Arthur’s legs were starting to get sore after walking a few hours back and forth in the city. Arthur also had the feeling that Casper was fast asleep at the moment. He was almost relieved to see the giant mostly empty dueling circle that took up a bunch of space in the middle of the cul-de-sac of churches. This time two people were actually fighting in the ring when he showed up. It was Opathu fighting which amused Arthur; obviously the half orc-half elf warrior needed to regain his honor after being humiliated earlier.

He was fighting someone that was from the healing church with a much thinner frame swathed in the white and gold robes of the clergy, with a wrinkled bald face that scowled at his opponent. Arthur watched as Opathu made a charge from the other side of the arena. Arthur expected the priest to die as soon as the orc reached him but was surprised by the blast of golden light that erupted from the priest, sending Opathu flying back with enough force to let him roll over himself. He wasn’t wearing his armor which allowed him to stick the landing on his feet; his oversized maul firmly gripped in one of his hands.

Tepth Diasthant

Level 67 Human

Hard-Light Priest

HP:6470/6470

Afflictions: None

Arthur sighed to himself after he used analyze on Opathu’s opponent. Arthur wasn’t sure how he felt about the guy but he didn’t wanna see him get messed up either. Arthur slowly inched up to the front of the crowd as Opathu did another fruitless assault. He swung his maul down on the priest who deftly brought his hands up to create buckler sized plates of light that exploded with force when struck and sent the hammer reeling back. Each time Opathu expertly redirected the momentum of his hammer to break the next barrier and lower the mana pool of his opponent. The priest however moved fast with his hands and caught every swing before it tore him apart. Opathu flew back as another holy shockwave was cast and landed on his side with a groan. He was clearly getting chipped away while the priest was clearly smug about the imminent victory.

As Opathu slowly stood back up; knowing the priest didn’t have many offensive options and could take a few precious seconds to think. Which is when his eyes met with Arthur’s. Arthur stared back and just gave the Orc a big thumbs up. Opathu’s eyes widened as he saw the berserker; then narrowed as an evil looking smile cracked his expression despite his bruised and tired body. Opathu stood up and pointed at Arthur like a wrestling character. Which made everyone who hadn’t seen him and Arthur fight earlier think that Opathu had a severe concussion and was possibly confused. The priest seemed weirdly offended by that. “You should pay attention to your opponent; you stupid hook-jawed dog!” Arthur was shocked by how annoying the priests of that church could be. But Opathu was still smiling at him before he turned back to the priest; making Arthur start to get extremely excited when he realized what Opathu was trying to communicate. When the armor-breaker pointed at the berserker he was saying something very clearly. ‘This one's for you.’

Opathu sprinted at the priest and the head of his weapon started glowing brightly. A brilliant white light that opposed the gold of the priest. The hands of the priest raised with palms out; it was far from a surrender but a pre-emptive blast of force. Opathu leaped forward as it hit him; diving through the magical force trying to throw him backward, he landed on his knees in the same spot he had taken the blow and was back on his feet in seconds. He reached the priest and raised his maul high up into the air above his head; ready to bring down a devastating blow which the priest reacted to instantly with a wide barrier that stretched between his raised hands. The hammer never came however; and the priest didn’t react in time to the foot that flew up and caught him in the crotch.

It wasn’t a particularly destructive blow. The kick was fairly weak because of the awkward pose that was never meant to deliver a kick; but the priest folded instantly. Smacking his forehead off the stone floor and scratching it up as he tried to catch himself on his hands and knees. The older man groaned in agony and tried to get up. Opathu lined his foot up, then smoothly and calmly and swung his leg all the way back; showing surprising flexibility out of his armor. Then he kicked the priest directly in the jaw as hard as he could. Arthur could hear the crack of the bone as he connected. The priest went limp and everyone started cheering Opathu who raised his hands up like he was gonna give them all a big hug. soaking up the mirth of the crowd, the redemption in the eyes of his peers, and the rewards of hurting someone he hated. Arthur could see it all in his face; and felt concerned for his acquaintance. At the same time he realized that he was also gawking right alongside the crowd; cheering for what could only be a new friend.

