Under the clear night sky, a full moon offered a silver glow on the land below, through the dim light, the last sparks of a battle could be seen.
A man with raven black hair that seemed to absorb all light that shown on it and eyes blacker than night, stood their staring down his opponent. Sword in hand, staring down his on a rocky hill.
His opponent, a massive dark elf, completely corrupted by the powers of whatever demons he had made a pact with, was exuding hatred. Vein pulsing on his forehead, hand over a stab wound that was slowly knitting back up. How dare he. Raced through the dark elf’s head. How dare he. Were the three words going through his head.
His plan was perfect, it had to be perfect, because he made it. Nothing could have stopped him, yet here he lost. Him, Earl Beleg Ortheri Xilbalar, lieutenant of the great chaos demon Jogonnar, had just lost all his forces. He was going to bring glory to his lord, yet here he was, with nothing.
All of this was because of him. This human, this lowborn scum, was the source of all this. Well, a main source of the issue at least. There were others, but right now all the Earl cared about was the one in front of him. This mere human who has somehow outsmarted him, who was responsible for his army being in shambles. Not to mention, this worthless piece of trash had just wounded him, and looking so damn proud of it too.
“… Who… who dares…” Earl Beleg seethed out.
“I do.” Was all that the man in front of him said.
Earl Beleg felt as though his veins may burst from rage. This damned human was making fun of him. He roars, “I am Earl Beleg Ortheri Xilbalar! Lieutenant of the rightful demon lord Jogonnar and I will not be made a fool by a mere lowborn human! State your name and prepare to die!”
“My name? It’s not really important, I’m just your average adventure, not worth the time to be acknowledged.” The dark-haired, black-eyed man replied, with an infuriating smirk.
Earl Belegs face twitched, before he gave a manic battle cry and charged the black haired, dark eyed adventurer. The adventurer readied his sword and proceeded to meet the dark elves charge.
Year 5026, Pryin’s Era Year: 236 Month: 03 Day: 12th
It was your average bustling city in the morning, merchants peddling their goods, bakery ovens roaring as they prepare fresh bread for their shelves. Countless citizens walking through the streets heading to their various destinations. The city was in constant motion, alive with movement, a typical sight for anyone residing in the city.
However, for one raven haired young man, this was a never seen before experience, for this was the first time that they bore witness to such a bustling city. Reason Lorcan, who had lived in a small town on the outskirts of the country his entire life was experiencing the city for the first time in his life.
Much like every other young man who visits Esterwood, the city of adventurers, for the first time in their life, Reason’s inky black eyes were filled with wonder. Never having seen so many people in one place, varying from humans, to dwarves, to elves to various other races, nor had he before witnessed so many great structures.
Reason simply stood in the middle of the road, letting everything move around him, simply taking in the moment. Slowly, but surely, Reason began to walk down the road, constantly swiveling his around to take in the sights that the city offered. His mind racing with excitement over the fact that that he was finally in the city and was about to become an adventurer.
Reason continued down the various streets taking rights and lefts, searching for street signs and occasionally asking a local for directions until he finally reached his destination. Finally stopping right before a large building.
While making his way through the city he slowly recalled how just a few days ago he when he was still living in his hometown. There was a going away party that was set up for him on the day he left, everyone had gathered and wished him farewell. Having lived his entire fifteen years in this quaint town it touched him deeply that so many people cared for him. He left vowing to return as a famous adventurer and with money for the people and stories to regale.
Returning to reality he stopped, he turns his head up and looked at the sign, written in large letters it simply read The Adventurers Guild. This was it; he had just recently turned fifteen a month ago, now he was going to apply. Reason once again glanced around the street, this area in comparison to the main street was far less crowded, only a few bystanders filling the streets. Reason trying his best to control both his nerves and excitement took a deep breath before walking into building.
As the doors swing open, he once again witnessed a never-before-seen sight. Various humanoids of all shapes and sizes littered the area, clad in various equipment, moving, talking, laughing. While humans were the most common sight, dwarves, elves, and halflings, gnomes and various others could all be spotted. It seemed that no one adventurer in this room looked the same as another, each adventurer had their own personal equipment, own personal apparel. Some were preparing for quests, others were splitting the spoils of recent ones, others were simply making small talk with their acquaintances. There were experienced veterans, and even others that seemed as wide eyed and unsure as he was.
