6 Burn It Down
Concurrently as Jake moved towards the mysterious glow, Serana, Todd, and Delvore had noticed the same things. The glow of a fire, but too early for it to be the bonfire, and we're on their way to investigate.
------
Delvore, being the furthest north, was able to get eyes on the problem before anyone else. What he saw chilled him to the bone. The flames were no bonfire, it was the town itself being lit ablaze. He saw people running away from the fire and letting it burn further south.
"Who would run and let their home burn?" Delvore thought. He was about to call for buckets to try to soak the next buildings and save the rest of the village, but then he saw why they were running. The village was being attacked. Immediately Delvore pulled his bow from his back and climbed to a higher position. Once on the roof of the nearest building, he got a better look at the attackers. They weren't bandits, nor an Orc raiding party, or any other type of monster he knew of. The attackers seemed to be ordinary people. They were dressed in normal types of clothes, wore no armor, and wielded no weapons.
Though their hands were empty, it didn't lessen the deadly attacks they delt. In fact, the people might have faired better had the attackers used swords instead.
Body parts littered the street behind them before being engulfed in flames. Delvore watched as a large man, probably about twice Delvore's size, was holding two people back at the same time. As he was trying to talk with them, a third person ran and tackled his legs at the knees, snapping them backwards and toppling the man. His body was torn apart in seconds then the attackers continued on. Delvore, realizing he was severely out numbered, chose to run south along the rooftops to escape the carnage.
------
Serana was having trouble dodging the legs of everyone running south. The festival had taken a dark turn as someone announced that they were being attacked. Not wanting the fire to spread to the forest past the village, Serana chose to run north to stop these attackers. Unfortunately, running against a tide of people was not a Halflings strong suit.
Finally she had made it past the crowd safely and now had a clear path to the fire. She began running hard, no more of this town would burn if she had anything to say about it. She heard the sound of heavy footsteps behind her, and they were approaching quickly.
"Are you ok?" A deep voice said.
She turned her head and saw a Half-OrcOrc leisurely jogging beside her. She chose to ignore him and picked up her speed. The Half-Orc easily stayed with her without any effort.
"If you are going to fight, I could carry you." He offered. "It seems like we are going to need every warrior we can get."
"Fuck off, I'm not that short!" Serana said angrily.
"I was just offering help." He said as he ran past her.
"Well I don't need your help!" She screamed at his back. He was too far for her words to reach him.
------
Todd laughed to himself at the image of the little Halfling running behind him. He could tell that she would be useful in a fight, but she didn't want any help. There was no way Todd was going to run at a Halfling pace, and he chose to get to the fight instead.
As he rounded the final curve he came upon the same scene Delvore had discovered. Blood and gore covered the attackers as they tore through the village's people. The Orc half of him wanted to dive into the enemy and die fighting, but the human half of him spoke with reason and knew that if he died here, no one would know. It would be a meaningless death if there was no one to write a song or stories about him. He estimated the enemies numbers to be around 30, give or take a few, and that was just the ones in front of him. There were many other roads through this village. He turned and began running the other way. If he could help more people escape then that would be how these people could remember him.
He took only a few steps before he came across the Halfling yet again. She was standing there staring at the bloody mess the enemy were leaving on the streets. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes looked on unblinking. Todd decided to not give her the option this time and scooped her in his arms as he sped to the south of the town.
------
"To the forest, quickly!" Jake called out. He had positioned himself at the southern edge of the village and was trying to send people into the forest where they could hide from the attackers. The people of lakeside village paid no heed to his words, and chose instead to run along the main road leading away from the village.
"You will surely be caught by these monsters!" Jake cried. "Please if you value your life, run to the forest."
Again no one listened. Jake felt at a loss. His date was ruined, his honor was lost, and now the people he was trying to protect ignored his warnings.
Just then out of the corner of his eye he caught a shadow fall from a rooftop.
"Have they gotten here already?" Jake said as he readied his staff.
The shadow got up and ran towards the forest instead of towards the people. Jake released his grip on his weapon and sighed. At least one person listened.
"Out of the way!"
Jake turned and saw a large Half-Orc barreling towards him at full speed with a struggling Halfling over his shoulder.
"Put me down! Help! Someone help!" She cried out.
The sight puzzled Jake and he let the duo pass him before he realized that the Halfling might be in trouble. Her cries faded as she was taken into the forest along the same path that he saw the first person run along.
"Put her down!" Jake yelled as he ran after them.
------
Todd laughed as the monk chased him through the trees. If he didn't have the weight of the Halfling, he would have left him in the dust. He kept laughing and didn't see the strike coming until it was too late. His feet were swept out from under him by a dark figure. As he was falling he pulled the Halfling in so she wouldn't be injured by his weight. He rolled three times before sliding to a stop. He jumped to his feet and placed her on the ground.
"Are you ok Halfling?" Todd asked.
Surprised that he would care, Serana answered, "Yes I'm fine, thank you. And my name is Serana, Half-Orc."
"I am Todd." He replied.
"Well here I thought you were in trouble." A voice said from behind them. They both turned and saw a man with his hood pulled over his head.
"Who are you?" Todd asked.
"The name's Delvore, and I believe we could help each other."
"Well I guess you don't need to be saved after all." Jake said calmly. "If you weren't in trouble then why call for help?" He stepped out from behind a tree with his staff at the ready.
"Just forget about it. We have more pressing concerns." Serana said. "I'm Serana and this is Todd." She said, turning back to Delvore.
"Well if we are all introducing ourselves, I'm Jake, from the monestary of Statefarm." He said.
"Well Jake, Serana, and Todd, it looks like a group of unknown people have attacked the Bard Festival. I'm willing to head back in if you all will join me."
"Halt who goes there?!"
The party faced outwards and realized they were surrounded by spears.
Delvore kicked himself for allowing his guard to drop so easily.
"We are not your enemies." Jake said. "We just escaped Lakeside Village. It is currently under attack and we could use your help to defend it."
A Human stepped into the clearing. He was a head taller than Delvore, almost equal with Todd, and they could tell he was no stranger to combat.
"How many people were attacking the village?" He asked.
"About 30 or so." Todd quickly answered.
"That was only on the one street." Delvore interjected. "If you had seen what I saw, you would realize there were around 100."
"100!? Are you sure?!" The man asked angrily.
"Yes. Is that a problem?" Delvore replied.
The man was quiet for a while as he seemed to take in what Delvore said. "Men, we are going home. You four need to come with us." He said
"I don't think that'll be necessary." Delvore said. The spears closed in around them.
"I wasn't asking. If you had gone through with your plan to retake the village, you would've been slaughtered. Or worse, become one of them. Let's go men, move it!" He called out.
Realizing they had no other option than to follow these mysterious almost-saviors, they walked briskly behind the man as they went further and further south through the forest.
"What were those people and what do these men know about them?" Jake thought.
"What the hell did they mean by become one of them?" Serana shuddered.
The questions they all had would hopefully be found wherever these men were taking them.
-----------------
And so ends our hero's first encounter with each other.
What would you have done differently in those situations?
Would you have let Yara live?
Are you a murder hobo?
Let me know in the comments what you think of the story and what you liked or disliked about it. What do you think will happen and who's your favorite hero so far?
So much more to come, hope y'all stay tuned.
