During the evening all of us kept relatively quiet, occupied with our own thoughts. What I did, however, was asking Drega for the blessing she had used the last time, which she spoke over me, increasing my Astral Power regeneration by quite a bit. In exchange, I answered her question about my condition, explaining that my hair stored power, that it had been burned in a fight and was now draining a massive amount of power while regrowing.

After our talk, I wondered why I had volunteered that much, considering my usually more secretive ways, but somehow, I was feeling comfortable with trusting her. And she had helped me decreasing the time to regrow my hair by quite a bit.

When it came to drinks, I held back, getting only slightly tipsy from the delicious mead Drega served. Soon, I was cuddled into Sigmir’s embrace, floating on a fluffy cloud of happiness, until we retired to our room, where we did unspeakable things to another. Luckily, I was not too drunk to enjoy them before we fell asleep.

Morning came far too soon, bringing with it a knock on our door and a light hangover. We dressed and went to have breakfast, well, Sigmir walked, I staggered a little, but once I had drained a large pitcher of water, my headache subsided without needing any magical healing.

Drega told us that Lagor had already gone over to the Guild, as he needed to do some work before heading over to the Castle, so we should go there, to get him.

We left the inn and I gestured for Adra to go over into the guild, Rai following her, while Sigmir and I waited outside.

The peaceful atmosphere of Kolyug was suddenly shattered when I heard rapid footsteps approach, causing both Sigmir and me to jump aside, only for me to notice an arrow coming towards me. Time slowed as my body tried to limit the damage, but even with everything I tried, I got hit in the shoulder, near the collarbone.

My mind, on the other hand, took the time to take in the situation, especially the grey-skinned form charging towards me, axe raised high. Further back, was a beastman moving towards us and, even further back, another form, with a raised bow.

I landed, a bit off-balance due to the hit I had taken, but two quick steps allowed me to catch my balance, while my mind was racing. I knew the three attackers, I had killed them before, multiple times. I instinctively wanted to use Mind Magic once again to strike down the three stooges, but there was no Astral Power in my body, but even as I failed to strike back, I noticed magic coageling around us, and not just any magic, the magic woven into Kolyug itself was reacting to something. Certainly not to me.

“Don’t!” I called out to Sigmir, who had been about to attack, trying to defend me, but the feeling the magic around us gave me told me that it would be a bad idea. The first stooge, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate, using his axe to strike at me, managing a glancing blow, to my arm. It would leave a bruise.

His canine partner behind him changed targets, going after Sigmir, throwing a knife at her, but before I was able to see if the attack had worked, the world around us changed.

I felt the magic reach some sort of threshold and grey chains, made from the very same rock that the city was made off, shot from the roads and buildings around us, wrapping all three stooges up, binding them nice and tight, with manacles around their hands, feelts, shoulders, hips and even neck. The worst they could do in their state was cuss at us. Which they did, but I was more worried about the bleeding wound I had gotten from the arrow and just what had happened.

I noticed Sigmir knocking on the inn-door, likely getting Drega and heard the rhythmic clapping of footsteps approaching in cadence. A group of four guards, all large, grey trolls, clad in chain-mail and armed with halberds, came jogging towards us. I noticed the symbol I had seen on the gate-guards on those trolls as well. That, and the uniformity of their gear, told me that they were the local guard.

I thought about what to say, if volunteering anything would be prudent, when Drega left her inn, tutting in annoyance when she noticed my injured form. The three stooges were still spewing abuse, when the guard stopped between us. Drega ignored all of them, simply walking to me, placing one hand on the arrow-shaft, still sticking out of me, the other on my chest. She started speaking, her voice loud and clear, but, even with Lenore’s ability, I was unable to make sense of the words she was using. I heard the name Frigg, spoken with love and adulation, as a golden glow enveloped first Drega’s head, then flowing down her arm and covering my chest.

