Lioran was on bed rest due to Korah's orders. Lioran was not resting in bed much to the chagrin of said Acolyte. It wasn't like he was braving the sewers or getting into bar fights. Instead, Lioran found himself standing next to Nojak on the third tier looking at price tags and silently wishing for the billionth time he had more money.
"We need more money." Lioran said.
"Mmm." Nojak agreed.
"Maybe a gauntlet? Make it easier to grab things."
"One gant-let."
Lioran sighed. "Anything to reduce the damage to my hands."
It was early morning just as Lioran and Nojak were getting breakfast when the whole room suddenly went quiet. Standing at the receptionist desk was a tall young man outfitted in dark green with a bow sheathed at his back. He was most notable for having not been seen before. The room waited for Bella's usual, "you will die" rant, but it never came. Instead the man was ushered into the back where the advisors worked.
"Was that odd?" Lioran asked.
"Not if he's got a class already." Said an Adventurer from the next table over. They continued eating their eggs and sausage, because it was always eggs and sausage. Nojak quietly worked on her writing.
Before packing up, the back door opened and the man was led out into the hall. Emily pointed directly at Lioran and Nojak. He approached with a wide grin, put one foot up on the bench, and reached a hand out for Nojak.
"Well hello there Jak, my beautiful exotic lady. My name is Eric Osmondson. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Nojak looked confused. She looked even more perplexed when taking his hand to shake was turned into a kiss to her knuckles.
"Nojak." Lioran corrected.
"Sorry what?" Eric said, looking at Lioran as if he had only just realized he was there.
"Her name's not Jak. It's Nojak."
"No." Said Nojak, wiping the back of her hand off on her shirt. "Injung."
Lioran furrowed his brow.
"I'm afraid the lady that pointed you out claimed your name was Jak, my sincerest apologies, Injung."
Nojak, or possibly Injung, got up, walked around the table, and waited behind a large man registering a quest with Bella. An air of silence fell over the room as the Adventurers seemed to sense a show. When the horned Anorian girl got to the desk, she asked Bella a simple question in her accented broken speech.
"Wut name that is mine, ah, wut my name?"
"Ahhh." Bella stalled, looking over the now quiet room and clearly realizing that something was up. "Jak?"
Injung shook her head. "No. Jak is sail-or. Name that is… my name is Injung."
"Oh."
The crowd laughed. Lioran winced, he had been calling Nojak since the day they met. Bella retrieved some documents and scratched out Injung's incorrect name. "Do you have surname?"
"Wut sur-name?"
"A family name?"
"Ah, Aoki. A-O-K… I? EE? Y???"
"We'll just use I. Sorry."
Injung nodded and returned to her seat. Lioran stared as his empty plate.
"Well then," Eric started, bringing the attention back to himself. "I've got a day or two before my Copper Level credentials are ready and I was asked to accompany the two of you. The sewers I believe. I do hope they aren't actual sewers. Though I doubt they would diminish your beauty."
Lioran looked at Injung, who had the lost look she got when he talked too fast. How the hells did this guy think she was beautiful. Sure he had grown used to the wide flat nose, even the slightly caved in face, but her backward folding eyelids were still creepy. Maybe the guy was just into weird shit. The Adventurer's Guild was known for the weird and the desperate. Injung started packing up her slate and papers so Lioran returned their dishes. Apparently they would be going into the sewers with this asshead. What could go wrong?
"Are you actually from Anoria?" Eric asked, putting his arm around Injung. Lioran looked back to find an annoyed looking Injung pushing herself away. "Yes." Eric played the motion off as if he had released her on purpose.
"What is it like?"
Injung didn't answer, though the look on her face said she didn't know the words as opposed to not wanting to say anything. She lit the torch as Eric strug his bow. "After you, my lady."
Lioran entered first, shield at the ready. At about the first intersection, Lioran practically jumped out of his skin at the sound of an unexpected 'thud' behind him. Finding he wasn't being eaten he turned and glared at the two behind him only to find Injung pointing her touch at Eric. He held his hands out in surrender. This was going to be a serious problem if it kept up.
