《Rolent's First Adventuring Guild》 Introduction to Tetria Gods of Tetria Spoiler: Spoiler Taiia (Ty-a) Goddess of the Sun Spoiler: Spoiler Io God of the Moon Spoiler: Spoiler Mystra Goddess of Magic Spoiler: Spoiler Cyndor (Sin-der) God of Time Spoiler: Spoiler He is the caretaker of the Temporal Prime, said to be the one who originally set it in motion. He is said to exist in all times at once, and simultaneously be unconstrained by the time-stream. He is associated with fate and predestination, with causality and destiny, with prophecy and with history. It is difficult to honor Cyndor, as time is beyond most mortals to affect. Still, he is honored when destiny and prophecy are fulfilled, when history is remembered and studied, and when mortals seek to understand their destiny rather than defy it. He is similarly difficult to anger, but can be enraged by temporal magics used to damage the time stream and by the alteration and subversion of fate. When Cyndor is with you, your destiny has great importance and your mark on history is great, for better or worse. When he is against you, you are doomed to mediocrity and irrelevance, and your plans and intentions fall to ashes. Raven Queen, Goddess of Death Spoiler: Spoiler She guides souls that come her way to their respective afterlives. She is both cruel and kind, both hasty and patient. She sees every lifeline and terminates it at its proper time. Cyndor and she share certain abilities when it comes to the end of a life, but the Raven Queen is typically the one given latitude to decide the exact time and method of death. She is honored by respect for the departed, by rites and rituals to dispose of or preserve in honor the body of the deceased, and by death from old age. She is angered by resurrection and undeath equally, by disrespect for the departed, and by soul damage or destruction. When she is with you, your passing will be easy and you will have courage against the undead. When she is against you, omens of death haunt your every waking moment and when you inevitably die your end will display the lack of respect you showed to others. Tharizdun (There-is-dune) God of Annihilation Spoiler: Spoiler Tharizdun is the epitome of destruction, the soul of annihilation. He wants to end the entire multiverse and reduce it to nothingness. Gods and Planes and Worlds alike earn his ire. Existence itself is a thorn in his side that he desperately wishes to remove. Mortals are generally unaware, but Tharizdun is locked within a deifiic prison that limits his true power. Even confined, he can still reach out, garner followers, and wreak destruction. He is given tribute by merciless and unrelenting destruction. Genocide, continental obliteration, and apocalyptic events all earn his attention, and he works to maximize the casualties. He is enraged anytime these devastating events are not occurring. When he is with you, he empowers you like the flame of a torch, enabling terrible powers. You are quick to destroy, and almost as quick to burn to ashes. Chapter 1 Alfie the Gnome Druid Alfie wasn''t exactly the most social of gnomes in his community. Growing up he tended to drift towards the fringes of his village of Water Gnomes along the local river known to the gnomes as Gleaming Brook where the seed to preserve nature in its purest form was planted. Around Alfies sixties after being considered a frequent adventurer by his peers of the local woods Alfie stumbled upon a small grove in a place that he had been hundreds of times before, so being the curious soul that he was he investigated the small obtrustion that he found unfamiliar. After spending a couple of hours poking around the clearing looking for absolutely anything out of the ordinary and being able to find no signs of anything mischievous he decided it best to head home as it was starting to get dark and even though he considered himself an expert on these woods he dared not stay the night in the woods with the new finding of the mysterious grove. Having returned to his house just as twilight was setting in Alfie decided that he wanted to get some extra sleep so that he could leave earlier than normal to see if he could catch anyone in the grove.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Alfie''s dream started as all of his dreams had he was wondering around the natural world around his village exploring all that it had to offer, no two dreams were quite like one another sometimes he would come upon a huge oak tree that had acorns that appeared to be laced with shimmering green letters but no matter how high he climbed the oak tree he could never quite get close enough to reach one of these magical acorns. Other times he might be swimming in Gleaming Brook as all Water Gnomes of his village were expert swimmers from a young age he would see a shimmer out of the corner of his eye that he would search for only to see another glint from somewhere else. But tonight was something special as Alfies dream started to set itself on its path of following a gold tailed squirrel that left a shimmer behind as he moved from tree to tree he heard a voice. The voice was deep and melodic, something that resonated the very core of Alfie. Stunned by sheer terror the presence that Alfie had never experience he was absolutely terrified but curious at the same time. "Do not be afraid little one, follow the squirrel should you wish the life of adventure." Instantly as if a weight was lifted of Alfies shoulders his breathing became regular as Alfies Curiosity quickly stamped out the terror and it subsided into barely a background feeling. Alfie sprinted off after the golden trailed squirrel who he now realized was not waiting for him but luckily the faint trail that his tail left behind was enough to catch up, as Alife bounded through the woods realising that these were the same woods leading to the grove from the day prior gave Alfie a slight pause as he began to wonder if he had actually done something when he was poking around the grove. Alife now knowing the way to the grove realised that the squirrel he had been following was no longer in front of him but was not the shape of a tiny amazingly perfect woman but with golden wings that left a trail of gold light as she flew ahead of him, now nearing the edge of the grow Alfie slowed to a stop watching as the tiny fairy continued floating with grace that even surpassed the villages best dancer in history toward the center of the grove at a leisurely pace. Alfie quickly realised the grove was no longer empty but in the middle stood a tall figure in a simple green robe that didn''t quite match the surrounding nature. the fairy silently and with out any apparent effort flew to the perch that was the figures outstretched hand which he moved towards his mouth and whispered something almost inaudible as alfie strained to hear. Although the voice was quieter it still resonated with Alfies core. "Laura thank you for leading the little one to me." With that the figure gave a slight nod and the fairy flew off into the woods, the figure than turned to face Alfie the terror momentarily coming back in full force as he saw the figures eyes sometimes steel-gray other times it would