The sun went down again. Everyone had seen our comrade at death’s door. They had been told about the things we saw done to him. They were all furious. None of them could identify him, so we still didn’t have a name. They did examine him a bit closer, to make sure they hadn’t met him. That’s when they found two bulges on his back, just like mine. I had thought mine were just a birth defect, but it might be something else if he has it as well.

Vyth had questioned me for half an hour just before dusk. I could tell he was going over the details in his head. He was seeing what he could use in his plan. We were alone while he questioned me, so I felt comfortable telling him about my theories. Mainly, the possibility of spell scrolls. I’ve yet to see one in real life, but they were a popular item in fantasy stories back in my old world.

We agreed a spell scroll would be our only hope. There was no way we could get one of the adventurers to heal our comrade. We had to risk our lives for something that might not even exist. I wasn’t exactly comfortable with that, to say the least. But, there was no backing out now. If I backed out, Vyth would try on his own. That’s the last thing I wanted.

After our discussion, we left the hideout. I figured that the wizard might have a spell scroll. But, we couldn’t just walts in and take it. She’d have her entire team to back her up if she spotted us. Vyth came up with a plan to lure her out. We had to find an item that looked valuable, or at least valuable after some disguising. He wanted to make an item look like it was magical, as that might attract her.

It wasn’t a sure fire way to get her out, but there wasn’t much we could do. We went to the furthest house from the tavern. The lights were out inside, so we snuck in through the front window, which was still open. The inside looked more or less like what you’d expect from a peasant’s house. There wasn’t much around. A simple table with three chairs, a fireplace, a basic kitchen and utensils.

We figured that perhaps there was something more of value in the parents bedroom. We went upstairs. Vyth slowly opened the door and snuck in. I stayed outside and kept watch. A few minutes later, Vyth came out and shook his head. Nothing.

We went to the next house and did the same thing with the same result. We went through a couple of them. In the fifth house, the lights were still on. We couldn’t just go in from the front like in the other houses. We peered through one of the slits of the closed window. We saw a man and a woman, sitting at a table. We couldn’t hear what they were saying, but that hardly mattered at the moment. There didn’t seem to be any other entrances. At the back of the house, however, there were windows. Both were closed, but they were our only way in.

I helped Vyth climb onto the wall to one of the windows by hoisting him up a bit. Once he was a bit up, I kept watch. He climbed to the window on the left and started peering through it. He didn’t see anyone through the slits, but still had a bad feeling. It made him hesitate, which saved us, as he started hearing the breathing of someone sleeping. He came back down and climbed up to the window to the right.

He did the same there. This time making sure he can’t hear anything either. Nothing. The room was clear. He slid a claw through one of the slits and began prying it open. It took him a bit, but he got it open. The couple was still at the table, just chatting away. He entered. It was a simple room with barely any furniture, just like the living room. I would feel bad from stealing from people who clearly aren’t that well of, but I live in a cave. They’re at the height of luxury in comparison.

There was a chest at the end of the bed with a few things in it. Some clothes, though only a few, some items Vyth glanced over in his description of the room and a small box. It was buried underneath all the other stuff. Vyth was about to open it, when I threw a rock inside. The couple were going upstairs. Vyth quickly threw both the rock and box outside, closed the chest, got out and closed the window just as he heard the door opening.

I managed to catch the box. Inside was a silver ring. Probably the most valuable thing they had. And something we could use for our plan. Now came the hardest part. How would we make it look magical? I didn’t really expect something as fancy as this to be here, so I didn’t plan ahead. The ring looked really shiny and pretty. I could see Vyth staring in awe at it as well. I’d seen rings before, in my previous life. And honestly, this one wasn’t prettier than them or anything like that. Yet, it still got my attention.

I shook off the feeling and focused on planning for the next step. From what I remember, there were two ways magical items were portrayed in fantasy. They either had a glow surrounding them, or they were just really good looking and the characters would know it was magical somehow. Neither of those effects are really possible for us, so what else could we do?

