The afternoon sun was blazing down as the small party of people wound their way through the streets, talking quietly and looking around nervously… well most of them anyway.

“Mr. Jaeger, are the bad people still after us?” Meran was walking with a slight spring to his step and wasn’t exactly looking too scared. All his worry had immediately vanished a few seconds after leaving the store, and he had even started singing his stupid traveling song all of a sudden until Richard had smacked him on the head, telling him to be quiet.

To Richard… it was kind of annoying, truthfully speaking. With a slight scowl, he bitingly said, “Well, keep a good eye out for some big looking men carrying knives. When you see a few of them, why don’t you run over really quickly and ask them.”

Meran frowned cutely and replied, “But, they might get mad…”

Richard looked up at the blue sky for a second, praying for whatever god was up there watching all this craziness to send him some patience some time soon. Unfortunately, the irritation refused to go away. So, Richard did the next best thing… he ignored Meran, blocking the halfling’s high pitched, piping voice.

Instead, as he kept his eyes moving, Richard thought about where he and the others, including Tolnoy were going. The merchant had been adamant about getting to Ferger to hopefully clean up the mess at the store, including the now four dead bodies. It had been a pretty screwed up thing to do, stabbing the last thug while he had been tied up, but Richard had done it anyway after the bastard threatened to have everyone involved tortured… Mind you, it might have been just stupid bluster, but Richard figured adding one more piece of trash to his list of dead wasn’t exactly going to add screw up his mind even more than it already was.

However, now, Richard didn’t know whether he should regret getting more involved. The risks involved were pretty serious, but the rewards had seemed to be a bit tempting at the time. With Master Mulfow watching like a hawk, the merchant had actually bought most of Richard’s mana stones above market price, had agreed to look over all the other stuff stored at the Guard Fortress with Richard’s donkey, and had even agreed to look for a buyer for the boarzilla skin that was clogging up like three quarters of Richard’s inventory. The only thing Richard had refused to sell was the mana stone from boarilla and the mana core from the ‘Shit Monster.’ Thanks to that Richard had another two gold Vales added to his savings. Of course, the merchant had offered to ‘sweeten’ any future ‘deals’ if Richard tagged along with him. Richard would have gone anyway since Master Mulfow had voiced his intentions to go, but the last offer had been tempting…

Still, Richard was having second thoughts about the whole thing. For one, he felt lightly dressed for whatever was to come as the group approached their destination: a slightly worn down looking tavern of some kind. This one looked at least a bit more respectable than the Drunken Goat, without looking like it was going to come crumbling down any time soon. However, the man obviously standing guard outside kind of made Richard wish he had his armor on. Unfortunately, it had been impossible to get the fresh blood out of the armor that easily without a large amount of water, and Richard had used most of the available water at the time to clean the rest of himself up. So, he was just wearing an old pair of linen tunic and pants donated by Tolnoy.

Thankfully, the ‘guard’ was dressed about the same, while carrying what looked like a wooden club of some kind. Unfortunately, this ‘guard’ didn’t exactly carry the menacing aura like the dead thugs from the store. Instead, the man/boy looked like a weedy, village yokel fresh off the farm, who was playing at being a ‘bad boy.’ Richard looked the boy/man over and whispered, “F#$k…”

The gawky, blonde haired ‘guard’ held out his right hand, palm wide open and patronizingly said, “Halt!” Then the man/boy sauntered forward, like he owned the street or something. Richard rolled his eyes in disgust at young man’s immaturity and looked back down the street, trying to find anyone, who might have been spying.

Meanwhile, Richard heard Tolnoy speak up, “Mesch, I got no time to be dealing with you. I need to see Feger, now!”

The pompous voice that replied set Richard’s teeth on edge. “You got no business here old man. The boss’s got business today to take care of. Come back later.”

Tolnoy snorted and said, “I don’t care what you think Mesch! I’ve got business with your boss, so get out of the way!”

Around that time, Richard saw a rough looking man walk around a corner in the distance and quickly step back, however not before Richard saw that the man was carrying a bladed weapon. “Shit…” Whispering the words, Richard turned back towards the conversation happening in front of the tavern and immediately pulled out his short sword from his inventory without second guessing himself. Sticking the short sword’s tip right near the gawky guard’s nose, Richard said, “The man said he needs to see your boss. Now, get out of the f#@king way!”

The young man, who was now cross eyed staring at the blade, held up his hands muttering, “Easy, easy… I was just joking. Go right in.”

Richard held his blade in position and nodded his head at the others, telling them to go on in. Just as Master Mulfow was passing, Richard quietly said, “We’ll be having company soon. Try to see if there’s a back door to the place, sir.” Thankfully, the old man must have heard, as he nodded slightly while following Tolnoy through the entrance with Meran being a step behind.

When they were all inside, Richard withdrew his blade and snarled, “Watch what you say next time…” Then, just as he began going into the tavern, Richard decided to have some mercy on the pompous fool. “Also, keep your eyes peeled. If you see a bunch of people strolling down the road lookin’ like they’re pissed… warn us inside. Don’t pull this guard shit with them.”

