The smell of eggs filled the whole tent as Morden entered the room. It was refreshing to smell something freshly cooked after a month on the road and even better to see his sister.
"Morning, Karaia!" he said with enthusiasm. Morden wore a big smile on his face as he hugged her from the side, causing Karaia to nearly fall over.
" If you do that again, I swear the eggs will go on your face!" Karaia playfully pretended to throw the pan at her brother who promptly ducked. She was slightly shorter than Morden despite being a year older. With dark brown hair that fell to her hips, soft eyes, and a sweet smile, a man could easily lose his train of thought if she simply looked their way.
"Now go wake up Broffe so he can sit down with us and enjoy breakfast. It's been nearly six weeks since we last saw you and I want to hear every detail of what happened!" She hurriedly walked over to the oven and pulled out some bread and set it down on the table. The tent was very modest for the three siblings, but they didn't need much. One to two of them went out on a hunt at a time, but never all three as they needed someone at home watching all of their belongings. As the saying around here goes, "you can trust a goblin to watch your house more than your neighbor".
Morden walked over to the other side of the large tent and pushed aside the thick fabric. He saw his little brother sleeping with the covers covering more ground than flesh. He walked over and pushed him lightly on the head with his foot and said, "Good morning beautiful. I don't understand how you still haven't found a lover with your incredible modesty."
Broffe grabbed Morden's foot and proceeded to roll over, attempting to throw his brother against the floor with his own body weight. Morden quickly dropped his body to the ground and with one deft move put Broffe in a rear naked choke. Some panicked tapping on his arm later and Broffe was free of his brothers vice.
"Not even going to let me have a little win after you come back is kind of rude you know," Broffe said. "At least pretend to show some restraint." Broffe rubbed his neck.
Morden laughed. "Sorry man, I've been on edge for the last couple weeks and it was just reflex. Come on, let's eat and I'll tell you the whole thing. Karaia made us breakfast." They both got up and after Broffe was dressed, they entered the kitchen.
"If you idiots broke something I'll break you," Karaia said with a straight face as she set the plates with food on the table. The brothers looked at each other and stopped for a moment. Did they break something? 'I don't think I heard anything crash' Morden thought.
They all sat down at the table and exchanged small talk for a few minutes. It was like Morden never left. After the exchange of words, Karaia asked, " So, I want to know how the hunt went. Were you forced to use your angel runes or did you handle it without them?"
"Yes I was forced to use one, but luckily I was able to find an angel tablet in the draugr's lair, so I was able to implant a new one." He lifted up his shirt sleeve to reveal a large tattoo that looked like a wave on his shoulder.
"Well that sucks," Broffe said with a defeated voice. Him and Karaia both looked at the new mark and Karaia said, "Leader Mathar gave you that as a reward for your last mission and it was a damn good one too. It's a shame that it's already used up. What does this new one do?"
"I'm not completely sure to be honest, but based off of the extraction and implanting, I feel it should able to launch a Shockwave forward, and a strong one too. It should stagger whatever I'm fighting in case I need an opening or get put into a bad spot and need to breathe. Still a very good rune to replace the last one I think."
Karaia studied it for a moment longer then sat back on her pillow. Morden proceeded to tell them about the happenings of the last month and the contract he took. A village of elves about a weeks journey away had requested the help of the traveling human settlement. Apparently, people's belongings started to go missing during the night. It started with petty squabbles and neighbors accusing each other of theft, but everything changed when one day, one of the villagers was found dead in his home. He was fighting something, but whatever it was broke his sword and also damaged his ceiling and floor with its size. The villagers stopped accusing each other and called on the help of the nearby Dismantlers to solve their problem.
After a week of investigating, Morden noticed that it was mainly food going missing or ingredients as well as the occasional tome. Some villagers said they saw wisps of light during the night traveling through houses. When most people dismissed them as ramblings of a lunatic, a Dismantler could piece apart the crazy from the facts. After seeing the wisp of light himself, Morden found the culprit to be a draugr. He found the draugr's resting place and fought it while it was eating a handful of carrots all at once with his rotting maw. A battle ensued and Morden was forced to use his angelic rune on his shoulder to survive several lethal blows he was unable to dodge. The creature grew three times his height, so Morden was forced to go all out. He ended up destroying the draugr's legs with his brute strength and toppling it with its own weight. Once on the ground he became an easy target. One smashed skull later and the villages problem was solved.
The draugr was a former village elder that died in his home while at the dinner table with his family several months prior. Nobody thought anything of it and buried him. They still couldn't figure out why he came back, but they burned the body and spread his ashes into the nearby ocean to make sure he wouldn't come back. They paid the hired sword, thanked him many times over, and mourned their recently deceased.
Angel runes were difficult to make and extremely rare. Luckily the angels imbued humans with the ability to receive and call upon the runes of power to use their strength in battle. Along with the ability to use runes, the angels gave the human race an incredible enhancement to their reflexes and their sixth sense. This mostly came from their guilt of being unable to protect the humans during the Grand War between angels and demons a thousand years ago. The humans who were created as soldiers in the war by angels and were nearly wiped out completely when their home city was completely annihilated by a surprise attack. They begged the angels to give them the ability to enact revenge upon the demons personally, so the angels gave them the power they asked for, but at a cost. The humans would become nearly sterile. The choice came down to whether the humans wanted to regrow or if they wanted to bring justice to their people, and they chose the latter.
The humans became terrifying weapons enhanced to their full potential. They became known as Dismantlers because of their ability to ruin any plans the demons had simply with their overwhelming strength, cunning, and fury. After the war ended, the humans could not repopulate at a rate needed to stay relevant and quickly fell behind the many other races created during the war. Despite being few in number, they were still the far superior race in terms of physical ability and kept their title as Dismantlers. This made them a target of praise and envy. They traveled the world in small groups known as colonies helping any with problems that needed special attention or issues left behind from the war. Few met the humans, but all respected them. Wherever they went, they were given what they needed. The world knew that the gatekeepers between madness and civilization were these few creatures known as humans and the tradition is carried on after the thousand years of relative peace.
The angle rune that Morden found was one such rune. After being forced to use one of his runes to kill the draugr, he happened to find a tablet with an old angel rune inscribed to it inside the grave. Morden transferred the rune to his body and, through the process, learned most of its effect. He currently had three others and they all intertwined on his left arm up to his elbow forming all sorts of symbols. He planned to have a whole collection. The more angel runes one had, the more fights they had won without needing to use one, so it was a sign of one's personal strength. Currently, Karaia had four and Broffe had one. They were usually given out from colony leaders after completing a significant task or before going on a dangerous assignment.