Looting from looters, 100 years of pardon

The map on top of the table was a seemingly perfect representation of Springfield; it was big enough to give accurate details of the city and to also have space for some written annotations on it. John couldn’t take his eyes off it; he easily found the spot where his house was located and then his school. He was surprised to find some writings around the academy’s location; they were written in no language or symbols that John could identify.

John located other places on the map with the same style of writing around them; one of them looked like a big manor and the writing was in red and circulating it. Most of it, though, was on the edges of the map.

His best option was to cast observe on the map.

Learn the contents from the map? Warning, this action will consume the map.
YES | NO

The warning served as a reminder to John, so he selected NO. “Damn, I can’t figure out what these writings mean. What symbols are these?”

“It’s Undercommon,” Aza answered him as she climbed a stool to get a better view of it. “It’s a common language from the Underdark.”

“Can you read it?” a hopeful John asked her.

“I can make out some of it.” She pointed at the spot on the map that John believed to be a manor, “This one in red means: Warning! GRO Manor, if you value your life, stay away.”

She could also read John’s school name but not much of the writing around it; the most significant word she could identify was that of “witch”. As for the other places on the map that had writings on them, she said they were mostly houses and it said who lived in them.

John wanted to learn more, but since the Bauchans were still **** and there was no evidence they’d comply to give him any useful information about the map, he rolled it up and stored it. From what Aza had translated to him, he had a feeling that it had exactly the kind of information that his teacher had sent him to acquire. She’d probably be able to read the rest of it.

They exited the leader’s tent and headed towards the one the Bauchans used for storage which John had found earlier. After getting a bit of payback with the Bauchans, his Kobold partner was itching to find the equipment that they had stolen from her.

“Hey, that’s my gear,” Aza exclaimed seconds after entering the tent; she ran towards the equipment storage area of it. She surprised John when she quickly took off the shirt she was wearing.

The Gamer had trouble controlling his eyes as they darted towards her shapely ass when she turned her back to him and started to put on her pants; even though her tail partially obscured the view, whatever was visible was enough to bring him up to full attention. Until that point, it had never occurred to him just how sexy such a diminutive creature could be. Now, as his eyes followed the bouncing motion of the derriere as it entered its prison, John discovered a newfound hate for the piece of clothing.

Aza quickly finished putting on the rest of her gear and turned around to present herself in full battle gear to the one who had helped her; she was overjoyed to retrieve all of it and that everything seemed to be in order. She smiled at him when she noticed his gaze still in the direction he had since she was turned away from him.

“Down, Gamer,” she chuckled not losing the opportunity to make fun of him. “We don’t have time to become intimate, yet.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it,” John blushed as he tried to conceal his hardon with his hands and to mentally bring it down.

“Relax, I am only messing with you,” Aza smiled at him. “Besides, I am already taken, well, almost; long story and we don’t have time for it. Still, I am flattered at how you feel about me without anything on, but I was wondering what you think about me with my full gear.”

“It looks amazing,” John told her as he surveyed what she had on. Apart from her pants, she wore shin guards on her lower half; a dark grey leotard covered her torso. Its material looked more protective than any normal fabric, and it continued up to her left right arm, where she wore a completely plated gauntlet that ended on its metallic claws that covered her real ones. Finally, she held a scythe with both her hands. John couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous; it also reminded him just how inadequate his equipment was.

“Thank you,” answered the exhilarated Kobold. “I am just so happy to have this back,” she said as she practiced some swings with her weapon; even in the small space that they were in, John noticed that each movement seemed to be precise. “My uncle gave me this weapon, he called it The Pigeon Claw. He told me it was perfect for me because, like the bird, I too am very underestimated.”

While watching her take a few more swings, John began to wonder just how strong she was. It was true that her small stature would have made any of her opponents underestimate her, but looking at her now and just how well she brandished her weapon, he realized that she was quite skilled. Even though she defeated her Bauchan opponent much quicker than he expected, only now did John look at her as more of a helpful partner in this quest rather than a mere tag-along who he had to keep safe. Mrs. Wentworth was right, I have a lot to learn.

“Speaking of gear, you need better equipment. Let me see, you are a dual wielder,” Aza pondered as she turned and searched the horde of things stacked all around them. She picked up two short swords and handed them to him. “Here, these are of far better quality than what you have. Hmm, what else? ...Armor!”

Watching her dig through the pile around them, John was too rattled to even look at the weapons she had handed to him. He just stored the swords in his inventory, just like the times when his mother took him out to buy him clothes and he would just pile them up not taking notice of them as she handed to him the many possible choices for him to try.

“These are too small for you,” Aza said after leaving one pile to search through another. “Damn, these might be too tight. Let’s make sure, try these two, please.”

John automatically did as she asked, but as she had guessed both were a bit tight around his chest. As he took them off, he stored them in his inventory like he did with the swords.

“Well, unfortunately, that’s all they’ve got; maybe Robert will have something for you,” the Kobold told him as she gave up looking for others for him to try. “Is there anything else we need before we leave?”

“Yes, I need to find a sword and a ring that Robert told me to retrieve in order to pay for the ale,” John answered while he started searching for them.

The claymore was quite easy to find since it was the biggest sword there. It looked quite old and had evident signs of its use in battle, quite typical of a cherished family heirloom. Still, John wanted to be sure that it was the correct sword, so he cast observe on it.

After confirming it was the right sword, John picked it up. Damn, this thing is heavy, John thought, but he still took a few swings with it and then stored it in his inventory.

The MacDonald’s clan signet ring was harder to find; there was a pile of rings and he searched through it while using observe. Luckily, most of the rings weren’t made of gold and he found the right one halfway through the pile. By the pile, he also found the necklace the Bauchan leader had used during the ambush.

“I think you should take this,” John said while handing the necklace to Aza. “You might need to use it, and at least you’ll be able to replace the one that was broken.”

“Thank you, Gamer,” Aza told him as she pocketed the necklace, she only needed to wear it once they reached the road back to the city.

“I guess we’re done here, we can’t take everything. You’ve got everything you needed?” He asked Aza.

“Yeap, let’s get out of here.”

After leaving the camp through the archway, John and Aza followed the path back to the truck; from there they’d follow the road back to the city. Even though they dreaded the walk back to Aviemore, it still was preferable to do it while the sun was out and the Bauchans were still asleep.

The two were quiet during most of the trek through the woods. Before they reached the road, they were surrounded by hooded figures; not knowing their intent, John reacted by equipping his weapons.

“There ya are!” John heard a now familiar voice. “We’ve been looking all over for ya.”

“Hey, Robert,” John was relieved to see the Scot and stored his swords.

“What happened? All that Mark told me was that you were ambushed,” Robert asked the two.

“Can we tell you on the way back to the inn, Robert?” John asked wanting to be as far away from the camp as possible. “We’ve just escaped from the Bauchan’s camp, we are quite tired.”

“Wait, ya have found its entrance? Did ya learn how to get in?” one of the hooded figures asked John.

“John, this is my cousin, Andrew,” Robert made the introduction. “He’s in charge of keeping the peace of this region, ya can trust him.”

“Yes, we have discovered its entrance and how to get in,” John answered and then proceeded to tell him how to get there and how to enter. He had to remove the runestone from the flask so they could use it. He did not tell them about Aza being kidnaped and their confrontation with the Bauchans. “When we left their camp, the Bauchans were still knocked out, so they shouldn’t give you any problems.”

“Thank ya, lad, because of ya, we can finally get rid of them.” Andrew shook John’s hand after taking the rune from him. “I’ll give this back to ya after we’re done. Come, men, we don't have much time to lose.” He quickly disappeared with his companions right behind him.