Fable II: Retold Chapter 14

==Road to Westcliff==
Once in the guild Walter looked in amazement at his new surroundings.
"I don't believe it, this is the Chamber of Fate in the Heroes Guild! I thought this place was gone forever" Walter said as Hammer approached us.
"Theresa said you were bringing a friend" she said.
"Hi I'm Walter Beck, and you are?" he said holding his hand out as Hammer took it and squeezed his hand as Walter regretted holding his hand out as I saw the pain in his face.
"I'm Hammer the Hero of Strength" she said releasing his hand.
"Yeah I can tell" he said shaking his hand to get the felling back.
"Welcome back I trust finding the diaries weren't too difficult now bring it to me, I'll translate it for you" Theresa said from across the room.
"Is she blind?" Walter asked.
"Yes" I said handing Theresa the book.
"You can read that but your eyes are...you know" Hammer said.
"I can see other worlds instead of this one" Theresa said as Walter raised an eyebrow.
"And in other worlds you can see? I don't understand" Hammer said.
"Shhhhh" Theresa said as her eyes went slightly wide.
"Westcliff! Lucien is recruiting guards in Westcliff" Theresa said.
"Oh C'mon, Westcliff's a dump, it's full of brawler and thugs the only thing there is that arena" Hammer said.
"The Crucible those who win it are physically tuff and mentally weak, Lucien is recruiting the winners as guards, you must enter the Crucible in Westcliff and emerge from it victorious, it is the only way into the Spire, the only way to get to Garth and rescue him" Theresa said.
"Finally some action! I'll meet you two by the bandit road in Brightwood, last was there is a rotten Hobbe!" Hammer said entering the Cullis Gate as me and Walter raced stood next to Theresa.
"This research was proven valuable, now you should go after her before her enthusiasm wears off, though I wonder if it ever does" Theresa said as Walter chuckled a little.
"I like her" he said as we entered the Cullis gate.
Once Walter and I had caught with Hammer she was waiting by the entrance to the Bandit Coast with her hammer over her shoulder and foot tapping on the ground.
"What did you two get jobs buy houses? I've been here for ages" she said.
"Well you wouldn't have to wait if you would have waited for us!" Walter said.
"Who cares let's focus on our mission" I said.
"Right lets go" Hammer said as we began to walk into the entrance.
As we made our way to the Bandit Coast which took and entire day, Walter and Hammer were constantly at each other necks as they kept getting on my nerves as we reached the Bandit Coast to my relief.
"About damn time we got here you two were driving me crazy!" I said.
"Oh you need to relax Sparrow" Hammer said.
"Yeah you need to find yourself a girl" Walter said.
"I don't need to endanger another person" I said as Walter said as he hit a soft spot.
"I'm sorry Sparrow I didn't mean to bring up bad memories" Walter said.
"It's ok just drop it" I said as we reached a forest area.
"Lucien writings are fascinating there much in there that might interest you when you have time but for now press on to Westcliff" Theresa said.
"Sounds like a good light reading but for me I'd prefer some action" Hammer said.
"Of course you do" Walter said as we reached sharp pointy logs surrounding the area.
"I think we're here" I said.
"Charming architecture looks like sharp pointy logs go all the way around here" Hammer said.
"Isn't it weird we haven't seen any bandits yet?" Walter said.
"I wonder where everyone is?" Hammer said loudly trying to get us ambushed as I saw bandits running down the road.
"Oh look there they are" I said giving Hammer an annoyed look.
"Here we go!" Hammer said swinging her hammer as me and Walter drew our swords.
While we were fighting I overheard Hammer hitting someone saying "what's wrong never been hit by a lady" she said smashing the poor bandit head.
"She's a lady?" Walter said trying to be funny.
"I heard that you twig!" she yelled.
"Enough! Let's keep going" I said.
Once we past several bandit filled camps we reached a large wood bridge and directly ahead we found the bandits stronghold.
"This must be the infamous barricade, doesn't look that tuff" Hammer said.
"Are you mad? This thing is way too strong for us to break through" Walter said.
