Caelaris | Sword for Hire

Hollowmere | Tavern "The Silver Tankard" | Late Afternoon

The two-story building, constructed upon a stone foundation with intricately decorated timber walls, stood somewhat secluded in a narrow side street branching off a tree-lined avenue. Its oak sign hung from a single iron chain, swaying in the increasingly chilly wind as gray clouds began to blanket the sky. The weathered, iron-bound birchwood door leading inside had certainly seen better days. Its hinges squeaked whenever it opened, while gaps between the wooden planks allowed cold drafts to slip through, occasionally stealing some of the warmth from within. The iron-framed windows were fogged on the inside, while their outer surfaces were coated in dust and mud.

Inside, however, things looked a little different. The wooden floorboards creaked beneath the footsteps of barmaids and patrons moving through the rather crowded tavern. Humans. Dwarves. A handful of elves, presumably half-elves, all trying to carve out a living as mercenaries, guards, or men and women selling their companionship.

The wallpaper had yellowed with age, peeling away in places to expose the wood beneath. The curtains hanging beside the windows were either barely intact or missing altogether, and whatever remained might once have been white. Now they were yellowed, stained with dried blood in places, and marked by black scorch marks suggesting they had caught fire on more than one occasion.

The fireplace, built from red bricks, was completely blackened with soot on the inside, while several bricks were missing from its exterior, presumably knocked loose during fights or by particularly disgruntled patrons.

The stage upon which the bards performed their outdated, no longer particularly amusing acts consisted of a wooden barrel. Its iron bands had already slipped out of place, while the wood itself was worn down, riddled with holes and cracks.

The round and rectangular oak tables wobbled in one direction or another whenever someone leaned against them. Whether it was due to their uneven legs or simply because the floor itself was crooked in places hardly seemed to matter. Nobody appeared particularly bothered by it.

Several of the chairs had broken backrests, while others had none at all. Their legs were scratched and, in some cases, looked far too thin to support anyone's weight. Yet somehow, they still held together.

Caelaris sat on one of those stools that made one wonder just how much longer its thinner leg would hold before giving way. He occupied a seat at one of the equally unstable tables, which wobbled at the slightest movement. Mead slowly leaked from the bottom of his mug, spreading across the tabletop.

Bram, the innkeeper, was a human with greasy brown hair, several strands falling into his face, and a round, fleshy face framed by a long, thick beard that perfectly concealed his double chin. He stood behind the counter, cleaning a mug while observing his patrons with sharp blue eyes and the watchful expression of a man who had spent many years running a tavern.

"Maria, that mead still needs to be served. Come on, get moving, girl!" he called out in his deep voice, raising it above the loud conversations filling the room.

The barmaid, with her thick red curls, looked up, a broad smile spreading across her lips. "Coming, Bram!" she called out in a soft, honey sweet voice as she gracefully weaved her curvaceous figure between the tables and patrons, collecting a few empty mugs along the way.

Caelaris' multicolored eyes followed the woman for a moment before he lifted his leaking mug and took a sip of the mead, which had probably fermented a little too long. Over his years as a mercenary, he had learned to appreciate whatever he had rather than complain about it. After all, things could always get worse.

"Another mead!" one of the patrons shouted, though Caelaris paid him no attention whatsoever. Instead, his gaze kept drifting past the other guests toward the half broken door, the muscles beneath his leather armor gradually tightening. He was waiting for that familiar squeak, a sound he had initially found irritating, eventually learned to tolerate, and had long since grown accustomed to. He was waiting for it to announce the arrival of someone he had expected since the third toll of the bell.

Three more bells had sounded since then.

And if there was one thing that could truly irritate him, it was tardiness and being made to wait.

With a loud, exasperated sigh, he leaned back, raised his leaking mug, and took a generous swallow. A few drops escaped through the bottom, landing first on the tabletop before dripping onto his trousers.

With a casual movement of his gloved hand, he brushed the mead from his trousers just as the familiar squeaking of the door hinges echoed through the room. Caelaris' gaze immediately shifted over the rim of his mug toward the entrance. When he caught sight of fiery red hair barely visible above the heads of the other patrons, the right corner of his mouth twitched upward ever so slightly.

The dwarf's booming voice thundered through the tavern, drowning out every other conversation like a raging waterfall crashing into a valley below.

