Chapter 57: Isekai Life & Town Arrival
The streets of Rhymer's Cross was crowded with tents and lean-tos. The night was quiet, and the sounds of our horses' hooves echoed from the buildings. Occasionally, a curious peasant or townsperson would peer at us from a window or shelter, as we were escorted through town by spearmen and their sardonic leader.
I look aside at her. She had mousy, short-cropped hair, a lean, wolfish figure, and was wearing studded leather armour. “So, uh, are you the captain of the militia, or...?”
“Shire-reeve,” she replied brusquely, “Or, at least, I was his daughter. Papa disappeared two months ago, and the mayor was killed in a raid three weeks gone. I stepped up, and so here we are.”
“Do attacks happen often?” I asked, “The fields outside don't look like a battlefield....”
“Aye, the gobbos don't attack our walls,” she explained, “They wait until we work the fields, or go foraging. Walls stop them, guards don't.”
“If that's the case, and you're still working the fields, why are there so many hungry people here...?”
She gave me a cutting glance. “Aye, I'd believe you're from Tresens. That's a dumb city-folk thing to say.”
I was opening my mouth to reply when she cut me off.
“The wheat's almost ready, aye. But once it's harvested it needs to be dried, which takes time. We've got enough hands to make the winnowing and grinding easy, but the drying can't be rushed. So, if the wheat is ready tomorrow, and we harvest it all, and the crows and the moles haven't eaten too much of it, and we don't lose any to mold, we would have usable flour in three months and probably not enough to feed everyone by that time.”
I frowned. “Then what is missing that you would be eating, otherwise?”
“Spring vegetables,” she replied, “Carrots, artichokes, and peas would be ready at this time. Last year's flour would still be good, and aye, we still have some, though we're mixing it with sawdust. We fish the river, but the fish have started avoiding the length within our walls. We would hunt, but the hunters get ambushed and are never seem again. We took in all the homesteaders who came seeking shelter, so our stores are getting gobbled up. Rationing is pushing us to the brink. So, you and your friends had better be worth taking in, because we've got maybe another week of rations left, then it's rats, boots and riverwater.”
Now that she was talking more, the things she was saying were so bleak I kind of regret pressing her for information....
“What's your name, anyway?” I asked, “I can't just call you 'Shire-reeve'.”
“Estrid.”
Well, at least we're back to one-word answers.
We drew up next to the shire-reeve's guard office. “You'll have some privacy, but the only place we have room is here in the cells,” Estrid said, “You can store stuff inside, I'll give you the keys so you can lock it up. I won't rob you, but if you have any fruit I will have to insist you trade most of it to us in exchange for other food. We're going to have a hard time with Sailor's Sickness soon.”
“We'll sort that out in the morning, if it's okay,” I replied as I dismounted Snacks and began to unbuckle my saddle. “Is there someone to help my kn- allies with their wounds? The goblins weren't gentle with us on our way in.”
I almost called Voss “my” knight. I'd have to be more careful if we were going to masquerade as just adventurers.
“Aye,” she replied, “I'll send along the high priest from the temple in the morning. He's been using his miracles to extend our food supplies, but I'll tell him to hold off on that to see to your wounds.”
I frowned. The people here won't love us if we keep stealing their priest away from casting Create Food & Water to tend to us. We would have to come up with new food, fast, on top of making headway against the goblins.
The cells were pretty basic, eight foot by eight foot cages with wooden walls and wrought iron gates in place of doors. Estrid handed us rust-spotted iron keys to open the locks, before departing to carry on with... whatever she was doing. The rest of the office was pretty simple, just a desk and some notepaper for the reeve, a framed map of the town, and an empty spear rack.
As soon as Estrid wad out of sight, I heard Calliope sigh. “Such a welcoming and warm presence, isn't she?”
Pot, meet kettle.... “She's probably got a lot on her mind with this situation,” I replied, “But you're not wrong.”
Yua didn't seem perturbed at all by our new base of operations, and busied herself setting up my bedroll on one of the hard wooden benches in the cells. Voss stacked our chests in one of the cells, then ran a hand through his hair. “This is really all they have, huh....”
