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The group of six adventurers crept carefully down the rough-hewn corridor, the occasional rat or other vermin scattering before them. A bit ahead was a nondescript man, carefully shining his lantern across the floor and walls before him, subjecting every inch to intense scrutiny. He was known only as Ikeda, and he had joined the group only recently, claiming to be “on the crown’s business”. No further details were given, but the group had needed someone able to deal with traps and locks, so he was taken in provisionally.
Behind him came the main group. In front was the diminutive fighter Rika Ohara, late of the gladiator pits of Kesh. Unusually for a warrior, Rika was clad only in leather armor, but she explained that it was normal for gladiators, and it allowed her far better freedom of movement.
Next to her marched Kashie Hatsume, priestess of the god of justice, Tolan. The clanking of her plate armor was somewhat muffled by the bearskin cloak she wore over it.
In the center of the group were the young mage, Shiori Miura, and the bard, Isao Iwaka. The former held her staff up, the better to illuminate a greater area with its brightly glowing tip. She seemed a bit distracted, her gaze constantly shifting to the handsome man at her side, who was inspecting his lute for signs of damage from the group’s last fight.
Bringing up the rear was the Northman warrior, Gorou Ishikawa, scowling at the flighty pair in front of him. They were in the middle of a dungeon crawl, gods curse it! This was no place for dewy-eyed flirting! Despite his grumbling, he remembered his own duty, and kept an eye on their trail, lest the party get ambushed from behind.
They came to a halt as Ikeda brought up a fist in signal. He motioned them forward, and soon, a door blocking the end of the corridor came into view.
“Think this is the one?” Rika asked quietly. Normally boisterous, she knew better than to make noise where enemies might hear.
“Only one way to find out,” Ikeda replied. “Give me a moment.” With that, the black-clad man crept up to the door. After a brief, but thorough inspection of the door for traps, he removed a curious trumpet-shaped device from a pouch. Putting the small end to his ear, he leaned to press the wider end to the door. After a few minutes of intense concentration, he got up, returned the trumpet to its pouch, and returned to the group. “I count maybe a score of foes on the other side, speaking Orcish. I know enough of that foul tongue to tell they were speaking about our quest’s goal. I’d say we’re where we need to be.”
Shiori spoke up. “Is the door locked?”
Ikeda shook his head. “I checked. It’s not.”
Shiori nodded. “Okay, Rika, Gorou, stand by the door. Ikeda, you too. When Ikeda opens the door, Rika and Gorou charge through and get their attention. Kashie, you next, then Isao right behind you. Ikeda and I will take up the rear.”
The others nodded and took up their positions, weapons at the ready. Rika carried a short blade in each hand, while Gorou wielded a Northman’s traditional battle axe. Kashie favored a mace and shield combo. Isao’s sword was still slung at his hip, but he held his lute, ready to play a magical tune. Ikeda had a dagger in one hand and a tiny, handheld crossbow in the other, already loaded with a poisoned dart. Shiori, of course, had her staff and her arsenal of spells.
When everyone was in place, Shiori nodded to Ikeda. “Go!” Ikeda flung open the door, then quickly moved aside as the two short warriors rushed through the portal, screaming their battle-cries.
The surprised orcs in the chamber beyond whirled, then quickly drew their weapons. The largest one in the back of the room, clearly the leader, pointed at one of his minions and barked, “Kill the whelp!”
Ikeda wasn’t the only one who could speak some Orcish. “Oh, no you don’t!” Rika growled, and turned to get to the door the subordinate orc was heading for, only for another orc to get in her way. In the seconds it took her to dispatch it, her target reached the back door.
Kashie was next through the door. Her eyes fell on an orc preparing to attack Gorou from the flank, and charged it. “Tolan, aid me, and strike down the unjust!” With that battle-cry, Kashie entered the fight.
Isao darted into the room and moved to the side, out of the immediate fray. His fingers were already moving on his lute, the first notes of his battle song pealing forth. As he began to sing, he saw his allies take heart, fighting more fiercely, their blows more telling.
