Ferdinand Meets Sage Rikon!

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## PROSE

NOT In the SCRIPT

Celaya?!?! Ferdinand could hardly believe his ears! The Frost Druid city!! It was like a dream! Just a few months before he had been saved by a boat of frost druids during a pirate attack, quit his job, and traveled west, to try to find them. Many people in the kingdoms of House Donao believed The Frost Druids had a super-weapon. Something that could quickly end this cursed war - forever. The thing is, all meetings between The Frost Druids and the outside world generally took place in neutral places, as traveling through the ice plains was next to a death sentence.

“Why didn’t you say we were going to meet The Frost Druids?! I’ve been talking about that for weeks!!”

The older man chuckled, “I was enjoying hearing your tall tales.”

“Tall tales?!? I was there! They froze the ice right in front of me! I watched an entire ship get icebound!” Ferdinand was so angry that this was the first time he’d heard what Ranger Thawkins’ mission was, at least, partially….. But, at the same time, he had so many questions! “Do they have the superweapon? What powers their super-weapon? How have they fared in the war? What is…”

“Bah!” the ranger snorted. “I’ve been all over this world and seen some amazing things. Something that would make you doubt everything you’ve ever thought you knew, but super-weapon? It’s nonsense.”

“But.. they can…”

“Nonsense kid. It doesn’t make sense. If they had a superweapon, the nether would be finished, the war over, and people safe.”

“Then… why are we seeking them out?”

“Rangers work on contracts and I got a big one.”

It must be mind-blowingly big if Thawkins was willing to go beyond White Sands and into the ice plains.

the ranger master nodded his head up the road, “two more days and we’ll be at Monument to the Fallen. Let’s camp here and train extra tonight. I’m going to need you to be ready.”

Ferdinand dropped his pack and unsheathed his sword.

START OF SCRIPT

Ferdinand Keet and Ranger Thawkins trained for hours a day during the last leg of their journey to Monument to the Fallen. Although Ferdinand was far from giving the Master Ranger a run for his money, he was able to capably handle himself in both a melee fight and even better with a bow. Thawkins had remarked a few times just that morning that the boy “might have a chance” in a real fight now.

Walking over a ridge, the two men saw the split bridges and a small village. “Is that it?”

“No, but it’s close. We’ll stop here, I need to write a letter.”

The two men found the small Adventurers' Guild and saddled up to a table near the back. The waitress was a young girl, no more than 17, but if you looked closer, you could see there were some hard years behind her eyes. “What’ll it be - you pay first here.”

“Where is… here?” asked Ferdinand, while digging for his Iron nuggets.

“You wouldn’t know it, no one does.” The girl sighed and glanced out the window. “It’s called Houndsummit.”

“Indeed? You have lots of dogs here, then?”

“Not for dogs. Garland Hound was the first one to call this land home, and, egotistical as he was, named it after himself.”

“Do you know him?”

“How old do you take me for? He died years ago, but I know his grandkids, and they’re as pompous as he ever was.” She glanced out the window again, was she waiting on someone? “Now, if you fine gentlemen have decided.”

“Two ales, paper, ink, and quill please, and I’m sorry for my young companion talking your ear off.” Thawkins was grinning a bit and winked as she turned away to fill the order.

“She’s nice,” remarked Ferdinand, still watching her walk away.

“We’re just here to send a letter, boy.”

“Who are you writing to?”

“Rangers need to send back mission reports to the Ranger's Guild, in case something happens, another Ranger can pick up the contract and finish it.” The girl delivered the ale and handed Thawkins his requested writing equipment. “One of the first and maybe most important parts of being a Ranger is, we always finish our contracts. Once you take one on, it’s yours until it’s completed or you are.” Thawkins started to write, and Ferdinand got up to go find that girl.

Ferdinand Keet and Ranger Thawkins left Houndsummit and made the last day’s journey to Monument to the Fallen. Walking over the small ridge to see the portal and statues took the boy’s breath away. “This is amazing,” whispered Ferdinand, mouth gaping.

