Rath'een Are Back! A Day from Hell
When I got back to the Training Hall, Daedalus was on high alert. It seems the Rath’een had doubled their forces and renewed the attack. Daedalus was especially worried about some of the villagers who hadn’t been seen for several hours. He sent me to check on the Bowers, the Godwins and Old Man Aylwin.
I decided to start with the old man’s house. As I was heading over there, I got a summons from the Temple, but I ignored it. There are many priestesses at Temple, but Old Man Aylwin lives alone.
And oh Goddess I got there too late. The Rath’een had killed him. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, Aylwin has been a fixture all my life. He used to bake cookies for the village children. I snuck over there every day until Colette made me the Mucky Duck chef. I mean, his cookies were a lot better than her cooking. Old Man Aylwin used to call me “the cookie girl.” He always had something set aside for me. He was so kind. And now he is gone. I don’t know if I can forgive myself for letting him down.
But tell you what I could do, I killed the Rath’een that murdered him. Every last one of them. One was a Warlock, I’m pretty sure. The other two cut me up pretty bad, and I had forgotten to bring a health potion or two. I left there in pretty bad shape, so I decided to visit the Temple after all. They could patch me up and tell me why they summoned me.
Allegra was the priestess that worked on healing me at the Temple. She was so kind, I couldn’t help it, I started bawling about Old Man Aylwin and how I couldn’t save him. She must have done something extra, beyond physical healing, and whatever it was really helped me calm down and feel focused.
It turns out some goblins stole a shipment of materials the Temple needs for their healing arts - some crystal shards and a raw diamond. Allegra thinks they are down by Glenfort River. I was so grateful for her help, I swore I would check it out after looking in on the other villagers.
Then I took off for The Bowers’ House in a hurry. The house was torn apart but my attack distracted the three Rath’een while the Bowers got out. My anger fueled quick deaths for the Rath’een.
Then I ran over to the Godwins place. Three more Rath’een dead, and I was glad to do it. And the Godwins were safe.
After we secured the village, Daedalus didn’t want to wait to blow up the Rath’een tunnels. He took some warriors outside the village as a diversion and sent me back to the tunnels with Majerlo’s explosive. There were a few Rath’een guarding the tunnels but killing them was not a problem. Until the last one, deep in the tunnel, some kind of berserker. He was tough, but he went down. I placed the explosive, lit the fuse and barely got out in time. Those tunnels are history!
My ears were ringing, but I couldn’t forget Allegra’s request, so I headed for Glenfort River, looking for her stolen shipment. She was right, I ran into several goblins. I had to kill them to get back the supplies they stole. Too bad there weren’t enough to complete my bounty for the day. I recovered three crystal shards and a raw diamond and took them back to Allegra at the temple. She rewarded me with 300 silver, but I’m pretty certain I will be spending it on potions soon enough.
When I got back to the Training Hall, Daedalus was beaming, and told me he was pleased with my work. He told me to go see Colette at Mucky Duck, and that she had her own adventuring days. In fact she is a Justicar of highest order. Well no wonder she can’t cook! Not her thing.
Daedalus also told me it’s time for me to join a guild. Really, enough didn’t happen today? Okay, okay. The Empire of Oda was recruiting for their samurai training guild, Sotsu of Oda, so I got in on the ground floor there. In fact they were just heading to the Mucky Duck Inn to take care of some goblins in the cellar. It seems goblins like Colette’s cooking! Well, fighting alongside my new guild mates, I killed enough goblins to complete my daily bounty for Daedalus, and then went to talk to Colette.
I’m almost falling asleep I’m so tired at this point. But Colette explained about Feats of Heroism and said that I could earn coin for hero work by completing feats. Well I still have no shoes, so who am I to argue with that? I accepted her first challenge, to find and slay 25 bandits. They call it the Bandit Killer feat.
I’m about to fall into bed back at the Training Hall. I’m spent and I still smell like explosive even after a shower. I’m giving the bandits a pass for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, I will find them. Goodnight Glenfort.