Things rapidly calmed down as two more priests from the healing church pushed into the fighting ring; one was holding a small white flag and the other was clutching onto the back of his colleagues' robes. This seemed to allow them to enter the ring without starting another duel. They didn’t even acknowledge Opathu’s existence but instead grabbed the defeated Tepth who was completely unconscious and dragged him out of the ring before he could be any more embarrassed. Arthur met Opathu as he left the ring and held up a closed fist for him to bump. “That was fun to watch; seems like you learned something from our fight!”

Opathu stopped and looked Arthur up and down with a frown and a huff. Arthur was worried he was gonna just shove past him until the orc cracked a grin and lightly connected their fists. Instead of knuckle to knuckle Opathu connected the sides of their fists; but a fist bump was a fist bump.

“Let’s beat the shit out of each-other again sometime.” Opathu said. Him and Arthur nodded at each other with toothy grins. Then the half-orc went on with his day.

Arthur watched Opathu head towards his respective church and caught a glimpse of an even scarier looking priest step outside of the church of light and into the ring. Much taller but just as bald. With an even more pinched expression snug on his face. He was ready to hurt someone to save his church some face. Arthur didn’t even bother checking the level because he knew it would be significantly higher than Opathu and even the last priest they sent out. Instead he turned his attention to delicious smells and a warm looking atmosphere.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The church of madness was before him. ‘Mega-tavern’ came across Arthur’s mind as he walked up to the open doors where a frail looking man sitting sideways on the ground. They had a long reddish beard seemed to somehow be connected to the hair on his head through an incredible amount of tangles. He wore clothes several sizes too big for him; a tunic that was tied at the hem to both sides of a pair ratty pants.

What surprised Arthur about the person was the delicious looking bowl of soup he was cupping in both hands and sipping the broth from. When he looked up at Arthur could immediately tell he wasn’t all there mentally. He shook gently despite the happy but confused expression on his face. He gently raised the bowl of soup towards Arthur. “Speak into the yum bowl…” he said with a gentle smile and wide eyes. Arthur bent down, still a good few feet away from the man's food and spoke. “Bless you.” This seemed to make the man feel happy from the affirmation and he went back to slowly consuming the soup. Arthur shrugged and entered the church to find it very calm for the most part.

Many people who were perfectly functional were chatting at tables and barstools as they ate or drank merrily. There also seemed to me a kind of harmony with the less fortunate; they were fed well and the building seemed to have ample space beyond the dedicated tavern that most likely had beds to accommodate them. The various people much like the man at the door wandered or tried to speak with regular patrons who generally tried their best to gently shoo them away. Arthur noticed the trend of wearing a dark purple among the clergy of the church to be more hands on with helping those who needed it. Though there was much less of a uniform trend than the other churches. They all seemed to just be wearing what they wanted but splashed with purple as an easy signifier.

Arthur sat down at the main bar and just asked for today’s special since he knew he wasn’t going to be able to read any kind of menu. And soon a bowl of meaty soup was in front of him. There was some kind of pasta noodle that looked suspiciously like rigatoni in the bowl too. Arthur glomed down on a spoonful and almost melted from the delicious broth that had to be chicken based. The berserker forgot about everything else for a few moments as he just enjoyed the ambiance of the tavern as he ate heartily. He hadn’t realized how ravenous he was. The only calories he remembered getting in the last two days were crawfish and Mung’s liquor.

He finished his soup and put down a gold coin to start a tab; reasoning that he was going to be here for a while. Arthur saw someone be served a sandwich and practically begged the next server he saw to get him one as well. Arthur was chugging down a big mug of fresh water as someone new to him with heavy black boots stomped through the doors of the tavern. “Atreus!” the woman shouted that made Arthur almost jump out his seat and start running immediately. His brain started to tingle as he shakily turned towards the entrance to the room. There stood someone who gave off an air of intimidation. She wore a black gambeson with a brass waist belt; it also had flat brass studs running in lines down its length from the collar to the hem.

She had no helmet on which showed off her short cut black hair which was a near match for her very dark brown eyes. Arthur couldn’t pin her down on nationality but her face was very clearly deeply tanned that he only saw on people that spent most of their life outside. They stood straight which told Arthur that she was also way taller and thus had a longer reach with her arms than he did. She stared hard and angry at Arthur; who used to analyze out of nervousness.

