IN A HURRY?
“Hey! Giant spiders! I’m on it!”
Caemond Straker and Raeshin Kaelmothe (Rae’kar to his friends) sagged
visibly at Ahrisel Thereda’s outburst, watching their blue-skinned
comrade reach for her bow and an arrow from her quiver.
Traveling through the Underdark was tiresome, and the trio (quartet if
one counted Rae’kar’s familiar, the Beholderkin, Squishee) always
welcomed a break in the dreary travels by a heated battle. But,
unfortunately, the Air Genosi was a quick shot, and tended to lay their
enemies flat before the others could get a hit in. She could fire
roughly one arrow per second, and that didn’t leave them much time to
act before what they were fighting was turned into a pincushion.
“Ahrisel, wait—“ Caemond began, letting out a haggard sigh. “—for us.”
Rae’kar shook his head, shrugging. “It’s no use.” He pulled his backpack
over his shoulder, rummaging through it. By some mage’s trick –Caemond
could only guess—the Fey’ri pulled out a steaming cup of tea, offering
it to the human. “Tea while we wait?”
Caemond gave him an astonished look, leaning forward slightly and
peering down into the bag. “Got any coffee in there?”
Laughing, Rae’kar pulled out a mug of coffee, handing it over.
The pair sat back on some rocks, watching Ahrisel as she continued to
fire arrows into the giant spiders; oblivious to the fact that she was
the only one fighting. Squishee hovered by Rae’kar’s shoulder, letting
out some high-pitched gibberish as he looked over to his master with
most of his multiple eyes.
“No, no… Leave her be. Besides, I doubt you could find any Gnomes
nearby, anyway,” Rae’kar told the Beholderkin, chuckling.
Letting out a disappointed noise, Caemond chuckled into his coffee,
remembering fondly Ahrisel’s… ‘run in’ with the Gnome back when they
were above ground. “Ever think she’ll get over that?”
“Not likely.”
“Nine Hells; if I had been hit by a Gnome launched by a trebuchet, I
might have some issues with them as well.”
The final spider came crashing to the ground, and Ahrisel slung her bow
over her shoulder with a triumphant grin on her face. She walked over to
the trio, glancing down at them as they drank their hot beverages.
Snatching the coffee out of Caemond’s hands, she took a long sip.
“So, what are you two talking about?”
“Gnomes,” Caemond replied, frowning up at her as she held his drink.
With blurring speed, she reached for an arrow from her quiver and hit
him over the head with it. “Stop bringing that up,” she said, muted
anger in her voice as she tossed the arrow back where she had taken it
from.
Grimacing at her, Caemond rubbed his head, casting a fierce glare with
his one good eye over at the chuckling Fey’ri. “Shut up.”
Rae’kar gave him a mock-innocent look. “I didn’t say a word.”
“Yeah, well you didn’t need to,” he growled.
“Come on,” Ahrisel sighed, tossing the now-empty mug over at Rae’kar,
who caught it and slipped it into his bag. “Let’s keep going.”
As they continued along the path through the Underdark, Squishee said
something in his high-pitched gibberish, including a word that sounded
remarkably close to ‘Gnome.’ The human and the Fey’ri cast each other
glances from behind Ahrisel’s back, and began to chuckle.