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The half elf slipped through the destroyed town, longbow and greatsword within quick reach should they be needed, a shield on his back, and leather armor allowing for some better stealth. He used to use chainmail but his rogue friend had gotten annoyed with the constant clanging. With what was going on in the kingdom, he couldn’t blame him either.
For as long as Chilled could remember, King Ze and his family had been in charge of the kingdom. It was horrible, people treated as slaves, food supplies running low, and anyone who dared to even think bad about the king was hunted down and killed.
“Chilled,” a voice hissed at him and Chilled gave a guilty smile to the high elf rogue that he worked with. The elf wore leather armor with two daggers on his belt. The elf was a thief, and Chilled was thankful to have him around.
“Sorry Jeremy,” he said softly, and Jeremy just sighed as they continued slinking through the ruined streets. You never knew who might be around, and they never took chances. Chilled’s thoughts had caused him to trip and that's why Jeremy got onto him, but everyone knew that fighter’s didn’t exactly excel in stealth.
“Guys, look,” the high elf bard up ahead said. He was poking through some things and pulled out some food. “Guess who’s eating well tonight,”
“Right, cause that’s so edible Larry,” Chilled remarked with an eye roll. Larry stuck his tongue out and put the stale food in his bag. Larry also wore leather armor, but he had a lute strapped to his back and a longsword on his waist.
“I’m just saying,” Larry mumbled. Chilled then heard a stick break and he glanced over his shoulder, they were being followed. The figure had ducked behind the house they were currently next to. Sharing a look with Larry proved that the bard noticed the same thing, meanwhile Jeremy was digging through something else and didn’t notice.
Larry strummed a few notes on his lute and then Chilled felt the familiar sensation of a telepathic bond form.
‘Jeremy, take a quick circle around the house. Someone’s following us, let’s end this before it starts,’ Larry said in his head. Jeremy glanced up, noticing both his friends' faces so he nodded. Jeremy slipped off, vanishing into thin air. Chilled and Larry remained there, blocking the sight of where Jeremy would have been in hopes that the person hadn’t noticed him leave.
‘I see her. It’s a girl,’ Jeremy’s response came through Chilleds head a moment later. Chilled and Larry looked at each other, confused as to why a girl would be following them. ‘Is that a…holy shit guys. That's a cleric. She has a holy symbol with her,’
‘Can you knock her down? Grapple her? Something?’ Chilled asked and Jeremy gave no reply. Larry rolled his eyes and gave Chilled an amused look. mused look. Of course Jeremy wouldn’t respond, he usually didn’t anyway.
‘Got her,’ Jeremy’s voice came through their head and the boys sprinted to see who it was.
It was in fact a human girl, with a holy symbol around her neck. She had leather armor on, and didn’t look like she worked for the king. In fact it looked like her deity was the god Polus, a forbidden religion ever since King Ze took the throne.
“Who are you?” Chilled asked as Jeremy drug the girl to her feet. She fought against him but it didn’t help, then a dagger was placed at her throat.
“My name is Courtilly,” she said softly. “I’m sorry for following you but I was trying to see if you were working with the king,”
“Does it look like we work for the king?” Larry asked and the girl-Courtilly-glance at the ground. “Hey!”
“You never know nowadays. But, I need some help,”
“What kind of help?” Jeremy asked her and Courtilly was silent for a moment before the dagger was placed closer to her throat. Courtilly let out a shaky breath as she tried to calm her nerves.
‘Don’t terrify the girl. She may be useful,’ Larry told Jeremy, giving the rogue a look. Jeremy shrugged and loosened his grip ever so slightly.
“As I said, my name is Courtilly. I work with a small resistance nearby. I think you could be helpful. I think anyone who doesn’t work with the king is helpful but still,” she said.
‘Do we believe her?” Jeremy asked and Chilled crossed his arms. He gave her a look, and he could see no sign of deception.
‘Sadly I do,’
‘I’m with Chilled here, she seems pretty honest,’ Larry said. Jeremy nodded and released his hold on her. Courtilly gave him a thankful look and then smiled at them.
“Follow me, we have an underground bunker close by here,” she explained and started walking.
She kept fidgeting with her holy symbol and eventually made her way to a tree trunk. She made a series of knocks and then a door opened, and she stepped inside.
Chilled went first, following her down a ladder and into the previously mentioned bunker. There were a series of beds, with some herbs as well. A meeting table lay in the middle of the room, and an armory with weapons on the left side, plus a cabinet that held what was probably food or something.
Larry and Jeremy came down behind him and Courtilly turned back to look at them. Out of nowhere it seemed, an older man walked up behind Courtilly.
