Our two-day trip to Ravenwhick, capital of Barrenfall, was quite uneventful, with the exception of Leo claiming to spot a flying castle during the middle of the night, while he was on watch. Also, suddenly, a flying, black cat appeared, as if from nowhere, and now will not leave his side. But aside from that, we reached Ravenwhick without incident, arriving just before dusk.
Ravenwhick is a city of four quarters, built upon four islands in the middle of a wide river. The palace, home of the ruler, is in the Raven Quarter, smallest of the four, just north of the Temple Quarter, home to all the temples, naturally. The Merchant Quarter resides on the centre island, and finally, the Common Quarter, largest of the four, is to the west. Upon arriving, this is where we headed.
Leo, this being his home town, led us to an inn he knew of, allegedly home to the world’s best shepherd’s pies. Even though they weren’t made of real shepherds, they weren’t bad. I also bought a bottle of the strongest alcohol they had, a good dwarven mead. Within three shots, all of us but Aelin were out like a light. Upon waking, I retrieved my half-empty bottle. This will become relevant later.
The following morning, we sold our loot for a tidy sum, before making our way to another of Leo’s contacts, a gnome called Gurville, proprietor of an enchanter’s shop. We dealt with him, buying or arranging to buy certain enchanted goods. Once our business was concluded, we travelled to the Merchant Quarter, to the Gauntlet.
The Gauntlet is a large arena where combatants enter and fight through three rounds of progressively more dangerous beasts. Everybody else gets to watch and bet on the winner. Of course, we signed up to fight.
Entering the Gauntlet as ‘Spoon and the Pretenders’ (my suggestion, I’m surprised I didn’t run into more resistance) our first fight was against a pack of two-headed dogs. It was textbook. There were four twenty-foot pillars in the middle of the arena, so I climbed up onto one as a good perch for archery. Leo kept out of the way, and the two barbarians faced two dogs each, with Gad sitting pretty between them. We turned them into dog food with little effort.
Only given ten minutes between rounds, we couldn’t quite buff ourselves back to our most effective, but we had anticipated this, so we still entered the second fight more or less at full capacity. As we awaited our new opponents, I resumed my perch.
With a hoot-growl, a pair of owlbears came barrelling into the arena. I was the quickest to react, and standing on my safe perch as I was, I decided to do the only sensible thing I could think of. So as one of the owlbears came rushing past my pillar, I jumped onto its back.
It went well at first. I got a good grip on its feathers and threw a helluva punch into its neck. But then it flung me off and practically disembowelled me with one swipe of its claws. I blacked out. Only moments later, I heard Gad’s voice in the dark, and I awoke, feeling much the worse for wear. Hector and Aelin were off fighting the other owlbear, Leo had backed well away, and I could just see Gad’s shell poking out from the far side of the pillar. And the owlbear was still standing over me.
Flipping to my feet, I slashed at the beast with my sword, following with a solid elbow to its ribs. In retaliation, it snapped at me with its beak, then swatted me back to the ground with barely an ounce of effort.
The next time I came to, Gad was standing over me, the warm glow of radiant light just fading from his hands. Everyone else was just about where they had been moments before, except for my owlbear, which was now looming over Leo. I charged towards it, taking a shot with my bow as I ran. Before I reached it, Hector, he and Aelin having dealt with the other one, came rushing in with a solid hit. I got to it and struck it twice, before Aelin finished it with a well-flung trident. While the others celebrated their victory and did their best to excite the crowd, I took a single feather from the beast that had nearly killed me. Twice.
We were definitely feeling the beating that we had been put through thus far as we waited through our last ten-minute break. Gad used the rest of his magic to heal us as best he could, and I tried to inspire my comrades to fight at their best for this final round. Then we were back out.
I climbed back onto the pillar, this time resolving not to jump off it, no matter what came out to face us. A moment later, the announcer introduced the reigning champion of the Gauntlet. Loping out through the gates came a tall, hideous troll.
Once again, I was quickest to react, this time just sending an arrow into its shoulder. Leo got a hit in with his arcane blasts. Then it was on my companions.
The troll barrelled into the midst of Aelin, Hector and Gad, taking a swipe at each of them. Gad was badly wounded, so he backed away as far as he could while the others started hacking at the beast. The fight continued in such a manner, with the five of us hitting it with everything we had left while its mighty blows rained down on Aelin and Hector.
Eventually, its strikes knocked out Aelin, so I leapt from my perch to take her place. No matter what we were throwing at the beast, though, nothing was doing the work it needed to. We could see it was regenerating, but had no answers.
Luckily, Leo came through. He suddenly remembered that trolls could only be killed by fire or acid. Gad came in to join us up close, using his magic to coat his claws with acid. Hector and Aelin, who managed to come to on her own, pulled out torches, lighting the creature and setting its blood aflame. And I, who had by this time also been walloped by it quite heavily, pulled out my bottle of mead and sprayed it across the fiend, engorging the flames upon it. I gave it a punch for good measure, and Leo blasted it one last time, taking its arm off. It still stood, but as it reached back to make another attack, it crumpled to the ground.
Victory was ours. The onlookers roared and stamped their feet in approval. We allowed ourselves a moment, as beaten and bloodied as we were, to bask in their adulation.
Winning afforded us a hefty sum, so on the way back to the inn we passed by Gurville’s to do a little more business (where I purchased an incredible lute for myself). As we left the Gauntlet, however, we were accosted by Rain, a water genasi and member of the Bloodhounds, an organisation of monster hunters. She was interested in possibly recruiting us, so we agreed to meet her for dinner to discuss matters.
Back at the inn, we took some time to relax before our dinner appointment with Rain. We discussed what working for the Bloodhounds would entail, and agreed to a trial contract, accompanying her into the sewers of the city to track down a creature that sounded suspiciously like it was related to the black water and the otherworldly happenings that we had been experiencing of late. And then we finally got to imbibe in our much-needed rest, recharging ourselves for what tomorrow will bring.