Chapter 24: The Town Square
“Yes, we just started. Are you interested in joining us?”
The red-headed applicant nodded back at Sasha and joined her at the table in the Guild hall. “I wanted to go out and adventure since I was little, but I always found an excuse. This morning, I woke up and decided it’s now or never.”
Sasha and Ardreth looked at each other before Sasha continued. “Forgive me for asking, but you look stronger and older than I am. Are you not too experienced and high-level for our party?”
The woman laughed under her breath. “It’s true I’m in my mid-twenties, but I’m only LVL 5. I’m a blacksmith, you see. You don’t really get experience for swinging a hammer.”
“Oh, that’s perfect then! I’m Sasha, and my elven friend here is Ardreth.”
“Luna.”
“What class are you registered as, Luna?”
“I actually just registered as a warrior. I’m a newbie at adventuring but I’m sure I won’t hold you back. I’m most comfortable with hammers, so I thought I’d at least fight with maces. I brought one with me, as you can see.”
“Ardreth and I plan to stay in the Empire for a while and work on requests. This is a temporary party. Is that all right with you?”
“Yes. I’d be glad to join you if you’ll have me. I’ll accept any tips you have for me as we go.”
“Do you mind if we recruit one or two more?”
“Not at all. While we wait, can you tell me about your previous adventures?”
Luna seemed to be suppressing a bit of nervousness, but that was totally understandable given her story.
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“Is it nice having a shield?” Vulp asked Rufus as the group of nine adventurers retraced their steps out of the dungeon.
“Indeed it is. You can decorate it.”
Rufus’s ally, the white mage, smacked him with his staff.
“Okay, okay. In addition to decorating it, it’s invaluable for the vanguard of any party. Of course, you need to wield a sword with one hand. Your strength is not in question, but a full-length sword is a bit oversized for you.”
“Can’t I just use a shorter sword with my shield?”
“You certainly can! Just know that the reduced reach is as large a penalty as a shield is a boon. You’ll grow bigger in no time, I’m sure, so don’t worry.”
“So… what should I decorate the shield with when I get one?”
“Ah! As I’ve already shown you, my family crest proudly sits dead-center. You could do something similar.”
“I… don’t have a family crest. I don’t even have a normal family…”
“Not to worry! We can adopt you into my family!”
“Really?”
This time Kat smacked Vulp with her staff.
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“Somehow, I’m not worried about that Rufus guy.”
DM cycled through all the people and animals he could monitor through infect. Daphne’s party seemed to be hanging out at the Twin Cities Guild. The other residents DM monitored were going about their day as normal. The horse he previously targeted with projectile dung, enchanted with charm and infect, was standing next to the same female knight who was riding it before. She was talking to a city guardsman about mundane matters in the large square adjacent to the Guild and many other buildings.
DM did the best he could to peek around. The streets weren’t busy at this time, but he still saw a few folks traversing the city on foot. One of them, DM recognized.
“Wait, I think I’ve seen him…” DM stopped to recall why he recognized the fellow, a swordsman by all appearances. He activated his sensing magic. “Oh! He’s that assassin who led a group of four through the Lower Gordu Forest! He looks different… Is he wearing a disguise? And what’s he up to?”
The assassin walked over to a burly adventurer who was reading a sign posted on a wall at the opposite end of the town square relative to the Guild. The distance was too great for DM to eavesdrop, but the two had a discussion. The assassin pointed to a hand-pulled cart a few dozen meters away from their position, and continued explaining something.
Both men walked over to the cart and hunched down to take a look at one of the wheels. The adventurer moved into position and lifted the corner of the cart while the assassin messed around with the wheel and its attached axle. When the assassin gave the signal, DM heard a thud as the wheel dropped and smacked back into the ground.
Stolen story; please report.
The two visually inspected the wheel one more time and then nodded to one another. The assassin stepped into place and tried pulling the cart. It rolled, although very slowly, as though the wheel’s mechanism still wasn’t behaving.
The adventurer gestured for the assassin to stand aside and then tried pulling the cart himself. The cart still resisted, although this time the progress was less painfully slow. The assassin shouted in delight and then pushed the cart from behind to help.
DM noted the direction they were rolling the cart and realized the destination was the Guild, perhaps the receiving bay on the side of the building. He figured the city was delivering materials to the Guild. Finding this all a bit suspicious, DM tried using sensing magic on the cart but he didn’t detect anything magical.
When the cart was nearing the side entrance to the Guild, DM noticed the assassin slip one of his hands under the cart’s canvas covering.
“What’s he doing…?” Due to proximity, DM could only now hear their conversation.
“Wait, is it midday yet!?” the assassin asked in a panicked tone.
“Yes?” the burly adventurer responded, looking over his shoulder as he continued pulling the cart.
“I’m late! I need to get to the other side of the city now. Can you make sure the Guild gets its shipment?”
“Sure.”
“Thank you!” The assassin jogged away, waving his hand over his shoulder without looking back.