"Maybe for you two, just stand back and watch" she said smashing the wall down with one loud yelled and swing of her hammer as bandits and highwaymen stood on the other side.
"Boss we can't stop them, what should we do?" a bandit asked.
"Stand and fight you cowardly naves" a highwayman said as the bandit began to attack.
"Charge!" Hammer yelled as we ran head on into the bandits as we began to fight the large number of bandits and highwaymen.
After we cleared the camp of its evil men we made our way to that path to Westcliff, which was a fourteen hour walk.
"Westcliff here we come!" Hammer said in her eager voice.
Once we reached a very dark forest area with an uneasy presence as Jake stood close to our party as we made our way down the dirt path.
"I've heard a lot of storied about Westcliff" Hammer said.
"Really? Let's hear it" I said.
"This place is apposed to be infested with Balverines" Hammer said.
"Balverines! Oh Balls! I hate those bloody things!" Walter said as I kept an eye on my surrounding.
"I heard this one story about these traders who got attacked, Balverines killed both parents but the kids survived, a slaver found the poor things, took them back to his camp and locked them up in a cage, that night the kids turned, broke out of the cage a ripped every slaver in the camp to shreds, really makes you think doesn't it?" Hammer said.
"Yeah it does" I said as we continued to walk and I spot one Balverine on a stone hedge as all of us stopped in our tracks.
"There's one of the bloody things right there!" Hammer said as the Balverine roared at us and jumped into the air and out of sight.
"Come on!" Hammer said as we approached the Stonehenge and spotted no Balverine.
"Bugger, it ran off, maybe it was afraid of us?" Hammer said as I shook my head.
"Are you mad? Those things are defiantly not afraid of us, trust me" Walter said as we approached the Stonehenge and two Balverine appeared on the sides.
While I was distracted one Balverine tackled Hammer to the ground as Hammer held her weapon in front of her as the Balverine bitten down into the handle and tried to bite her.
"Get the hell off her you ugly son of a bitch!" Walter said stabbing his sword into the Balverine back as I stabbed the other Balverine in the heart as it ran to me and I kicked it off my sword.
"You guys alright?" I asked.
"Yeah, thank for the help" Hammer said to Walter.
"No problem I know you would have done the same for me" he said as we made our way down the path.
"That was something wasn't it?" Hammer said.
"It sure was" I said cleaning the blood from my sword.
"I spent my whole life praying and mean while the world was just as dangerous as ever, but now this stretch of road is a little bit safer because of us" Hammer said.
"Yeah but here comes more" I said seeing two more Balverine came from the woods as Hammer didn't get caught off and smash her hammer into a Balverine face and bashed it against a tree splattering it's blood on the road as I used Force Push to hit the Balverine on its back as I used Blades to kill the beast as we all looked around for more of those things.
"We better hurry before more arrive" I said as we passed a house in the process of being built as we heard a woman scream.
"Someone in trouble, we got to help her, come on!" Hammer said as I saw a woman ahead.
"Finally a damsel in distress" Walter said with a cocky smirk as Hammer slapped the back of his head as we approached the woman.
"Are you alight?" Hammer asked.
"Balverines attacked us! They killed my husband, they killed my Fredric" she said.
"Damn!" Walter said from behind me as I elbowed him as the Hammer continued.
"Don't worry your safe with us" Hammer said.
"They took my son!" the woman said.
"Can you show us where they took him?" Hammer asked.
"I think so" the woman said as we began to head to some ruin in the distances as more Balverines began to appear as I got this funny feeling about this woman.
"Come on let's get them!" Walter said.
"Just stay back Ms. we'll handle this!" Hammer said as we began to attack the creatures.
After the last of the Balverines tasted the metal of my weapon we continued down the path as the woman started to get frantic.
"You don't think they've killed him do you?" she asked.
"I'm sure he's alright, we'll find him" Hammer said with uncertainty in her eyes as we approached a large ruins as I saw three Balverines looking down at us but not attacking.
"Why aren't they attacking us?" Hammer asked.
