by Kevin Culp
I guess it was what someone might call a general store. It was a pretty simple building covered in shelves with everything from rope, to flint and steel, whetstones, trail rations, water skins, tents, and tons of other knick-knacks. To be completely honest though, it was so unorganized that it looked more like the home of a hoarder than a store.
“Can I help you, sir?” Suddenly, I heard a squeaky little voice that at least sounded like a man.
I looked around but didn’t see anyone.
“Down here, sir.”
I looked down and saw what I could only assume was Gadrick. He was short probably about three feet tall and had bare feet that were extremely hairy. I had thought that the barkeep had a huge nose, but this guy’s nose was enormous and had ears to match. He had shaggy brown hair and big hands. If I had to guess I would say he was a gnome.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was looking for a map. Do you have one?”
He looked excited. “Of course, of course, I have tons of maps what kind of map do you need town, country, continent, world, extra planar…?”
Man, this guy seemed eccentric.
“How about just a map of the country? Do you have one?”
“Pfft... Do I have one, of course, I have one. Now let me see here.” He scurried around searching stacks of papers.
“Aha, here it is,” he came back with a small rolled-up scroll about the size of a piece of notebook paper.
You could tell the thing was old but still looked to be in okay shape. He unrolled the map and held it up for me to see it. What I was looking at was shaped about like Maine, but I couldn’t really tell from the map what was supposed to be surrounding it. There was a big star in the center that read Varnelion Kingdom that I was guessing was the capital.
“This is where we are,” he pointed to a small dot in the southeast corner of the map that read Freid.
“So this town is called Freid.”
“Um duh, what did you think it was called?”
“Sorry, I didn’t actually know where I was. How much is this map?”
“I don’t think I could part with it for less than five silver pieces,” he said.
Unfortunately, I was never good at appraising items even in-game, so I handed him a gold piece. He was about to hand me some change, but I stopped him. I wasn’t sure, but I had always given any change less than gold to Kreego, so I figured the character probably just wouldn’t take it. The gnome sure seemed to be happy about it.
I walked back to the tavern and went inside. I guess it was lunchtime because it was still somewhat busy, well for such a small town it was busy.
I sat down at the bar, and Christina brought me some food and sat down next to me almost immediately. It was a small what I guess would be considered a hamburger steak with mashed potatoes, green beans, and corn. I could wish for more meat but given I knew they were running low and meat is a definite commodity in this type of world I couldn’t complain.
“Sorry if it’s a little cold, I expected you would get back sooner. Did you get lost?” She asked.
I smiled at her. “Well, I don’t think it’s possible to get lost here, but I stopped by Gadrick’s Place and got a map.”
She seemed like she wanted to ask me something, but about that time, someone walked up and put their hand on her shoulder. “Hey, Christina, how are you doing today? I missed you out on the farm this morning.”
It was a man probably in his late twenties with brown hair and eyes and a pretty bland build. There was really nothing special about this guy. I don’t mean to say he was ugly but probably about 5’10,” 200 pounds, and not very muscular though not overly fat. He really was just bland.
Before she turned to face him, I could see Christina put on a face. By the time he saw her she had a smile that I could tell was forced, “Ya, I got everything from my uncle for both breakfast and lunch today thank you though Joseph.”
“You seem a little off today, Christina. Is this guy bothering you?” The man asked.
“No no, not at all he’s actually been a big help to me.”
“Well, you know if anyone was bothering you I’d teach them a lesson. We may not be married yet, but I can’t let anyone mess with my future bride.”
In the real world, I’m sure a man could never talk to a girl like this and get away with it. It kind of made me think that things like this might be the real reason her uncle pushed her to get married so much. Being a pretty girl working in a tavern she must get hit on by tools like this guy that overstep their boundaries all the time.
Suddenly, his hand was on my arm. “Hey you, why does Christina seem so flustered, and who do you think you are anyway just coming into town and trying to have lunch with my girl?”
I looked from his hand on my arm to his face, “I don’t know who you think you are putting a hand on me, but she’s clearly not, nor does she want to be your girl so please take your hand off me. Furthermore, I’m not trying to take your girl I’m just passing through, and she has been helping me out.”
“You little brat talking to me like that why don’t we step outside, and I’ll teach you a lesson man to man.”
Christina looked exasperated, and I really didn’t want to cause her trouble, but to tell the truth, I’d been wanting to try fighting as Archaeus and punks like this needed to be taught a lesson. I stood up and started to walk outside.
Behind me, the guy scoffed and said, “That’s what I thought, I knew a punk like you would run away from a fight.”
I looked back at him with the most intimidating glare I could muster and said, “Oh, I thought you wanted to take this outside.”
Maybe it was my imagination, but his face seemed to distort in pure fear for a moment though the brave face he wore as he followed after me was clearly fake. By the time we made it outside, all the people in the tavern had followed and circled around us. From the sidelines, I saw Christina just shaking her head in embarrassment.
“Please don’t do this, Sir Velnir. He’s not worth it,” Christina pleaded.
“I’m sorry Christina, I know I shouldn’t, but it’s clear this guy is going to keep bothering you and he’s really going too far claiming to be your future husband when you aren’t even interested in him.”
