Eric approached the Pug stall when a small man wearing a ridiculous feathered hat suddenly rose from behind the counter, he continued to rise floating in the air until he was looking down his nose at Eric, he folded his arms before saying “Yeaaasssss?”
Somewhat used to the strangeness of this world it didn’t take Eric as long to re-adjust himself this time and he simply responded
“I’d like to form a party”
“Perrrmanent parrrty, orrr Temporarrry rrraid?” his r’s rolled like a purring cat as he spoke.
“Permanent”
“Currrent parrrty limit is five, would you like a full sized parrrty orrr smallerrr?”
“Full please”
This time the small man just nodded before unfolding both his arms and snapping his fingers causing four portals to open at the side of the stall, two on the left and two on the right. A strangely diverse range of people stepped through and the small man just nodded and refolded his arms before continuing to look down his nose at Eric.
In order from left to right an old man in a light brown robe stepped through leaning on a walking staff as he walked out, followed closely by a floating ball of light.
Next in line was a young woman with long thick copper coloured hair, her eyes were clearly synthetic with red pupils and various micro chips filling in what would normally be the whites of her eyes. Her skin was snow white as if never haven seen the sun before. She wore some basic clothing with a belt round her waist and a quiver of arrows on her back.
Third in line was a massive near 7ft tall green skinned man with a large pair tusks sticking out his bottom jaw, he wore something similar to a roman toga, his arms and face held many scars from who knows how many fights. He had long dark hair with several streaks of gray tied back and platted in a series of knots, he looked at Eric and the others as if trying to judge their worth and already finding them lacking.
The fourth and final portal flickered before a small young looking woman, probably no taller than Eric’s waist, she sported a red robe covered in white stars. She had no hair, her head was instead covered in bright red scales that went down her back and stopped round the edges of her face. She had a big smile on her face as she looked round at everyone.
“Hi there, I’m Annie, and what are your names?”
Eric was about to answer but was immediately cut off but the big green guy,
“I am Uruk Bloodhaze, former chief of the Uzrak clan” he looked Annie before continuing
“Gnome woman, are you a mage?”
“Nuh uh, I am a dragonblood sorcerer, which means I can summon and manipulate fire without incantations, or at least I could, now I seem to be limited to a simple firebolt spell. Anyway my spirit ability allows me to transform into a red draconid which makes my firebolt stronger.” With that her whole face became covered in red scales and a pair of dragon wings sprouted from her back, her whole body caught fire as she let out a high pitched shriek. She held it for a couple of seconds before letting the flames die out and transforming back into her original form.
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Uruk nodded “Good, gnome warriors are a joke, they always seem to get trampled on, or kicked down the battlefield like a kids toy.”
The copper haired girl stepped forward standing like a soldier awaiting inspection from a commander
“Ranged specialist Astrid reporting for duty, I carry a bow and quiver with seemingly limitless arrows.”
She spoke without any hint of emotion in her almost robotic sounding voice.
Uruk raised an eyebrow “Seemingly limitless?”
“Yes sir, my quiver holds 5 arrows, each arrow takes 10 seconds to replenish, with rapid shot I can empty the quiver in 2 seconds.”
Uruk grunted at that “You any good with those?” he pointed at the copper short swords holstered in her back.
“I have some training in close quarters combat, but it is not where I am strongest”
Nodding his head Uruk stated “some training is better than none, and whats your deal old man?”
“I am Fred, I am a healer, this is my whisp companion solar, it acts as a ranged attacker.”
Uruk grunted after Fred had introduced himself
“You look about ready to drop dead, are we going to have to carry you?”
“No, no, I can walk, I may be a little slow until we get a few more levels however.”
At that point they all turned to face Eric
“So whats your story then?”
“I’m…Eric, I can summon a club and shield”
“That means you will be in the front lines with me then boy, stay out of my way and you won’t accidentally lose something you would rather keep”
“Quest completed : Form a party. Congratulations you and your party are now level 3, you are now eligible to run the local party training dungeon.”
Uruk rubbed his hands together before turning and moving towards the now glowing dungeon entrance near the PUG stall.
“Well, looks like we know where we are going first.”
“Party quest: Uruk wants to run the local party training dungeon.”
“Sounds exciting” proclaimed Annie as she skipped after Uruk a big smile on her face.
“Quest update: Annie also wants to run the dungeon.”
Astrid simply marched in the direction of the dungeon following behind the other two.
“Looks like we are going to the dungeon” Fred shrugged his shoulders before walking slowly after them.
“Shouldn’t we at least talk about it first” Eric shouted but nobody seemed to be listening except for a single homeless guy who sat in a corner staring at him.
“Don’t be a pussy” he wheezed with a near toothless grin on his face.
“Quest update: Everyone but you now wants to run the local party training dungeon, just look at their happy excited faces, do you want to disappoint your new team on the first day??”
Eric sighed and shook his head “This is a bad idea” before accepting the quest and heading towards the dungeon entrance with his new team.
The halfling behind the store stood staring at Annie as the group walked away “I could have sworn I summoned a lizard water mage.” He muttered to himself.
“Meh, I’m sure its fine, best not tell the boss thou”.