“It is. A fitting tribute.” The ranger'susual gruff voice, was softer this morning. Each statue was in tribute to a single man who had crossed the threshold, venturing into the Nether, knowing it was a one-way trip. They were likely to be killed as soon as they entered the hell dimension, but even if they succeeded in breaking all the obsidian portals, they would be destroying their one way home. There would be no returning to their families.

“How could they do this? Leaving everything… everyone they ever knew behind?”

“The war was as good as lost, kid. When the Elves and Dwarves abandoned us, after Talatol, it was only a matter of time.”

“So, could we do the same thing?” Ferdinand's mind was racing…. “Could we send in a party to break all the obsidian portals and trap them in the Nether once again?”

“It was tried.” Sighing, the older man, started off the path, heading towards one of the newly constructed statues. “When word of the invasion spread, a group from Kelael opened a portal in the mayor's basement of all places.” Laughing at the sheer insanity of opening a portal purposefully…. “Only moments after phasing into the Nether, one scout returned. His wounds were too severe for him to live, but he told of unbelievable fortifications all surrounding the portal. We shocked them once with a suicide mission, but it won’t work again.”

Ranger Thawkins stopped in front of a statue with a nameplate, “Vebar Thawkins” “My kin. Some 30 generations ago, he left his 3 sons and wife to go save the world.” Touching the statue’s hand, he bowed and whispered a prayer of gratitude.

“Thawkins…. Is this war over already? Have we lost, and just don’t know it yet?”

“Maybe. But in Celaya, there may be someone who knows away.” He looked past Ferdinand, squinting a bit, with a smile and a nod, he greeted an approaching man, "Sage Rikon, good to see you again.”

"Sage Rikon, good to see you again.” Ranger Thawkins said with a tight-lipped smile. The lanky man, wearing the traditional Order Of Man garb of white robes strode up, extending his hand.

“Thawkins, it’s been ages! How have the roads been treating you?”

“They’re fine, long journeys, but safer than our days in the wilds.”

“You call these days safe!? We just barely escaped with our lives….”

“We don’t need to entertain the sage with tales of our journey, boy, trust me, he’s seen more in his life than you will ever want to.” Thawkins gave the younger man a look that silenced any objections. “My overly eager young friend is Ferdinand Keet, from Port Breigh.”

“Your contractor apprentice?”

Thawkins looked over the boy, “was my contract, but I’m not sure yet apprentice.” Ferdinand's eye widened, as he opened his mouth to react, Sage Rikon laughed, “Come with me, my wife will make you something to eat.”

The trio made their way across the field from the statues to the village of Monument to the Fallen. [[[Rikon Gerro|Rikon]] pointed out some things about the village, how when he had arrived there, the village was being raided and didn’t even have walls for protection. Since starting his library, he now has an average of 8 students per day coming in to study and learn the ways of the Order.

After a short time of small talk, they sat down in Rikon’s kitchen. “So, my friend, why are you here? Not that I’m not happy to see you, but you didn’t make this journey to know the state of my little town.”

“I have a contract to find Celaya.”

Rikon pushed himself back from the table, leaning back in his chair. Whistling, “Celaya…” No outsider has journeyed to that city in an age. During the war, they welcomed immigrants, feeling like amassing an army would be the way to fight the Nether, but since….” he nodded out the window to the statues, “they closed their borders.”

Thinking for a few seconds, Rikon took a bite of bread…. “Your contract must be a big one to come out here and venture into the ice plains.”

“The biggest I’ve seen.”

Rikon nodded, “with the king then. There would be no way out.”

Ferdinand's eye widened, “The king!?! King Donao?!?” He could hardly believe it, “You know him??”

Rikon laughed, “haha - know him? Thawkins trained him and his father, and some say his father before that!”

“How old do you think I am?!”

“Old enough, my friend, old enough.” Thawkins had eluded to his age a few times in the couple months Ferdinand knew him, but he couldn’t be older than the mid-’50s, but to train 2 kings…. He must carry the weight of the years better than anyone Ferdinand had ever seen.

Thawkins got up, “Excuse me, seems I don’t hold my water as well as such young men…”

After he was safely out of earshot, Ferdinand leaned in and whispered to Sage Rikon, “How old, exactly, is he?”

