Calin could not remember how he got home that night. When he had awoke in the afternoon he'd found he was in his bed in the Green Cow with a stomping headache as his only company. He knew he had till midday to get his head back in order. To do this he took a stroll around the village and then out into the forests among the dark Blackwoods, in here he spotted some of the many strange animals that lived in the woods. Like the trees the animals were unique to the island though they were mainly different in only color and size.
The most interesting he spotted was a red horbe, these where said to be a cross between a wolf and a fox with a red coat and bushy tail. Indeed to Calin it looked like a very large fox though no-where near the same size as a wolf. They were also very shy animals and very rarely (unless starving) were known to have attacked villages on the island. As soon as the horbe caught his sent on the wind it took off into the trees with lightening pace. He cursed to himself for he was well trained as a hunter and knew all about wind direction and how animals used it to detect pray or enemies. Had he known the animal had been there he would have circled around and approached from the other side, the animal would not have smelt him and he could have studied it more closely.
Once the cobwebs of last night drinking session had been completely blown off him, he returned to the village and waited in his room supping large mugs of cool water. When the time came he headed off to Cedric's. Tonight was the night for possible work so he had been glad to get rid of his hangover.
Tonight Cedric's had more men in than the two previous nights. They were all obviously here to hear the wizards offer so there may be some competition as there was over twenty men in the bar and the job he knew was for only seven.
Mulk and Haurick sat at the table he had gotten drunk at the previous night. In spite of all the fighting men about the two had still kept him a chair, so feeling guilty about last night he bought three flagons of ale as slight compensation for there previous generosity and joined them at the table. For the next hour the three chatted about last nights session and how bad they had all felt upon waking up on this day. The conversation was just beginning to trail into a new subject about the reported trouble with the monarchy when suddenly the door of the pub opened and a wizened old man in bright green robes and carrying a large knotted wooden staff with a white jewel on the end slowly walked into the bar. Walking for him seemed to be difficult and with each step he took he used his staff as a means of supporting his weight. All noise in the pub suddenly stopped and all eyes turned towards the man.
The man then spoke, his voice old and dry and educated in tone. The accent sounded of one who had been born into a rich upbringing as the voice was trained and boomed as he spoke.
"Tonight I come to find hero's of the bravest order, men made of steel who could stare the gods and devils of the false religions in the eye without fear".
At this the warriors in the bar seemed to settle down and some smirked at the remark just made.
The man obviously sensing he was talking to men whose eyes did not light up at a challenge of going on mighty quests decided to change his tactic a little.
"Of course there are great riches to be shared, riches that will make you fat with plates of food. Women of the greatest beauty will share your bed, beds with silken sheets and a house of splendor around it".
At this the sniggering stopped and all again took great notice of what was being said: "Seven of you I will choose. These will be the bravest and best amongst you. Each individual here in the bar will come and talk to me and tell me of there past lives and why they deserve to be picked for the task I offer. I will listen to each case put before me and choose once I have heard everyone’s case. I want to know what makes you think you are a mighty warrior and what you have done in the past to prove this. I warn you now of something of the task at hand though, it involves fighting dangerous creatures but more importantly the main enemy who will need to be destroyed will be a powerful wizard like myself, dealing in the darkest magic’s".
At this several men got up cursing the man, it was a well known fact that men of the sword only feared magic. Calin counted six men get up and leave the pub shouting abuse at the man in the green robes. None of them threatened him though, this was not because he was very old and would prove no sport in a fist fight but because he was obviously a wizard himself and all knew that now, after days of travelling they looked upon there possible future employer. Calin heard the name Dermatease whispered and knew that this must be he.
Dermatease ignored the insults hurled at him and when all the men who had changed there minds had left, continued on with his speech: "Be warned however, you may think to lie to me about your past lives and experiences in an effort to try and influence my judgment. This will not work. For I and everyone else here will know if you lie to me. I have cast a spell which allows me to detect an un-truth directed towards me. Every time one of you dogs lie in my presence the jewel on this staff will glow bright, those caught talking dung will be immediately void of my choosing. Is that understood by everyone".
Ayes and I's sounded all around the room of the bar. Then once things had settled down the wizard moved to a nearby table. The other people who had been sitting at this table had quickly deserted it when they saw his gloomy mad eyed approach.
Then the next two hours where spent with the wizard interviewing everyone in the bar. Calin was nervous as he had never done an interview when looking for work. Mercenaries simply showed up to the individual who desired to hire them and then asked if they needed the services of a good fighting man at a reasonable price. He was used to yes or no answers, this business of cueing up to have a chat about past experience of what weapons he had trained in and what kind of tasks he had undertaken was a very unique, strange and nervous situation to say the least.
Regularly the jewel would emit a bright white light as a man sat and gave descriptions of his life's work. The wizard would then stand up and denounce the man a liar, and the man accused would never dream of challenging this powerful wild eyed wizard and the said man would slink away into the shadows or out of the door, his eyes looking downwards in shame.
