Evren was about a day away from the town of Plinth and was trying to decide his next course of action. He wanted to scout the town before his arrival, as he did with the prior village, but he couldn't take his wagon with him. If there were still residents of the town of Plinth, a day's travel by foot would probably be the max distance he could stop before getting in range of people. He could see some ruined buildings to the south of the road, possibly remnants of farmhouses, so that didn't bode well for there to be residents in Plinth, but he had to make sure.
He left the wagon where it was and ran quickly to the nearest set of buildings. There was a house and what looked like a barn with stables attached. He could tell from a distance that it was unoccupied, so he didn't stop running, but yet he remained wary. He approached the barn first, its roof had collapsed upon itself, but stopped at the loft. The inside was covered in vegetation, with the occasional rusted tool found hanging on a nail on the wall. The area was clear enough to house his wagon.
After a quick look through the barn and stables, he headed to the house. It was a two-story building, and it looked to have been well tended in its years of use. Although it was run down, it was in the best shape of any of the buildings he had found before. The inside was empty of people and skeletons. Forgoing the chance to look around, Evren exited the house and ran back to his wagon. He had no trouble finding it, as the grasses had been bent on his first run through. The only thing he could think of as he finally reached the wagon was that the grasses would lead anyone who came across them to exactly where he was.
When he reached the barn, he backed the wagon inside as deep as he could and blocked the wheels. He was initially going to leave his bow with the wagon, not wanting to carry the extra weight, but decided against it in case someone actually did find the wagon, he didn't want to lose the bow. He also brought with him enough food for three meals in his basket. He then ran straight across the field to the wood line.
Once he reached the forest, he turned west, only about 100 meters deep, following the edge. He set his sensory field at maximum distance. He knew that this would drain him, and he'd have to stop to rest before he reached town, but he thought that he would rather have to stop and take a break than to come across someone or something accidentally. This was the monster forest north of Plinth. He was more nervous about the forest than he was of anyone in the town.
He had to stop twice on the way to Plinth, but the largest things he found on the way were squirrels, birds and the occasional snake. He got to within view of Plinth after the sun had set. There were no lights in the town, and it was too dark for him to see anything else. Now he had to make a choice; stay outside of town until the sun rises, so he could see, or approach the town at night and confirm its empty. If he stays outside of town, he risks encounters with nocturnal monsters, yet if he heads into town, he risks an encounter with the unknown.
As the town was this close to the forest, it could have been inhabited by some monsters that had migrated there. The town could have residents in it, and whether they were original residents or members of the Holy State armies, his approach would be at best, suspicious. He opted to focus his mind on the immediate area around himself. Anything larger than a goblin would be focused on, to see if there was a reaction. The only reaction he got was from a canine shaped animal that ran off deeper into the woods as soon as it sensed him.
The bow had been unstrung and the string had been put into a pouch at his waist. He wouldn't be able to shoot effectively at night and stressing the bow too much wasn't good for it. So now, it was a staff in his hands, a staff with slightly curved ends. He ran out of the woods and through the field bent over in a crouch. The bow held out before him to give warning if he came across something in the way. He still did stumble occasionally as he couldn't see the ground but circled around the town to the southern side.
There appeared to be a gate to the town on the east side, where the road came from, and a second one on the north side that faced the forest. Evren wasn't sure if there were any gates elsewhere, but he hoped the side away from the forest was the safest option. When he was around 100 meters from the wall, a break in the clouds stopped him as the area around him was suddenly illuminated. He could see there was no gate at the southern side of the wall, but there appeared to be on to his west. As he waited for the moons to be hidden by the clouds again, he reached out with his sensory field to the town.
The walls were made of stone and had a walkway across the top of it to allow for patrols. Evren didn't find any thing large enough to be a human or a monster on the wall, so when it got dark again, he dashed to the wall. He stopped at the base of the wall, with his back to it, getting his breathing in order. He had reduced the range of his sensory field to fifty meters, and on the weakest detection ability, and only focused on the walkway of the wall. He would focus on anything larger than a goblin as he moved towards the gate on the south-west side. He would only find rubble, empty barrels and what appeared to be piles of armor along the way. He knew the armor was probably the remains of a soldier, so it gave him the feeling the town had been overrun or abandoned.
Like the first town he visited, the gates of Plinth appeared to have been breached during an invasion. Evren made his way through the opening and into the town. He followed the wall to his right as he entered, and eventually came across a gatehouse. He stepped inside the gatehouse, closed his right eye, and cast the "flame" spell. He took a quick look around and then extinguished the spell.
He let out a sigh and whispered quietly to himself, "Why did I do that? I don't need a light to 'see'. I think I've learned everything I need to anyways." Evren stood and exited the gatehouse, his plan now was to head to the center of town, then to the east gate. While he was going, he would use his sensory field at a wide range, and mild details.
