Chapter 2: Gremlins

The monsters charge forward, prompting Kathryne and Wolfgang to begin running down the path.

"What are those things?!" Kathryne tries in vain to keep up with the larger woman, stumbling and tripping over unseen roots.

"Those are gremlins." Wolfgang answers, unimpeded by the darkness. "They're common in forests. Although..." She looks back, watching the shapes chasing after them. "There's usually more, and there's always a grem."

Suddenly, a boulder flies after Kathryne, barely missing her as Wolfgang snatches her out of the way.

"There it is."

"Why are they after us?"

Wolfgang flips Kathryne to her arms, listening to the chittering behind them. "They're saying you torched one of their friends."

"But I don't remember doing that!"

"If it makes you feel better, they would've tried to kill you anyway." Wolfgang shifts her grip on Kathryne and reaches into a pouch one of her many pouches, tossing a bag behind her.

The bag explodes into a large puddle of ball bearings. The gremlins chittering turn into profanities as they tumble on the ball bearings and crash into each other.

"That slowed them down!"

"Hm. Hang on, we're almost to safety." Wolfgang tightens her grip around Kathryne, charging forward through the forest with thundering steps.

Soon, the two burst out of the tree line, running towards a wide-reaching structure. Two white walls stand at an angle from each other while a rustic, wooden gate forms an entrance from where they would join.

Beyond the gate itself, several concrete buildings loom over to the barrier, ruined and decrepit from age.

As the two slow down in front of the gate, a voice calls out from the top of the fortification. "Who goes there?!"

Wolfgang places Kathryne back down, focusing on the silhouettes shifting around. "We're travelers, let us in."

"What's your business, running around the forest at night?" The humanoid guards activate a beam of light from the side of their helms, looking down at the two outside.

"I'm a slayer. I'm with two gnomes that passed through earlier. This one got lost." Wolfgang answers, although her ears stay focused on the forest.

"Could you let us in? There's monsters after us!" Kathryne shouts.

A lone gremlin hops out of the tree line, giddily charging towards the two with a stone knife, leaving behind trails of rabid spittle.

It leaps towards Kathryne, ready to bite at her skin with gnarled teeth, only for Wolfgang to intercept by sticking her forearm in the way.

The gremlin bites down, and Wolfgang spins around to slam the creature against the wall, splintering it into two big halves.

Five more gremlins slink out of the forest, followed by two creatures Kathryne could only imagine as 'grem'.

Large, lumbering tree trunks step into the moonlight, arms as thick as logs wrapped around boulders. Eerie yellow lights function as eyes in the gaps of their twisted bark.

One grem has an oily growth on the side of its head, writhing and wriggling with life.

"Was hoping for a quiet night." The guard atop the gate begins to shout commands to the others. "Assume a firing line! Sam, come with me to open the gate! Someone wake the captain, the grem might be trouble!"

Wolfgang steps away from the gate, letting her cloak drop to the ground with a heavy thud, revealing a dark, leather jacket underneath and a bandolier of pouches and weapons. On her back is a large greatsword, sheathed in a black scabbard.

With one hand, she tosses a handaxe to Kathryne. With the other, Wolfgang retrieves a strange cylinder from one of the pouches, with corks on both ends, and a string dangling from the middle.

The beast woman pulls the string and shakes the container before tossing it several dozen feet in front of her.

The corks explode outward as green foam spews out of the sides, forming a waist high wall of dense clouds.

Kathryne picks up the axe and shakily holds it in front of her. She feels her ring 'rolling' several numbers in seconds. Frustrated, she yells at it. "Stop spinning! I need to focus!"

Understood. Changing preferences...

"Wuh-"

The two grem roar as they charge at Wolfgang, only for them to drudge through the wall of foam in front of them. The gremlins run around the foam, although their stubby legs can't move as quickly.

"Fire at will!" A guard from the gate shouts.

HL Rifles: 12. 17. 11.

