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《Beyond Average Prequel [A DiceRPG]》040. Return to Red Oak

Asomin thrust his blade into a final banshee, the creature screaming before it disappeared into a wisp of white smoke, which was carried away by the wind. A white-black orb dropped onto the ground, crushing a few leaves under its weight. The other Iyrmen had all managed to defeat a number of these powerful undead too, as there were close to six orbs that lay on the ground. Adam spied one of the orbs were black, just like those dropped by the wraith. He noticed that Gidian was looking particularly pale. She must have faced the wraith, as expected of a leader.

“Is everyone alright?” Adam asked as the trio rushed up to join their fellows. As Adam’s eyes flashed across the area, he could see that their group had increased. There was now another group of six Iyrmen that he didn’t recognise. They noted Adam, seeing his bronze tag, and then nodded at him.

“We’re fine,” Asomin said. “What of you?”

“We came across a banshee,” Adam said. “We defeated it just fine.”

Asomin nodded. “There were an alarming number of them around,” he said. “We should find safety soon.”

“We were just heading to the outpost when we came across these creatures,” one of the new Iyrmen said. He was tall, handsome, his body thick with muscle. He had dark hair, with sprinklings of blond, and his eyes were dark. He held at his side a pair of axes, which were white, like freshly fallen snow. Around his neck he wore a steel token, with an army of stamps for his adventuring prowess.

Many of his group had been injured, though none of them had died. Adam could only wonder what would have happened if they had missed this group. They all moved together towards the outpost, now fifteen strong.

The outpost was the same as any other outpost they had seen, though there was a feeling of safety that flowed through them all. There was a quick scan of the area before Asomin and two others had gone to hunt. Adam began to cast his spell under the watchful eye of the Iyrmen.

Mana: 18 -> 15

Cast: Tower of Adam

“A third gate?” The handsome Iyrman walked over to Adam, inspecting the tower, rasping his knuckles along the stone wall.

“Yeah,” Adam said.

“Though you wear such armour?” he asked, raising his brow, his eyes scanning Adam’s form.

“Yeah.”

“A man of many words.” He chuckled and then extended a hand out. “Bazuhn.”

“Adam,” Adam said as they shook hands.

“Come, tell us your story,” he said as they entered the dining room, with Gorot and Rendor in tow. “Hopefully with many more words.”

Adam began to tell his tale, having repeated it so much now that it was becoming easier to tell, adding in some flourishes here and there. Bazuhn listened intently, nodding his head every so often. During the tale, Asomin and the others had returned with a boar.

“So you have met brother Heinov?” Bazuhn said, surprised. “I haven’t seen him in some time. I have heard whispers of his stories, but nothing more. I hope I am able to meet him again.”

“Heinov has left already, though I do not know where to,” Asomin said. “I believe he is heading to Red Oak, but that is just my guess.”

Adam wondered when the last time he saw Heinov was. He recalled it being when they had returned to the Iyr, but he hadn’t seen him after. Why hadn’t he waited for them? They could have all gone together.

“Your tale is one of wonder and greatness,” Bazuhn said. “Perhaps one day we will spar?”

Adam smiled. “You’ll have to queue up,” he said. “I have quite a few spars lined up already, unfortunately.” Well, he recalled roughly three. Iromin, Heinov, Asomin.

Bazuhn then began to tell his stories, those that were most recent. He spoke of banshees and wraiths, a great number of them, as well as the undead they had destroyed.

“We have found a number of ancient sites, though we have yet to explore them.”

Adam leaned in. “Ancient sites?”

“Dungeons, as yours would say.”

Adam’s eyes went wide. “Dungeons…” A dungeon was one hell of a finding. Dungeons were usually unexplored, and held a great number of mysteries.

“We won’t be able to explore them yet,” Asomin said. “We must inform Paul of the matters at hand. Bazuhn, you must return to the Iyr and speak of such messages to Iromin.”

Bazuhn nodded his head. “Then I will take Gidian with me, so the path is safer.”

“Take three,” Asomin said. “We are near Red Oak, the path should be safe for us.”

Dinner was roasted meat, sprinkled with salt and some sort of herbs. Adam tore into the food, deep in thought.

‘A dungeon. I wonder what kind of secrets I could find- no, I can’t do that. Not yet. I need to head back to Red Oak and rest up.’ His body was becoming tired, going from one place to the next without a proper break. He had just faced a nightmare, a creature that could defeat a dragon with ease, and he was already planning on heading into a dungeon?

