Wagons and Whispers (and wagers) - Stedd
Oct 16, 2019 13:38:25 GMT
Daisy, Ser Baine Cinderwood 🔥🌼, and 5 more like this
Post by Stedd on Oct 16, 2019 13:38:25 GMT
4… 5… 6...
Stedd had not taken to Kundar. He found the people confusing and felt he was always one wrong step away from accidentally crushing a Kobald and never being able to leave. Instead he would train. Day and night he would train, until the horrors of what had occurred had been erased from his mind, and justice had been restored.
7… 8… 9…
He regretted ever taking the mission. Life had been easier before. Before his world had been turned upside down.
The task itself seemed simple enough: escort a convoy of wagons to Kundar.
Bubbles and Faye tagged along (so he knew it would not be uneventful) and Heret approved (so he knew he was not being short-changed).
10… 11… 12…
Stedd had been in high spirits:
- They were accompanied by a friendly, strikingly handsome half-orc named Baine who brought a special pupper named Frankie.
- The Patrons, Tord and Lief Grinthorn seemed very hospitable. (Faye later explained that they were ‘Kobalds’, not tiny dragons)
- And Stedd had comic relief in watching Baine throw the tiny Gnome lady (Zeenah) around.
Then everything changed…
13… 14… 15… 16…
Stedd picked up the pace, hoping the pain in his muscles would assuage the pain in his heart.
17… 18… 19… 20…
Their convoy had been stopped by three hooded assailants. They had been burning the nearby village to the ground and enslaving the population.
But Stedd was not afraid.
He donned his mask and was enlarged, smiting his foes to the dust (with some assistance from Bubbles and Heret).
Charging forward, Stedd saw further carnage. The captured were being lead onto a floating ship, and there were large cat-folk with tentacles.
But Stedd was not afraid.
He slew any who approached, and laughed at those who fled.
Their leader knew powerful magic and flung it in at Stedd’s direction, a cruel smile affixed his face.
But Stedd was not afraid.
He was too intimidating for the spell, which seemingly disappeared as soon as it approached him (though he did require some minor healing from Faye).
… Stedd had not been afraid through all of this.
Even as the villages burned around him.
Even as he saw Faye get suckered by some freaky tentacles.
Even as he contemplated the future, as his enemies seemingly teleported away.
21… 22... 23… 24…
Stedd did not fear these things, because he had just experienced true fear: Stedd had goaded Baine.
A simple wager: who could win an arm wrestle? Encouraged by his friends, Stedd began well. Then he uttered the foolish phrase ‘your dog is mine’.
Baines face twisted into an expression of rage Stedd had never experienced (and prayed he would never experience again), and with one thrust the contest was over.
Stedd had been bitten slashed, punched, set on fire, (and that had just been in the last month), but he knew that the throbbing in his arm, and the disappointed he felt at crumbling under pressure… now that is a wound that would not heal quickly.
25… 26… 27… 28… 30…. 31…
Stedd would need to train a lot harder if he was going to be the beefiest boy in town…
Stedd had not taken to Kundar. He found the people confusing and felt he was always one wrong step away from accidentally crushing a Kobald and never being able to leave. Instead he would train. Day and night he would train, until the horrors of what had occurred had been erased from his mind, and justice had been restored.
7… 8… 9…
He regretted ever taking the mission. Life had been easier before. Before his world had been turned upside down.
The task itself seemed simple enough: escort a convoy of wagons to Kundar.
Bubbles and Faye tagged along (so he knew it would not be uneventful) and Heret approved (so he knew he was not being short-changed).
10… 11… 12…
Stedd had been in high spirits:
- They were accompanied by a friendly, strikingly handsome half-orc named Baine who brought a special pupper named Frankie.
- The Patrons, Tord and Lief Grinthorn seemed very hospitable. (Faye later explained that they were ‘Kobalds’, not tiny dragons)
- And Stedd had comic relief in watching Baine throw the tiny Gnome lady (Zeenah) around.
Then everything changed…
13… 14… 15… 16…
Stedd picked up the pace, hoping the pain in his muscles would assuage the pain in his heart.
17… 18… 19… 20…
Their convoy had been stopped by three hooded assailants. They had been burning the nearby village to the ground and enslaving the population.
But Stedd was not afraid.
He donned his mask and was enlarged, smiting his foes to the dust (with some assistance from Bubbles and Heret).
Charging forward, Stedd saw further carnage. The captured were being lead onto a floating ship, and there were large cat-folk with tentacles.
But Stedd was not afraid.
He slew any who approached, and laughed at those who fled.
Their leader knew powerful magic and flung it in at Stedd’s direction, a cruel smile affixed his face.
But Stedd was not afraid.
He was too intimidating for the spell, which seemingly disappeared as soon as it approached him (though he did require some minor healing from Faye).
… Stedd had not been afraid through all of this.
Even as the villages burned around him.
Even as he saw Faye get suckered by some freaky tentacles.
Even as he contemplated the future, as his enemies seemingly teleported away.
21… 22... 23… 24…
Stedd did not fear these things, because he had just experienced true fear: Stedd had goaded Baine.
A simple wager: who could win an arm wrestle? Encouraged by his friends, Stedd began well. Then he uttered the foolish phrase ‘your dog is mine’.
Baines face twisted into an expression of rage Stedd had never experienced (and prayed he would never experience again), and with one thrust the contest was over.
Stedd had been bitten slashed, punched, set on fire, (and that had just been in the last month), but he knew that the throbbing in his arm, and the disappointed he felt at crumbling under pressure… now that is a wound that would not heal quickly.
25… 26… 27… 28… 30…. 31…
Stedd would need to train a lot harder if he was going to be the beefiest boy in town…
