“Bowland Fells, doesn’t exist anymore, at least not the way anyone could say it did.”

Looking over to the other side of the fire I see Kali looking back at me. There are two tears running down both sides of her face. There is a look of hardened pain in her eyes that just bore through me. I must have been staring just a bit too intently as a quick elbow from Wick brings me back to reality. Couching a bit, I look back to Kali, “Do you know about the lay out of the city? How many hobs are there? Anything would be great.”

“Lad, if we be discussin’ a plan, we be needin’ a drink. Les’ be goin’ to da water and usin’ da special stein of yours and get us all a drink.” Balram pushed himself up gave me a hand up and we made our way over to the barrels.

“A’right lad now use that stein of yours and get us a drink, while I be tellin’ you a few things.” Thinking of a rich dart stout I passed the stein over. “Ahhhhh, da be hittin’ da spot.” Wiping his beard with the back of his hand he looked over at Kali as she poked at the fire, quietly talking with Wick. “We were a good guild. We weren’ big but we were growin’. Two years ago, we captured our first town, a true town wit’ a core. Large guilds were startin’ ta notice us. Der be a few losses but were many more wins. Our leaders were approached by Stormglades, dey be a larger guild. A deal was made and der was a merger.” Grinding his teeth and gripping the stein white knuckled I thought he was going to shatter it. “Only half da guild an’ da elites were taken, an’ all da accounts and lands. Da rest of us were given da armor on our backs a few supplies and a few credits an’ shown da door.”

Letting out a slow breath, Balram looked at me. “Most of us woulda’ died der and den. Kali told dem ta go ta hell and started ta get us all ta-gether. Some left an’ went der own way, some gave up an’ became a farmer or joined an army. Still der was more dan seventy of us left. She knew of Raylia, was a risk but der was hope. We called ourselves Phoenix, we were gunna head to Bowland Fells, learn a bit den strike out deeper in ta da wilds and claim our own village. Hunt fur a dungeon core or two over da years and build again. We pooled our credits, Kali sold all her gear and used every credit she had ta get us on the caravan ta Boland Fells. Da portal ta Raylia itself nearly wiped us of credit.”

“Fur two months we slogged our way ta Bowland Fells. Nuttin but hard tac, rations and what ever game we could get. We reached Bowland jus’ as da sun was goin’ down. But it wasn’ right. Da gate wasn’ open but smashed. Just as we realized somethin’ was wrong da hobs came pourin’ out of da gate. T’was a bloody gruesome fight. Forty-seven of us died dat day, includin’ every fighter we had. Donna’ get me wrong we gave em hell, killed at least four to everyone we lost, but we still lost. We don’ blame Kali fur what happened, no way she coulda known, but she blames herself fur everyone we lost and all of us bein’ slaves. Freein’ us has givin her a lil hope lad. Donna let her down.

Nodding my head, with a dry mouth a croaked out, “I won’t, I promise.” I took a big swig of the stein refilled it and we made our way back to the fire.

Sitting back down between Wick and Kali, I nudged a piece of wood back into the fire with my foot before I started. “Kali whatever you can tell us would be great. I know what you’ve been through let’s see if we can end this.” Looking back into the fire I blurted along, “You were looking for a new start for your people. I know you’re slaves but to me it just means we’re all a family now. We can make this city ours. A new beginning for everyone.”

Ther was a pregnant pause as Kali just stared into the fire. Slowly she brushed the hair on her right side behind her ear and looked back at me. A hard look but one that bore into me. “You really mean that don’t you?”

“Yes, we’re all lost souls here. You called your group The Phoenix. I think it rings true here. We’re all starting new from the ashes of losing everything. Not to mention we’re doing it in a city that’s also being reborn.”

With a hint of smile she said, “I like that.”

In the corner of my view I could see the slow pulse of a notification that I swiped away before, talking to Balram. Quickly looking at it I wanted to see what I missed.

Kham Faldihr

Congratulations! Claim Completed!

Would you like to continue with city over view?

(YES / NO)

(WARNING! Continuing with city without full integration could lead to loss of knowledge, building accessibility, and unknown)

Integration Completion : 0 days 3 hours 13 minutes

Well ya that’s a big fat no. There is no way I’m going to risk screwing things up by being impatient. Clicking no, I looked up at everyone staring at me. “Uhhhh, sorry just got the notification that I’ve claimed the city, though there is still over three hours till full integration. So just going to wait until that’s finished to see what we have.”

With a bunch of nods I look over to Kali, “So what can you tell me about Bowland Fells?”

“Bowland Fells was a town with just about a thousand people. When we were brought into the city, there were only fifty slaves, the rest of the population were killed. The town fell two weeks before we got there. Twelve hundred hobs and that troll attacked the town. Bowland had an ice mage who was able to slow down the troll down a bit, but she ran out of mana and the troll was eventually able to break down the gate. Once the gate was down the rest of the hobs swarmed into the town and slaughtered fighter and innocent alike. When it was all over, over eight hundred hobs were killed and over nine hundred townsfolk.” Looking up with tears running down her cheeks, “If we could have been a few weeks earlier we could have helped save the town. Behind those walls we could have beaten the hobs before they broke through.”

I reached over and grabbed her hand. “There is nothing you could have done. No way you could have known. More importantly there is nothing you can do about the past, you can only plan for the future and fight for the present. We’ll go and save the rest.”

Wiping her face, she bobbed her head a bit and continued. “With all the hobs we killed in the caravan plus the small group here there are probably around two hundred or so hobs left. Half of those are the lower castes though. The warriors and the shamans belong to the Brahmin and Kshatriya castes. They dominate the rest. Its all about strength with the hobs.”

Trying to get an idea what we were up against and trying to figure out how many would fight, “will the lower castes fight too?”

Balram nodded, “Aye, they all be actin’ like bees when a hive is kicked.”

Putting my head in my hands, “Ok so we’ll need to fight maybe a hundred warriors, a couple shamans, and another hundred who knows what. We have little to no weapons, no fighters, and only twenty-five of us.”

Wick slapped me on the shoulder, “That’s the spirit! Hey, you had less and were able to kill everyone here! Though you shot the troll in the beans and had him do most of the killing, and you dropped boulders on the heads of unassuming hobs. Plus you had a very lucky shot that killed the troll….But hey! You did kill them!” Raising his fists in the air shaking them a bit. “You never know maybe you can climb a building and they will all line up for you to drop something on their heads as well!”

Giving Wick a shove I rest my elbows back on my knee. “You know Wick, you’re a bit of a dick.”

Standing back up and dusting himself off, he smiled and said, “When did I ever say I was anything else?!”