Juniper Reese

Level 51 Human

Armory Master

HP: 3860/3860

Afflictions: none

“Well!? What do you have to say for yourself? I heard you have all that money you owe me now! And you didn’t even come to see us when you got back!” she was shouting at him with full conviction. Instead of the church staff doing anything about it. Absolutely everyone cleared a path between him and Juniper. Arthur glanced back and realized they had also cleared the area behind him in case of crossfire. A tavern worker stretched over and quickly slid a plate with the sandwich he ordered before retreating.

Juniper’s eye twitched as she watched him slowly reach over and pick up the sandwich. Arthur couldn’t think of any way to stall so he slowly took a bite out of the sandwich. Juniper responded by making a spear appear out of thin air and lining up a throw. Arthur jumped up as the spear thudded into the counter as it was thrown where his legs had been. He surprised himself by how deftly he was able to stand atop the stool he had been seated in. He stopped thinking when he saw the lady spin a Bola sling in her dominant hand. Arthur clutched his sandwich in both hands as he ran along the countertop. People ducked but Juniper seemed to try to respect the general population's space as much as they kept their distance from her fight and held back from taking a risky throw. Arthur jumped down off the counter in a way that arrested a lot of his momentum. “Oh so you’re not scared of trolls or demons; but you’re afraid of me!?”

He ducked as the hard metal weights of the bola smashed into the wall where his head had been. Arthur had no idea what she meant by that but didn’t stand around to ask. He sprinted around the first corner he saw and down the hallway as fast as he could pump his legs. He passed the wide door to the kitchen where the cooks watched him sprint by.

Every side door to the hallway was closed. Arthur watched as a set of double doors cracked open by themselves. The right side swung open slightly and it immediately became his target. He got within twenty feet of the door as he felt the crack as the weights of the bola as they smashed into his knees. The bola snared his legs; wrapped him up and made him fall flat on his chest. It also made his sandwich get flung all across the hallway in many different parts. He glanced back as he pushed himself up on his hands and knees. The woman was slowly walking towards him as she cracked her knuckles. “You have some explaining to do. Now.” Arthur felt a rush of annoyance at that. Sure he looked like Atreus but he didn’t owe anything to this scary lady.

Arthur turned and raised his middle finger up with a scowl. “Fuck you!” She huffed like one of the giant boars did and started stomping towards Arthur. “I’m gonna fuck you up, you idiot!” She growled at him as Arthur pushed himself onto the flat of his feet. He crouched with the bola still wrapped around his calves and leaped forward and rolled over himself.

To even Juniper’s surprise Arthur rolled a second time while carrying his momentum and cleared the open door which slammed shut behind him without any input on his part. He immediately began pulling apart the bola which tied itself unnaturally easily around his legs as the armory master slammed at the double doors so hard they shook to no avail. Screaming obscenities at him and threat of further beatings if he didn’t come out.

Arthur watched as the sounds from the other side of the door slowly became muted. The shaking stopped. It didn’t happen all at once though which confused Arthur. It’s like the door just rapidly got stronger out of nowhere. He looked around the room he was stuck in. It had a fine purple carpet that ran up to a stone podium that matched the light gray cobblestone that comprised the rest of the building.

Atop the podium was a simple golden goblet. It shone off the light that fed in through small porthole like windows that existed on the back and right walls of the room. Arthur imagined that this was the shrine of the church and hoped dearly he hadn’t disrespected anyone by running in here. But considering the spear thrown at him he didn’t feel that bad for trespassing out of necessity. The feeling of stress worsened as the ceiling started dripping a bright multicolored liquid into the goblet on the podium. Each drop seemed to increase an intense glow that emanated from the liquid and amplified from the shiny metal cup. As the cup filled up Arthur felt less and less like he was alone in the room. Arthur felt a spike of paranoia that was so intense it was unfamiliar to him despite being thrown into a fantasy world just the other day. He turned and tried to open the double doors just to have them not budge a millimeter. So all he could do was turn and agonize as he slowly watched the goblet fill up as his heart beat faster and faster.