After spending some time scanning around the room and taking in the atmosphere, his attention was directed towards the reception desk. Joining the back of one of the lines he waited for his turn in the queue. He waited in the long line in front of him for what felt like ages while it slowly dwindled one by one, until his turn finally came.
As Reason approached the desk, he was met with a beautiful receptionist lady. She stood there, a slim young lady, but with an aura of maturity, with silky smooth golden hair reaching just past the shoulders and sharp brown eyes that seemed to be studying and judging all that come under her gaze. Her uniform was clean, creaseless, so pristine, she by all intents and purposes was a professional.
“Hello, how may I assist you today?” The receptionist asked with a sudden radiant smile appearing on her face. Any aura of judgement that surrounded her seemed to have dissipated and never existed. A slightly nervous Reason blinked once before opening his mouth.
“Uh, hi. I want to become an adventurer.”
“I see, do you know how to read and write?”
“Yes, I can!” Reason replied, a bit to loudly, causing those around him to look over for a moment. Reason then repeated more quietly, “Yes.” Nodding quickly.
A slight stifled sigh could be heard for the briefest of moments from the receptionist, before the ever-brimming smile and friendly attitude exuded from her, “Well then, please fill out these forms, and feel free to ask any questions.”
“Right.” Reason mumbled in reply before directing his attention to the papers in front of him. He never was good when it came to reading and writing, back when he was in the town often when tutored by the librarian his mind would wonder of and be lost in thought. Busy dreaming of battling dragons and diving into dungeons, while he enjoyed his adventure stories, he never found reading appealing. Now he had to write, his handwriting was messy, but he hoped it was eligible enough to be valid.
He slowly filled the form, one line at a time, answering all the questions asked. Basic questions such as name and age, to skills, talents and past experiences. To his relief all the questions were simple, and he was allowed to leave most blank. Signing his name on the last page he handed back the papers to the receptionist.
Taking the papers, the receptionist then asked him to look at a strange rectangular box, with a round piece of glass jutting out the front of it. Reason could notice a few runes and symbols on the strange box, presumably magic. The glass quickly flashed green before returning to its original colourless tint.
The receptionist then quickly gave the sheets a once over, before looking back to Reason and informing him, “This looks good. Please be patient as I set up your adventurer identification.” Then she quickly wrote somethings down before opening a desk cupboard and bulling out a thin metal card, and a small metal tag. Using a specially marked pen she proceeded to write on the card, then after putting down the pen, she pulled out a stamp and pressed down on the tag. She then returned to the counter and pressed the card onto the back of the scanner and returned where Reason was waiting.
“Thank you for waiting. Here is your adventuring name card, and adventuring name tag, both items are used as proof of identification. They will also help others identify your basic abilities and status. So please always keep at least one of them on your person.”
“Thank you very much! So, uh, I’m now an adventurer, right?”
“Indeed, you are now considered a Level 1 adventurer, as you complete commissions, quests and other deeds deemed acceptable by the guild your level will increase. You will also be evaluated whenever you level up to see if you are eligible.”
“What sort of tests?” Reason suddenly seemed nervous upon hearing about the test.
“Oh, just a simple character test. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with being an adventurer, we can’t have unscrupulous characters be allowed to represent the adventurer’s guild.”
“Ah, I see.” Reason briefed a sigh of relief, visible for the receptionist to see.
“Well, now that you are an adventurer you can now accept quests, you’ll find quests posted on the bulletin boards. All quests will have details and a recommended level.” She gestured to the several bulletin boards lined across the walls, many of the boards still had several quests ready to be accepted.
Reason nodded, ready to go to the bulletin boards, before stopping and turning back to the receptionist and asking, “Oh, uh, what’s your name miss?”
The receptionist turned her head back to Reason, a ghost of a genuine smile could almost be seen when she replied, “Miss Morel. Good luck.”
Nodding Reason left the receptionist area and wandered over to a quest board. Staring at the board he considered which quest to take. A lot of these require a party. I need to somehow join one. Looking around there did seem to be a few new members forming parties, but Reason wasn’t sure if he could just approach and ask to join.
It suddenly occurred to reason that there wasn’t anybody he knows here, he was alone. All his life he was so used to knowing everyone but here there was no one, he was a stranger here and meeting new people was a challenge in off itself. Well, I can’t say no to a challenge. Reason mused, before deciding to wander around and check if any party needed an extra member.
While moving around he overheard an older stocky man, with a monocle and handlebar mustache wearing a professional looking uniform talking to the receptionists that seemed to be on break. “Don’t forget, the caravans are arriving today, we’ll have a large influx of supplies and adventurers coming our way. Make sure to process it all!”