"No idea, but something doesn't feel right about this place" I said as the woman spoke.
"This is where they took him" she said.
"You know, this is usually the part where we avoid going into a dark creepy ruins and lessen our chances of getting ambushed by blood thirsty monster" Walter said.
"Yes but the child is inside so we have no choice Walter" I said watching the Balverines closely as we walked in and found a staircase leading to a tomb below us.
"Howling Halls, sound welcoming" Walter said sarcastically as he read the words above the door as we entered the tomb.
"You won't let anything happen to him will you?" the woman asked.
"I'm sure he's alright, just don't get too far ahead, you need to stay with us" Hammer said as I saw the shadow of a Balverine on the wall as it ran off.
"Oh but my poor little Robert" the woman said.
"I know, but you won't be able to help him if you get eaten will you? Who knows what could be waiting for us down here, we've got to be careful" Hammer said as we walked along the broken hall.
"This place is creepy as hell" Walter said.
"I've seen creepier" I said.
"Why the road have to go through a place like this is beyond me, couldn't they have cut down a few trees instead?" Hammer said.
"Yeah how do people get to Westcliff anyway?" I asked as we found a large room with the torn bodies of innocent people on the ground as across the room was out exit on the other side of a spike pit as Balverines stood on top of pillars looking down at us as the doors closed behind us as I could smell the rotting stench of death in this room.
"What is this place?" Hammer asked as the woman stood a few feet away from us as she lifted her hands.
"Children I bring you flesh!" she said in a deep voice as she jumped into the air like the Balverines and a few Balverines began to jump from the pillars.
"She tricked us! She their god damn mother!" Walter yelled as the doors behind us closed as we all began to fight off the first wave of Balverines.
After the first wave was dead we began heading to the pit as I looked for an escape.
"We have to find a way out of here or were dead!" Hammer yelled.
"She's right, show no mercy and get out of that place quickly" Theresa said as I looked for a way across.
"I can't see anything past that pit, there must be something we can do" Hammer said as more Balverines began to enter the room as I looked up to a very weak looking pillar.
"Hammer, do you see what I see?" I asked as she looked at the pillar.
"Oh I see it, that pillar looks weak, alright one bridge coming right up, just keep those nasty buggers of me" Hammer said slamming her hammer into the pillar as Walter and I began to fight off last of the Balverines as a large White Balverine entered the room and spoke in a deep voice.
"You killed my children! You will suffer!" She said as she came running at Walter as I pushed him out of the way and used Time Control to slow her down as I took my sword and stabbed my sword threw her heart and used Force Push to send her into the spike pit, just to make sure she stays dead.
"You alright?" I asked Walter.
"Yeah a little cut up but I'll live" he said as Hammer grunted as she pushed up against the pillar and it came down into the pit making us a bridge.
"Nice going Hammer" I said.
"Let's go were leaving" she said still a little shaken up by this whole ordeal as we made our way through the rest of the tomb.
"I hope we killed every last one of those damn beast!" Walter said as we reached a large room and began to walk up the stairs.
"I agree I hope they are all good and dead!" Hammer yelled.
"Don't count on it, if we been fighting off the babies this whole time then there could be an angry father out there wanting revenge" I said.
"Balls! You're right if that huge white one was the mum then where in deep shit if there are more" Walter said as we found the door out of the tomb and exited the tomb.
"We made it!" Hammer said as we saw a large building in front of us.
"Many have died in their attempt to defeat the Crucible, but defeat it you must if you are to have any hope to join Lucien army and getting to Garth" Theresa said as we approached the gates where two men who were fighting and looked to us.
"You lost, little girl?" a deep voice man asked looking in my direction.
"I think it's a bloke, Ron" a man said that sounded like he had a few to many hits to the head.
"Yeah, that's what makes it an insult, you idiot, now, shut it!" Ron said.
"Hold on I think we found the brains to this party" Hammer said.
"Oh you thought your troll to talk" Ron said as me, Walter and Jake stood away from Hammer thinking that she'd smash this guy head but she didn't.
"Come on let's just ignore these idiots" Hammer said as we walked into town.