Several bolts of candescent light rain down upon the monsters Three bolts hit their marks dead on, three of the gremlins exploding into splinters.

Kathryne looks up to see the guards wielding strange rifles. What kind of guns are those?!

Bite: 15.

Kathryne turns around in time to see a gremlin leap towards her, biting down on her forearm and drawing a lot of blood. She gasps in pain as the creature gnaws, slashing wildly with a stone dagger.

"Aagh! Get off!"

Handaxe: 16.

She manages to throw the creature onto the ground, rearing back and digging her weapon into the gremlin's eyes with a grunt.

The gremlin screeches and whimpers in pain, their branch-like hands scratching vainly at the iron blade embedded in their face. It begs and cries for mercy.

Kathryne grimaces, lifting the handaxe as the gremlin comes with it. She slams the writhing monster against the stone wall, again and again until it finally goes limp, its wound gurgling with a foul sap.

She drops the handaxe and gremlin onto the ground, cold air freezing her throat as she falls back on her butt.

The remaining gremlin charges at Wolfgang, only for the slayer to slam her foot on top of it head, the creature crumpling and conforming to her boot.

Kathryne's attention returns to the fight as one of the grem pulls itself free from the foam, although it's sprayed with blaster fire.

HL Rifles: 8. 15. 9.

Only one bolt manages to break past the grem's thick bark, wounding it as continues charging the beast woman.

Wolfgang widens her stance, gripping the hilt of the greatsword on her back.

Greatsword, Power Attack: 11.

In one swift motion, Wolfgang kicks the gremlin at the grem, dodges its clumsy attack, and cleaves it in two with the swing of her blade.

Her greatsword shines in a neon hardlight, eyes already locked towards the remaining monster.

Martial Boost, Minute Hand: 14.

As the grem swings towards her, Wolfgang deftly pirouettes out of the way and counters. Her weapon chops through the monster's arm and into its torso, leaving behind a blue afterimage.

The growth on the grem's head shoots out as it roars in pain, landing with a wet slap near Kathryne.

Two cat-sized mosquito monsters wriggle free from the glop and take to the air, angrily buzzing around and pointing their thorny noses at her.

Kathryne feels a deep revulsion for giant insects sparking a flame in her right palm. As she swipes the air in front of her, a giant wave of fire explodes from her hand.

Reflex: 7. 7.

Both gremlitoes are enveloped by the blaze, bursting into flames and falling to the ground, their thin legs curling up in death.

Kathryne falls to her knees, left with a turning stomach and a throbbing headache, panting in the cold air.

Was... was that magic? She thinks, too exhausted to care about the sound of the last monster snapping in two.

Wolfgang flicks a rotten sap off of her blade, slipping it into the scabbard on her back, the last grem in pieces at her feet.

The wooden gate creaks open as the guards atop the gate keep an eye out, using their beams of light to check for any more dangers.

Two men slip through the gap in the gate, gripping the length of their rifles, a hardlight blade materializing at the tips to turn their weapons into halberds.

One of the men goes to stab the creatures, making sure they stay dead while the other kneels next to Kathryne, a red cross emblazoned on their chest.

"Are you alright? Let me see your arm."

Kathryne whimpers as the medic grabs her arm to keep it still, the light on his helm illuminating the wound.

"It looks bad, but it's nothing I can't fix. Hold still." The guard holds his hand above the gash, the symbols on his cuffs beginning to glow.

"Guardian Seros, I beseech thee, heal the wounds of those affected by evil."

A warm light pours down from the medic's palm to Kathryne's torn arm. The burning pain gives way to the soothing wave, washing away the sap and blood, closing the open wounds.

When the spell ends, her arm is completely healed, but her sleeve is left in tatters. Kathryne rubs her arm, feeling another spark of recognition. "Was that... the Minor Cure spell?"

"Yeah." The guard responds, standing up and helping Kathryne to her feet. "I hope its enough. Do you need more healing?"

Kathryne shakes her head as she fumbles to her feet, watching the beast woman and guard piling corpses. "What are they doing?"

