impatient look to his face.
“I… Can go figure out what it is.” Hun stood not too far from the Chief’s chair, glancing at the warriors standing at post, all looking incredibly strong, armed with what seemed to be swords of bone or teeth.
“Very well! He lives in the southeast area of the Jaws on a small rock of land. Hopefully he knows somethin’ we don’t about these strange happenings.” His grimace turned into a smile far too fast for the previous emotion to have been sincere.
Hun quickly bowed her head and turned to leave the hall, sighing as she reached outside and looked to her left; That’s south.
“Guess I’ll be rowing again.”