With that, he slipped inside the well lit tavern, which looked like what he had expected: relatively dirty, smelly, and lit mostly from the sunlight spilling through the partially open, window shutters. Otherwise, the place was mostly empty except for the eight men either standing around or seated at a table in the middle of the small common area. All the men were staring at Richard and those with him in surprise, and most of them didn’t exactly look like the usual thuggish types. They all had some kind of weapon, either a dagger or a club, but most of them looked more like a next door neighbor than a thug. It didn’t help that at least half of them looked nervous as hell.

There were three of them that had a muscular build along with a determined look on their faces. Among them, Richard guessed the man leaning back against his chair with his arms crossed against his broad chest was Ferger. The black haired, chiseled faced man definitely had a commanding presence, and from the way everyone kept looking at him, it was clear he was the leader.

Tolnoy stepped forward speaking quickly, “Ferger, I got a problem. A bunch of the damn Joker’s Fists attacked my store. They were gonna kill me, damn it! I thought you said you’d be dealing with ‘em!”

Richard suddenly froze… The two words the merchant had just uttered completely made his blood run cold. ‘Joker’s Fist.’ He had heard those words before from Martin… who had told him to run as fast and as far he could if he heard that name. “[email protected]#k...” Whispering the words, he felt oblivion sucking him down... but he wasn’t the weakling he had been weeks ago. Too much had happened to break him so easily. Clenching his teeth, he shook his head to clear his thoughts and focused on the sudden shouting in front of him… He had already missed some of it, but he knew that he desperately needed to know details to figure out what he was going to do next.

The hard faced man, whom Richard had identified as Ferger, was scowling and he slammed one of his fists on the table, “Damn it Tolnoy! Four of the bastards includin’ Bosar being killed! Do you know what ye’ve done? Boser was one of Froy’s lieutenants… He won’ be lettin’ this go!”

Tolnoy, who was now standing at the table, pointed his right index finger at Ferger and shouted, “You were supposed to provide protection, Ferger! I haven’t been payen’ yer damn taxes fer nothin’! They were gonna kill me in my own damn store!”

The men around the table began talking all at once…

“We need to negotiate…”

“Hit ‘em before…”

“Tell them, we…”

Seeing the disorder, Richard immediately found what looked like a side door off to the right of the common room and began pushing Meran in that direction while tugging on Master Mulfow’s sleeves. The old man, who had an upset look on his face, looked up at Richard and asked, “What’s wrong, Mr. Jaeger?”

Richard mouthed the words, “Joker’s Fist.” He didn’t know if Master Mulfow knew the words, but the old man nodded grimly and began following. That didn’t improve the hollow feeling in Richard’s guts. It only meant that the situation was as bad as he feared it was.

Just as they were about halfway to the door, there was large thud and crashing noise… The tavern’s door flew open… and the pompous doorkeeper came flying in, crashing into a table and sprawling unconscious on the floor. Richard immediately pulled his Lucky Ring out of his inventory and slipped it onto his fingers, while sending his sword back into his inventory. Just as large, mean looking men began entering through the door, Richard pulled out his salvaged crossbow and shouldered it, targeting the doorway. He had only used it a couple times in practice after taking it off Meran’s torturers, but he figured he needed every edge possible with what was to come. The only good part was that he could store it loaded in his inventory.

In the tavern, everyone was getting up and shouting all at once, but no one moved to stop the men, who were entering through the door. In a half a dozen seconds, close to 15, brutish looking men were crowded near the doorway with most of them carrying a mix of short swords, long daggers, and spiked clubs. Then, one of them, a pock mark faced man with large scar running down the right side of his face stepped forward. He was somewhat well dressed, wearing a red and black coat, but his beefy build looked out of place in the clothes.

“Ferger, I heard one of yer people got Bosar and his boys dead! Froy wants to know if this es yer way of talkin’ things over, then?” The scar faced man was definitely angry, and from the way his men kept looking around like they wanted to kill everyone, Richard knew it was too late to run. All he had left to do was figure out who to kill first with the crossbow. Luckily, he, Meran, and Master Mulfow were off to the side in the tavern and weren’t exactly being targeted fully by the large crowd of enemies. There were a couple eyeing him, but Richard rated them as a lower threat than the boss guy and the two chainmail wearing, sword carrying flunkies flanking the man.

Ferger, amazingly enough, didn’t back down from the accusation. “Don’ be tellin’ me that me and mine did wrong, when your dogs tried to kill one of my people in his own store, Vebem! I was all fer talkin’ about peace, but after this…” Ferger didn’t have to say much more.

Vebem or the main target as Richard considered him pointed at Ferger and yelled, “Then we’ll settle this here and now!”

A half a dozen things happened all at once or within a few seconds.

From beside Richard, Master Mulfow sharply said, “The boss is using some kind of magic…

The thugs all began moving to attack everyone around the room, with three of them coming towards Richard and those with him.

However, Richard chose to deal damage elsewhere first. He immediately pulled the trigger on his crossbow, which was aimed right at the boss, as the man was walking around a table. The bolt shot forward without a problem, heading right for the man’s back. Richard, however, didn’t keep watching to see what happened, not with the number of enemies that were still left.