"Hey, as the person up front and most likely to get eaten, could you knock it off?"
"She started it."
"I don't care who started it. It stays out there." Lioran said, pointing toward the sewer entranced with his single gauntleted hand.
At the next intersection, Lioran practically jumped out of his skin, again. This time there was a 'thwang' sound behind him followed by an arrow moving past his side, far too close for comfort. To be fair, the arrow did impact a Dire Rat further up the tunnel, the creature hissed and screeched as it pushed itself in circles, slowly dying.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Got it. See, there is nothing to fear with me around." Said Eric.
"Fucking hate you already." Lioran mumbled to himself.
"Do we have to collect something for proof? I didn't actually read the quest details."
"The tail." Lioran said, letting an edge of annoyance into his tone.
"Oh, could you cut that off for us? I'll watch your back."
Lioran checked for Goblin Dogs before gritting his teeth and moving over to the now still Rat. The guy was going to have to go. As Lioran got to one knee, several things happened in rapid succession. First the light from the torch drastically dimmed as the sound of it hitting the ground echoed across the tunnel walls, followed quickly by another clatter. A muffled 'oof' sound came just before a hissed, "Ako sa jieng biuka anata xiangtong buta!"
Lioran had never heard Nojak, er, Injung speak in her native tongue before. Eric must have really passed her off. The guy was passing him off. It seemed like the group of young adventurers should just hit it off. Hi, my name is, let's be friends. Just like the stories. Life wasn't like the stories though. Sometimes the bad guys weren't complete dicks, sometimes the good guys were. Lioran was done with Eric.
"Okay, that's it. You will…" Lioran’s words dropped as he turned around. He had expected to find an angry looking Injung and she was meeting his expectations. He had also expected Eric to be sporting a stupid grin and generally looking like an asshead. Instead Lioran found Eric pressed against the wall, hands up, with a pained and slightly horrified expression. Their position was reasonably awkward. If Injung hadn't looked so tense and Eric hadn't looked like the considerably shorter girl was going to stab him, they might have looked like lovers staring deeply into eachothers eyes.
Injung glanced at Lioran, then stepped back while keeping her eye on Eric and reaching for the torch. Her body moved, but her hand didn't until she was at her full reach. The point of her dagger pulled out of Eric's shirt were a small splotch of discoloration had soaked into the fabric. Lioran had always considered Injung to be rather nice, now he was making a mental note to never piss her off. She hadn't stabbed Eric so much as over aggressively threatened to stab him. She picked up the torch and backed toward Lioran.
"O-kay." Said Lioran. "We're going to go back to the entrance and we'll split up."
Lioran picked up the rat, Eric picked up his bow, and the whole group walked outside in tension filled silence.
Lioran was happy to see Eric march off. Injung seemed to relax considerably. "Hey, sorry for calling you Nojak."
"It fine ak."
"It's just when we first meet, when you corrected me on…"
"Ak!" Injung cut him off.
She was clearly still snappy. Also, 'ak' clearly meant something specific and he had to ask. "Ak?"
Injung opened her mouth as if to speak, but paused. Pressing her lips together in that expression that said "I don't know the words to use."
"Nevermind. Let's go kill some things."
Lioran grit his teeth and swung his sword. He really had gotten better at hitting things with it. Literally a single day of training took him from being completely incompetent and possibly a danger to himself to being able to kill rats. Rats that were the size of freaking cats and latched onto the soft fleshy bits of his legs. He really needed armor. Unfortunately injung's training hadn't given her a boost in competency. She still missed more than she hit, and she didn’t seem to kill anything when she did. Lioran jabbed his rusty blade into another foul furry body, ending the life of another Dire Rat. He ignored the pain of the third one that was on him long enough to swing at the one latching onto Injung.
"The rope!" Lioran yelled. He dropped his sword, grabbed the rat latched to his leg with his newly gauntleted hand and pulled. Injung was good with the rope and Lioran took a few minutes to bandage himself up.