When Calin heard his name called he went over to the table and plomped himself in the seat opposite to the wizard. Throughout his interview he answered the wizards questions as best he could. The wizards face remained passive throughout and Calin found himself sweating during the duration of the interview. He could feel the rest of the men's eyes in the bar burning into his back, hoping he would lie or show some sign of weakness that may improve there chances of getting the job. Once it was over he relaxed back in his chair, he took a deep swig of his ale then sat back and waited for the end of the other interviews. When the last man was finished the wizard stood up and declared he had reached a decision.
"I Dermatease, the green wizard of Gelepicko name these following men to undertake the task I shall set them. The rest who are not so named will leave this place or suffer my wrath, is that understood. Everyone again nodded and then Dermatease read out seven of the men’s names.
"Mulk, whom shall lead the rest", he declared in his loudest and deep rolling voice.
"Croll".
"Abe".
"Haurick".
"Calin".
"And the two blood brothers, Stan and Bill will be the final members of the company".
Again curses sounded throughout the bar and for a moment Calin felt that trouble was about to start. But from the glare in the wizard’s eye it would have taken a mighty brave man to stay and challenge him and seeing that Dermatease had also undoubtedly picked the bravest and deadly from the bunch of warriors, none of the men who had been disappointed by his decision did.
It took some time still but soon the only people who remained in Cedric's were the seven chosen warriors, the wizard, and Cedric himself who had remained tight lipped throughout the whole ordeal.
The wizard then went over to the middle of the bar and seated himself at the largest
table in the room.
"Cedric old friend", cried Dermatease. "Drinks, drinks all round for all these fine, brave men".
Cedric brought four large flagons of ale, each containing six pints and placed them at the table at which the wizard sat. The seven warriors sensing the free booze seated themselves at the table, each filling his mug.
"Good men", continued the wizard through the glugs and belches that sounded all around him. "It is time you all learned of the task involved so that you can make your claim on the money". The men now listened, free ale was one thing but the money was what they were really here for. "You will all know, I take it, of the mysterious murders that have been causing panic and a great feeling of dread throughout this village. Up until now no-one knew the cause or the reason for these horrible murders. I myself have tried to find out what evil lurks on our good little island, and through my magic have tried to detect what that evil might be.
Alas, I found my spells were blocked. Someone, I guessed at the time another magician was blocking me. However after week after week of trying to break the block I eventually managed to get through. My magic showed me a place that I recognized, the place was a flat field next to the small lake near the top of the island. In the field I saw a red and yellow tent with figures around it. My magic was still being blocked to some degree so the picture in my head was somewhat fuzzy and viewed from quite a distance away.
I needed to investigate, to find out what the village was up against. As you all can see though I am very old and the journey to far for me to travel. So I hired two of the guards of the village who from past experience I could trust not to go spreading rumors to the other villages"
"Why's that", commented the man who had been named as Croll. A small stocky man with a neck like a bull. "Why did you not tell everybody in the village who was responsible for there nightmares".
"AH HA…Well…erm…er…er...Croll…yes Croll.", continued Dermatease suddenly remembering the name of the man as he spun his head somewhat akin to an owl in answer to this question. "The magic that had been used to block my own for so long must be very very powerful indeed. If the villages were to go on a witch hunt who knows what might happen. Great magic can be used to great effect on those who are not as strong willed as yourselves".
"Aye, agreed Mulk suddenly rising up in his seat. "That be true".
"Anyway, like I said I called on Bill and Stan here who work in the village as guards. They where the ones who went out to investigate and get a closer look at what you will have to deal with.
Stan why don't you tell the rest of our comrades here what you saw at the lake".
Stan nodded; he was a man like his blood brother Bill. Neither of them looked to be anywhere near in the same league in muscle ratio as the other men, nor did they possess the same aura that the other fighting men around the table permanently seemed to give off. Stan then proceeded to recount what he and Bill had seen when they had travelled to the lake: "I, there was the tent. Big it was. Me an Bill did'en dare go too close to it. Besides we saw what we needed to. All around the tent were holes in the ground, some with smoke coming from them.
We counted six in all, though from our view we couldn’t see behind the tent so there might have been more. Anyway these strange horrible creatures that looked like wrinkly old men kept coming out".
"Quibs", interrupted Calin. He like the rest of the men knew of the strange creatures that lived underground. Quibs where known to be cowardly creatures that lived mainly on small bugs and worms, there favorites where the great Galiten worms that could stretch up to five men’s arm width in length. Humans who had tried found there taste to be disgusting. They where known to come in three different colors, yellow, green and orange, each of the colors was said to possess a different taste, though all where as disgusting in flavor as the other.
Quibs were small humanoid creatures and because of there underground life there skins were incredibly wrinkly. At birth they would have the eyelids of there eyes (which were practically useless) sown up. This was because when growing up it had been found out from previous generations of quibs that it enhanced there hearing and sense of smell.
Quibs on occasion where known to be dangerous and if they spotted an opponent they outnumbered would not hesitate to attack. Raw flesh could also be eaten and Kingdom law stated that Quibs should be considered by all to be dangerous pests that should be killed or avoided completely.
