An Adventurer's Story Ch. 01

"Maybe this is a lie too, just like everything else!" She mumbles in anger with tear filled eyes. She positions her arm readying to pull the necklace off forcefully. She sighs deeply and releases her grip, now holding it reverently in one hand. "Everything else was fake, but not you and not me." She takes a few minutes to gather herself together and prays to her goddess for strength and guidance. As usual she feels strengthened by her prayer.

Sia looks into the dark cave and feels as though something is hidden in the darkness. She opens her backpack a removes an unused torch. With uneasy feelings she manages to lite a strand on the torch and as it starts to envelope the torch head, she holds it out away from her as far as possible. Pointing it toward the cave opening in case she needs to throw it into the rain. Her heart is racing and her legs feel weak as she watches the torch burn at arm's length away. She remembers entering the burning house and leaving unscathed, but she is still timid as she turns the torch upright. She slowly and cautiously raises her hand toward the torch flame, she can feel the heat but it isn't intense. She puts her hand over the flame and it is the same, she lowers her hand into the flame and she feels no pain. She rests her hand on the top of the torch and is still without pain. She removes her hand and examines it for marks or burning and finds none. A smile takes her lips as her fear dwindles away quickly.

She turns around looking into the cave and is immediately shocked by the sight. There are four bodies lying on the ground, the scene of a battle before her. It looks like they had set up camp in the cave and were ambushed while they rested. One looks to have been killed in his sleep and the others barely had time to prepare. All four victims are human men. Two are lightly armored, one is heavily armored and one is wearing only scribe clothes. As Sia goes over the bodies she discovers they are followers of Lady Kayla, her goddess. They have been stripped of valuables and weapons, easy to carry items. The armors are in good condition, so the enemy is likely to return for it as well. With that thought in mind she arms herself with her battle hand axe.

As she is exploring the back of the cave, she finds a hidden crevice. It is as big as the entrance but hidden by the contour of the walls and darkness. She gathers her things and starts through the pass. Just a few feet inside the opening the space opens up. On the right of the four-foot path is a wall of stone while on the left is a drop off with no wall or bottom visible.

Sia continues cautiously for a few yards before she hears the sound of an arrow flying through the air, narrowly missing her, and bouncing off the wall. She crouches and tries to see through the darkness, to no avail. Then two more arrows hit next to her as a third arrow grazes her left shoulder, cutting only her armor. She quickly turns to get back to safety as another arrow hits her in the right arm. She winces in pain and can immediately feel the effects of a poison. She gets light headed and as she tries to get to cover, two more arrows hit the wall near her as well as one in her left leg, again she feels the pain and the poison. The poison effects double as she slows and stumbles to proceed. All three arrows of the next volley hit her, two in the back and one in her left butt cheek. The poison makes Sia's body feel numb but the pain is not at all minimized, mostly the poison effects the mind which in turn effects the body. The strength of the bows launching the arrows must be weak, or a great distance is covered because the arrows are barely able to pierce her armor, let alone cause severe damage to her. She reaches out toward the wall to stable herself but instead falls to her knees and then off the edge of the path.

The poison is in full effect and she goes limp falling and sliding down into the darkness. She suffers several severe wounds and loses all her items in the rough fall. Sliding down the stone and bouncing off protruding rocks breaks her left arm and a couple ribs. Her head is busted up in a few places and she is one more hit away from unconsciousness. Her body slides across a slightly flatter spot then the ground disappears out from under her and she begins free falling toward a soft dim pale blue light. She is barely conscience when she lands into the light which happens to feel like cool water. Her backpack and hand axe fall into the liquid as well and quickly sink to the bottom. Sia feels the effects of the magical pool immediately as the poison is neutralized and her wounds healed. Her torch, being of lighter material and getting held up on its fall, finally makes its way off the sliding edge and carries over the pool and lands on the shore. Sia looks over to it as it rolls over some of the splash she made on her entrance into the pool. The liquid bursts into blue flame and envelopes the top of the pool before Sia even has a chance to realize what is happening. The fire cause her no damage but it does surprise her. The pool itself is not on fire but rather the fumes of the liquid are burning intensely. She swims the short distance to the shore and climbs out, completely enveloped in the blue flame. She tries to pat herself out, but nothing works. When she sighs in defeat the fire on her sputters and goes out, she is complete dry and shows no evidence of having been on fire.