“Courtilly, glad you made it back. And you three are?”
“I’m Larry, a world renowned bard. This is Chilled, the fighter, and that's Jeremy-” Larry cut himself off as he turned to signal to where the rogue had once stood.
“How in the world did you guys get these? Potions are nearly impossible to find these days,” Jeremy called out from where the cabinet stood. He was holding a red healing potion, then a purple floating hand grabbed it from him and put it back in the cabinet.
“Lets not,” a deep voice said and from what appeared to be a secret tunnel, someone else appeared. A wizard of sorts, whose arms were crossed and an eyebrow raised in Jeremys general direction.
“I’m Junkyard, that's Platy,” the older man said. Chilled took a closer look at him, he definitely looked like a fighter. He wore a half plate, with a shield attached to his back and a longsword on his waist. Chilled wasn’t sure he would be able to even take on the old man if this was a trip.
Platy used the purple mage hand to direct Jeremy back over to the group. He looked like a wizard of sorts, considering he was wearing a robe that reached his ankles. Plus the mage hand also helped show he was a magic user.
“As for the potions. I make them,” Junk explained. “Now that you three are here, we could really use your help,”
“With what? Something that you can’t take on?” Chilled snapped. This was dumb, Junk alone was probably enough to take them down.
“Precisely,” Platy said and signaled everyone to the table. They all sat down, and quickly two more girls sat with them.
“This is Shelby, and I’m Kara,” the first girl said. She held a wand in her hand, and wore some nicer clothes than the others but no armor. If Chilled had to guess he’d assume she was a sorceress or wizard. Due to the nicer outfit he was gonna go with the sorceress.
The other girl was clearly a druid. She had a wooden shield and leather armor on, but plants seemed to be braided into her hair. Plus she just had a druid vibe as compared to anyone else Chilled had ever met.
Then they started talking
“So what does this have to do with sending your cleric after us?” Jeremy asked, and the resistance all glanced at each other.
“We used to live in the town of Mira, but when the current royal family took over it sent everyone scattering. What was once a rich town became nothing but empty. I stayed and helped some people fight, but that wasn’t enough. The king, who was a prince at the time, slaughtered everyone who fought,” Junk explained to them
“I found Junk and healed him, bringing him to this place. This used to be my temple, now we use it as a safe place,” Courtilly told them. Junk then continued.
“Over time we met Shelby and Platy, both of who wanted to help. Then Kara came to help us,” Junk was about to continue when Larry cut him off.
“You said took over. Meaning that the king isn’t meant to be king?” Larry said, clearly unable to hold in his question.
“Yes. I was getting to that,” Junk gave Larry a look, but the bard didn’t even look sorry. “The original king and queen died, and the rightful heir was sent away. Word around the kingdom is that there’s one way to find out who the heir is,”
“That’s assuming that they’re still alive,” Jeremy pointed out.
“That’s correct. Platy, Kara, want to fill us in on the rest?” Junk asked.
“Absolutely,” Platy said and looked at the three. “King Ze is currently hunting down five items. One of which he has, and one of which we have,”
“The king has his crown, I have the wand,” Kara explained. “We’ll have to get that crown at some point. But first we have to stop him from getting the other three items,”
“Which are?” Chilled asked and Platy waved a wand. In front of them appeared three items, hovering in mid air. Two of the three faded, enhancing the image of a sword in front of them.
“First one is the Bread Sword, a greatsword that points out secret passages, as well as offering extra protection and strength to whoever wields it,” Platy said. “Kept locked away in the town of Friendship Bread, as dumb as that is,”
The image changed again, showing a pair of daggers.
“The next one is The Dragons Double Daggers. A set of twin daggers, said to grant resistance to certain types of damage, as well as teleporting back to the hands of whoever wields them,” Kara said. “Currently though, the item cannot be located. Not without use of the sword,”
The image changed a final time to show a silver flute.
“And finally the Flute Of Fishburger. Said to protect the user from being charmed, as well as allowing them to manipulate certain emotions. Sadly we also need the sword to find that one,”
“And you guys can’t go get them because?” Larry asked, raising an eyebrow and leaning back in his chair.
“I’m getting too old for this. Courtilly holds the holy symbol of Polus, she’d be killed in an instant, and Platy and Shelby aren’t strong enough to take on the top guards by themselves. Besides, they’re of more use here,” Junk explained.
“I’ll go with you three. My wand allows me to cast more spells in a day than most people that have my training. Besides, I can help track down what we need to. That is, if you’ll help us?” Kara asked hopefully.
“Eh, why not?” Chilled said
“I’m down for an adventure,” Larry said and this time leaned forward.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Jeremy said with a simple smirk.