Traudl Quest: Part 2

Traudl continues her quest in the mysterious land to find her friend’s husband, and grind out some XP and GP so she can get the best weapons and armor.

Traudl had barely left the borders of town when a goblin suddenly appeared before her. It was simultaneously more menacing and more adorable than any goblin she’d encountered before. It was mean, in the way that might frighten a child, but not too mean that it might give said child a nightmare.

Traudl knew a goblin dialect and tried her luck that the other people of this land hadn’t been affected by the spell. But it was no use. The goblin didn’t respond.

The two stood in silence for a minute, until finally the Goblin lashed out and hit Traudl with his dagger. The blade hit Traudl in the stomach, and it hurt, but she did not bleed from the wound.

“Hey, that’s not nice!” Traudl yelled, then smacked the Goblin on the top of the head. He stumbled briefly, but came back and stabbed her again.

“Stop it!” she shouted, as she punched him in the nose. This time the Goblin fell over and then vanished into the tall grass. Traudl cautiously tip-toed forward to where the Goblin fell, but didn’t see him anymore, just a small pile of gold pieces.

Traudl picked up the gold pieces and frowned. “Why did he attack me? Maybe the spell works differently on Goblins?”

She looked down at where the Goblin had stabbed her. She still wasn’t bleeding, but felt fatigued none the less.

“Maybe I should buy something to protect myself if Goblins are going to try to turn me into a pin cushion.”

She headed back to the town and walked into the weapons and armor shop.

“I deal in weapons and armor, would you like to see my wares?” he said.

“Yes, I was attacked by—”

Before she could finish her request, the merchant threw a list in front of Traudl with names of weapons and prices on them. Traudl noticed the sword was one hundred and fifty gold pieces, but she only had one hundred and three now. The next most expensive thing was a club, which sold for sixty gold.

“Can I have a club?” she asked.

“Ah, the club, a fine choice.” He said as he put the club out on the counter.

Traudl counted out the money, handed it over, and then picked up the club. She expected it to be very heavy, but it was well weighted, and just her size. She figured they must have a lot of halfling warriors come to this village, though she had only seen humans and a goblin since she arrived.

Pleased she was now well armed for her trip north, Traudl headed out of town again. She hadn’t gotten far when the exact same goblin showed up again. Traudl could only assume she had maybe knocked him out before… and then he cast an invisibility spell on himself… and then left her some money. There was no point in trying to rationalize anything, so she attempted diplomacy.

“Are you going to attack me again?” she asked, but as her last words finished, her question was answered. He struck out, but this time Traudl was quick enough to move out of the way.

Traudl responded in kind by smashing the goblin on the head with the club. This time he fell with only one hit and disappeared, leaving only a few gold pieces behind.

Traudl continued aimlessly north. She had no map of the land, and only a vague notion of which way was north, since the sun always appeared to be in the middle of the sky. Fearing she might get lost, Traudl began to make a map of her travels. By noting landmarks she was certain not to lose track of direction.

From where she stood, the Castle of Ailehan was straight to the south and the forest just beyond that. To her east was an ocean, more blue and perfect than she had ever seen in her life. The water extended south and north as far as she could see, though in the distance to the northeast she spotted an ominous looking island. To the west was a mountain range with perfectly shaped snowcapped peaks, if her memory served her correctly, there was a river that ran from that range just west of the forest. The mountain range seemed to go on for only a short distance before giving way to the grassy plains she traveled on now. To the north the grasslands went on and on as far as the horizon, only broken to the east and west by ocean and mountains.

As she continued on, she kept getting attacked. First it was only the goblin with a green hat, then a goblin with a red hat started showing up too, then a scary ghost, a wolf, and then a giant spider. They all seemed to appear with no warning. The further she moved north, the stronger the creatures got. Soon she found that it took four or five hits to defeat them. Worse yet, she was feeling weaker the more she got hit, though she could see no blood or visible wounds. On the bright side, her supply of gold continued to rise. By now she had almost five hundred gold pieces.

It wasn’t clear how long she had been traveling, as the sun had yet to move, but she could see a town just off the horizon to the north and the ocean beyond that. The mountain range to the west had given way to perfectly round hills, which were bordered to the north by the ocean to the south by a big lake. A river ran south from the big lake, and seemed to follow a small patch of grassland, that led deeper into the mountain range. Traudl surmised this was the river that ran through the mountain range and came out the south side of the forest.

Not more than ten steps outside of her northern destination, the wizard showed up in front of her. Traudl had encountered him a few times earlier, though she had trouble defeating him each time.

Just like the others, he came without warning. Traudl struck him with her club, but he did not fall. He struck out with his staff, but Traudl moved. She hit him again, but he didn’t falter. Suddenly he waved his hands in the air and a bolt of lightning came out, hitting Traudl square in the chest. She staggered a bit then fell over and the world went black.

