The mid afternoon sun was passing overhead as he said his last soft words to his love, Analia. He was already beginning to shift his thoughts to the trip to Vesper that he was getting ready to leave on to purchase a couple items that Analia required. As she sat on the small path in Shara's garden, he leaned down and kissed her forehead softly. "I will return soon, my love", he said with a smile as he started to leave. She nodded lightly to him with a smile in return as she worked to finish weeding the part of the garden she had been sitting by, before she went back to her room for more rest.<br>
        Berik walked toward the south gate, nodding to the small gathering of residents around the well and not wanting to interupt their conversation continued to the gate, where he set his bag down and unpacked his armor. He put it on quickly and with no problems since this was a process he has repeated many a time. Once the straps on his armor were secure he slung his crossbow over his shoulder and picked up his sword and shield and began his trip south.<br>
        The trip was quite uneventful for the first couple miles. None of the usual goblin patrols were out. "Perhaps they had been temporarily pushed back by a hunting patrol from Dragon Dale", he thought. Shrugging the thought away he continued on. Soon he reached the four broken towers and he slipped off the road and around to the edge of the drop to give a quick look before walking down. This was a favored place of bandits to hide and strike at passers by, and Berik knew that. As he glanced around the base of the hill his eyes spotted a bandit, carefully crouched beside the rock and believing himself to be out of sight. Berik saw this and grinned slightly. He backed up from the edge of the drop and quietly set down his sword and shield, then unstrapped his heavy crossbow that he was carrying on his back. He loaded a bolt into place, being ever so careful as to not make any noise and softly walked back to the drops edge. His grin became a bit wider when he realized the bandit had still not noticed him or his movements. "Excellent", he mused to himself as he brought his crossbow up to aim.<br>
        As he held the crossbow, loaded and prepared to kill with his aim locked on the bandit's heart, flashes of memories danced through his head. Memories of his home, Waterdeep. Memories of pain and suffering, not of his own but that which was given by his own hands. Memories that he would now much rather forget than remember. His new friends here in Dragon Dale had helped him bury these memories with new ones of kindness and friendship, Analia though helped the most with her friendship, understanding, and love. He blinked his eyes a few times trying to clear his head of the running thoughts and regain his aim. He knew deep down he was doing a good deed ridding the south road of one more bandit, but at the last second his will gave way to his emotions as he lowered his aim a couple inches and fired.<br>
        The bandit let out a scream and collapsed to a seated position and clutched at his knee, and the bolt that pierced it. He looked around franticly as he looked for his assailant while he also attempted to stop the bleeding. Berik slung his shield over his back and sheathed his sword before he methodically loaded another bolt, his eyes locked on the disabled bandit laying at the bottom of the hill, a satisfied grin on his lips as he walked down the hill and approached the bandit. He sat leaning against the rock, bleeding and grimacing, as Berik approached. A near sigh of relief escaped the bandit's lips as he thought someone to help him had arrived. He could have not been more wrong. Berik raised the crossbows aim and leveled it with the bandit's face barely two feet away, blinked twice, and with a grin unlike any other he fired the bolt. The bandit let out one last scream before darkness took him from this world. Berik lowered his aim, relaxed his grip on the crossbow, and with a chuckle to himself finished his trip to Vesper.<br>
        After he finished shopping for the items that Analia requested, he went and took a seat in the River Rat. He set his pack beside him and leaned on the table with his elbows and held his forehead with the palms of his hands. He was at battle with himself. His friends and Analia all cared for him greatly, he had no enemies that he knew of. He sat for a while longer and nursed an ale from the barkeep as he ran the memories of the recent events through his head, comparing them to those from longer ago. Analia was right, weeds do grow back thicker when they are pulled.<br>
        When the sun began to rise he returned to Dragon Dale.<br>
<p></p><i></i>
Inner Battles
Moderator: Vast Dungeon Masters