“ Go now ya off, night be ova so ya get out!” she said in a witch like tone her eyes were fixed on him yet they seem to avoid his own eyes. She may be fierce yet she still feared him.
“I paid your husband good coin to sleep here until the sun stands a quarter up in the sky. This has not come to pass yet .” He replied dryly as he stared at the wench. This seemed to aggravate the woman more as she picked up a broom and threatened the Witcher with it.
“I din’t care for dat man’s word I say out ya get out, I ain’t goin’a accept none of ya strange coins!”
This intreaged him, did these lands not use Oren’s like his own ? He decided to try and get more information out of this wench before he returned to his meditating. The old lady stood her ground as the Witcher got up and dwarfed her in comparrsion, the old women had shrivelled up in her years whilst the Witcher was still young and fit.
“What is the currency that is used in these lands then ?” his apparent advantage seemed to not affect her at all as she whacked him once with the broom, unmoved by it the Witcher merely stared at her waiting.
“Frencizs ya daft ogre !” she squaked. “Me husband only took ya coins because he tinks he can find someone ta get em traded for coins or outsmart some trader but knowin’ him he’ll get himself inta stupid trouble and die…good riddance to ta idiot !” she nodded once and lifted the broom readying to whack him again. He lifted his hand and caught the broom handle as she went for another whack, with little effort he took the broom and cast it aside like a plain branch.
“Do you know what I am ?” he asked rather plainly, all too many times did people attack him because he was a mutant, a freak. In their eyes he was a monster which was the irony since he hunted monsters and lifted curses, a Witcher. “ I am known as a Witcher in my lands, we hunt monsters and lift curses.”
The old lady growled and screamed. “Get out!” she went into the other room and started throwing random objects at the Witcher “Help dis freak wants ta hurt me!”.After that the Witcher decided it best to leave before the other villagers took up arms and hunted him down out of fear, he got up and grabbed his gear leaving through the shacks door frame.
The sun had barely touched the horizon, its light peeking through the darkness causing a sort of blur around the darkness of the sky. The old lady had let him be once he’d left he felt annoyed and cheated but it couldn’t be helped the work of a Witcher was a difficult one, he yawned and looked from side to side seeing more wooden shacks and a make shift port platform that had several small fishing boats tied to it. The port platform had a few men gathered most likely fishermen waiting for the sun to guide them across the waves. The village was a small and far from any main roads that much he’d gathered from the sailors as they rowed him and some passengers from the ship to the village. It held little importance and was one of many fishing villages that were within the Kiene viceroyalty. He walked over to the port were the fishermen waited quietly, laughing which abruptly turned to whispers as Reaver approached them they took a few steps back unsure only one approached Reaver.
He was a fat and bald man, his cheeks were redder then the sun and he smelt so badly that he was surprised the man caught anything. His rags held on by string and threatened to break with every movment.
“Wha’can wee de for you, sir ?” he asked in a northern accent.
“What’s going on here ?” Reaver asked casually.
“We’re fishermen, we got to be waiting for da sun to rise nicely so we can see where our boats go…nasty rocks hiding just beneath the waves.” He paused and shrugged. “Safety and all you know, we lost poor old Blue Bert last week.”
“I see, I’m new to these lands could you tell me about these lands, whom rules these lands a council…a king or queen ?”
“Aye I can do dat, got notin’ else ta do anyway and da others be like ya took der tongues out cos dey ain’t speakin’ no more” he laughed. “Ya be in Vavaille fishing village…which is in the Kiene Viceroyatly…and some of da fancy more rich people recently elected a Queen …whats’er name gain ?” he turned to look at another fishermen.
“Vicmonrious or sumthin; no?”
“No, no. Victo…victor ?” he shook his head and shrugged. “Dinna matter, no like dey come round these parts anyways, to dirty for them fancy lords and ladies. Tell me sir, what are you cos you look like us normal folk but your eyes look different…why you here?”
His words made Reaver smile showing off sharper human teeth which seem to frighten the man, at least this one had the courtesy not to call him a freak. He could hear the others whispering to one another calling him a monster and freak that was one of the many gifts he had as Witcher.
“I am a Witcher, I hunt monsters and lift curses. Do you have any work for one such as myself ?”
“No sir, well maybe…I don’t know. We are poor folk you see so we might not be able to afford you”
“We can sort that out once its done.” He said with a smile, the truth was that he would need to earn frenzics as his Orens were worthless in these new lands. “ What can you tell me about this job ?”
“Ah thank you.” The fat man said. “Well, we’ve been havin’ problems wit some kind of little green men up river. Ketnai, one of the youngers one’s got chased by some blue little man she said. We can probably spare 20 Frenzics and a few provisions…fish you could sell. I dunno.”
Reaver nodded once seeming to accept the poorly paid job. “Agreed.” It was a start he told himself, knowing that they probably didn’t have much to begin with.
“Oh goodies, anna bring back dem heads or somethin’ so we know you killed least one or more.”