Shiori and Ikeda entered together, Ikeda immediately firing his crossbow at a target across the room. Shiori saw one orc, who had almost escaped through another door at the far end, slump over lifelessly. Immediately after, Rika reached the door and slammed it shut. Positioning herself in front of the door, Rika shouted, “Come on, you ugly scumbags! You wanna kill anyone, you come over here and try! I’ll show you true hellfire!”
Provoked, six orcs made their way to the pink-haired fighter, ready to take her on. While Shiori knew Rika was very capable, she decided it was time to thin the odds against her friend. Waving her staff, she pointed at the group of orcs converging on the ex-gladiator. “Magic Missiles!” The young mage grinned in satisfaction as three of the orcs fell, leaving only three more to face the tornado of death that was Rika.
Gorou and Kashie held their ground against the bulk of the surviving orcs, with Ikeda skulking around the edges, sliding his blade between orcish ribs whenever the opportunity presented itself. Slowly, the numbers decreased. Soon, Rika left her post at the back door once it became clear that the enemy was fully engaged. Shiori cast a quick spell to increase Rika’s strength, and Rika tore into the main melee. Soon enough, it was almost over, with only the large orc leader remaining alive.
“Take that one alive, if you can!” Ikeda called. “I have some questions for him.”
Gorou grunted. “I’ll try, but I’ll put my ax in his skull if I have to.”
Shiori moved forward. “Let me.” With the two warriors and Kashie holding the orc at bay, Shiori intoned another spell. “Hold Person!” Immediately, the humanoid stiffened, temporarily paralyzed.
“Perfect,” Ikeda said in satisfaction. Isao pulled a length of rope from his pack and offered it to the rogue. With a nod of thanks, Ikeda quickly bound the captive.
While Ikeda prepared to interrogate the orc, with the others standing guard, Shiori and Rika made their way to the back door Rika had guarded in the fight. “You ready?” Rika asked.
Shiori nodded. “Yes.”
“Let me go first, just in case.” Without waiting for an answer, Rika opened the door and slipped through. Shiori immediately followed. The passage beyond was short, with another door not ten feet beyond. Rika tried it. “Locked. Guess we’ll need to get Ikeda.”
“Not necessarily,” Shiori grinned. “Look.” Rika followed Shiori’s pointing finger to see a ring of keys hanging from a peg in the wall.
“Hah!” Rika snickered, grabbing the keys. The door unlocked with the third key. Rika opened the door, and Shiori leaned the glowing tip of her staff inside, revealing a small boy cowering in the corner of the cell.
“Hey, little one, it’s okay.” Rika slowly entered the room, her blades sheathed, crouching down to get closer to the boy’s level. “Don’t worry; we’re here to save you.”
The child looked fearfully at the two adults. “A-are the monsters gone?”
Rika nodded. “They’ll never bother you again.”
Slowly, the boy stood up, then moved toward Rika. Suddenly, he rushed into her arms, bawling in release. The pink-haired young woman held him gently, letting him cry on her shoulder.
“There, there…” Rika said softly, patting his back. “It’s over now; you’re safe.” Shiori smiled, seeing her friend’s softer side. It never ceased to amaze her how gentle the former gladiator was with children. She would have thought Rika’s upbringing would have hardened her beyond all such sentiment.
“Here, blow your nose.” Rika held a cloth up to the boy’s face. With a loud honk, he did as instructed, then stood up. “Thank you. Thank you so much! I thought they were going to eat me!”
“Not on my watch!” Rika proclaimed. “You ready to go?”
Shiori stepped forward. “Are you the weaponsmith’s son?”
The boy looked to Rika, who nodded. “Y-yes. My name’s Grem.”
Shiori smiled, and the boy relaxed. “Your father is very worried about you. I’m Shiori, and this nice lady is Rika. We’re here to take you home.”