shift a smooth quicksilver but always staying in that range. Now that he noticed the mans robes were also changing different hues of green. "Now aren''t you the little explorer, the grove that we''re standing in hasn''t had visitors in a very very long time, how did you stumble upon this ancient place that hasn''t been host to a mortal soul in thousands of years?" Alfie clearly realising that this man or creature whatever he was, was holding all the cards so he did what any reasonable person would and tried to force himself to wake up. So as he was taking out his sword in an attempt to put his life in danger because he knew every time he had come close to death in past explorations while dreaming he would always wake up. "I wouldn''t do that if i were you." Came the deep voice now with a little more authority in his tone. "Visits to the plane of dream are a fickle thing they''re not so simple to be called dreams as you would perceive them, what happens here happens to your physical form as well." These words instantly chilled Alfie to the bone he had always been a reader and although his village small there was always traders coming through which he purchased a vast collection of books from. He had heard of dreamwalking and thought it something of fiction but here this mysterious man was saying that if he attempted to end his life here in the dream he would actually die in his bed!?! "A-a-alright so what do you want from me; i''m just a village boy." Came the weak shaky voice of Alfie "As i said before how did you find this ancient place in the physical plane? the slight edge of annoyance no longer in the beings voice. The terror subsided from Alfie again for no known reason. "Well i was just exploring the woods like i normally do and when i went to one of the spots that i frequently spot wildlife instead of seeing animals i saw the grove." Alfie now a little more sure of himself that if he gave this being what he wanted he would make it out of this alive. "Interesting, very interesting the place we are standing is something of sentiment to me, the Druids of a past age constructed this place to gather and share knowledge. It was also enchanted to be concealed from mortal interference which makes you "stumbling" upon it something that''s intriguing to me." Said the enchanting voice "Well i''ve read a little about magic perhaps the enchantment could have faded over time?" Asked Alfie "No, no i don''t think that''s the case." He raised a hand and all around the edge of the grove runes burst into light colored green, white, and some blue. "As you can see the enchanting on this place is very much still active, I think what we have a much more unique situation. That fairy you saw earlier Laura she has been keeping an eye on you for as long as you''ve shown druidic aptitude but finding this place by yourself can only mean one thing, you''re a natural born Druid and not just any Druid but a Druid of the Circle of Dreams." Stunned by what he was hearing Alfie could only bring himself to ask one thing. "Who are you?" The man in the robe smiled or it seemed that he smiled as he was raising one hand. "Simply a friend" Is all Alfie heard as the man snapped his fingers producing a solid smack and with the feeling of being punched in the chest Alfie woke up. Alfie bolted upright as was he was no longer in the grove with the mysterious figure but lying in his comfortable bed. From that day on Alfie spent the next 40 years of his life returning the grove and tending it during the day in the physical plane as well as tending to it while he slept in the plane of dreams with the teachings from the mysterious being that Alfie thought to be the God Io through the research he had done when ever he wasn''t tending the grove he was learning from books, even though whenever Alfie asked the Mysterious man would simply shrug. Finally after spending 40 years learning from "Io" the ways of the Druid Alfie was eager to learn the next promised step in his training the mysterious ways of the the Druid of the Dream, But as Alfie arrived at the grove he know knew to be the Grove of Dreams instead of being greeted by his teacher there was absolute silence, an eerie bone chilling absence of anything. Things like this tended to happen in the Plane of Dreams but not here not a place so shielded as the Grove of Dreams, it could only mean one thing the "Nightmare" was making its move. Alfie quickly went to work fortifying the runes that protected the grove from the Nightmare aspect of the Plane of Dreams, and just as he was finishing his work the Nightmare slammed against the warding the wards flashing brilliantly as they strained but something was different about the way they were attacking it was more uniform than normal Alfie noticed that the majority of the Nightmare was attacking only the green runes and then he saw the magic start to crack under the immense power the wards shattered into billions of brilliant green flakes of energy. "This is bad, THIS IS VERY BAD!!!!" Exclaimed Alfie as the nightmare was now turning its focus on the white glyphs. Alfie knew that the warding would not hold so instead he turned his attention towards finding what was focusing the power of the nightmare. Alfie reached out with his senses which were amplified in the Plane of Dreams searching for something, anything that could have the power to do this. As Alfie was starting to sense the terrifying and something that he could only be described as the pure absence of good the white glyphs burst apart into another amazing shower of silver energy, now with just the blue glyphs left Alfie made a last ditch effort to find the identity of the creature causing the destruction of his home. At the very moment before the last defence of warding was going to shatter Alfie heard a call that calmed him to his perfect center it was Io "RUDHAIN, YOU FILTHY LIZARD HOW DARE YOU DESECRATE A PLACE OF MY WORSHIP!" The normally melodic voice of Io was strained and tense as he denounced this "Rudhain" Then following Io''s voice came a heartstopping hiss and the smell of death "I will destroy your place of worship and your student within, you will know true despair old man." Came the voice of the Rudhain Immediately after, Alfie saw a amazingly pure green flame burn its way straight through the nightmare and just as the flame hit the blue warding instantly shattering it as if it were nothing but a rock through a window Alfie woke himself, he immediately set to work searching for anything on Rudhain finding only one thing. "Rudhain is an Ancient Red Dragon that is thought by many to be the most evil vile dragon to have ever lived known to have nested in the mountains north of the city known as Rolent." Alfie knew that if he was to help his master and his friend he would have to go to the city of Rolent but on the journey Alfies dreamwalks came harder and harder and his memory of his master started to fade fearing that he would lose the memories completely he wrote down what he could, but as he reached Rolent the last frontier by boat his master and friend were but a shadow of a memory. As Alfie''s passenger vessel was arriving at Rolent there came an ear splitting roar as