Adventures of a Scribe

by Michael Deyhim

“Probably, but I would rather live my life than die standing around forever.” George nodded at that.

  “What do adventurers do?” Jake asked.

  I was about to reply when Hern cut in. “Mostly die. The ones that do live, purge monster dens, kill rogue mages, explore ruins, and act as support for the local army. I had a couple of uncles who became adventurers, let me just say that I no longer have any uncles.”

  “How can it be that dangerous?” I asked Hern. I didn’t realize how dangerous it was, but one kid’s experiences was not enough for me to change my decision. I knew there were dangers but nothing like Hern was implying.

  “It is a simple matter of ability. Most new adventurers have no ability and die quickly since they rush off to get levels and improve their skills. So for every ten that go out, one survives to come back. For those that survive they run into situations they can’t get out of. Monsters aren’t stupid. I don’t know if they have adventurers themselves, but they do have skills.” Hern took a long drink of light ale from his mug.

  I had read about that. Monsters with skills and mana. It was concerning but I didn’t really think about it in that context. It was always about learning skills, not what I would be up against. “That matches up with stuff I have read.”

  There was a moment of silence when Helen spoke up. “Well one of you better dance with me.” All the boys looked at each other wondering who would speak up first.

  “It would be my pleasure.” I said. No fear, no fear, no fear. I took her hand and we went out onto the dance floor. I only stepped on her feet twice, which was a huge victory in my opinion.

  ***

  I was turning twelve tomorrow. I looked over my panels.

  I had only unlocked one more active ability for my Chant of Time skill. Slow was exactly like its name. It slowed things down. I had used it on a number of animals and it looked like they were caught in water for a brief period. Haste had the opposite effect where they quickly sped up. At most I would only be able to cast my abilities three times with the mana I had and that was one of the main reasons I was considering investing a lot of points into wisdom and intelligence before I left. Once I left the Illumination I would not get the chance to read and improve those points for intelligence and wisdom.

  Also there was the issue of improving my Chant of Time skill to unlock new abilities. I needed to practice and that meant I needed more mana. On the other hand my regeneration had not improved and I couldn’t think of anything to improve my mana regeneration. There had to be a skill out there, but whatever the skill was, it was most likely protected and not written down.

  I was actually very pleased with the points I had. A book I had read listed that having fifteen points in any area at the age of twelve was considered very good. Ten tended to be the average. This meant that charisma was the only area I was below average, which I wasn’t too worried about. I also had five skills while most people coming of age only had one or two.

  In the three years since I made my decision to become an adventurer I had been preparing. I had a pack with basic cook set, two blankets, an outfit, sword, two canteens, journal, writing supplies, two health potions, and my map case with maps I had copied from the shop. I had about two silver left in change, which should be enough to survive on for a while. I did have some other minor things like a whetstone, vial of sword oil, and rags, but nothing that was critical.

  The most challenging part was getting the runes stitched on my blankets and backpack. That alone took over a year to get them just right and well made to withstand being charged again and again. At least they would repel water and keep stuff dry. They had to be stitched in a precise order like how the runes were written or they wouldn’t work. Thankfully I had seen my mother do custom work like this before, but it was not common.

  Mother had refused to teach me more about runes until I came of age and could practice charging them. I did work on my own based on the designs in the shop but my progress had been slow and frustrating. I couldn’t reveal I had mana without being questioned. I thought about staying to learn runes but that would just mean making the decision to leave even harder.

  George had already turned twelve two ten-days ago and was waiting for me to come of age before we registered with the Adventurers Guild and set off. I was worried what my parents would do. There was definitely going to be a lot of shouting. Killing monsters was the best way to advance one’s skills and points. I had only gained about a single level a year while an adventurer could expect far more.

  I went to sleep and woke up the next morning mentally preparing myself. I walked down the stairs for breakfast. My mother had already prepared a larger breakfast with eggs and grilled ham to celebrate just like she had done for my siblings before the ceremony at the church.

  “Good morning mother.” I said.

  “There you are, all grown up.” She said.

  “Yes, the status panel was very interesting.” I said. I used my brothers’ and sister’s reaction to come up with my own.

  “Well both your brothers should be by and I kicked your dad out of bed a while ago.” She smiled at me. The rest of my family soon came in. Rothgar’s wife was staying with their two children at their apartment. They wanted their own space for a bit until he could take over the Illumination. Clarissa was stuck with her husband the Baron and rarely ever left his estate and wouldn’t be coming.

  Her marriage had been a quick and quiet affair. After the marriage I had only seen Clarissa once and only for a brief period. I noted that the Baron had assigned a knight to accompany her when she left his estate. I would have been worried but she looked fine and there was no bruising or other injuries that I could make out.

  “I remember the first time I saw my status panel. I was shocked at how low my strength was.” Rothgar said.

  “You are just weak.” Galric replied. “My endurance is awesome over ten you know. Got to keep the ladies happy.” Mother sent him a glare and father ignored the comment. I couldn’t tell if the glare was for the ladies comment or sharing about his points.

