“I just made it!” I shouted, pointing towards the horizon where the sun was still faintly visible as I rushed into the city squa…uhm roundabout. Lupin, unmoved, was still in his previous spot, playing a seemingly familiar tune.
“Well, the prodigal apprentice returns,” Lupin responded, his gaze sweeping a scowl over the horizon, “And just in the nick of time, it seems.”
A spark of pride seemed to flicker in his eyes when I presented him with the ten Peng. “Aha, these have the distinct flavor of a Bard’s hard-earned wages.” Lurin studied each coin before passing them back. “These are yours. Well earned. But let’s not forget your quest reward.”
With a flair of showmanship, Lupin produced a scroll from behind his bench. “When you reach level five, you must return to me, apprentice. I’ll have another quest waiting.”
By now, I had come to appreciate the scrolls. I snatched it from Lupin, distancing myself a few steps before opening it. The rush of endorphins coursing through my veins was like leveling up in an online RPG, only cranked up to eleven.
Congratulations! You have succeeded in your quest and have achieved a new level. You are now a level-five bard of the Highland clan.
Your achievement has rewarded you with a new spell, Song of Rest. Song of Rest will replenish your health and make you last longer in the face of battle. Song of Rest uses mana and the command word is: rest.
Only one level? I’d been working my ass off, and all I got was one measly level! It was going to take forever to get to level 100 in this tempo. I looked back at Lupin, that stood staring into the air emptily. His only role in life was to stand there and give me quests, and I felt sorry for him living such a boring NPC life. I walked back to him while whispering rest - a gentle warmth rushed through my body, and I could see the blue hue transition to grey. I really needed more mana, hated being a one-spell pony.
“Ah welcome back, apprentice Bard!” He said, as if he hadn’t seen me in a long time, like dogs react when you have been out the door for a few minutes. “You have achieved the important fifth level. Not only did you learn a new and important spell, Song of Rest, but your other skills have also been stronger. In fact, they have doubled in power. You are now ready to test your skills on real enemies. Your next quest is to cast Song of Rest on yourself twenty times when you are at half health or below. When you have done this, come back to me and I will reward you with your very first instrument. The most important tool in a bards toolbox.”
Great! A cast-x-number-of-times-quest, the most boring of them all, even worse than gathering quests.
“I don’t play any instrument,” I said and looked at him, dumbfounded. An instrument!? I didn’t even want one. I needed a better weapon, armor, or something cool!
“You thought you couldn’t sing either, did you?” Lupin said.
I stared at him and thought I could see a smile fighting for real estate in the corner of his mouth. I had always been good at spotting micro-expressions in people. Expressions that told their real emotions, the ones they tried to suppress. It was a superpower I’d used often in my real life, workings as a salesperson.
“You knew I could sing?”
“Yes, of course,” He said. Smiling. “I told you, the bard is a powerful class, and we have more tricks up our sleeves than anybody else. Now, go forth and use Song of Rest. There are several places you can find enemies to fight, but I recommend you don’t stray far from the city. The farther away you go, the tougher the enemies get. If you get to a forest that is charred, you have strayed too far and must turn back immediately. Do not go into the charred forest, apprentice bard, heed my warning. And please don’t take this warning as a challenge. You will not survive for long in the master of heat’s domain.”
“The master of heat?”
“Yes, Volcanic. Highlands mortal enemy. He is a fire elemental that lives in the charred forest, sent from HIM–Harbinger of Eternal Doom. Volcanic is burning his way closer and closer to our village. We have been able to fight his minions off, but only barely. Soon, we’ll have to abandon our lovely town.”
“Isn’t there anything you can do about it? Don’t you have heroes or something that can fight him?”
“There are no heroes strong enough to face Volcanic in this area of the realm. All the heroes are off fighting wars in other places, much more important than the faith of Highland. If we band together to fight Volcanic, we might have had a chance, but the loss would be too much to bear.”
“Don’t you think that’s what I’m supposed to do? Fight Volcanic?” It was obvious this fire element was a mini-boss that needed to be beaten for me to get wherever I was going.
“Oh, NO! No, you are not strong enough. To take down Volcanic, we need a powerful mage that is an expert on spells in the water category.” Lupin said, waving his arms.
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So all the stuff about Bard being the most awesome class didn’t go so deep after all.
Before I left the roundabout, I went over to the general merchant.
“Greetings, what goods can I offer this young bard?” the Merchant said.
“I understand you deliver groceries to Gloriunglangroe?” I said, knowing I had butchered her name.
“Who? I don’t know that name.”
“The Dwarf woman that lives at the border to the charred forest, also called Gloria?”
“Ah, Glorimrinelyn! Yes. But who told you this?”
“I overheard someone in the Inn talking about it.”
“That no good rat, Garret, I know I can’t trust him!” The merchant said, his human skin turning red under the bronze hair.
“No, it wasn’t him!” I said, too loud and too fast.
He smiled at me and bowed. “That’s OK. I won’t tell him you told on him.”