The pool is still in full blaze and shows no sign of weakening and puts off enough light for Sia to explore this little area with good visibility. She can't see the liquid of the pool due to the fire and so can't see her equipment has sunk beyond her reach. As she searches the shore around the pool, she doesn't find much of anything except a worn-out backpack with some twelve-ounce glass bottles in it, luckily with corks. In total there is eleven bottles two have sizeable cracks, another has the bottom busted out and yet another has one side and bottom busted. Sia takes the bottles out of the bag and takes the seven empties to the pool. She submerges a bottle in the pool below the fire and when it is full she brings it out, immediately it is enveloped in fire. She puts her hand over the opening until the fire burns out, plugs the bottle with its top and repeats the process until she has seven full bottles of the liquid. Sia slings the bag over her shoulder she starts to make her way toward the tunnel entrance.

Just before entering the tunnel she stops to pick up her torch as she does she hears the faint sounds of voices far from her. Cautiously listening she can tell they are getting closer. The language is unknown to her, but she can tell they are excited. She looks for a place to wait for them and finds nothing other than the flaming pool. Sia sets the bag down in a shadow and hides herself among the flames of the pool. She awaits near the sharp edge like a predator, her head barely out of the pool, enough to breath, but not above the flames. Sia smiles to herself, this morning terrified of fire and now hidden within it.

She waits a bit before she hears them now about to enter the chamber. They are cautious and enter with bows drawn. Seeing no one in the room, they begin marveling over the pool of fire. There are four of them, "Goblins." Sia says to herself. They let their bows down, but still hold them in the ready. As they move about the room chattering to one another one gets too close to Sia, he doesn't notice her in the flames.

Sia uses her left hand, which has been holding her afloat, to launch herself up out of the pool with a yell. The sight of a fiery creature and screaming petrifies all four of them. She quickly grabs the closest goblin and throws him, one handed, back into the pool with her. The other three jump back and draw bows, fear in their faces.

The goblin she grabbed regains himself and struggles back to the surface. When he breaks the surface his face and head immediately catch fire. He screams in pain and thrashes around. The pool heals the burns as fast as they appear making this a lasting torment. The other three goblins become enthralled by the display as they call to him and wonder amongst themselves. Sia looks for an opening but finds none.

She pulls herself out of the water quickly, again catches them by surprise. Appearing as a fiery blue monster she rushes them. With her right hand she back hands one up and into the fiery pool. He lands near his ally, splashes about for a few moments and sinks beneath the surface. Combat is too close for them to use their bows. They drop them and draw rusted short swords. The goblin in the pool is slowly making his way to the sloped edge, yelling, as the fire burns him while the water in the pool heals him. Sia punches one of the goblins straight in the face with her right hand. The force of the hit caves in its face and throws its limp body backward a few feet. She turns to the other goblin, her fiery form now flickering out, and punches him in the side of the head. His head jerks back with such force it breaks his neck and he falls to the floor.

The remaining goblin finally reaches the shore and is covered completely in flame. He yells and waves his arms around as the fire continues to burn. Soon however the liquid of the pool on his cloths is absorbed and all that remains is the fire, no longer blue, burning him. He doesn't last long before falling dead continuing to burn, less intensely.

Better than no weapon at all Sia takes two short swords from the goblin corpses. She picks up her bag and torch and starts down the tunnel. She travels for a short way before she hears footsteps, the number of which is high. With no place to take cover she puts her bag down, walks a few yards a head of it, and then tosses the torch down the tunnel a short distance. The bend in the tunnel will help Sia against long ranged attacks, but there will still be plenty of room for bows at close range. She puts herself close to the wall minimizing their view of her for as long as possible and waits with both swords drawn.