a mighty red dragon came swooping in from the north it laid out a blanket of green fire that absolutely decimated anything it''s path Alfie knew that he had to help but he was no match for such a beast so he set off into the city to help the townsfolk get to safety, as Alfie was helping get people to safety he caught glimpses of the legendary party of heroes he had read so many tales of as a kid William Arclight the Human Druid, Oo Ironfist the Duergar Barbarian, Arthur Lionheart the Human Paladin, Yara Azure the Elven Priestess, and Trevor Gryphos the Human Wizard. The aftermath of the dragon attack left Rolant scared with a massive cut through the human district that no matter what druidic magic was tried nothing could not find a way to bring life to the lifeless soil. Alfie knew then that he wanted to be like the legendary heroes who defeated the dragon but even legendary heroes aren¡¯t perfect during the battle Arthur Lionheart was killed.One day Alfie knew that he wanted to save people and to find a way to heal the damage the dragon had done to the land. With the partial loss of memory and disappearance of his teacher and friend, Alfie only had his notebook to guide him now, he knew he would need one thing most of all, trustworthy companions. Nillian the Gnome Rogue The Rock Gnome village of Earthbury is a relatively secluded area that travelers very rarely visit, this is mostly in part due to Rock Gnomes desire for seclusion and partly because it''s not the easiest place to get to if you''re not a Gnome and don''t have a way to use the 4 foot tall pathways that lead to the town square. Nillian was always ready to cause a little bit of mischief with his friends to blow off some steam because not much really happened in their villages day to day lives and the "grind" as it were, was starting to take a toll the young thief so he brought his normal group of friends together for "The Big One" it was a little something that Nillan had been cooking up in his down time for a few months now and with his patience running thin for the day to day life of the town. "What''s the worst that could happen?" Said Nillan to his group of fellow law "benders". "Where should i start, O maybe the tunnel stability, or the Dwarf warriors, o and lets not forget about the magical traps that those crafty old rock lovers!" Exclaimed Nillans good friend Jebbnep who liked to consider himself a magic practitioner but could barely start a fire on his best of days. "O come on Jib don''t be so hard Nillan when has his plan ever failed in the past?." Chimed in Zovart the "Massive" as his friends liked to tease him, he was the muscle of the group who boasted a height of just over 3 feet 8 inches. "Alright, alright i concede let''s here some more about this plan of your Nillian." Relented Jibbnep. "Ok so like i was saying all we have to do is set up this disk in front of the caravan and once they get within 10 feet a massive army of illusionary troglodytes will come from holes in the sides of the tunnel demanding their cargo as payment for safe passage." Confidence dripping from every word as Nillan spoke. Nillan directed their attention to the clearly magical plate of smooth metal with some glyphs on it that Jib could barely understand. "I don''t know Nillan that artifact looks way to dangerous, you should really be more careful with it, and where did you even find something like that?" Jibbnep asked cautiously. "Let me worry about those things my source is trusted and there''s absolutely no way this could trace back to us, so are you guys in?" Zovart and Jebbnep with a little bit of help eventually agreed to the plan. That following night the trio camped out in their ambush spot with everything in position all they had to do was wait. "Alright Zovart you take first watch." Said Nillan. "Nillan, Jeb get up quick!" Zovart harshly spoke in a rough whisper as he began shoving them awake, they noticed Zovart holding a finger to his lips. "What''s the deal?!" Jebbnep hissed. "The dwarves are coming sooner than we thought so let''s get going." The trio quietly crept through the tunnels that Nillan had already been digging out the months prior prepping for this job. Just as the lead group of dwarves got close enough to trigger the disk the trio crouched and tensed ready to spring into action. But there was a problem because there was always a problem at the most crucial of moments the disk didn''t activate as Nillan was promised it would. The dwarves steadily moving along without any sign of worry continued on getting closer and closer to the three''s hiding place. "Jeb you gotta blast the disk with some magic to active it before they get to close." Whispered Nillan. "I don''t know if i can..." Jebbnep said with a hint of panic in his voice. "You have to otherwise we''re doomed." Simply said Nillian as if this were just another day in town. Jebbnep with worry plastered all over his face began focusing and doing hand motions that most casters did when they were casting. But as Jebbnep was nearing the end of his motions something startled the young caster and just as his spell completed the bolt of energy that should have been naked to the visible eye launched from his hands with a multi-hued ting like nothing Nillian or Zovart had ever seen their friend produce. Instantly shouts of alarm went up as the magic sensitive of the Dwarven caravan began reading spells of their own to combat what ever was attacking them, but fast though Dwarves are they weren''t fast enough as the ball of energy slammed into the disk something unexpected happened. Instantly the runes that were etched into the disk projected outwards filling the tunnel in all the hues of a rainbow. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Just as Jebbnep was starting to cry out in alarm at what he''d done Zovart grabbed his two companions and threw them back down the tunnel Nillian had excavated as the explosion rang out instantly blinding Nillian and Jeb as they watched their good friend disappear under the earth and stone. Zovart was gone and there was nothing they could do as the tunnels stability was starting to fail as a second explosion rang out this time more powerful than the first they scrambled out of the tunnels Nillan had dug into the main tunnel that was constructed by Dwarven hands. The way the caravan should have been was blocked by dirt and rock but this didn''t perturb Nillian as he led Jebbnep to the rubble they started to dig, if Zovart was going to die then the least Nillian and Jebbnep could do is get whatever they were after to help care for Zovarts family. Hours passed as they dug and excavated the rubble soon it became clear that it wasn''t going to be possible with just the two gnomes. "Dammit!" Exclaimed Nillian as he smashed his fist into the blockage then sliding down with his back to the cave in nursing the new cuts he had given himself from the digging and now the punching. "I knew this was a stupid idea Nillian." Jebbnep visibly freaking out, how were they going to explain this his magical residue was all over this place. Just as Nillian glared up ready to lash out at his friend, something burst forth from the rubble at his back and