Rinero, Prince Lazarus, Father Simon, and Zetarnu were all scouting through the forest on their horses during midday. They rode silently, weary of the dangers which lay hidden in the forests of the wild lands. Suddenly they heard many quick footsteps and the rustling of bushes and leaves. They all stopped quickly and exchanged quick glances.
A series of horrifying screeches sounded from within the dark forest and a thousand glowing red eyes gleamed in the darkness. Not a moment later 20 large spiders, all half the size of a full grown man, jumped out of bushes surrounding the group. The spiders were grey colored and had spindly long legs and had a sharp set of pincers. Additionally these spiders had spikes on their backs and a tail like a scorpion.
The group backed away and drew their weapons quickly.
"Get off the horses! The forest is too dense to fight on them and we risk losing them in battle!" shouted Zetarnu.
The group, with Zetarnu behind them unmounted and Zetarnu quickly tied them to a tree with a rope far from the spiders. He dismounted then tied his own horse to a tree. Zetarnu quickly drank two mana potions, the citrusy concoction reinvigorated his magic and he prepared his staff to fire. The spiders slowly crawled forwards with their tails raised.
"What the hell are those things!" shouted Rinero.
"I don't know what they are human, but I know they must be killed," said Lazarus, sweating profusely.
"Terra let me leave this battle alive!" prayed Simon.
Zetarnu fired off a series of magic bolts at the spiders which they swiftly dodged. All at once they pounced at the group with their pincers wide open. Rinero and Lazarus dashed forward and cut down five of them in a storm of steel, splattering bright purple blood across the bushes and the trees. Simon swung his claymore chopping a spider in half. Zetarnu fired off more bolts scattering the spiders giving the group room to move and dodge.
A spider jumped at Rinero and attacked with it's tail which bounced off Rinero's sallet. Rinero countered with his saber which was dodged. Another spider jumped at Rinero and attacked with it's tail which was dodged and the spider got stabbed in the face with a dagger. The other spider then jumped on top of Rinero but quickly got it's head chopped off by Rinero's saber covering Rinero in spider blood.
Three spiders attacked Lazarus all attacking with their tails. Lazarus slashed off their tails as they attacked with them. One of them lunged with it's pincers open but quickly got sliced in half. Lazarus thrusted with his blade skewering another spider and followed that up with a quick swing beheading another spider.
The spiders had quickly been reduced to only nine. Simon rushed into the line of spiders swinging his claymore splitting a spider in half. Simon then swung wide cutting down another spider and making the rest retreat. Rinero and Lazarus joined Simon's valiant charge joining in the carnage. A storm of thrusting tails came at the warriors yet they were all dodged or deflected off Simon and Rinero's new armor. Soon the spiders were all sliced to pieces by the three.
"Well that should be the end of those spi-" said Zetarnu before getting his sentence cut off by a ear shattering roar.
Another spider came rushing out from the forest, yet this one was five times the size of the others. It screeched and thrashed around before slumping over and dropping to the ground, crushing a tree under it's weight. Stuck in the giant spider's dead body were many arrows and spears. The group stood there paralyzed with shock and fear.
"Is that thing dead?" asked Rinero.
He slowly approached the giant dead spider and poked it twice in the face with his saber. The spider did not move one bit.
"Its dead, nice," said Rinero.
Suddenly there was more rustling in the bushes, and eight savages came out of the forest. They wore horned helmets and had rough cloths of wool and hide. They were armored rough chainmail and wielded spears, bows, and axes. The savages were tall and well muscled with sun tanned skin and the alert eyes of a hunter.
The two groups stared at each other in silence for a while, both surprised by encountering each other. One savage spoke cautiously in a deep voice in a brutish, sharp accented, language. The group looked back at the savages with utter confusion, not knowing their language. Rinero then worked up the courage to speak.
"Do any of you speak Middish?" Rinero said slowly.
One of the savages, a handsome, young looking, man came up to him. Notably he was better clothed than the other savages with him. He had a plumed, nasal helmet and a well weaved poncho.
"I do, the men of my tribe ask to identify yourselves," asked the young man.
"We are travelers, on the way to the town of Whitelake," said Zetarnu.
"Ahh, I see. Would you men like to stay at my village for a while? I know you imperials are not used to being out here."
"Sorry but n-"
"Hell yeah that would be great!" said Rinero interrupting Zetarnu.
"Excellent, but first we must give our names no? My name is Evaric, I'm the leader of my tribe."