When they see the light of the torch, they slow their approach and cautiously continue. First enemies Sia sees are two goblins, followed by three more. The two leading are wielding a short sword each while the three behind have bows in hand arrows nocked. When Sia feels she will lose any advantage if she lets them continue, she puts one short sword in her belt, make shift sheath, and moves quickly toward them. Being on guard as they were, they are not surprised, and she is met by two goblins with swords at the ready and the three archers move back and prepare.

Sia begins the battle by stabbing one of the goblins through the chest with her short sword. She buries the blade to the hilt and let's go, the creature falls dead sword in chest. She reaches out with empty left hand and grabs the other goblin by its filthy clothes. She manhandles the small creature turning it around to face its allies and lifting it as a shield. The goblin yells and squirms in protest but is unable to free itself from her grip.

The three archers care not that he is being used as a shield as they try to hit Sia. The first arrow flies by missing them and bouncing off the wall behind her. The next arrow hits the goblin in the shoulder. It yells in anger and redoubles its attempt to escape but does not succeed. The third archer hits him as well. This arrow is straight in his chest and his struggles cease. Sia begins moving toward them as the arrows begin again, all three hit the goblin corps.

Sia throws the arrow riddled body at one of the goblin archers and it knocks him backward to the ground. She then grabs another one and throws it effortlessly into the tunnel wall. The force is enough to crack its skull and break bones as it falls to the floor dead. She draws her short sword and looks to the only standing goblin.

At point blank range it releases an arrow. The strength of the bow is so weak that Sia's leather armor minimizes the damage of the arrow. Sia doesn't feel any effects of poison from the arrow. The other goblin finally right's himself and stands, choosing a sword to fight with rather than a bow. Sia stabs downward with an overhead attack, driving the sword to the hilt through the goblin. The sword enters at the base of its neck and does not exit. The goblin tenses and twitches as it dies. Sia quickly pulls the sword out and with an upper swing stabs the last remaining enemy. The blade enters its stomach and exits high on its back. She doesn't wait for this one to die before she whips the sword to one side slinging the dying goblin off into the tunnel wall.

She looks around to make sure the battle is over and listens for reinforcements but hears nothing. Sia checks the bodies and finds a total of seven copper pieces, everything else on them is worthless. She wipes her blades off on the corpse as best she can, gathers her things, and proceeds down the tunnel.

Moving farther down the tunnel cautiously, she comes to a fork in the road. She can continue straight or veer off to her left, she decides to continue straight. The dimensions of the tunnels change at this point. They get taller and wider, nearly twenty by twenty foot. The tunnel goes a long way with no break or change until she sees light up ahead. The light is coming from the ceiling, or lack of. The top of the tunnel has caved in and on the floor is the debris along with seven bodies, five men and two women.

A quick inspection of the area before Sia moves closer to try and determine what happened. All seven of the bodies are human, two of the men and a woman have stab wounds. The others look to have died from the fall. None of the bodies have anything on them of value and some of their pockets are turned out. Sia begins to grow angry assuming thieves have robbed and killed these people. She looks around and tries to find a way to climb out, but she is unsuccessful. With no other option she continues down the tunnel at a quicker pace, gripping her torch in anger.

Another long stretch of tunnel, she begins to hear noises up ahead. She stops to listen, and they are heavy footsteps and deep grumbling voices, two distinctly different voices. Sia throws her torch a head of her a little bit and draws her short swords and waits. Eventually Sia sees the creatures she heard. There are two humanoid males walking toward her. The ogres notice Sia, stop walking and look at each other.

"What happens now?" Sia says to them.

The ogres raise their weapons and charge her, Sia nods in understanding. One of the ogres, attacks from straight on while the other angles to her left side. The ogre in front attacks first swinging down from overhead with his tree limb. Sia dodges this attack and puts both ogres in front of her. The other ogre swings sideways at her coming from her right side. Sia cannot dodge this attack and the large club hits her in the side moving her whole body from the force. Sia was able to brace for the attack, but she still is injured from it, and even more angry.

