Two figures, adorned in simple leather armour, weapons at the ready, stood back to back in a warzone. Not your traditional setting for such fanfare mind you, at a humble townsquare.
The township of Katora was under attack! It had been for several days now. How quickly it had turned from a quaint and picturesque home for the moderately rich and educated into a twisting pile of fire and rubble would astound the most hardened warrior. The place was anarchy! All the civilians that could flee had done so, brutish thugs pillaged houses and clashed on the street constantly, enterprising bandits were smuggling weapons and claiming territory, while thieves treated the place like a playground. Any poor guard still standing were running around like headless chickens just trying to keep themselves alive, waiting for the cavalry from the capital to arrive.
The two figures in the townsquare were none of those things. Rubin and Crom, travelling hunters, red kangaroo and white rabbit, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Friends since childhood, they enjoyed a simple life of fishing and sometimes slaying minor wild monsters, living for months in the seclusion of nature, though nothing made them more cheerful than returning to their home village to see friends and family, and to get drunk.
Their drunken antics were the cause of why these two had not made a hasty leave as soon as the conflict started, like so many others. Locked up for disturbing the peace and brawling (each other), they were unlucky enough to be put behind bars just before all the pandemonium started, and woke up to find a grisly scene had become of their warden, who had the key.
They spent two days behind bars, and soon feared they might perspire of thirst if not for some stupid bandit who entered the jail to loot it, and was tricked into opening the cell door by their combined jeers and taunts about his portly visage. Even in their weakened state and without weapons they adeptly took out the fat thug. Crom, the more serious and thoughtful type, thought it might be best to off him, but Rubin, the more cocky and relaxed one, felt it was morally wrong to do in a collapsed enemy, even if he did just try to kill them. So they looted his swords, left him in the cell, locked it, and threw the key through the bars into the waste bucket.
Then they kept low, broke into a nearby pie shop that seemed mostly untouched by the madness, and managed to find some supplies in there and recovered for a few hours. After having starved for days both hunters abandoned sensible restraint and ate stale abandoned food until they were both sickly bloated. But it was better than being hungry they agreed.
Then they heard a noise, and quickly figured out their hidout was not actually abandoned.
They readied their weapons, though anxious, neither feeling ready to battle so soon after their gorging.
A smug feminine laugh was heard, but its origins not seen, “Lay down your dinky weapons silly boys, if I wanted to smite you I’d have killed you each before I’d come inside.” A black arrow shot from the darkness of an upstairs loft, it hit the wooden floor by Rubin’s feet and he let out an embarrassing yelp as he hopped away. “I- uh, state your business then! Or let us leave!… please?” Crom spoke, trying to not let intimidation creep into his words, but knowing he was at this shadow girl’s mercy.
“I choose neither” she flatly refused, “I don’t dignify petty thieves like you with my mission.” She shot another arrow, it flew in-between Crom’s long ears, intentionally missing, and it was Crom’s turn to foolishly duck and cower while whimpering.
“Heh… but I don’t intend to kill you… not directly anyway…” the figure spoke again, deliberately pacing her words in a slow and chilling manner, “do you simpletons even know why there is such calamity that has befallen Katora?... No of course you wouldn’t… an artefact… of great value… was recently discovered here… the fools… put it on display… heh heh heh…”
“Oh get on with it!!” Rubin finally yelled out, his fear being replaced by impatience.
“Quiet Rabbit”
“I-I’m not a bloody rabbit! HE’s a rabbit lady, I’m a proper kanga-“
“Quiet!” An arrow shot out dangerously close to Rubin’s neck, and Rubin shut up.
“Anyway simpletons, I will let you live, but you must deliver an item for me- and don’t get any ideas of stealing it or running off because it’s hexed!
Take this letter to the grand library, heh, the place were the pendant was stored, it is where a great bandit leader is. The letter is for him. He’s… a wild one… heh… I’m pretty sure he’ll let you live if he receives it quickly and in one piece… if anyone stops you say you’re a messenger from Perralace, that may save you…” for a brief moment the woman leaned out of the shadows and their hunters saw a beautiful jaguar woman before she concealed her face with a purple scarf and turned to leave out the loft window into the night, “now go thieves”.
So, as was established at the start, at the town square, under the threat of hex, Rubin and Crom have a package to deliver before they can get out of this crazy town. The town square stands opposite the great Katora Library, now half smouldering ruins, half bandit encampment. The grim threat of walking into that den seems almost as bad as any hex, even making the hunters pause to consider.
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