As Evren neared the center of the town, he stopped. There was something ahead. No, there were two somethings ahead. Focusing on them, like the creature in the forest, this was canine in shape, but unlike the creature in the forest, these two didn't run away. They appeared to be on alert and crouched down. As Evren peered ahead towards where they were located, he tried to find the outline of the creatures. What he saw instead were two red lights, that looked like eyes. He quickly ducked behind cover.
The creatures were about 75 meters ahead of him. One was facing in his direction, the other towards the east. As he focused on them to get a better idea of what they were, he could hear them growling. The one in the back barked and a gout of flame burst from its mouth. It wasn't a big flame, but it was enough to make Evren realize these were monsters.
'If they fight like normal dogs and wolves, I can probably take them, but that flame… I doubt they'd fight normally.' He thought to himself. He looked down to the unstrung bow in his hand and shook his head. He thought about backing up to string the bow but was unsure if him moving away would alert the wolves more than just stringing it there and then. Ultimately, he compromised and backed up until he was around the corner.
Keeping his senses on the wolves, he took the string from the pouch on his waist, he looped it on the bottom limb at the groove, wrapped his leg around the limb, and using his hip as a fulcrum, he bent the bow back to string the top limb. He had made a little more noise than he wanted to, the wolves seeming to have noticed something in his direction. As he nocked an arrow, he realized he was on the wrong side of the road to shoot the wolf and remain hidden, so he drew out his sword, and leaned it against the wall of the building.
He took a breath and drew the arrow back. He then began slowly inching his way around the corner until he could see the first wolf. He set his feet so he could lean out without a loss of balance and fired off the arrow. The arrow hit the lead wolf in the chest, but the wolf didn't fall. He grabbed his sword and dropped his bow to the ground, stepping out into the road with his sword before him. Both wolves dashed forwards towards Evren. Each time they breathed out; small bursts of flames would be coughed out of their mouths.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! I'm no good with a sword. I should have made a spear. Should I use the dagger? I sort of know how to knife fight. Shit!" As the wolves approached, the lead wolf, with the arrow in it stopped and launched a breath of flame. Evren rolled to his right to get out of the way of the flame, where the trailing wolf was running towards. He rolled again, almost back to where his bow was.
He quickly scrambled to his feet and swung at the lead wolf that had leapt towards him. Now that they were closer, he could make out what they were with the bursts of flames that would occasionally appear. They weren't wolves. They looked like hairless dogs with wide heads. Their front and rear paws ended in talon like claws that seemed to dig into the ground as they moved. Their tails were short and thick with a spike like protrusion on it, and their eyes glowed red like a furnace.
The trailing wolf-like creature began to circle around to his left, while the lead creature moved to flank his right. The trailing creature growled and took a stance like it was about to breath fire on Evren. He pointed his left hand at the creature and chanted "water ball". The water ball hit the creature in the face, before it had a chance to breath out the flame, causing it to back off, coughing out water. The lead one used this advantage to leap in towards Evren in an attempt to bite his leg. Evren swung his sword down at the creature, striking it in its right shoulder, slicing it slightly.
The creature didn't flinch and continued towards his leg, biting at his ankle. Evren swung the sword back, missing his target, but striking the arrow lodged in its chest, causing the creature to back off. The trailing creature had recovered enough to lunge forward at Evren to bite his hand. Evren stepped back and swung his sword, striking the creature in the head, knocking it away, but again only creating a small cut.
Evren looked at his sword in shock and swung it wide to his right, throwing it at the leading creature. In the same motion, he drew out the blue metal dagger from his waist. The lead creature jumped back, but the sword struck the arrow again, causing it to yelp in pain. He turned back to the trailing creature, in a bent forward posture, his left hand out in front of him to bait the beast. As the creature lunged at his hand, he pulled his hand back and stabbed his dagger at its throat. He used his hips to swing his body around, putting more strength into the strike, and drawing his hand further away from its jaws.
The dagger penetrated the creature's throat to about half the length of the dagger's blade. Evren gave a twist as he pulled it out, backing away. "Wind blade" Evren chanted towards the lead creature, the invisible blade of wind hitting the creature across the face, causing no damage, but halting its progress. The trailing creature had been cut and it was bleeding heavily, but it ignored the wound and moved to Evren's right flank. The lead creature growled, "water ball" Evren chanted and sent a ball of water in its direction. The wolf leapt out of the way but faltered slightly when it landed. A small bit of flame escaping its mouth.
The trailing creature had moved to Evren's side, almost behind him, when Evren moved forward quickly, towards where the lead creature was. The lead creature lowered its stance to intercept Evren, and the trailing creature chased after him. As he reached the lead creature, he feigned an attack to it, which was on his left side and dove to the right, rolling to his feet quickly. The trailing creature had leapt past him and was now walking around behind the lead creature to its opposite side.
A break in the clouds illuminated the area and gave Evren a chance to better survey his surroundings. He was at a disadvantage in the darkness, but this little amount of light that the moons emitted gave Evren a more comfortable feeling. Evren kept his stance lowered, with his left hand forward, and his right hand, with the dagger, forward of his chest. The creatures in front of him only growling and snapping their teeth.
