Frostbitten Wayfarer

Kiara was the merchant who decided to stay in town, she grew up in Flester and took pride in being a part of its growth. She loved setting up her shop every year for barlahai, meeting all the new people who came to Flester to be a part of its growth or use it as a stepping stone to the wilds beyond.

She wanted to stay near Flester in the hopes that one day they might be able to restore it to some semblance of its former glory. Most of her wares were lost in the fires, storage crates destroyed, shelves full of knick knacks she’d accumulated over her years little more than rubble. But she still had her storage necklace, a golden star that hung from a silver chain around her neck.

She sat at one of Joe’s tables, her blue hair rested on her shoulders and stood out from her deep red, silken robes. In her hand was a yellow wooden needle that spun around on her knuckles as she seemed lost in thought.

“Hey, Joe says you can help out with a couple dungeon rewards I got?" Zoe sat down at the table across from her.

Kiara shook out of her daydreaming stupor and blinked a few times. “Hmm? What was that, sorry?”

“Uh, Joe says you can help with some dungeon rewards I got?" Zoe repeated.

“Oh! Yes, of course. I always love this part of the job, you know? I never get to go to the dungeons myself, so it’s always exciting to see what things people get. Normally, I charge twenty-five silver per item, but since you’ve so graciously given us a home, I guess I’ll waive the fee for you.” Kiara smiled at Zoe. “Do you have the items on you now?"

Zoe summoned the dark tinted sword and bright blue ring, then placed them on the table in front of Kiara. “Yeah, these should be them.”

Kiara reached out and grabbed the ring and Zoe felt mana reach out to poke around at the ring with a gentle touch. Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she lost herself in the task.

“You know,” she spoke slowly, with gaps between each word as she focused on the ring. “Many people don’t bother with this service. And usually it’s fine, if I’m being completely honest. Dungeons don’t usually spit out harmful items. But when it goes wrong, people would often end up at my shop anyway, with a ring stuck on their finger and ooze creeping up their hand.

“And there’s nothing I can do then. It’s one thing to know if an item will have a curse, and another entirely to remove it.” Kiara’s mana pulled back from the ring and she looked up at Zoe and her cadence returned to normal. “This one’s a storage ring with a capacity of six bags and an automatic resizing function. Though most dungeon rewards come with that, in my experience. I can’t tell any obvious effects it has on contents so be careful until you’ve given it some trial and error.”

“Okay, thank you.” Zoe took the ring and put it on her right pinky finger. The blue metal shrunk as it held onto her finger tight enough to not fall off, but not so tight that it became uncomfortable.

Kiara grabbed the dark sword, and her mana began to poke and prod around at it as her eyes glazed over from the focus. She sat in silence for a minute before she looked up at Zoe. “Hmm, this one seems to have a more practical effect on the people hit by it. No way for me to know without being hit by it, and I don’t fancy that personally. I could hit you with it though if you would like to know?”

“How bad could it be?” Zoe asked. If she would feel like the world was ending and death was creeping in, then it might not be great. But if it was a mild burn, then it would be worth the pain to know for sure.

Kiara shrugged. “Could be anything, really. I can tell that it will do something to anybody struck by the sword, but the exact effect is entirely lost on me. Could be that it cuts a little better, could set you aflame or drown you. I’m told you’re quite the respectable healer though, so I’d be surprised if a simple hit could kill you.”

“But it could kill me, if I were very unlucky?” Zoe asked.

“I’d be quite surprised,” Kiara chuckled a bit.

“That doesn’t sound like a no, to me.” Zoe said.

“I make it a point to not make promises I can’t keep. A dungeon you conquered rewarding you with an item that could instantly kill you with a simple tap would be incredibly outlandish, but sometimes life is stranger than fiction. You could try testing it on the wildlife first, if you like.” Kiara said and handed the sword back to Zoe.

“Sure, I’ll be right back then. Boar or deer, Joe?” Zoe asked.

“Boar. Deer are more friendly.” Joe said from his table without looking up from the book he was reading.

Zoe took the sword and ran through the forest looking for boar tracks. It didn’t take long before she found some, and even less time for her to find the boar that left them scratching its tusks against a tree.

The boar looked up and started to run away as soon as she approached it, but Zoe was far faster and slammed the blunt edge of the blade into the boar’s behind. Nothing seemed to happen as the boar stumbled forward for a moment then took off into the forest again.

She looked at the sword and shrugged. If the boar could survive the blunt edge hitting it, then so could Zoe. Her arm stung as the edge smashed into her forearm, and images of death and hunger slammed into her mind. She stumbled on her feet and fell, getting a mouthful of dirt as her face smashed into the ground and then as quick as the images came, they left.

Zoe stood up and shook off the dirt that covered her. For a moment, she tried to use Immaculate Enchantments to clean herself up and was concerned why it didn’t work, before remembering she hadn’t swapped back yet.

She stored her sword away and returned to her cave.

——————

Peter sat in his living room at his new home that he and Lauren had built, feeling content with life for the first time in almost a decade. It wasn’t an amazing house, and the village, if it could even be called that, was anything but lavish.

When Flester was burnt, and they first talked about the possibility of living here or heading to Korna, Zoe’s quaint home was little more than a distraction from the squalor that surely awaited them in the big city. Returning to those decrepit nobles and dealing with their terrible rule was a torture Peter never wanted to suffer through again.