took hold of his arms lashing him in place. Instead of yelling at his friend he began crying out for help. But what Jebbnep saw was something absolutely terrifying mechanical constructs were lashing his friend in place but it didn''t look like any spell Jebbnep had ever seen, because from Jebbnep¡¯s perspective the tendrils of energy looked like they were going into his friend. "I''ll go get help." Jebbnep sprinted off with the screams of his friends torment pushing him along further. Nillian quickly passed out from the pain. When Nillian awoke he was greeted with a horrifying view Jebbnep and some older looking Gnome that Nillian vaguely remembered to be Jebbnep''s teacher were dead with cuts and slashes all over their bodies, Nillian looked down to see he was holding his daggers and they were dripping with blood, he also noticed that the cuts on his knuckles from punching the cave in were gone and instead replaced by tiny gears and ticking devices he noticed that all of his wounds were replaced by the clockwork. Nillian buried the body of Jebbnep and his mentor. Just as Nillian was finishing paying his respects he heard the clash and clang of armoured bodies coming from down the tunnel exit. So Nillian did what any self respecting rogue would do and hid at the entrance to the tunnels he had dug they were not fully collapsed. Two dwarves in heavy body armor slowed to a walk as they neared the cave in. "This is bad all right." Said one of the Dwarves. "Yer tellin me the artifact that, that caravan was transporting had unknown potential what fool woulda been dumb enough to pull down the mountain on top of it?" replied the other Dwarf. Nillian realising that what ever had made its way into his body and healed his wounds with clockwork was serious magic and he knew that the sooner these Dwarves reported back with the news the sooner the search for him would being. Nillian crept out of his hole with the years of trainted stealth and dexterity as he drew his daggers from their scabbards behind his back he quickly and effortlessly slid the twin blades between the Dwarf on the rights neck through the gap between helm and chestplate. Instantly the dwarf cried out as he crumbled to the floor, the other dwarf now on high alert as he drew his battle axe and charged Nillian with a Dwarven battle cry. Nillian dropped and rolled past the charging dwarf as he stabbed for the Dwarves hamstrings and was met with the feeling of his blades cutting through tissue and biting into bone. The dwarf crying out in pain as he dropped to his knees his axe flailing toward Nillian was met with a lucky blow to the arm. Nillian immediately went into shock as the battle axe had almost completely cut through his right arm only being stopped by the core of the bone. His right arm limp he rolled behind the dwarf and brought down his left dagger hard into the nape of the Dwarfs neck. The dwarf fell limply to ground with a meaty thud. Nillian with his right arm unresponsive realised that there wasn''t as much blood as he would expect from a blow of that magnitude he also realised that it was no longer bleeding out but on closer examination was being knitted back together but not with the flesh and bone you would expect but replaced by clockwork. With death no longer on the verge Nillian knew he couldn''t return to his home he would have to make for the edge of civilization and head toward the city of Rolent to start a new life. Valendryan the Elven Bard (Lawyer) Life was slow being a lawyer for the elves of Rolent, Generally everything was settled between elves themselves and the only real action was whenever a ¡°Lesser¡± race did something to offend an elf. Valendryan had always had aspirations to start his own adventuring guild but this sort of life was something that his father would never approve of. ¡°The son of such a well regarded house should leave the likes of adventuring to the common folk.¡± Valendryan mused to himself in a mocking tone. So being the good son that he was he contented himself with trying to please his father by following in his footsteps to become a lawyer. It didn¡¯t take very long for the seeds of discontent to be planted in Valendryan¡¯s mind. So as any good adventurer would do he set his mind to finding a location for sale that wouldn¡¯t draw the eye of his father until his guild was up and running and saving the town that way there was no possible way for his father to disapprove of his choices. Not knowing how to go about finding the guild location Valendryan decided he would try to drink his solution into being at the most prominent pub in the common district a place where all races met and traded each of their specialty wares Dwarfs primarily bringing metal works to the city, Elves providing just about anything you can think of at the absolute paragon of their craft but their prices were astronomical, and Humans filling in all the gaps with a wide array of skill levels. The Inn Star & Hawk wasn¡¯t quite booming but by no means was it empty the night was just beginning after all. So Valendryan went on over to the bartender and ordered some Wine of Wizards 113th edition which was the most expensive beverage served at the Star & Hawk costing a modest 5 gold for the bottle. Elves tended to have a higher Constitution when it came to drinking but Valendryan was different in the fact that practically anyone could drink him under the table. Now the proud owner of his Wine he sipped on a cup of it for about 10 minutes only working his way half way through the cup which was only about 5% of the bottle, deciding he had nothing left to lose he flagged down the bartender that was now starting to be over run by the occupants streaming in after a hard days work. ¡°What can i do for ye elf, the nights just starting and ye still got a full bottle!¡± Came the dwarfs clear voice cutting through the background noise of the Inn ¡°I need someone to go land shopping without drawing the eye of the public.¡± Replied Valendryan with a slight slur to his words. The dwarf took a quick glance around to see if any unwanted ears were listening.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Aye i¡¯ll put the word out you¡¯ve been more than generous enough to tonight so no payment will be necessary.¡± The dwarf spoke in a tone that still cut through the noise but didn¡¯t carry far. ¡°Names Valendryan thanks.¡± And with that Valendryan took his bottle of wine and made his way back to his home. Two weeks past and Valendryan was starting to doubt anything ever becoming of his dreams when a servant knocked on his door and said that there was a visitor here to see him. Valendryan not expecting anyone couldn¡¯t contain his thoughts and they ran wild with the possibilities dreaming of the Legendary Heroes who defended Rolent from the dragon Rohain¡¯s attack on the city welcoming him into their group. As Valendryan briskly walked down the walk way from his front steps to the gate that permitted entrance to his mansion he couldn¡¯t quite see who was here to speak with him. One of the house guards opened up the gate as Valendryan grew near and upon stepping past the gate he looked around and saw a small individual who was resting against the pillar of intricately carved stone that the gate was apart of. ¡°Valendryan is it?