Before I could make head or tails of what I was seeing, Drega simply pulled the arrow from me, without any obvious problems or pain for me, not even leaving a wound behind. Even the bruise on my arm, from the glancing attack, was gone. When my eyes focused on the arrow, anger pooled within me, it was an barbed arrowhead, designed to cause grievous wounds when removed without proper care.

I felt myself start to shake, a quick glance into the hud telling me that my stamina had greatly been depleted, likely by the activation of Bullet Time without any Astral Power. Or maybe, it was simply a normal adrenaline reaction, made worse by the fact that my body was depleted of Astral Power. I simply didn’t know. Drega helped me sit down, right there in the streets, while Ylva left her Hallow, lying behind me and around me, like a large, fuzzy cushion.

I simply sat there, letting my mind and body catch up with each other and calm down, while I watched the events unfold. After I had been treated, Sigmir and Drega went to the guard who stood back, while the other three were doing something with the three stooges. I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying but Sigmir looked rather angry and Drega didn’t look happy at all. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we had been attacked right in front of her doorstep, after she had given us shelter for the night.

The situation was not improved when Lagor, Adra and Rai came from the Guild, taking in the sight before them before joining Sigmir and Drega. I heard snippets from them, especially Lagor, who wanted the mess cleaned up as fast as possible, because we had an appointment with the Captain of the Guard. The look on the guard’s face was surprisingly calm for being beset by five more or less angry adventurers, even if two of them only were former.

By now, the other three guards had somehow changed the bindings around the three stooges so that their arms were shackled behind their backs and they couldn’t have run, even if they wanted to. I glimpsed through Lenore’s sight but the magic was too complex for a casual glance, the only thing I could understand was that the bindings were now controlled by the guards, or rather, linked to something they were carrying.

Deciding that I should add my two cents, I pushed myself up and walked over to the others, with Ylva at my side. The guard looked me over for a moment, while the three stooges started to spew abuse again, calling me a coward and all sorts of things. I ignored them as best as I could, focusing on the guard.

“Greetings, could you tell me what happened here?” he asked, giving a short glare at the others in my party, when they wanted to speak up. I gently placed a hand on Sigmir’s arm, to quiet her agitation.

“Greetings. Of course. We have spent the night in Drega’s tavern, on recommendation from Lagor. He needed us to report to the Captain of the Guard this morning, something we have encountered in the wild. While two of us went to get him, we waited in front of the door, minding our own business, when we were attacked by those three.” I gestured to the stooges.

“We didn’t fight back, only taking evasive action, dealing with such miscreants would infringe on your duties, after all. Before we suffered more than superficial damage, the enchantment, I assume it is part of the city-wide magic?” I shook my head for a moment, as if to wipe away my thoughts about the powerful enchantments woven into the stones of Kolyug. “Anyway, they were bound by the magic and I was healed by Drega.” I finished my statement, causing the guard to nod.

There was some more abuse from the stooges, accusing me of attacking them first, claiming that they only wanted to pay me back.

The guard looked at me and I explained that they had tried to attack us before, in another town. He simply told the stooges that he didn’t care, well, he used more colourful language, what happened outside of Kolyug. If we wanted to fight, we could do so outside of the walls. Within, there wouldn’t be any fighting. Not that it would matter for them, they would be bound in the stocks for two days, before getting banished from Kolyug.

When the stooges tried to argue, he gave a short gesture to the other guards and suddenly, the rings around the stooges necks flashed and their voices simply stopped working. They still made the mouth-movements, but no sound escaped.

“Thank you, for not fighting back. You wouldn’t get in trouble for it but the processes involved in releasing the enchant is a pain.” the guard gave a bow, before he and his trolls escorted the stooges away.

When a small message informed me that I had gained EXP and that my reputation with Kolyug had slightly increased, I had to stifle a giggle. It seemed as if not killing the stooges but letting the guard deal with them had actually increased the EXP we had gotten.

And then, it was time to go with Lagor, to see the Captain of the Guard.