“Okay! Thanks, Miss Shiori! Miss Rika!” Grem smiled, now fully at ease. He followed along as the two women moved back to the room with the others.
Rika moved ahead and peeked through the door first. Nodding at Shiori, she held the door open for the mage and their young charge to step through.
The others had been busy. The dead orcs had been moved to one corner of the room, and all the torches in that corner had been extinguished, hiding the bodies from view in the shadows. No sense letting Grem see that, after all.
Shiori looked to Ikeda. “Have you finished?”
Ikeda nodded. “He had some interesting things to say. I’ll tell you about them as we head back.”
The group got back into marching formation, but with Grem and Ikeda in the center along with Shiori, as there was no need for the rogue to check for traps along their backtrail. Isao took position in the rear with Gorou. “Let’s go.” With that last instruction from Shiori, they got moving.
“So what’s the deal?” Rika asked from her position in the front. She spoke without turning her head, her eyes constantly probing for threats ahead.
Ikeda paused to organize his thoughts. “It seems the orcs didn’t actually kidnap the boy themselves. The leader claimed he was delivered to them by a human they have ties with and told to watch him for a while. They were paid twenty silver, with a promise of more when the job was done with the boy unharmed.
“Which silver is now ours!” Gorou chuckled from the rear. “Found it in the leader’s pouch.”
“Indeed,” returned Ikeda dryly.
“It’s true,” Grem piped up unexpectedly. “When I first woke, there were a bunch of strange adults around, but they were all human. They took me to those orcs and turned me over to them.”
“May the hammer of justice fall on them, and soon,” Kashie growled.
Shiori frowned. “This doesn’t make sense. Why would a group of humans kidnap a human child and leave evidence pointing toward orcs?”
“Maybe they’re trying to stir up unrest?” wondered Isao.
“Possibly,” said Ikeda. “But we don’t have enough information to know yet.”
“Whatever it is, it sounds bigger than just a kidnapping…” Kashie frowned.
“And we’re in the middle of it now,” Gorou grumbled. “Use us for pawns, will they?”
“First things first!” Rika declared. “First, we get the little one home with his family where he belongs.”
“And collect the reward!” Gorou added. “Don’t forget that part.”
“Yes, and collect the reward.” Rika rolled her eyes. “After that, we can worry about the bigger picture.”
“I second that,” Shiori said. “Let’s get back to town.”
“And so, the adventurers made their way back to civilization with the young Grem, knowing that this quest was only the beginning of their adventures together.” Reijirou smiled from behind the screen concealing his maps and notes from the others. “Well done, and a good stopping point, I think. It’s getting close to time to prepare dinner.”
“That was awesome, Mr. Sakai!” enthused Shiori. “I never knew you played D&D!”
Reijirou laughed. “Back in my high school days, and sometimes in college. I haven’t had much time to play recently, so this was refreshing.”
Rika got up from her seat. “I never knew this could be so fun! I was all zwish! and pow! and…!” she started imitating sword strikes as she talked.
Gorou hunched over quickly, avoiding some of Rika’s more enthusiastic swings. “I’ll admit, this was more fun than I expected.”
Isao nodded. “I hope we get to play again soon. I want to find out what happens next.”
“Maybe we can get some of the others to join in next time,” Shiori smiled. “I bet Karen would make a great mage.
“Fighter-mage!” argued Rika.
Reijirou chuckled. “That’ll be up to her.”
“Maybe Kenji as a druid…” Kashie considered.
“Ooh! That’d be cool!” Shiori agreed.
Reijirou stood up and clapped his hands for attention. “Well, like I said, it’s almost time to start preparing dinner, so unless you plan to help, I’ll need you to clear out of the mess hall for the time being.” He began gathering up his notes and gaming supplies, the others pitching in to gather papers and dice. Once everything was cleared away, the campers began filing out of the hall. Shiori looked back before leaving. Catching Reijirou’s eye, she gave the counselor a thumbs-up.
“Operation: Game Night is a success!”