1-22 “Case Closed”

Stanton is dangling over a tree branch near the edge of the clearing. Did that gemtree mange to throw him over here? I spot his bow and a crumpled piece of iron a small ways away. I alert the rest of the group to his presence, as I go to pick them up. Looks like this used to be a helmet, and whatever crushed it also tore the chin strap.

Lady Isabella uses a spell to pick him off of the branch and gently lay him down on the ground. Lord Carlmon and Lady Celano examine him, he's still breathing. Large gashes on his forehead and cheek indicate he must have struck his head at some point, and his hardened leather jerkin is heavily scraped along his midsection. Both nobles channel healing magic, no scar is left behind. Stanton opens his eyes with a start.

“Look out for the thorns!”

He looks around a bit, rubs his head. “Where's my helmet? How long have I been out?”

“If you left yesterday, you've been out for a night. You'll need a new helmet, because this one is more of a plate now.”

I hold up the helmet that could still be used if your head was a sheet of paper.

“You managed not to land on your bow this time. Looks like it's learned how to get out of the way better than you have.”

I toss him his bow.

“Nivar, did they send you to look for me?”

“No, spent a while investigating. The Lords and Ladies showed up and let me know that leaving a piece of that thing in a tree was a bad move.”

“I dunno, looks like it made for a great fertilizer.”

“We came here, but had to rest for the night, we thought the thing would emit darkness like all of the other ones.”

“I had it covered, no need to hurry, huh?”

He looks around at the group, and must recognize them. He salutes as he slowly gets to his feet. He sees past the Lords and Ladies and looks somewhat confused.

“Why are all the trees knocked down?”

Lord Hawkins fills him in on the battle.

“Guess this standard issue stuff doesn't measure up to your armor at all.” Stanton looks down at his damaged jerkin. “For us it wasn't as big as when you got here. We took a look at it, I saw it start to move. It tossed Watchman Andrew into a tree nearby, I saw thorns forming above us. That's all I remember.” Sudden concern hits his face. “Did you find Watchmen Andrew or Gerald? They came here with me.”

“Guess we should go look for them.” Lord McGee is also skilled at tracking, and coordinates a search of the area for signs of the other two watchmen.

We find tracks of someone dragging something leading northward. Following them to the road, we find an activated light rod stuck into a tree. It's a watchman's signal, we're supposed to jam a light rod into the corner of a building if we go into an alleyway alone to follow someone suspicious. This lets other watchmen follow or report on the signal.

It's been here for hours, so it's almost gone out entirely. If he was heading to the city to get reinforcements, a watchman would have left this here to mark where to turn south off of the road. I remove it, we'll run into anyone sent looking for it on the way back to the city.

We find a large contingent of the castle's soldiery halfway back. They were deployed to deal with the threat. Lord Hawkins explains the situation to them, and we learn that both Watchmen Andrew and Gerald made it back alive. They weren't doing very well though. Andrew was unconscious and Gerald was stubbornly dragging him along even though his leg was broken. I'm sure that mobilization scared all of the bandits back into their holes for the day.

The lot of us make it back, The men and I take our leave of the Lords and Ladies and head back to the guard house to file our reports. I find myself glad that, if there aren't charges being placed, and no one gets killed, reports only need to be a list of items lost or spent. I unfortunately remember the bandits we had to kill yesterday, and end up writing out a full report.

I turn in the account of what happened over the last two days to Assistant Commander Staghorn, who gives me the rest of the day off for my effort and overtime. I thank him, and leave the guard house. Just as I'm leaving, I hear Stanton.

“Hold up, Nivar!” He runs out the door to catch up with me. “I'd like you to have this, as thanks for saving me out there, and finding me someone that could fix this old bow up good as new.”

He presses a long dagger in a finely made sheath into my hands. The pommel has a small emerald embedded in it.

“It's grade two enchanted, and further enchanted against plants. I'd been using it to clear paths for myself through brush. That bow is really important to me, so take it.”

“You don't...”

“I'm not taking it back!”

He runs back into the guard house with a wave before I can protest further. Something even grade one enchanted is very expensive. I draw the blade, finely honed and engraved with a vine pattern. I guess I'll replace my belt knife with this when I get home. It's such a nice gift, I should at least use it.

The trip home is peaceful, I pick up a fresh loaf of bread and some honey.

Reminiscence-1 “Magic” =Zinto=

(He hasn't been mentioned by name in the story yet. Zinto Denwatch is Nivar Denwatch's father, an ex-mercenary. This memory takes place when Nivar was 14, one year after his mother died.)

There he goes again, working himself too hard. His mother was like that. He is getting sloppy from exhaustion now, and, with no rest, he should be. How long was he at the pell before we started our daily spar? He rushes forward, and is easily tripped and disarmed.

“Okay Nivar, that's enough sparring for today, time for a lesson.”

“Yes, Dad.”

Dutiful as usual, but I can hear the disappointment in his voice. He vastly prefers the sparring practice to any of the lessons I give him, tactical or otherwise. Sometimes I get the feeling that his mother would have done a better job of teaching him, if she was still around. She probably wouldn't approve of what I teach him either...

“Now, I know you like the craftsmanship and designs of weapons and armor more than magic...”

“Magic is cheating.”

“You feel that way now, but you'll see that even a warrior can use it to his advantage. I'm going to teach you about magical weapons and armor today.”