"You three are just a bunch of stupid tourist" Ron said.
"Yeah tourist are stupid, are we tourist Ron?" he asked.
"Oh no, you two are clearly the brains to this dump" Walter said sarcastically.
"Why don't you show us what you got? Or don't you got nothing" Ron said.
"Yeah, show us!" the other man said as we got closer to the Crucible.
"La, la, la not listening" Hammer said as I turned to them and used the Chaos spell on them.
"How about you two go for a swim" I said as they jumped into a nasty looking pond as I turned to see Hammer and Walter staring at me.
"What? They annoyed the hell out of me and that's what happens when you challenge me" I said.
"I'll keep that in mind" Walter said as we walked up the stairs to the Crucible at the top two men stood in front of the doors as one spoke.
"Look Murray another group of nobodies trying to get into the Crucible, doesn't anybody know that you have to be famous to fight here?" a man said.
"Terribly sorry but I'm afraid this is a rather brutal business, and it's not just the blood spurting decapitation, people only pay to see the big names like Ervin the Strangle Gibbons" Murray said.
"Not a bunch of unknowns" the man said.
"Oh yeah and what's your name?" Hammer asked the man on the right.
"Me? Everyone knows me, I'm Mad-dog 'The Strangler' McGraw" he said.
"Best Crucible fighter back in his day" Murray said.
"A bit redundant isn't it?" Hammer said.
"What? What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well why do you need the strangler part if your already a Mad-Dog?" Hammer asked.
"Well it's intimidating" Mad-Dog said.
"Seems confusing to me, I mean I get Ervin the Strangle Gibbons it tuff it up a bit doesn't it? But it's not like Mad-Dog your given name" Hammer said.
"You know I never given thought about it before, but she got a point" Murray said.
"No she doesn't, look if you really want to compete, go make a name for yourself so the crowed can actually give a flying shit" Mad-Dog said.
"Luck that's all you need just a bit of luck and you'll be famous in no time" Murray said.
"No way I'm letting that friend of yours in, she can stay out here and make fun of my name all she likes and no one under eighteen can compete" he said looking to Walter.
"What? That not fair I fought bloody Balverines, Hollow Men, Hobbes and even a Forest Troll for Christ sake! I can handle what's in there way damn better than anyone here!" Walter yelled as I dragged Hammer and Walter down the stairs.
"Impressive display Hammer you managed to alienate the very men which favor we need" Theresa said
"Only one of them" Hammer said crossing her arm.
"Sparrow you need to find a way to impress those men, there are still many people in the world that needs your help" Theresa said as I saw a familiar man on top of a hill.
"Well I'll just stay here at the pub while you two go out and spread Sparrow fame" Hammer said heading for the pub.
"Well I see someone I know so this won't take long" I said heading up the hill to see Barnum who was yodeling terribly.
"By the lustrous gossoon, it's you again" he said.
"Hey Barnum I didn't expect to find you here in Westcliff of all place" I said.
"We do seem to run into each other a lot don't we my good friend? And as a matter of reputation I cannot think of anyone for a better business partner" he said.
"Partner for what?" I asked.
"Oh it's my most sagacious plan yet inspired by my new found faith in T.O.B.Y" he said.
"What's Toby?" I asked.
"That's the temple of business and yodeling of course" he said.
"Sounds like a total scam" Walter whispered.
"It's threw Toby that the idea came to me, take this sad land and turn it into a place where crime no longer exist" he said.
"So what do you need?" I asked.
"I need a small investment" he said.
"Sure how much gold do you need?" I asked
"I need five-thousand" he said.
"Five thousand! You call that small?" Walter said.
"Fine here" I said handing him a large bag of gold.
"Wondrous I'll get started right away and I will notify you by letter when it's complete" Barnum said as me and Walter left and I looked at some quest in my list.
"Oh great" I said reading one of the quest.
"What?" Walter asked.
"Knothole Island needs our help, again!" I said.
"Good now I can give that Chieftain a piece of my mind!" Walter said as we made our way to the carriage station.