Friends in a Foreign Land

“Please don’t tell me it has a rage ability.” Nolan said as he stabbed the bear in the side trying to reach it’s heart.

Arden and the party continued to rain attacks down on it for another couple moments and then the bear started to move again. Once on it’s feet it ran away from the group. They all wondered if it was retreating, but before they could say anything it turned and charged the party.

Rather than trying to go head to head with it again, Arden slid to the side and bashed it with his mace as it came at him. The strike didn’t seem to bother the bear at all as it swung a paw at Arden, who manged to get his shield up in the time. The impact still slid Arden to the side. The bear and cleric continued to trade blows and Arden was quickly losing the battle. Twice Nolan took a break from stabbing the bear to cast [Healing Touch] on Arden. It seemed the bear noticed this and was tired of the fight dragging on. It tried to once again rise to its hind legs but all the ice spells the girls had been casting done more than a little damage and had frozen the bear’s rear legs to the ground. As the bear fought to get free, Nolan ran up to it now with a short sword in each hand, and just started slashing at it’s neck trying to cut deep enough to hit an artery.

With a final lunge the bear was able to free itself just as Nolan stepped in from the side and drove one of his swords fully into the bear’s throat. The bear staggered as blood started to spill from it’s neck. Arden ran towards it intending on getting a final hit in but slipped in the blood and fell landing under the bear just as it died.

A few minutes later the party was standing over a grizzly bear corpse laughing hysterically. Except Arden, who was lying on the ground partially under the massive bear.

“I’m glad you all enjoyed the fight,” Arden said through clinched teeth. “Now get this bear off me, please.”

“I can’t wait to tell Liam and Regina about this,” Nolan said while still smiling and with tears in his eyes.

“Oh yeah, they’re going to love this story,” Willow added as she started casting [Entangle] again. Vines spring from the ground, this time wrapping the legs of the bear and pulling. That plus Arden and Liam pushing was enough to move the beast enough that Arden was able to scoot free.

Nolan, as he started to calm himself from laughter, walked over and laid a hand on Arden’s shoulder. As the healing magic did its work, they heard the bones in Arden’s legs start to snap back into place, causing them all to wince.

Arden let out a grunt and then thanked Nolan for the healing. He slowly stood and tested out his newly healed limbs. “Too bad we didn’t have magic on earth. That was way better than the last time I broke my legs.”

Hazel stood off to one side speaking with Ewan trying to calm him down. This fight with the bear was the most violent thing that he’d seen and it upset him quite a bit.

“Holy crap, I went up two levels thanks to that bear!” Willow suddenly exclaimed.

“Me too,” Hazel added as her and Ewan walked back to the group.

A voice they didn’t know spoke up, “You lot make enough noise to wake the dead. How’s a man supposed to hunt these woods with all your racket?” They looked up to see a rather hardy-looking dark skinned man, easily six feet tall, with a broad nose, and short, full beard stepping out from behind a tree near them with bow in hand and a quiver on his hip.

The team was immediately on guard and Arden took a step toward him but Hazel spoke up first, “Maybe get better at hunting. We made all this racket all day and we’ve managed to kill several animals just fine, including that grizzly.”

“You aren’t real hunters. Killing animals with your fancy magic spells after your wolf catches them. I’ve been hunting these woods for decades, with just my knife and my bow.”

Before someone else could mouth off and make the situation worse, Arden spoke up, “That’s great that you can hunt the traditional way, sir. And you’re right, we don’t have skills with tracking or with the bow. But we were asked to help bring some meat in so we used what resources we had to get the job done. If we’ve interfered with your hunting, I apologize.

Joining in Willow added, “And we’d be more than willing to learn to track and use a bow if you’d be willing to teach us.”

The hunter stood and stared at the party for a few moments before nodding. “In the last few months we’ve lost several of the hunters this village depended on because of goblins. You got your nice armor and weapons as well as your magic spells; you should be hunting them little green bastards so the real hunters can do their jobs. If you’ll agree to start going after them, I’ll agree spend some time teaching you lot the basics.” Looking up at the sun he continued, “Let’s start with learning to skin and butcher that bear. That’ll get you started with those skills. It’s about lunch time so we can cook a small meal. After we eat I’ll teach each of you enough to get the first level in tracking and archery. And then tomorrow you can start thinning out the threat to the town.”

“That sounds like a great plan, sir,” Nolan said, stepping forward and extending his hand. “I’m Nolan, by the way.”

“Oringo,” replied the hunter as he grasped wrists with Nolan.