Adam shook the foolishness from his head and then went to bed, calling Hades to him. He scritched the owl a few times and then wrapped the blanket around himself. He continued to think of the dungeon, of the creatures he would find, the magical tomes, the secrets that lay hidden in time. He closed his eyes and fell deep asleep.

The next day passed by uneventfully, and Adam thanked his lucky stars. There had been far too much going on for his liking, and he was hankering for a nice cup of tea. Red Oak was so close now, and he was wondering if he could find some delicious tea in the city. Perhaps there was a minotaur who had set up shop?

When evening had come, and he had summoned his tower, he decided to finally test his Tricks trick, wondering if it actually worked. He poured some of his water into a glass and then picked the glass up.

“Warm up,” Adam whispered, waving a hand over his cup. He looked down at it to see that the water was unchanged, though he could feel his hands grow warmer through the cup. His excitement filled him as he then inhaled deeply and concentrated. “Like tea, please.” With that he leaned in and took a sip of his water.

It was sweet, warm, and milky. Yet, though it tasted great, the water wasn’t quite the right texture, and the way it filled him wasn’t the same as tea. He felt a little empty, though he had was glad that it tasted like the tea he had grown up with.

‘I need to cultivate some tea leaves.’

Yes, that would be his next quest! The only people he knew that could cultivate tea were the minotaurs. The very same minotaurs who had lost one of their members. To a Fireball. That he summoned.

‘Nevermind. Wish I had some biccies though.’

He caught Gorot staring at him, but Adam kept sipping at his tea. Adam beckoned with a hand and then cast the Tricks onto his water. Gorot took a sip, slapped his lips together, and then looked at Adam.

“A peculiar taste,” the Iyrman said.

Adam inhaled deeply and sat up straighter. ‘Bloody savages,’ he thought, though mostly as a joke. He thought Gorot was a good guy, even if he had poor taste in tea, though he couldn’t blame the fellow. Gorot had grown up in the Iyr, where there wasn’t much tea to go about, and so he had never cultivated good taste. A shame, really.

The night had been rather quiet, and so had the rest of the day. Adam was becoming a little sick of the forest now. It was late afternoon by the time they could see the walls of Red Oak, Hades first spying it from quite some ways away before Adam dismissed it.

‘Finally,’ Adam thought as he saw those walls, the group of six eagerly moving forward.

“Ho there,” the guard called out, stepping over towards the group of six. “Do you bring good word?” The guard was fairly tall man, though quite thin.

“Not many,” Asomin replied. “We have to speak with Paul.”

“The Vice Master? Alright then,” he said, opening up a hand.

Currency

28 Gold

28 Silver

79 Copper

4x Obsidian Disks (10G)

4x Black Onyx (50G)

1x Unknown Gem

Adam had forgotten that they needed to pay a gate fee, and then realised he hadn’t done so at the Iyr this entire time. He glanced about the Iyrmen, though they didn’t seem to really pay much attention to him. He hadn’t been asked to pay, though he wondered whether he was meant to remember to pay.

The town was a bustle, with hundreds of people going about their business. There were quite a few people here, no doubt similar to how many Iyrmen there were in the Iyr, but it felt so different here. He hadn’t seen the Iyrmen smith or work in the same way that townfolk did, and there was something about a town that filled him with a sense of familiar comfort. There were far less threats here for Adam to worry about too, as the Iyr was filled with great warriors, and the most Adam had to worry about in the town was someone stealing from him, and perhaps a handful of other adventurers.

The guild seemed so strange to him now, as though he hadn’t seen them in almost two months. Which was completely true, as it had been almost two months since he had arrived in this world, and he had spent so long in the Iyr.

On the way to the guild, he heard the rhythmic pounding of hammer on steel, and as he walked by, Thundersmith threw a glance his way, and then stopped his pounding.

“Aye, if it isn’t Adam,” he called out, and Adam glanced at the Iyrmen nearby, who nodded as they continued along their way.

Adam walked over to the dwarf. “Thundersmith,” he said, “it’s good to see you.”

“Aye, ya been gone a while, eh?”

“Sorry about that, there was a lot going on.” Adam chuckled, nervously. “How’s the sword?”

Thundersmith motioned with a hand and Adam followed him into the smithy. It smelt of sweat, coal, and steel. It was a good, earthy smell, the smell of hard work and effort, a smell which earned respect. Adam could see that Thundersmith had been hard at work too, there were a collection of warhammers and mauls set to one side.

“Were these for the undead?” Adam asked.

“They are, aye.”