  “So little brother anything you want to share.” Rothgar asked.

  No time like the present. “I am becoming an adventurer.” There was a long moment of silence and then Galric burst out in laughter. He went on for a bit and then began to slow down.

  “An adventurer, hahahaha, oh brother that was, hahaha, hilarious.” He gasped out.

  “I am not joking.” I said. Galric stopped laughing and the mood plummeted. It annoyed me quite a bit to be thought of as a joke.

  “Edward. What would possess you to do something so foolish?” Mother said.

  “I plan to live my life and not stay cooped up. I want to see the world I have read about. Visit the places on the maps I have written down.” I replied. I didn’t mention seeking power, gaining knowledge, and cheating death so I could unlock all the secrets of the world.

  “Son, you can join the Merchants Guild or even work for a noble if you want to travel. Adventurers don’t last long in this world.” Father said.

  “I want to see the world my own way.” Mother and father shared a look. There was a long moment of silence before father turned towards me.

  “Your mind is made up?” Father asked giving me a stern look.

  “Yes.” I said with all the determination I could muster.

  “Very well. If you do, you better survive.” I was shocked silent at that response.

  “What?!” My mother yelled out. “You can’t let him. I forbid it. No, he will die. Absolutely not.”

  “His mind is made up.” He then looked at me. “I take it you are prepared?”

  “Yes, I have a pack all made up and everything.”

  “Brother this is madness.” Rothgar said.

  “Thank you for the excellent breakfast mother. I will try to find you something nice on my travels for you when I return. We should get to the church for the ceremony.” I stood up and left, ignoring all the other comments. I went up to my room and changed to
my traveling outfit. I then picked up my pack and went down to the front door, where my family was waiting for me.

  They all stared at my sword and pack in shock. It appeared I had managed to keep quite a bit secret. I couldn’t tell if it was from my own cunning or my family’s obliviousness. Thinking on it for a moment I realized after I had received my panels I had become the well behaved child. Rothgar had a temper when he was younger. I never saw it, but Galric had told me. My other siblings had their own problems.

  “At least you are prepared.” Father said. We left the house in a somber mood and made our way to the church. I set my stuff to the side at the back of the chapel and we made our way to the front. I had asked for a small morning ceremony rather than the larger celebrations my siblings had. While I had made some friends, I didn’t want to leave everyone in a down cast mood. Better to keep it simple and leave quickly.

  The stained glass windows, the statues of the Gods, and various other items made of gold were laid out near the altar at the front of the chapel. Priest Hendric looked us over, paying attention to my traveling clothes. “Welcome. Edward come up here with me.” I walked up to the old priest. The rest of the family hung back at the pews.

  “Kneel with me.” We both knelt at the altar. “Now repeat after me. Gods of Light and Order please watch over me.”

  “Gods of Light and Order please watch over me.” I said after Priest Hendric.

  “I swear to stand against the Dark and Chaos.”

  “I swear to aid those in need.”

  “I swear to protect my family, city, and kingdom.”

  “Now rise Edward Monteger.” I stood up and my family came forward and hugged me. The earlier turmoil was forgotten. “I am pleased to see you have grown up well, but your clothes are a bit surprising.”

  The mood plummeted again. “I am becoming an adventurer.” The priest looked at me in shock and there was a long moment of silence.

  “I see. Well, remember your vows to Light and Order. For out in the wilderness the monsters will tempt you with the Dark and Chaos. You must forever be vigilant against such corrupting influences.” He gave me a hard stare.

  “I will Priest Hendric. I will keep your words close to my heart.” He nodded. Power was power and I planned to take it. My main concern was that someone had an ability to sense my mana and what I could do with it. Since no one had ever said anything since unlocking the blue panel of the Gods and the Chant of Time I wasn’t too worried. I would cross that bridge when I came to it and not worry about the Dark and Chaos.

  I gathered up my belongings and we made our way to the front of the church complex leading out to the main street. “Good bye son.” My father hugged me and whispered, “Be careful.”

  Rothgar was next and looked me over. “Always the quiet ones that are causing trouble. I guess with all your morning exercise I shouldn’t be surprised. Remember the pointy end goes in the monster not in you.” He tussled my hair a bit and then Galric pushed him out of the way.

  “I better hear a couple of bards singing about you so I can tell all the women that is my brother.” He punched me on the arm and I moved on to stand in front of mother.

  “I will pray each day for you and ask Priest Hendric to pray as well.” She gave me a hug. It went on for quite a bit before she finally released me. “I love you Edward, be safe and write if you can.”

  “Yes mother. Take care.” I left them and made my way over to George’s place.

  As I was coming down the street he stepped out of the shop and the door slammed behind him. “Not go so well?” I asked.

  “Nope, but they should calm down in a couple ten-days. Hopefully.” We started walking towards the Adventurers Guild. “So after we register, where to first?”

  “Well I was thinking about heading towards the center of the continent. But that might be too much. You have any ideas?”

