Chapter 108 - Banshee (Patreon)

Without wasting any time, Arien returned to the room and sat down on the stool. The man looked at him and frowned, though said nothing. He lasted three minutes.

"Boy, is that Healer coming back?"

"Later. For now, I'll be handling your treatment."

“Ahem." The man cleared his throat and looked at him skeptically. "As I was telling that woman, my condition is very complicated. If someone experienced doesn't handle it, I could die!"

"Mr...?" Arien sighed, looking at the Explorer expectantly.

"Sammy Trothson. Archer of the Iron Fists, Silver Ten of the Guild."

The warrior introduced himself while pulling himself higher onto the bed, straightening his spine proudly.

"Well then, Mr. Trothson. I assure you that you're in very good hands. My Master has decided that another Healer and I are sufficient for your treatment, though she'll be checking your progress periodically."

"That was your Master? Isn't she a little young for that position? The Explorers' Guild itself sent me here for treatment, expecting the highest standard of care. Don't you have someone older and more experienced?" The man scorned.

"No."

Arien answered curtly, suddenly understanding Lamaral's irritation much better. The man had ended up in one of the best infirmaries in the kingdom and apparently had no idea.

"There is no one in all of Wayhold more experienced than Master Lamaral when it comes to treating your condition. She's one of the finest Life Mages in the country. I would suggest showing her more respect in the future. The last time a Platinum-Ten Explorer was treated here, even he didn't dare question the Master’s abilities."

Arien had exaggerated that last story a little. He hadn't actually been present for the treatment, but he doubted it had gone any differently. Sammy grew increasingly quiet as Arien spoke. Then, to Arien's surprise, he closed his eyes and burst out laughing as he sank back against the pillow.

“That's me all right. My damn mouth. You'd think after all these years I'd have learned.” He shook his head. "Tell me, boy. How badly did I step in it?"

“Did you say anything about the Master’s age or appearance?” Arien asked. Despite everything, he felt a little sorry for the man. At least Sammy could admit he'd made a mistake, and the past few weeks couldn't have been pleasant.

“No. I only asked whether she'd ever treated curses this powerful. I mentioned that five years ago one of my companions was healed by the High Priest of Sul's Temple in Lindt.”

“Then I'd say you're only waist-deep.” Arien laughed. "Master Lamaral has treated sixth-tier curses. Yours is trivial to her. It's a challenge for me, sure, but also a great learning opportunity."

“Thanks, boy. I don't come to Wayhold often. Too many important people here who think living in the capital or being born into a wealthy family makes them bett—”

Sammy stopped and studied Arien.

“I mean...”

“Hard to disagree with that.” Arien smiled, keeping part of his attention on the spell still working through Sammy’s body. The man must have gotten himself into trouble countless times throughout his life if he spoke his mind so freely. “I'm originally from Three Meadows near Ribenne.”

Sammy visibly relaxed.

"Working as a Healer's assistant can't be too bad, eh? Good for you, making it this far."

"Actually, I'm a student here." Arien summoned a small fireball and made it circle above his head. "When I graduate from the Academy, I plan to take to the road and become an Explorer."

“Oh! Well, would you look at that!" The man nodded enthusiastically while staring at the floating fireball. "Wonderful, boy! A Healer and a Mage! And not one with a stick up his backside! If you're interested, ask around the Guild about the Iron Fists. We might find a place for you."

"I'll think about it. And if you don't mind me asking, how did you get cursed?"

"Want the short version or the long version?"

"The long version, obviously."

"That's my kind of lad!" The man roared with laughter and leaned forward to slap Arien on the back.

Arien disliked being touched, especially by men who had invested far too many points into Strength, but he said nothing. From the very beginning, he'd been curious about the Explorer's story. He rarely got the chance to hear firsthand accounts of battles against monsters.

“All right then...” Sammy frowned. “Where should I start?” He gave Arien a suspicious look. “You're sure you'll still be able to heal me while listening?”

“I'm talking to you right now and still fighting the curse.”

“Really? I thought you had to stay perfectly focused or something.” Sammy shrugged. “Ah, whatever. You want a story, right? Satri usually handles the talking and recruitment for our Ten, but old Uncle Sammy can spin a tale or two as well.”

He settled back against the bed.

“It all started when we were in Lysmere. I assume you know where that is?”

“Best fish in the kingdom. And it's big enough to host a Guild headquarters.”

“Exactly. We'd been lingering there after our last job when a royal contract landed in our laps.”

“A royal contract?”

“Ah, right. You probably don't know what that means. When you're part of the Guild, you can normally take whatever jobs you qualify for. But every now and then you have to fulfill your patrio... patriot...”

He frowned.