That got his interest, first time I've seen him look this attentive toward a lecture.

“First is weapons, general enchantments to increase the lethality of a weapon are called 'grades,' weapons are graded zero through five. Enchanting a weapon becomes more difficult as it gains more enchantments. Each grade has to be layered on top of the one before it, so the price of a magical weapon increases vastly with each grade.

“Can't you just start with the best type of magic?”

“Actually, that's a weird one. I don't know why but each grade requires all of the previous grades to be there. At least, that's what every enchanter I've talked to has told me.

“Grade Zero, refers to enchantments that don't aid in combat. These generally do things like prevent blades from dulling, or preventing steel from rusting. I never buy a weapon that isn't at least grade zero enchanted. Not many folks know this, but grade zero enchantments increase the durability of a weapon enough to let you break a non-magical weapon if you have enough strength behind your blow without risk of breaking your own.

“Grade One enchantment means that the weapon is of magically improved craftsmanship. Perhaps, for instance, the blade is sharpened beyond what even the best of smiths could manage.

“Grade Two is an increase in the power of the weapon's hits. Some of these enchantments might make the blade or head of the weapon to become heavier after the apex of a swing, adding to the force of a blow.

“Grade Three adds to the speed at which you swing the weapon, making your attacks harder to predict and more powerful.

“Grade Four makes a weapon become attuned to its wielder, letting you feel your weapon as an extension of yourself more readily. Even someone that has never had any fighting experience can defeat a skilled warrior by using a grade four weapon.

“A Grade Five weapon seeks out the gaps in an opponents defenses, almost aiming itself for you.”

“It doesn't go any higher?”

“Supposedly there have been instances of what would be called Grade Six weapons. Going beyond five brings out a personality in the weapon, almost aiming itself becomes aiming itself. Some even possess the wielder. But those are just in legends, I don't think they actually exist. There are more ways to get a more powerful weapon, this is through ungraded enchantments. These are considered separate because they direct their energy outward instead of actually residing in the weapon.

“Ungraded enchantments can be added to a weapon regardless of grade. A popular one is enveloping the blade in flames while fighting, or a blade that seeks out the vitals of a foe. One of the men in my mercenary company had a weapon that could float around and fight on its own for a few seconds if tossed into the air.”

“What about ranged weapons?”

“The same rules apply, a bow or crossbow will apply its magic to any ammunition that is fired from it. Though, if you use enchanted arrows, only the more powerful of enchantments will apply, firing a grade two arrow from a grade two bow won't help at all, since the arrow already has magical enhancements similar to those the bow is trying to add onto it.”

“How long does the arrow remain magical? And what about the ungraded enchantments?”

“It doesn't last long. It wears off very quickly after hitting something. If yours was the better magic you wouldn't want the enemy to retrieve the arrows to use against you, would you? Ungraded enchantments always seem to combine if they are different enough. Even opposed elements will stack up. You could fire an iced arrow from a bow that adds flames, and end up with an arrow flying at your enemy that would fluctuate between the intense heat of fire and the biting cold of the ice.”

“What was the best weapon you ever had?”

“Hm? I would say my best weapon is my grade three broadsword, I've never shown you how the blade can be wreathed in acid, have I?

Haven't even drawn that one since his mother died, even thinking about it reminds me of her. She was always the penultimate damsel in distress. I came to this town in the middle of an orc raid, that was the first time I saved her. I stuck around under the pretense that the little village needed guarding, but it was really she who kept me there. Bandits, ogres, trolls, goblins, everyone seemed to want to a piece of her. Every time, I'd come running. There was even a necromancer one time. I should tell Nivar that story some time, when he's old enough to appreciate how pissed the codger was when I told him his virgin sacrifice, wasn't.

“Armors are also graded zero through five. Enchanting armor is easier and therefore less expensive than weapons. I've heard this is because there is more space to work the magic on, but not one enchanter has ever been willing to share their secrets with me, so I am unsure if that is the case.

“Grade Zero is much the same as it is with weapons.

“Grade One strengthens the armor without reducing its flexibility when moving.

“Grade Two adds invisible magical plates around the armor that can only be seen while they are deflecting a weapon.”

“How am I supposed to get around armor I can't even see?”

“When you see it briefly after contact you can look for gaps, and just because the plates are magic doesn't mean they are unbreakable.

“Grade three adds further plates that only even exist when a weapon is contacting them, these plates are generally positioned at joints or other places where a permanent plate would heavily reduce mobility.

“Grade Four adds a small aura of magical energy that slightly slows incoming attacks right before they make contact.

“Lastly, Grade Five takes that magical aura and causes it to also churn, twisting attacks and deflecting them to the side.

“The ungraded enchantments do several things. Some add additional protection to vital organs. Others offer resistance to fire or lightning, which is important if your enemies are employing a wizard against you. Some emanate a small field that deadens spells before they even reach you. Another man in my company had a shield that could float about of its own accord, letting him use a two handed war axe without forgoing a shield.”

Nivar chuckles slightly, he's normally so serious.

“What's so funny?”

“What if you had five or even ten shields floating around you all at once, wouldn't that look silly?”

“Yeah and they'd probably stop you from hitting anything just as much as they'd stop you from being hit.”

I join him in laughter. He got me, now I can't get that thought out of my head.