"You need stop get eat." Injung said.
Lioran chuckled. The trip across the city was painful, but worth the extra twenty five copper each. Then it was back to the infirmary, Korah wasn't pleased, but Lioran was getting used to his new bed.
***
"A couple questions for you, if you're well enough?" Emily asked.
Emily was attractive for a hornless. Lioran would always take the time to talk to her. He smiled. "Sure."
"What happened today? With Eric Osmondson?"
"Ah, well he passed off Injung. He kind of came off as that sort of stereotypical asshead. Always trying to touch or be uncomfortably close to her. You know like when you read a story and the writer wants you to see a character as a bad guy. Ridiculously stereotypical."
"And she stabbed him?"
Lioran tilted his head. "Eeh, more like, a little too forcefully threatened to stab him. I didn't really see what happened, but I'm pretty sure if Injung wanted to actually stab him, he'd be in here with me."
"I see. Unfortunately people like that are rather common in the Guild.”
“People like Injung or Eric?”
Emily gave Lioran a slightly sad smile. “Both. Eric’s kind learns quickly. Jak’s, erm, Injung’s kind do the teaching. Honestly I’m surprised she didn’t really hurt him considering her background.”
“What do you mean, her background?”
“Not my place to tell. You’re the odd one out here. Injung came off the boat already at level two.”
“What can you kill on a boat to gain levels?”
Emily didn’t answer. She just gave him a pained smile before walking out. It didn’t take long to work the answer out logically. People. The only thing on a boat you could kill for experience was people. Lioran reinforced an earlier mental note not to piss Injung off.
End of Chapter
4 Dire Rats Encounter.
Combat Starts.
Initiative:
Dire Rat 3: 22
Dire Rat 4: 15
Injung: 9
Dire Rat 1: 7
Lioran: 6
Dire Rat 2: 5
Dire Rat 3 Bites at Lioran. 16. 1 Damage.
Lioran Fort Save DC 11. 11. Pass
Dire Rat 4 Bites at Injung. 6. Miss
Injung Stabs at Dire Rat 4. 5. Miss
Dire Rat 1 Bites at Lioran. 18. 2 Damage.
Lioran Fort Save DC 11. 5. Fail
Lioran Swings at Dire Rat 1. 21. 6 Damage.
Dire Rat 1 Dies.
Dire Rat 2 Bites at Lioran. 20. 2 Damage.
Initiative:
Lioran: 16
Dire Rat 3: 13
Dire Rat 4: 7
Dire Rat 2: 7
Injung: 4
Lioran Swings at Dire Rat 3. 14. 9 Damage.
Dire Rat 3 Dies.
Dire Rat 4 Bites at Injung. 14. 4 Damage.
Injung Fort Save DC 11. 19. Pass.
Dire Rat 2 Bites at Lioran. 10. Miss.
Injung Stabs at Dire Rat 4. 17. 1 Damage.
Initiative:
Injung: 20
Dire Rat 4: 17
Dire Rat 2: 9
Lioran: 5
Injung Stabs at Dire Rat 4. 12. Miss.
Dire Rat 4 Bites at Injung. 15. 3 Damage.
Injung Fort Save DC 11. 7. Fail.
Dire Rat 2 Bites at Lioran. 15. 1 Damage.
Lioran Swings at Rat 4. 22. 5 Damage.
Dire Rat 4 Dies.
Lioran tells Injung to get the rope ready.
Initiative:
Dire Rat 2: 21
Lioran: 14
Injung: 12
Dire Rat 2 Bites at Lioran. 16. 4 Damage.
Lioran Tries to Grapple Dire Rat 2.
Dire Rat 2 get AoO. 12. Miss.
Lioran’s Grapple DC 12. Nat 20.
Injung’s Grapple to tie. DC 10. Nat 20.
Injung: “You need to stop getting eaten.”
Injung: 14
Lioran: 2
Dire Rat 2: 5