“You know. Your duty to the King. Those jobs rarely pay particularly well and are never pleasant, especially since you can get assigned one even when your Ten isn't suited for dungeon crawling or labyrinths. You know what I mean?”

“The composition of the Ten isn't suited to that type of environment or monster,” Arien supplied.

“Yeah, exactly. Whatever you said. Looks like they teach you people how to sound smart around here.”

Sammy chuckled.

“So we get the assignment. Where? The Wastelands. Against what? Probably undead. Couldn't have been worse luck. Some villages had gone silent, and a merchant claimed he'd seen zombies.”

Arien frowned. "I thought there weren't any villages in the Wastelands.” 

As far as he knew, the Wastelands, or the Lost Provinces, were overrun with monsters and had been uninhabited for centuries.

“There shouldn't be,” Sammy grunted. “But you know how it is. More people every year, but no new land. For years the King has been granting plots near the Wastelands, and fools, tempted by tax exemptions and freedom from labor obligations, keep rushing out there to build settlements. The army is supposed to protect them, but you can imagine how well that works. You can't guard every little village.”

"True enough," Arien muttered.

"So the Guild orders us to go, and we don't really have a choice. At least they assigned a priestess from the Temple of Sul to accompany us. That was one upside."

“A priestess?”

“Apparently they don't teach you everything here. They're useful against undead. Emzelia was what she insisted on being called, she joined us as we were leaving the city.”

Sammy shook his head.

“And you know how priestesses are.”

“I don't.”

“Ah, boy. They really don't teach you the important things here. Priestesses assigned to thankless jobs like ours are often fourth daughters or later, the ones their families don't know what to do with. So they send them to a temple, where they learn to read, write, recite prayers, and are told what special servants of the gods they are. Then it all goes to their heads. They become even harder to deal with than noblewomen. Because you see, a noblewoman will just sniff disdainfully and pretend you don't exist.”

He snorted.

“Emzelia complained about everything. The wagon shook too much, the food was terrible, the nights were cold, her clothes were wet. By the third day, everyone wanted to leave her by the roadside. But we didn't know what was waiting in that village, so we put up with her.”

"I still don't really understand how a priestess would help. Aren't they just there to pray and perform ceremonies?" Arien asked.

Sammy laughed. “Just remember never to say that around priests or monks. In their opinion, they're the ones single-handedly preventing the world from being overrun by the Abyss. But they do have some useful powers, and followers of Sul are especially good against undead. A Wraith jumps out at you, and either you burn it with magic or waste special arrows on it. Those arrows can cost more than the entire reward from some jobs. But if you've got a cleric along, they can perform exorcisms and use all sorts of holy spells.”

After a brief pause, he continued.

“It took us more than a week to reach the area, and the closer we got, the less useful the stories became. Villagers talked about Liches, Dragons, and every horror imaginable. As if a Dragon had nothing better to do than occupy some backwater village.”

Sammy scratched his chin.

“Millhaven. That was the place. Dusk was already falling when we reached it, so we pulled back to another settlement nearby. No point fighting undead at night like idiots.

“The next morning it was raining. Nothing serious yet, but it looked ready to get worse. We left the wagon behind because if the road turned to mud and we needed to run, we'd lose it anyway. 

“I was mostly worried about my bow and arrows. Sure, I'd used all sorts of magical preservatives and protective treatments on them. But somehow those things only seemed to work worse whenever an actual fight started.

“We reached Millhaven before noon. The village was like every other village in the Wastelands. Eight houses, maybe. A wooden palisade around the whole thing. The only unusual thing was the mill outside the wall, protected by the palisade from one direction and a small river from the other. Probably the only reason anyone bothered sending us there in the first place.

“As we approached, Emzelia started shouting that she could sense unclean forces, which was impressive considering the zombies shambling around were visible from a mile away.” Sammy grinned. “We moved toward the open gate in formation. A few zombies charged us, but Kurt and Teris cut them apart without much trouble.”

“They're that weak?”

“Depends who's fighting them. Against a Silver Ten during daylight? A few zombies aren't much of a threat. They're strong, but slow, and smashing the brain puts them down. The real problem is when there's a whole horde. Especially if you're trapped underground or inside a building.

“We searched the houses one by one. Most contained nothing worse than a few more former villagers.

“The first real problem came near the end. Emzelia sensed something stronger inside one of the houses. We thought about burning it down, but everything was soaked, and we didn't want the Guild complaining that we'd destroyed royal property. Because, you know, the authorities would probably just send new settlers there anyway. 

“So we opened the door carefully and made as much noise as possible.”

Sammy grimaced.

“It worked. A Wraith burst out. And what an ugly thing it was. You know what a Wraith looks like?"

"No?"

