Year 4506 5A 'Fifth Age', 106 EC 'Era of Coinage'
Day 314 'Dusk of Fall'…
Wondering through the road, he found a sign leading to a town or city. The words are different from his past language, but by miracle, Natalak does understand.
"Keshoval, huh, and the signs say it might lead me to its capital, Ravalind."
His head, cornering, looking if there were folks for a company and someone to banter. Nevertheless, he had no choice and quickly followed the sign's direction.
Natalak stops for a minute and gazes upon the bag the older man had given him. The only thing the older man gave Natalak was a bag and the language of Vashkeil.
"So, this bag can swallow anything." Natalak mumbles, raising it for a more precise inspection.
He continues, and it is safe to say there was no danger to encounter. From the far sight of another road, he could see three caravans hauling goods.
Natalak waits for a caravan to pass, but the sun begins to dip—falling —so he steadies himself, running his feet as he can, knowing something is lurking along the now-dimming road.
Without a doubt, something crept into the dark corners of the trees. His heart accelerates; his body is on adrenaline, not with fear but with expectation.
Stopping to meet the danger, two hideous creatures emerge from the darkness. Half of his height covered in fur, bones and greyish skin.
"What are you?" He whispers, positioning his fighting stance just as he observes the monster.
One carries a crude spear while the other holds a rusted sword and a small buckler in his left hand.
"A short sword perhaps?" Natalak ponders, his back lowering, as he prepares for a fight.
The pair snarled in their guttural tongue that Natalak can't grasp, and as they attack simultaneously. Dropping his bag, then, through quick thinking, Natalak scooped a speck of dirt with his left hand and a stone to prepare for the worst.
Waiting…. The moment the enemy closed the distance, Natalak initially set his move. With a powerful pitch, he successfully hit the first enemy, knocking the creature back.
Into the fray, Natalak then swings away the dirt at the goblin's eye, stopping his movements. In a struggle, he quickly grabs its hand and punches the creature's neck. Loosening its grip from the sword, subsequently, the other goblin jumps on the back of its partner.
Using the enemy as a shield still… the creature, without hesitation, punctures its partner's body. Penetrating… the spear nearly reached Natalak's chest, but with luck, he pushed away the stabbed creature.
Retreating, he cautiously eyes the enemy without looking away. Picking up the sword, Natalak was speculating on how the goblin might take this opportunity if he wasn't looking.
Snatching the weapons from its dead partner, the creature pours a strange liquid on the spear. Noxious smoke can be seen emitting from the blade.
Pondering another strategy to overpower the enemy, Natalak scooped another dirt… hiding it from the goblin's view.
"Poison or maybe acid? A small cut from that blade would be fatal, and night begins to fall. What a stroke of bad luck did I have this day." Natalak ponders, his body now boiling for survival.
Giving a grim look, the goblin readies his spear. Feeling, tasting—the creature's confidence surged, thinking it had the upper hand; the beast immediately charged rampantly. Scattering the dirt at the creature, staggering the goblin for a mere time, Natalak quickly throws the sword at the creature, hitting his body.
Dashing into the creature while in a pinch, he then quickly pulls out the sword and thrusts it to the throat, ending the fight once and for all.
Resting for a minute, Natalak looted whatever things he could find. Two unknown potions… a spear, a short sword and a small buckler. Fortune arises, there were ten copper coins and three silver coins.
"Scouts? If I'm correct, there might be a horde of them near this place. Shii... Best to leave this place, one of them could smell the scent of their fallen comrade."
Stuffing the items into the bag, the silver coin into his pocket, Natalak quickly paced out of that area, after an hour of running and walking on the night road. Luck be praised, he finally spots a large building. Looking at the signboard depicting a mug and a bed, no doubt that it was an inn.
"Jackpot." Natalak smiled, gawking at the signboard.
As he makes his entrance, his eyes are directed towards his presence. Realizing, Natalak was still wearing his Earthly outfit.
"Damn, I should've asked him for a cloak or clothes from this world before coming from this place."
Accusing himself of being a carefree man. Natalak observes—and the eyes of mortals are pointed sharply at him and his strange outfit—he ignores them and heads towards the man who looks to be the innkeeper.
While stepping his toe, he looks around the inn, seeing and observing a group of people. To his sight, there were different classes of people, carrying different weapons with them.
One group that interests him the most is the four people clad in superb armour and wielding weapons.
The first one was a girl, a young girl, maybe in her ripe age, wearing a cloak and reading a spellbook. The other was a man in his mid-forties clad in full plate armour.
"Might be a paladin or a knight." Natalak assumed, seeing his plate mail armour.
The third person, likely an archer or a rogue, appears to be between thirty and thirty-five years old. He wears light, flexible leather armor. At that moment, Natalak notices a bow placed right next to the wall.
And then there she was, the woman in a paladin's armour who silently sits with her companions. Eyes are blue as the open sky, yet earnest eyes.