A collective of groans and complaints was expressed upon the man finishing his sentence. All but a half elf girl with dark gray hair seemed to dread the arrival of the caravans.
A few of the more experienced adventurers who had also overheard the gentlemen speak began talking to one another.
“New adventurers, eh?”
“I wonder if any of them are gonna be any good.”
“Don’t hopefully they won’t be any trouble.”
“They’ll be fine as long as they stay out of my way.”
“Ooo, tough man.”
“Shut up.”
All the adventurers talking sounded as if they were a bunch of old friends, bouncing off each other and laughing. I hope I become like that. Reason thought wistfully before continuing his search for a group.
“Hey, are you looking for a party?”
Reason turned to the source of the voice. In front of him was three adventurers all who seemed to be around the same age as him. The source of the question was a young boy in the middle, with messy hair and a boyish complexion giving a massive grin. He had a cheap looking sword and wore some slightly oveqursized armor.
Reason nodded his head, “Yeah, I just applied. I was looking for a party.”
“Great! I’m Markus Smith. We need someone who act as another front-line member. You in?”
Reason looked past the leader of this group and saw the other two members. One seemed to be a bard who was strumming his ukulele, the other seemed to be some sort of magic user lost in the pages of some strange book.
“Guys, introduce yourselves to him already.”
The magic user looked up for a moment, “Marry, I’m a mage. Conjuring Magic.” With that she returned to her book.
The bard then gave a quick little tune to his ukulele before opening his mouth, “I am William Wicker, up and coming bard, friends call me Billy.” He types his hat to Reason and strums another quick tune.
“Uh, well the names Reason, Reason Lorcan, uh, I’m a swordfighter.” He then awkwardly extended his hand out to Markus. Markus clasped it, “Welcome to the team.” Giving Reason’s hand a strong shake.
“So, uh, do what should we do now?”
“Not to worry! I already got a quest!” Markus then dug through his pockets and produced a crumpled-up piece of paper, uncrumpling it he showed it to Reason. Wolf Infestation a simple quest with dealing some rabid wolves that seemed to have appeared near a village.
“Oh, I’ve dealt with wolves before.”
“I know right? This is going to be easy, come on let’s go to the receptionist and accept this quest.” With that Markus guided the group back over to Miss Morel, who had just recently finished with another adventurer. Seeing them approach, she gave a lovely smile.
“Hey there Maxine! We’re here to accept a quest!” Markus practically yelled.
The receptionist, Maxine Morel, her smile never faltering as she nodded, “Of course, what quest would you like to take?”
“This one.” Handing the crumpled piece of paper over to her. She quickly gave it a once over, her brow for the briefest of moments furrowed a bit, but in a blink of the eye it was gone, Reason wasn’t even so sure he saw it.
“Ah, this wolf hunting quest. I believe this quest was reposted this morning, correct?”
“Yep, picked it up the moment it was posted, just been waiting for a fourth member to accept it!”
“There are other quests available, are you sure that this is the quest you want to accept?” For some reason Maxine was trying to steer them away from this quest.
“What? There are four of us, and it’s just a couple of wolves.”
Maxine seemed to try and think of something, “Well, just so that you are aware, this quest is a repost, meaning that someone had accepted this in the past.”
“Well, they didn’t complete this quest that’s why we can accept it right?”
“Indeed. So, you want to accept this quest?”
“Of course! No wolves scare me!”
Maxine seemed to want to say something, before stopping herself and simply nodded and said, “Very well.” Before writing down their names and the quest in a book. “Thank you for accepting this quest adventurer and good luck on your quest.”
“Alright! Come on guys, let’s go.” With that Markus turned and headed toward the doors with the rest following him behind him.
As Markus opened the door another newcomer entered the building, outfitted in a strange set of armor and a curved blade on his hilt. Markus looked at the man with curiosity as he wordlessly walked past Markus and headed towards the reception desk, shrugging Markus headed outside.
Reason looking back at the receptionist desk where the stranger was headed, he pondered what Maxine seemed to be implying. Reason in the past has delt with wolves before, they were simple to take care of, a couple famers could handle it, so why hire adventurers? The easy explanation was that the village folk were just being lazy or too scared to risk their own lives. It complicated matters that this quest was reposted, implying that whoever took this first had probably failed. Looking back towards his new team, he took a deep breath before jogging up to them.