¡± Came the small higher pitched voice of the Gnome ¡°Yes, Is there something you need small one?¡± Valendryan said with slight condescension ¡°The names Nillan your ¡°Tallness¡± i¡¯m here on behalf of Thelgrik Kegcoat and i¡¯ve found the perfect location for your Adventures Guild.¡± Replied Nillian without paying much mind to the Elves superiority complex. ¡°Fantastic let¡¯s go look at it!¡± Valendryan said enthusiastically Without needing further ushering Nillian turned around and took Valendryan through the streets for 30 minutes Nillian navigated the cities backstreet''s. The unsavory folk kept their distance from the easy mark that the Elf clearly was. ¡°This Nillian must be more than meets the eye.¡± Valendryan thought to himself. Valendryan legs started to ache as the pair approached the southern gate of the city which stood with walls towering 50 feet into the air with a thickness of 10 feet. ¡°Hey Nillian so are we still going to the property?¡± Valendryan asked sheepishly ¡°Yea we¡¯re almost there.¡± Replied Nillan The squad of goliath guards kept watch over the southern gate standing at an impressive 8 feet each Valendryan had no doubt that they could stop any trouble makers. The pair continued through the checkpoint without any issue. Taking a sharp left once outside the gates they began walking towards a broken down farm home that had a barn that looked ready to cave in at any moment. ¡°Well this is it Valendryan the cost is only 250 gold for everything within the fence posts. Valendryan not noticing before saw the scattered remains of the fence that stretched for about 10 acres of land. ¡°This is perfect father will never take notice until i want him too.¡± Valendryan thought to himself Alright i¡¯ll take it Valendryan told Nillian. ¡°So Nillian what would you say about becoming a founding member of ¡°The Adventurer''s Guild¡±¡± Valendryan boldly asked Nillian appeared to mull over the offer for a bit and eventually decided to accept with the thinking that if he wanted to lay low then some no name guild would probably be the best place to reside, after all the thieves guild would sell him out if the reward for information on him was high enough which he didn¡¯t think it would be considering it was just some band of Dwarven brigands that he was hiding from. Over the following year Valendryan and Nillian would put money towards refurbishing the plot of land he bought that day, Valendryan continuing to make his wages being a lawyer and Nillian doing who knows what in the shadows of the city. Phlipper Questioning the known and exploring the unknown was something the gnome Wizard Phlipper had always done throughout his long life in human standards currently being 150 years of age, he had seen a thing or too as well as done a thing or too, but his current fascination was on the what kind of magical curse was placed on the ¡°Cursed Forest¡± to the North of Rolent. So far every magical practitioner hadn¡¯t been able to discern what kind of magic the curse was just as the druids hadn¡¯t been able to bring life back to the scar where the dragon attack had occurred. The curse in itself never seemed to harm any sentient being that was exposed to it but it was common practice amongst the people of Rolent to stay indoors when ever an Elven Ranger from the north would come warning of a wave approaching. But something interesting that did happen is that whenever the ¡°fog¡± came into contact with vegetation the plants would enter a state of hyper growth and in place of whatever their natural fruits/seeds would sprout a to good to be real version of the plants product. Anyone who was found out to have been exposed to the fog was shunned and outcasted by the city due to the belief that they too were cursed by the fog. Whenever a wave of the fog would pass by the city atleast taking 12 hours and the longest time the fog stayed around was 2 days the Elves would send out their people to collect all of the fruits the fog produced and dispose of them properly. Due to the fog making all agriculture impossible the average diet of a Rolentian was meat. But Phlipper was beginning to realize that if his goals of dispelling the Curse and uniting the three factions of Rolent was to ever have chance of becoming reality he would have to seek help in the form of the ¡°Adventures Guild¡± which had started spreading cards around the city''s underground community of which Phlipper tried to limit his interactions with the unsavory types but due to the nature of some of his research being ¡°taboo¡± sometimes you must endure hardship to accomplish your goals. Phlipper decided that this ¡°Adventurers Guild¡± was just the place to find like minded people to help protect and save people so he headed to the address on the card that lead him to the farmhouse. Approaching the farmhouse nothing seemed out of place except for the terrible condition the main building and the barn were in, so being the ever brave soul that he was he pushed on towards the house and knocked on the front door. ¡°O our first applicant how exciting, you should get the door Nillian.¡± Came the melodic voice of an Elf The door flew open and Phlipper jumped back a little in shock but hopped the other Gnome that was now standing the doorway didn¡¯t notice. ¡°Nice to meetcha friend Gnome i¡¯m Phlipper, Don¡¯t really see many of our kind around these parts.¡± Said Phlipper in as inviting a tone he could manage while extending his hand. Nillian took Phlipper¡¯s hand and shook firmly the obvious hardness of Nillian¡¯s hand immediately identified him as a melee type likewise he was sure his tender hand and age alluded to his magical abilities. ¡°The name¡¯s Nillian and that tall grouch over there is Valendryan¡± Nillian ushered Phlipper inside as he relayed the information. Phlipper was none to pleased at the condition of the inside of the farmhouse either it the floorboards creaked, there were splinters, and the windows were smudged with the wear of time. ¡°So you¡¯re looking to join the Adventurers Guild?¡± asked Valendryan with just letting a little to much hope creep into his voice.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°That i am friend Elf, The names Phlipper and my talent are that of a Wizard! But these accommodations just won''t do for Rolent¡¯s first Adventuring Guild.¡± Phlipper said proudly With that last statement Phlipper moved his hands slowly enough for Valendryan and Nillian to keep track but every time the two appeared to follow the motions they would see something that couldn¡¯t possibly happen like an extra finger completing an intricate hand motion and then it would blur out as Phlipper was performing these hand motions he was also speaking in the unintelligible language that Wizards, Warlocks and Sorcerers spoke in when casting, and just like that it was all over and hovering beside Wizard was a near complete translucent large goliath hand. ¡°Get to cleaning!¡± Phlipper said The hand just started to slowly hover around and cleaned. ¡°You do that everywhere you go?¡± Nillian asked a little on edge moving his hands away from his daggers. ¡°Only the places that i plan on returning to.