Page 204 of I Ran Away to Evil 2
The first encounter happened five minutes down the road, when Bronwynn saved a crying bird from a hungry fox. It turned into a phoenix and gifted her a single phoenix feather, which was equivalent to a Resurrection potion. If [Revive] simply brought you back to life, the more impressive [Resurrection] brought you back at full hit points.
The second encounter was an overturned carriage beset by a dire wolf. Which was unusual, since dire wolves lived in the south. Donna spoke to the dire wolf and found out that Servalt merchants had stolen a pup, and the mother had tracked them down to get it back. It was a simple affair. Rufus secured the caravan and used his Cast Crystal to summon a Dark Horde contingent to come pick them up.
He realized that he actuallymightneed that full day of counseling with Knolith. There were a bunch of tasks associated with the occupation, and tools for the job that still needed to be given over, including the army crystals, his badges, and a cape that Rufus had never worn and was lost somewhere in his dungeon office.
Their third encounter was Gerda, standing on her bridge with both hands on her hips.
“Perfect timing,” the bridge troll said.
“I call you in for dinner,
But I do not eat or drink.
Who am I, do you think?
I have a face but not a mouth?
No legs to show my progress?
Who am I, can you guess?”
I immediately turned to Bronwynn and said, “Give me a second!”
I could tell by the self-satisfied look on my future wife’s face that she’d already guessed the answer. Now that I was going to be along for the ride all the time, I wanted to get better at this.
Three guesses and fifteen minutes later, I had the answer.
“A clock?”
Bronwynn rewarded me with a kiss on the cheek.
“You’ve got it.” Gerda relaxed her stance and stepped aside. “How about a celebratory portal to North Sumbria? I was just heading over to see if our Heroine of Justice brought her sword.”
“That’s perfect!” Bronwynn smiled at me. “We can sleep in arealbed tonight!”
Donna whinnied loudly.
“Yes, I bought some in the Hollow,” the bard told her horse, who snorted in reply. Bronwynn raised an eyebrow. “But it’s not like you’re using your magic for [Haste], so why do you need the extra enchanted carrots …Donna.”
The horse stopped, having pulled us, wagon fully onto the bridge. Donna looked over her shoulder, and I coughed a laugh into my paw. I didn’t need the notification from my [Sense Lies] perk to see through her innocent act.
“Cassandra is going to be there, isn’t she?” Brownie threw her arms into the air. “You can’t gamble away your enchanted carrots.”
Gerda interrupted, vibrant rays of aquamarine portal magic already rising about them. “Ready?”
She didn’t wait for us; suddenly, we were looking up the road at the capital city of North Sumbria. The road was pretty busy, but Gerda had timed the teleport just right so we weren’t portaling into someone already crossing the bridge.
Our sudden appearance turned a few heads, but when they spotted a bridge troll, most everyone accepted it and moved on.
Gerda marched ahead, choosing to walk with Donna instead of hitching a ride in the back. “Okay, let’s go!”
Donna glanced at the bridge troll and sighed, starting up the road.
It was slow going as we joined the rest of the traffic. Seven days of festival and a Summer Masquerade meant a lot of people coming and going. There was another entrance for nobility, but I wasn’t anyone important anymore.
“Rufus,” Bronwynn said, leaning into me. “Do you want to know why the assassins are able to get past King Keith’s golems?”
I suddenly stilled. “Wait, when did you figure it out?”
