#godobald

[anywaymurder]

Mosquito Monday

Chapter 58

With big dire-stirges attached to Annori and Kevin, Ara wastes no time and runs one straight through. He knows these creatures well from back in the swamp — this is just another proverbial ‘mosquito monday’ to him, and he flexes his ranger skills. Annori tries burning the specimen that’s attached itself to Kevin, while also feeding him a potion to keep him on his feet. The dire-stirge drinks its fill of Kevins blood and then tries to leave, but gets skewered in the air by both Raiden and Ara. The swarm of smaller stirges that’s been attacking Bree/Godobald chooses the tasty newcomers over their torch-swinging opponent and heads in the group’s direction. It isn’t long before there’s critters all over them, draining them of their blood at an alarming rate. Kevin has the ingenious idea to summon an illusion of fire in hopes of scaring away the swarm, and Raiden expands the illusion to make it seem scarier. While this does make the stirges’ attacks more erratic, their thirst is still stronger than their fear. Soon the ongoing assault of the tenacious creatures causes both Raiden and Kevin to lose consciousness, with several stirges still attached to their bodies. Ara and Annori exchange a panicked glance — there’s not much time, do they revive their fallen friends or fight off the threat? In a split second, they opt for the latter, and Ara takes out a huge chunk of the swarm with some well-placed spear swipes. Annori meanwhile summons a flaming blade and, despite the unfamiliar weight of this new weapon, unleashes her fiery fury on the remaining creatures until they are all dead or gone. They rush to see to their friends. With the help of some healing magic and medical insight (Ara crits on stabbing stabilizing Raiden), both are soon brought back to consciousness. Annori wraps Raiden and Kevin in a big tight hug. ‘Don’t scare me like that again!’

Meanwhile, Ara approaches the exhausted halfling that’s slumped against the wall on the other side of the room. Bree/Godobald: ‘Who are you?’ Ara: ‘Right now, your savior, so you’d best stay calm if you know what’s good for you.’ ‘What do you want?’ they ask. ‘Nothing from you,’ replies Ara, ‘except maybe your body. Wait, not like that.’ It quickly becomes clear that the person talking to them is indeed Godobald, the ghost of the ancient soldier, and not Bree the student. He asks Ara if he’s with Praxemar - he thought the swamp elves were neutral? Kevin joins in to offer some much needed reassurance to the confused quartermaster. ‘We’re here to help,’ he emphasizes. ‘Do you remember what happened?’ Godobald remembers an attack on their camp, and then waking up in a room and going to find his family. But the city had somehow changed. And this body is much less suitable for fighting off stirges than the one he’s used to. He thinks he may have died? Kevin gently confirms this and explains that the body he now possesses belongs to someone else — someone who wanted to summon him to simply talk to him, but instead got taken over when something went wrong. They wonder if there may be unfinished business that this soul needs to attend to, but Annori realizes that that’s not what brought him here. Their best shot at setting things right is bringing him back to Marcius to try and reverse the summoning. Thankfully, Godobald agrees, and they scrape themselves together for a painful, exhausted walk back to the city proper. 

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[hypermanga]

An unexpected visit

Preparing your basket, you made your way to the market to get some groceries, as you would have to go later to the family meeting. A family meeting that consisted only in you and your brother, Bilbo Baggins.

Waving good morning to every hobbit you passed by, you bought everything you needed to make supper.

As the time passed, you grew eager to see your brother.

Although you lived on the same village, Hobbiton, you were always busy with your little restaurant. Quite a reputation you had built up along these years.

As the sky started to turn in a mixture of purple, pink, yellow and orange, you prepared your basket and put one of your best dresses, a dress which had belonged to your mother in her young years. It was a beautiful orange dress which came with an appron and pockets, it was shoulderless, very convenient for the hot summer nights.

After smoothing its edges and combing your hair, you closed your fence and skipped to your brother’s house.

Knocking lightly, you heard some shuffling inside before the door opened to reveal your brother in his robes.

“Long time no see Bilbo” You smiled, embracing him in a hug" Indeed (Y/N), we should meet more often, but" “My work yes, I know. Let’s go inside shall we?” You chuckled, the evening just started as always.

“So, how is life going, are you still being courted by that hobbit?” “Godobald, and he never courted me really, he just wanted another girl in his collection” Sipping the tea, you sighed.

Although the flirting started as a stupid thing, he ended up thinking you were like those girls who throw themselves at someone with money. But, of course, you weren’t like that.

“How about you Bilbo? Have you done anything special?” “No…Well…Now that you mention it, Gandalf, you know…The firework wizard?” “Of course, how I could not remember him?” “He came today offering me to come with him on an adventure” You almost choked with the tea.