She focuses her attacks on the one who hit her. The big lumbering brutes are easy targets for her as she slashes at him viciously. She moves to her right while attacking with a slash across his stomach, the condition of the blade is so poor it hardly cuts. Her second swing is an overhead slash also aiming for his chest stomach area. The initial hit of the dulled blade cuts, but soon just slides down its stomach. Even with the blades being in such poor condition the force of the hits and what little cutting they did are enough to cause serious injury to the ogre. He stumbles and groans in pain as he keeps Sia in front of him. The ogre raises a weakened arm with club to attack her but is instead impaled by both her swords. She drives both swords deep into his stomach and pushes him backward. He takes one stumble step back and falls flat on his back dead. Sia leaves the worthless blades buried in his corps.

The remaining ogre yells in anger at his fallen ally. With club overhead he moves quickly toward Sia. He swings erratically and slams into Sia with such force it throws her into the air and she crashes into the tunnel wall. As she regains herself the ogre grabs her from behind and tries to crush her. He squeezes her in a bear hug while Sia shakes off the remnants of the club attack.

"You killed my friend. You die!" The ogre grunts, then yells as he increases his pressure.

This attack is not effective against Sia, with some effort she is able to keep him from crushing her. She begins to stretch her arms forcing the ogres arms wider. She over powers him and he releases her.

"You strong, but not strong as me." He talks looking down to her.

Sia clinches her fists and challenges him by posture to an unarmed fight, he accepts. She is much quicker and stronger than this ogre, he will realize this much too late. She waits on him to make the first move.

He tries to smash down on her with both fists, but she easily dodges the attack and retaliates. She punches him with her right hand in his left side, he quickly ducks and moves to cover. She then tries to punch him in the face with her left, but he blocks it. The force of the punch still moves him and gives her an opening for another right. She comes across his body and catches him in the mouth. The hit is hard and causes him to stumble backwards and fall to the ground on his butt. She wastes no time and moves in to finish him while he is stunned. With one mighty right hand to the center of his face she lays him out flat on his back, unconscious. She then goes and removes one of the dull blades from the other ogre's corps and stabs the unconscious creature through the chest. It breathes one last deep exhale then goes quiet.

"These blades are worthless." She says softly to herself.

Leaving the blades buried in the bodies she gathers her things and moves down the tunnel farther. After a few hundred yards the tunnel ends. There is a rod in the ceiling that extends down about three foot and has a blue piece of cloth attached to it at the bottom. With no other option Sia turns back toward the split in the tunnel.

Traveling the new tunnel, a short distance, she enters a chamber. The area is empty but has only one other exit. As she approaches the other tunnel, she hears multiple footsteps. They are various weights to the steps, but they are all moving quickly toward her. Sia sets her torch near the entrance to the chamber she used, along with her bag and waits for the approaching group. She positions herself near the wall of their entrance keeping them from seeing her before they enter the room, giving her a slight advantage.

The first thing to enter the room she recognizes as a hobgoblin. Immediately behind him are four goblins and still more behind them. As the first hobgoblin notices Sia it jumps back and the goblins rush into the room, followed by three more hobgoblins. Sia is well out numbered but not over powered, she is still confident in her survival. The eight ugly creatures look at Sia and feel assured they can defeat the unarmed opponent. The hobgoblin grunts a command and the four goblins rush Sia with their short swords in hand.

Sia grabs the first one that gets close and shoves his sword straight through his face. The sight of this shocks the other three so she grabs another one and slams its head into the wall. It's skull crushes inside it's caved in helmet, she steps back, and the goblin's corps falls to the ground. Another loud grunt from the hobgoblin snaps the remaining goblins into action. They attack her with dulled swords and weak arms, she dodges their attacks. The four hobgoblins hold their ground out of battle. She punches one of the goblins with her right hand in the side of its head. The force of the blow breaks its neck and it falls over from the force. She grabs the hand of the remaining goblin holding its sword and shoves the blade through its chest before throwing it aside. Looking to the hobgoblins she sees them holding their weapons hesitant for battle. Two of the hobgoblins, one of which is the leader, have long swords, the other two have short swords. All four of the weapons look to be in good shape, clean and sharpened.