“Oh,” Adam said.

“Have ya been dealing with‘em?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

Thundersmith revealed the blade to him, and Adam smiled when he saw it. It was about as long as his current blade, but much wider. In the middle were runes, which seemed to have been painted on, but with the paint completely removing the metal, so there was a gap in the middle of the blade. Adam dare not to think that the integrity of the sword was at risk, for this was a dwarven blade. The grip was long, and the pommel was solid. The crossguard was quite thick as well, coming out a little ways, though flowed back into the thick blade. The colours were what he expected, muted metallics, with a splash of bronze and gold here and there.

Adam took the blade from Thundersmith gingerly, feeling just how heavy the blade was. It was a little heavier than his normal blade, but the heft of it felt solid. He rubbed a hand along the flat of the blade, feeling the gap of the runes. He looked to Thundersmith, who nodded and so he went to swinging it once, ad then thrust it forward, just the one too. It made a beautiful swiping noise, like music to his ears, and Adam couldn’t help but smile.

“Do you think I could enchant this sword?” Adam asked, running a finger along the runes. Enchanting a blade like this would be wonderful, and quite useful. Dwarven blades were a status symbol, even if his was the lowest tier of blade. He needed a magical sword in order to make his adventures a little easier.

Thundersmith looked up at Adam, brushing a thick hand through his beard. “Tha’s up ta ya.”

Adam looked down at Thundersmith and then nodded. “I think I might try my hand at it,” Adam said. “I really wish I had your sword with me when I was gone.”

“Aye? What happened?”

“So much, but I need to go and see Paul first. I also… well, I’ll tell you when we next meet. I’m not sure if I’ll be seeing you tonight, there’s quite a bit that I need to tell Paul, and I think I have some work to do still.”

“Aye, if it’s that way.” Thundersmith handed him a scabbard for the sword as well. It was made of fairly decent grey leather, with exposed metal that formed the locket and the chape. The sword belt was well sized for his waist. It was nothing to shout about, but well made.

Adam slid the blade into the scabbard and then looked to his old blade. ‘I could probably test some enchanting with this blade…’ Adam wondered just how much it would cost to enchant his pair of blades. With a thanks and a goodbye, he made his way to the guild.

He opened it up, smelling the fresh air of adventurers drinking and partying. There were a handful of parties strewn about, none that he recognised though. They were mostly human, though he did spy a dwarf here and there, as well as another half-elf. A few caught his appearance, noting his rank, and then nodded before going back to chatting. Adam made his way to the front desk, where George was currently shuffling some papers. He looked up to see Adam approaching.

“Oh! Afternoon, Adam,” he said.

“Afternoon,” Adam said, nodding his head. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good, and you? Did the Iyr treat you well?”

“They treated me great, actually.” Adam smiled. “It was quite the wonderful time.”

“It’s good to hear. I also heard you’ve been helping the Iyrmen with the undead issue.”

“I have,” Adam said as he looked about. He didn’t see any of the Iyrmen about. “Are they with Paul?”

“That’s right,” George motioned with his head. “Around back. Paul wanted to speak with you anyhow.”

Adam made his way through the door to see the group of Iyrmen and Paul, who was sitting down with his head in his hand. They turned to see Adam, who glanced between everyone.

“Hello,” Adam said, unsure of what was going on.

Paul motioned with his head to a seat. “Asomin is filling me in with what happened. I’d like to hear it from your side when all is said.” He sounded tired, though Adam could have probably guessed that.

Adam sat down as Asomin began to recount the tale, with no flourishes, just facts. He sometimes mentioned his feelings at the time, as in, what his skin could feel at the time, what he could smell, what he could taste. The Iyrmen seemed intrigued, and Rendor would nod his head to agree with Asomin.

Eventually they came across the story when Adam was taken over, though Asomin had asked for the others to leave, except for Adam and Rendor. Then he continued the tale, speaking of the madness he had seen. Paul’s face darkened as the Iyrman spoke, but eventually softened as they noted how the undead seemed to have vanished, save for the stronger undead of banshees and wraiths.

“There’s quite a prize on such creatures,” Paul said. “Though back to this creature. Entalia, the silver dragon, said that it has retreated for now?”

“That’s what she said,” Asomin said, nodding his head.

“To think you’d meet Heinov as well…” Paul rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes. Then he looked to Adam. “What am I going to do with you?” he asked.

“What, me?” Adam asked, glancing between Asomin and Paul. What on earth did he mean?

