Ero Skill Tree

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Elder's Quest

"Okay."

"So, we don't have time to spare. As soon as we've finished eating, we'll pack up and head out."

So that was exactly what we did. It took us about an hour and half of solid walking before the small village came into view. There weren't any outwardly visible signs of damage to the buildings that would signify any sort of large scale attack, but the place was eerily quiet. It was a summers day, and I would expect the fields to be full of people working, but there wasn't a single person about anywhere. We entered the village and made our way to the nearest house in search of answers. We all stopped outside while Lillia strolled up to the door and knocked. There was no reply at first, so Lillia waited a moment before knocking again. This time there was a response, a quiet shuffling sound as someone made their way to the door.

"Who is it?" A quiet female voice asked from inside.

"Lillia, I'm with the adventurer's guild. We're here about the goblin cave."

There was the sound of objects being moved away from the door and some clanking around before the door finally opened. There was a very frightened looking young woman stood there.

"You're here about the goblin cave?" She asked.

"Yes, we've accepted the quest to clear them out."

"Oh, thank goodness! I don't think we would have lasted another night." She said, the relief clear to see in her eyes.

"Do you think you could show us to the village elder? We need as much information about the location and numbers of goblins as possible, before we head there."

"Certainly, just wait one moment."

The woman closed and locked up her house before taking us across the village to the elder's house. When we arrived, I had the thought that we would have been able to guess the location ourselves without troubling the lady. It was the largest house in the village, but I suppose the village elder wasn't always the wealthiest member of the village.

The woman walked up to front door and begun banging on the door.

"Sir, Sir, please come. Adventurer's from the guild have come."

Before long, an old, but proud looking man answered the door.

"These are the adventurer's Scillia?"

"Yes sir."

"You finally came! I was wondering if anyone would ever accept our quest. We have such little reward to offer, you have my thanks for coming."

"That's quite alright sir." Answered Lillia. "Do you mind if we come inside so we can talk about the specifics of your problem?"

"Of course, please come inside all of you."

The man led us inside and took us through to his dining room.

"We can discuss matters here, please all take a seat." He told us as we entered the room.

We all sat down as he asked.

"Well I suppose introductions are in order. I'm Archibald and I'm the village elder." He explained.

"I'm Lillia and the leader of this party, the others are Altria the catkin, Serin and Theo there."

We all nodded and said hello in turn.

"I would offer you all a drink, but all I have is water or tea things have got that bad." Said Archibald.

"Please don't worry about it, we have enough supplies and aren't in need of refreshment, save it for yourself sir." Lillia answered.

"Thank you. Well what would you like to know?"

"Well a good start would be the location of the cave, any guess at the number of goblins and what trouble they've given you so far."

"Well I can show you the location on the map."

"That would be a great help."

"As for numbers, I would have to guess up to fifty. They've managed to steal most of our livestock, and they have kidnapped several maidens from the village."

"That's terrible." Lillia answered visibly upset. "But at least we know we are dealing with a medium sized nest and it seems they aren't afraid to come into the village."

"Well in the past we might have been able to put up some kind of resistance, but because of the ongoing war there are only women here and a few old men. The best we've been able to do is to barricade ourselves in each night, but it hasn't saved us."

"You've done well just to hold out this long. I promise we will do everything we can to destroy their nest, and I hope we may retrieve the maidens before it is too late."

"Thank you Lillia."

After the discussion Lillia laid out the map on the table and the Archibald showed the location of the cave and explained the safest route for us to get there undetected.

"We'll leave our heavy gear here with you, if that's okay?" Asked Lillia.

"Of course, I'll happily watch over it for you."

"Thanks."

Once we had all the information it was time for us to head out, while the sun was still high. Archibald walked us to the edge of the village. It was good to be setting out with only the bare minimum of baggage.

"Good luck all of you!" He called after us as we headed in the direction of the cave.