"A gremlin's corpse is filled with rotting sap, which can be poisonous to soil, so they're burning it before it does anything. It also happens to make them very flammable."

With a strike of flint and steel, the pile of wooden monsters quickly catch flame, illuminating the area around the gate.

Kathryne furrows her brow in confusion. Hardlight swords and rifles, but steel handaxes and fire starters? 

Wolfgang walks towards Kathryne, although her eyes narrow at the medic next to her as she grabs her cloak. "Let's get inside."

Kathryne nods, following the guards and Wolfgang through the gate, closing it behind them once everyone was safely within the walls.

"Thank you for helping us." Kathryne smiles to the medic, rubbing her arm. "And the healing."

"Oh, it was nothing." The medic chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck, unintentionally blinding Kathryne with the beam of light on his helm. "That was- that was a cool fire spell! How'd you learn it?"

Before Kathryne could respond with an unsatisfactory answer, the sound of clanking footsteps makes the medic flinch, falling in line with the other guards and turning off his head lamp.

Out from a nearby door marches an older human, a wrinkled scowl plastered on his face, with a large scar slicing across his nose. The guards stand at attention when he walks past, stopping in front of the one at the end.

"Leo, why'd you send someone to wake me?"

Despite the annoyance in the captain's voice, the guard who helped burn the bodies clicks his heels together and stands straight, confidently giving his answer. "Sir, these two were chased by a group of gremlins. I thought we might've needed your help to deal with the grem, so I sent someone to wake you."

Leo motions to the duo. "But thanks to them, we managed to kill them all and burn their corpses. The beast woman calls herself a slayer, and the half-gnome seems to be a sorceress. They claim to be with a couple of gnome merchants who passed by earlier."

Half-gnome? I'm a half-gnome? Kathryne looks around, quickly comparing heights. I guess that explains why everyone's taller.

The captain steps closer to Wolfgang, looking up to meet her eyes and scowling. "You say you're a slayer? Prove it."

Without a word, Wolfgang pulls out a metallic handle from underneath her cloak. Pressing button on the side, it conjures a hard light blade to light up her face.

Her eyes instantly contract into snake-like slits in response.

"They're accepting wolves into their cult now?" He chuckles pessimistically. "Fitting."

Wolfgang responds with an indifferent gaze, putting away the hard light dagger.

Wuh- what's the point of a greatsword sheath if the blades are retractable?!

The captain's eyes glow a deep red as he looks the slayer up and down, frowning. He then moves to inspect Kathryne, glaring with the same ominous eyes. "And what about you? You're a sorceress?"

I don't know?! I woke up ten minutes ago! Everything happened so fast... 

Kathryne's posture shrinks under the captain's gaze, only responding with a meek "Y-yes sir..."

"What are you called?"

"K-Kathryne Wyrm?"

The captain's eyes dim to their natural grey color once again, looking between the two. After a moment of silence, he lets out a tired sigh, heading back inside the wall. "Have them pay the toll, and send someone to make sure they get home safe. I'm going back to sleep. Welcome to Trudid."

"Yes, sir!" Leo snaps his feet together before stepping in front of the two. "Toll to enter the city is a silver coin."

Kathryne sighs in relief, grabbing the pouch at her waist and taking a moment to search for the payment. "Is this it?" She holds out a silver coin, the same size as Wolfgang's, if a little cleaner.

Leo nods, taking both coins and addressing the nearby guards. "Any volunteers to accompany them home?"

The medic quickly steps forward, interrupting the other two who were more hesitant in their response. "I'll go with them."

Leo reaches into the side of his helmet, his fingers removing a small contraption and handing it over. "Sam, right? When you've dropped them off, get a patrol to pick you up."

Sam takes the small device, clicking it to a slot on the side of his helmet. "Yes, sir."

After being dismissed, Sam joins Kathryne and Wolfgang, giving them both a quick nod. "Please, lead the way."