“God, you just don’t get how things work do you, Arch-ae-us. I’ll tell you what if you apologize now I’ll let you off the hook,” Joseph tried to say my name in a way he thought would be insulting, but it really just made him seem like an idiot.
I walked up to him, and he immediately started swinging a fist at me. It was much slower than what I felt like was possible. Maybe this was how my mind was translating my high armor rating. Honestly, there was no way this guy could even possibly hit me if I was trying to avoid it, but I wanted to show him how pathetic he really was, so I decided to take the punch.
As expected, the punch didn’t hurt at all, though I was surprised that it didn’t seem to hurt his fist. Every time I saw a movie or something where a guy punches someone as he had, it seems to hurt their hand. Thinking about it though, in tabletop games, they never really had a rule for hurting yourself from punching something. I could punch steel all day in a tabletop and not hurt myself.
He looked confused by how unaffected I was, so I smiled at him and said, “Is that all you’ve got?”
The look of rage on his face was priceless as he charged at me again and threw another punch. I decided that I would dodge him this time and follow up with a punch to his stomach just to knock the wind out of him. It was easy to think ahead with how slow he seemed to be moving.
I ducked the blow and followed through stepping past him. I then turned around, so I could see this guy crumpling to the ground clutching his stomach, but I was surprised. He seemed off-balance from his missed punch but not injured at all.
I thought back on it and realized I hadn’t actually punched him, but I saw something flashing red in my notepad so I focused on it.
In bold red were the words, “Archaeus does not needlessly har
m civilians.”
Man, being chivalrous really sucked. Apparently, I would think I could at least do nonlethal damage to a civilian to protect a girl from being harassed, but I guess Archaeus didn’t see it that way or something. How was I supposed to fight if I couldn’t attack this guy? Maybe I could just intimidate him into giving up.
I realized I had spaced out, and this guy was throwing wild punches at me which were connecting since I wasn’t paying attention. He still couldn’t really hurt me though. Looking at my notepad, his first hit had done one point of nonlethal damage that didn’t bypass my damage resistance.
I was going to laugh at him and how pathetic he was, but I couldn’t force it out. I realized red was flashing in my notepad again, probably something about how Archaeus doesn’t goad or harass his opponents. I was surprised that it had even let me say, “Is that all you’ve got,” though if that was the case.
As the guy started to throw punches wildly, I decided to start blocking him and trying to decide what to do. He really looked like he was getting tired, and I hadn’t even broken a sweat, so maybe I could just tire him out. Truthfully, this probably was pretty embarrassing for him, and he would probably keep going until he couldn’t take another step.
How about I try this, I thought? I sidestepped a punch and then reached out and pushed him slightly. He stumbled a lot further than I would have expected, probably went about twenty feet or so before he stopped. The crowd had to clear for him.
I decided this might be a decent opportunity to make an excuse for my actions. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize there was such a difference between us.” I looked him in the eyes. “True men know to not fight a battle they can’t win.”
He looked outraged. “You imbecile are you saying I’m not a true man? I’ll beat you to a bloody pulp.”
He charged at me with a wild look in his eyes. It was becoming more and more obvious by the second that this fight wasn’t going to end easy. What could I do though to make him understand he was fighting a pointless battle? Perhaps a show of strength.
I concentrated on casting the spell form of the angel. I had been able to use healing hands, so surely, I could use my other class abilities as well. I started saying words that I didn’t understand and making some weird hand motions.
Then…. Nothing happened… I looked at my notepad and a line in red said: “This spell was not prepared for the day.”
Shoot, I hadn’t even thought of preparing spells since I got here. As a paladin, I would have to spend an hour every morning praying to receive my spells. I wasn’t sure exactly how it would work. Archaeus respected all the good-aligned gods, but actually only prayed to the overall idea of good and justice, not a specific god. I would have to try something else.
He seemed confused for a moment and then got a cocky smile. “You think trying to pretend you’re a spell caster or something is going to scare me?”
I got another idea for something I didn’t need to prepare. I closed my eyes and focused on what I wanted and imagined pulling it to me. I had my eyes closed while concentrating but could tell there was a bright flash of light followed by several gasps.
I opened my eyes.
There was a giant white wolf standing in front of me. I knew his name was Zeus. His shoulders were as high as my head, his eyes were a cool blue, and he had a saddle on his back. He turned and looked at me and nodded his head as if to bow.
The wolf turned to look at the guy who was standing there frozen in fear. His enormous head cocked to the side as if to question that this guy is really why he was summoned here. He looked at me, and I simply shrugged.
“Don’t hurt him,” I told the wolf. “I just wanted to give him a little scare.”
The wolf nodded and stalked towards the guy who backed up step by step as the wolf got closer. He got to where his nose was nearly touching the man’s forehead. The man’s legs began to tremble, and I could tell he wanted to run but could not due to fear. The wolf loosed a low growl, and the man crumpled in fear.
He had blacked out.
Chapter 4
Zeus sauntered back over to me like he was proud of himself. Paladin’s typically had an intelligent and loyal steed that served them, and Dan had let me go on a quest to have an angelic blooded dire wolf for mine being a paladin. However, here he just looked like a giant puppy. He wagged his tail and went to lick my face.
