East of Nowhere Part 6- Meeting in the Sacred Hills

Around 2:00 pm, Sasha and Winter make it to Sacred Hills. It’s a town a little bigger than Hartford. It has a bunch of houses, two inns, and many kinds of different shops to choose from. It’s also nestled inside a valley between two hills, that’s littered with multiple caves big and small. The two women come to a cross section in the town with two dirt roads leading in different directions. “So which way do we go now?” says Sasha. “Well let’s just pick one and see where it leads.” Says Winter, as they choose the left path and start to head down it. They pass a couple shops and come upon the inn called The Broken Antler and decide to stay there for the night, so they can start out early in the morning. There is another notice board in front of this inn, just like the last one. Sasha stops and looks at it for a moment, a notice that was posted piqued her interest.

The notice said Calling all Dragon Hunters- We’re hunting The Ruined Ice Princess. (Either professional or amateur. This dragon out here has been kidnapping and killing villagers. Many teams have gone up against this dragon, and only few have returned. It can shape change, and turn into a hybrid, though there are some characteristics that it is still a dragon in human shape (eye iris shape, or nails, or dragon scales as tattoos.) The women both give each other a short glance and Sasha asks” Should we still do it”, Winter nods her head in agreement and they turn and walk into the inn. As they walk through the entrance, their nostrils are greeted by the smell of smoke, sizzling meat and mead.

Even though it looks cheaper than most, it has a somewhat comfortable feel to it, the tables are organized for the right amount of people, there is laughter and conversation through the inn, there is a huge fire roaring in the fireplace near the Bar. It’s loud and boisterous and just the kind of place Sasha likes. There are multiple tables to choose from, Sasha chooses one that’s right in the middle of the room, so she can see the door. She hands Winter some coins and she goes and gets some food and beer for them. After a few minutes of waiting, she’s handed the food by the innkeeper and then she walks back to the table to Sasha.

On the way back to the table Winter sees a man sitting at the table next to theirs. He has medium length shaggy brown hair, he had a thick blackish/brown beard and he was tall, maybe 6’3” or so, and very muscular with huge broad shoulders. He was wearing a black cloak, red and black kilt that had an armored belt on it and an armored red sash going from right shoulder to left hip. There were black leather gloves with armor on the knuckles sitting on the table near his plate. He had thick boots on and a double-bladed axe strapped to his back. He was drinking heavily from a beer mug. Multiple empty ones were cluttering the table. He was handsome though, in a rugged way, even though he was drunk as a skunk and getting drunker with every sip.

Winter passes him, and sits down at the table with Sasha and starts talking about the dragon flyer they saw on the notice board outside. “Let’s do this Ruined Ice Princess notice, it sounds interesting and there is a pretty good bounty on it (20,000 coin). I’m sure we’ll be able to beat it, we just have to find another dragon hunter, or at least someone who has seen it in person.” The man next to them leans over and says drunkenly while slurring his words “I’m Gerald. I’m an adventurer and dragon slayer. I was in one of the last groups to fight the dragon, and I’m the only one left. I was in a guild of 12 men, I was the only player in our group that wasn’t an npc, but that was never a problem before, we had dealt with many dragons in the past. We always had a plan and if anyone was seriously hurt our healers could handle it, and I always said to not worry about me so much because I could revive, but my friends couldn’t. I was considered a tank basically, I was always jumping into battle to protect my friends.

I can handle massive damage and deal out even more with my axe. There were three healers and clerics in the guild, who were amazing at long range attacks.