Thirty minutes later Isa regretted those breezy words as they traipsed through the dense undergrowth. She could not find the cottage. She’d been so sure, so sure that she’d find it again, but in the dark - that was the reason, Isa was sure of it - in the dark, the trails all looked the same.

Joth was silent. His opinion on the situation was, officially, unknown, but Isa could imagine what he was thinking. It’s what she would be thinking if the reverse were true. The verbal abuse she’d be heaping on him by now…. it would have been epic.

As she was about to apologize again, she saw a glint of light in the distance. Might be a fire, but it might be the reflection of window panes catching the distant dancing lights.

“Joth! There, I think that’s the cottage.” Isa hoped it was the cottage, but if it was the campfire of some fellow travelers, well that wasn’t so bad either.

“Hooray.”

Before Isa could take more and a few steps toward the light, someone stepped in front of them about 15 feet down the path. “Halt,” the voice said in accented Common. “One chance to leave the forest you have injured. One chance.” The figure held up 1 finger.

“That was an accident,” Isa replied. “You see these gnolls--”

Another figure stepped up beside the first. “So must it be. Life for life.”

“The gnolls,” said Isa, “attacked us.”

“Not the gnolls, Isa,” Joth said quietly. “The trees. They’re druids.”

To reinforce Joth’s words, the first druid waved something in the air, and the club in his hand began to glow with green and golden light.

“Crap.” Isa shrugged off her pack so that she could reach her rapier. That stupid scimitar would have to go. Sell it to Gimble or something. To the druids she yelled, “It was an accident! We didn’t mean to set the forest on fire. The people put it out anyway.”

While she was fumbling, Joth cast a spell but nothing happened. Meanwhile the first druid ran up to Isa and swung at her with his glowing club. He hit her head hard enough to make Isa bite her tongue. And before she could recover, the second druid swung his quarterstaff at her middle. The blow knocked the wind from her, and for a long, frightening moment Isa couldn’t breath. Then all at once air rushed into her lungs as blood poured down her face. Not a good sign. She’d been in enough fights now to know that.

She’d see if she could hit the guy who’d thwapped her so hard with the quarterstaff and then decide if she need to use 2nd wind. She whipped her rapier at his throat and caught the side of his face. The blow connected, but it wasn’t enough to do serious damage.

Before Isa could decide to do anything else, Joth put something in his mouth, chewed, and blew breath at her. As he did, he forced the word haste out. The smell of licorice wafted to Isa, and she felt suddenly faster, more nimble, and dexterous.

The druid with the glowing club swung at Isa again, trying for a killing blow, but in the glare of Joth’s dancing lights, the club seemed to turn red for a moment, and the druid cried out, dropped the club and ran away. Isa was too surprised to strike out at him.

The second druid, the one that Isa had traded blows with, he did not flee. His companion’s sudden departure seemed to have shocked him, but he held his ground.

Isa swung her rapier twice; her muscles working overtime thanks to Joth’s spell. Her second swing connected, and Isa was thankful to see blood seeping from the wound she’d just made on his arm. The druid was now as bloody as she was, and he was now outnumbered, but it foolish to think they had won, so she whispered softly - hopefully softly enough to escape the druid’s notice - “Second wind.”

Joth tried again to cast a ranged spell and failed. But the druid failed too, and in that missed swing of his quarterstaff, Isa saw an opening. She lunged forward and rammed her rapier into his side. The man grunted, shuddered, and fell.

It was all over in less than a minute, from challenge to killing blow. Joth refreshed his dancing lights and looked at Isa. “You OK? I was worried about you.”

“What was that licorice thing you did?”

“Oh that? That was a spell called haste. I forget about it, but it’s handy. Makes you harder to hit, makes you faster too, so sometimes you should be able to attack twice.”

“I was; I did.” She bent down to examine the fallen druid. “This is a nice staff.” She looked closely at the fine carvings and the silver-tipped ends. “It could use this. Which means I can give Lund his staff back.”

“Does he have a pouch or papers?” Joth looked around. “Who are these guys and why are they all the way out here?”

“Not much here,” Isa said. “Except this.” She held up a golden yellow gem. “Only fair you get this since you like gems so much.”

“I do?” Joth seemed genuinely perplexed.

As they continued on the trail, Joth spared a glance at Isa. “Are you sure you’re OK? I mean, that was a hell of a blow there at the beginning. That staff….. It’s pretty rad.”

Isa snorted. “Yeah, it is.” She lifted it for a moment as the silver shone in the lights. “Let’s hope we don’t need it tonight.”

Spoiler: Isa's Character Sheet

Name: Isa Chamberlin

Race: Human

Height & Weight: 5ft 6inches / 120 lbs

Class: Fighter Level: 4

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Background: Stranger in a Strange Land

Hit Points: 26 AC: 15

Current Hit Points: 16

Combat: +5 to Hit

Weapons: Rapier (left hand) 1d8 +3 / Quarterstaff (right hand) 1d6 +2 (bludgeoning)

STR

11

0

DEX

16

+3

CON

11

0

INT

13

+1

WIS

13

+1

CHA

12

+1

Saving Throws: Str and Con +2

5

Acrobatics* (Dex)

1

Medicine (Wis)

1

Animal Handling (Wis)

1

Nature (Int)

1

Arcana (Int)

3

Perception* (Wis)

0

Athletics (Str)

1

Performance (Cha)

1

Deception (Cha)

1

Persuasion (Cha)

3

History* (Int)

1

Religion (Int)

3

Insight* (Wis)

3

Sleight of Hand (Dex)

1

Intimidation (Cha)

3

Stealth (Dex)

1

Investigation (Int)

1

Survival (Wis)

Special Attack: Two weapon fighting. When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.

Class Features:

(USED) Second Wind - On your turn, you can use a Bonus Action to regain hit points equal to 5 + your fighter level. Short or Long Rest before you can use it again.

Action Surge - On your turn, you can take one additional action on top of your regular action and a possible Bonus Action. You must finish a short or Long Rest before using it again.

Martial Archetype: Surgical Fighter

3rd level - Clinical Eye: Spend 1 combat turn studying your enemy and learn one of the following: if the enemy is equal to or stronger than you in strength, dexterity, or constitution. Can spend up to 3 turns to discern all 3. Can be used outside of combat as a free action - spend 1 minute to learn all three.