Writing Prompts Archive/3/Meralda Swiftspear

## Nightmare 1

Meralda wandered through the quiet and slumber forest of the Shroud. She knew the way, she stepped on it many times. Until eventually she saw the familiar lights of lanterns blazing between the trunks, heard a repetitious clank of metal, spreading through the wood, reaffirming her every step. She quietly walked inside the premise of a half-ruined, overgrown abode. The creaking leather on her boots barely gave away her presence to the keeper of the house. She almost creeped up on him, before he turned his head in her direction and proclaimed with astonishment:

“Mera…”

She stood there just about still, looking ghostly. The man reached for his waist, stretched it towards his smoldering forge, brought it to his mouth, took a drag, lighting up his face. He was Hyur, with pale skin, dark hair, brown eyes and slightly curved to the left nose. After eyeing Meralda up and down, he returned to his anvil and continued to clubber an unfinished metal plate.

“You don’t look too good.” klank! “Last time I heard from you, you were staying at Hobbs.” klank! “What happened? Did he get caught by the Brass Blades again?”

Meralda finally broke sillence:

“Can I stay the night, please?”

“Sure.’ Klank! “You know where your bed is.” - he replied without skipping a beat.

Meralda hobbled towards the entrance, but after taking two steps, she turned around.

“Actually, no. Memories came back.”

Klank! The smith released the handle of his hammer, gazed at Meralda with a worrying look, returned his hand back to the cigarette in his mouth, taking another drag.

“The Dungeons?”

Meralda silently nodded.

“Very well. I’ll be swift and decisive.” Klank!

The smith put a final and roaring blow to the plate, grabbed his chub of his cigarette, jammed it in the plate, putting out the flame on the end, removed and hung his apron on the wooden rotten beam with his left hand and threw away the butt. Both hyur face each other: Meralda spread her legs apart and stretched her left palm toward the smith. The smith stood in largely free fashion clutched his left fist and put it in front of himself, meanwhile holding his left hand with half-bent fingers, forming a claw next to his face.

### Combat Log: Meralda vs. Smith

[R1:] Smith dashes in the direction of Meralda, with a right-handed jab towards her stomach.

Meralda steps to her right, then attempts to counterattack Smith with an extending kick with her left foot in his left side.

Smith grunts from a hit, stumbling a bit backwards. [Smith: -1 HP (⅔ HP)]

[R2:] Meralda continues to press on, running towards Smith with a two-fold attack: somersaulting high kick in his chest, followed by a wide horizontal swipe in the same area.

The smith steps backwards, evading Meralda's first attack, then charges at her from below, tackling her on the ground, then following it up with a punch in her face.

Meralda gets knocked on the ground (Meralda: -1 HP (⅔ HP)], but she manages to dodge the punch by tilting her head away from the blow. Smith has punched the ground instead.

[R3:] Smith continues to try and strike Meralda with the same attack, whilst being on top of her.

Meralda stops the second punch with her left hand, then she jab Smith in his throat and finally kicks him off of her. [Smith: -1 HP]

Both fighters get up from the ground: Meralda - with raising heels, Smith - with a roll back on his feet.

[R4:] Meralda taunts him to attack her first. Smith charges at Meralda with a flying right hook in the mid section.

Meralda dodges his attack to the side and counters him with a flurry of kicks.

[R5:] Smith dodges the first kick, blocks the second, then catches a kick from the side with his left hand. Then he swiftly jabs her in the stomach with an elbow and finally brings down his palm just below her caught knee, making a crunching sound. At lastly he strikes in her chest, releasing her leg, which makes her tumble backwards and fall on her knee. (Meralda: - 1 HP[⅓ HP]

[R6:] Smith caught up with Meralda quickly, grabbed his left wrist with his right hand, and power slammed his elbow in her head, knocking her dead. [Meralda: -1 HP[0 HP] - De@#...

Meralda jolted herself awake with a heavy exhale. She found herself back in Smith’s abode, sitting on a bed, covered by a sheet. She carefully reached with her left hand to check her leg, while inspecting her face with her right. Nothing broken, bleeding or even scratched.

“Well, you look better.”

The smith walked in, carrying two cups of orange tea, one of which he offered to Meralda. She accepts the cup, looking rather shaken and takes a sip. The moment of silence was broken by singing birds around the hovel. It was morning, sunrise. Meralda opened her eyes, feeling the familiar taste, running down her throat. The smith was standing, leaning on a creaky doorway, enjoying the same tea. Now in the light of dawn, he was seen more clearly. He wasn’t burly for a smith, his beard was recently expertly cut down to the skin.

“Now, that you’re here, maybe you can help me with a proper meal.”

Meralda just chuckled, then groaned from a pain in her side. The smith tilted his head.

“How harsh was it?”

Meralda looked at him with a painful expression, rubbing her knee.

“That bad?” - he said, frowning his eyebrows and reaching for a silver case, strapped to his belt. He opened it, took out another cigarette, put it in his mouth, hid it behind his left palm, emanating a warm orange glow, then took a quick drag, releasing a surprisingly appealing smell of exotic herbs.

“Do you want me to find her?”

Meralda looks at him almost dismissively at him. The smith sighs at her disbelief.

“At least you should stay here. With these outbursts, it’s better to be on the safe side...”

Later in the day, the smith gathered his crafted armor in a hefty sack and set out in the deeps of the Shroud...