The group gave their names to Evaric.
"My men, take this queen spider back to the village. We shall roast it over the great fire," he proclaimed to the other savages with him.
"You know you're pretty nice for a savage. I heard you guys are cannibals and violent to outsiders," said Rinero.
"Savages, ah yes that is what the imperials call us. Some of the other tribes kill outsiders on sight or sacrifice them. As the leader of my tribe I have taken a different approach, cooperation with outsiders rather than attacking them has brought us great benefits in trade, technology, and good will."
"Cool."
"Now follow me, I shall take you gentlemen to my grand village."
"Well he's quite well spoken for living in the middle of the wild lands," thought Zetarnu.
Soon the savages and the group joined together and made their way through the forest all lead by Evaric. Zetarnu shot a stern glance at Rinero as they did. The group had their horses with them and lead them by the ropes used to tie them to the trees.
"What? You look mad," said Rinero.
"Listen, we are on a tight deadline. We can't be getting sidetracked going to savage villages in the middle of the fucking wild lands!" Zetarnu whispered angrily.
"I don't know, maybe they have something useful there, and good food. We haven't eaten since yesterday. Noname got eaten by a tree like an hour ago for Terra's sake! we need rest."
"Dam it! Guess my rousing speech could only influence his will so much. He only knew my apprentice for a few days I suppose. Yet the seeds of anger have been planted, with his berserker abilities he will be a valuable tool in this mission," thought Zetarnu. "Fine, we will continue to the village," he said.
"Nice."
The group continued through the forest until reaching Evaric's village. It was small, on top of a hill, and surrounded by wooden wall. Scattered around the village were wooden spikes upon which whole bodies were impaled, rotting and surrounded by flies. The group tided their horses to these spikes. The village gates were flung open by two guards and the group was allowed in. At the back of the group were four men carrying the giant spider corpse.
Beyond the gates was the village. It consisted of a ring of huts with one big hut directly opposite the gate. In the middle of the whole arrangement was a giant campfire which was surrounded by four totem poles. In front of the fire sat a shaman on a straw mat next to a large pile of wood logs. He wore a wooden mask and a robe of tiger fur.
"Stay here outsiders, I must speak with the shaman," said Evaric.
"The shaman? what does he do?" said Rinero
"He consults with the fire spirits and keeps the great fire alive," responded Evaric while pointing at the shaman.
Evaric walked towards the shaman and the group took the opportunity to observe the village some more. The people of the village stared at them with wonder and a cautious curiosity. There were many vendors within the village, a large amount hunters and craftsmen sitting on straw mats with their goods layer out for sale in front of them. There were additionally many buildings devoted to blacksmithing, the savages working hard to replicate imperial quality metallurgy yet ultimately falling short.
"Butcher the spider and prepare the roasting spit men!"
The corpse of the giant spider began getting cut to pieces and a giant roasting spit was prepared over the village giant fire. These things were done very quickly and many straw mats prepared around the fire.
"Come outsiders, sit and feast with us and we shall talk of trade," said Evaric.
The pieces of the giant spider were skewered upon the spit and the purple flesh began roasting on the fire till it turned to a deep red-purple. The meat was then put into clay bowls and served to the 40 something savages around the fire including Evaric along with Rinero and the group who sat next to him along with the shaman.
The meat was juicy and tender, and tasted like chicken with a slight sweetness to it.
"The battles that I have had over the last few days have been disastrous for me and my men! We have taken great damage each battle and have even lost a man! My magic attacks seem to be ineffective against my current opponents, I must change the way I fight," thought Zetarnu. "Say Evaric, are there any men here who sell knives?" said Zetarnu.
"Why yes! What are you willing to trade," said Evaric.
Zetarnu pondered for a few seconds before saying "I've got some potions, imperial coins, some food, and a short sword."
"Great! I shall call the smith over here."
Evaric called over a strong looking man with a long beard and told him to bring all his knives. He quickly ran to his shop. He quickly brought back a wooden box with knives of a wide variety of sizes and quality. Zetarnu began bargaining with the man with Evaric as the translator between the two and eventually was able to buy eight small knives for ten silver coins, five small bags of dried meats and berries and four health potions.
"What are you gonna do with all those knives?" asked Rinero.
"You'll see," said Zetarnu with a smug smile.
After the group finished the meal of spider meat and talked with Evaric the group began preparing to leave. Just as they were Simon withdrew a small parchment pamphlet from his bag.