“An…An adventure?” “Yes, but let’s not talk about it, I refused” Nodding with your head, you decided not to dig in the topic, and headed to the kitchen with Bilbo to prepare dinner.

“The fish is done!” You told your brother, as you put the plate on the table. It smelled delicious, but you had settled in a steak, perhaps you would steal him some food like in the good ol’ times “The meat still needs some time” He answered back “I’ll take it from here, go eat the fish before it gets cold” Reluctantly, he made his way to the table and started to eat, when a ring disturbed the silence of the house.

“I thought you didn’t expect any visit” You raised your head and looked at your brother “That is because I don’t”

Next thing you knew, a dwarf was eating the fish and attacking the bread.

“Excuse me, but I think you got it wrong, this is not…”

There was another ring that was followed by the entrance of an older and less scary dwarf, who nodded at you politely as him and the other dwarf started to prepare the table.

“Bilbo, are you not gonna say or do anything?” You asked, putting your steak in a plate and hiding it from the dwarves “But what do I do?”

Guess what interrupted your conversation? If you said a ring, have a piece of steak

This time though, appeared two much younger dwarves,whose names were Kili, the brunette, and Fili, the blondie. Before, you had learned the older dwarves’s names were Dwalin and Balin, so a list started to form itself on your head.

You didn’t like the rudeness and carelessness of your invasors but you kept it to yourself and started to cope with it. Bilbo, on the other hand, was mortified. He was going crazy with some many dwarves in his house, and let’s not talk about when a big group of dwarves and a certain wizard made their appearance.

Bilbo was about to pass out, you had to fan him with a handkerchief to keep him from fainting.

“We are missing someone” Gandalf sighed, kind of worried “He’s late, he said he was on a meeting” Dwalin responded while drinking some beer. Just then, you appeared after setting your poor brother on a chair.

“Gandalf the grey” You saluted the wizard between the shouting of the dwarves and brother “(Y/N), I didn’t think you would be joining us tonight"He answered back” Neither did I" Between teeth, you answered politely as you dodged some plates and turned your head to the pantry.

It had been totally emptied, even your steak had disappeared. Trying to keep order, you sent your brother to talk with Gandalf, while you tried to catch all the flying plates before one of them got broken.

Thank Mahal, the dwarves were considered enough to not break anything and cleaned all the dishes. Their laughing, but, died when a sudden knock was heard from outside.

“Alright…Enough!” You clenched your fists and a frown crept into your face “lady (Y/N), I don’t think it’s wise to greet who is outside with thay body language” Kili started “Well, if the lass wants a confrontation, so be it” Dwalin finished.

As you looked at Gandalf, you could see that his eyes wanted you to calm down, but it was impossible.

“If he is another dwarf like these ones, I swear to Mahal I’m hitting him…” Your footseps echoed on the corridor as you touched the handle “…with a pan” You couldn’t end the sentence, as you were met by a pair of blue eyes.

Before you, stood a dwarf that was different from the other ones. He had like a majestic aura surrounding him, and also, mystery.

But his eyes held sadness, as they looked directly at yours, earning a gasp from you.

“Gandalf, I thought this place was easy to find” The dwarf smiled as he made his way inside “I got lost, two times”

This earned a chuckle from you, which the dwarf returned with a frown “What’s so funny?” “None of these other dwarves has said that he has gotten lost…” The dwarf crossed his arms as he looked sternly at Kili, who tried his best to contain a chuckle.

“(Y/N), this is Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of the Company” Gandalf tried to ease some tension “So…Is this the burglar?” Thorin asked smug “Oh no, this is (Y/N) Baggins, Bilbo’s sister” “Such a pity, she is really quite amusing”

You didn’t know if it was sarcasm, but you couldn’t suppress a blush.

“Good evening” Bilbo, who had retrieved the color, saluted the newcomer “This is the burglar I assume? He looks more like a shopkeeper than a thief” He smiled smug as he made his way to the table as if the house was his.

Bilbo’s smile faded as his whole posture became sad “He’s stupid, Bilbo. Don’t take his words to heart” You frowned, as you watched him start to talk about the journey.

When you thought about the journey, you expected something like travelling to a certain destination, but not taking back a kingdom from a dragon. And the worst part was that you had laughed at a king, even if it was for an innocent thing.

Bilbo, being the home-lover, rejected the offer of being a burglar, after fainting again.

Sitting on Bilbo’s bed, you heard them singing a song about the Misty Mountains and the fire blazing the trees on the lonelyness of the night. You could hear the melancholy of their voices, especially in Thorin’s, which held the most grief.