And yet, their home had become something so much more than Peter had expected. It wasn’t rundown shacks and dark holes in the ground, they had homes and buildings. Even the beginnings of roads, and a couple of shops. Nearly four dozen people had moved in over the autumn, winter and most of the spring, as word of Flester’s rebuild spread to nearby towns enticing anybody wanting to capitalize on their small frontier.

Peter thought it was a bit of a joke, calling their little village a rebuild of Flester, but there was an excitement that even infected him at times. The potential to build their village stronger, to make the decisions on how it’s run, the possibility to create a place where nobody would suffer through what he had to go through.

Lauren was an amazing help, and Peter liked to think that he filled the same purpose for her too. They talked about their traumas and gave each other a safe shoulder to lean on when they had a bad day. It was comforting to know that she was sleeping in their bed safe and sound just a room away. Her quiet snores made him smile as he read through the ledger.

The two had started a small restaurant in the village, and Peter enjoyed working through their income. There was no governing body to pay taxes to, yet at least. Kiara, Doris and Ingrid had been making a push to form at least some form of leadership to help pay for some infrastructure, and people seemed receptive to the idea. A small tax from their meagre incomes would help pay for walls, roads, and possibly even assistance from the Injellar kingdom.

In many ways, Flester’s destruction was a good thing for him. He landed a free house — well, free if you ignored the labour that went into it. Zoe and Joe were both instrumental in teaching Peter and Lauren the basics of Carpentry, and Jessie even helped out with the build near the end, making sure everything was sturdy enough for them. Watching an experienced carpenter with all their classes work their magic was incredible.

Wooden beams bent effortlessly into shape, nails pierced through the walls and into the frames as though she were pressing a sharp knife into a tender piece of roasted boar. Having the chance to watch a master at work, in their place of expertise was something that never quite got old for Peter. It was always just such a mesmerizing experience.

Without Flester’s destruction, he and Lauren would never have been together either. They were close back at The Risen Cask, to an extent. But there was always this question of where they would go. Would they both stay in Flester, or would they find jobs that took them to other cities? It was little more than a passing interest at the time but when they knew their future would be here, building up a new village together?

The opportunity fell in their laps, and they jumped at it.

But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses, of course. In many ways, Flester was far safer than this village. Which might be an odd thought, given Flester’s unfortunate demise, but if the same catastrophe happened again? Nobody would survive.

Even the odd boar attack was dangerous, Peter’s classes were hardly fit for combat and he only had just enough Vitality to not accidentally kill himself. A small group of boars rushing him down would be a quick excuse for the village to build a cemetery.

He’d managed to avoid them thus far, and truth be told, he wasn’t really worried about boars. They were slow and safety was never far away. But it was true that there was comfort in tall walls manned by competent guards, and knowing the only thing separating him and his hopefully soon to be fiance from the vast wilderness was a flimsy wall they themselves built?

Well, it left a lot to be desired, Peter found.

Lauren stirred awake and wandered out of their bedroom. “Good morning doe.” She said, rubbing her eyes and pulling hair that stuck to her mouth and neck away.

“Morning sunshine.” Peter smiled at her. Seeing her wake up and stumble around to come say good morning was one of his greatest pleasures. He’d never tell her, but it was that very image of her. With a hint of drool dripping from the corner of her mouth, and her knotted hair that stuck to her that made him want to wake up just a little bit earlier every morning.

“Todaysh the day Zoe leaves, right?” Lauren yawned and stretched, her woolen shirt lifting to reveal her soft midriff and faint red stretch marks that Peter loved.

“Yup. We’re having a celebration at Joe’s in about an hour, if you wanna get ready.” Peter said.

Lauren stumbled over and leaned down to kiss him as Peter let his cleaning skill wash over her and strip away the sweat and grime that clung to her.

“Thanks doe,” Lauren smiled at him.

“Anytime sunshine. I set aside that orange dress you like earlier, if you wanted to wear that.” Peter said. He was already dressed in a well fitted teal shirt with dark brown woolen pants, and thought they might work well together.

Lauren leaned down and kissed him again. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

Peter watched her shuffle her way back into their room and smile at the orange dress hanging at the front of their closet, then turned his attention back to his work.

——————

Zoe made her way down to Joe’s inn to say goodbye. It was nearing the end of spring, almost a year after Flester’s destruction. Things had gone quite well for the little village, but Zoe was excited to get to her next adventure. Meet some new people from a different area, see how Korna was run and what it entailed. Maybe find some more dungeons to explore, and if she found somewhere safe enough, even reset her classes for better options.

She stopped outside Joe’s inn and smiled. If the closed door in the middle of the afternoon wasn’t already enough of a sign, then the dozens of footsteps outside the door would be. And if even that didn’t do it, then it would be hard to miss the hushed whispers and quiet breathing that seemed to fill the inside of Joe’s inn.

When she opened the door, almost a dozen people jumped out from behind the tables and screamed at her. “SURPRISE!”

Puffs of colourful magic raced through the air as people cast their cleaning spells and whatever else they had that wouldn’t cause lasting damage to the inn.

Zoe put on a surprised face and played along. “Ah! What are you all doing here?” She grinned from ear to ear.

“You don’t have to pretend to be surprised, it’s okay.” Emma said.

Zoe laughed and closed the door behind her. The group drank more booze than Zoe was proud of and ate some food prepared by Peter and Lauren for a few hours. They chatted and played some bar games — the most fun being darts for Zoe, though she wasn’t particularly great at it. And when the sun began to set, Zoe said her goodbyes and made her way to Flester’s ruins to join the last caravan scheduled for Korna.