Chapter 9 Day One, Part 9. The group's past and a new problem.

~ Your standing with the Light Elf faction has increased to 20 points. ~

~ The attitude of the group towards you is 30 points. ~

~ The attitude of the Goddess has increased by 20 points and is now 25 points. ~

~ The attitude of the God of Zohavayu has decreased by 40 points and is now -40 points. ~

~ The attitude of the Goddess Lolth has decreased by 10 points and is now -30 points. ~

~ You have received the achievement 'Both in life and Death I' ~

~ You have proven to your warriors that you are with them both in battle and the afterlife, and now the elves are ready to serve you even more faithfully! +1 Morale for the Light Elf factions. ~

Wow, I should have received only the last line. So far, notifications about the gods have never shown up for me! An unforeseen factor that is not very good in my opinion. As the classicist wrote in his work: Of all the woes may God deliver us from both / From their love and their wrath. I would prefer to stay away from their attention, but when you have lost your head, you do not cry for your hair…. Let us see what happens next.

Galbireth approached me, bowed deeply, and said in a slightly hoarse voice:

- I repeat myself, but it is an honor for me to serve you, my lord! I am glad that the Goddess sent you to us without leading us to do things we would regret. And it was you and not some other immortal who became our master!

- I am also glad I met you and your group because I already understood something about you! But you speak about the immortals as if you have met them many times.

Gal looked me in the eye and waved his hand to the side where our things were stacked. I nodded, and we went to get our things.

- Gal…bireth, you….

- Sir, I know the immortals love to abbreviate our names. I do not mind if it happens in battle. I even encourage it among my subordinates, and I am willing to allow you to abbreviate my name in private or among those who are with us now but please do not insult me in the presence of common warriors or dwarves!

Of course, Galbireth! When we are alone, you also may call me Gor, but not even in front of outsiders. Of course, those present do not belong to them. But you have not answered how you know about the immortals. And the question has been brewing for a long time: Where did you get such a strange team: elves from the genera of birch, oak, and ash?

- I suggest we pack our bags and hit the road, talking on the way. This is going to be a long conversation.

The preparations did not take long, and after ten minutes we moved towards the human village, which is next to the source of magic. We put a small elf, Ogarine, on the horse, who, sitting in the saddle, immediately took out a book and began to read, regularly making notes in the margin. The ranger went ahead and disappeared. His younger brother, on the other hand, lagged but was in sight. The halfling led the horse by the bridle, and Leni walked beside him, asking him something. Gal immediately attached himself next to me, and as soon as the movement became marching in his opinion, he continued our conversation.

- I was a warrior in the army of Lord Kill_Plunger_2015. I started as a common warrior of the Oak Clan, showed good fighting and leadership skills, quickly grew to become a sword master, and was promoted to squad leader. After some time, our lord allied with two other forest lords: Lord Teush of the Ash Clan and Lady Aphrodite_of_Foam of the Birch Clan. But they fell asleep very often, which is characteristic of the immortals, and most of the time the combined forces were commanded by Lord Kill_Plunger_2015. For a long time, our armies conquered more and more new territories until we faced a strong enemy. It was a large union of immortals who called themselves a clan. At first, we won several victories, but then the enemy gathered, and we suffered defeat after defeat. And then, we began to retreat and abandon everything we had conquered in a few months. Until they reached our home castle. We decided to fight the final battle, near it. The Lord gathered all his forces and those of the allies. I have never seen such a large army. I was on the right flank, and the left could not even be seen, there were so many soldiers. Thousands of elves and dwarves, tens of thousands of halflings, hundreds of unicorns and phoenixes. Dozens of heroes, each of them was worth hundreds of warriors.

With the number of wizards in the air, something was happening that made one's hair stand on end. The enemy brought no fewer troops, but we had all the chances to win. Unfortunately, at the crucial moment when the signal for a breakthrough had to be given, our master fell into the sleep of the immortals. In a few minutes, the center was destroyed, and while the enemy was finishing the flanks, some soldiers reached the castle, and I lost contact with the source. We fled… I managed to gather some warriors and mages, and then we moved on in an organized group until the ogres captured Leni. What happened after that, you know...

- I understand that you've been through so much … I hope that I will be the best lord, and our goal is not to conquer new lands but to develop our own.

- Thank you, Sir! That is a good goal.

- But don't forget: If you wish for peace, prepare for war. So no one will cancel the training of warriors.

- I understand that my lord and I'm glad you understand it too.

~ Hidden quest completed: Listen to the story of Galbireth, son of Goristiel.

Prerequisites: Galbireth's attitude is at least 20 points.

Experience +1000. ~

~ You cannot gain experience! You have reached the current day's limit. ~

Damn! Couldn't this quest have been released tomorrow? Well, as usual in this game….

- Gal, around us, – I gestured to our group, – they are everyone you collected after the massacre?

- No, some group members stayed two days away from us. We found a tower and decided to make a camp there, some of us stayed there, and we went to look for a place for regular accommodation.

- And how many warriors are left there?

- Five elves, two dwarves, three halflings, one dryad, and five nymphs.

- Not bad! Too bad it's so far away…. Two days are crucial for me now. First, we'll conquer the source and start building a castle, and then we'll go after your friends.

– Tim, tell me, if we go to your countrymen, will it be a very long detour on the way to the village of the humans? - I turned to the halfling.