As the dwarves started to look for places to sleep, you went to find Thorin “Excuse me, your highness” “No need to talk with these formalities” He sighed, as he tried to make himself comfortable on his spot “No, I insist…” “Thorin, just call me Thorin” “Alright…Then…Thorin, I’m sorry for mistaking you for someone you were not. I…thought you were a bossy and cocky dwarf, but I was wrong…You just want the best for your people, and I think that just brings more honour to your name if there can be more” You smiled sadly.

Thorin smiled back, glad that you were not like your brother, but, he had a request “Now that master Baggins will not join us, would you join us instead?”

You pondered your answer. An adventure full of dangers and a possibly sure death? Well…You wanted to take some holidays anyways.

“Yes, sure, it will be an honour your high…Thorin” “And it will be a pleasure having you, lady (Y/N)”.

A/N: I was thinking of making this a series, but first I wanted to know your opinion, so I’ll be really happy if you tell me :)

Part 2

MASTERLIST

~~~~~~

@sdavid09 @thorins-magnificent-ass @fandomgalcentral @life-is-righteous @book-boys-are-my-guilty-pleasure @igotanaddixon @averil-of-fairlea

@fizzy-custard @deepestfirefun @leah-halliwell92 @schizonephilim @imaneternalflamebb @jaihardy @j25m18c24 @pixiiebutt @aidanturnersass @oakenshieldsmizimel @thorins-magnificent-ass @imaginationgotmegood

[anywaymurder]

Getting Those Feet Wet

Chapter 57

The group lowers themselves into the unlit sewers of Anamdael. It’s only after Annori passes him her lightstone that Kevin realizes it’s not just water that’s reaching past his ankles. ‘Ewww, my boots!’ Raiden chuckles. ‘First time, huh?’ The bard wastes no time searching for a way forward, and quickly discovers faint smears of blood on the wall of the tunnel to the left. Following this new trail they emerge into a bigger, somewhat brighter tunnel with a stone walkway, to keep their boots dry. Ara takes a minute to concentrate on the presence of any nearby beasts, the way he used to in the swamp. He quickly becomes aware of a great many animals fitting that description - likely plenty of rats and snakes and whatever else likes to reside in these environments. Something worth noting, however, is what seems like a nest of creatures over one way, and another large cluster elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Annori casts Speak with Animals and tries to find a rat to talk to. Sadly, the first dozen or so rats they stumble upon are dead, apparently emptied of their blood. Turning a corner, some live rats scurry past. Annori tries asking them about the missing halfling, but they seem too panicked to pay any attention to her, only screaming something about how ‘they’re taking the blood!’. Whether or not their target went in the direction the rats are fleeing from is unclear, but since there seems to be something going on there they decide to check it out. If something out there is ‘taking blood’, they’d best find Bree/Godobald fast. 

The tunnel leads to a set of iron bars blocking the way. Part of the tunnel has collapsed here, and Raiden wonders if that’s created an opening somewhere large enough to squeeze through. It takes some muscle to move the debris, which Ara provides, but eventually they uncover a bar that’s been bent by the impact of the rock, just enough for the group to pass to the other side. Still passing many a panicked rat, Raiden decides to stealthily scout ahead to try and catch a glimpse of what they’re running from. Instead, he finds a doorway leading into a small chamber containing the remnants of a fire, so he Messages the others to come on ahead. Kevin casts Dancing Lights so they can all see a little better, and once their eyes adjust it becomes clear that the room is littered with the bodies of tiny creatures — some sort of a cross between bats and mosquitoes. Stirges, knows Ara, who has dealt with them many a time in the swamp. Annoying little buggers, especially in larger numbers, but not overly dangerous. Could these be the blood-stealers the rats are running from? But then why are these all dead? It appears that some of them have burn marks. Perhaps whoever rested at this fire defeated them. When Ara informs the group about stirges, Raiden relights the fire and takes one of the burning pieces of wood along as a torch, hoping that the fire will keep the creatures at a distance.  They move forward, and Ara uncovers more and more traces of blood, and more dead stirges. It appears their bleeding target did go this way, after all. But with this many stirges around, and them being heavily attracted to the scent of blood, Bree/Godobald may be in great danger. They start hearing a terrible buzzing noise that gets louder and louder the closer they get. At some point, they start hearing a person screaming as well, though the words are drowned out by the buzzing. Exchanging nervous glances, the group hurries along until they reach a wall with a small opening at the bottom, leading into some kind of overflow chamber. Ara peeks through and sees their fears confirmed: a young halfling matching Bree’s description stands waving a burning torch around, surrounded by an enormous swarm of buzzing stirges. The group quickly maneuvers through the opening into the chamber to try and keep Bree/Godobald from being sucked dry. Immediately Kevin and Annori are hit from above by two massive dire-stirges, that attach themselves to their skin!

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