Dice Rolls
Jaggar eyed the three warriors closely, watching for any tell or signal that they were about to attack. Sendra groaned on the ground behind him, holding her injured knee. Jaggar swatted aside several testing blows from the two axe wielding warriors. A thrust from the leader’s spear almost got inside his guard, but he managed to swat the shaft aside with the flat of his blade at the last second.
The warriors continued to prod his defenses for several minutes, none scoring hits but wearing him down nonetheless. He could feel his muscles screaming from the exertion, and his head throbbed from having to focus so intensely. Knowing he could not last much longer, Jaggar suddenly launched himself into motion. With a flurry of blows, he managed to stab one of the axe-wielders through the chest and slice through the throat of the other. The leader jabbed with his spear, and Jaggar dodged to the side, grabbing the haft of the weapon and giving it a pull.
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The burly Stonetower captain was too strong, however, and managed to hold his ground. Jaggar released the spear and whirled away from the captain’s grasp as the man’s large hand reached out to grab Jaggar’s sword arm. The two men faced each other, slowly circling. Jaggar feinted to the left, then moved right, but the man’s spear came up to block his sword strike. As Jaggar was preparing for another attack, the man’s eyes bulged in his head and a silent cry came from his now open mouth. Jaggar, stunned at this sudden transformation, stopped moving and watched as the big man fell forward in a heap. Two black and white fletched arrows protruded from the man’s back.
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A familiar face dashed into the clearing from the edge of the grove, a longbow in their hand. When they came closer, Jaggar can see the relief on their face.
“I’m glad I came by when I did, Jaggar!” Joa, the Grove Forester, said extending their hand.
Jaggar shook it, and smiled weakly. “Thank you for the assistance Forester.”
“Call me Joa. And you are most welcome. I did not expect to see anyone out here this night.”
“Why are you out here this late?”
“Ah, well, I have trouble sleeping and often spend my wakefulness roaming the grove.”
“I am grateful, then, that this night you could not sleep.”
“The forest smiles upon us both, it seems. Now, come, your companions are in need of aid and you need rest.”
Jaggar did not argue with the forester. Vereena and Padma helped Mattick to his feet and supported him as Jaggar and Joa helped Sendra to hers. Sendra’s knee was not broken, but the pain was extreme and she could not put her full weight on it.
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“Looks like you and I have something in common, Mattick,” she said, trying to lighten the mood. Mattick just grimaced at her.
Joa led the wounded and battered party through the trees of the grove until they found a cleverly disguised dirt path. Jaggar knew he would have never spotted it if Joa hadn’t pointed it out. The path led into the village hidden in the grove. Joa guided them to a small cabin nestled beneath an ancient, gnarled pine and opened the door.
Inside, the cabin was sparsely furnished but did boast a large, open room before a fireplace. A stag head was mounted above the mantle and a bearskin rug covered the floorboards before the fireplace. After settling the companions into their home, Joa excuses herself to retrieve the village mender.
“Do you think we are safe here?” Vereena asked after Joa departed.
“I trust Joa, yes. They helped Serene and I on our journey home several days ago. And they killed the last of our pursuers as well. There is nothing to fear here, my friends. Get some rest.”
By the time Joa returned with the village mender, an aging woman with long gray hair tied into an immaculate braid, Vereena and Padma were asleep on the bearskin rug.
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Jaggar, Sendra, and the rescued villagers spend the next two days resting and being tended to by the village mender. The mender Amhlaidhe was a modest and intelligent woman who always seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep, even while talking and administering care to the injured and dispirited people of Olgar’s Stand. Amhlaidhe was positive that Sendra’s knee would heal in time, and rest. Mattick, however, she was less sure of. She had set the man’s leg and applauded Jaggar and Serene’s handiwork. She told Mattick on the second day of their time in the Grove that he might never walk with full weight on that leg ever again.
The rest and company did Jaggar a wealth of good as well. Since arriving back at Olgar’s Stand he had harbored a strong anxiety, but about what he could not truly say. His spirits were buoyed by Joa’s companionship, and they spent many hours discussing the forest, the issue with Stonetower, and his work as a blacksmith.
On the evening of the second day, Amhlaidhe informs Jaggar that Mattick and Sendra will need a few more days of rest before they can risk the final leg of the journey back to Olgar’s Stand. He acquiesces, knowing that they would need to be at their best when arriving home. There was no way to know what awaited them at the village.
A part of him wanted to leave Sendra and the others with Joa and go back to the village to help with the defense. But the vow he swore to the villagers and, more importantly, to Serene, would not permit him. He would stay with them until they were well enough to travel. They would face the reality of war at home when they got there.
Dice Results
What will Jaggar find when he arrives back at Olgar's Stand? Next week, we will skip a few days into the future and see just what has happened to Serene and the folk of Jaggar's home.
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