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No other trouble met us on the few blocks before we reached the guild. I didn’t exactly expect it… but I also didn’t expect people to be attacked in the streets to begin with. Well, one person anyway. I honestly couldn’t think of any reason anyone would attack Kantrilla, but then again I had only met her twice now.
Kantrilla slammed open the door to the infirmary. Well… pushed rapidly, anyway. It didn’t have quite enough force to actually slam. “Father Thomas! A bad man attacked me in the streets!”
Father Thomas turned toward us and raised his eyebrow. “Is it this fellow?”
“What? Llyr? Of course not! He saved me!”
Father Thomas nodded. “Can you describe the ‘bad man’?”
“Umm… he was bad.”
Was that even a description? I didn’t think it really counted. “He was tall, wearing dark brown clothing, and wielded a dagger. His lower face was covered…”
Father Thomas sighed, “Unfortunately that won’t help much if he changed his clothing. Did he give any indication as to why he was attacking?”
I looked at Kantrilla, but she just shook her head, “No… he just stabbed me!” She pointed to a rucksack she had, and a hole in it. Then she pulled out a roll of bandages and a change of clothing, “Right into this stuff! Then I ran away and I barely survived and was going to die when Llyr showed up and *whack* sent him flying like a thousand feet away!”
“It was maybe like five feet,” I corrected. “When I looked down to see if Kantrilla was okay he got up and ran off… I’m sure I at least cracked some ribs though.”
Father Thomas frowned, and looked at me. “Well, you’re looking healthier, young man.” I was, too. My muscles had filled out to be… normalish looking instead of barely covering my bones. I was still short, though. “I’m glad to see you are well. I’d also like to thank you for rescuing my clumsy apprentice here,” he smiled. “Do you know Sgar? Big fellow, doesn’t wear a shirt?” I nodded. “Great, could you go get him for me? I need to talk to him about this incident. Please return with him, we could still use your perspective on the incident.”
I already knew where Sgar was waiting, so it was only a few moments to get him and bring him back. Along the way, I recounted the story, such as it was. Sgar lightly pushed the door, and it slammed open. “I hear someone attacked our charming little cleric?” Sgar’s voice boomed through the room. “Point me at ‘em and I’ll rip off their head!”
Father Thomas shook his head, “Oh come now Sgar, you know not to rip off people’s heads until we find out what they want.” From his tone of voice, I couldn’t tell whether Sgar actually had ripped of someone’s head before. It certainly didn’t seem impossible, or even that improbable.
“Yeah yeah, so who was it?”
“We don’t know. That’s the whole point. Our only idea is a tallish man with some amount of sturdiness. Llyr there says he got in a hit on him.”
I nodded, “I thought it should have cracked his ribs, or broken some, but he was up and running a few moments later.”
Sgar scratched his chin, “Well, it’s also possible he was quick enough to jump back and diminish the blow.”
“I don’t think so,” I shook my head, “It felt solid, and I thought I heard some cracking.”
Sgar shrugged, “Alright. Show me your swing, as if he was right there,” Sgar pointed in front of him, “Try to get the same level of strength.” I swung. Was that the right amount? One more time… yep, that felt right. “Hmm, you didn’t use Bash?”
I shook my head, “I wasn’t really thinking about that at the time.”
“Hmm, alright. I need you to hit me with it.”
“What?” I blinked.
“Hit me, as if I was him. That way, I can get a judgement on how tough he was. Don’t worry, with Father Thomas here you couldn’t kill me even if I just stood here and let you hit me, and one hit isn’t gonna be a problem.”
“Well… alright.” I had some idea of how strong Sgar was. He also had a good idea of my actual Strength. It should be fine. Even so, it took some time to focus. I had to swing just the right amount if this was going to be useful as some kind of test. I felt my club swing through the air and then *thwack* felt the rebound of the impact. Sgar took a step back… but I almost fell over backwards. It was like hitting a brick wall… except I thought I could break a normal brick wall, maybe. I didn’t actually know how tough they were, actually. Of course, here they would probably be different.
Sgar patted his chest. “Yeah, that… would break some ribs on a normal person, alright. Was he wearing any sort of armor?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know. I didn’t hear any metallic sounds, but maybe something was under his clothing.”
Sgar nodded, “Or it could have been magic. Let’s assume you broke something.” Sgar turned toward Father Thomas, “You should have the other healers keep a lookout for anyone with broken or bruised ribs, especially unfamiliar faces. Maybe they’ll know better than that, but it’s a start. I don’t like the idea that someone attacked a cleric- a healer- in the streets. It could be the wrong person somehow but…”
Father Thomas shook his head, “That would be… unlikely. Or rather, bad luck, and that… doesn’t happen to Kantrilla.”
Kantrilla frowned in concentration, “But… if I get attacked instead of someone else, and don’t get hurt, isn’t that good Luck? After all, I would be happier if nobody gets hurt.”
Father Thomas sighed, “Luck does not usually work in such a fashion. At the very least, the person was after you, or a number of people that includes you. Nobody would have a grudge with you personally, and it is even more unlikely to be a case of mistaken identity. As for what it actually is… that is what we still must find out.”
I like this story. Thank you very much for the effort.
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