“He’s never said, but when I was a boy, younger than you, I met that man out in the Southern Wilds. He saved me and brought me back to civilization, but that day, all those years ago, he didn’t look a day younger than he does now.”

Ferdinand's mind was reeling. Sage Rikon had just alluded that his…. friend? Ranger Thawkins might be very old, even though he appeared no more than in his 50s. Thawkins rejoined the duo, halting any chance for a follow-up question.

“We need to find Celaya” Ranger Thawkins Asked.

“That may be difficult. Many years ago, there was one clear path to the ice city, but since their territory has grown with the power of the tree, the road has become… twisted, confusing… missing.” Sage Rikon, of the Order Of Man, clearly knew so much, but… that made sense, since the Order’s main mission in the world, was to collect information. “If only you had come a few months back.” Sighing, the Sage took another sip of his tea. “I had a certain… an artifact that would have been led you to Celaya.”

“The Arrow of Thania” Thawkins nodded.

“You know of it?” Sage Rikon was shocked, putting his cup down on the table, “how?”

[“Rikon, why do you think I’m here?”

Rikon sighed, shaking his head, “Just when I think the Order is the master of secrets, once again, a Ranger sets me straight.”

Thawkins laughed, "The Order has its secrets, and the Rangers have theirs, but this one was mine. I never included that in a report.” Rangers report nearly every detail of their contracts so that if they are unable to complete one, another Ranger can step in and finish it. To not include such a huge detail as the location of an artifact was unheard of. “If word got out that a simple sage in a small hamlet had an artifact, it wouldn’t be in your possession for long.

“Thank you, my friend, for your protection… but it is not in my possession in any case.”

Thawkins frowned and leaned forward, putting his hands on his knees, “What happened?”

“When I first arrived at Monument to the Fallen, they were a frequent target of raids from Pillagers. I convinced them to build the wall and strengthen their defenses, but before it was completed, my house was raided and the arrow was stolen.”

“Where are these pillagers now”

“Not far from here, but without the manpower to attack them, we’ve been at a stalemate. We repulsed their last several attacks, and they haven’t been back in a few weeks. When the arrow was missing, I sent word to the Order that we needed assistance, but without being able to tell them why I don’t believe I’m a priority.”

“Well, it seems assistance has arrived. We’ll go tonight.”

“My friend,” Sage Rikon said, reaching his arm out to touch Ranger Thawkins’ elbow, “There may be a few men here who would be willing to help.”

“If there were, why didn’t you go after The Arrow of Thania as soon as it was stolen?” Thawkins was immediately annoyed.

“These men here, they think of me as just a simple sage, a man of words and letters, not action.”

“Please… you survived as a boy in the Southern Wilds for years before I found you.”

“Eh - perhaps I neglected to mention my prior life to them… in any case, they certainly would follow a Ranger, especially one as decorated as Chief Ranger Thawkins!”

“Former.”

8cough\* “Excuse me - Chief Ranger? What rank is that - and how have I never heard this before?” Ferdinand was, yet again, shocked to learn something new about his friend in this conversation.

Haha, laughed Sage Rikon, “This man was a Chief Ranger of this territory long before you were even born.”

“I gave that up, and in any case, this is all besides the point.” Thawkins annoyance was growing by the second. “Where are these men?”

The trio left Rikon’s house and walked to the potatoes fields in Monument to the Fallen. There, they found three more men working in the fields. “Gentlemen, please, a moment?” asked Sage Rikon.

The farmers placed down their hoes and moved to the edge of the field. Rikon introduced them as Quarly, Hin, and Okel. Seeing their eyes widen at Rikon’s introduction of Chief Ranger Thawkins[/url] made Ferdinand smile. After a short discussion, they decided they could trust the ranger and their friend, the sage. It was agreed on to leave the following morning, the bandit camp was roughly a day’s ride away from Monument to the Fallen, the party grew to 6.

## People In the Story

* Ferdinand Keet
* Thom Thawkins
* Rikon Gerro
* Tre Donao
* Quarly
* Hin
* Okel

## Locations are shown in Cinematics

* Thumbnail: Port Breigh
* Ajury
* Monument to the Fallen
* Port Breigh