“You’re bronze, and yet you have so many quests under your belt already. How many banshees has he helped slay?”

“Two,” Asomin said.

“One wraith as well? Including all the skeletal beasts, and then there’s the bone dragon.” Paul threw his head back and wiped his face. He shook his leg, tapping his boot onto the ground. “What am I to do with you?” he repeated, exasperated.

“What are you currently thinking about?” Adam asked.

“I’m going to need to increase your rank to steel, at the least.” Paul sighed.

“I’d rather not,” Adam replied. Becoming a steel ranked adventurer so quickly would have brought unwanted attention, and not to mention that he was still fairly naive when it came to the world.

“Well, unless you’re willing to decrease your involvement in these tasks, then that’s the only way.” Paul sighed.

“Alright then,” Adam said.

“Alright then?” Paul asked, raising his eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Decrease my involvement in the tasks.”

Paul stared at Adam. “What?”

“Well, that’s the only way to deal with the issue right?” Adam shrugged. “I’ve only been an adventurer for two months, well, almost two months.” He looked towards Asomin and then Rendor. “Plus, most of that time I spent with you, the Iyrmen, so I don’t think people are going to give me much credit.” Adam recalled how the red-haired teen in the other town responded when he mentioned he had defeated a herbearvore. “I don’t have any experience, and I don’t want to bother anyone, or be bothered by anyone.”

Paul stared at him for a moment. “Well, that certainly would be easy…”

“He is a polite boy,” Asomin said.

Rendor chuckled. “Isn’t that right?” The man grinned wide and then began to laugh. Though Adam had felt a little uneasy beside Rendor, no doubt due to some aura he was giving off, he also quite liked the man’s company.

“If you can give me a few days to count out everything that the guild owes you, I’ll be sure to get you your rewards.” Paul then turned to Adam. “I have your previous rewards. Alten and Robert have yet to pick their magical blades, so I’d like for you to pick yours first, if you don’t mind.”

“There is also the matter of the dungeons. Bazuhn has come across a dungeon in the area.”

“A dungeon?” Paul rubbed the side of his neck. “There’s a few that have appeared, it seems.”

“There are other dungeons?” Adam asked.

“The past few days we’ve received a number of reports. We’ve sent a few people to survey the dungeons in order to apply the appropriate response, but we haven’t received word back. A few parties have heard and are making their ways from nearby to Red Oak, so there’s going to be some new faces around here.”

Adam wondered if he could join a party to explore one of the dungeons, he wasn’t yet confident to go alone, though one day he may have the strength to do so.

“Oh right, we’ll need you to identify the items too,” Paul said. “We’ve checked which items were magical, and there were only the weapons of the officers.”

Adam nodded. “Would you like me to do those now?”

“If it isn’t too much of a bother. I’ll add the reward to your total and then hand over the coins when you’re done.”

Adam nodded. Paul went to grab the items, as the rest filed out into the common room. There were roughly eight parties here, each between three and six members. Adam could also see the dwarf girl who had first accompanied Alten against the brown bear, though recalled they hadn’t really spoken to one another.

“I’m heading on up to finish my task,” Adam said to Asomin, who bid the boy goodbye. Adam was about to make his way up when he stopped. “Hey George, could I get a room?” he asked.

George handed him the keys to his old room. “We’ve kept it clear for you. James has gone in to clean it now and again to keep it clear of dust.”

“Oh,” Adam said.

Currency

27 Gold

28 Silver

79 Copper

4x Obsidian Disks (10G)

4x Black Onyx (50G)

1x Unknown Gem

“As thanks,” Adam said as he slid over a gold piece and then made his way up. He unlocked the door and entered, noting how clean everything was, and how it looked almost exactly the way he had left it.

He checked his sack, which was still filled with the bear bones and fur. He wondered whether or not he should get rid of it, he wasn’t particularly in the mood to walk around with bear fur around him, and he was no longer fond of his red bear cloak either.

Paul appeared not long after. He reached into a pouch and then withdrew six blades, well, one of them was a warpick, but six weapons in total. “I’ll have to stay here as you identify, I hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind, but it’s a tight squeeze.”

“We should probably move you into a bigger room.”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind so much.” Adam grabbed the first weapon, the Lesser Moonblade. He was certain he knew what it did, but it could have been hiding something from him. Paul handed over the pearl and then Adam went right to business.

He sat down and then lay the weapon across his lap as he chanted silently. Adam was going to inform Paul at the end of every cast what the weapon did, trying his best to speak without giving him the information mechanically.

Lesser Moonblade