“They're probably giving up their ability to lock up troublemakers just to house us,” Calliope replied, “It's not like they have many other prospects for breaking out of this situation.”
Calliope sat down heavily on the second bench in the cell that Yua had picked out for me, the one without all the stuff in it. “What is our plan, then? The situation here seems pretty bad.”
“We have two problems to solve, ultimately, the food shortage and the goblins,” I said, looking at the framed map, “Working on the goblins helps the food shortage, since they'll be able to do more hunting and foraging, but all the same we might want to make some time to do something to help their food situation.”
“Okay, so I guess we hunt game while we hunt goblins, and try not to get the two mixed up,” Calliope said, “That seems simple enough.”
“We should also see if this priest guy has any acolytes he can spare,” Voss interjected, “We need someone who can heal us in the field... I swear, Theo, I was this close to gelding you the past few nights.”
My eyes went up in surprise. “Gelding...?”
“Yeah,” he said with a wry grin, “If you hadn't knocked up our only healer, we wouldn't be in this mess.”
You don't have to say it like that....
“We should also ask around, see if there are any other volunteers for our party,” Calliope said thoughtfully, “Surely there's someone our honourable shrine-reeve will spare to join our hunting party.”
I nodded. “I'd like to get an idea of where the goblins are coming from, first,” I said, “So I figure we'll do a series of searches. We'll start to the east, but each day we'll pick a direction and travel half a day out and back. Our main goal for now is locating the goblin stronghold. Once we have that information, we will have our hunting grounds.”
“And then...?” Voss replied.
“We pick off their patrols one by one, take back the countryside for the people, and when we're ready, assault them and wipe them out.”
“You make it sound so simple,” Calliope quipped sarcastically.
“Yeah, it'll probably be more complicated than that,” I said with a shrug, “But you can't expect me to have an answer for every problem right away. Our goal is simple: defeat the goblins and destroy their stronghold. So, I intend to begin by doing exactly that, and tackling any other problems as they happen to crop up.”
Calliope sighed and made an exaggerated shrug. “Whatever you wish, my prince.”
After that, she said nothing else, as we settled in for our sleep, but her words had me awake and pondering long into the night.
---------------------------
Character Name: Theodore Esche
Race: Human
Class: Transmuter
Level (XP): 3 (5121/10000)
Hit Points: 7
Ability Scores
Strength 11
Dexterity 17
Constitution 8
Intelligence 17
Wisdom 13
Charisma 14
Weapon Proficiencies: Darts
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Direction Sense, Etiquette, Reading/Writing, Swimming, Tailoring
Spells Per Day:
1st Level- 3
2nd Level- 2
Spellbook:
(1st Level): Armor, Burning Hands, Detect Magic, Detect Undead, Enlarge, Featherfall, Magic Missile, Mending, Read Magic, Sleep, Tenser's Floating Disc, Wall of Fog
(2nd Level): Knock
Spells Prepared:
(1st Level): Burning Hands, Sleep, Wall of Fog
(2nd Level): Knock, Knock
Equipment: Backpack, Bag of Fine Sand, Belt, Belt Pouch (Large, 3), Belt Pouch (Small, 4), Boots, Darts (43), Hand Mirror, Hat, Hooded Lantern, Pearl (worth 100gp), Robes (3), Signet Ring, Small Tent, Oil of Acid Resistance, mint green potion, Potion of Rainbow Hues
Money: 350 gp, 332 sp
Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarven, Orc, Goblin, Draconic, Dragonborn
Companions: Calliope (Level 2 Invoker, fiancee), Voss (Level 3 Fighter), Yua (Servant?)
Elsewhere: Katriana (Level 3 Fighter, sister & wife), Ashryn (Level 3 Cleric, fiancee), Smokey Enna (Level 4 Fighter/Level 4 Thief), Bekker (Butler)
Sexual Partners: 5
Storage Chest: Alchemical Steel Broadsword, Alchemical Steel Bastard Sword, 299 pp, 2386 gp, 16 sp, 50 cp
The streets of Rhymer's Cross was crowded with tents and lean-tos. The night was quiet, and the sounds of our horses' hooves echoed from the buildings. Occasionally, a curious peasant or townsperson would peer at us from a window or shelter, as we were escorted through town by spearmen and their sardonic leader.