¡± Phlipper replied realising that his new guild mates had been extremely on edge he was beginning to apologize when an extremely loud roar came from the outside from the direction of the barn. The three grabbed their gear and sprinting out the door to see what the disturbance was and were absolutely stunned to see was a Gnome trying to calm the large brown bear that was standing on its hind legs at a massive 10 feet tall compared to the 3 foot tall Gnome. Just as the three were preparing to enter battle with the massive beast to protect the Gnome the bear seemed to supernaturally calm down and go back onto all fours and lick something out of the Gnomes hand. Alfie seeing the Elf and two Gnomes watching from afar motioned for them to come closer. ¡°Hi guys my names Alfie and this here is my new friend.¡± Alfie said in a voice twinched with magic, Nillian and Valendryan couldn¡¯t quite place the feeling but Phlipper knew that this was the feel of Druidic magic. The three introduced themselves to the Druid and after some talking Alfie decided that he wanted to direct his efforts in healing the ¡°Scar of Rolent¡± as it was now called from the Adventures guild. Alfie let the three know that this bear had lost its home and he had invited the animal to stay and live from the barn in return the bear would offer protection from outside threats. The party of four entered the farmhouse they saw that over in the corner of the room just to the side of the door that led to the basement laid a Orc sized rusted pair of full plate gauntlets, and greaves. ¡°Where the hell did that come from?¡± Asked Nillian. ¡°The Mage Hand must have found it in the basement¡± Phlipper responded. ¡°Well let¡¯s stop dilly dallying around and go see where it found it.¡± Valendryan said taking charge over the situation. The party headed down into the basement and Phlipper lit a lantern with a short spell. What the three saw shocked them the Mage Hand had been cleaning the basement and had moved a rotted crate and uncovered a hole in the floor that revealed two sets of melted orchis full plate and a chest underneath the armor that they pulled back into the living room. ¡°Nillian would you be so kind as to open up the chest?¡± asked Valendryan With a smooth practiced motion Nillian withdrew his lockpicks and after a quick search and judging that it wasn¡¯t trapped he went to work and after a couple of minutes and a satisfying click the lock fell open and the chest was opened to reveal a large chest of Coins and Jewels. After a couple of hours counting out all the coins and one or two of them going missing from Nillians section they found the total value of the contents being around 5000 gold along with some very strange platinum coins that Nillian had never seen before but speculated that they were of Dwarven origination. ¡°So we split it five ways with 20% of anything we make as a guild going to the guilds funds to improve the guild.¡± Everyone agreed in the end with some grumbling coming from Nillian, they had now acquired enough members for Valendryan to consider himself a guild master andall they had to do now was earn a reputation. Adventure The day couldn''t have started better the sky was clear, the sun was warm and all seemed to be going well for the newly founded Adventures Guild. Valendryan didn¡¯t waste any time getting his new cohorts ready for the day. ¡°Come on Valendryan it¡¯s too early to go looking for adventure, besides no one is going to want to give us any real quest until we¡¯ve proven ourselves.¡± Was the general consensus from Phlipper and Nillian but Alfie was nowhere to be found so the three set out to look for their new friend. The search didn¡¯t take long as they found Alfie wide awake playing with the bear outside in the yard. ¡°Hey guys what¡¯s up?¡± Asked Alfie ¡°Valendryan wants us to go find some work for the guild so that we can start building up a reputation.¡± Replied Nillian. ¡°Sounds like fun! How about we split up into teams and ask around town?¡± Said Alfie. After some talk the party split up into pairs Nillian and Alfie would stick together and so would Valendyan and Phlipper. The day for Valendryan and Phlipper seemed to zoom by without much event and with Valendryan¡¯s mood lessened they decided to return back to the guild house to see if the other pair had found any success. As the sun was beginning to crest towards sunset they neared the southern gates of Rolent and instead of just the four Goliaths there was a Centaur talking to one of the guards. ¡°This must be our quest Phlipper.¡± Said Valendryan as he walked up to the Centaur and Goliath. ¡°What seems to be the problem gentlemen?¡± Valendryan asked as they approached. ¡°This Centaur says that a Lumberjack that normally makes the rounds hasn¡¯t passed by their encampment since he went out in the morning.¡± Came the deep commanding voice of the Goliath. ¡°Perhaps we could help you investigate?¡± Asked Phlipper. ¡°I don¡¯t see why not but we should get going before it gets dark, the area the Centaur is describing sounds to me like it would be near Goblin territory.¡± The Goliath said as he began jogging off in the direction given by the Centaur. The Elf and Gnome struggled to keep up with the Goliaths massive bounding stride. ¡°Hey Mr.Goliath isn¡¯t the Centaur going to come help us?¡± Panted out Valendryan. ¡°The name¡¯s Valath and the Centaur Rylar doesn¡¯t want to interfere with Rolent, Apparently this lumberjack helped him out some years back and he¡¯s just returning the kindness shown to him.¡± Said Valath who showed no sign of fatigue from the jogging they¡¯ve been doing. Just as Valendryan and Phlipper were going to beg Valath to slow down the dense vegetation slowed them down enough to provide much needed relief to their aching legs. Valath began to give directions when they heard a distant moan of pain. Valath charged off not wasting any time from his years of training toward the noise while the others struggled to keep up. As they neared the noise the vegetation thinned as they entered the loggers clearing. ¡°Help!¡± Cried the man who was pinned under a fallen maple tree. Phlipper summoned his Mage Hand which he directed to pull the man out once they lifted the tree. With Valeth on one side and Phlipper and Valendryan on the other they tried to lift the tree but it just wasn¡¯t enough so Valendryan pulled out his Lute and began to intertwine his song with the magic of the world and at the climax of his verse the Goliath felt a surge of strength and was able to shift the tree just enough for the Mage Hand to pull him out. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The man was hysterical from the pain, his legs were crushed and he was making to much just to me noise as the atmosphere entered an early twilight they heard the howl of distant howl of wolves. The two smaller adventures seemed to be stunned by fear at the noise but Valath snapped them out of it. ¡°I¡¯d wager we can make it back to the southern gate if you can cast some more of the magic Elf.¡± Said Valath. ¡°I can¡¯t do that again but i can temper the man¡¯s pain so they¡¯ll have a harder time tracking us by sound.