After his talk the Witcher had taken out his journal and written another entry, it was important for him to take note of everything so that if he needed information he could easily access it. He took a seat by the docks and began writing into his journal.
| Red Dawn – These lands are new to me and so far the local’s react the same way as those back home which doesn’t surprise me although some have shown some kindness which is a change. I have a task to investigate these ‘Little Green Men’. I should talk to Ketnai, the child that was attacked by one. The fishermen told me she normally was found along the shores to the south close to the village. | ||
Around him time flew by faster, the wind rushed past his hair and a few animals sniff one second then left the next. Meditating had its uses it seemed the only time when he was at peace, no one nor anything bothered him. It was as if he’d become part of the surrounding area, a statue amongst the houses that people paid no attention to. In truth his medallion emitted an aura that made weaker willed creatures cast their looks elsewhere when he mediated and thus didn’t see him.
Several hours had turned to seconds and when he opened his eyes a girl came skipping to him with seaweed in her hands and a big grin on her face, a grin that left her when she saw him rise. Reaver first took notice of the black marks on her arms and after that the wet patchs on his shoulders, with one hand he grabbed bits of sea weed off his hair and chucked it into the sands.
“Oh your awake…” she said seeming disappointed. The Witcher shook his head but kept himself from being mean.
“Are you Ketani ?” he asked as he knelt down and forced a smile that scared her more then assure her he was friendly. “I’m here to find out about the Little green men. What can you tell me about them ?” he’d always been straight forward and rather bland yet he didn’t need anything else to do his job.
The girl nodded a few times then pointed to a river. “Uhuh, I was collecting stones to throw at the birds and everyone knows that stones from rivers make for good stones to hit those really annoying sea gulls” Reaver sighed and rubbed his head, this child needed to focus yet when did any child focus on anything he decided he let her contuine. “And I was like wow and then it screeched really loudly so loud I think its scared the birds away better then my rocks…It crawled up to me and grabbed my hand really tightly and I and I threw all my rocks at it then ran a lot ! I don’t think it chase me for long though I was back at the river and the sun had started to disappear… I told the elder but he didn’t believe me not until I showed him the mark on my hand and told him he was a stupid po…”
“That’ll do, thank you young lady. I will go deal with this creature…”
“Can you collect some rocks for me too while your there…I’m…I’m scared to go back there…”
There was a pause as the Witcher looked down at her, he patted her shoulder and nodded. “I’ll see what I can do..”
He set out to the location that the girl had told him, up river but not past the bridge. Along the way he’d picked up a few herbs which he didn’t know the type but it would be of some use. The sun shun now high above him which meant it was midday or close to it, taking a sip from his water pouch the Witcher contained along his way until he small sets of footprints with green murky ooze caught his eyes. He put away the pouch and examined the footprints.
-Hmm, these are certainly not human prints. Although there are some resemblance…this goo looks like blood …-
He looked over to the river and narrowed his eyes, through the almost clear blue water he saw stones and fish nothing unusual. Its only when a clawed hand reached out from a hole in the river and caught a fish did the Witcher react; the clawed hand pulled the fish back into the hole.
-So there den is underwater…-
He knew enough about these sorts of creatures that they only hunted at night which meant he would have to wait and meditate until late afternoon. He sat down hidden in some bushes and let time fly by as he lost his mind to nothingness.
-I returned later that day at sunset when the girl was attacked, the creatures exited their lair drenched in muddy water from head to talon. I waited a few more minutes before the last one left the Lair, five. I counted five of these Little green men.With his silver sword in held in both hands Reaver charged at the pack of monsters he swung with inhuman strength and brutally cut across the first ones chest ,sending it sprawling close to the river. As he turned on the heels of his boots two more lunged at him, one met the blunt end of the sword and pushed it off him but the second one dug its claws into his leather armour, Reaver growled and smashed its head in with the hilt of his silver sword followed with a swing across the neck as it fell to his feet.
Two of the creatures remained yet this time they were more cautious, Reaver carefully picked his steps as he danced around the corpse of one then in one swift motion he fired off an Aard sending one onto the floor and the other confused. Reavers silver blade slashed down and across the creatures face, it fell limply onto the ground. As Reaver rolled to the side and evaded the fourths lung, a loud screeching filled the battle grounds. He turned to face a much bigger green man, this one was twice the size and had twice the muscle then the smaller ones. It lurked by the river whilst Reaver dispatched the fourth of the little green men.
The pack leader he told himself as he flicked green blood from his silver blade, he pointed the tip of the blade at the leader’s and flowed from side to side. This time it was Reaver that charged the creature, with a roar so apparent the creature was taken aback but only for a second. The creature arm was cut off but it didn’t stop it from digging its teeth into the leather that covered Reaver’s shoulder.
A growl escaped the Witcher as he used Aard and then cast a Yerden on the ground, the pack leader charged at him but was stunned onto the ground by the Yerden. At that precise moment the Witcher took one step forward and swung his sword cutting off the creatures head. The body shook for a few more seconds as the Yerden dissipated then collapsed to the floor.
| Journal Entry – These little green men turned out to be drowned villagers and children, I collected the head of the pack leader and took some samples of their blood and eyes. Drowners seems to be a fitting name for these, I remember reading about these although I never met any in my homelands. I returned and showed proof of the dead drowners, the village was shocked and seemed to remember the dead creature. I was paid my reward and I headed to the town of Widu. | ||