The long journey from Hayvale having finally come to an end, Steven had finally arrived in Honeydale's Mercenary post, and was ready to apply. This would not be the only challenge however, as application came next, and was similarly challenging. Steven knew only how to write his own name, as he was lucky enough to be taught so much by a fellow Hayvale villager, Harley Heft. As such, having to fill in not only his name, but his age and kingdom would have been impossible. Feeling glum after having gotten the document with 3 blank spaces to fill in, he walked to a nearby table, and sat on the chair. He could at least fill in his name, and so he did.
Whilst he was filling in his name, he failed to notice a cloaked man walking towards his table. "Having trouble there, Steve?" said the cloaked man after Steven had stopped writing. "Uh, my name is Steven sir, but I can't remember how to write the last of it." The man gave a slight grin as he replied, "I doubt you'll know how to write the other bits either then, I can help, but you'll need to do something for me later." Steven's face lit up as he agreed, "Naturally sir, I'd be glad to help you, anything I can do!" The man took the quill from Steven and filled in the 'n' at the end of Steven's name.
"So, how old are you, and what kingdom are you from?" Steven quietened down to think. "Uhh, one, and one, and one..." The man chuckled a little, "You look pretty young, so I'll just fill in 16, that's the youngest you can be to get in, in case you were going to disagree." Steven evidently relaxed as the man wrote in the numbers in the form, before he remembered the other question. "Uh, could you just write the name of the kingdom we're in now for the last one?" The man chuckled once more as he complied.
When the friendly man had finished filling in the missing details, the form looked as follows, but with some unreadable text and disclaimers the man told Steven were pointless to understand anyway. As Steven tried to read it nonetheless, all he made out was, 'N?t ?ia??e ?or damage? ?r deat?'
Mercenary's guild application Name: Steven Age: 16 Kingdom of Origin: Haverly fields
Having now completed his application, Steven handed in the registration to the receptionist, and soon was given the guild ID. Looking behind himself, he saw the cloaked man wave him back over to the table he had been at earlier, and he approached him. "Once more, thank you for giving me such generous help. I couldn't have entered the guild without you." The man chuckled one last time, as he pulled out a sheet of paper, this one being quest paper, a lightly magical paper which can release payment on the success of the included terms, and is readable to even the illiterate. "Now it's time to fulfil your end of the deal. Sign the quest, and follow me to get the necessary materials." Steven quickly nodded his head, before signing the quest, and starting to follow the cloaked man out of the post.
The man walked through the bigger streets to the city gate. Showing Steven and his ID's, they were easily let through, and the two continued walking in the direction of a forest. "Are you sure we're going the right way? Most people live in the city." to which the man replied, "Yes, I am sure, you'll be too in just a moment." He soon was, as just after the man said that he disappeared, and upon walking a few steps further, Steven understood why, he had passed through an illusion formation, and now could see a huge tower just a couple of meters away.
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Steven exclaimed, "This is where you live? No wonder you can read and write!" The man laughed happily, as he brought Steven inside, and down two floors into a windowless basement. Soon after passing through the doorway, the cloaked man asked Steven to come to the centre of the room. Agreeing to, he saw some strange circle with complex patterns and shapes engraved shallowly in the floor, with a pretty big indentation around where he was asked to stand. When Steven had gotten to the centre of the room, and was about to ask if this was the correct location, he felt a shooting pain through his neck, and he saw a flash of steel before he collapsed on the floor.
A warm liquid was attempting it's best to warm Steven's rapidly cooling body as he lay there, quite still, as of yet still unsure of what happened. The warming liquid started flowing through the complicated grooves, and tracing it back to it's source, Steven finally realized what it was, his blood, which had been flowing from his throat. Once the coldness grew to an all-encompassing sensation, Steven started to feel the world dimming as well. Steven knew the quest must have been some ruse, or trick to lure him here. As he felt the darkness begin to encroach on him, threatening to devour him, he started drifting towards a bright, white light, but when he was nearly there, he felt a force pulling him to the side, glancing over, he saw a glowing red pattern, curiously, the pattern seemed incomplete, approaching the red pattern out of curiosity, he felt himself be suddenly violently shifted to another location.
[ ... Steven ... a dungeon, ... his dungeon ... just had to turn into a dungeon didn't you?]
"I'm sorry?" [That's right, you should be, now, where to begin?]
[Right, you should start by checking your status, that's where most great adventurers start, given you're a dungeon now, but the same logic should apply.]
{Status}
Identity: Steven Race: Dungeon Core Health: Mildly Chipped Safety: 0 floors Mana: 100 Mana Generation:
1/year
Skills: {3}
Mana Forming Use mana to form matter and beings. Memory Understand and maintain understanding of things. By observing them, or absorbing the energy of their deaths. Mana conversion Transform any mana into your own, regardless of attribute, also allows free conversion to any known attributes.
Memory:
{0}