¡± Valendryan said. With that he hummed a tune and the man fell into a dreamless sleep, and with that the massive Goliath picked up the man and cradled him in his arms they began to follow the trail they had left with Phlipper¡¯s Mage Hand attempting to cover their tracks. The snarls and howls began to grow closer and the party could feel the vibrations in the air every time a branch snapped from a wolves paw. ¡°We¡¯re not going to make it at this rate.¡± Said Valath flatly. ¡°Me and Phlipper can stall them so you can get him to safety¡± Said Valendryan and with that Valendryan played a tune and the Goliath began to speed away. ¡°Well that was very noble of you Val but how are we supposed to take on a pack of Goblins!?¡± Phlipper said. ¡°We set an ambush and try to take some of them out by surprise.¡± Valendryan said. The pair scrambled into a tree and tried to come up with a plan. A group offour Goblin wolf riders arrived at the spot where the party of Adventures split up and began chittering and began cackling as a Fireball slammed into one of them combusting into an inferno as the laughing turned to screaming while Phlipper and Valendryan seemed to appear from nowhere as the Bards cloaking song was broken by the Mages Fireball. The three remaining Wolfriders realising their companion was doomed to the mages fire turn to charge the pair of attackers. As the Wolves charged Valendryan and Phlipper barely managing to dodge their attacks returned the charge with a song that seemed to cut like a knife''s edge slashed through one of the Goblins cutting him in twain. Along with another fireball that turned another rider and his mount into an inferno. With only one Goblin left alive he got the other wolf now riderless and sped off back where they came from. ¡°We did it!¡± Cried Valendryan. ¡°More for the better, i was running out of energy.¡± Phlipper said panting with a sigh of relief. But the festivities wouldn¡¯t last as a corus of wolf howls pierced the quiet night and even more unpleasant noises began to converge on the pair. ¡°I should¡¯ve stayed a lawyer¡­¡± Sighed Valendryan. As he attempted to cloak him and his Gnome companion but failed to bend the magic to his will. With a pang of pain shooting through Valendryans mind for having tried over exert himself. ¡°Can you do anything Phlipper?¡± Asked Valendryan cradling his head. ¡°That¡¯s not really in my wheelhouse Valendryan sorry.¡± Replied Phlipper with a hint of dred slipping through. The crashing and crunching of the pursuers drained Valendryan and Phlipper of what remained of their hope. As the pack of now twelve bursted out into the clearing greeted only by the two smouldering amalgams and the split goblin they fanned out searching for the perpetrators and just as one of the smaller wolves who Valendryan recognized to be the wolf of which he deprived it of its rider closed in on their hiding spot six deafening battle cries put dread into the hearts of the Goblins as the six Goliaths crashed into the clearing and the night turned into an absolute bloodbath the Goblins not standing a chance were decimated by the squad of Goliaths only taking minor scrapes and flesh wounds compared to the absolute decimation of the Goblins. ¡°Valath?¡±Asked Valendryan once the destruction was over. ¡°Ahhhh there they are, Drinks are on me tonight friends!¡± Boomed Valath just now coming out of his bloodlust. The journey to the southern gates still took them an hour at a walking pace, but that night they reveled in their successful adventure. Later that night they stumbled back to the Guild house to a welcome from Nillian and Alfie. ¡°You won¡¯t believe the day we had.¡± slurred Phlipper. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to see who had the most eventful day then.¡± Replied Nillian with the hint of friendly competition The friends seemed to form a closer bond with each other as they reflected on their day. ¡°What in the hell is a Germalin?¡± Asked Valendryan and Phlipper in unison. Germalins The night still young after the Adventures Guilds first day and Valendryan and Phlipper having told their tale it was not time for Nillian and Alfie to do the same. During the time Phlipper and Valendryan were unsuccessful in finding work inside Rolent, Nillian and Alfie decided to take the search to a more personal level going door to door in one of the neighborhoods in the trade district. The first notable character they met was a extremely old man by Human standards who knew something was up. ¡°Yeah i seen some trouble in these parts.¡± The old man started. ¡°Little green men... Germalins that¡¯s what they¡¯re called they work for a Medusa who steals people, also they steal peoples boots during the night, and sometimes if the poor fellow who is targeted by their evil gaze has taken precautions to hide their boots they take the person instead and bring them to the Medusa!¡± Rasped the old man. ¡°Thank you kind sir we will definitely take a look into these Germalins and Medusa for you, if you run across any other trouble don¡¯t hesitate to send word to the Adventures Guild.¡± Replied the kind hearted Alfie. ¡°You put to much weight into crazy peoples word Alfie.¡± Said Nillian as the pair was walking toward the next row of houses. For the next hour the pair continued door to door asking if the people knew anything about the missing people the old man had been talking about but no one seemed to know anything and if they did they were withholding, until they came across a nice pleasant house on the edge of one of the back alleys that had beautiful flowers hanging on either side of entry way. The pair was greeted by a portly middle aged Human woman who had a troubled look in her eyes. ¡°Greetings this here is my friend Nillian and we¡¯re representatives of the the Adventures Guild and were wondering if you knew anything about missing people?¡± Asked Alfie That train of thought seemed to strike a nerve as she asked the pair to come inside and sit down because she had just made some tea. ¡°O yes my own Husband Walt hasn¡¯t returned home in some days now and i¡¯m beginning to think that he was abducted i¡¯ve taken my concerns to the towns guards but they seem to have their hands full with ¡°More pressing matters¡±¡± my name''s Helen by the way. Said the soft spoken woman. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind maybe my friend Nillian could find something around the house that might lead us to where he could have gone? I could also try to locate him with some item that might have a special connection with him like the missing pair to a set of wedding rings?¡± Said Alfie. ¡°O i¡¯ve looked around the house more than once but your friend is more than welcome to give it a go if you think it could help find my Walt.¡± Said Helen with the faintest trace of hope in her voice. Alfie noticed her unconsciously playing with her ring finger pushed a little and managed to get her to hand it over even though Helen clearly held deep meaning for the ring. Alfie began to cast a locating spell while Nillian searched the house and after about 15 minutes Nillian returned with nothing but a bill of sale for a wagon. Alfie wasn¡¯t able to sense the rings pair and returned the ring but the bill of sale might lead to something so the pair asked Helen if her husband had any of his wagon makers tools around. ¡°Yes i¡¯ll go get them dearies.