The petite old woman waddled towards her small round table at the middle of the room, near her cozy and colorful fireplace. The place hasn’t changed for years. There were still those dried herbs and flowers the old woman hung by the counter of her kitchen which he could visibly see from the living room. The furniture all over her house were still the same red lumber, elegantly carved into beautiful set pieces of chairs and tables with mystical animals in the base of each furniture.Baba Sheby pointed him to his seat. Ghwyr thanked the old lady and sat on the chair with a carved unicorn on the base. It was his favorite seat and even without him telling that to her, Baba Sheby seemed to know that it was.While the old woman was preparing her tea, Ghwyr peeped at the counter at the corner of the room. Behind the beautiful furniture carved with a serpents and ivy vines wrapping on its edges was a simple, yet huge shelf filled with items from potions, dried herbs, spices, peculiar trinkets
“Hmmm… pretty interesting my dear halfling.” The old woman smiled and sipped her tea.Ghwyr nodded enthusiastically at her. “Oh, I still have more…” He said as he picked the stories he could share in his head.He still has a lot of things he could’ve told her, like those other adventurers that were treating him differently and often shunning him. However, he didn’t want the old woman to worry more than she already was.He noticed how worried she was as he continued to speak about his adventures. He told her how he got his new armor and weapons, and how he learned a new style in combat which he was proud the most. Baba Sheby nodded and smiled at his stories, but her eyes had a hint of gloom in them. He ended his story with the current situation he was at, the Dungeon Crawl.“You fearless little one.” She shook her head. “I have always worried about you ever since you told me what you wanted to be. Not everyone could achieve their dreams in your profession, and I have always prayed to m
Chills ran down his spine as he thought about what just happened. The sweet old lady, Baba Sheby could be one powerful opponent if you get to her bad side. Now he realized why so many adventurers called her witch.He shook his head and went around the market, trying to kill the last few hours and get himself entertained to relax himself from all the studying he did. Good thing the market wasn’t short of mouth-watering stalls for him to splurge a little bit of his budget on.There were stalls for grilled meats, of all kinds, exotic cuisines from all over the kingdom lined up on one street. He wondered around for a few minutes, checking up the stalls just to know which ones to buy from. After a couple of rounds, he set his eyes on the fried squid stall and the weird yet queued upon green noodles from the Zimazo region.He first went to the fried squid section and ate the butterflied and battered fried squid. It was skewered in a thin wooden stick to easily grip the food while he walked
The following morning was just like any other morning in the capital. The cold breeze and the chirping birds were all the ordinary things that he usually heard every morning. But nothing was ordinary that day. Today was the day of their test, the Dungeon Crawl. Ghwyr woke up early and readied his kit, checking everything was there and making sure that he didn’t leave a thing. One missing item could be a matter of life and death. After checking the bag for the third time, he donned his armor, and checked his weapons. When everything was set and done, he went down to the bar and ordered a hearty breakfast before waving his goodbye to Mama Berta. “Will yah be gone for a while?” The barkeeper asked. “It’s a dungeon crawl, Mama Berta and my first time at it. I am not certain how many days that would take us to finish.” He answered while taking a deep breath. “Why’re yah sounding like yah gon’ die?” The barkeeper sighed and shook her head. “Tip from me… make sure yah finish the crawl be
Ghwyr was dropped off at the western point of the dungeon which was a barren hill very far from the main city. The sun was already setting at the horizon the moment they arrived there. During their long and windy trip, they had passed about five towns that he wasn’t familiar. He didn’t even think that there were towns and villages located in such a remote place as this.He looked around the barren land and saw nothing but dead trees and dry boulders lying on the ground untouched by man. From his position, he could see a small visage of the sea below. The peaceful blue sea was a great contrast to the brown and lifeless color of the hill he was standing on.He shook his head and tried to get that thought out of his head. There were some more pressing matters he needed to attend to; for one, it was already dusk, and he needed to make camp immediately.He looked at the sun setting at the horizon and without skipping a beat, he began to make camp. He made a simple tent out of dried branch
The sunshine in the capital was far too different than what he saw in his hometown. Its bright and golden rays were regal, and its warmth felt royal than the regular sunshine, Ghwyr experienced at home. It was still the very early hours of the morning, and yet the streets were already filled with carriages and people in both grandiose and simple clothing walking on and about. It was far too different from the serene hometown of Gayaham, where he once lived. The capital never rested, not even for a blink. The people walked fast, never looking back to check whether someone might be calling them or if they left something. The people were cold, matter of fact, to the point of being heartless. It was a different place. However, he wasn’t there to cry and ask for pity, nor complain about how the citizens of this huge capital treat each other. He was there because he wanted to fulfill his dream of becoming a hero. He wanted to be recognized and become a member of a party, traveling the sco
“Stay together!” Old man Logue commanded as the pack of gigantic rats slowly approached them. “Hold you ground and make sure you don’t step on the waterway or you’re dead!” His voice boomed as his steel sword glistened in the light while slashing the giant vermin as hard as he could.Ghwyr was able to dodge in and out of their annoying attacks despite having difficult footing. Since he was unable to pull out his sword, he used spade as his weapon. He poked and bashed the attacking rats, and even gutted a few of them as they carried on with their mission.No one was backing down. The rats, as big as it were still couldn’t outmatch them in terms of skills. Ghwyr and the rest of the men were able to kill a substantial amount of the vermin that the rest of them scattered and ran away.Ghwyr was still able to kill one more rat when he threw the spade towards it and immediately skewered the rat on the head. The monster fell to the murky water, unmoving and dead. After their skirmish, they p
“Run!” The old man shouted. “Everyone, run! That is a monster we couldn’t handle!” He pushed away a man blocking his path and made a run for it.As they saw the old man made his escape, everyone panicked and joined into the chaos. They ran away, throwing their spades and pushing each other to make their way first into the passageway exit. A foolish and amateur move to do.Despite the panic, Ghwyr remained calm and tried his best to hustle out of the nudging crowd, but his height proved to be at a disadvantage as the bigger men pushed him away. The last man who pushed him, knocked too hard and got him off balanced. He fell into the mucky waters of the waterways just as a powerful current pushed him further away from themThe murky water was unpleasant. His clothed masked didn’t help him as he drank a few ounces of the vile liquid as he got smashed against the surprisingly powerful waves of the waterway. The dark water was slowly swallowing him. He could feel the muck and every mysterio