I look aside at her. She had mousy, short-cropped hair, a lean, wolfish figure, and was wearing studded leather armour. “So, uh, are you the captain of the militia, or...?”
“Shire-reeve,” she replied brusquely, “Or, at least, I was his daughter. Papa disappeared two months ago, and the mayor was killed in a raid three weeks gone. I stepped up, and so here we are.”
“Do attacks happen often?” I asked, “The fields outside don't look like a battlefield....”
“Aye, the gobbos don't attack our walls,” she explained, “They wait until we work the fields, or go foraging. Walls stop them, guards don't.”
“If that's the case, and you're still working the fields, why are there so many hungry people here...?”
She gave me a cutting glance. “Aye, I'd believe you're from Tresens. That's a dumb city-folk thing to say.”
I was opening my mouth to reply when she cut me off.
“The wheat's almost ready, aye. But once it's harvested it needs to be dried, which takes time. We've got enough hands to make the winnowing and grinding easy, but the drying can't be rushed. So, if the wheat is ready tomorrow, and we harvest it all, and the crows and the moles haven't eaten too much of it, and we don't lose any to mold, we would have usable flour in three months and probably not enough to feed everyone by that time.”
I frowned. “Then what is missing that you would be eating, otherwise?”
“Spring vegetables,” she replied, “Carrots, artichokes, and peas would be ready at this time. Last year's flour would still be good, and aye, we still have some, though we're mixing it with sawdust. We fish the river, but the fish have started avoiding the length within our walls. We would hunt, but the hunters get ambushed and are never seem again. We took in all the homesteaders who came seeking shelter, so our stores are getting gobbled up. Rationing is pushing us to the brink. So, you and your friends had better be worth taking in, because we've got maybe another week of rations left, then it's rats, boots and riverwater.”
Now that she was talking more, the things she was saying were so bleak I kind of regret pressing her for information....
“What's your name, anyway?” I asked, “I can't just call you 'Shire-reeve'.”
“Estrid.”
Well, at least we're back to one-word answers.
We drew up next to the shire-reeve's guard office. “You'll have some privacy, but the only place we have room is here in the cells,” Estrid said, “You can store stuff inside, I'll give you the keys so you can lock it up. I won't rob you, but if you have any fruit I will have to insist you trade most of it to us in exchange for other food. We're going to have a hard time with Sailor's Sickness soon.”
“We'll sort that out in the morning, if it's okay,” I replied as I dismounted Snacks and began to unbuckle my saddle. “Is there someone to help my kn- allies with their wounds? The goblins weren't gentle with us on our way in.”
I almost called Voss “my” knight. I'd have to be more careful if we were going to masquerade as just adventurers.
“Aye,” she replied, “I'll send along the high priest from the temple in the morning. He's been using his miracles to extend our food supplies, but I'll tell him to hold off on that to see to your wounds.”
I frowned. The people here won't love us if we keep stealing their priest away from casting Create Food & Water to tend to us. We would have to come up with new food, fast, on top of making headway against the goblins.
The cells were pretty basic, eight foot by eight foot cages with wooden walls and wrought iron gates in place of doors. Estrid handed us rust-spotted iron keys to open the locks, before departing to carry on with... whatever she was doing. The rest of the office was pretty simple, just a desk and some notepaper for the reeve, a framed map of the town, and an empty spear rack.
As soon as Estrid wad out of sight, I heard Calliope sigh. “Such a welcoming and warm presence, isn't she?”
Pot, meet kettle.... “She's probably got a lot on her mind with this situation,” I replied, “But you're not wrong.”
Yua didn't seem perturbed at all by our new base of operations, and busied herself setting up my bedroll on one of the hard wooden benches in the cells. Voss stacked our chests in one of the cells, then ran a hand through his hair. “This is really all they have, huh....”