¡± Helen said as she got up from the dining room table. She returned with a belt of tools that Alfie attempted his spell on again this time met with success the missing tools to the belt were west of here deeper into the human district of Rolent. Alfie having returned all but one tool of the belt to Helen told her that they¡¯re going to look into this further and will update her if they learn anything new. The journey to the wagon makers shop took them about 30 minutes and when they arrived the caught some rats entering the building. The pair walked up to the door and knocked only to be answered by silence. They tried two more times but no one seemed to occupying the building so Alfie took a lookout position while Nillian worked to use his lockpicks to open up the door. The pair had no trouble and easily slipped inside to be greeted by a vast empty room with clear absences of where tools should be and where wagons parts should. Out of the corner of Alfies eye he saw a rat scurry across the edge of the room and out a side door so without hesitation he followed and just caught the edge of the rats rump crawling into a drainage hole in the center of the workshops room.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Nillian you check out this place i¡¯m going to see where that rat is going.¡± Said Alfie. ¡°How are you going to fit in that pipe Alfie i know us Gnomes are small but let''s not get ridiculous¡­¡± He was saying this he watched as Alfie changed forms into a rat a proceed to go down the pipe. ¡°Druid¡¯s man i¡¯ll never get used to their magic.¡± Nillian mumbled to himself as he went about looking over the warehouse. Alfie followed the pipe down and down twisting and turning crawling along until he turned one bend only to be greeted by what he thought to be the rat that he had followed down here. With practiced skill of persuading animals with his Druidic abilities he attempted to tell the rat to move along so that they could continue on down the pipes but instead of the feeling of conformation that usually came along with these types of spells Alfie was met with resistance as his magic failed him and just as suddenly as his magic failed him the rat attacked Alfie in rat form. The battle didn¡¯t last very long as Alfie was able to strengthen his claws and skin with other spells but something he did notice when he dealt the killing blow is that it seemed that some otherworldly presence was released from the foe rat just before it died. Quickly now Alfie scurried along and saw an opening into the sewers but when he looked out into the sewers the only thing that caught his attention was a cloaked figure sitting still while rats came and went bringing him shiny things sometimes gold coins but no people being abducted so Alfie decided it best to return rather than face the foe alone. ¡°There you are, did you find anything interesting?¡± Said Nillian as Alfie returned to him Gnome form. ¡°Just some ¡°Ratmancer¡± but nothing to lead us toward the missing people.¡± Replied Alfie. ¡°Boy o boy do i have news for you check this out.¡± Said Nillian as he led Alfie to the back wall of the workshop and with some fiddling of the toolbench he unhatched a hidden compartment that held a brand new wagon. ¡°What¡¯re we going to do with a wagon Nillian.¡± Glowered Alfie. ¡°An Adventurer''s Guild could always use something to transport it¡¯s supplies.¡± Replied Nillian not chastised at all. ¡°Well we shouldn¡¯t move it until we find out what happened to the wagon maker.¡± Conceded Alfie. The pair agreed to stake out the warehouse now that it was just past noon. Six hours had past with nothing out of the ordinary happening Nillian had grown bored after the only thing that happened was he was two humans one wearing some finer clothing than the other make some sort of deal down another alley but thinking nothing of it decided that he was going to return to the Guild to see if Valendryan and Phlipper had, had any luck. Alfie stuck it out and his patience was rewarded with the obvious departure of Nillian followed a rat leaving the warehouse¡¯s wagon door as quick as he was able to he too turned into a rat and began to follow the rat down the cobbled street and again came face to face with a rat but this time the rat squeaked as if to talk to Alfie. Alfie not having the ability to speak with animals as an animal just tried to move past the rat as he could see the one that he had followed was still moving down the road but the other rat moved to block him and again tried to squeak to Alfie. This wasn¡¯t going anywhere Alfie knew so he turned into his Gnome self and walked past the rat and began to jog to try to see where the rat he had been following was going. Suddenly Alfie felt a surge of pain come from his back left shoulder and when he whirled around to face the attacker he was met with a greasy unkempt human. ¡°You think you¡¯re so great going around town prancing around like a rat? You don¡¯t know nothing about being a rat.¡± Spat the human as he was preparing to strike again at Alfie. Alfie called upon the remaining sunlight as it was getting late now and soon the moon would hold domain and summoned a mighty Flame Sword and slashed at the attacker but was unable to land a blow as the Human sprang backward fearing the blade of flame and proceeded to turn into a rat as he was running away but not with the grace or elegance that Alfie had done it but with a more brutal efficient way that immediately singled him out to a Druid as a Wererat. The attacker gone Alfie dismissed the sword and healed his wound after checking to make sure he had not been in contact with the lycanthropic disease and then headed back to the guild house to report the news that the city had a Wererat problem. ¡°Ok ok but where are the Germalins that take people¡¯s boots?¡± Asked Valendryan ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that old man was just crazy talking about Germalins and a Medusa.¡± Replied Nillian. A knock came from the door this put the Guild on edge as it was starting to get very late at night but Valendryan was never one to show fear in front of his companions went over to the door and opened it. ¡°Greetings ¡°Adventurer''s Guild¡± My names Darfin Faewarin and i was hoping to contract you and your companions to keep the peace during my patrons next viewing party. The pay will be twenty silver a piece for a couple hours of work and the party is black tie only It will be held at ¡°The Auction House¡± in the Human district three days from now.¡± Said the extremely well dressed Human buttler. Stunned by the torrent of information Valendryan had just received Nillian swooped in and said that they would take the job. Over the next two days leading up to the Guard duty the Guild had their suits tailored and a rush order placed for twenty silver coins, they also proceeded to stakeout the location and look for any possible ways Nillian would think that a team of thieves would take to steal any of the valuable art and cost them their modest payday.