"Out of the way! Make rrroom, pointy earrrs!" Caelaris heard Haldrek shout, the dwarf's rolling Rs once again drawing a faint smirk from him. The dwarf approached, deliberately shoving one of his broad shoulders against a human who had leaned a little too far back. When the man attempted to protest, a single glare from the dwarf was enough to stop him dead in his tracks.

When Haldrek finally reached Caelaris' table, he simply dropped himself into a chair with half its backrest missing, the wood creaking loudly beneath his weight.

"Three bell tolls," Caelaris said, looking directly at Haldrek.

"Good things take time," the dwarf replied as though that explained absolutely everything, earning himself a snort that was equal parts amusement and irritation from the mercenary.

"Then why did you summon me here for the third bell?" Caelaris asked, his voice cool and entirely devoid of anger.

"Cuddle and Dax werrre late to the job, and that delayed everrrything," Haldrek answered, seemingly unimpressed by the elf's cold demeanor. The dwarf turned slightly to the side, his eyes searching for the barmaid.

"MARRRIA! BRRRING ME SOME MEAD AND WHATEVERRR BRRRAM IS SERRRVING US FORRR GRRRUB!" he bellowed across the tavern, immediately catching the barmaid's attention.

"Coming right up, sweetheart!" she replied immediately, giving him a wink as the grin on her lips grew twice as wide. Then she disappeared through another door at the back of the tavern, heading into the kitchen.

"Now, not that I'm complaining about seeing your scarred mug again, but I was traveling through the North. So tell me, why exactly did you drag me all the way to Hollowmere, to the very arse end of the human kingdom?" Caelaris asked, setting his mug back down without taking his eyes off Haldrek for even a moment.

The dwarf turned back toward him, the wood of his chair creaking dangerously beneath his weight. The chair even wobbled slightly, presumably because of the uneven floor beneath it.

"I've got something forrr you," Haldrek said with a broad grin.

Not a good sign. Caelaris knew that immediately.

"And what exactly would that be?" he asked without beating around the bush.

"A job," Haldrek began.

"Really? And here I thought we'd have a mead, discuss how you'll end up in one of the beds with Maria tonight, and talk about how wonderfully beautiful life is..." Caelaris replied, casually interrupting his friend to throw his sarcastic remarks straight at him.

"How about you just shut yourrr mouth forrr once, pointy earrrs, and let me speak, huh?" the dwarf growled without sounding genuinely angry, earning himself an eye roll and a nod from his elven friend.

"So, as I was saying, I've got something forrr you. Not just forrr you, but forrr all of us as a grrroup. You know, those people you call yourrr frrriends. Dax, Cuddle, Inarrra, and me," the dwarf continued.

"I wouldn't exactly call a bear my friend the way Dax does..." Caelaris muttered quietly, earning nothing but a snort from Haldrek.

"Don't let Dax orrr Cuddle hearrr you say that..." the dwarf snorted in amusement, looking at Caelaris as one of his eyebrows slowly rose.

"So, arrre you in? And beforrre I forrrget, we've got a new memberrr. "You'rrre going to love herrr. In yourrr own way..."

---

Hollowmere | The Mourningwood | Shortly Before Midnight

By the time they reached the forest, the sun had already set. The wind had grown stronger, tugging at the clothing of the small mercenary group, while gathering clouds darkened the sky beyond what the night itself had intended. The rustling of leaves and bushes, the creaking of trees, and the scraping of bark against bark in the wind made it difficult to hear what was happening around them. Every now and then, powerful gusts swept through the undergrowth, scattering the slowly gathering mist into drifting wisps.

"Remind me again, Haldrek, why exactly did I agree to any of this?" Caelaris asked as he led the group through the undergrowth toward the swamp, where their assignment awaited them.

"Because you simply can't say no to a lovely little sum of gold..." the dwarf laughed, trudging through the undergrowth a few paces behind him, making absolutely no attempt to conceal his presence.

"How about you stop stomping through the forest like a complete savage? We're supposed to be hunting something, not slaughtering a horde of renegades. And hunting requires silence, dwarf," Dax replied as he caught up with Caelaris in a few quick, considerably quieter strides.

Behind him came the familiar rumbling grunt of Cuddle, his enormous brown bear, who promptly nudged Haldrek's shoulder with his massive head, sending the dwarf stumbling several steps forward.

A few steps behind them, Inara followed with light footsteps, holding a pouch filled with herbs in her right hand while her left rummaged through another bag in search of a different ingredient.