  “We can head towards the Gilleth Forest to the northwest. I heard goblins set up in the ruins up there. Nothing major enough for an expedition but a number of adventurers bought supplies to head up that way.”

  “That sounds good.” I was content to follow his lead on this. While I picked up on things the other kids and adults talked about, I wasn’t the most social of people.

  “I honestly can’t believe we are doing this.” George said.

  “Me either. Just watch, we are going to find a mountain of treasure and enchanted items and be famous. I will get my name in a couple of books instead of just reading them.” I said.

  “Hah. Our names, with mine first of course.” He had a grin on. I rolled my eyes a bit.

  “Of course.” We walked through the streets as Azalon slowly came alive in the early morning. It took a bit of time to walk to the lower level of the city to where the guild hall was. It was a large three story building and had a huge footprint. We walked into the building. There were a number of tables and a bar.

  “Not open yet brats.” A woman behind the bar said. I saw two men sitting at tables give us both a quick look before turning back to their drinks.

  “Not looking to drink. We want to register.”

  “Did you just come off your mom’s tits? Go back home and play with your dolls.” She was certainly a rude person. I guess I couldn’t expect refinement or the politeness I was used to any more. I took a deep breath before replying.

  “Shut your mouth hag face. We are here to register, so either point us to who can or shut your mouth.” I then sent her my best glare.

  She gave me a grin. “Alright then. Can’t let every brat go off and die. You won’t believe how many people complain when their kid runs off. Now it is not a rule, but your parents know you are here? I won’t have them come asking around if you registered.” We both gave an affirmative.

  “Good, hate bitchy parents. This is how it works. You sign up, get your name down and a piece of parchment. I hope you both have a silver on you, not a charity here. You get marked down as a rank one. This means you get to come to any guild hall look at the notices and requests and take rank one requests. Nothing higher brats. Requests are marked at a difficulty you should be able to handle. Keeps deaths lower at any rate.” I could tell even she didn’t believe the last part of what she said.

  “Ranks go up to five, so show respect to your seniors. You get moved up on the number of jobs you do, level, and what other adventurers say about you. There are some annoying bastards around that don’t get moved up since no one wants to work with them, got it.” A simple system but I wasn’t expecting anything that complicated.

  “Got it.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. Now when you go to other guild halls to report in from a mission tell them you are based in Azalon. They will forward completed missions here and we keep a record of you here. For a fee you can change where you are based. Doesn’t matter much until you get to rank three, if you even do.” We both nodded. It seemed odd they didn’t keep everything at the main guild hall but there was probably a reason. I was tempted to ask but it wasn’t that important and hag face looked like the person to take pleasure in pissing people off.

  “Alright that is the basic stuff.” She pulled out two pieces of parchment. “You will each need to write your name down. Copy it from your status panel.” I looked over the parchment. “It just says you will not kill other adventurers except in self-defense, twenty percent of all mission rewards are kept by the guild and bounties, keep guild secrets, and that you will respect the laws of wherever you go. If you break the rules that line will turn red and there will be problems. I don’t like problems.”

  “How is that possible?” I asked. I looked over the pieces of parchment. I couldn’t sense any mana and there were no runes that I could see. Both of those things meant nothing since I had never sensed any of my own mana and there were a lot of skills out there that didn’t require runes.

  “Contract mana. Once you sign I will mark the parchment with the guild stamp and you are all official. Get to enter any town where the guil
d is recognized and most guild halls act as an inn so you aren’t over charged.” I signed my name and I could tell George was copying his down from his status panel. Once we were done she whipped out a stamp behind the bar and slammed it onto the parchment right after our names.

  “Done and done. Now one silver a piece.” We both handed over the money.

  “Shouldn’t you have collected the money beforehand?”

  “And send some brats off to be debt slaves, whatever for.” I glared at her. “First lesson brat, pay attention, since no one else will. That one is on the house.”

  “Any other useful information for us?” I asked.

  “Hah, well I might be able to remember for a couple coppers.” She said grinning. I pulled out five coppers and placed them on the counter. “Alright then, first up is the party panel to share experience from killing monsters. Guild secret, so don’t spread it around. Say create party and then the name, and then say the name of who you want to invite. As long as they are within a mile or so you can see the status of your party members if they are alive, injured, or dead.”

  “Create party Azalon.” A panel popped up with the party name and my name. “Invite George Fullbent.”

  “Uh, yes.” George said.

  “Party panel.” George said after seeing me look at mine. “Huh, neat.” I closed the panel and looked at the woman. She rubbed her fingers together and I sighed. I then pulled out fiver more copper.

  “Don’t keep paying people for tips.” She grinned. “Also the request board is over there. Oh and before I forget, here you go.” She handed over a copper medallion on a string with the number one on it. “Shows your rank. If you lose it you will have to pay for a new one here. Show it if you want service at a guild hall. Good luck.”

  We walked over to the request board. “That was interesting.” George said.

  “A rip off, but whatever.” I looked over the board.

  “Um, I can’t read.” George murmured. I cursed mentally, but resigned myself.

  “If you want I can teach you.”