"Hmm…" Natalak shifts to his priorities.
"Got any room this night?" Natalak implores in a different tongue.
Natalak was surprised by the language he never knew he could speak. So too his ears, listening to a language he has never heard.
"Got three rooms— the two rooms for ten coppers and the other for three coppers. What say you?" The taverner said, pouring some drinks into the mug the man had ordered.
"I'll take the three, and perhaps some food might be good." Natalak respond.
"That would be five copper Shar."
"Shar?" Natalak ponders.
When the food is served and while on his meal, Natalak asks—
"Can I ask you about Kesh—" Biting his lips, Natalak realises he was an alien in this world. A conversation that might provoke certain people.
Wariness, he shifts to a different question.
"Strange, sir innkeeper, how do you keep an isolated place where danger lurks at every corner?"
The taverner slightly raised his eyebrows. Taking a quick glance at Natalak's attire, there he quickly understood.
"New to town? Stranger?" The innkeeper replied.
The innkeeper's words struck the traveller's mind. Leading Natalak for an elusive response.
"That I am, sir." The traveller responds.
After filling other customers' orders, the innkeeper then continues to entertain Natalak.
"This place is a magnet for adventurers, and the road is a busy path for caravans and merchants."
Natalak— for the second time skim through the rowdy places. Slowly, he saw that the people who lingered in the place were a mix of adventurers of different classes and bloodlines. Merchants drooling over their ledgers and firmly computing their goods and their returns.
Lingering for a small time, he let his ears catch whatever the people were conferring.
"I heard the lady of Mavigrid was nearly assassinated."
"Bah! Go tell your stories to the children." The man retorts.
"For Shar, I hope good fortune awaits me. I've poured all my savings into these goods. I hope this is worth it." Mutters a young merchant.
"Rumours said there's a growing tension between Keshoval and Endregar. I hope no other war is coming. I've seen enough from the past." An older man spoke.
"I hope so too." The older woman replied.
The night was still fresh, fresh for the people to retch details. But as the night passes, the clean words turn into a mumbling noise.
"Sir Taverner, I would like to see my room, please," Natalak calls at the innkeeper.
Respecting his words, the taverner then calls a kid, a guide who leads Natalak to his room. And once alone, the traveller quickly checks his bag, spewing out the things that he had looted. Then he remembers the coin he picked up from the road.
"Hmm… coins." He groans, rubbing the coins.
Lying on the bed covered with straws and fur from animals.
"Not as noble as it is, but this will do."
Gazing at the night sky through the window, moments go by until a group of people enters from the other side of the room. Lacking details, Natalak seizes the opportunity, quietly staying close to the wall to gather information. He begins eavesdropping on the group, and as he listens, a drunken man suddenly starts to row.
"Geez, Baron, making yourself look like this!" A woman's voice shouts.
"Hema… I aren't drunk… just a chip bit." The drunk man said.
"I take care of him; you two should take a rest." Comes a more matured voice of a man, and just like that, the drunkard starts to doze off.
"Adventurers?" Natalak ponders, intently listening to their conversation.
Still in the middle of eavesdropping on the party, unexpectedly, a woman starts a conversation.
"What message did the king's advisor give us, Madam Mishel?" The lady implores.
"Nothing much, he just told us to come and report our findings, that's all. But something is not right, as if the king's advisor is in a dilemma. Ashalain, is there something bothering you?"
"Nothing much, Mishel… but just a hunch. What do you think, Sir Garrick?" Ashalain respond
"We'll deliver our findings first. And best we shouldn't discuss our things from this place." Garrick follows, his head nudging where Natalak was prying.
"Spies? I should avoid meddling in their affairs," Natalak scathes his head. "I'm also tired from walking all day. Tomorrow morning, I should ask the innkeeper for some proper information." Natalak moves toward the bed, trying to keep his footsteps quietly muffled.
Taking a comfortable rest, the drunkard starts creating another commotion. Mumbling and joking until Natalak couldn't take it anymore.
"WILL YOU ALL SHUT THE FUCK UP, I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!" Natalak shouts, throwing an object at the wall.
"Okay, we got it. Now quit your whining!" Ashalain furiously respond, following a punch to the wall.
"Well fuck you, mate!" Natalak retorts.
"What did you say?!" Ashalain's tone was now full of rage.
Ashalain tries to exit their room, but Garrick halts her quickly.
"Lady Ashalain." Garrick intently watches the lady paladin.
Ashalain's emotion quickly shifts, as if her discipline comes to her senses. Mortified, she silently rests on her bed.
"Mishel, can you cast that sound block spell?" Garrick interrupts.
Mishel nods. "This is why I hate inns."
Casting a spell, silence invades the night, giving Natalak a comfy sleep.
To where Natalak emerge, not more than two hundred meters deeper through a certain dungeon. A shadowy figure took notice of the traveller's presence, and though it senses a great force is about to walk.