Zenkoh's Adventure

Chapter 5

Irya: If you are talking about the elf, he's in the back room. Not that it matters, we got the information we wanted. You can have him back.

Zenkoh: That's great and all, but you still haven't answered the second question. Why do you need so many supplies, weapons, and armor?

Irya: I don't know that. I simply do my job, I have no reason to know the why. Not that I would tell you if I did.

Zenkoh gives Irya a blank look, before starting to slowly apply pressure to her chest using her body weight. Zenkoh watched in amusement as Irya tried to breathe normally with around 300 lbs. sitting on her chest, Zenkoh's weight without her armor or shield being 285 lbs., until eventually Irya began desperately trying to get her off of her. Relieving the pressure on her chest she gave her an expectant look.

Irya: Fine, fine, I'll tell you just don't crush my ribs. We were gathering up supplies because the different factions seem to be growing more aggressive and distrustful of each other. So we thought it best to be ready for when one of the other factions does something drastic. That's all I know I swear, don't crush me.

Zenkoh gave a small smirk before getting off of her.

Zenkoh: There, was that so hard?

Just then Maria comes through the door. Noticing that she is pushing Kenzo in front of her, Irya gives a shocked look while Kenzo is simply staring at the ground, staying silent.

Maria: So, I take it you got the information we needed? Hopefully it's better than the non-committal answers he gave me. Even a dagger to his throat couldn't get him to tell me anything in any way useful.

Zenkoh: Yeah, making it so someone can't breathe makes them surprisingly cooperative. Lyron should be in the back. As for the supplies, it was disappointingly mundane as to why they have so much.

On hearing this Kenzo scowls at Irya, who flinches back. After a moment of silence Zenkoh pushes Irya forward toward the door Maria and Kenzo just came from.

Zenkoh: Get out of here. If I run into you causing trouble again I may rethink my hesitancy to kill. Now go, before I change my mind.

A few seconds later both Irya and Kenzo have made their way out of the room. Zenkoh gives a sigh before starting to make her way to the back room. Upon reaching the door she waits a second before starting to lift her right leg.

Zenkoh: Stand clear of the door! I'm kicking it in!

Upon making that exclamation Zenkoh kicked the door in, shattering the lock and causing the door to slam into the inside wall. After a couple seconds Zenkoh entered the room to look around. She could see Lyron sitting in the corner looking relatively ok considering he had been kidnapped.

Lyron: Well now, isn't this a pleasant surprise. I had thought that maybe they had decided what I told them wasn't sufficient.

Zenkoh: What exactly did you tell them?

Lyron: Just the location of some old castle ruin, can't see why wanting to know where that ruin is was worth kidnapping me rather than just asking me.

After a moment of silence he pulls something from behind his back. It appears to be some leather bound package. Zenkoh gives him a confused look wondering exactly what that is.

Lyron: I was expected to deliver a package to the Inn in the Town of Wolfvale. I was hoping as I'm in no condition to make the trip now as I don't have any of my supplies for making such trips, that you might be willing to do it for me, I intend to pay you of course.

Zenkoh: Well, we could definitely use the gold. Sure we'll make your delivery for you. How far is it and in what direction?

Lyron: A few days travel to the east. You'll need to travel through the grasslands until you eventually reach a forest, not that deep into the forest is the town of Wolfvale. I'll be staying at the local inn until I am capable of making my way back to Terra Novus.

At this Zenkoh takes the package from Lyron, placing it in her belt satchel. With that he nods and makes his way out. After returning to the market of Havenheights, Zenkoh and Maria stock up on supplies to make the trip to Wolfvale, getting dried rations and similar things.

As they travel east through the grasslands they don't encounter much of anything. There is the occasional deer or rabbit, but other than that not much else. As it starts to become late evening they decide to make camp. Zenkoh begins building a fire pit and looking for kindling, and has to make due with the small trees nearby. Maria, not wanting to sit still, decides to go hunting with her throwing daggers.

As they are close to the edge of the forest that is where Maria decides to start her search for food. After some searching with little luck she decides that a vantage point in a tree might help, and climbs a nearby tree using her claws. Swinging herself up onto one of the branches Maria is able to get a much better view of the land. After jumping from tree to tree for a few minutes she finally spots a small deer. After positioning herself above it, Maria jumps down, pouncing on it and plunging her dagger into its heart, killing it instantly. After field dressing the deer and returning to camp Maria sees that Zenkoh has a pot of stew cooking.

Zenkoh: I see you managed to catch something. Should go well in the stew, would definitely be better than just using our dried rations. 

As Zenkoh is adding the deer to the stew she seems to have a contemplative, focused expression almost as if she was in another world when she was dealing with food.

After an undisturbed sleep, the next morning they wake up and break camp. They continue to travel east until they reach the spot where the grassland meets the forest that Lyron told them about. After a moment of thought as to what they might find in the forest, they push onwards to find the town. After a few hours of navigating the winding path through the forest they finally stumble upon the town, all of the buildings being made of wood, not a single stone building in sight.

From the entrance of the town they could see: a blacksmith, an inn, a tavern, and what appears to be some form of orchard. Another thing they notice is that everyone they can see were lupines! Upon the guards spotting Zenkoh they begin to draw their weapons, Zenkoh puts her hands up trying to placate them.

Zenkoh: Whoa, whoa, calm down I'm not going to do anything. We're just here to deliver a package.

After some contemplation the guards put their weapons away and go back to standing guard. Zenkoh gives a sigh of relief while Maria just shakes her head. After making it to the center of town they begin to make their way to the inn. Once they arrive they see the sign above the inn that reads: The Merciful Wolf Inn. Upon entering Maria makes her way up to the innkeeper, a black furred 5'8" lupine female. She greets Maria with a smile.

Fira: Hello, my name is Fira. How may I...help...you...

Fira's voice trails off as she finally notices Zenkoh, but before she can freak out she gets ahold of herself.

Fira: h-h-how can I h-h-help y-you?

Zenkoh: We are here to deliver a package.

As she says this she pulls the package from her belt satchel and puts it in Fira's shaking hands. After giving a nod and a slight smile Zenkoh heads back out front of the inn to look at the notice board she saw earlier.

After looking through all of the jobs on the board, she sees one that catches her eye, the innkeeper asking for help with a special problem and won't give more details on the board. Deciding to head back in and see what this was all about. Upon making it back up to the innkeeper, she was facing away from her, and cleared her throat startling Fira.

Zenkoh: You have some special problem that you need help with?

Fira looks around to make sure no one is within earshot.

Fira: Y-y-yes, you see, we have been having a bandit problem and no one, not even the guards can deal with them, the last time they tried we lost almost half the entire town guard.

Zenkoh: What kind of bandits are you talking about exactly?

Fira is silent for a few moments before she finally speaks.

Fira: the bandits are ... gnolls.