//------------------------------//
// What Goes Bump in the Night 
// Story: Rohh Fireclaw: Monk of Equestria 
// by Eagle Heart 
//------------------------------//

 2 miles away, on the other side of the forest.

“A-ha the spell worked! We can fin-!” Said a man coming from what appeared to be some kind of portal. Clearly he wasn’t from Equestria, considering he was a human. Before he could finish his sentence, he was slapped in the side of the head by one of his comrades.

“Quiet you fool! We’re here to kill a sleeping man, not burn a village!” Said the other.

More came through the portal, judging by their gear they were probably mercenaries. Why they were here, was impossible to tell at this moment.

“That stupid mage Alistair was such a whimp! He cried the instant I put my sword through his leg!” Said one of them. “I should’ve done worse, maybe he would’ve pleaded for mercy.”


“Everyone just shut up! Look for the old man and be quiet!” said who appeared to be the leader.

They all grabbed their gear from off the ground. Seems they all had a rather hard landing. The portal closed and they all headed out into the forest. Crouching low to hide in the shadows. They all wore black leather armor for small protection while having high maneuverability. Each of them carried bows along with a quiver of arrows on their backs. They all had a single saxe knife for cutting at their enemies.

30 minutes later.

I was sleeping soundly on the makeshift bed I had made myself out of sticks from the trees and leaves, it wasn’t very comfortable, but there’s no point in complaining when it comes to survival. I slept in my armor, but my weapons were all resting on a tree nearby.

The assassins approached my camp, they already woke me up a few minutes ago when they were planning their attack, so I kept my breathing at a smooth and even pace and waited. Just as they all began to sneak up, my head began to ache, it was my sense telling me something was coming.

It sent a quick flash in my head and I opened my eyes and caught with both hands, the wrist of one of the assassins, and the tip of the knife barely touching my neck. We both struggled as he tried to overpower me, but I quickly pushed it to the side and grabbed his chest armor, I pulled him toward me and smashed my forehead into his. He fell back onto the ground, completely dazed.

I quickly leapt to my feet, and stood in my ‘Asking Hand’ stance. It was the most basic one out of the 5 in Ash Karra. Both hands out, palms facing each other with the thumbs also facing each other. Right foot in front of the other, and right hand in front of the left.

One of them charged from behind, and held their dagger high up in the air to try and stab me in the back. I quickly spun around and sent a hard kick right across his chest, it stopped him right in his tracks and he fell onto the ground. The knife flew past me somewhere in the distance. I quickly stomped on his face to knock him out.

Now they were hesitant to attack. They all looked nervously to each other. “The master didn’t tell us this guy knew what he was doing! He just said he was an old hobo!” One of them nervously said.

“Never judge a book by its cover.” I said to them. I pulled up my hood to conceal my face. Now I went on the offensive. I charged at one and leapt, I barrel rolled in the air and grabbed his knife-arm, at the same time I locked my legs around his neck. The force from the jump had him fall back on top of me, I had his arm in my grasp and twisted. This broke his arm and caused him to drop his weapon. he yelled in pain before I got up and punched him in the face to knock him out.

I dodge-rolled over to my weapons to get out of the way of an oncoming arrow. I quickly grabbed my tomahawk and spun around. I threw it straight into one’s chest and they stumbled back into a tree, dead. I quickly grabbed my hunting knife and ducked under a knife being swung at my back. I jumped and spun, at the end of the spin I stabbed the knife into the side of the assassin’s head. Meanwhile, I threw a throwing knife into the neck of the remaining one.

I landed and removed the dagger from the assassin I just stabbed and let his body fall. I went and retrieved all my used gear and put them all in their various pockets and sheaths. I went over and grabbed my other gear. I looked into the sky to see what time of day that it was and saw that it was dawn. 

I looked around at the dead assassins and to the one I had left unconscious. I made to sure to leave one alive so he could run back to tell his employer. But first... how did they get here? They smelled of magic and...Alistair?...

Alright, let’s use the rules of deduction. They’re assassins. Alistair is a mage. Alistair is the one who sent me here. He’s a master of portals. Assassins are heavily armed and one of their blade was already bloody. Ah, they must’ve found Alistair and forced him to reveal where he had sent me. They probably tortured him or killed him so that they could get a portal to here as well to kill me. One of them had a hearthstone on their body that appeared to be attuned to Stormwind, at least they were smart enough to think of a way back. 

I know what you might be thinking. I can’t use the hearthstone to get back, because a hearthstone is attuned to the person it was attuned by. It is bound to the assassin that I left alive. I saw the hearthstone on his belt when we had that brief pause in the conflict.

Well since it’s morning, I suppose I should head into the town and see if I can find the grey one that spoke to me yesterday. I made sure to grab my water flask and started heading west to town. As I walked I thought about the assassins. Who was their employer and how did they know I was here?

‘I’ll have to worry about that later, for now I need to worry about not being seen...’ I thought to myself as I approached the town...