Stan continued: "Also there was another creature amongst them. This again me and Bill did not know what it was, only when we reported back our findings and gave the description to Dermatease did he recognize it as a Delvock".
This time it was Haurick's turn to interrupt. "A Delvock, pray you be joking. Delvock's, why there only known to me to be lone hunters that live in the hotter lands of the Kingdom. Such as the city that I come from.
We get the odd Delvock now and again that comes into the outskirts of Morphren and causes chaos. There huge beasts, believe me if there's a Delvock out there.......well all I know is that whenever we had to slay one while I worked in the Morphren guards it took a lot of men to kill it. Besides their only semi-intelligent, a bit smarter than a flea bitten dog. He said with a hard sneer. Then continued: There also mean and evil bastards that kill not only for food but out of fun. In my time I have never known a Delvock team up with anything, not even another Delvock".
"Well this one has", said Dermatease. "And it is because of the last thing that Bill and Stan saw that it has done this. Bill perhaps you would like to explain what you saw come out of the tent".
All eyes at the table turned to Bill who gulped nervously before saying: "It was nothing spectacular, only a man. He had on his arm a large black raven and he wore a robe cut from what I guess must be the finest silks".
"Tell them of the color of the robe Bill", said Dermatease his eyes suddenly flashing towards Bill who looked a little uncomfortable as he addressed the group. "I think one member of our crew here might recognize it".
"Right, well it was many colors tell the truth". Bill stopped a moment to think before saying: "It was striped like…erm…red, blue, green, all the colors of the rainbow was in that robe".
Abe, a young dark skinned man with the same build as Calin gave a low groan. "A rainbow-mage from the island of Termatrap", he said with an accent not of the Kingdom. "I wizard. I knows of their kind. They only recruit the most evil and intelligent minds when looking for new rainbow-mages to teach there evil craft too. They are known
to travel the world of Oldabrock in there search of new blood. They also recruit other evil beings as there servants using magic. If it's a rainbow-mage were up against then we do indeed have our work cut out".
"This is how he has a Delvock fighting for him", said Dermatease to Haurick. "It is not unusual for a wizard to charm some creature of great strength into his service. In my time I've known of many wizards that have done such things. I've known wizards in the company of mighty Corgriadons or flying Matra-nogs. I even recall that the mighty Saprotinease (the kings very own wizard) charmed a female Drolk to guard the kings treasure chamber.
“Anyway enough chat, that is your task to kill all of these denizens. You now know of the task involved, any of you wishing to back out say so now".
The warriors muttered amongst each other, only the two blood brothers remained silent. The fact that a mighty wizard had entered into there task brought doubt amongst the warriors. Magic was perhaps the only thing that these men truly feared.
"What of the wizard’s magic", said Mulk. "I have my stone but the rest of the men are powerless against it. Will you use your magic to stop the magician".
"I will, you have my word on that. Though I will not be able to make the trip to the lake to fight with you. I am old and my travelling days are long gone. That said I will do what I can from here and although I will not be able to stop the wizard I should be able to weaken some of his magic in certain ways. Wi
th only seven of you to protect I should be able to give him a hard time in most of his spell casting".
After several more minutes of talking and taking into consideration what Dermatease had just said they all agreed that for the money on offer the risk should be worth it.
"Good then", said Dermatease when all of the men had agreed to go. "Then tonight you will rest for tomorrow you will set off to rid this island once and for all of the evil that plagues it. One more thing you all should know. Bill and Stan where spotted by the mage, he had let his raven fly into the sky and I guess that it was this creature that had spotted them. Some of the Quibs gave chase but the distance between them was too great and the pair got away before they could catch them. It does mean one thing though, the mage knows that someone knows of his presence and I also suspect that he will have sensed my magic. So be warned, he might be ready for you when you come".
The rest of the night was spent planning for tomorrows attack. Bill and Stan drew a crude drawing of what they could remember of the tent and it's surroundings. During this time each got to learn of the histories of the other men they did not know of.
Throughout the night Calin learnt Bill and Stan where two guards employed to keep order in Pagzuire. None had seen much action and he guessed these to be the least useful members of the squad. "No doubt Dermatease has promised them a share in the gold when he asked them to spy on this rainbow-mages camp. I thought that at the interviews there were other men that looked more suitable for a good scrap than these two", he thought to himself.
Croll was a mercenary like Calin who had become bored of his life as a soldier and sought other adventures to quicken the amount of gold to fill his pockets.
Abe was from a small southern island called Bellmearto that Calin had never heard of. He was a warrior from a small tribe who had sworn an oath to fight evil and undo wrongs throughout the world of Oldabrock. After travelling to the Kingdom he had been seduced by the quality of living and the many different ways of spending good, hard earned money. He decided at that point in his life that he would become more than a simple man on some empty quest gaining nothing but handshakes and thanks but instead a mercenary, still helping those in distress, but for a small price...Gold.