Role

Chapter 3

They came in the night with ferocity and strength, trained to crush their
objective with precision. Movements of shadow and steel, they struck
without warning. Lighting the winter stores afire, they tore up the
magically grown crops with a fury driven by a heritage of hatred. They
then moved to the farmhouse itself, torches igniting the flames and
creating a smoke that would drive out any. Two then began an assault on
the old supporting beams that could not hope to withstand such massive
force.

Her father was no warrior, but he was brave and his family all he
possessed. The house begin to collapse and he acted fast, not knowing he
would never again look upon his adored wife who would find herself
crushed by the debris in the bed they had so long shared. Grabbing the
shovel outside the front door, he ran out to defend both wife and
daughter.

They stood waiting for him. There were four in total, led by a massive
and horrific fire giant of immense proportions. Had this been an
imperial raid on their village, the man would have been torn asunder
without thought by all four and dead before he realized it.

Unfortunately for him, this was not an imperial raid.

The massive fire giant and obvious leader held up a hand and signaled
that this one was his to fight alone. He raised his mighty swords and
seemed to take delight in the backdrop of all that burned around him.
The simple farmer's face moved from utter fear to determination. He drew
down deep from the soil he had toiled in his whole life and led the
charge with his shovel.

The powerful warrior of the Battleragers, massive as he was, blocked the
shovel and twisted around with impossible speed in a double strike. A
spray of blood showered the yard in front of the farmhouse as deathblows
of the mighty sword strikes cleaved the farmer in two.

The man dead at their feet, the Battleragers did not even pause in the
bloodshed and continued in their mission at hand. Not knowing the
crushing debris had done their work already, they moved on to find the
alchemist witch who had unleashed all her magically grown food on the
markets around the Village's lands. A human thief stepped forward and
said, "Do not forget the girl! The old man told the truth, and she'll be
his ward in the Voralian City."

But the girl could not be found. Running through a sandbox nearly turned
to glass by the immense heat of magical food stores, the paths she would
choose led elsewhere.