"Uhm... do we need fire or water?" she asked in her calm, gentle voice, moving a few steps closer to Caelaris and looking up at him with slightly widened eyes, while the torch in Haldrek's hand struggled against the thickening mist.

"We're going to be fighting in a swamp, Inara. Use that pretty little head of yours. Neither water nor fire is going to help..." Dax remarked dryly, rolling his eyes before shaking his head and walking ahead, with Cuddle trotting right behind him, letting out a low grunt.

The two were swallowed by the mist relatively quickly, their silhouettes first becoming blurred in the torchlight before disappearing entirely. Caelaris narrowed his eyes, his steps growing slower as the muscles beneath his armor gradually tensed.

"Caelaris..." Inara murmured softly, reaching out with her right hand to grasp the leather armor covering his arm. "...I have a bad feeling about this..." she added in a quiet whisper.

"Where is this {{User}} you've been telling me so much about? The supposed expert?" he asked, his gaze slowly shifting toward the dwarf, who merely responded with a shrug.

"Wonderful. You invite strangers to this hunt and don't even know where they are?" the elf added, his gaze narrowing as a crease formed between his brows.

"She said we'd meet therrre... it'll be fine... she was rrrecommended by the client," the dwarf explained, although he didn't sound particularly convinced himself.

And with their next step, the ground beneath the soles of their boots changed. The three of them had entered the swamp without realizing it, for the fog had grown too thick for them to notice, and the strong wind had made it impossible to detect its characteristic smell.

But something was strange. Not different, but strangely oppressive, and Caelaris could sense it immediately. It was as though they had stepped through a barrier, for the musty smell rose into their nostrils, and he could hear Inara murmuring beside him. "Where is Dax...?"

He didn't answer, taking another step forward, and the first thing he realized was that they must have passed through a magical barrier, because the wind was gone. They hadn't been able to smell the swamp until they were already standing in the middle of it. The wind that had been tugging at their clothing only moments ago had suddenly disappeared. It hadn't simply died down because the weather had changed. It had vanished, as though someone had snapped their fingers.

The fog, which only moments ago had covered the ground in drifting wisps, had grown so thick that Dax and Cuddle had simply disappeared. So dense that the light of the torch was more blinding than helpful. So thick that they could only see a few feet ahead.

Caelaris freed his arm from Inara's grasp, reached for the hilt of his weapon, and drew it from its sheath with one long, swift motion. "Extinguish the torch," he ordered in a serious voice, and Haldrek immediately dropped the piece of wood. With a hiss and a cloud of steam, the fire went out, and the three continued a few steps straight ahead. Caelaris couldn't shake the feeling that they were already being watched.

"What is a Vharaketh again?" Inara asked, her voice nervous and trembling.

"An ancient hunter. Infused with black magic. Maximum agility. Six legs armed with razor sharp claws. A long snout..." Caelaris explained as he took another step forward before suddenly coming to a halt.

In front of the three, glowing red eyes could be seen staring directly at them. A deep, dark growl that pierced through flesh and bone, accompanied by the sound of water droplets striking the surface.

"I... I think... it found us..." she murmured softly, her voice trembling slightly as she took half a step backward.

The stench of rotting flesh grew stronger, followed by a footstep whose impact could even be felt through the water, and a powerful snort that slowly parted the fog, revealing more of the grotesque creature. Its snout, filled with razor sharp, pointed teeth, emerged first, saliva dripping down as its lips curled back as far as they could go.

"Don't let their size fool you... they're agile, fast... and watch out for the tail... that thing is powerful, like an additional weapon that can break every bone in your body faster than you'd like..." Caelaris murmured quietly, yet clearly enough to be heard, as he began slowly stepping to the right, while Haldrek moved to the left and Inara remained rooted to the spot for a moment.

"For the record, Haldrek. This {{User}}... your supposed expert? Nowhere to be seen. Neither are Dax and Cuddle..." Caelaris said to the dwarf as his other hand reached for his second sword, preparing himself for the attack. "Haldrek, the head... that's your target..." Caelaris managed to say before the Vharaketh launched its attack.

Its maw wide open, strands of saliva connecting its upper and lower teeth, its front pairs of legs raised with claws extended, ready to tear the elf apart with sheer force.

What none of those present knew was that they weren't only being watched by the Vharaketh. Not far from them, there was another person. Closer than they thought. Waiting for the right moment. {{User}}.