The burly adventurer shrugged and continued pulling the cart up to the building’s threshold.
“I do NOT like this.” DM decided to act, throwing caution to the wind. In tandem, he ordered the knight’s charmed horse to gallop in the opposite direction and he spawned a tentacle next to the burly adventurer. The knight, as well as the guard she had been speaking with, both ran after her steed. DM hurried to wrap the tentacle around the adventurer before losing vision of the scene due to the horse getting out of range.
The adventurer stumbled due his leg getting grabbed while he was trying to pull the cart. He was too distracted to figure out what was happening to him as charm and infect took hold. Immediately, he jumped back to his feet, grabbed the handles of the cart again, and struggled to face it in the opposite direction. He pulled with all his might, racing away from the Guild towards the center of the square as fast as he could.
After looking around and verifying that nobody else seemed to be nearby, DM spawned a new tentacle next to the cart and used it to pull up the canvas covering. What stood out was a small amount of smoke rising from under a pile of blocks wrapped in some type of special cloth. He spawned a new tentacle further along to avoid delaying the cart’s motion.
Using the new tentacle, as he gently tried to lift up one of the blocks, DM’s vision suddenly reverted back to his current position inside the dungeon.
“Crap. What happened? Wait, Daphne!” DM quickly shifted his attention to see through Daphne’s senses except it didn’t work. “Damn.”
His mind, or whatever it was he used to think, raced. He decided he’d switch back his view to the horse which had already departed the area. As commanded, the charmed horse reversed and began galloping back towards the square. After a few moments, the horse actually bypassed the knight who was running in the same direction, likely having abandoned chasing the horse in favor of investigating the town square.
“Just what the hell is going on!?” she yelled at her horse as it passed her.
When the horse turned the corner, DM got a good look at the town square. Every façade was damaged with shutters blasted inwards. Looking more to the side, DM could see the Guild was still standing, although it had taken substantial damage on one side. Most likely, the cart was still closest to the Guild hall when DM lost his vision of the area.
The horse forced its way past some rubble into the Guild building. A couple of people were buried under rubble near the street-side of the building. Several more people were unconscious a little further in. Others were scrambling to attend to fallen comrades and free any bodies pinned under debris.
Of the injured or unconscious personnel, one easily stood out. A small elf was horizontal although not showing any visual signs of major injury. Looking around, her usual party members were around her in a similar state, although a couple were squirming as though they were horribly hung over.
DM spawned a tentacle adjacent to the horse and began spamming the spell heal on Daphne and her party members over and over. After a few rounds of this, her party’s injuries were no longer a threat, although they’d probably all still be dazed or asleep for a little while. DM randomly spammed heal magic on a few other people. Just as he was about to dismiss the tentacle, he noticed the Guild Master staring down at the uninvited appendage from above the now-ruined stairs.
DM dismissed the tentacle and had the horse leave the Guild again.
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“Wow, it’s a miracle your whole party survived that encounter with the wyvern!” said Luna.
“Well,” Sasha responded, “We all survived, but two of our party got hurt pretty bad.”
“Yes, I suppose this really is a dangerous occupation.”
“It’s not usually that dangerous,” Ardreth noted.
“Excuse me, are you still recruiting?” A duo walked over: A young man with a spear and an archer of some kind. A large bird, perhaps a falcon, was standing on padding attached to the archer’s shoulder.
“Yes! I see you use a spear. And you? I’m sorry, what is your class?”
“I’m a hunter. As you can see, I use a bow and tame animals.”
Sasha turned to Ardreth. “I haven’t seen anything like a hunter or beast tamer before…”
“I don’t believe there are any where we’re from. I have heard they’re somewhat common further away. I suppose this is proof.”
“Is there anything you haven’t heard of?”
“Plenty.”
Sasha gave up on that topic for now. “Anyway, yes, we could use one or two more. How you know each other?”
“We’re brothers,” the man with the spear replied. “This here is my little brother. He likes animals and I like killing them. I guess that’s why he inherited the family trade…”
“I… see…” Sasha wasn’t quite sure how to react to that. “Well, Ardreth, what do you think?”
“I’d feel a little more comfortable with a black mage but with this group we should be able to adventure unrestricted.”
The pair agreed to Sasha’s terms. For now, they had a party with five members.
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Kat’s party approached the stairs up from floor 2 to floor 1. They made small talk while keeping their eyes peeled for any monsters they may have missed on the way down or that could have possibly respawned in the time it took them to complete their exploration.
Bandit was walking alone at the back of the group, acting as the rear lookout. As the rest of her party ascended the stairs, she secretly doubled back, searching the branching paths and adjoining rooms. On her third try, she spotted a LVL 2 spider. At the same time, the spider noticed her and charged.
Utilizing her superior agility, Bandit avoided the spider, backing away and evading both physical attacks and launched webs. Just as she was about to give up and slay the critter, a tentacle spawned next to it, grabbed it, and applied status effects. Bandit smirked and ran off to catch up with her allies.