After that everyone else stepped forward and introduced themselves and Oringo immediately went to work teaching them how to skin and butcher the bear. They then pulled out the deer that they had attempted to field dress earlier in the day and Oringo helped them to skin and butcher them as well. This took several hours, even with magic to help them but by the time they were finished, each of them had quite a bit of meat in their packs and Hazel had a nice fire going over which Nolan was grilling bear steaks.

Looking at Hazel, Oringo asked, “Why did you bring your son out here to hunt? Beyond just being dangerous, the fighting seemed to upset him.”

“We didn’t have much choice, really. I didn’t want to just leave him in the room at the inn by himself all day.”

“When we get back to town, please let me introduce you to my son. Due to an injury, he is unable to venture far from home. Perhaps he could watch the boy for you.”

“Thank you,” Hazel replied.

“Was your son injured while hunting?” Willow asked.

“Sort of. You can meet him later. If you feel comfortable letting him watch your boy, great. If not, no harm done.”

“Okay,” Hazel answered.

After they ate, Oringo started teaching again. He started with tracking and had them walking all through the forest following trails from various creatures. Once they had all gained the tracking skill, Oringo lead them back to town. Once through the gates he took them to an archery range they didn’t know the town had.

“Mostly just sits unused these days. Guards get enough practice shooting goblins to not need it. Used to be that there were always someone here. Some days would be nothing but kids learning, back when the town still had a lot of kids,” Oringo told them.

The next hour was spent with each of them learning the basics of just holding the bow and how to move with it. Then they moved on, step by step through drawing, aiming, and releasing. Oringo taught them how to maintain the bow and what look for in arrows. By dinner time they had all gained the archery skill.

Arden approached the hunter, “Oringo, this has been an amazing day for us. You’ve helped us so much by teaching us all these skills. What do you say about getting your family and joining us at the inn for dinner on me?”

“Thank you but as I said, my son’s health keeps him from being able to go far from home. But you all can follow me to my house to meet him before you head back to the inn.”

“Lead the way then.”

The walk to the hunter’s home didn’t take long and they were all soon introduced to Oringo’s son, Malusi, who bore quite the resemblance to his father.

They all talked for about half an hour and Hazel agreed to let Malusi watch Ewan whenever they went out to hunt goblins.

“Are there any times you’re not available to watch him?” Arden asked. “We don’t want to interfere with anything else you have going on.”

Smiling, Malusi replied, “I’m always here. Since my injury, I haven’t left this house. But don’t worry, that won’t interfere with my ability to watch Ewan.”

The party looked to one another in confusion because they saw no injury on the young man. Finally Nolan spoke up, “Forgive me for being rude, but would you mind telling me what your injury is? You appear fine but I understand that not all medical issues are obvious.”

Malusi stared at the floor in shame as he replied, “I’m not sure it’s a medical issue. My body is fine, now. But I simply can’t bring myself to go outside. And if I’m forced outside, my body seizes up and I can’t breathe. Simply put, I’m a coward.”

“Sounds like PTSD,” Arden said looking to Nolan.

“What is that?” Oringo asked defensively.

“It does,” Nolan said to Arden before turning back to the hunter and his son, “Post traumatic stress disorder. Basically, you were so traumatized by something that your mind doesn’t know how to get past it. It manifests in a myriad of ways and is difficult to deal with. But it doesn’t make you a coward any more than refusing to walk on a broken leg does.”

“That’s right,” Arden added. “Mental health issues are just as real as physical ones. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

Surprise was evident on the faces of both Oringo and Malusi at Nolan’s and Arden’s words.

“This is the first we’ve heard of this. So many have judged my son, sometimes rather harshly. Honestly, the only reason we didn’t flee when many others left town was because of his condition.”

“I’m sorry to hear that it’s held you back but I must say that I’m thankful that you both are still here. I literally prayed at the shrine last night and asked the gods to send us someone who could teach us and for someone to watch Ewan. So, for me, the two of you are a godsend,” Arden explained.

Now both of the men looked confused.

“I’m not sure how I feel about that. I don’t care much for the gods. The thought that they may have influenced my actions today doesn’t sit well with me. But if you mean to hold to our agreement and start hunting the goblins tomorrow, I suppose what’s done is done. Speaking of which…” The hunter walked to his pack and pulled a piece of cloth out of a pocket and tossed it toward Arlo. “Got that off the last goblin I saw. Your wolf should be able to track the smell. Odds are you probably passed within ten feet of some goblin parties today. That should help you find them. Don’t stay out after the sun sets or they’ll find you.”

The parties thanked Oringo and Hazel said she’d bring Ewan over to Malusi the next morning. They said their goodbyes and headed back to the inn.