“They're probably giving up their ability to lock up troublemakers just to house us,” Calliope replied, “It's not like they have many other prospects for breaking out of this situation.”
Calliope sat down heavily on the second bench in the cell that Yua had picked out for me, the one without all the stuff in it. “What is our plan, then? The situation here seems pretty bad.”
“We have two problems to solve, ultimately, the food shortage and the goblins,” I said, looking at the framed map, “Working on the goblins helps the food shortage, since they'll be able to do more hunting and foraging, but all the same we might want to make some time to do something to help their food situation.”
“Okay, so I guess we hunt game while we hunt goblins, and try not to get the two mixed up,” Calliope said, “That seems simple enough.”
“We should also see if this priest guy has any acolytes he can spare,” Voss interjected, “We need someone who can heal us in the field... I swear, Theo, I was this close to gelding you the past few nights.”
My eyes went up in surprise. “Gelding...?”
“Yeah,” he said with a wry grin, “If you hadn't knocked up our only healer, we wouldn't be in this mess.”
You don't have to say it like that....
“We should also ask around, see if there are any other volunteers for our party,” Calliope said thoughtfully, “Surely there's someone our honourable shrine-reeve will spare to join our hunting party.”
I nodded. “I'd like to get an idea of where the goblins are coming from, first,” I said, “So I figure we'll do a series of searches. We'll start to the east, but each day we'll pick a direction and travel half a day out and back. Our main goal for now is locating the goblin stronghold. Once we have that information, we will have our hunting grounds.”
“And then...?” Voss replied.
“We pick off their patrols one by one, take back the countryside for the people, and when we're ready, assault them and wipe them out.”
“You make it sound so simple,” Calliope quipped sarcastically.
“Yeah, it'll probably be more complicated than that,” I said with a shrug, “But you can't expect me to have an answer for every problem right away. Our goal is simple: defeat the goblins and destroy their stronghold. So, I intend to begin by doing exactly that, and tackling any other problems as they happen to crop up.”
Calliope sighed and made an exaggerated shrug. “Whatever you wish, my prince.”
After that, she said nothing else, as we settled in for our sleep, but her words had me awake and pondering long into the night.
---------------------------
Character Name: Theodore Esche
Race: Human
Class: Transmuter
Level (XP): 3 (5121/10000)
Hit Points: 7
Ability Scores
Strength 11
Dexterity 17
Constitution 8
Intelligence 17
Wisdom 13
Charisma 14
Weapon Proficiencies: Darts
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Direction Sense, Etiquette, Reading/Writing, Swimming, Tailoring
Spells Per Day:
1st Level- 3
2nd Level- 2
Spellbook:
(1st Level): Armor, Burning Hands, Detect Magic, Detect Undead, Enlarge, Featherfall, Magic Missile, Mending, Read Magic, Sleep, Tenser's Floating Disc, Wall of Fog
(2nd Level): Knock
Spells Prepared:
(1st Level): Burning Hands, Sleep, Wall of Fog
(2nd Level): Knock, Knock
Equipment: Backpack, Bag of Fine Sand, Belt, Belt Pouch (Large, 3), Belt Pouch (Small, 4), Boots, Darts (43), Hand Mirror, Hat, Hooded Lantern, Pearl (worth 100gp), Robes (3), Signet Ring, Small Tent, Oil of Acid Resistance, mint green potion, Potion of Rainbow Hues
Money: 350 gp, 332 sp
Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarven, Orc, Goblin, Draconic, Dragonborn
Companions: Calliope (Level 2 Invoker, fiancee), Voss (Level 3 Fighter), Yua (Servant?)
Elsewhere: Katriana (Level 3 Fighter, sister & wife), Ashryn (Level 3 Cleric, fiancee), Smokey Enna (Level 4 Fighter/Level 4 Thief), Bekker (Butler)
Sexual Partners: 5
Storage Chest: Alchemical Steel Broadsword, Alchemical Steel Bastard Sword, 299 pp, 2386 gp, 16 sp, 50 cp
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