Chapter 4: Gentle Preparation

Graum left Peitra's office, the smell of alcohol overpowered the aroma of the burning oak. 'It's barely noon!' Graum thought to himself in disgust, as he didn't care for alcohol. Noticing Bjorn talking to Maltreesh over by the quest board, Graum shuffled through the surprisingly busy guild hall over to them.

"Hey so listen, when I get back.." Bjorn nervously began, "think maybe you and I could…um… you know… go for a pint of mead?"

Graum noticed Bjorn looked pretty nervous and decided to hold off on approaching for the time being, instead would observe the awkward interaction.

"So you and Graum took the job?!" Maltreesh seemed surprised.

"Pfff! It hardly seems like it will be as challenging as Peitra made it seem!" Bjorn boasted trying to impress her.

There was a blankness to her expression.. like Bjorn was missing some information about the quest.

Graum, noticing Bjorn's advance was going sour and decided to approach.

"There will be quite a few Hobs between us and our target brother." Graum announced as he injected himself into their conversation.

Hobgoblins were bigger and stronger than regular goblins. They also had the capacity for tactics, which made them formidable.

"Ha! Hobgoblins aren't a threat!" Bjorn boasted some more.

"Maybe not a threat to a couple of strong men such as yourselves, but to a lady like me... they are the worst."

Maltreesh hung onto Bjorns shoulder with wide eyes, until a realization changed her expression to confusion.

"Wait… did you just say Hobgoblins?" She asked with dread in her voice.

"Didn't Peitra tell you?" Graum seemed confused.

'Why would he keep this info from his star member.... maybe she would've declined it faster..' he thought.

"He didn't have to specify, I turned him down once he said goblins." Maltreesh shivered at the thought.

"Now this quest sounds like it fits the reward." Bjorn's excitement glowed in his eyes.

"Indeed." graum nodded in agreement.

"If you make it back, we can go out for more than mead... sweet boy." Maltreesh whispered seductively in Bjorn's ear.

Blood of passion erupted from Bjorn's nose as his lewd imagination ran rampant. He scrambled to Graums side covering his nose.

"Don't you worry! We got this" Bjorn gave her a thumbs up as he followed Graum, who clearly didn't want to be apart of that conversation, out of the guild hall.

"We better get going, we have a few days journey." Graum remarked shielding his unacclimated eyes from the brightness of the sun.

"Agreed. Not to mention we don't want to be setting camp inside the goblin territory" Bjorn happily added.

The two made their way out of the city of Zanula, the upper most northern major city in the Human nation. They traveled south-southwest towards the goblin territory on the west side of Ivalsetr, near Gaia's point.

Gaia's point is the giant mountain within Gaia's Belt, a mountain range that serves as a natural border between the human nation of Treigian and the Elven nation.

Bjorn and Graum traveled till sunset walking for several hours before making camp in a small clearing near a pond. The pond had clear water with a tree sprouting out of the bank, crisp green ferns, and a handful of lily pads.

"What do you think brother, will this do?" Graum asked examining the tree line that marked the beginning of the goblin territory.

"Aye, This should do. I don't suspect the goblins venturing too far out. Once we make a fire they should be too scared to investigate." Bjorn remarked exercising his bestiary knowledge.

"The fire- along with your thunderous snoring- would deter any beast." Graum joked setting down his knapsack.

"Look at me, I'm Graum, and I have jokes" Bjorn mocked in a variety of high pitched tones and hand gestures.

Bjorn unfastened the great sword that he named: Rage, from his back. It's sheer weight caused it to crash to the ground before he could catch it.

-THUH~GSH-

"My baby!!!" He cried crouching down to caress the scabbard that housed his beloved weapon.

"I'm almost sad I was here to witness that" Graum's tone was a mix of pity and sadness.

"You..are just jealous" Bjorn snapped defensively.

"Honestly, I would rather it be the scabbard than Maltreesh.." Graum sighed collecting sticks around their camp site.

"Hey now..." Bjorn paused raising his eye brows up and down with a lewd grin.

"Well I hope it works out for you" Graum replied placing the sticks in a pile.

"Need the flint to start that?" Bjorn asked pulling out the tinderbox from his knapsack. Graum didn't say a single word, instead gave Bjorn a dumb expression while lifting his off-hand.

*Profane Blaze*

A black flame engulfed Graum's hand giving off an extremely dim light. Placing his hand on the various sticks he had collected... setting them aflame within moments.

"Haha- I forgot about that." He chucked quietly to himself. A question surfaced in Bjorn's mind causing him to quit laughing.

"So does that mean your fire proof?" He asked with genuine curiosity.

"Eh, I wouldn't say I'm fireproof per-say. More like fire resistant. Flames that would burn you, probably wouldn't burn me." Graum exclaimed attributing it to his devil kin lineage.

'Wait… all fire burns me…' Bjorn thought to himself concluding Graum avoided his question.

"I see, so uh..what about your clothes?" Bjorn followed up, pointing to Graum's sleeve, that DID catch fire.

"Shit." Graum released his hellish blaze and began patting the flames away.

"Now THAT is funny!" Bjorn laughed.

Graum rushed over to the pond that was next to the campsite and submerged the smouldering clothing. The scent of burned cloth filled his nose. There was a short silence where whistling winds and chirping birds could be heard.

"I'll go search for our meal!" Bjorn said unsheathing his monstrous greatsword.

"Nothing strange!" Graum yelled as bjorn bolted into the tree line. Bjorn had an iron stomach when it came to food. Which was great because he wasn't a picky eater... but bad because he always tried cooking strange meals... like dire rat garnished with nightshade.

The sun just barely peaked over the tree line. It would be night soon. Graum waited about an hour before he impatiently went after Bjorn. He didnt want him to catch something exotic to eat. Once graum made it to the tree line he saw Bjorn walking towards him with a doe hunched over his shoulder.

"Miss me brother?" Bjorn exclaimed slightly hoisting his recent catch.

"More like, worried about what you would bring back..." Graum seemed amazed that he caught something so... normal.

"Is this satisfactory?" Bjorn asked walking past a baffled Graum towards the campsite.

"Surprisingly..yes." Graum whispered to himself.