"Can you read Evaric?" said Father Simon.
"Why yes," responded Evaric.
"Then take this pamphlet, it is the good news which I implore you to listen to."
Simon handed over the pamphlet which cover read, "The Good News of Terra's Mercy," written in large letters. It was a pamphlet meant to convert the educated to the religion of Terra. The group left the village well fed and in high spirits, the death of Noname thoroughly suppressed by the meal and their time at the village.
They retrieved and mounted their horses and began riding. They rode for a few minuets and eventually made it out of the forest back onto an open plain of tall grey grass. It had become early sundown by that point with a darkening sky. The first twinkling of stars shone in the sky.
"Hey! there's something moving in the grass!" shouted Rinero.
"Where?" said Simon.
Out in the distance there was movement in the grass. A large, slow moving, silhouette crawling across the plain. Lazarus inched his horse towards the thing and squinted his eyes.
"It's a wagon," Lazarus said.
He could see thanks to the elves having incredible eyesight.
"Lets approach it carefully. Everybody draw your weapons," said Zetarnu.
"Are we seriously about to raid somebody!" shouted Simon in anger.
"No, no. We're simply drawing them as a safety precaution if whoever is in the wagon intends to pick a fight on us."
The group drew their weapons and made their way towards the wagon at a light gallop. They made little noise and once they made it within a few yards of the wagon's back they began talking.
"Alright, I'll approach the wagon driver slowly and you will follow me. Keep your weapons out of sight," whispered Zetarnu.
Upon closer inspection the wagon seemed to be like a vending stand on wheels with a sign that read "Potions For Sale!" on top of the wagon.
Zetarnu who was followed by the rest of the group approached the front of the wagon at a moderate pace and placed good distance between him and the wagon.
As he slowly came into the driver's line of sight he began waving his hands and shouting hello. His mannerisms were as friendly and nonthreatening as possible. The rest of the group followed, Rinero's saber concealed within his cloak and Simon's claymore out of sight. Lazarus, with nowhere to conceal a drawn weapon, simply sheathed his blade.
The driver of the wagon was a young woman who wore a wide brimmed straw hat, and was dressed in a black dress.
"Hello, you are a merchant yes?" said Zetarnu.
"Yep, you buying travelers?" said the woman.
"Well we've got coins to spare, sure."
The woman hopped off the driver's seat of the horse drawn cart and into the cart itself.
"Alright what do you want travelers? I've got health potions, mana potions, strength potions, what are you looking for," said the woman.
"Well what are your prices?" asked Zetarnu.
"Health, stamina, and mana are gonna run you one silver a bottle and strength, speed, eyesight, and magic sense are one silver and five copper per bottle."
"Good prices, we'll take two health, one mana, and six strength potions."
"Thats gonna cost you one gold and three silver marks in total."
Zetarnu handed over the coins and was given the potions which he quickly put in his bag. Simon was staring at the potion merchant and came to a sudden realization.
"Hey I remember you! You came to Stonenburg a couple days ago, I bought an energy potion off you," said Simon.
"The priest? That is you?" the woman said in shock. "What is a priest doing out here looking like a mercenary in all that armor?"
"It's a long story, something about a journey."
"Well where is this motley crew headed to?"
"That would be Whitelake," said Zetarnu.
"Whitelake huh, you gentlemen would not mind if I come along. The name is Sashura by the way," said the traveling potion merchant with a confident and opportunistic look on her face.
"What?"
"You heard me. I wanna join this little group of yours to get to Whitelake, there is good business to be done there."
"No way! You are not fit to accompany us on our mission."
Rinero put his hand on Zetarnu's shoulder and pulled him aside. "Listen man, that is a lone woman, no protection, in the middle of the wild lands. Considering all the crazy shit here there is no way that she survived all this way without being pretty tough and good at survival. I think she would make a great addition to the team with all her potion making abilities," Rinero said.
"You make a good point," said Zetarnu. "Well my acquaintance Rinero here made a good point about letting you join us on the way to Whitelake. You're on the team Sashura, my name is Zetarnu by the way."
"Nice! Thanks a lot Zetarnu, its a pleasure to join," said Sashura.
"Well then, its another days ride to get to Whitelake from here so I would say to make camp and continue tomorrow."
"Sounds good."
"We must first fide a suitable place to make camp though, so lets get to it."
And so Zetarnu, Rinero, Simon, and Lazarus all set off to make camp now accompanied by the charming, traveling potion merchant Sashura.