That’s when I got an idea. It wasn’t perfect. Hell, it wasn’t even good. But, it seemed like the only way to pull off our plan. It should at the very least accomplish something, right?

We went to the open area near the barn where the adventurers trained. They should be coming here in the morning. I put the ring in a nice spot where it would be visible and cast my acid spell around it. My hope was that they would believe the ring did it. A very unlikely outcome, but it might at least distract them.

We returned back to our spot in the barn and waited. It was dawn when the first few arrived. It was the wizard and cleric. They set aside a bag and prepared to start training, when they noticed the ring. They examined it and started discussing. They looked around briefly to see if anyone was around. It was nerve racking to watch. It seemed like they thought someone had lost their ring, completely ignoring the damage left behind on the ground around it.

If this plan failed, our hope would be lossed. What else could we do? They were like boss level monsters in comparison to us. The Dwarf came from around the corner and went up to them. After a brief discussion, the Dwarf left in a hurry back towards the tavern. Did our plan work? The wait was killing me?

After what was probably only a few minutes, but felt like an eternity, the Dwarf had returned. With him, came the rest of their group. Well, it definitely had the desired effect. That was enough for us. We quickly set out to go to the tavern. Just as we left the barn and were about to enter one of our holes, we heard the Dwarf shout in Draconic: “You might as well come out now, ya filthy rats! The more effort I have to put in finding you, the more I’ll make you scream in agony! Just like your dear friend!”

Terror had taken over us when he started shouting, but once he mentioned our comrade, it was replaced by anger. The fucker was taunting us.

“We’re killing that shithead”, Vyth growled.

We ran through our tunnel as fast as possible. We got to the other end and quickly entered the tavern the same way as last time, making sure we didn’t get spotted by the bartender and the one drunkard half asleep next to the window facing the barn. We went upstairs and went through all their belongings. The bag they left was worrying me. It might’ve had her scrolls. It didn’t matter anymore, though. There was no possibility of recovering that bag, so we just had to hope that was just their lunch or something like that.

As we were searching, I found what was clearly the wizards bag. It had odd things in it, like twigs and powders. Might be used for magic or alchemy, so I snagged it. I continued, but found no scrolls. Only paper, ink and some rations. As I lost hope, Vyth screamed out in joy. It startled me for a bit. I turned around to see Vyth holding two scrolls in the air. We still didn’t know if they were what we were looking for, but it was already a massive relief to at least have them.

That’s when we heard footsteps rushing up the stairs. All the adventurers came upstairs, with the wizard and Dwarf standing smugly in the front, only a meter or five away from us. The Dwarf extended his arm towards us and said: “We’ll take all that back, thank you”.

We panicked and dashed towards the window at the opposite side from them. That’s when I heard the wizard chanting: “O losi Ath Tel'keth. May viaren von gis thas aul front Ath tel'quiet aul shesh”.

An icey blue beam shot out from her palm and hit me in the back. The pain was terrible. It felt as if ice had formed inside of my muscles, keeping me from moving much. Seeing this, Vyth returned from just by the window, tossed the scrolls to me and threw me out the window. As I flew out, I aimed my palm at the man who was always in heavy armour and repeated the chant from before, shooting my own ice beam. I fell and landed on a haybale, which broke my fall. Vyth likely had seen it before he threw me.

Vyth was rushed by the Dwarf, as an arrow zoomed just past him, hitting the wooden frame of the window behind him. The Dwarf threw a punch right in Vyth’s guts, but he took it and scratched at one of the Dwarf’s eyes. He then quickly turned around and jumped out the window as well. Though I was still in pain, I could move normally again. We quickly bolted towards our hidden hole, checking through squinting eyes if they had found us, as the sun had been fully out at this point.

We duck back in after we started hearing them. Though we couldn’t understand them, we could tell they seemed confused, likely having lost us. We went inside the main chamber of our hideout and took a rest, as I opened one of the scrolls to look it through.