I opened my mouth to object, but the merchant beat me to it. “My name is Imrin. I’m this town’s master merchant. It is nice to meet you. I know you are working with Lupin, and anyone under the steady tutorage of the great Bard is a friend of mine. I was actually on my way to deliver food to Glorimrinelyn now. If you would do me the honor of delivering it for me, I will tell you how to find her.”
I shot out my hand. “Nice to meet you Imrin. Fire away!”
Imrin fell to the ground with a thump. I bent over the counter and could see he was lying flat on the ground, covering his head with his hands.
“What’s wrong?” I said.
He looked up at me, then looked around before he hesitantly stood up. I could hear Lupin laughing behind me, and so could Imrin, because he was looking angrily over my shoulder, and I got the distinct feeling he’d been holding back on the truth when he told me how great friends they were.
“Ah, I thought you said someone was firing, so I took cover, preparing to fight back,” Imrin said loud enough for Lupin to hear. “Here, take this box with groceries. I will draw you a simple map,” Imrin said and drew a very detailed map of how to get from the roundabout to the shack where Gromri…Gloria lived.
A half-hour later, I was on my way, box in hand, and a couple of health-satchels ready in my belt, just in case.
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The grey forest didn’t seem as gray this time. I cannot tell if it was the low sun hitting my face or the excitement of seeing her again that lightened my mood.
It was easy to follow the path Imrin had drawn for me, and I knew I was getting closer to the charred forest by the smell. The familiar sting of burned wood got stronger with each step I took.
I only met one grey wolf, but it didn’t seem to mind me. I contemplated aggroing it to get a heal off in my quest, but I was unsure how long it would take the wolf to bite its way through half my health, and I still had the pain from when the boar bit my butt fresh in my mind.
The place wasn’t like I thought it would look like. It was a series of small caves carved into the hillside with tall wooden fences in front of them, almost like cavemen settlements. I peeked through the thick planks in front of the nearest cave, trying to see someone, but it almost seemed abandoned.
“Glormsdf…Gloria! I am bringing food from Imrin!” I shouted through the fence. Nothing. Then I heard something crack behind me and I turned around.
“What are you doing here?” it said in a thin but growly voice. I remembered him from the pictures on the inn’s wall. It was Kliobl, the wanted goblin. I could see his yellow sharp teeth as he smiled an all but friendly grin. Flanking him were four other goblins, making it a party of five. The two closest to me had leather armor, each holding a scimitar pointing in my direction. The last two were standing back, arrows loaded and I could hear their bowstrings creak. One of them shook. Kiobli had no weapon that I could see. He just stood in the middle of the pack, smiling.
“Eh, I think I might have taken the wrong turn somewhere. Sorry for the disturbance.” I said and gently lowered the box to the ground while whispering ward as the box hit the burned forest ground. The aura tightened around me, and I stood up again and raised my hands. A mockery already loaded and ready.
“Wrong turn!? Ugly dwarf, do we look stupid to you?” One of the melee goblins spat.
“I knew I had seen you somewhere,” I said, looking at the archer that was standing to the right of Kliobl, the one shaking like a leave in a storm. “You look like the armpit of an unshaven bog hag!”
The archer fell to the ground, dead. I reached for my rapier and could feel an arrow hit the surrounding ward before it hit me. It didn’t penetrate my skin, and I was already running toward the remaining archer when the two melee goblins were on me. One of them hit me hard in the back, so my vision turned to dark yellow.
“Rest!” I said and parried the next attack, my vision returning to normal as I hit one goblin over the chest, but I didn’t penetrate his armor. The remaining archer had pulled another arrow, and I knew I wouldn’t reach him before he released it. I was also eight breaths from my next mockery. I concentrated on the two goblins with scimitars and I hoped I had enough mana to cast another rest before the next arrow hit.
I changed focus to one of the warrior goblins instead of fighting them both. He attacked with a broad swing and I ducked while stabbing my rapier into his chest. Relieved when it penetrated the leather armor and he fell to the ground.
“FireBall!” I heard from behind me and recognized the thin, growly voice. That’s why Kliobl didn’t have any weapons. He was a Goblin mage. I turned around to see an enormous ball of fire approach me. Then something hit me hard from the side, throwing me off the path of the fireball, that instead hit the remaining warrior goblin that was in the middle of doing a fatal backstab on me, killing him instantly. I tried to fight off whoever was lying on top of me when I saw who it was. It was Gloria!
“What are you doing here?” She hissed.
“Can we chat about that in a bit?” I said as I stumbled my way back to my feet. Kliobl concentrated on his hands. Between them, a small fireball was hovering in the air, growing steadily. Gloria was on her feet and ran at him, but I could see that she wouldn’t be able to get there in time.
“Hey! Kliobl! Your magic is as bad as your breath!” I shouted and immediately placed a ward on Gloria. Kliobl didn’t get hurt by the mockery, but it distracted him enough that he lost his concentration, and the fireball vanished. he looked at me with a look of surprise and shock when Gloria attacked him viciously with two knives that seemed to appear from thin air. Kliobl, the Goblin mage, fell dead to the ground after the first flurry. He didn’t even stand a chance. I had seen no one better at fighting. Not even in old Van Damme movies.
I saw the back of the last of the Goblin pack, the archer, as it ran away from us. Then I approached Glovrifrinja.