Even as a the crossbow bolt flew straight and true, a dozen, stone spikes erupted out of the floor boards right in the middle of the a half a dozen thugs still standing near the doorway, impaling three of them and tearing off an arm and leg off another one. Somehow, two of the men escaped harm, barely that is and stumbled away from the death trap. Suddenly, the whole place erupted in pain filled screaming and confused shouting.

Richard targeted the area with three other thugs, including the two wearing chainmail, who seemed to hesitate in the confusion and immediately cast ‘Biogas.’ Again, he didn’t keep watching to see what would happen. There was no time to hesitate, but he hoped the men would at least be slowed by the gas.

By this time, he was dropping his crossbow even as he held out his right hand to cast ‘Stone Projectile.’ From beside him, a more powerful ‘Stone Projectile’ shot forward, punching a fist sized hole in one of the approaching thugs’ chest, throwing the man backwards, while splattering blood everywhere. Richard’s own projectile shot forward hitting another approaching thug in the chest but not doing much more than causing the man to grab his chest with a pain filled face and to stumble. Unfortunately, that man got unlucky as his head was encased in a globular mass of stone, and his stumble turned into a collapse as he fell over a chair blocking his way.

The last thug coming Richard’s way looked angry and had a large, spiked club, which didn’t exactly look painless. Richard had already pulled his short sword out of his inventory by this time, and he moved forward after casting ‘Blood Viper Venom’ on the blade. The last thing he did was try to activate his ring. He didn’t know what would happen per say, but he hoped it would help.

Almost immediately, off to the corner of his vision, a mass of numbers twisted around until a small 2X showed up. Nothing drastic happened, but suddenly Richard felt somewhat lighter on his feet, like his legs didn’t need to apply as much force to keep him standing. Also, his sword felt lighter as well.

Richard almost stumbled due to how weird he felt but caught himself just before the thug with the club swung, trying to smash Richard’s head. Dodging to the left, Richard targeted the thug’s right arm and wildly slashed at it. He was barely able to nick it, but more importantly, it drew blood. The thug winced a bit but swung his club sideways like it was tennis racket or something instead of with any skill. That suited Richard just fine, since he wasn’t exactly a swordsman either. Richard didn’t dodge this time and stepped into the attack, clumsily blocking it with his sword.

THUNNKKK!

Though his arms were jarred a bit by the power of the swing, Richard had no trouble in deflecting the club with his doubled strength. But he didn’t stop there. With the thug standing sideways and suddenly being off balance for a follow up attack, Richard stepped quickly and rammed into the thug shoulder first. That sent the man stumbling, and Richard didn’t hesitate to shove his sword into the man’s side, most likely piercing a lung. “AGHGGHHHH!” With a choked scream, the man collapsed on the floor as Richard withdrew his bloodied sword.

But Richard didn’t get away scot free. A last second swing by the thug sent lances of pain up Richard’s right leg as the thug’s spiked club ripped into Richard’s thigh, leaving three bloody furrows. “UGHHHHH!” He hopped back grunting in pain and with tears forming in his eyes. A quick glance down showed blood soaking through his pants near the torn areas, but Richard clenched his teeth, trying to hold back the pain he felt.

Suddenly, he felt a wave of refreshing energy pass through him and the pain in his legs beginning to numb. Richard glanced to the side and saw Meran standing there his face scrunched in effort. Richard choked out, “Keep it going…” and hobbled over to the third thug, who was flailing around with a large chuck of stone encasing his head. Richard stayed out reach and pulled out his halberd from his inventory one handed. Effortlessly lifting up the long weapon with just his right hand, Richard brought it down, chopping heavily at the thugs left shoulder with the halberd’s axe blade.

THUCKK! “ARFGGHGFUCCGKC!” The thug screamed as he dropped the dagger he had been waving around and grabbed at the halberd’s shaft trying to pry the weapon loose. However, by this time, the man had blood squirting out of his shoulder and flowing down to the floor. Richard let go of the halberd and painfully propelled himself forward, stabbing the man’s unprotected abdomen with the venom coated short sword.

“GWUAGGH!” The thug collapsed to his knees, and Richard yanked his blade back out with a snarl, finally taking a look at the rest of the tavern to see what had happened. Bodies were lying everywhere, bleeding and moaning in some cases, but most of the men left standing were part of Ferger’s men. Even Tolnoy was alive, though the merchant was cowering behind a table with one other man. Also, to Richard's interest, there was a flashing icon at the corner of his vision...

Of the men who had barged in, only two seemed to be alive or stay up, and they were kneeling near the stone spikes, holding their hands up, while being threatened by two of Ferger’s men. Even as Richard watched, the two men, who were begging for mercy… received none as they were stabbed and hacked at mercilessly by their captors. It seemed as though the ‘no mercy’ rules were in full effect.

Just as Richard began walking backwards to try and get out of the place with Meran and Master Mulfow, Ferger loudly shouted, “You! Stop right there!”

Richard’s eyes met the dark eyed man’s angry, reddish face, and Richard tightened his grip on his short sword….

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For why Richard is afraid of the Joker's Fist, refer to his meeting with Martin in chapter 6 I think......