This choice: The farmer who hired them appears as they emerge from the forest.... • Go Back... It took far too long to find the bent arrows, lost pouches, and forgotten daggers of their party in the fading light. Not to mention all three of them were as unsteady on their feet as newborn fawns. Whatever energy reserve Kieran had been pulling his anger from was drained and he shuffled, sword dragging, for what felt like ages. Dyana didn't look much better and was tripping over her own two feet even more than usual. Orokos' keen senses had dulled in his now heavy, human, body and he felt blind in the low light.
They stopped frequently: Kieran was yet again out of breath ("Gods Dyana didn't you get any exercise with the Divine Mages of Whatever!?"), Dyana had sustained yet another bump or bruise as she tried to navigate back ("I'm just certain we came from that way, not this way. Oh elves eyes are so weird in the dark."), or Orokos' new strength was needed to heft yet another fallen log out of their path.
"Lift with you legs, not your back." Kieran muttered for the tenth time as the rotten bark splintered apart in Orokos' hands. He scrambled for grip to avoid crushing Dyana as she scrambled underneath.
Orokos silently cursed himself for every time he and Dyana had ever made it Kieran's job to lift and carry heavy things. What he wouldn't give to be high up in the treetops! He'd tried, obviously, to get up an old oak to try and get his bearings back. But their pursuit of the creature had taken them deep into a part of the forest where a rot had taken hold. He was barely off the ground, hanging from a branch he would have had no second thoughts about earlier in the day. And then it snapped and he was flat on his back with the wind knocked out of him.
Hours later, with the moon risen high in the sky and an uncomfortable chill long since having invaded their bones, the trio emerged from the forest onto open pastureland. Wind whipped at their muddy clothes and stung the innumerable small wounds they'd endured.
So much for being triumphant heroes hoisting the head of the beast and bulging coin purses high.
"If I never see a tree again it'll be too soon." Dyana said to no one in particular. Kieran grunted through his chattering teeth and pulled his mage robes closer.
"Hey!" A voice called out, lantern bobbing. The three exhausted adventurers startled. "You there! Have you managed to rid us of that fowl creature?"
"Isn't that....?" Kieran started to say.
"The guy who hired us and is expecting a dead monster? Yeah. That's him alright." Dyana groaned.
The farmer was the weatherworn type. Tall and scraggly, but well fed. Especially after the Harvest. His smile started to fade as he got closer.
"So. You failed," The words stung. The farmer regarded Orokos. "Kieran, was it? I find it hard to believe a man like you was overpowered by such a creature. Especially with the help of a mage and elf!"
"On the contrary," Orokos stepped up. "You were the one who failed to inform us of the beast's true nature."
The farmer's frown deepened.
"Abilities? It's a simple beast. What could it possibly have managed to do to three young people like yourselves?"
Kieran and Dyana glances and Orokos nervously. Was he going to tell the man everything? Surely he couldn't. No one would believe them! The Guard would be called and they'd be hauled off to some dungeon somewhere for trying to cheat their way from a contract. Or worse, their loyalty to the Victory Guild would be questioned. But if Orokos was anything, he was a fast thinker.
"I am not speaking of the capabilities of the beast itself. We had taken it out handily in no time at all," Orokos lied. "I am speaking to the fact that you failed to inform us that it was not working alone! And that you instead chose to send us - unprepared! - into a den of the creatures!"
"There's....more?" The farmer stammered, suddenly on the back foot. Misrepresenting a mission to a band of adventurers carried equally harsh penalities with the authorities.
"Are you asking or are you telling us?" Kieran added, catching on.
The farmer looked like he regretted waiting around for them. His eyes darted to the warm glow of his home up the hill.
"Well. I'm," He dabbed at his forehead with a cloth. "Why don't you head back to the inn. I'll. I'll toss in a few extra coins if we drop this matter. I swear it wasn't my intention to lie. I truly had no idea there were more than one of the wretched things. How does that sound?"
Dyana smiled.
"I think that that sounds excellent."
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