"Kind of like a rotten, transparent corpse. Except not really transparent. More... blackish. Ugly face, I'll tell you that. Emzelia raised a golden barrier, the creature slammed into it, and our mage, Ritius, threw a fireball at it. And that was the end of the Wraith."

“Half the team went inside afterward to check for anything else. A few minutes later, they returned with a little girl they'd found locked inside a chest. She could barely walk. Apparently, she'd had some food and water in there, so her parents weren't complete idiots when they locked her inside. And you know... lying in a chest for that many days, she didn't smell particularly pleasant. But we couldn't just leave her there.

"Besides, the priestess had already grown attached to her and kept stroking her head, whispering comforting words. Who would've thought she had such a soft side?

"So we continued our search with the girl in the middle of the formation. We checked the rest of the village. The mill was the only place left, and naturally Emzelia sensed something inside that too. We tried the same trick, but nothing came out. After arguing for a few minutes, Kurt and Teris went inside with their shields raised.”

Sammy's expression changed.

“They weren't in there five seconds before both came flying back out.

“A Wraith floated through the doorway after them, except this one looked far more human than the first. It looked like a young woman. If you squinted, she might even have been pretty.

"Well... if she had eyes instead of two black holes.

“A Banshee.”

Sammy paused.

“Then she screamed.

“Emzelia got her barrier up in time, so only part of the scream reached us. Even that felt like being kicked in the stomach.

"But then everything went to hell anyway. The little girl suddenly lunged at Emzelia and tore her throat open before anyone understood what was happening.

"Can you believe it?”

Sammy rubbed his arm unconsciously.

“I shot the girl on instinct and sent her flying several feet. Then Sylvia threw an artifact at the Banshee's feet. It burst and flooded the creature with Life magic.

"The Banshee definitely didn't like that. She screamed in pain. I thought my eardrums were going to burst. Ritius and Lizzi hit it with spells, and I put two anti-undead arrows through it. The Banshee didn't have time to do much. Within moments, she looked like a sieve. Literally. She had holes all through her body, and we could see straight through them. She wasn't actually that tough."

He spread his hands.

“That was it. We'd won.”

“That's awesome!” Arien said. “But where did your curse come from?”

Sammy grinned. “You know, the whole fight lasted less time than it's taking me to tell the story. Everything happened at once. And while everyone was focused on the Banshee, the girl got back up. She was already half-undead, so apparently my arrow through the stomach wasn't enough.

"I think she got angry about being shot. While I was aiming at the Banshee, she ran up behind me and bit my arm."

Sammy rolled up his sleeve. A set of bite marks was still visible. The flesh around them remained dark and bruised.

“Jeroth, our Assassin finished her a moment later.”

He made a quick slicing gesture.

“After that, things weren’t looking good. The priestess was dead, I’d been bitten, and I wasn’t in great shape. We searched the village one more time, then the guys bandaged me up and we headed back. We returned to Lysmere together and filed the report.

“The Guild wasn't happy. They blamed us for failing to protect the priestess and said they'd have to answer to the Temple. They cut our payment in half and claimed the money would go to Emma's family. That was Emzelia's real name.

"As for me, they sent me to Wayhold under escort. They didn't even ask the Temple if they could remove the curse. And everyone could see I wasn't going to survive much longer. If not for my level and attributes, I'd already be six feet under. They only gave me some artifact that was supposed to slow the curse's spread.”

He looked at Arien.

"So you're really saying you can remove it? And I'll be able to get back to work?"

"Yes, yes. There shouldn't be any problems," Arien assured him. "Another week or two and you'll be as good as new. How are you feeling right now, anyway?"

“Hmm. I'm weak as a child, it's hard to breathe, sometimes my whole body shakes, and I barely eat.” Sammy shrugged. "After all this treatment, I'll probably have to stay in the capital for a while to recover. Otherwise, I'll collapse in some ditch and never get up again. That's life. You spend your whole life working. Manage to save a little money. And then you spend it all on treatment or equipment. You don't happen to know a cheap tavern, do you?"

"Actually, I do. If you tell the owner I sent you, you might even get a discount."

Sari should be happy for a long staying customer.

Most of you aren’t interested in a Discord server, and honestly, I’m a little relieved, the thought of having to moderate it was a little intimidating. I already have a lot on my plate as it is ^^

But Parodexes suggested using a Patreon forum tab instead, which I didn’t even know existed. I’ll look into it, and it might turn out to be a good solution for the smaller group of you who did want a Discord.

As for yesterday’s discussion about Lamaral, I thought it was pretty obvious that she isn’t interested in Arien romantically. They just have a fairly close and somewhat unusual relationship. The reason she doesn’t allow that kind of banter around other people is simply because it wouldn’t be professional.

I’ll take another look later and see if there’s anything I can change to make that clearer.