“Easy Zeus, this isn’t the time for that.” He suddenly whimpered a little and sat down like he had been scolded.
Most of the people in front of the tavern looked terrified of the giant wolf. Someone grabbed the unconscious guy and ran off, and the crowd slowly dispersed backing away and presumably going back to their daily lives. Christina walked up to me with a look of awe on her face.
“He’s so beautiful. Is he a dire wolf?” she asked.
“Kind of. He’s actually a celestial dire wolf.” I commented.
“Well, I wish you hadn’t done that Sir Velnir. I can handle Joseph on my own, but I have to admit that this wolf is amazing. Did you say his name was Zeus?”
“Yes, his name is Zeus. Do you want to go for a ride?”
“We can ride him? That seems scary. I mean I rode a horse once but….”
I had actually never even rode a horse in the real world, but Archaeus was trained in riding, and this was his bonded mount. I walked to his side, put one foot in a Stirrup, and climbed up.
There weren’t any reins, but the saddle was like a large harness and had handles on the front. I guess with Zeus being intelligent all I really needed to do was to hold on. I extended my hand to Christina.
“Um, can you give me a minute?” She asked.
I nodded, and she turned and ran inside.
I waited for a few minutes and she came back out in breeches and a tunic with her bonnet replaced by a piece of string tying her hair back. I reached out to her again, and she took my hand and climbed up. I could feel her chest pressed against my back as she put her arms around my waist. I sucked in air.
“Are you ready?” I asked her.
“Yup, I’m ready.”
As soon as she said the words Zeus took off at a breakneck speed. I’m not sure if wolves could just accelerate that fast, or if it’s because there are no in-game rules to stop him from breaking out in a run, but man he was moving. In a few moments, we were running past the farm we had gotten the vegetables from that morning. Christina held on tighter.
I leaned forward and whispered in Zeus’ ear, “Slow it up a bit buddy we aren’t trying to scare her.” What I didn’t say is that he was scaring me too.
He backed down to what I would assume was a light jog for him but was still moving a pretty good pace. We ran past the man carrying Joseph into another house, and they ran inside as they saw us. We went past cornfields and pastures until we finally came to a small creek and stopped.
It had probably only been ten minutes or so, but I think we had covered a pretty good distance. I got off Zeus first, then reached up and helped Christina down. Even though she had tied her hair back, it still looked windswept, but she had a big smile on her face and seemed to be enjoying herself.
She stepped in front of Zeus and grabbed his big head in both hands and started scratching him as he panted like a pathetic puppy. Man, I really wish he’d try to act cool.
“He can understand you if you talk to him,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean he’s intelligent and understands language.”
“Really?? That’s amazing.” She looked Zeus in the eye. “You’re really intelligent?”
Zeus nodded.
“Oh my god, that’s so cool. Stomp your foot three times.”
Zeus stomped three times.
“Wow, I’ve heard of intelligent animals before but never met one. What else can you do?”
“Well, I’ve never really had him just do tricks or anything, but within reason, he can do anything you ask. He used to hunt for me and my companions a lot when
we traveled.”
“That would be extremely useful I’d imagine.”
“Hey Zeus, go hunt something, but don’t steal from a farm or anything.”
He cocked his head to the side and huffed then ran off. I’m not sure if he was trying to say “as if I would steal” or “why are you making me run off when someone is petting and praising me.” I do wish he would try to act more regal. Christina and I were now alone by the creek.
“Is it okay that I dragged you off like this when your dad probably needs help at the tavern?”
“He can manage on his own for a little while without me I’m sure, besides when am I going to get another opportunity to ride a giant wolf.”
“Your dad just really doesn’t seem to like me much already, and I certainly don’t want to cause any problems for you.”
There was a pause, she seemed to be really thinking about what to say, “My dad really just has trouble trusting strangers especially around me. After what happened to my mom, he really just wants me to marry someone locally and have a quiet life on a farm.”
“Can I ask what happened to your mom?” I wasn’t sure if I was pushing it, but I was genuinely curious, and I’m sure that even with me being crappy at this kind of thing, Archaeus had probably rolled a high enough diplomacy to get away with it.
“Um ya.” She paused again it seemed difficult for her. “It was about five years ago. It was late, and we were about to close the tavern for the night. A stranger came in and asked if he could get a room for the night. It was an old man that seemed to be relatively feeble. He asked me if I could help him carry his bags in from his wagon. My mom cut in and volunteered.
A few moments after she walked outside, we heard her scream. My dad and I ran outside to see her struggling with a man on the back of a wagon, while another man ran the wagon off into the woods. We asked for help, and the town rallied together, but the people in town didn’t even have a horse, so we really couldn’t keep up. We tried to track them but never found them. We really still don’t know what happened.”
Christina fell silent, and when I looked, I noticed her face was covered in tears. I walked up and put my arm around her. When I did, she turned in to me and started sobbing on my chest. I had never really lost any family, so I couldn’t directly relate, but I could still imagine losing someone you are close to can’t be easy.