– No-no, It'll be a very small detour on the way. And in our village, we can have dinner and spend the night comfortably! Of course, we have to go through our village!

– Well, we'll see about the sleeping, but the eating won't be superfluous. Lead us!

The hobbit immediately perked up and quickened his pace, which surprised both the horse and the sorceress on horseback, who almost dropped the book in surprise.

For a while, we moved on in silence. I admired the surrounding landscapes, while others spoke softly or looked around. Perhaps the breakdown had such an effect on me, or maybe I hadn't been paying attention before, but the world around me wasn't at all different from the real one, the same smells and colors. Those who drew all this deserve an award, and more than one. The forest path led us to the road. A typical dirt road with cartwheel tracks in the mud. Even such a road would give people a movement bonus, but we had no difference between the forest and such mud, nevertheless, we all walked along the roadside. Not long, until we reached the intersection, which was about two hundred yards from the road. The ranger in front of us passed an empty intersection, but we were approaching the group of people moving right on us. For a gang of robbers dressed in colorful rags and armed with various weapons, and they simply could not be anyone else, our appearance was no less unexpected than theirs was to us. Gal was the first to react, immediately grabbing the presented bow and taking the thug at the ready, whom he mistook for the leader. With some delay, I repeated his gesture and aimed at another, who looked like the leader of this gang. From the right, the hum of a slingshot uncoiled, and the glow of the sorcerer's wand spilled over me. Leni stepped back behind us and began to draw something on the road. In response, the robbers prepared bows, spears, and clubs and also took a waiting posture. There were fifteen or twenty robbers, but our ammunition and a mage on a horse nullified the numerical advantage, and the robbers understood that very well.

- Shall we go our separate ways in peace? - shouted a simple-looking peasant with an imperious, insolent voice. The man was so inconspicuous that no one would have thought that he was the leader.

I already wanted to give the go-ahead for a peaceful settlement. I admit we can suffer losses. Moreover, I cannot take the experience anymore today. But my halfling beat me to it:

- What have we here? This is the Rotten Sneak himself! Why didn't you stutter about peace when you demanded ransom in our village and beat the headman? Now comes your revenge!

- You yourself are Rotten! I'll wrap your entrails in a tree! Break them, guys!

In my mind, I fingered through the curses directed at my unruly hobbit and fired an arrow at the one I was holding at gunpoint, assuming that someone was already holding the leader at gunpoint. As it turned out, I was wrong. All of my team hit the targets intended for them and probably thought the same way I did. Two robbers fell to the ground from arrows flying out of the bushes from different sides of the road. Mine and Gal's opponents with arrows in their chests fell to the side, and one burly brute flew back, catching a projectile from a slingshot with his forehead. The peculiarity of the halfling race: the larger the opponent, the more successful the shot. In response, the bows of the raiders struck, but we all calmly dodged their arrows. Only Ogarine gasped softly because the arrow passed close to her shoulder and hooked her with its tip. But she paid for her fright in full by sending a swarm of little icicles, which formed in a flash, at the enemy.

Cries and groans of pain could be heard in the enemy's camp, and the opponents finally scattered to the side, otherwise, they stood close together. Gal fired a few more times, with about the same result as the first shot, and threw his bow behind his back to charge into battle with his sword, immediately proving that he was better as a swordsman than an archer. With lightning-fast movements, he passed between several opponents and dodged their attacks, so it seemed that he only lightly touched them. But the result of this touch was not long in coming: blood poured from the opened wound of the first opponent, and the second fell to his knees, convulsively trying to push his guts into place. And Gal, in the meantime, was already among other opponents. Watching him out of the corner of my eye, I realized that I should not worry about him because he surpassed the robbers both in skill and in level. And besides, when an enemy archer tried to shoot him in the back, an arrow appeared in the enemy's throat as if from thin air. One of our archers covered him. In general, our archers behaved competently: first, they removed all those who tried to command, then they killed the archers, and only then, they began to shoot those who posed the greatest danger. Only at one point did they fumble: who exactly was in command they did not hear, and he did not start to pretend, and he was lost among his subordinates. And we nearly paid for it. Abruptly, he jumped out of the massacre arranged by the elven swordmaster, took his hand behind his back, and suddenly threw the imperial pilum in the Ogarine's direction.

For a split second, I managed to understand that the pilum was flying pretty accurately, and the girl would not have time to dodge. Without thinking of anything better to do and throwing the bow away, I grabbed the girl by the thigh and pulled on myself. She didn't even see the spear flying towards her as she selflessly deduced spatial figures with her staff, so my jerk was a complete surprise to her. Screeching, the elf fell on top of me, and I lost my balance and fell to the ground carefully so as not to hurt the mage. Feeling the elastic young girl's body against me, I involuntarily hugged her and looked into her eyes. And such disproportionately large eyes, in such proximity, had a magical effect. In combination with swarming, trying to free the hands trapped between us, she awakened somewhere in the depths of my mind's long-forgotten male desires. The magic between us lasted only a few seconds, and already so much had happened at the crossroads! The leader of the robbers fell with a broken head after the halfling successfully threw the slingshot's rock. Leni finished her thirty-second spell with a loud cry, and at the same moment the thick tree roots, as big as a grown man's hand, began to envelop the opponents. In general, this was the last straw for our opponents … The entangled enemies were slowly finished off by archers and a swordsman, leaving only three alive.