Four foxes sat around a campfire, roasting something on a spit and drinking from goblets as the sun dipped low beneath the far off Northymbrian Hills in an orange sheen. A fifth rolled , turned and tossed under a blanket in an open fronted tent facing the fire. They had not adjourned to the nearest inn, as was their plan, but sat under the sunset and the first few twinkling stars in the distance.
"Will she be alright?" The fox rogue looked up from his tankard, wiping away a few flecks of froth from his whiskers.
"Who knows?" The knight looked up, and returned his eyes to where he was polishing dents and scratches out of his armour. "My sister is a little delicate, but after what she suffered with the Necromancers though, she should pull through this."
"Taking on three fully armoured badgers, whose brilliant idea was that?" the archeress grinned wickedly as she turned some meat on the spit between cleaning arrowheads.
"I had been tracking their leader for days," the Rogue muttered, pouring a top up to his brew,"the first time he was on his own in all that time, we knew the risks, they out-weighed the price on his head."
"He was patrolling the town square, worth getting at him from all sides." The fourth fox, a warrior in heavy armour, carefully cut a notch into his spear shaft, nodded, "The sun in his eyes, we thought we could sneak up on him."
"Five-on-one, should have been good odds in our favour for a quick job, a fine kill and a handsome pay packet." The huntress looked around the foxes, and shrugged.
"I was moving as fast as I could to get to him," the Rogue noted cheerfully, "he kept moving away from me!"
The Warrior twisted the meat, licking his lips as the fat and gravy fell spitting on the fire. "He fell back behind the cottage, but that was into range of your bodkins," he winked at the Archeress.
"I know I only winged him, yet he looked to be in a lot more pain than that." The archeress mused.
"That's because someone cast a pain spell on him from afar." The knight smiled from his rug. His armour was soon regaining the sheen he was used to.
"All five of us were closing fast," the Knight continued, "we were hoping to get to him quickly, as time was limited." He picked up a huge battleaxe, cleaning the blade.
The rogue looked into the tent, the stirring had stopped, "Pity his mate decided to show up, crossbows are definitely not good for her weakened constitution," pointing a thumb at the Mage and cocking a whisker. "Straight into her back, she was out, cold. Thought she was a gonna"
"The third badger arrived, must have heard her yell. They're all so heavily armoured and nasty." The archeress moaned, "Could not get a decent shot in on him, arrows were basically bouncing off him."
"Yeah, and no way were we going to clear all three out before our time ran out and the watch piled in, too, too tough," the warrior complained.
"It took such a long time to get their boss down, they're so tough, most of us were bricking it every time they swung at us. Meant all four of us were only hitting him for a few scratches at a time through that armour and shield of his. Finally, he went down like a sack!" The Knight groaned, hefting the axe and putting it aside carefully, a treasured possession. "Thank you for your healing potions all, they and my armour really only kept me from going the same way."
"I cannot believe the badger's archer tried rifling her pockets, our Mage only had a few spare pennies on her, never any good with money, more concerned with spell ingredients." The rogue thumbed towards the tent entrance, looked at the others, winked and took a long draught from his flagon.
"We almost got that second badger down, was not as tough as his boss" the warrior grinned. "Next time..."
In the depths of the tent, the mage stirred, sat up, yawned, and looked that the others, her heavily scarred face wrinkled and then sniffed as her keen nose picked up the smell of roasting meat. A half smile spread across her wrecked face.
"We did alright in the pay packet then," her voice a hoarse whisper.
"Yes sleepy-head, while you were dozing, we collected seven pennies over our encounter, sixteen from our Brother Warrior visiting the local gambling den, and a further sixteen pennies from a benefactor for putting the knife into the badger leader." The knight grinned at his sister, tossing a rather full purse in the air.
"You recovered quickly enough for someone who just played 'catch the crossbow bolt?" her brother enquired.
"You know, I feel better than I did before I took that bolt, with all those pennies jangling at your waist." she grinned at the others.
"I'll be moving quieter than that, I was blessed by the gods the forest grove" The knight walked around the fire without a sound.
"Better than I!" The Rogue laughed, "the monks at the chapel were so glad we shifted that badger, we have all been blessed".
"This will make you feel even better too, we picked up an arcane tome off a trader, no idea what's in it." The Warrior leaned over and handed the Mage a battered book, she opened it eagerly, flicking through the pages that started glowing, muttering words under her breath and smiling a sharp toothed smile.
"It's a light spell, completely away from my field of expertise, 'Hearts of Oak' an interesting spell that
will aid us greatly by cancelling the fear those badgers bring. It must have cost you a fortune."
"It only cost us 1 penny, as 8p was knocked off the price by that blackmarketteer I met who now owes us a favour or two." The archeress grinned. "Hoped you would like it!"
"I love it, it will be so useful," the Mage shot a smile back from her ravaged face.
"We also picked up, on our first attempt, a magical shield, It's rather scary, I must say!" The Rouge lifted the massive battle board and slipped it over his arm. "Now THAT cost a fair chunk of our gains, but we've still enough for many nights in good inns on our way to the north. A toast!"
"Here's to busy roads and many thieves on the way then, may their necks be soft!" They all toasted the air.
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