When Traudl awoke she was in the castle of Ailehan again. She had no recollection of how she had gotten there. Her eyes had not been open for more than a second when the king spoke.

“Pity that so noble a warrior should fall in combat. Fear not, Traudl, for you have been revived and may fight again. Fare thee well, Traudl!  May the light of the gods shine upon you!”

Traudl slowly rose to her feet and noticed her club and backpack were there. She looked in the bag, but was horrified to see that half of her money was gone. “Where’s my money?” she demanded, but as always, no one answered.

Fearing she would get no answer from the people, she wandered out into the castle to the weapons and armor dealer. With her money she bought the sword she wanted, a leather cap with a feather in it, and some leather armor. Just like the club, everything was her size and fit perfectly. When all was purchased, including selling her old club back, Traudl had only twenty gold left over.

While wandering around, checking to see how well the new armor fit, Traudl found another shop that had a potion bottle for a sign out in front. No different from the rest the man shouted out, “I deal in items, would you like to see my wares?”

By now Traudl had learned while dealing with the weapons and armor man that she needed to say specific words to get a response. It seemed that merchants were somehow impervious to the full effects of the “one-way-talk” spell, as they could understand some words. If she said “no” he would give up and stop trying to sell her something. Even if she said, “know” he heard “no” and would give up.

“Yes.” Traudl said.

And just like the weapon man, he unveiled a list of things he sold. There were a half a dozen items on the list, but Traudl had no idea what any of them did. The only one that stood out was the Healing Potion.

“Will this help me if too many monsters hit me?” she asked.

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, she got no response. It was only fifteen gold, so she threw caution to the wind and purchased it.

“Will there be anything else?” the man asked.

“I would buy more if I knew what all the things did. Do you have any books back there that I can read that might help me?”

She tried to climb the counter, but found there was a strange force at work. For whatever reason she could not make it over the counter. Climbing or jumping, it did not matter. It was as if a mysterious magic barrier prevented her from entering the shop. More strangely was the fact that the shop had no entrance other than over the counter.

“How do you get out to go home?” she asked, huffing and puffing after several failed attempts to jump the counter.

Naturally he never responded. Traudl put the new potion in her backpack and left town.

The trip north was much easier this time. None of the previous monsters were a match for her with her new sword and armor. Even the wizard fell quickly to her superior blade.

Finally, she made it to the oceanfront town of Thalengarde. It had the same properties as Ailehan. The town looked strangely plain, with all the buildings having a similar design and no flaws from age or weather.

Hoping that Mozebarr’s spell had not reached this far, Traudl ran to the nearest man, who looked very much like all of the men in Ailehan.

She was thwarted. The “one-way-talk” spell was here too.

“Only Porzoin has flower seeds.” He said.

Traudl bowed her head and instinctively walked up to a woman not far away.

“Head south until you see the hills, then head west. Porzoin is just beyond the hills.” She said.

Traudl wandered around and found another weapons and armor shop in this town too, but was saving the money she earned on the way for buying passage on the boat. Finally after listening to a few people, she heard someone say that the great ship builder, Lindin, lived in a house on the north side of town. Traudl rushed to Lindin’s house.

Around his house were patches of dirt, that looked like there should be a garden there, but nothing was growing. Inside she found Lindin, who looked like all the merchants to her, sitting at a table and a woman lying on a bed in the corner.

“I can’t build you a ship.” He said without Traudl even asking him about ships. “My wife loves to garden, but there are no flower seeds left in town. Until she gets her flower seeds I can’t help you.”

It took Traudl a moment to process what he had said, because it was bananas. “I don’t need a new ship. I just want to go east to find the wizard man who makes everyone forget how to speak.”

The man said nothing.

“How come you can’t build a ship while your wife is sad?” Traudl said as she walked across the room to the woman lying on the bed. Traudl assumed this was Lindin’s wife, though she looked like every other woman Traudl had seen.

As soon as Traudl got close the woman began crying. As she stepped back, the woman stopped.

Traudl bowed her head. “Fine, I’ll go to Porzoin to get flower seeds for the ship man’s wife. Then you’ll build me a ship, okay?”

Before leaving for Porzoin, Traudl visited the weapons and armor shop. She purchased a battleaxe, a most peculiar weapon for such a little person, but it was just her size and wasn’t cumbersome at all. She also bought an iron shield and an iron helmet. There was a suit of half-plate armor there too, but Traudl was short on gold.

How long had Traudl been in this land? She hadn’t slept since she arrived, apart from blacking out after the wizard zapped her. The sun had never moved. But worse, the longer she wandered around, the less sense she had of the passage of time. And this meant the less urgency she felt to stop the wizard, or find Sylva’s husband. Was the magic of this land starting to affect her too?

Trauld pushed any such thoughts from her mind, as she embarked on a quest, not to head to Porzoin, but to battle the local monsters until she had enough money to afford the half-plate armor.